School Newsletter : 24 March 2023

Firstly we had Red Nose Day activities, with everyone dressing in red and a range of children’s games & activities doing lunch break including a very yummy ‘red’ cupcake (thank you Mrs Baker). Collectively we raised an amazing £158.00 in donations which will go towards helping Comic Relief support the amazing projects and organisations making a difference for people across the UK and around the world.

Our Red Nose Day winners were:

• Pin the Red Nose on the Orangutan: Mickyas (Year 6), Sarina (Year 5), Safiyah (Year 4), Safwan (Year 3), Samir (Year 2), Alexander (Year 1), Mickael (Reception) and Mahya (Nursery)
• How Many Red Sweets in the Jar?: KS2 Aron (Year 4) and KS1 & EYFS Ezra (Year 1)

We then held a wonderful Mothers Day Service in church, where the children presented readings, artwork, prayers and songs – all in celebration of those who fulfil the role of mothering in our lives. Many thanks to Mr Carden for organising this event and to those parents who attended our service, it was wonderful to have you there.

Year 5 & 6 were given a special presentation by Chroma, a Young Enterprise team from The Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston. The presentation – about their card game, ‘Hidden Heroes’, was led by Jasmin, Mary and Mia. Jasmin was a former student at Burdett-Coutts and she also helped answer questions the pupils had about what secondary school was like.

Our day concluded with a wonderful Easter Fete, that was brilliantly organised and led by our school’s PSA, The Friends of Burdett-Coutts. A huge thank you to all parents who have joined the schools PSA and for the time and energy they have generously donated leading up to and running this extremely successful event!

It was a wonderful opportunity for parents, staff and pupils to meet and take part in a range of fun events which included games, tombola, face & nail painting, art stalls and the very popular cake and sweet stalls and many more. The event raised an amazing £1366 and there was buckets of fun, laughter, celebration and competition across the afternoon.

If you would like to join the PSA, their next meeting is on Thursday 30th March. All parents are warmly welcome to join in to start planning for their next events.

WOW! What a wonderful array of Easter Bonnets were submitted for this popular competition. It’s clear that there’s been many, many busy moments of creative activity at home as children and parents worked on their creations.

Our guest judges, Narissa Bowles (Chair of Governors) and Graham Buckle (Vicar of St. Stephen’s), had an extremely difficult job in judging the bonnets.  However after much deliberation the winners for each year group are as listed below:

Nursery

• 1st: Jamie
• 2nd: Alice
• Highly Commended: Bonnie

Reception

• 1st: Rayna
• 2nd: Aayat
• Highly Commended: Mickael

Year 1

• 1st: Tahlia
• 2nd: Jude
• Highly Commended: Pari

Year 2

• 1st: Thea
• 2nd: Yaqub
• Highly Commended: Andrew & Ivy

Year 3

• 1st: Tomas
• 2nd: Max
• Highly Commended: Oscar

Year 4

• 1st: Renaud
• 2nd: Safiyah
• Highly Commended: Kaylee

Year 5

• 1st: Sara
• 2nd: Eeman
• Highly Commended: Sarina

Thank you once again for all the wonderful bonnets! Pupils will be wearing these (where possible) at our Easter Service next Wednesday. We look forward to next year’s competition – this year’s entrants have certainly set a high standard!

Thank you to the parents who have signed up to the Easter Holiday Camp via the Our Camps website. I know that Howard from Our Camps, was really pleased to meet so many of you during the Easter Fete.

If you haven’t already signed up via the Our Camps website, or via the QR code on the leaflets handed out at the Easter Fete, you can register and collect an application form from the school office.

Please make sure you register by 4pm this Wednesday 29th March, so that we can ensure your child’s t-shirt (a free gift) is ready for them. The camp will run from 3rd – 6th April @ 10:00 – 14:30 each day, with a lunch and snacks provided.

Please see the leaflet below for more information.

Our next Parents Evening will be on Thursday 20th April, and you can sign up for your appointment times at the school office from Monday 27th March.

Please arrive 10 minutes prior to your appointment, so that you have time to review the work your child has selected with them, before meeting with your class teacher.

17th March: Fire Brigade Visit

Last week Year 5 and Year 2 had visit from the London Fire Brigade. They’ve learnt about the causes of fires around the home, how to prevent these, what to do if there is a fire and how to remain safe. The children were thoroughly engaged in the sessions, asking many sensible questions and learning a lot about keeping themselves and their families safe. Why not ask them what they’ve learnt?

20th March: Choir & Year 6 performance at the Barbican

On Monday 20th March, Year Six and members of the Choir Club had the massive privilege of singing in a concert in the Barbican Concert Hall, one of the biggest classical music venues in the country. We were invited by Mr Tim Garrard, Head of Music at Westminster School. The piece we had to learn was Benjamin Britten’s 20th Century Cantata Rejoice in the Lamb, one of the most difficult and challenging pieces ever sung by pupils at our school.

The experience of performing on a very large stage – with singers from several other schools including Westminster, Greycoat Hospital, Harris Academy and others – and being accompanied by the brilliant Ben Bloor (organist of Westminster School) was superb. This was definitely something you can’t learn from a book!

The lights on us were very bright, and quite hot, and we could see hundreds of people watching us from the three levels of the auditorium. Before we sang, we listened to Dvorak’s Violin Concerto played wonderfully by Rhys Evans (pupil at Westminster) and the National Youth Orchestra, conducted by Mr Heighway. We were thrilled to be sitting next to the orchestra, and therefore very close to the players.

Our piece was sung by a choir of approximately 100 singers, of which we were the youngest onstage. Singing in harmony with older school children and adults in this magnificent place to a large audience was absolutely thrilling and we will remember it for a very long time.

21st March: Year 5 trip to St. Gabriels Church

Year 5 were lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with Pimlico Music Foundation and various other local primary schools on a singing project.

We learnt 2 songs linked to climate change and the environment: Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell. We had rehearsals with singers in the church before singing all together – it sounded amazing! Then some schools were chosen to perform a song of their choice – we sang ‘Just a Cold Tomb‘ as a round! Miss Mattey and Mr Carden were very proud of us.

23rd March: Reception & Year 2 Trip to London Zoo

This week Reception and Year 2 went on a trip to the London Zoo. They had a wonderful time and came back buzzing with excitement and full of amazing memories. The children spent the day admiring the wild animals, walking through a rainforest, greeting the meerkats, waddling with the penguins and swinging with the monkeys.

They saw a tortoise that was over 100 years old and a mother sloth and her baby sleeping in a corner of the rainforest. They walked around the aquarium looking at different fish of all colours, shapes and sizes!

Before having their lunch children went to watch the penguins being fed, they loved it as they were cute, and it was fun watching them dive into the water. It was an unforgettable experience for the children as well as the adults.

March:

• Monday 27th March @ 14:30 – 16:30: Coronation Club (Year 4) Trip to the Royal Mews
• Wednesday 29th March: Easter Service at St.Stephens Church. Starts at 09:30 with doors opening to parents at 09:15.
• Friday 31st March: Roll Back the Stone Production led by  Years 3 & 6 at St. Stephens Church. Starts at 09:30 with doors opening to parents at 09:15.
• Friday 31st March: Last day of term. School closes at 13:30.

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.

Last Sunday was an important day in the Christian calendar and a special day for families: Mothering Sunday. Mother’s Day (as it has more recently become known) is always celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

Mothering Sunday has been celebrated for hundreds of years, with people since the Middle Ages using the day to visit their ‘mother church‘: the place where they received the sacrament of baptism as a child. In more recent history, domestic servants who often lived far away from home, would traditionally be given the day off on Mothering Sunday so they could go home to visit their mothers.

Mothering Sunday is often associated with the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in the Bible (John 2:1-14), prompted by the association of gifts from ‘Mother Earth‘. In Church last Wednesday we heard a different reading, this one with a focus on women, from John 4:5-42.

This is a long reading so Graham summarised it for us: it is the story of a woman from Samaria; in Jesus’ time the Samaritans were regarded by the Jews as sinful enemies and were hated. One day a Samaritan woman was by a well, drawing up water. She had been ostracised by other women collecting water but Jesus approached her and spoke with her.

He confronted her about her sins but comforted her with the truth of the gospel. This story demonstrates the compassion, love and care Jesus had for all, whilst also showing us the importance of water. He said: ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water I give them will never be thirsty.’

Do you have a baby or toddler and would like to meet other parents? Why not join our weekly Baby and Toddler group every Wednesday 10 – 11:30am at St. Stephen’s Church, Rochester Row? All are welcome – see details below.

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

Inspired by the Year 1 sharing assembly, Nursery have been exploring the Gruffalo story themselves. We have delved into the world of woodland creatures and pondered over the question ‘If lying to protect yourself is alright?’ The children decided that the mouse was clever to make sure that she didn’t end up as anyone’s dinner, even if it meant that she had to lie. However, they also acknowledged that perhaps lying if you were just trying to get out of trouble wasn’t fair or ok.

Last week in Reception we were busy preparing for Mother’s Day. We learnt all about Mothering Sunday and how it is a special celebration for Christians. We talked about our mums and why they are so special to us. We then created cards with daffodils as these are often given to our mothers in church. We made sure to do our very best writing in the cards.

In PSHE we have been focusing on healthy and unhealthy social and emotional habits. We have been talking about how we can manage our emotions, and the strategies we can use to overcome conflict. We’ve also been talking a lot about problems and deciding whether our problems are big or small, and what we can do to overcome them. Have a chat to your child at home about conflict and come up with some ways you could deal with any problems.

We have been celebrating Science Week with the theme of connections. We have been learning about Katherine Johnson, who was the first African American woman to work as a scientist at NASA. She was a pioneering mathematician and was known as the human computer because many of her colleagues trusted her calculations more than the computer. As we are writing to inform this half term, we made information posters about her.

This week in Maths we have been learning how to find percentages of amounts or missing values and then applying this to solving more complex reasoning problems. We are now able to confidently find 10% of an amount and use this knowledge to work out any given amount. We discussed how to use different strategies when finding percentages close to the whole. For example, to find 97 percent, it would be easier for us to find 3% and then take that amount away from the whole. We will continue to master percentages in our daily ‘fluent in five‘ sessions.