Welcome to your newsletter for week ending October 18th

It was wonderful to end the day and the week with a Bake Sale on the playground- this was the idea of some of our wonderful Year 5 girls who had been inspired to contribute to St. Basils following our 'Wear it Red' Day. St. basils have been so impressed by the efforts of these children, that they are coming into school next week to say 'thankyou'. 

Over the course of the week we have hosted two maths workshops for parents and families- the first was focused on the use of Sumdog which we introduce in Year 1 and the second focused on the use of Times Table Rock Stars (TTRS) to help children learn their multiplication tables and prepare for the multiplication tables check in Year 4. If you weren't able to make the workshops but would like to receive some information, please get in touch via [email protected]

Before you read on to see what else we've been up to, we know there are many children across the school suffering from a sickness bug or high temperature and sore throat. To reassure you, cleaners are 'deep cleaning' the school after school on Friday to help beat the bugs! If you have any queries about whether children need to be off school or not when they are unwell, please speak to Katie (our Attendance Ambassador) on the phone (Option 1).

What's Coming Up

Values of the Week

Today the teachers presented the Values Certificates to the following children for demonstrating Respect.

Parents' Evenings

Booking for Parents' Evening appointments opened on Monday, via the Arbor App. Any questions, please ask! Ms Kovacs and Mrs Purcell are also available during both evenings- if you would like to see them at a particular time, please get in touch via [email protected]

We're also pleased to announce that we will have a Scholastic Book Fair available for you to view (and buy books from!) during Parents' Evenings- please read on for more information.

Thankyou to all the families who donated St. Francis Church earlier in the month. All produce has been boxed up and sent over to the B30 Food Bank who asked us to pass on their thanks and appreciation. 

Football Success!

On Monday a selection of our Year 6 Footballers played their first match in the Kings Norton Knock-Out Competition. They played against a strong team from St. Francis Primary School. It was a steady start with lots of shots on target from our boys which were saved by an incredible St.Francis goalkeeper. It didn't take long for the goals to start coming though and we finished the game winning 8-1. Our next match is against Turves Green- we will keep you posted with the results of Round 2!

Thankyou for the parents who got in touch following our plea last week! Here's the info as reminder- also, engagement in this can be completely online at a time to suit.

As well as our Parent Voice meetings and working parties, we are looking for a group of parents/ family members who can help us with gaining specific feedback on aspects of school life- these include topics such as the ways you would like us to keep you updated on your child's progress and how well you feel your children are challenged in their learning. We are hoping to get a group of willing parents together, before half term to give us a 'baseline' from which to work on. We would then ask that we speak to these parents again towards the end of the summer term, to help us measure progress. if you feel you could spare us 30mins (max) at a time convenient to you some time soon, and again in July, please get in touch via [email protected]

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to school! Books will be available to purchase during our Open Evenings next week. If you'd like to have a browse through more of the books available, please follow the link here which takes you to our 'Reading' Page on our website. On this page you can also view the presentation from last week's KS2 Reading workshop (KS2 Reading at BVP). 

It's Rocktober!

These children had the most correct answers on TT Rock Stars this week (shown in brackets). Well done – keep practising everyone!

3B – Zane (1,473)   3P – Phoebe (726)   3S – Daniel (1,405)

4BW – Fred (2,007) 4C – Gabriel (254)   4EW – George (2,573)

5H – Dylan (611)    5LS – Olivia (329)     5S – Naishe (940)

6M – Violet – Top of the Rocks in KS2! (5,604)   6OG – James (734)   6S – Murrin (2,746)

Maths Competition Success!

Last Friday, four of our Y4 pupils went to King Edward’s School to participate in a maths competition. They represented the school with distinction, competing in a cross-number challenge and a relay race against 7 other local schools. The boys did themselves proud, achieving an amazing 3^rd place finish, which means they qualify for the Grand Final in February next year!

We are thrilled to announce that we are now a SAMPAD Associate School! 

Sampad South Asian Arts and Heritage exists to support the development of the South Asian arts sector to be strong and resilient.

Sampad connects people and communities to South Asian and British Asian Arts and Heritage by breaking down barriers, raising critical issues and amplifying unheard voices.

On Tuesday this week we were pleased to host the 'Spirit of Light' travelling production which was eagerly watched by children in Year 5. Keep a close eye on 'What's Coming Up' in the Spring term when we will be able to share more details of how SAMPAD are working with children in Year 2,3 and 6 with drama, art and music workshops (and parents will be able to come and see this in action too!)

You said... "we'd like more opportunities to come into school and join in lessons and activities with our children."

So we... have built in termly 'Stay and Learn' workshops for all year groups. Year group teachers will get in touch with you regarding specific details. We're looking forward to seeing lots of you in school for these next half term. (And if parents aren't able to come along, other family members are warmly invited.)

Choir News!

Our Year 5 and 6 choir is going well with our new Choir Leader Mrs Stidwill doing a fabulous job of teaching the children plenty of new songs. There are a few spaces still available for this (Monday's after school) so if your child is interested, please email [email protected] to let us know.

We have our first 'performance booked for our 5/6 Choir on the 8th December with the Choral Society at Ladywood Arc (St. Peter and St. John’s Church) as well as plans to visit the Memory Cafe, the Quadrangle (Bournville Almshouses). There are also plans for a tea party for elderly residents in our community.... so if you want to be part of all the excitement, please let us know!

Mrs Cooper's lunchtime 'singing group' for children in Years 3 and 4 starts after half term on a Tuesday from 12-12:30pm (with the support of Charlotte Barber, our pianist!). We will be asking children to 'sign up' for this before the end of the half term. 

As we mentioned last week, we are already preparing for the next Young Voices event. This year we will be joining children from around the country on Friday 28th February.

To help our Year 5 and 6 Choir get as much practise in as possible, please use the link here to sign up to the YV Music Room and access all the music and further information.

Once we have sent out further details about the event and confirmed who is going, we will also sign parents up to the relevant section of the YV site, if they haven't already done so.

Some of our parents are involved in litter picking at the park. We know this wonderful part of Bournville Village is used by hundreds of our children and families and so we all need to do our bit to look after it. Please help by reminding children about putting litter in the bins- thankyou!

After the big update last week, just a few things to update you on.

School dinners

We would like to remind all parents that you can pre-book your children's dinners on the Arbor app! This will help reduce the number of incorrect meal charges. You can select whether your child has school dinner (halal option available as well) or a packed lunch from home (This really helps us in the office when children select a different option). 

Instructions:

Once you opened your Arbor App go to Menu>> School Meals>> Select Autumn Term 2024/2025>> Select the chosen day of the week and confirm your child's meal choice>>

If you tick the box to "pick for all future dates" it will apply the same meal choice until the end of term e.g if you tick the box for a Monday meal, it will add it to all Monday's till the end of term. 

If you're having any difficulty with this, please contact the school office for assistance!

And finally...

The reason for the 'Hope Changes Everything' image for this week's newsletter?.... Well we are over-the-moon to share the news that our Little Angel who was so devastatingly injured earlier on this year is doing incredibly well- so well that we are now making plans for her return to school in January! Her class are preparing for some video links 'catch ups' so they can gently reintroduce our most precious member of the BVP family to school life. We will keep you up-to-date with plans as they develop.

So thankyou all, for your love, prayers and messages of hope. What an amazing positive, compassionate and hopeful force you have been. 

Take care of yourselves and your families and we look forward to seeing you back on Monday for the last week of the half term!

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the responsibility of everyone in our school and at all times we consider what is in our children’s best interests. We work to ensure our children are safe and cared for and by doing this we are protecting their health and development and preventing them from harm. If we are worried, we will raise concerns, share information, and take prompt action with the aim of ensuring families receive the right help at the right time.

Going On In Your Area