School Newsletter : 27 January 2023

Many of you may be aware from the national press that the National Education Union (NEU), has balloted for strike action on the following dates:

• Wednesday 1 February 2023
• Thursday 2 March 2023
• Wednesday 15 March 2023
• Thursday 16 March 2023

Kindly be informed that our school will be open on the 4 strike days listed above, with all classes and wrap around provision (Breakfast Club, Extended School Day and After School Clubs) operating as normal.

On Thursday, the Friends of Burdett-Coutts, our school’s Parent-Staff Association held its AGM. Thank you to all the parents who attended – it was really lovely to meet all of you. We elected our committee members and HUGE congratulations must go to:

• Miss Rachida (Chair)
• Sarah N (Vice-Chair)
• Lynne B (Secretary)
• Miss Karen (Co-Treasurer)

Narissa, our Chair of Governors, gave a quick explanation of the important role & purpose of the Friends of Burdett-Coutts, and outlined the many events and types of fund-raising open to this charity. She also explained how the association had funded many items in the past, including circus & theatre workshops, school trip to the zoo and playground equipment.

If you are a parent, carer or a guardian of a child that attends the school, then you are automatically a member of the Friends of Burdett-Coutts. It’s a great chance to meet other parents, while supporting our school, and even if you only have a small amount of time, it’s an amazing opportunity to participate more in school life.

After discussion amongst parents attending, it was agreed that the first event to be organised by the Friends of Burdett-Coutts would be an Easter Fete on 17th March! Planning meetings will be every Thursday starting 2nd February – EVERYONE is welcome and we would really value your help.

If you’re unable to attend Thursday’s planning meeting but would like to help out, please speak to Miss Rachida in Nursery & Reception.

Year 4 Trip to The Wallace Collection

On Tuesday, we had a very educational and interesting trip to The Wallace Collection. This wonderful art gallery is home to many beautiful and valuable art works and antiques that were bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace. We were looking especially at portraiture in its different forms. We learnt much about the symbolism in art and had the opportunity to sketch our own version of a well known painting and draw our own self portraits. The class were impeccably well-behaved and learnt much from this trip.

London Diocesan Board for Schools Service: Stewards of God’s Wonderful Creation

On Thursday, 12 pupils from across our KS2 classes attended the LDBS Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral with Mr Carden & Miss Barnett. It was a wonderful service with many LDBS schools from across London attending. As always, it was an awe inspiring experience to be seated within such an historical and gorgeous building for this occasion.

Models of animals and plants created by pupils were displayed and processed during a dramatic reading of the story of creation. However, the service was most certainly ‘stolen’ by “Stella”; a guiding star who exploded into the church to deliver a wonderful reflection about having a sense of purpose, responsibility, love, joy and faith.

The reflection, delivered by The Right Reverent Rob Wickham, Bishop of Edmonton (who’d dressed as a star) was perfectly pitched for the audience of school children, with humour used wonderfully within his performance. Powerful and much loved hymns such as I, the Lord of Sea and Sky and How Great Thou Art were beautifully sung by everyone.

Everyone was very impressed with how well our pupils participated and sung during the service. It was truly a wonderful afternoon of uplifting song, readings and reflection.

February 2023:

• Half Term: Monday 13th – Friday 17th January

March 2023:

• Barbican Concert: Monday 20th March from 19:00 – 21:00 Year 6 have been invited to perform alongside pupils from Westminster School in their concert at the Barbican. What an amazing opportunity! More details to follow, including how parents can obtain tickets.
• Pimlico Music Foundation Singing Event at St. Gabriel’s Church: Tuesday 21st March (Time TBC) Year 5 to perform and parents are warmly welcomed

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.

Years 5 and 6 were treated to a very special church service on Wednesday, attending a Mass at a neighbouring church, St Matthew’s. We have a lovely relationship with the school and church communities of St Matthew’s, and try to have a joint service once a term.

Hector did us proud by delivering the main reading with confidence, and the children from the two schools sang together beautifully. Thank you to Father Phillip and the staff at St Matthew’s Primary School, and to Graham and Helena from St Stephen’s, for making it such a special morning.

St Matthew’s Church, like St Stephen’s, still has their Christmas trees up. Father Phillip and Graham asked the children why this might be, when most people take their Christmas trees and decorations down at Epiphany if not before.

One lovely response was that ‘Christmas lasts all year’. The children learnt that taking the tree down so early is a modern phenomenon and that the Christmas period in fact officially ends at Candlemas on February 2nd! It is rather a wonderful sight to have the cheerful lights twinkling on through the cold and dreary month of January.

This week we have also been talking about the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus. In the service at St Matthew’s, Father Phillip asked the children about seeking forgiveness: why we ask for forgiveness when we attend worship, who we are asking for forgiveness from, and who we hurt when we sin.

With these important questions in mind, here are our community questions for this week:

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	Friday	02 December 2022
Teaching & Learning: Curriculum Map Autumn/Spring	Tuesday	03 January 2023
Assessment & Pupil Progress	Friday	07 July 2023
BANK HOLIDAYS (school closed)
May Bank Holiday	Monday	01 May 2023
Coronation Bank Holiday	Monday	08 May 2023

Last term Nursery were focusing on the names of numbers to 10 and this term they are investigating the concept of what those names mean. Through a variety of one-to-one correspondence, loose parts play, number recognition and numicon, the children grouped numbers. Working as small groups they plotted how many forms of one number they could find.

This week in RE we have been learning all about Chinese New Year. We read the story of The Great Race and discussed the different animals in the story and who we thought deserved to win the race. We looked up the animal linked to the years that we were born and learnt the ways Chinese families celebrate the New Year. We learnt that red decorations are considered lucky and that lanterns are often used. We created our own lanterns using a collage of yellow and red paper.

In Geography this term we are learning about the United Kingdom (UK). We have been looking at where the UK is on a map of the world, learning about the four countries that make up the UK, their flags and some information about the capital cities. This week we started writing a fact file about London including some famous landmarks and other pieces of information we have discovered. Have a chat to your child about some new facts they know about London!

This week, Year 5 have been busy writing poems about the sea. We read the John Masefield poem ‘I must go down to the sea again‘ and then wrote our own following the same rhyme scheme. We are really excited to share some of these with you in our class assembly on Friday. We have also been learning about Robert (Robbie) Burns – a famous Scottish poet whose birthday is celebrated on 25th January every year on Burns Night.

This week in Art we have explored a piece created by Solhara Shiha, entitled 900. We found out that since her childhood she was interested in visual arts and developed a sense for details and ornaments. The main theme of her work is the feeling or situation of loss – loss of loved ones, memories and places. Nevertheless, she often uses bright, strong colours and an excessively ornamental style. Her work links to our class text, The Boy at the Back of the Class, which follows the plight of a young refugee boy called Ahmet; who like the artist is also originally from Syria.