Friends of Bitham Brook School Registered Charity No. 01073776

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

20 September 2023 Friends of Bitham Brook (FOBBS) Annual General Meeting (AGM)

 

I hereby give notice of the FOBBS AGM, to be held on Friday, 13 October at 3.30pm in the main hall.

 

FOBBS plays a vital part in the school community and all parents/carers are invited to support the AGM. This is your chance to hear and see how the funds you have helped to raise have been used for the benefit of the children at our school.

 

The AGM is also an opportunity for you to elect the FOBBS Committee, to represent the association throughout the forthcoming year. Nominations should be sent in advance of the AGM, for existing committee members willing to stand for re-election and for anyone wishing to stand as an Officer or Ordinary Committee Member, for the first time. Please sign up on the sheet on the front door of the school.

 

If you would like any further information about what is involved in being a Committee Member, or volunteer, please speak to a member of FOBBS. As our PTA is a registered charity, all committee members automatically become Trustees of the Charity.

 

If you are unable to attend the meeting, but wish to be a part of FOBBS, please let us know by either leaving a message with the office with your contact details, or sending us an email FriendsofBithamBrook01@outlook.com. I look forward to seeing you on Friday, 13 October 2023.

 

Regards

Sarah Lawson Chair

Will your child be transferring to a Secondary school in September 2024?

 

You must apply for a school place by 12 midnight, 31st October 2023.

 

Apply online at https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk or complete a form, available from all Wiltshire Council offices.

We are delighted to be able to offer the following clubs for Terms 1 and 2.  Having listened to feedback, we have split many of the clubs into single terms with the aim of allowing more children the opportunity to participate. Clubs in Term 1 will run from Monday 4^th September – Thursday 13^th October (6 weeks), and clubs in Term 2 will run from Monday 30^th October - Thursday 14^th December (7 weeks).

We are pleased to introduce a new Bitham Rangers club. Just like the Girl Guiding and Scout Association, we believe that children develop most when they are "learning by doing" and when they are having fun. Rangers club will introduce children to a whole range of activities, sports, crafts and lots of other things too.  All will lead to new skills and growing confidence.

Further clubs for younger year groups will follow later in the year, plus boys football club.  Please keep an eye on Parentmail for any notifications.

If your child would like to apply for a place in any of the clubs, please purchase the relevant payment item available in Parentmail / Payments / Shop.  Places are purchasable on a first-come first-served basis.  To give all children a fair chance, the payment items will go live at 7 pm Friday 21^st July 2023.  Clubs will be at a cost of £1 per week and will be charged per term. The fee you pay goes directly towards covering the costs of running the clubs, materials and specialist coaches.  Our aim is to continue to provide more after school clubs each term, so children have an even broader range of activities to try.

If you are able to successfully purchase a club, then it means your child will have a place. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of available places then you will be able to join a waiting list, by selecting that option in the Shop. Confirmation of your child’s place in a club will be sent via Parentmail prior to the start of Term 1.

Unfortunately, if your child cannot attend for any reason, we will not be able to offer a refund.  Please ensure you check the options carefully before purchasing to ensure you haven’t double-booked!  Due to bad weather or staff absence, clubs sometimes need to be cancelled.  When this happens, we will inform you as soon as we can so please keep an eye on Parentmail for any notifications.

As we ask for payment to be made termly in advance, we appreciate that you will have paid for clubs even if they are cancelled. We will be charging 1 week less per club in case any clubs need to be cancelled throughout the term. For example, if the club runs for 6 weeks, the club will cost £5.00.

If your child is attending a sports/active club, they need to bring their PE kits to school on the day of their club. They will have the opportunity to change in school before their club.

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following feedback, we will be making some small changes to our drop in and read sessions to give parents and carers more opportunity to look at and talk to the children about their learning. From Monday 15th May we will be holding Children’s book look sessions each week for children in years 1-6.

 

Parents and carers are invited to come into class with their child to look at their learning from 8.35-8.45am. Each week will focus on learning from a different area of our curriculum. Often, throughout the term, children will produce Art or DT projects. At the end of the projects, parents and carers will be invited into school by class teachers to view the children’s final pieces of work. Now that our Reception children have settled in to school, we will be extending the drop in and read sessions to Reception parents and carers. You will be able to come into your child’s classroom from 8.35am and spend time reading with your child prior to morning registration at 8.45am.

 

Please find below details of the days each year group will be holding their drop in and read/book look session, along with a schedule of the areas of curriculum that will be available for you to view.

 

If you have any queries, please send an email to the relevant phase leader account. KS1- ks1phaseleaders@bithambrook.wilts.sch.uk.

KS2- Ks2phaseleaders@bithambrook.wilts.sch.uk

 

We are very much looking forward to the FOBBS Easter Fayre that will be taking place on Friday 31st March 2023 at 3.15pm, and we hope that many of you will be able to join us. The Easter fayre will include a number of stalls and fun activates for the children to take part in. There will be a chocolate tombola, Easter trail, and the Easter bonnet competition and parade to name a few.

 

The event will take place in the main school playground, with stalls situated under the shelters outside of the classrooms. The school gates will open as normal at 3.05pm to allow parents/carers to collect their children from school. The rear gate situated by the school field, and the year 1 gate situated at the main school entrance will then be locked at 3.25pm. The front gate situated at the bike sheds will remain open for the duration of the fayre to allow people to enter and exit the event. Please note that there will be no access to toilets during the fayre.

 

We need to make you aware that as the front gate will remain open for the duration of the event, the site will not be secure and therefore we cannot accommodate unsupervised children. Children wishing to attend the fayre must be accompanied by a parent or carer and remain the responsibility of the parent/carer for the duration of the event. We would also like to note that in terms of safety, children are not permitted access to the play equipment situated in the school playground. If your child has permission to walk home alone from school, they will be released from school as normal. If they wish to attend the fayre, they must do so by returning to school with a responsible adult.

 

If your child wishes to take part in the Easter bonnet competition, they should bring their bonnets to school with them on Friday morning. If they wish to take part in the Easter bonnet parade, they should report to the netball court straight after being released from their class at the end of the school day. We would like to take this opportunity to gently remind parents and carers that they should not take or share any photos or videos that contain any children other than their own.

 

Thank you for your continued support

We are delighted to be able to offer the following clubs for Terms 5 and 6. Having listened to feedback, we have split many of the clubs into terms with the aim of allowing more children the opportunity to participate. Clubs in term 5 will run from Monday 17th April – Thursday 26th May (6 weeks), and clubs in term 6 clubs will run from Wednesday 7th JuneThursday 13th July (6 weeks). There are also a number of KS2 clubs that will run for the duration of both terms 5 & 6.

 

If your child would like to apply for a place in any of the clubs, please purchase the relevant payment item available in Parentmail / Payments / Shop. Places are purchasable on a first-come first-served basis. To give all children a fair chance, the payment items will go live at 7 pm on Friday 24th March 2022.

 

Clubs will be at a cost of £1 per week and will be charged per term. The fee you pay goes directly towards covering the costs of running the clubs, materials and specialist coaches. Our aim is to continue to provide more after school clubs each term, so children have an even broader range of activities to try. If you are able to successfully purchase a club, then it means your child will have a place. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of available places then you will be able to join a waiting list, by selecting that option in the Shop.

 

Confirmations of your child’s place in a club will be sent via Parentmail prior to the start of term 5. Unfortunately, if your child cannot attend for any reason, we will not be able to offer a refund. Please ensure you check the options carefully before purchasing to ensure you haven’t double-booked. Due to bad weather or staff absence, clubs sometimes need to be cancelled. When this happens, we will inform you as soon as we can so please keep an eye on Parentmail for any notifications.

 

As we ask for payment to be made termly in advance, we appreciate that you will have paid for clubs even if they are cancelled. We will be charging 1 week less per club in case any clubs need to be cancelled throughout the term. For example if the club runs for 6 weeks, the club will cost £5.00. If your child is attending a sports club, they need to bring their PE kits to school on the day of their club. They will have the opportunity to change in school before their club.

On Friday 17th March, we will join the nation to raise money for Comic Relief. We are inviting children to wear non school uniform for the day, and to wear something red or spotty.

 

If you are able to provide a donation, we would recommend a donation of £1. All donations will be collected by class teachers in the morning and all the money raised will be sent to Comic Relief.

 

Please see the enclosed some of the wonderful posters created by Pupil Voice for further information on this event. 

As part of our understanding the world topic, we have arranged for our reception class children to visit Westbury Pottery.

 

During our visit we will be exploring the role of a potter and learning first-hand how materials change. We will also be linking the visit with our expressive arts and design curriculum by using clay to create texture. We will visit the pottery in small groups to watch a pottery demonstration. The children will then work in pairs to get hands on and model clay to create models of each other’s faces. The pottery will then kindly fire the children’s creations in the kiln to be sent home with them at a later date.

 

Mrs Kennedy and Mrs Keay’s class will be visiting the pottery on the morning of Wednesday 8th March. Mrs Barnett and Mrs Trypanis’ class will visit the pottery on the morning of Wednesday the 22nd of March. There will be a small charge of £3.50 per child for this trip. Payments can be made by visiting Parentmail/Payment/Shop and searching for ‘Reception class Pottery Visit’.

 

If you have any queries, please contact KS1Phaseleaders@bithambrook.wilts.sch.uk. Kind regards, Foundation Stage Team

We are very excited to announce that Onjali Q Rauf will be visiting our Year 5 and 6 children on Tuesday 7th March. Onjali is an award winning and bestselling children’s author. Her books are especially noteworthy for helping the children of today understand and deal with a range of issues in a narrative that they can relate to in an engaging way. Her debut book, The Boy at the Back of the Class, was met with critical acclaim whose awards include the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award and Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. This is a Year 6 text that the children thoroughly enjoyed reading.

 

After her talk, Onjali will be doing a book signing. Onjali Rauf’s ‘The Lion above the door will be available to purchase at a discounted price of £4.50. In order for the day to run smoothly, we ask that if you wish to purchase a copy of the book that orders are placed via the ParentMail app. The book can be purchased by going to ParentMail/Payments/Shop and searching for ‘The Lion above the door- Book purchase’. If you wish to have a copy of the book signed by Onjali Rauf, your order must be placed by 12.00pm on Monday 6th March. You will still be able to place orders for this book after this deadline, but unfortunately they will not be able to be signed. If you have any queries please email KS2Phaseleaders@bithambrook.wilts.sch.uk.