Byfleet Primary Newsletter

• What a terrific turnout to our annual BPS family picnic yesterday. We enjoyed listening to the children singing their songs from around the world, to end off our International Week. Thank you to everyone who came along - the weather was perfect!

• After an unusual start to the school day today last Friday, we were relieved to be closing the school midday following guidance from Surrey Fire Services. Thank you to the parents/carers who arrived promptly to collect your child(ren). We are grateful that everyone is safe and unharmed. Our thoughts are with those in the community who have been effected by the fire.

• Due to the fire, we had to unfortunately reschedule our Year 1 class assembly. The new date is Friday 16th June at 8.50am.

• A huge thank you for all the kind bottle donations that were sent in for our Summer Fair collection!

• It was very exciting to see the dentist visit BPS last week, teaching Reception about the importance of dental health. See pictures below of their fun visit. 

• Thank you to everyone who joined in our annual family picnic yesterday to end off 'Diversity Week'. 

• We are incredibly proud of our wonderful Year 6s who completed their end of Key Stage SATs assessments last week. As relayed to our Year 6s families, the staff and I agreed that the children showed tremendous grit and resilience, as particularly the Reading and Spelling papers, were the most challenging we have seen. We are pleased to see there has been a national outcry regarding the unnecessary and inappropriate difficulty of these papers, however everyone at BPS remains hugely proud of how well our Year 6s faired during the week, which ended off with a mufti day and a visit from the ice cream van!

• Year 5 enjoyed their trip to Brooklands Museum to learn about 'flight' and climbed aboard the Concorde. 'I loved seeing the aeroplanes and all the working parts'. 'It was the best day ever as we got to see how aeroplanes were built near our school at Brookland'. 'I now know why Barnes Wallis Drive is called Barnes Wallis Drive. He made the bouncing bomb plane'......just a few of the comments made by Year 5. 

• The swimming timetables for the summer term have been sent out.  Please see the communication that went out earlier.

• How does being part of EEEA Academy benefit us? Following a recent capital project bid carried out by the Trust, we are delighted to have been successful and have won a school fire safety bid worth £429k with a small contribution paid by BPS. This is great news as will allow us to upgrade our fire alarms, unit box, fire doors etc. and ultimately make our school safer and look more modern with new doors fitted throughout. Works are due to take place during the summer holiday and will be completely in time for our September return.  Thank you EEEA for making our school a better place!

• With the ever-changing advances in technology, we have a ratified Mobile Device Policy now in place to ensure we can keep our children safe. Please note that only pupils in Year 5 and 6 are permitted to bring in mobile devices, once the parental permission form has been completed. If there is a particular need for your child to have access to a device, please liaise with the admin team who will share the forms with you. Any unauthorised devices will be confiscated and returned to the parent of the children, via the main office. 

• During the May half term, building works are taking place in The Hive portacabin, where new toilets and bathrooms are being fitted at the cost of around £15k. We can't wait to see this much needed improvement for our children!

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

As part of celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III, Rainbows Class painted some brilliant portraits of the King and Queen using the official Coronation Portraits as inspiration. The children worked very hard to use their paint brushes, different coloured paint, and hints of gold/silver to show off the beautiful crown jewels and special clothes. We were so impressed we have posted copies of the portraits to Buckingham Palace in hope that King Charles III and Queen Camilla will love them as much as we do. We have our fingers crossed for a reply! Well done Rainbows. 

Reception Class had their next special visitors as part of their 'People who help us' topic. Mary and Chloe from Roseneath Dental Practice in Byfleet spoke to Rainbows class about good brushing, visiting the dentist, what they do as part of their jobs, and how to look after your teeth. We got to explore some special tools the dentist use and even see some pretend teeth sets! We were each gifted special 2 minute timers to help us brush our teeth for the correct time and even got a special tooth brushing chart which helps us to remember to brush both morning and night. A huge thank you to Mary and Chloe for helping us learn why looking after our teeth and keeping them healthy is so important. 

20 Year 3 and 4 children had an exciting visit to one of our EEEA schools, Ravenscote Junior School, and took part in a sporting event. 

The children took part in lots of different activities like golf, long jump, orienteering and sprinting. A big thanks to EEEA for organising this collaboration event for our children! Looks like they had a great day!

Some of Year 5's lovely examples of their Greatest Empire homework.  We have also shared and celebrated the homework which has been submitted on Google Classroom.

Friday, 12th May, Year 5 spent a very interesting and fun-packed day at Brooklands Museum learning about all kinds of transport. 

We saw everything from the old to the ultra modern; cars. buses and planes!  We learned about how the first planes were made and the fighter planes that were built there at the Vickers factory.  In one hangar, we viewed a lego-made McLaren, a real McLaren and were able to try out the comfort of Concorde. Our final activity, before walking home, was to tour the Bus Museum and try out the bus simulator, which amused many.

Our class had a fabulous time and were a real pleasure to take out.  This was all made possible with the help of our Parent Helpers, who accompanied us.  Thank you!

A gentle reminder that any holidays taken during term time will be unauthorised, unless exceptional circumstances. Unauthorised holidays may result in a fixed penalty notice being issued to families by Surrey of £120 per parent, per child. 

Please view our Attendance Policy here for further information.

We recently had an external 1-day rigorous Safeguarding Audit to help us further quality assure our work. We are delighted that our Safeguarding arrangements are compliant and rated effective. See our highlights below.

For the upcoming Year 6 transition days taking place on Tuesday, 27th June and Wednesday 28th June please compkete the necessary leave of absence form.  You can either return this via the absences@byfleet.surrey.sch.uk email address or hardcopy via the school office.

Please note, that Breakfast club only opens at 7:30am and the buzzer will not be answered until this time.  We have noticed that parents are arriving earlier than this time and buzzing the breakfast club staff whilst they are busy setting up for the day. Please do not buzz the Breakfast club until then.

Chartwells are hoping to host a Tasting Lunch for two parents from each class in Key Stage 1  (so Reception, year 1 and 2) to come and enjoy some lunch after the half term break on Wednesday, 7th June 2023 at 11:45am.

If you wish to volunteer, please email Bev Scott at info@byfleet.surrey.sch.uk.  

We will let the lucky parents know by no later than Monday afternoon of the 15th May 2023, if they have been selected to attend.

Stagecoach Woking have two great workshops planned this summer which will run from the 24th to 28th July, and 28th to 31st August which are suitable for children aged between 6-18 years. To register, please go to www.stagecoach.co.uk/woking or email woking@stagecoach.co.uk or call 07957 825641. No Stagecoach experience necessary.

They are delighted to be working with Surrey County Council, providing provisions for students aged between 4-16 to attend their workshops for free if they are currently receiving free school meals. Club4 is Surrey County Council’s response to the government’s Holiday Activities and Food initiative, designed to provide healthy meals, physical activity and enrichment opportunities to children and young people in receipt of free school meals during longer holidays. Coordinated by Active Surrey for SCC, over 58,000 spaces are available for eligible families at around 140 venues.

Advice from Boots, Soltan  - get sun ready!!