School Newsletter : 29 March 2024

On March 25th, the Lyceum Theatre hosted a group of Burdett-Coutts children performing to a star-studded audience. As one of four schools picked for this year’s Disney’s Musicals in Schools programme; our pupils brought the magic of Disney to this prestigious stage.

Hosted by Merryl Ansah, who plays Nala in the West End production of The Lion King, and Gary Jordan, who plays Zazu, 26 of our pupils from Years 4 & 5 enthralled, captivated and astounded the audience with their ROARSOME performance of the classic Disney tale The Lion King.

At this grand event, the children performed their own rendition of the much-loved ‘Circle of Life‘, and collaborated with the other schools for a special performance of Alan Menken’s,  ‘It Starts With a Dream‘.

The Disney initiative provides selected schools with the essential training and tools needed to nurture a sustainable musical theatre program, something hugely appreciated at Burdett-Coutts.

The experience was an excellent way to develop creativity, confidence, friendships and relationships with teachers, and the children who participated all flourished during the rehearsal process, with everyone growing into their roles.

Over 17 weeks, the pupils learnt to sing and dance, working together to stage their own adaptation of a Disney classic. Despite some of them being ‘so nervous before the show‘, they were all marvellous, and we are immensely proud of them.

Well done everyone!

Heartfelt thanks to:

• all the Burdett-Coutts staff involved
• our supportive families
• our outstanding Disney Teaching Artists: Dom, Lauren & Tori
• Felicity and Nancy for the exceptional organisation & management of the whole process & the show

Run Kids Run is a registered charity helping connect primary school communities with long term corporate benefactors.

We’ve been selected as 1 of 10 schools to take part in their next event at Battersea Park on Sunday 28th April 2024.

We’re utterly thrilled at this amazing opportunity to participate in what promises to be a fun, fitness fundraising event!

Who can run?

Everyone! All pupils from Nursery to Year 6 can register to compete in this fundraising event. Nursery & Reception will complete a 1km run (with a parent), and Years 1 – 6 will complete a 2km run.

THERE’S STILL TIME TO REGISTER: Simply fill in this Google Form: https://forms.gle/V3rbcVRERWsmVeck8 

You can register up to 4 runners on one form and older siblings can also take part (please select the 2 mile Y5 & Y6 option).

Then get training! And ask as many people as possible to sponsor your child/ren’s sporting challenge.

You can seek sponsorship from as many friends, family & neighbours as possible, as every donation will go towards raising funds for our school.

On Sunday 28 April, bring your child/ren to Battersea Park from 2 – 4pm. The children will run their races and on completion, will receive a medal and snack at this fun family day out.

Fundraising goals:

Our school’s PSA, The Friends of Burdett-Coutts (Charity #1167707) are working with us to realise our School Council Playground Pledges of improvments to our playgrounds.

The total amount required is £16,000 to fund:

• Project 1: A REALLY BIG sandpit (one you can get into) & sand-play equipment for the EYFS & KS1 playground.
• Project 2: A dedicated comfortable seating area (similar to the one in the KS1 playground) and age-appropriate construction & imaginative play resources.

So far, we have raised £3,000 from the FoBC PSA and £5,000 from the initial sponsorship from Run Kids Run.

With a remaining £8,000 still to be raised, this is where you can help out, by having as many family members, friends and neighbours sponsor your child/ren to compete in the Run Kids Run event.

To make a donation, simply go to: www.justgiving.com/campaign/runbcrun

In-School training:

Our PE coach, Mr Raheem is leading in-school training sessions for all pupils who have registered for the Run Kids Run event.

All pupils will need to wear their full PE kit and trainers to participate in these training sessions (see side panel for dates).

There will also be lunch-time training sessions for these pupils on their normal PE days (as they’re wearing their PE kits).

Parents, in order for your children to be able to take part, you must register your children via the Run Kids Run Google Form AND inform the school office by email before the start of any session.

Thank you for your support in this whole-school fun, fitness fundraising event.

We hope to see many children signed up, ready to train and be sponsored for their run at Battersea Park on Sunday 28th April.

On Monday 18th March, members of our Choir Club were invited to be guest singers at the Westminster School Concert in the Barbican Centre.

Along with singers from other schools in our area, and a large choir and orchestra from Westminster School, we performed The Girl from Aleppo by Cecilia McDowell, which is a contemporary work (2016) detailing an escape from a war-torn country (Syria) by refugees.

This musical work, which is quite difficult to perform, is so relevant to today’s newsreels, and our children loved singing it.

To be invited to perform (again) in one of London’s principal concert halls, in front of a large audience of parents and the public was both thrilling and daunting.

It was also a marvellous opportunity to experience large scale performing, and we are very grateful to Mr. Tim Garrad, the Director of Music at Westminster School.

Over the February Half Term, pupils were invited to decorate an Easter Egg for the Victoria BID competition.

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Nina (Year 2) and Taha (Year 5) have been shortlisted and won a £50 voucher each for their achievement. Well done Nina and Taha!

Their designs will be two of six giant easter eggs situated in Eccleston Yards, which will be on display from Tuesday 26th March to Monday 1st April. Visitors can vote for their favourite and the winning egg will receive £500 worth of Amazon vouchers to put towards school or club equipment.

So head over to Eccleston Yards over the Easter weekend, where you can vote for your favourite design via the OR code at the exhibition. Winners will be decided after the Easter break.

To find out more, goto https://www.victoriabid.co.uk/event/cracking-community-eggs/

A HUGE thank you to everyone who visited our School Art Gallery this week.  It was such a lovely opportunity to celebrate and share the wonderful sustainable artworks created by pupils, along with individual and whole class collaborative Identity projects too.

We have raised a further £185.00 from the sales of artwork, with all proceeds going towards our playground fundraising initiatives.

There was so much positive feedback from this event, with parents, pupils and staff really enjoying the opportunity to see the pupils’ wonderful creative work displayed; whilst conveying a very important message about the importance of sustainability.

Well done to everyone who entered our Easter Bonnet Competition this year. Both children and adults showed unbelievable creativity and we had the amazing submissions. They were truly wonderful!

It’s been so lovely seeing all the beautiful displays on the bonnets and how different each of them are. It’s been a really tough task judging them – it was so hard to choose – but in the end our judges were able to arrive at a decision.

Congratulations to all our winners, and well done once again to everyone who entered.

We hope you have the opportunity to show off your wonderful bonnets over the Easter weekend.

Preschool:

• 1st Place: Cleo
• 2nd Place: Arielle
• 3rd Place: Millie

Nursery:

• 1st Place: Katja
• 2nd Place: Pippa
• 3rd Place: Aneleia

Reception:

• 1st Place: Blake
• 2nd Place: Alice
• 3rd Place: Elijah

We had a hugely successful parents evening last Thursday with over 90% of parents coming to meet with their child’s class teacher to discuss achievements to date and targets for the summer term.

It was also a wonderful opportunity for parents to sit and discuss the work their child had selected to share with them.

Thank you also to all the parents who had responded to the parent questionnaire sent out earlier in the term.

It was a pleasure to share the responses with you. There were many conversations around the display, and it was a lovely opportunity for our school’s governors to meet with parents.

If you are a parent, carer or a guardian of a child that attends our school, then you are automatically a member of our Parent Staff Association, Friends of Burdett-Coutts.

Being part of our PSA offers an exciting opportunity for you to meet other parents, whilst supporting our school, through organising fundraising events, volunteering and much more.

Even if you can only give a small amount of time, you will be making a difference to the school experience for your child and other pupils in our school.

Our next meeting will be after the Easter break, on Thursday 18th April from 09:00 – 10:00 in the Ground Floor Hall.

Please do come along and join us, your energy & support is very much needed!

Items of discussion at our next meeting will be around:

• Plans & organisation for the Spring Fete including stalls and events, volunteers  etc.

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit to school each week.

Pupils who are not wearing their full PE kit will not be able to participate in lessons, and a note will be sent home indicating why they were not able to participate.

The full PE kit for the Autumn/Winter term is as follows:

• Plain navy blue leggings or tracksuit bottoms
• School navy blue PE t-shirt
• School navy blue sweatshirt (all year groups).
• Pupils in KS2 (Years 3 – 6) must wear a school navy sweatshirt for PE and NOT their school jumper.
• Plain black trainers (velcro if your child struggles with shoe laces)
• Please ensure all items of uniform are clearly labelled (with a permanent pen or label)

On Monday 8th January, parents were sent a welcome email from Arbor via the school office email account. Please read this carefully, as it contains vital information of the steps required to download the Arbor app, which is now live and ready to use for our school.

Once you have downloaded the app and followed the setup steps, you will be able to pay online for the following:

• Breakfast Club
• After School Club (6 o’clock club)
• School Trips and Visits
• Nursery Extended Day Fees
• Preschool Fees

You will also be able to view your child’s details held by the school, such as their attendance record  and the named adults allowed to collect them from school.  After the Easter Break, you will also be able to sign up and pay for Extended School Day (Enrichment) Clubs.

We understand that while paying online is the preferred option for many of our families, those wishing to continue paying by cash will still be able to do via the school office.

If you would like your child to move from bringing a packed lunch to having a school meal, you must inform the office at least a week in advance of this change being made. Kindly note pupils are not allowed to alternate between having packed lunches and/or school meals on a daily or weekly basis. If you have any questions, please see a member of the school admin staff at the school office.

You can find the current school lunch menu here >

If you require a printed copy, please ask at the school office. Should you have any questions about the menu, kindly make an appointment to speak with Miss Barnett.

February 2024 half term vouchers for pupils eligible for FSM are available for collection from the school office.

We have noticed several pupils are consistently late to school each day. It is essential that every child arrives at school by 08:45 so that they are in class and ready to learn at 09:00. If your punctuality has slipped recently, please ensure that you take steps to arrive in school on time after the February half term break.

Why good school attendance matters: Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children’s learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

• Poor attendance often starts at primary school and children who fall into this pattern are likely to under-achieve at secondary school.
• Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 – 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.
• An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year.
• Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below.
• All pupils are expected to have an attendance rate of 95% or higher.

Attendance class of the week: Each week we will be celebrating the class with the highest attendance levels.