Brinsworth Manor Junior School Newsletter 13th May

Newsletter contents

1. Message from Mr Goddard
2. Jubilee Celebration Day
3. Office and general updates
4. DT Challenge
5. Enterprise Challenge Day.
6. Internet / App Safety tip - Tik Tok

What an incredible first few weeks to the Summer term it has been. The feel around school is so positive and the children are so focused in school.

There have been a number of changes that hopefully we have communicated to you effectively but if you feel we haven't please can you contact me so I can look into this and resolve these issues moving forward. We are also open to suggestions from our families on what we can do to make things even better.

So far you have said;

• Can we have more communication about what is going on?
• It would be good to be back in school and celebrate what our children are doing.
• Having staff visible on the playground before and after school would be good.
• Can we have more links with the infant school.
• The children haven't been on trips for a while.
• We aren't always sure which staff to go to.
• We used to have a breakfast club - why did it stop?

We did;

• Introduced class DOJO to share information both about the school and individual classes. This also has the option to message staff with concerns / general questions.
• Special mentions assembly opened up to families to share and celebrate with their child.
• DT day arranged where families can come into school and play the games that have been built with their child / children.
• Staff are now visible on the playground before and after school as well as being on the class doors when the welcome children in the morning.
• Events are planned with he infant school with the first one being the Jubilee Day.
• All year groups are busy planning trips for the second half of the summer term now COVD restrictions have been lifted.
• Staff lists and roles have been shared on Newsletters and Class DOJO pages.
• Breakfast club is open again for all children and is FREE for this term.

Working at Brinsworth (although only for this half term) and being back with WhiteWoods Academy Trust is an absolute pleasure. To see the passion and support of the staff and the entire community is extremely impressive and to work with the staff team to instil the vision, mission and values of the Trust is something we are all relishing.

The 4 C's that underpin WWPAT values that are at the front of our thoughts in any decision making process are;

• Child-centred – Our children are at the heart of all we do.
• Collaborative – We work collaboratively, learning and supporting each other to maximise the achievement of our children and adults across the trust.
• Curious – We embrace new learning and promote curiosity in all, always striving to improve, keeping ‘the main thing the main thing’.
• Challenging – We set ourselves and our children aspirational targets and are open to professional challenge and support.

Hopefully you will have seen these 4 C's in the work we have done this half term and will continue to do so as we strive to make Brinsworth Manor Junior School the best place it can be.

We are really excited to share with you our plans for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. On Friday 27th May the Junior and Infant schools are joining together for a joint celebration. On the day children can come dressed in red, white or blue.

Throughout the morning in both schools the children will take part in different activities linked to the jubilee. Over the lunchtime period the children will sit outside on the playgrounds and have a yard party with live band music (hopefully provided by local music students).

In the afternoon we will be having a family event on the field where you can collect your children from their classes at 1.10pm (Infants) and 1.20pm (Juniors) and explore the different activities on offer on the school field and Junior yard.

These will include:

• Wellie wanging
• Corgi Trial
• Pin the tail on the Corgi
• Pin the jewel on the crown
• Build Tower bridge using large construction
• Afternoon tea stall
• Cake/bun stall
• Plus many other exciting activities

Any cake/bun donations would be greatly appreciated-please bring in on Thursday 26th or Friday 27th May.

We are also holding Jubilee Pudding Competition-open to children in both schools to create a platinum jubilee pudding fit for a Queen-the pudding with the most votes will be crowned the winner. The winner will receive a medal and a crown. All entries to be brought in on the morning of Friday 27th May.

Don’t’ forget our design a crown competition 1st/2nd/3rd prize for each year group. Children to come in their crowns on our celebration day.

The jubilee work produced by both schools will be displayed around the front of school and side of nursery for you to look at on the jubilee afternoon.

We hope you will be able to join us and look forward to seeing you and your family at this exciting event. If you cannot make it due to work or other commitments don’t worry your child will not miss out. School staff will take children around the activities as a group.

Parent Pay and Arbor

Can we please ask that all families keep their Parent Pay accounts in credit for dinner monies. Over the next half term we are hoping that all classes will be going on schools trips and we will be using Arbor to manage these. If you have any problems logging on please contact the office and we will be able to help.

Attendance

As a school we are keen to promote attendance and have children in school as much as possible. The expected attendance for Primaries is 96%. Currently we are at 92% so have a little bit of catch up to do over the Summer Term. This half term we are at 94.3% so are catching up. Well done everyone.

We have introduced 'The Wheel' as an incentive - the best attending class for the week gets to spin the wheel in Special Mentions assembly and they win that prize.

Absence reporting

Any absence has to be reported to the office before the start of the school day. If a child isn't in school and we don't have a reason we will contact you to make sure everything is okay. If we haven't heard about an absence for a couple of days we may pay a visit to your home.

Breakfast Club

We have seen a huge update in Breakfast club over the last week but dont worry - we still have places. For the reminder of the year this will be free for all children and there will be toast, bagels, cereal and juice available.

If you would like a place please can you use Parent Pay to book this. If it is a one off please give the school a ring the day before to book.

Children will have access to a range of activities including board games, Chromebook and art / crafts. With the weather getting better we may also be able to get some time in the Sports MUGA as well.

School Uniform

A quick reminder - we have seen a huge improvement in school uniform over the last few weeks. There are however some children who aren't wearing the correct uniform. Reminder letters will be sent out over the next week.

We have now said that black leggings are ok for the girls after feedback from families. The school uniform policy can be found here -

https://www.bmaj.rotherham.sch.uk/parents/school-uniform

On Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th our Yr 6 children are taking part in an Enterprise Challenge Day.

The ‘Primary School Enterprise Challenge’ is a full day enterprise programme open to all primary schools in the UK. Working in teams the children work on real life business challenges, which are set by real life businesses.

This helps to develop the enterprise and employability skills of all the young learners who take part, including sharing ideas, aiming high, listening carefully, leadership, creativity, problem-solving and presentation.

Each school will have at least one winning team and they will go on to represent the school on finals day where they will compete against each other.

Whilst we recognise that there is a 13+ restriction on Tik Tok we are aware that a number of children are using this app so thought it wise to share the following information.