Welcome to your newsletter for week ending February 14th

We've finished the half term with our Wellbeing Day- children have been engaged in activities focusing on The Five Ways to Wellbeing (and hopefully they will be able to tell you what these are!) 

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Parents' Evening this week- we hope you found your appointments with teachers useful and you have a good idea of how your children are doing, now we have reached the half way point of the academic year. As we have mentioned several times, we are wanting to improve the way we keep families informed on how children are doing and at the last Parent Voice meeting, we started to discuss possible ways to do this better (details around the discussions can be found on the Parent Voice page of the website here. We are keen to get more feedback and find parents who are happy to contribute to discussions and be 'guinea pigs' for trialling new strategies- if you would be interested in helping us with this, please email us via [email protected]

During Parent's Evening you may have seen the City of Diversity to City of Empire travelling exhibition in the George Hall. This is the start of a series of events in school where selected year groups will engage in art and drama workshops all around celebrating the diversity of our city... these will culminate to form the focus of our second 'Celebrating our Cultures' day in April.

After half term we have this term's 'Stay and Learn' sessions- have a look on the website calendar here for more details. 

Read on to find out what we've been up to and what's coming up next half term. 

What's Coming Up

Values Of The Week

Today the teachers presented the Values Champion Award to the following children for demonstrating Integrity.

Staying Safe when Out and About...

As the days get a little longer and the evenings a little lighter, please remind your children about ways to stay safe whilst walking to/ from school or when out and about on their own or with friends. 

Identifying safe places along the route children might take, or near the place they will be playing is a good starting point. Also talking to children about what they would do if they felt worried about someone nearby is important. In school we teach children to shout, go into a shop or if needed, go to an adult who is out and about with their family/ other children. Finally, we strongly recommend that children walk to and from school or each others houses in pairs or groups.

Congratulations to this week's Attendance Armadillo winners!

Wellbeing Activity

Today 5S did a mindful colouring activity for Wellbeing day. Just take a look at their wonderful creation...

Table Tennis Champ!

Last Sunday one of our very own BVP pupils, H won second place in Birmingham Schools Table Tennis Competition for under 11 years. A HUGE well done to you H, BVP are very proud of you! 

World Book Day

This year, we are celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 6^th March.

This year the theme is Read Your Way which encourages everyone to let go of reading pressures and expectations and empowers children and young people to have fun discovering reading on their own terms. In this way, reading can become something children choose to do rather than feeing that reading is something they have to do.

It would not be World Book Day without our children (and staff!) dressing up!  We hope that this will help our pupils recommend books to each other and express their own reading identity. This year we have several options:

• a favourite book character
• an outfit reflecting a non-fiction (fact) book that they enjoy
• to wear or carry a clue to a particular book or genre they enjoy

Children will be welcome to share their reading choices with their class on the day, so they can bring a copy of a book with them.

Wherever possible, please use what you already have at home rather than buying new costumes.  With a little imagination, you and your child can have great fun sharing ideas and putting together their outfit or creating their object as a clue.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] 

As part of our celebration of reading in school, each year group will be learning and reciting a poem to share with the rest of the school. We have included copies of the poems for each year group below so you can share them with your children over the half term break if you wish.

Parents' Diversity Working Party Meeting

Please see below for the next virtual Diversity meeting. If you wish to attend the meeting, please email Jogita at [email protected] for a teams link.

Wednesday 19^th March 2025 – 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Wednesday 7^th May 2025 – 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Wednesday 18^th June 2025 – 6.00pm to 7.00pm

SEND Survey Code

Thank you to the families who completed the SEND survey, advertised during this week's parents' evenings. If you did not get the chance, please scan the QR code below to complete Mrs May's SEND survey. 

Please see the link below which gives information on 'Ordinarily Available Guidance' which some families may find useful:

https://www.localofferbirmingham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Ordinarily-Available-Guidance.pdf 

Y5 Maths Competition

On Friday 31st Jan, four of our brilliant Y5 mathematicians went to King Edward's School to participate in a maths competition against six other local schools. They took part in two rounds - a cross-number puzzle and a relay event, solving difficult mathematical puzzles by using their reasoning and problem-solving skills. Our girls did amazingly well against some strong competition, and although we didn't qualify for the next round this time, they can feel very proud of their achievements. Well done, girls!

NSPCC Rocks!

Last Friday, KS2 children entered the NSPCC Rocks competition on TT Rock Stars, competing against schools all over the country as part of Number Day. It was great to see so many children enthusiastic and motivated to answer as many questions as possible! We finished 228^th out of over 3,600 schools that took part, putting us in the top 6% of schools nationally, and were the 23rd best school in the West Midlands! Below are the results within BVP:

Well done to everyone who took part! Keep practising your tables and let's aim even higher in the next competition!

Safer Internet Day

Tuesday was Safer Internet Day.  To acknowledge this day, staff have had conversations with your children about how to stay safe online.  They have discussed the rules of SMART.  If you would like any advice in helping your child stay safe online, please visit this website: https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/get-help/

Reception

An ‘amazing’ book celebrating friendship and being yourself with a positive message about celebrating diversity.

Year 1

A happy book that teaches about the unique and wonderful qualities that make children who they are.

Year 2

Told through the eyes of a 7 year old girl, the book explores the adventures she has with her ‘Nana’.`

Year 3

A girl with a quest to help the Yeti and his family from Tibet to her home in England. Will they make it without trouble?

Year 4

Take a sniff at this super-agent in training, who can tell if you are telling the truth. A funny book full of jokes, superhero references and the occasional “toot”. Look out for Bob the Goldfish!

Year 5

A multi award winning classic about a refugee who has ran away from war. A fantastic book about friendship and kindness in a world that doesn’t make sense.

Year 6

Sink your teeth into this award-winning book about a boy and his mother living at the top of a tower block. Little did they know, something strange has started to take over the building. Will they be able to get out?

We will be on Week 1 after half term week.

Don't forget to pre-book your child's meal option on Arbor! (even if your child is having a Packed Lunch) 

Top Tip: When selecting your meal choice, tick "Pick for all future available dates" to confirm your selection until the end of term!

Great news! The MUGA is open and being well used by the kids for a range of activities across all classes/groups at BVP. This includes P.E lessons, break and lunch time sports activities, pastoral sessions, and mentoring/coaching sessions. In addition to structured school time activities, the facilities are also being used for After School Club, sports coaching sessions and community usage. It has been a welcomed and much needed addition to the school facilities, and we look forward to all children, families, staff and community groups being able to reap the benefits of such a fantastic space for years to come.

Thanks for all your support over the years that have helped make this improvement to the School experience happen. It's the single biggest contribution to physical infrastructure that the PTA have made in memory, and we should be proud of the legacy that has been left for the current and future members of the school community.

School Shop & Donations

We opened the School Shop today and despite the cold it was a good atmosphere with music, ice creams, uniform and books available to mark the end of the half term (and halfway through the academic year!).

If you are doing a bit of a uniform sort out during half term, we would welcome good quality clean uniform that you no longer need donated to the Shop to keep the stock refreshed. We open again on 28^th February to receive your donations, as well as open the Shop as normal. If everything goes to plan we will be joined by some of our wonderful Year 6 pupils who are raising funds for Birmingham Children's Hospice.

The Big Book Giveaway is well received, so please do donate any unwanted books as well!

The School Pastoral Team have also put a call out for unused toys/cars/car related toys and wooden building blocks to be donated. You can drop these off at the Shop as well if that is more convenient and we will get them into the Pastoral Team.

Upcoming Events

After taking a bit of a break this half term, we ramp up PTA activities after half term with Discos for each year group. It'll be the first disco for the new Reception class, and we think they have settled in well and are ready! All tickets are £2.50 and available on Arbor now.

Reception Spring Disco (25th March 2025) - Elizabeth Hall, 15:20-16:30 & Yr 1 Spring Disco (26th March 2025) - Elizabeth Hall, 15:20-16:30

Teachers will escort those that have bought tickets on Arbor to the Hall straight after School. We will provide squash and a snack to keep them going. Please pick up from Elizabeth Hall at 16:30. You will be asked to come into the Hall and follow the one-way system out with your child. This will help us dismiss safely after the Disco.

Yr 2/3 Spring Disco (27th March 2025) - George Hall, 15:20-17:00

Teachers will escort those that have bought tickets on Arbor to the Hall straight after School. Own clothes can be bought into school to get changed into at the end of the day. There will be a paid for tuck shop, as well as water available throughout. Please pick up from George at 17:00. You will be asked to come into the Hall and follow the one-way system out with your child (just like last time). This will help us dismiss safely after the Disco.

Yr 4/5/6 Spring Disco (27th March 2025) - George Hall, 18:00-19:30

There will be a paid for tuck shop, as well as water available throughout. Please pick up from the George Hall at 19:30.

Please note...!

Unfortunately we had some inappropriate behaviour at some of the Christmas Discos last term. Whilst we want all children attending to relax, enjoy themselves and have lots of fun, we still have the same behaviour expectations at the Discos, as we do for children during the school day, especially kindness towards others and respect for our school building, resources and general environment. 

If behaviour falls short of our expectations, children will be asked to leave and the chance to come along to future discos will be at risk. Please support school and the PTA by reminding children of these expectations so that everyone can have a really enjoyable experience. Thankyou.

And finally...

Thank you for all your support and feedback for far this year- it's all very helpful and helps keep us on track for giving our children the very best educational experience.

We hope that you all manage to have a few extra special moments with your children over the half term break- don't hesitate to get in touch via the head@ email if you need anything.

Take care all and we look forward to seeing you on Monday 24th!

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...

Bournville & Cotteridge Ward Forum Meeting - 20th March 6pm - Woodlands Park Hall

The next ward meeting for Bournville & Cotteridge ward has been confirmed for Thursday 20^th March at Woodlands Park Hall, Woodlands Park Road, Birmingham, B30 1HA starting at 6.00pm.