Bramhope Primary School Parent Portal - Newsletter

Dear parents and carers,

This week has seen the second of our whole class ‘bubble’ closures and we now have all of 5/6M self -isolating over the half term break and returning to school slightly later on Wednesday 4 November. Our two recent closures have meant we have moved to remote learning via Microsoft Teams far earlier than planned. Many thanks to the parents of 1/2HP for your feedback. We very much hope we won’t be closing bubbles again in the near future but we will use your feedback to help us further improve the remote learning experience for all children.

All parents should have now received a remote learning (exercise) book and a single sheet with details about the login and password for your child. Please keep this information in a safe place as you will need it if your child’s bubble closes. Please be assured that if a bubble needs to close, we will contact you and ask you to collect your child as soon as possible. In the event of this happening, you may wish to make arrangements for another parent to collect your child if you are unable to do so. As the current situation looks likely to continue, it would also be useful if you could put a reserve plan in place for pick up and drop off of siblings if you need to be at home with a child who is self -isolating.

Communication

I have written to all parents this week about our plan for parents meetings and end of term reports. As appointment times are limited to 10 minutes, it would be really helpful if parents complete and return their questionnaire to their child’s class teacher by 6 November. This will help class teachers prepare for questions you may have and gives us valuable feedback about your child’s experience of school. If you have not yet had time to complete the questionnaire please click here to view and email it back to your child’s class teacher once it’s completed.

School photos

Thank you for sending the children to school all ready for their school photographs, they all looked really smart. All ordering is done online (details have gone home today) and photographs will be delivered to school when they are ready. Photographs for children in 1/2H and 5/6M will take place on Tuesday 10 November.

School meals

After half term, we will be offering hot food at least three times a week. We now have new menus which are posted on the website here. The online form to choose your meals for weeks 8 and 9 can be found here. Please inform our school office admin@bramhopeprimary school.co.uk if you would like your child to move onto school meals after half term.

Ventilation

As you will appreciate, we have been asked to keep windows open in school to ensure that the school remains well ventilated. Although we do not have every window open, it is getting colder and we would advise that your child wears a vest or T shirt underneath their school uniform.

Harvest collection

Thank you for sending your tinned goods into school. The last day for collecting is Friday 6 November.

As we head into half term week, I would like to end my letter by thanking everyone for their support. We have (almost) managed to get 308 children back into school, re-set our routines and expectations and assessed the gaps in their learning. More important than that, our children are happy and enjoying life in school. We look forward to building on this excellent start after half term and seeing everyone back on 2 November.

Have a lovely weekend

R Colbourn

PTA

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, the next PTA meeting will be held by Zoom at 8pm on Tuesday 10 November and it would be great to (virtually) see as many people as possible. Please let Maike know (maikemuldoon@hotmail.com) if you would like to attend and the Zoom details will be sent – all are welcome. We also promised further information on PTA related matters:

Great Outdoors Project – for the new parents to school, the PTA is currently raising funds for the Great Outdoors Project, which aims to rejuvenate and upgrade the outdoor space at BPS.

Fund raising last year – despite missing out on a couple of regular events, including the fun run and the scarecrow hunt / summer fair (which is typically the biggest fund raiser of the year), the PTA raised over £6,500 last year. Thank you for all of your support, whether that be attending events, organising events or making donations.

New books for school – some parents will remember the library project which the PTA raised funds for, before the focus became the Great Outdoors Project. Some book funds remain and we are delighted to have funded 550 new books for school over the last half term. We hope the children enjoy the new books.

New playground bins for school – the PTA funded the new colourful playground bins that you may have seen at school, as part of the Great Outdoors Project. There are further plans in place to spruce up the outdoor space at school but Covid-19 has caused some delays to those.

Wreath making competition – next half term we will be organising a family wreath making competition. We'll be selling wreath rings and 4 candles and giving families a couple of weeks to decorate their wreath ring using whatever they wish – feel free to use garden clippings or go foraging further afield. Once decorated, submit a photo of your wreath to the PTA and prizes will be awarded for the best 3 entries. Look out for more details early next half term.

Mothers' Day secret rooms – unfortunately lockdown prevented the Mothers' Day secret room event taking place. We sold 203 tickets for the event (at £3.50 each) and are conscious that the children weren't able to select the presents. We incurred the cost of buying some presents (and the platform fees for receiving the payments), which we plan to re-use at future events. If anyone would like a refund on their ticket price, please let Maike know (maikemuldoon@hotmail.com).

If we don't hear from you by the end of next half term, we'll assume that you are happy for the ticket price to be donated to the PTA (in which case, thank you!).

Finally a new Facebook page has been created by the PTA, entitled 'BPS Preloved Uniform Shop'.

We are selling outgrown uniform that is still in great condition at excellent prices. Please get in touch on this new page (or by direct message) to check if we have stock for your needs.

All funds raised through the shop will go to the school.

If you have uniform you no longer need, please bring your items to the school office clearly labelled 'PTA uniform for sale'.

Your PTA team

23 October 2020