Newsletter

Head Teacher's Welcome

Welcome back to another exciting and busy half term! 

We are excited to welcome Imogen Mullen to our Four Plus sessions, who has proven herself ready to take on the whole school experience. She will be joined after Easter by many more Four Plus children on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

Visits and Visitors

We are looking forward to welcoming some exciting visitors and taking part in several activities to tie in with our topic week on China (see 'China Week' below for more details).

Parent Appointments

We will be continuing to hold parent appointments this half term. A letter was sent out before we broke up with appointment requests – if you have not already had a meeting and would like one, please return this slip to the school office. We will confirm your appointment via email.

World Book Day

Just a reminder that we will be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 6th March 2025. This will be a Non-Uniform Day and we would like to invite the children to come to school dressed up as any character from a book. It would be good to discuss with your child different characters from their favourite books, as the dressing-up possibilities are endless – Oliver Twist, Fantastic Mr Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Danny the Champion of the World, Matilda, Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Twits, Cinderella, Gruffalo, Harry Potter etc. Reading different books every evening in preparation would be great, so get thinking and reading! The children can also bring in a favourite book from home to share with their class.

World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading, especially for children. To help get them started on their reading journey, every child will receive a £1.00 World Book Day Book token that can be exchanged for any of the special £1.00 World Book Day books on offer in good booksellers (see the poster in the entrance hall for the titles of these – there is something for everyone). The token can also be used to get £1.00 off any book costing £2.99 or more and can be redeemed at most UK bookshops. Please help your child to use it on or around World Book Day by visiting your local bookshop.

China Week

As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, we always hold an annual ‘topic week’ which this year is focusing on China and will take place the week commencing 17th March 2025. We have lots of exciting things planned:

Chinese Dragon Dance Workshop – To kick start the week, we have arranged for Primary Workshops for Schools to come into school on Monday 17th March 2025 to hold a traditional Chinese Dragon Dance workshop for the children. This ancient dance is a dynamic celebration that brings communities together with its powerful movements and colourful costumes and is one of the most anticipated events of Lunar New Year celebrations. The dance symbolizes strength and prosperity and is performed on auspicious occasions and wards off evil spirits and welcomes good fortune. A professional dancer will work with all the children on the traditional Fan and Umbrella dances, as well as the Chinese Dragon Dance complete with authentic props. There will be three separate workshops for our respective classes, followed by a performance at the end of the day which we would be delighted to welcome parents to attend. A letter with further details about this workshop will be sent out soon.   

Visit from Pok U Chan – Poku U, who owns the Yeung Sing restaurant in Bingham, is very kindly coming to visit us on Tuesday 18th March 2025. Pok U will bring a selection of her Chinese dresses, talk to the children about the area in China she is from and all about her role as owner of a busy Chinese restaurant.

Chinese Cooking – On Tuesday 18th March 2025, Mr Deach, Mr Miller and Miss Cox will be leading a Chinese cooking session for the children who attend our after school Creative Club. Further information about this activity will be provided nearer the time.

Learning Chinese – In place of the weekly Spanish lessons, all the children will be learning some basic Mandarin with Mr Deach and Mr Miller. This will include greetings, numbers and age.

The Conqueror Challenge – Throughout the week the children will be participating in 'The Conqueror Challenge', a virtual fitness challenge, in place of their PE lessons. The challenge offers a variety of routes around the world, including famous places and routes, so to tie in with the topic week the children will do a virtual trek of the Great Wall of China. The Conqueror app tracks their progress along the route. The children will view postcards at milestones with information about the Great Wall and a medal is available for completing the challenge. For more information about the challenge please visit https://www.theconqueror.events/greatwall/ or contact Mrs Newcombe.  

Dressing-Up Day – On Thursday 20th March 2025 we will be having a Chinese-themed dressing-up day. Children and staff must come to school dressed in anything related to China – this can range from traditional Chinese dress, a Chinese prince/princess, a samurai, a geisha, Disney’s Mulan, an animal relating to the Chinese Zodiac or just anything red and yellow – all ideas welcome! We thought we would make this a fun competition for the children and three prizes will be awarded – staff will choose their favourite costume from each class and the ones with the most votes will win the prizes.

Mrs Miller's Themed Lunch – To round off the week on Friday 21st March 2025, Liz Miller is very kindly preparing a Chinese lunch for all the children, so no packed lunches will be required this day. The lunch will consist of a simple, basic sweet and sour chicken recipe with rice and prawn crackers. Dessert options will be a selection of traditional Chinese biscuits. If you would prefer for your child not to participate, please bring a packed lunch to school as normal.

We do hope the children will benefit from all these experiences and find this a really exciting and educational week! We will display the poster below in the parent noticeboard and we will send an email reminder too.

School Uniform and Possessions

Just a reminder particularly to newer families that we do stock some badged winter/summer hats, school ties and PE bags at school, so please email the office if you would like to buy any of these items. The prices are:

Winter hat: £10.00
Summer hat: £5.00
School tie: £7.00
PE bag: £10.00

We also keep a set of badged blazers at school (one in each size) for you to try on your child if you require a new one. You can then make an online order and the blazer will be supplied to you.

Please can you ensure that all items of children’s clothing and equipment are clearly marked with your child’s name, particularly garments that are taken off regularly such as coats, jumpers, cardigans etc. We endeavour to ensure children change for PE in their own place and put their things into their own bags, however we often end up with several unnamed garments that are the same, making identifying the rightful owner a little difficult. Any items of lost property are placed in the utility storeroom, however these can only be returned if named. Any unclaimed uniform will be displayed at the Spring Fayre, so please do check to see if there are any missing items that belong to your children.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Girls Wearing Trousers

Whilst on the subject of school uniform, the School Council meet once each half term and come up with ideas that they would like the school to implement. As you can imagine, the children come up with some wide and varied ideas – some which are doable and others not so! The idea of the girls being allowed to wear trousers during the winter months was raised and this is something we have agreed to initiate.

From after the October half term through to the Easter holidays, the girls can now wear grey school trousers instead of the grey pinafore if they wish. However, from after Easter for the Summer Term and the first half of the Autumn Term, the usual school summer dress will still be the required uniform.

School Council

As we have mentioned the School Council, a new committee has been voted in this half term – congratulations to Loveday, Frank, Louisa, Paddy, Charlie and Jasper who will all now represent their respective classes.

Funds raised by the Council are used to improve equipment and resources to enhance the children’s education and the school facilities. Current funds raised this academic year so far have gone towards purchasing some further den equipment at the previous Council’s request. We do hope the new members will continue to be active with our fundraising and they are already looking forward to planning our Spring Fayre in April. Parents can also contribute to our Council fund any time through the spare change tin in the school office.

Thank you very much for your support and if parents have any suggestions you wish to put forward to the Council, please contact Mr Miller or Mr Deach.

'Starbooks'

We are introducing a new reward system called ‘Starbooks’ in school as suggested by our previous School Council members. The idea behind ‘Starbooks’ is to encourage reading at home. To be a part of ‘Starbooks’, the children will be required to read at home three times a week, with a parental comment and signature in their reading records. The children with three signatures and comments will then be treated to a hot chocolate at the end of the day on a Friday afternoon.

We will alternate ‘Starbooks’ weekly by the classes – invitations will be sent out to the relevant class in assembly on a Friday, so parents are aware which class is due to read at home the following week.

We hope that the children will be more than willing to read at home with this in place!

Holidays In Term Time

Just a polite request that where possible, please could family trips be arranged in the school holidays or out of school hours. We understand there are some rare occasions where there may be a family celebration, or parents have to travel abroad for work, and we are always happy to honour these circumstances. The request is purely to ensure that disruption to the children’s education is minimised. Thank you for your co-operation.

Reading/Spelling Books

Just a polite reminder that the children need to bring their reading books every day please. We like the children to read in school at least three times a week so we would appreciate your co-operation in ensuring that they have their books with them. Spelling books are also required in school for the children’s spelling tests every Friday. Thank you.

Talent Show

Just a reminder that on Thursday 3rd April 2025, we are holding our annual Talent Show at Colston Bassett Village Hall, beginning at 2:00pm. All the children will take part in an Easter-themed song and this will be rehearsed in school. Children who attend the afterschool clubs will be rehearsing an act relevant to each club to perform with their fellow club peers. Children who have one-to-one music tuition will also be encouraged to perform their instrument, either as a soloist or as a duet with Mrs Oldfield. The children will not be judged for these acts.

As in previous years, we invite the children to perform an additional act of their own choosing. They can work individually or within a group. For these individual/group acts, there will be two trophies available – one awarded to an act from Key Stage 2 and one to an act from Reception/Key Stage 1. The winners will be decided by an independent judging panel consisting of School Directors Liz Miller and John Miller, who are really looking forward to an exciting and entertaining afternoon!

We do hope to see everyone there and please feel free to invite other members of your families and friends to come along too. Please note we will also be holding the DAaRT graduation for the Year 5 and 6 children on this same afternoon.

Spring Fayre/Easter Bonnet Parade

On Friday 4th April 2025, the last day of the Spring Term, we will be holding a Spring Fayre at school. The fayre will commence at 9:00am  in the school building straight after morning drop-off. The School Council will be organising and managing the stalls which will include a tombola, ‘Guess the Number of Eggs in the Jar’, a used school uniform stand and others to be decided! 

We will also be holding an Easter Bonnet Parade at the fayre. The children can design their own Easter bonnets at home and there will be a prize for the best entry. We shall look forward to seeing all the designs!

Open Morning

We will be holding our annual Open Morning after Easter on Wednesday 7th May 2025. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to come into school to spend a little time looking at their child’s work and the children certainly enjoy the chance to show you what they have achieved. Tea, coffee and refreshments will be provided. More information will be provided nearer the time.

Curriculum

Dates for your Diary

Please refer to the ‘Calendar’ on the school website:

www.colstonbassettschool.com/parent.php#parent_calendar