What's Coming Up

Welcome to your newsletter for week ending January 24th

It's been great having our parent visitors in for Jobs January talks and presentations and we are looking forward to more of these next week. We still have a few slots left, so if you'd like to give us half an hour of your time to talk to groups of children about your careers, please drop us a line via [email protected] 

There is plenty of content in this week's edition for you to read so we will keep this bit short, but please do have a look at the dates below to ensure you are aware of all the opportunities to come into school in the coming weeks; whether it's sharing views, asking questions or that you'd just like to know all little more about elements of school life, then please come along- everyone is welcome.

Values Of The Week

Congratulations to this week's Attendance Armadillo winners!

Diversity Meeting

Our next Diversity Parent Working Party Meeting will take place on Thursday 6th February at 18:00-19:00 and will be virtual. If parents would like to attend, please email [email protected] so that the Teams link can be emailed to you. 

Parents' Evening (12th & 13th February 2025)

As mentioned last week, parent evening appointments are now available on Arbor to book. Appointments can be booked by selecting Parents' Evening Spring 2025 on your homepage. Parents from split households can request separate parents evening bookings when selecting their time. 

If you're having any difficulty with your booking, please contact the school office who will be able to offer assistance. 

Introducing The Waiting Room – A Valuable Community Resource

We’re excited to share The Waiting Room with our school community! This comprehensive online directory connects individuals and families to a wide range of services, support, and resources in areas such as health, wellbeing, leisure, education, and more.

Whether you’re looking for mental health support, advice on family services, or activities to enjoy with your children, The Waiting Room is a fantastic place to start. It’s accessible, easy to use, and designed to help you find the support and information you need.

Visit The Waiting Room to explore everything it has to offer: https://the-waitingroom.org/

Pastoral Drop -In Sessions

We wanted to remind parents and careers that the Pastoral Team are available every Tuesday afternoon 3:30pm- 4:30pm. It may be that you require additional support and advice, want to drop in for a coffee and a chat, or just to find out more about what we do. We can offer a ‘listening ear,’ strategies and practical advice. There is no need to make an appointment and all are welcome. We want to ensure that the team is available to all of our families and this is one of the ways we are working towards achieving this.

Pause

This week we wanted to highlight the local Wellbeing and Mental Health Service ’Pause.’

Pause is a service delivered by The Children's Society, in partnership with Forward Thinking Birmingham. They provide free advice and support on a range of issues around Mental Health for parents and carers who are concerned about their child or young person’s wellbeing. You don’t need an appointment and Pause drop-ins happen at different places or 'Hubs' each day. 

Hubs are located in Digbeth, Erdington, Northfield and Sparkbrook.

For more information their website can be accessed via the following link: https://forwardthinkingbirmingham.nhs.uk/pause/.Pause also run workshops for young people and their families.  

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/pause-art-workshops-3378759

Finally, we would love to showcase our children and their pets on our Pastoral Board in ‘The Den,’ home of our guinea pigs Dolly and Hillary. Photos can be sent to our pastoral email [email protected].

The Team can be contacted via our email address or through the main school office.  Please don’t hesitate to get in touch

Have a rested and joyful weekend

Love The Pastoral Team xx 

We will be on Week 1 next week.

Don't forget to pre-book your child's meal option on Arbor! (Packed Lunch included!)

PTA 2024 Review and AGM

Last Friday we had the PTA AGM, an important part of charitable organisation's calendar. It was the best attended AGM in many years and testament to the support there is amongst the Parent community for us to carry on doing what we do.

We reviewed the 2024 activities and set the scene for 25. The key highlights are:

• During 2024, the support you showed the PTA activities enabled £10,500 to be made available to the school
• This includes £1000 match funding from a Parent's employer in return for them volunteering their time to the PTA.
• This is broadly in line with 2023, better than 2022 and way better than previous years during Covid.
• The £10,500 made available from 2024 is on top of the £25,000 made available from previous years, and the £10,000 grant that was secured by Mr Rogers during the year from the Cadburys.
• We have got a consistent and reliable set of events that can only happen with your continued support in allowing your kids to get involved and coming to the events, as Parents and as a family groups, where applicable. So thank you! Please keep that support going in 2025 and beyond!
• We have released ALL PTA events into the School Calendar https://www.bournvillevillageprimary.org.uk/Page/Calendar  including ALL Discos, Easter events, Quiz, Leavers events all the way up to Christmas Fair in 45 weeks, on 6^th Dec 2025.
• We formally established various Teams that over 200 parents are already are part of on WhatsApp... Reception Disco (evolving), Yr1 Disco (20 members), Yr2/3 Disco (33), Yr4/5/6 Disco (45), Yr6 Leavers (45 members), Core Team (17), School Shop (14) and PTA Events Team for ex-pupils and parents to remain in contact after leaving.
• The following elected Committee Members form the official Charity Commission team:
• David (Chair)
• Becki (Co-Chair, in line with legacy plan)
• Veronica (Treasurer), with Magda shadowing for a year with the intention to take on the role from Jan 2026 onwards
• Along with all the other Teams (as listed above) and other that join, it secures the future of the PTA well into 2029 and beyond.

All of these activities are not only to make fun things happen around School, but also to help the School with available funds to allocate to important activities within school that promote personal development and character building of children through new experiences. 

Getting involved

If you want to get more involved in School life (which includes engaging with the PTA) then there are things that you can do:

• Come along to ANY of the PTA events and meet the team that is running it
• Find any of the PTA Core Team members in the playground - you can email [email protected] first if you want to agree a convenient time and location
• Join one of the Teams (listed above). It’s a great way to meet likeminded Parents focusing on events (leaving Class WhatsApp groups for day-to-day school chat), and there is no way the events would happen without these groups.
• Find out if your employer allows paid time off to volunteer at a charity of your choice - and make the PTA your charity of your choice!

Big Garden Birdwatch

If you were able to pick up your free bird seed from School today, the link you need is https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch to participate in the Big Garden Birdwatch.

2025 Dates

We have released ALL PTA events into the School Calendar https://www.bournvillevillageprimary.org.uk/Page/Calendar including ALL Discos, Easter events, Quiz, Leavers events all the way up to Christmas Fair in 45 weeks, on 6th Dec 2025. Take a look and get them into your calendars. We will continue to add events for each term to the calendar at the top of the newsletter, marked with "PTA".

And finally...

Today has been super windy but fortunately not too wet! Bearing in mind the very changeable weather, please ensure your children are coming to school with a coat so they stay warm and dry (and make sure coats are named!).

We hope storm Eowyn settles down soon and that you all manage some fresh air over the weekend.

Take care all and see you on Monday!

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...