Autumn Term 2018

Burghfield St Mary’s Primary School

Our School Values of ‘RESPECT’ are constantly reinforced with the children, parents help at

home in con�nuing this does make a huge difference. We look to ensure that all of our children

are not only independent learners but are also responsible ci�zens that support their

community.

The Aliens have landed!!

Our ‘Awesome Aliens’ topic kicked off with a crash landing on our

school field last weekend. The children were so excited to see it.

Luckily our local Community

Police were close by to help

secure the crash site, and help

make some enquiries. WPCSO

Sue and PCSO Aaron were able

to join us for the Monday

morning assembly and also

visit the classes to discuss the

crash landing. Our huge thanks to Aaron

and Sue for making �me to support our

school and visit the children in their clas-

ses. It really did help provide a touch of

realism to the event. Also on hand was

Hayley Sco0 (ex-Met scenes of crime

inves�gator, theforensicexperi-

ence@gmail.com), she helped the

children text the alien blood and fingers

prints.

The work produced by the children has been amazing, they have really been inspired by the

Alien crash landing. Good luck to my staff in topping this next term.

Sadly we are saying farewell to Melissa Ross (one of our longest serving Teaching Assistants).

Melissa has taken the difficult decision to step down from her role to support her family. She

has been a huge part of our school for many years and she will be missed by staff and children

alike. We are hoping that in the near future Melissa will be visi�ng our school and catching up

with the children’s progress.

Good luck to a number of our girls who are compe�ng in a dance compe��on this weekend—

we look forward to hearing about your achievements.

Autumn Term 1 Newsletter

Friday 5th October 2018

Headteacher

Antony Gallagher

Tel: 0118 9836387

Fax: 0118 9832957

Email:

office@burghfield.

w-berks.sch.uk

www.burghfield.

w-berks.sch.uk

Twitter:

@BSMPrimary

Page 2 Autumn 1 2018

As parents, the support you provide for your child(ren) at home is crucial. I would encourage all of our parents to regularly

read with their child. It does make a huge difference to your child’s progress in school. The more you read at home with

your child then the more progress at school they WILL make. Last term we had a staff training day exploring ‘Improving

children’s reading’ using Pie Corbe0’s Talk for Reading. Above is an extract from the training. Basically it implies that

children that aren’t read with make significantly less progress, and are in the bo0om 10% of children Na�onally. Those

children that are listened to everyday DO make significantly more progress and may end up in the top 10% Na�onally.

Please, please, please read with your child at home. The difference it will make to their educa�on is MASSIVE.

Support at Burghfield St Mary’s

The Na�onal Curriculum introduced two years ago ‘raised the bar’ for school expecta�ons of their children. Each

year group now has set targets that need to be met for reading, wri�ng and maths (please see school website—

classes). If the children do not reach these targets then they are classified as ‘Working Towards’, in effect working

below the expecta�ons for their age. At BSM the support for individuals and groups happens within the class/

lesson. My teachers directly support the children with the assistance of the Teaching Assistants. Those children

that struggle to reach the Government targets do need extra support outside of the curriculum �me. Unfortu-

nately, some families are unable to provide that support at home for their children, as such we make addi�onal

�me available for them to complete their homework. As well as the homework club, we will also be providing

support group work for children in years 3, 4 and 5 before the start of the school day. The children will be invited

to a0end by their class teacher. We also have children that provide extra support at lunch �me (missing their

break) for the ‘Toy Shop’. The year 5 children volunteer their �me to enable younger children to enjoy their

lunch�me play. The year 6 also provide support in the hall at lunch �mes.

Dates for Diaries

Sunday 7th October—Harvest Service @ St Mary’s Church

Monday 8th October—Phonics Meeting

Thursday 11th October 10 a.m.—Harvest Service @ Church—whole school

Thursday 11th October—Crosfields Football Tournament (Years 3 & 4)

Monday 15th October 7:30 pm—School Association Meeting

Thursday 18th October—3:30—5:00—Cinema Night Peter Rabbit

MONDAY 22ND — MONDAY 29TH OCTOBER HALF TERM HOLIDAY

Monday 29th October—Staff Inset

Tuesday 30th October—Pupils return to school

Wednesday 31st October—Closing date for secondary school applications (Y6)

Wednesday 31st October—Junior Music Festival rehearsal (Year 3)

Wednesday 31st October—Flu Nasal Vaccinations (Years R, 1, 2 , 3, 4 & 5)

Friday 2nd November—Non-Uniform Day (bottles for Xmas Fayre Tombola)

Wednesday 14th November—Rags 2 Riches Clothing collection (recycling)

Wednesday 14th Novembe 9:1 am—Oboe performance in assembly

Saturday 1st December— 11 am—2 pm Christmas Fayre

As men�oned in the front page, we aim to help our children become independent, resilient and

responsible members of our school community.

Children (and adults) will become anxious at �mes, this is only natural. As adults, it is our responsibility

to guide them through their anxious �mes. This term we will be working with external specialists to

teach the children strategies to reduce their anxie�es and gain resilience.

Your support of our School Values will help the children succeed. Thank you for your con�nued sup-

port. If you have any individual worries please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Parking & U-Turns Please can we ask that all parents and carers be mindful of careful driving outside the school gates and also remind eve-

ryone that the lay-by (by the car park) is for dropping off only in the mornings. If you need to park please can you move

further down the road. School Road needs to be kept free of school traffic, it's one of our 'Safe' crossing points for the

children.

Help keep our children safe, please use the entrance to Green Farm to turn around.

Those parents that perform U-turns outside the school risk hi2ng our children.

Park Safe - Drive Smart

Please report any incidents you witness to the police, and if possible take a photo/ video of the incident. This will allow

the police to deal with the motoring offence.