Byfleet Primary Newsletter

• Look out for next week's letter explaining how our annual Spelling Bee Competition will work...

• The children thoroughly enjoyed 'Careers Week' last week. It was wonderful meeting so many visitors who shared their jobs with our children and inspired them to think about their own future jobs. A big thanks to Mrs Sharkey-Yun for organising such an important week and also a big thanks to some of our parents who gave up their time to come in to work with our children. 

• Thank you for supporting our teachers during this week's strike. Three further strikes are planned for Thursday 2nd March, Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March. Our arrangements for the next strikes can be found here.

• Next week is our Tray Day so please feel free to come along on Monday 6th January to visit your child's class from 3.05 - 4.30pm, where your child will be able to show you their learning. Please note, Year 5I and Year 6B's Tray day will take place on Monday 6th March, where parents will have the chance to meet Mr Bowman and Miss La Rocca. Our parent-governor, Mrs Olds, has volunteered to host a quick session to help parents navigate through Spelling Shed (our online homework tool). She will be available in the school hall from 3.05 - 3.30 during the Tray Day so pop in and she'll help you get the most out of this great homework resource. 

• It was lovely watching Year 3 and Year 6B's class assemblies this fortnight. See photos from these in our newsletter below...

• After half term, on Friday 3rd March (week 2) is World Book Day. Children and staff can dress up as their favourite book character. We're looking forward to seeing some wonderful designs!

• Following the success of our recent Careers Week, we are excited to be launching a new addition to our curriculum and will be teaching Financial Education over the 6 weeks of Spring 2 to all children from Reception to Year 6. Learning about money, where it comes from, the importance of working hard and getting a job, learning how to barter and save and gaining a better understanding of interest rates and banking are just a few of the skills we'll be teaching our children. This is a real investment for their future! We look forward to working with Young Enterprise. More information can be found here. 

• A reminder that it is Year 5/6 Parents' Evening next week Tuesday and Thursday in the school hall.

• Next week is National Schools' Football Week. We will be running a series of interhouse football competitions, see the separate letter sent out this week for more information.

Year 5 are enjoying sitting on the benches during assembly this month for having the highest class attendance in December. Great job!

Attendance Winners:

• September: Year 5        97.41%

• October: Year 3             96.81%

• November: Year 1         98.12%

• December: Year 5         95.17%

• January: Year 6V            97.58%

Well done 6V - not only are you the January Attendance Winners, you also have achieved the highest monthly attendance so far for this academic year!

Enjoy sitting on the benches during assemblies this month!

Our whole-school attendance target is 96%. 

By the end of December, we were at 94.89%. 

By the end of week 2 this term, we were at 95.01%. 

By the end of week 4 (today), we are at 94.75%. 

Please can you help us raise this. Whilst we understand some children are prone to illness, mild illness can be managed in school by liaising with admin team who will administer Calpol or antibiotics (if children are well enough to be in).

Thank you for continuing to report your child's absence each day if they are away from school. We're hoping to see a reduced number of children being absent this term to see if we can reach our school target.

It was an absolute pleasure to take a group of Year 6 athletes to take part in the Woking Sportshall Athletics Tournament. The children had to compete in a series of indoor field and track events against 11 other schools. The children did an absolutely amazing job and were a credit to the school both in terms of their attitude, effort and behaviour. After 2 hours of gruelling competition Byfleet were delighted to finish 8th. 

We hope you enjoyed Year 6B's assembly. Year 6 Blue enjoyed sharing their learning about Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of our Against The Odds topic. We focused on the leadership, determination, resilience skills that Shackleton and his crew were showing during their tough time and thought about how we could learn from him. 

 The children read their lines incredibly well and were very proud of themselves. We hope you enjoyed it and our song 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor! 

Please see our colour book-band home reading table below to check to see the level your child is reading at.

We've had a big focus on reviewing our daily reading and we're excited to see children starting to take some of our new book-banded chapter books home to read. 

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

Home reading diary

A little reminder to write in your child's reading diary when they have read to someone at home. 

Reading bags

Reading bags are getting full with lots of books! Children should only have their decodable reading book and their reading for pleasure book in their reading bags. Please can any books from home be kept at home!

Collins ebooks

Thank you to those children who have been reading online. We have seen an increase in the number of children who are accessing their Collins ebook- well done! The reading books remain on your child's account throughout the year, so they are always accessible. 

Did you know? Children learn 4,000 - 12,000 words per year through reading!

Free Trial Session and £40 discount at Perform 

Children's drama and dance school Perform is offering a Free Trial Session and a special introductory discount of £40 for members of Byfleet Primary School if they sign up by Saturday 6th May. Parents should quote BYPS060523 when they book their free session by going to perform.org.uk/try or calling 020 7255 9120.