Bedonwell federation newsletter
A farewell message from our CEO Mrs Brooks.
As this academic year draws to a close, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the children and the committed staff team at the Bedonwell Federation for their hard work and resilience in tackling the many challenges this year has brought our way. We are very proud of the children’s achievements, and most significantly our year 1 and year 2 phonics screening check outcomes, and the progress made by our KS2 children, including those with complex SEND. Thanks also to you, our parents and carers for your support and positivity, which has ensured a thriving and successful learning experience for all our children has continued. 2024 outcomes will be communicated in due course on the school’s website.
I would also like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to the Board of Governors, who volunteer their own time to monitor standards and hold Leaders to account with commitment and integrity. Also, to the Friends of Bedonwell (FOBS) who have worked diligently to raise impressive amounts of essential, much needed additional funds for the schools, supported by volunteers and staff. Their fantastic efforts have benefitted the schools enormously, including a major refresh and enhancement of the Early Years outside learning areas, and the exciting refurbishment of the school library is underway for the new academic year. Their contributions are much appreciated. Thanks also to parents and carers for supporting these events. They wouldn’t be successful without you!
I wish all our children and their families well, and give a particular mention to Year 6 pupils who are leaving us to start the next stage of their educational journey in secondary school.
It is with a very heavy heart I say a fond farewell to Bedonwell. A piece of my heart will always remain.
I look forward with interest to hearing about the exciting developments going forward post transfer.
I wish you all a restful summer break.
Best wishes
S Brooks
Goodbye and thank you
Sue Brooks, Angela Eldridge, Celine Howe, Sara Neal, Gillian Peile, Karen Boon, Tishainy Martinus & Anais Flynn - Thank you for all your hard work and dedication for the children at The Bedonwell Federation. We will miss you.
We welome the following to our Bedonwell family and look forward to welcoming them all in September: Mr Haydn McGillicuddy, Miss Isabelle Mullarkey, Mrs Eliza Parsons, Mrs Leona Prabakar, Miss Jaina Hurst, Miss Letitia Ansary, Miss Lorna Bell & Mr Jace Neal.
Goodbye to year 6!
Year 6 have worked incredibly hard over their time in Bedonwell. They have strived to make progress and have shown their golden values of Calmness, Kindness, Honesty, Perserverence, Manners, Respect and Teamwork throughout their time in both Bedonwell Infant and Bedonwell Junior School. We wish them all the best for the future and good luck in their new secondary schools!
Year 2 end of year production
The Year 2 children gave us all a special treat by performing Stella The Starfish! All of the children were amazing and they acted and performed brilliantly thoughout. Their singing as a year group was excellent and the audiences over the three performances really enjoyed the production.
Year 6 end of year production
Year 6 raised the roof with two amazing performances of Star Warts, The Umpire Stikes Back! The production was excellent and all of the children joined in with acting, singing and some brilliant dance routines that accompanied the music! A massive well done to them all for their great performances in the production.
Year 4 trip to Tyland Barn
The year 4s went on a fantastic trip to Tyland Barn in July, they took part in lots of different activities during the day including: pond dipping, Forest School, mini beast hunting and plant exploration. The children had a wonderful day and found out a lot of very useful facts.
The highlight of the day for most was the pond dipping where the children caught a number of different creatures, fish and even a newt! The children were a credit to the school and proudly displayed our golden value of teamwork.
Year 2 mini fair
The Year 2 pupils had their mini fair in the last week of term. The year 1s and Year 3s all came to the fair to spend their money on lots of different items. The fair was a huge success and the children raised £111.59 for the NSPCC! Well done Year 2!
KS2 Choir performance
The KS2 choir club gave a superb performance to their parents and carers. Mrs Webb and her choir sung the songs they have been practicing thoughout the year and they sang them all amazingly! Well done to all of those that have attended choir club this year in KS2 for your wonderful singing.
KS2 Theatre club performance
Our Theatre group have worked incredibly hard over the past couple of months, learning their lines, practising a dance routine we choreographed together and singing the songs from the film 'The Lion King'. The children had an arty session, where we made masks and some children took theirs home and added even more detail. We then performed to parents the short scenes and songs and I am proud of you all. Well done theatre group, you all did amazingly :)
Children's University
Some of our CU children accumulated enough stamps to be invited to the end of year Children’s University Graduation Ceremony for 2024.
It is a fantastic achievement, and we are so proud of your child’s achievements!
During the ceremony the children were presented with their graduation certificates and gifts and they had a chance to have their photo taken after the ceremony.
It was wonderful seeing how much the children enjoyed being a part of the Children’s University and we are looking forward to continuing to explore new Learning Destinations and activities for your children to be a part of.
Ideas to entertain the children this summer holidays
Please check out the link below that will take you to a page that Mrs Smee has created of all the activities and events that you can take your child to over the summer holiday! Some of the actvities are completley free.
Just click on the link below:
Bexley Swimming Gala winners!
Year 6 took part in the Bexley Swimming Gala this month, a group of children were selected to represent Bedonwell in lots of different swimming events against other schools, they all did amazingly well and won the overall event beating all the other schools from Bexley. A massive well done to the swimmers in Year 6! Bedonwell Swimming Champions 2024!
Always Award
Every week, children who follow our Golden Values in Bedonwell are chosen for the 'Always Award.' The children who receive the award have really impressed their class teacher by showing many or all of our seven Golden Values which are:
Manners, Respect, Teamwork, Stickability, Honesty, Kindness, Calmness.
They can be awarded the 'Always Award' four times throughout the year starting with the Bronze Always Award, then Silver Always Award, then Gold Aways Award and building up to the Platinum Always Award.
Check out some of the children who have achieved the awards below:
FOBS
What a year! We are coming to a close now for the year 2023/24 and would love to share with you the massive amount of money you have all helped raise for the school this year!
We are so proud of this fantastic achievement and as always, we cannot make these things happen without our incredible volunteers that show up come rain or shine, and dedicate their time and muscles to making these events happen.
Thank you to all those that purchase tickets, donate items, turn up to stay and play, purchase uniform and send in money. All these things add up to create a huge total and provide amazing things for our school to benefit the children!
We wish you all a fabulous summer and hope to see you at more events next year!
It is really important for all children to drink water throughout the day, which is why children need to bring a water bottle into school. However, can we please ask that children only bring in either a disposable plastic or re-usable plastic water bottle with a sealable lid.
Some children are bringing in large metal water bottles which when knocked over can cause disruption in the class.
Please can we also ask that Airup water bottles are not brought into school, these are expensive and can sometimes be knocked over in a busy classroom and damaged or broken.
We have also had occasions where Stanley Cups have leaked water into childrens' bags on the way to and from school. These bottles do not seal and when tipped will leak these have been knocked over in class which has caused damage to some of our books.
Water bottles in school
Calendar dates for the next academic year
Diary dates:
Monday 2nd September - INSET Day, school closed to pupils
Tuesday 3rd September - INSET day, school closed to pupils
Wednesday 4th September - Year 1 to 6 pupils return to school
Friday 4th October - School photographer for individual photographs
Reception children will be advised of their start date
Nursery children will be advised individually if their start date
School uniform ready for the new school year
Please ensure your child is wearing the correct school uniform, please read through the guidance below to see what our uniform expectations are and also see where this can be bought from.
Please see the guidance for school uniform below:
Grey sweatshirt (preferably with the school logo or otherwise plain)
Grey sweat cardigan (preferably with the school logo or otherwise plain)
Sky blue polo shirt (preferably with the school logo or otherwise plain)
Grey tailored trousers or grey tailored shorts
Grey skirt
Grey pinafore dress
Light blue & white checked dress (summer)
Navy blue, black or grey tights or white socks
Hair bands (small) in school colours only (grey, white or sky blue)
Where hijabs are worn they must be in the school colours of either blue, white or grey.
Pupils should at all times have suitable coats for outdoor wear, to cater for changeable weather.
Footwear must be plain black shoes or trainers.
Children wear their PE kit for the whole school day on the day of their PE lesson (you will be notified which day/s these are). This enables pupils not only to receive maximum learning time for their PE lessons, but also a reduces PE clothing being lost/misplaced.
PE kit expectations are:
Plain T-shirt in their ‘house colour’
Grey school jumper (plain- no branded clothing)
Grey shorts, grey tracksuit joggers or grey leggings (plain-no branded clothing).
Plain black trainers.
The children will be expected to wear their grey school jumper or grey sweatshirt with grey shorts, joggers or leggings and will therefore remain in school colours on their PE day.
It is also essential that trainers worn on PE days are plain black as this will ensure consistency across the school with our uniform expectations.
All uniform mentioned above can be found at Boffins and Caseys, Links to their websites can be found below:
X (Twitter)
The Bedonwell Federation has our own X (Twitter) page, this page is updated on a regular basis with a range of different events, activities and amazing work the children produce every day! If you have X (Twitter), please give us a follow and like and retweet the posts on our wall.
The link to our X page is below:
We also have a twitter page for KS2 art club and KS2 football clubs. Their links are below:
