Belswains News

Friday 20th September 2024

It is only week three of the academic year, but what an excellent start we have had to the new term. I've been very impressed by how well our children have settled back into school routines, rising to the high expectations we have for them. With a new school year, you'll see we have been busy making tweaks to our processes in conjunction with our parents (read on for an update on changes to homework).

Our partnership working is something I am very proud of and with this in mind, I decided it was time to upgrade our PDF school newsletter to our new online Belswains News. Bear with me as I get to grips with the technology behind this new look, but I hope you'll agree that it's a positive change, making our newsletter more accessible to all.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing many of you on site at the forthcoming Welcome Meetings.

Mrs Claridge

Headteacher

Homework

We sent out a questionnaire last week as we were assessing the impact of task driven homework on our pupils and families. Thank you for all your feedback, we received an amazing 258 responses, which indicates it is a subject many of you care about. We wanted to share the findings with you.

Whilst 67% of parents felt it is an important part of school life and 78% of parents/carers know how to support their child, only 40% of our children are enjoying homework and 51% of families said it caused tension at home. Given this feedback, we are going to adapt our homework guidance to continuing supporting those who wish to have weekly tasks, but release some of this tension and expectations of pupils and families.

We want homework to be a positive experience and promote practical and enjoyable learning at home. Our aims at Belswains with regards to homework are:

To give pupils the opportunity to extend their learning in areas of personal interest and stimulate imagination and creativity.
To encourage children to develop confidence, independence, resilience and motivation needed to study away from school.
Provide opportunities for parents and children to work together, thereby fostering an effective partnership between home and school.

Homework will be now broken into two key elements- core homework and optional family homework. Core homework activities will consist of spellings, times tables and reading. Optional family homework will invite children, siblings and parents/ carers to spend time together, collaborating and having fun when completing the tasks set.

Teachers will go though the year group expectations during the Welcome Meetings and expectations are also on class pages on the website for parents to look at.

Celebration Assembly

I was delighted that this week, we managed to squeeze the whole school into the hall for our Celebration Assembly. It's such a highlight of the week where our school community can celebrate each others achievements. Well done to all those who were recognised for doing something extra special.

Year 1 Goldcrests Edrie for working so hard in phonics!

Year 1 Firecrests Sienna for using phonic sounds in her writing.

Year 1 Firecrests Tommy for listening carefully to instructions.

Year 2 Starlings Anaya for joining with class discussions- well done!

Year 2 Starlings Mac for enthusiastic learning, especially in RE!

Year 2 Swifts Finley M for always listening and being ready to learn.

Year 2 Swifts Jack L for using interesting adjectives when writing expanded noun phrases.

Year 3 Jays Max for being kind, considerate and helpful when someone needs help.

Year 3 Jays Matilda being extremely caring and supportive of her partner when they needed help.

Year 3 Redwings Serenity trying hard in English to write a descriptive sentence.

Year 3 Redwings Angus working hard on his handwriting.

Year 4 Nightingales Kiara producing an amazing sentence during our English lesson.

Year 4 Nightingales Dolly amazing participation during all our lessons.

Year 4 Owls Alicia for showing kindness and being a good buddy at lunchtime.

Year 4 Owls Arlo for showing excellent hockey skills , keeping control of the ball.

Year 5 Eagles Leila for participating well in PE this week.

Year 5 Eagles Ruby for always participating during class discussion.

Year 5 Hawks Maylie for working really hard in Maths.

Year 5 Hawks Deven for working hard on his handwriting and spelling.

Year 6 Red Kites James for his excellent hockey skills.

Year 6 Prefects

Our Year 6 are the role models to the younger years. They have a very exciting opportunity in Year 6 to become a prefect and take on responsibilities across the school. Congratulations this year to all our prefects.

Assembly Prefects: Katie and Emily-May

Library Prefects: Isabella, Olivia S, Safa and Olivia C

Bistro Prefects: Alfie and Ava

Litter Picking Prefects: Sienna and Haniya

Lunchtime Ball Prefects: Archie, Harrison and Emily

Reading Shed Prefects: Frankie and Adeeb

PE Resources Prefects: Maks and Owen

MUGA Prefects (refereeing): Archie, James, Harrison and Joshua

Reception Prefects: Iris and Ellie-May

Year 1 Prefects: Makayla and Bobby

Year 2 Prefects: Emily-May and Oliver

Dunstable House Captains: Edward and Haniya

Ashridge House Captains: Bobby and Katie

Heartwood House Captains: Olivia and Isabella

Whippendell House Captains: Emily-May and Belle

Longspring House Captains: Oliver and Joshua

DATES

Monday 23rd September

Year 5 Welcome Meeting @14.45

Tuesday 24th September

Year 2 ZooLab Workshop

Year 4 Welcome Meeting @14.45

Wednesday 25th September

Year 3 Welcome Meeting @14.45

Workshop for parents (Applying for Secondary School- see flyer below) 10.00-11.00

Thursday 26th September

Year 2 Welcome Meeting@14.45

Friday 27th September

Year 1 Welcome Meeting @14.45

Monday 30th September

Year 6 Welcome Meeting @14.45

Lego Workshop KS1

Tuesday 1st October

Harvest Festival Assembly

Lego Workshop KS2

Thursday 3rd October

Individual School Photographs

Lego Workshop KS2

Friday 18th October

PTA Halloween Disco

Friday 25th October

End of term 1

Friday 8th November

Flu Immunisations

PTA non-uniform day

Saturday 23rd November

Christmas Market 13.00-16.00

Friday 13th December

Christmas DECO Day

Tuesday 17th December

PTA Christmas Panto Day

Wednesday 18th December

Christmas Jumper & Dinner

ASDA REWARDS FOR SCHOOL

We need your help and it won’t cost you a penny!

Asda with Joe Wicks have launched a funding campaign for schools. If you download the ASDA rewards app and select us at the beneficiary school, every time you shop between now and November 30th you’ll earn us money. (It does not impact your own cashpot rewards).

Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to our Primary school. Also, every time somebody opts in, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Plus, it doesn’t stop there – Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

Please do share- every little helps! We currently have a running total of £89! Thank you so much already!

PTA

Thank you to all the parents who attended the AGM on Wednesday evening. We are very sad to be saying thank you to Chris, our secretary, and Khilian our Treasurer, who are both stepping down from their posts. They have both been incredible to work with and massively contributed to the excellent work carried out by the PTA.

We welcome Heather and Pryia to the committee and look forward to working with you.

Please see the poster opposite to see who your class reps are. Please find your class rep and say hello!

The PTA's newsletter is attached below for your information.

School Clubs

There are some spaces left for some of our school organised after school clubs, should you be interested in your child joining one of the following clubs, please email the school office who can advise on next steps. admin@belswains.herts.sch.uk

Monday

Boxing (KS2)
Choir (Year 4- 6)

Tuesday

Boxing (KS1)
Multisports (KS2)

Wednesday

Football (KS2)
Gymnastics (Reception & KS1)

Friday

Dance (KS2)

Don't forget, we also offer wraparound care through our partnership with Good Shepherd Clubs (flyer below to book directly) and before school, via our internal Breakfast Club (bookable via Arbor).