Byfleet Primary Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

• Well done to Reception Rainbow, Year 1 Red and Year 3 Orange for their 100% attendance for this week. Our whole school attendance was 98.22%, which is above our 97% target. What a great start to the year!

• Our Year 5s and 6s have resumed their swimming lessons for the term with Coach William. We are delighted all of our new Reception children in Rainbow class have now started 'big school' and are in full time. They have settled really well and we are impressed with how quickly they have learnt their new routine.

• Just a reminder about the start of the day arrangements: we have a 'slow start' between 8.35 - 8.45. The register will be taken at 8.45. Reception may come in at 8.30; Year 5 & 6 coming in independently from 8.35 when they are called and then Year 1 - 4 may follow once they have been called. Thank you for following this arrangement and cooperating.

• Is your child in Year 6 and transitioning to Secondary school? Click here for the Surrey secondary school application link.

• Curriculum Overview have been sent home this week, outlining what your child will be learning this term so you can support your child at home. Homework matrices have been added to your child's Google Classroom and it has been lovely to see some homework projects coming in to school this week. Follow this link for Curriculum Overviews and homework matrices on our website.

• Breakfast Club and After School Club is available if this is something you are considering for your child. Please liaise with Mrs Sopp in the school office for further details.

• Our school cleaning company, Busy Bees Cleaning Company, has a vacancy for a school cleaner to work at Byfleet Primary Monday – Friday, 4pm – 6.30 pm for 12.5 hrs per week, £9.00 per hr. A DBS will be required (BBCS will apply for this on their behalf). If you are interested, please contact Mobile 07973 353074.

A message from the Rotary Club of Woking......

On the 10th October we will be holding the annual Woking Swimathon at the Pool in the Park, Woking, raising funds for local charities.

It is a non competitive fun event made up of teams of up to 6 swimmers who take it in turn to swim just one length at a time. It isn't necessary for each swimmer to swim the same number of lengths but on average each swimmer does approx. 10-20 lengths during just under 1 hour. Each team member gets sponsorship for the teams total number of lengths swum, anything up to 100 lengths or more.

Each team member who takes part will be given a commemorative medal. Several local schools normally take part in the event, sometimes entering more than one team.

If you think that any particular year groups at Byfleet Primary School would be interested in participating in the event, please arrange this via your class Whatsapp groups and keep us informed so that we can do a 'shout out' for our children.

For any further information, please contact our chief organiser Terry Smith MBE on 01483 762832 or: terry@wychstar.co.uk

Keith Tatlock, The Rotary Club of Woking on 01932 349803

Many hands make light work......

• We are desperate for some spare hands to help us tidy up our school grounds. We are looking for parents/carers/families to please help us weed, tidy up flower beds, clear the pond, cut back branches, paint sheds etc.

• If you are free on Saturday 9th October and can spare two hours (9am - 11am), please could you register your interest here.

• Please could you bring along any gardening tools etc. that you may have to help i.e. hedge strimmer, saws etc.

• If you are able to help please follow the link to sign up BIG CLEAN UP MORNING!

It is very important to us as a school that we maintain a good relationship with the residents of Kings Head Lane and Kings Lodge Care Home.

It has been brought to our attention that at drop off and collection times school some children are running across residents drives and front gardens - please ensure your child walks with you whilst you come to and from school.

Also a reminder that when parking on the lane please do not park across residents driveways. If using the car park adjacent to school please park only in the marked bays, parking in the care home car park is not permitted and may result in clamping. Please do not stop or park in front of the school gates or in the coned areas - access for emergency vehicles must be available at all times.

On an environmental note if you arrive to collect your child and wait in the car park we ask that you do not sit with your car engine running.

If you wish to use our Breakfast & Afterschool Club please ensure you have made a booking online using our online system. Please remember that there is an advance booking requirement of 48hrs. This week we have had an additional 20 pupils turn up to use our clubs which obviously affects our staffing ratios.

From Monday, children turning up to Breakfast club without a prior booking may be turned away should our staffing ratios not allow for them to be accommodated. Children without an Afterschool Club booking or prior agreement with school office to attend, will no longer be accepted directly into our After School Club. From a safeguarding point of view, we have a duty to make contact with parents/carers and understand why they haven't been collected at the end of the school day. Any children in this situation, will be taken to the school office where a phone call home will be made. Should we have the space, the children may be able to join the club at this point by mutual agreement, but again due to staffing ratios, we are not able to guarantee this. Should space not be available, your child will need to wait in the office to be collected. We thank you for your understanding and support in tightening up on our procedures.

Tax-Free Childcare

We are pleased to confirm that the issues with our HMRC account have finally been resolved and we are now able to receive payments for ASC and BC sessions through the scheme again. The school code for making payments has however changed. Please ensure all future payments are sent to Byfleet Primary School with the code 147671.

For parents/carers that might be interested in taking advantage of the scheme, more information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

• Information regarding clubs on offer for this term was sent out this week - hopefully lots of you will have signed up. For further information please contact Mrs Creswick in the school office.