Byfleet Primary Newsletter

• We can't believe that there's only 1 week left of this Spring term. We'd like to wish you and your family a Happy Easter as this will be the last newsletter for this term. Thank you for your ongoing support during this busy term. We've enjoyed many exciting opportunities like class assemblies, trips to The London Wetlands Centre and Wisley, Quiz Club finals, World Book Day, Red Nose Day, watching the chicks hatch in Reception, Athletics, Judo, Badminton, Safer Internet Day, Science Day, Voice in a Million and so much more!

• A gentle reminder, we break up at 1pm on Friday 31st March!

• Well done to our lovely Year 1 families for hosting today's Yr 1 Cake sale. As always, we really appreciate your support!

• This week we hosted Reception - Year 4 Parent evenings. We are really proud of the hard work your child(ren) has put into their learning this term and following our recent assessment week, we can see what terrific progress is being made. Next week we teachers will be meeting with senior leaders to complete pupil progress meetings so that we can plan next term's intervention sessions to further help any children who need that little bit of extra support to reach their target. I'm sure you agree, that the TAs and Teachers have done a great job this term, which your child is benefitting greatly from. Thank you also to the parents who completed our Parent Survey. Once this has been finalised, we will share the headlines. 

• Thank you for supporting our teachers during the recent strike action.

• It's been great hearing the children talk excitedly about our Spelling Bee Competition that was launched in at the start of March. It was lovely having the parents in school for the finals and well done to all of our Spelling Bee Winners. Whilst this was a daunting experience for some children, their resilience and bravery has been recognised - see the section below to find out more about our winners.

• A big thanks to the BPS families who took time to help us shape our new Vision & Values. The staff, governors and children have also been involved and we are pleased that collectively we've been able to share our views. We're excited to announce this as it forms the most fundamental part of our school. 

• Our new Vision is 'Growing Together, Ready for Life'. Our new Values are 'Ready, Respectful, Safe'. 

• Next week we will be carrying out a lock down procedure with the children to allow us to prepare for any unexpected events that may occur in school. We will adequately prepare the children to avoid any distress and explain how important it is that we can work together to keep each other safe. 

• Have a wonderful Easter break with your loved ones and see you back in school on Tuesday 18th April 2023. 

Well done to the following children for being recognised for doing something brilliant this fortnight......

What a brilliant day and evening we had being part of Voice in a Million at Wembley Arena last Wednesday. We were part of 150 schools, and over 6,000 school children who took part in this spectacular school concert. 7 children from Years 3, 4 and 5 represented Byfleet Primary School at the event- spending the afternoon rehearsing and the evening in their VIAM t-shirts and singing and dancing with their glow wands! The behaviour of the children was impeccable and Mrs Sherlock and Mrs Bell said it was a pleasure to spend the day with the children. Thank you to the parents who made the journey to Wembley Arena to support the children, we loved spotting you all in the crowd! It was a long day and a very late night, but what an amazing experience!

We have already signed up for VIAM 2024 and would love to expand the school choir.

We will be sending out information in the Autumn term about how to sign up - so watch this space!

As part of our PE provision and developing opportunities for pupil leadership, we have appointed a team of Y6 children to be our Sports Crew. To be considered for the role the children had to answer a job description by writing a letter of application. The standard of letters was absolutely amazing with every applicant referencing the qualities and values a potential member of the Sports Crew would have to show. We were so blown away by the number, and quality, of applicants that we raised the number of successful applicants we would be accepting. to 11.

Over the last 2 weeks, Rainbows class have been very lucky to have had some special visitors. They arrived in an incubator, which we had to check stayed nice and warm. Very quickly the special visitors began to crack out of their eggs and explore the world. We were so excited when all 10 of our eggs hatched into perfectly healthy chicks. We moved the chicks into their special brooder box when they got nice and fluffy, and they then began eating food and water from special containers we were given. The children not only got to stroke and observe the chicks, but also hold them! 

Everyone made sure to be very careful and brave... even Miss Vallins was a bit scared at the start! The chicks have now been collected and will all be re-homed to farmers, into garden/allotments or kept as pets regardless if they are male or female. We have loved having this special experience, and we hope you all enjoyed coming into Rainbows class to see them before they found their forever homes. 

Year 4 have really enjoyed their topic work this term, Beneath the Surface, and did a fantastic job in sharing their learning back in week 3 in the class assembly. They took us on a journey through the ocean layers down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, explaining what animals could be seen along the way. They then informed everyone about the impact carbon emissions is having on the world with a very catchy song before sharing some of the English work. 

The children all spoke clearly and clearly. Good job, year 4!

The language used in our phonics lessons - what does it all mean?

The children in Reception and Year 1 have daily phonics lessons. Within these lessons, Miss Vallins and Mr Boyd use the Little Wandle mantras. Here is a list of some of the terminology they use. 

Speedy sounds -  Process of recapping previously taught GPCS.

Shuffle time -  Used to shuffle GPCs during teaching.

Copy me -  Teacher instructs children to copy them.

Watch me -  Teacher instructs children to watch them.

Segmenting fingers -  Teaching strategy to use fingers to segment a word.

Sound talk - Teaching strategy used for oral blending.

Tricky bit - Used to identify tricky part of a tricky word (the part that cannot be decoded).

Grapheme spotter - Used to identify new GPC amongst previously taught GPCS.

Whisper blending - Teaching strategy to support children to bridge the gap between sounding and blending aloud and doing the process silently ‘in their head’.

Chunk it up - To break up a longer word and read it one part (chunk) at a time, to avoid being overwhelmed and to ease the process of blending.

2/3 letters - 1 sound Teaching strategy used to explain diagraphs and trigraphs.

Keep reading. It's one of the most marvellous adventurers that anyone can have - Lloyd Alexander

Chartwells are currently looking for school catering staff, 20 hours a week school term only.  Hours to fit in around your children ideal for mothers looking for an extra income.

 Some kitchen knowledge would be helpful but training will be provided.

Please call Tanya on 07970914418.

SPORTS CAMP:

Date: Tuesday 11th April

Times: 8.45am-3.00pm

Link to book now: https://ultimate-coaching.class4kids.co.uk/camp/206 

FOOTBALL CAMP:

Date: Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th April (single or multi day booking available)

Times: 9.30am-3.00pm (Early drop off available)

Link to Book now: https://ultimate-coaching.class4kids.co.uk/camp/216 

INSET SPORTS CAMP:

Date: Monday 17th April

Times: 8.45am-3.00pm

Link to book now: https://ultimate-coaching.class4kids.co.uk/camp/207