School Newsletter : 25 November 2022

| Issue 4 | Autumn 2 | Week 11 |

Christmas Events

PE Days

Classes will have PE lessons on the following days for the Autumn Term.

Monday: Year 1 (PM)
Tuesday: Year 4 (PM)
Wednesday: Year 5 (AM)* and Year 2 (PM)
Thursday: Year 6 (PM)
Friday: Reception & Nursery (AM) and Year 3 (PM)

*Kindly note that ONLY Year 5 pupils will need to come to school in their school uniform and bring their PE kit to change into after attending Church, on their designated PE day (Wednesday).

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE uniform to school on their designated PE day. If you have any questions about school uniforms, please call, email or pop in to the school office

Correct PE uniform:

Navy PE t-shirt (with school logo)
Navy sweatshirt (with school logo)
Navy jogging bottoms, leggings, skirt or shorts
Trainers or plimsolls (black)

Events for the Autumn Term

December:

Friday 2nd: INSET Day – school closed to all pupils.
Wednesday 6th: KS2 (Years 3 – 6) Nativity Service in St. Stephens Church. Please be seated by 14:30 – doors will open from 14:15.
Thursday 8th: Christmas Jumper Day – wear a festive jumper and bring £1 donation towards Save the Children.
Thursday 8th: Year 6 Ice Skating Trip to Somerset House
Friday 9th: Christingle Service at St. John Smith Square. Parents are warmly invited but must be seated by 09:15.
Wednesday 14th: EYFS & KS1 (Nursery – Year 2) Nativity Service in St. Stephens Church. Please be seated by 14:30 – doors will be open from 14:15.
Friday 16th: Last day of the Autumn Term – school finishes for all pupils at 13:30.

Term Dates 2022-2023

Please find here the agreed term dates set by our school’s Governing Body for the upcoming academic year, starting September 2022.

Please remember that holidays will not be authorised during the school term, and that all children should be in school (on time) every day.

Please refer to the table below for the term dates, including INSET days and Bank Holidays when the school will be closed to pupils.

Alternatively, you can click on the image thumbnail on the right to view the PDF (please note this will open in a new window) or you can click on the link below:

Burdett-Coutts & Townshend Foundation CE Primary School Term Dates 2022-2023 >

AUTUMN TERM 2022
Start of Term (for Years 1-6)	Monday	05 September 2022
To	Friday	21 October 2022
Half Term	Monday	24 October 2022
	Friday	28 October 2022
Return on	Monday	31 October 2022
End of Term	Friday	16 December 2022

SPRING TERM 2023
Start of Term	Wednesday	04 January 2023
To	Friday	10 February 2023
Half Term	Monday	13 February 2023
	Friday	17 February 2023
Return on	Monday	20 February 2023
End of Term	Friday	31 March 2023

SUMMER TERM 2023
Start of Term	Monday	17 April 2023
To	Friday	26 May 2023
Half Term	Monday	29 May 2023
	Friday	02 June 2023
Return on	Monday	05 June 2023
End of Term	Friday	21 July 2023

INSET DAYS
Teaching & Learning: Curriculum Map Autumn/Spring	Thursday	01 September 2022
Teaching & Learning: Phonics	Friday	02 September 2022
Assessment & Pupil Progress
Teaching & Learning: Curriculum Map Autumn/Spring	Tuesday	03 January 2023
Assessment & Pupil Progress

BANK HOLIDAYS (school closed)
May Bank Holiday	Monday	01 May 2023

Amazon Smile Account

By setting up a Smile Amazon account, every time you shop there, you can make a ‘free’ donation to our PTFA Friends of Burdett-Coutts!

By linking your existing Amazon account to a charitable cause, Amazon will donate a small amount to our PTFA each time you buy something, at no extra cost to you.

To do this, go to www.smile.amazon.co.uk
Click ‘Get started’
Sign into your Amazon account (or create one if you haven’t got one)
Pick your charity by searching for ‘Friends of Burdett-Coutts’
Then click ‘Select’
Tick the box that says ‘Yes, I understand that I must always start at smile.amazon.co.uk to support Friends of Burdett-Coutts’
Start shopping and remember to always go to www.smile.amazon.co.uk for all your Amazon shopping to make that vital donation to the Friends of Burdett-Coutts.

For a visual description of these instructions, please click the image on the right >

Community Corner

Collective Worship

The whole school attends acts of Collective Worship every day.

Mondays and Tuesdays: key stage singing assemblies led by Mr Carden.
Wednesdays: Church service led by Graham or Helena, the clergy at St Stephens with St John on Rochester Row. These services are very child-friendly, and Year 6 take a leading role by processing, singing in the choir and reading the Bible readings and prayers.
Thursdays: We focus on celebrating achievements, led by a member of SLT, School Council or a class teacher with their class. When a class teacher leads the assembly, their class also recite a piece of poetry they have been learning. We would be very grateful if parents could support their children in learning these poems when it is their turn.
Friday: Opportunities for classes to share what they have been learning with their families and the rest of the school.

Theme of the Week:

This week we have been thinking about the beginning of Advent, which will start on Sunday 27th November.

There are a lot of exciting activities and events happening during Advent both in school and in our homes. Every Sunday, The Revd. Graham will light one of the candles on the Advent wreath and we will relight them in Church on Wednesdays.

These candles (3 purple, 1 pink, 1 white) signify hope, love, joy, peace and the birth of Jesus. The children have been set a challenge to find out what else the candles can be said to represent. A clue: one of them is The Prophets.

Over the course of the year we will focus on our school’s three Christian Values: Friendship, Compassion and Service.

Throughout the Autumn Term we will be concentrating on Friendship, and this ties in beautifully with the start of a new school year, new class teachers, new friends and making a fresh start.

Community Questions:

The questions this week are based on the concept of Christ as King and ruler of the Kingdom of God.

Which countries have you ever visited or heard about? How does life differ in different countries? Do they have different food/weather/laws/values or are some things the same?
Christians say they are members of God’s kingdom, not a physical place, but where God rules in their lives. What do you think the values of the kingdom of God are? How would you expect members of God’s kingdom to live?

September 2023: Nursery & Reception places available

If you are looking for a Nursery or Reception Place, for your child from September 2023, please contact the school and make an appointment to join a school tour.

We’d be delighted for you to join us for a 30-minute bespoke EYFS tour, where you will have the chance explore our Early Years setting, speak to key staff and ask any questions regarding admissions and your child starting with us at Burdett-Coutts.

Please contact us to register for our tours which take place every Thursday, with times available from 09:30 – 14:30 during term time.

To book your tour place, please call 0207 828 6790
For further information about starting Reception at Burdett-Coutts, please click here >

Funding eligibility letter for Pupil Premium, Early Years Funding & Free School Meals

Due to changes in the eligibility criteria for Pupil Premium, Free School Meals and qualifying for 30 hours of funding for Nursery provision, many pupils currently enrolled at our school may now be entitled to one of these funding allocations.

We will be issuing letters to families who are currently not in receipt of the above, asking you to complete the registration for the identified funding option your child/ren maybe eligible for. Thank you so much in advance for your help in completing this.

This funding allows us to increase additional staffing hours to run booster groups, and an exciting range of extended day activities, that benefit our school and your child, and your cooperation is greatly appreciated at this difficult time for school budgets.

If you should have any queries with regards to the letter sent to you, please contact Mrs Deary or the school office.

Nursery:

Christmas has begun to be discussed and explored as part of our RE theme this term in Nursery. The children have started decorating their trees, discussing Jesus’ birthday and what it means to celebrate Christmas.

Reception:

This week in Reception we are planning a birthday party. We have written lists of what we need, created invitations and even baked some delicious cakes. On Friday we are going to share our birthday party with Nursery. This is linked to our topic ‘Celebrations’. We have been learning how people celebrate birthdays and the different things we do in our families.

Year 1:

In Art, we have continued to explore different lines and how these can create an illusion when observing artwork. We have also looked at different paint palettes and how we can create different shades of colours using white and black paint.

Year 2:

In History this half term, Year 2 have been learning about the Great Fire of London. We looked at the key events of the Great Fire and developed an understanding of the ways in which we can find out about the past through discussing primary sources. Last week, we were very proud to present our very own assembly about the Great Fire of London and share our learning with the rest of the school and our parents and carers.

This week, we learnt about Christopher Wren and became architects and used our knowledge about materials from our Science lesson, to create designs of a London street for King Charles II. The details included ideas about what the new houses and streets should look like, identifying the best materials and including new safety features, such as smoke detectors and fire alarms.

Year 3:

Over the past few weeks, we have been carefully studying ancient Egyptian artefacts and art. From this we have created some abstract art with the patterns and shapes we saw in the Egyptian art. We first created our background by tea staining our page and then creating extra textures with tissue paper and cardboard. Next, we added to the drawings with a range of different materials like pastel, chalk and colouring pencils. We hope you can see the resemblance between our art and ancient Egypt art!

Year 4:

This week we have had a lot of fun learning about stories and writing our own narratives of the Three Little Pigs. In English, our focus is direct speech, which we are incorporating into our writing. We are also trying especially hard to keep our handwriting neat and tidy and earn our pen licences. Please encourage your child to practise at home too!

Year 5:

This half term in Jemison class we have been focusing on our presentation of work and tasks, which makes us proud of the work we are completing. We are particularly concentrating on our letter and number formation, by making sure we are joining up our writing neatly and legibly. This week, 4 pen licences were presented to pupils in our class for the improvement in their writing. We are proud of our achievements and how much our presentation has improved.

Year 6:

This week in History, we have been exploring the advancement of warfare during WW1 and considering the advantages and disadvantages of using horses against motorised vehicles. We then learnt about the role of a variety of animals during the war and we were shocked to discover that 8 million horses lost their lives during the Great War. To coincide with this, in Art we then sketched an animal of our choice to reflect a war scene.