Byfleet Primary Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

• Welcome to this week’s newsletter, which will be the final newsletter for this academic year. We have appreciated your support throughout the year and we wish you a wonderful summer break with your family. We look forward to seeing the children back at school on Friday 2nd September. School will close for the summer holidays at 1pm on Friday 22nd July.

• What a sweltering few days we've just had. It looks like next week Monday and Tuesday will the hottest days yet and we will continue to take precautions to keep the children cool. Additional fans for classrooms have been sourced. Please feel free to send your child to school wearing sandals or similar. PE kits can be worn. We will be moving our Reception children into the Hive from Friday onwards to benefit from the air condition unit. Here is some guidance from Surrey regarding the heatwave.

• Please beware, that due to the hear Mondays, after school football club will be cancelled. Ultimate Coaching will provide a refund accordingly.

• We've had another busy fortnight of activities at Byfleet: Open Book Bible assembly, Guitar assembly with Mr Gilani, Singing at King's Lodge, Mr Martin (Year 2 parent) came in to work with Year 2 and show them his rowing boat, Fire brigade came in to visit, a real geologist paid a visit to Year 3, Reception swimming lessons and much more.....We hope you managed to make it to our 'Tray Day' to see your child's work and meet with Chartwells, our new catering company, and tried out one of their delicious brownies and flapjacks. We look forward to them taking over our school catering from September onwards.

• The Governors and Mrs Meyrick were pleased to share our End of KS 2 SATs results with you recently and are incredibly proud of how well our Year 6s did in achieving 70.3% for their Reading, Writing and Maths combined (59% for National Average). It's great to see our children exceeding the National Average in every area - what an accomplishment. Thank you to all the staff from across the school, who have worked so hard to help us prepare our children, particularly over the past 18 months since we've returned to school after lockdown.

• Thank you to the parents who have taken the time to acknowledge receipt of their child's report and for providing us with feedback - it was great to read the many happy responses. The teachers have spent many, many hours writing these. Please read through the report carefully with your child, celebrate their successes with them and also remind them of their next steps. Please try to work on the identified targets with your child over the summer, for example by reading together and undertaking work on times tables. Doodle Maths, Reading Plus (year 4 - 6) and Spelling Shed is also available all summer!

• Teacher-led clubs for the autumn term will be made available on Monday afternoon. Please be advised that these clubs are based on first come first serve and will be charged at £6 per half term.

• Thank you for all the kind donations during the past fortnight's Read-a-thon. We are grateful for all your kind donations which will help us purchase some key texts for each class.

• Next week is an exciting week for Year 6s as they head out to High Ashurst in Boxhill for their residential. Just a reminder that bags should be dropped off under the tree outside the Year 6 classroom. We hope they have the best time and huge thank you to Mr Bostock, Mrs Wolniewicz and Miss Lloyd for accompanying the children.

• It's been wonderful having our new Reception children in for their two induction days, getting familiar with their new school, in preparation of them joining Byfleet Primary in September. Their teddy bear's picnic was a huge hit! Thanks to the Reception Rainbow team for organising this.

• We would like to wish Mrs Hanby the best as she moves on from Byfleet next week. A big welcome to our new Learning Support Assistants, Mr Finlayson and Mrs Tully, who join us in September.

• Next week we will be sending your child's books home with them as we know many of you would like to look through your child's learning and to keep as a keep-sake. Please send in a carrier back for your child to bring these home in.

• In our final swimming lesson of the Year next week, Rubba Duckies will be running a swimming gala for each class and medals will be awarded. Big thanks to Rubba Duckies for arranging this - we're sure the children will enjoy this. Subject to its success, we hope to invite parents in for this event next year.

• We currently have two Midday Supervisor roles available for 8 hours per week. If you are interested, please read more here.

• Children will no longer be expected to bring in their own pencil cases from September. This arrangement that we brought in during Covid is no longer needed and stationery will be provided by school - we may occasionally request glue sticks etc, however pencil cases are no longer required.

• Byfleet green Book bags will continue to be used by Reception and KS 1.

• Small rucksacks for KS 2 - there appear to be large backpacks coming in to school. Please limit the size of these bags to ensure everyone's fits in lockers or pegs.

• We will continue with our 'slow start' in the morning with school gates opening at 8.35 - 8.45. The register closes at 8.45 so please report to the office to sign your child in as late if you miss the 8.45 mark.

• School will end at 3.05pm. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue being dropped off and collected from the main playground. Year 3/4 may walk in independently from the metal rails by the school hall and will be brought out by an adult to this point, at the end of the day. Year 5/6 may be dropped off and collected from the school main gate.

• Year 5/6 children may walk home alone and bring in their mobile phone for safety. Permission will be sought from parents/carers beforehand. Please follow this link to consent to your child walking home independently and bringing in their mobile phone.

Year 5 took part in a fire safety session led by Surrey Fire and Rescue Service. The aim of the session was to teach children key fire safety skills.

Children learnt about:

• When to call 999

• The fiery 5- common fire hazards

• The importance of working smoke alarms

• Fire escape plans- how to prepare to escape a fire

• Stop, drop and roll for clothing fires

Further information about the day has been sent home with the children involved. The session was very informative and all children enjoyed taking part in the session. Thank you to Surrey Fire and Rescue for offering the service to our school.

The children from Rock Steady put on an incredible performance on Wednesday 6th July! They had a fantastic time rocking out to songs like 'Shotgun', 'Happy' and 'Counting Stars'. The children who participated are so incredibly brave and we're really proud of their musical achievements.

We celebrated World Music Day by dressing up in blue and learning all about the history and rise of Rhythm and Blues.

The choir had a fantastic time singing at Kings Lodge Care Home. Despite it being a really warm day, the children sang their hearts out and the residents loved it and were even clapping along! We hope to perform again for them in the next Autumn Term.

Mike Wagstaff will be at the school on Tuesday 19th July 2022

Any orders can be made in advance by emailing him: mikewagstaff56@gmail.com