School Newsletter : 13 September 2024

| Issue 1 | Autumn 1 | Week 1 |

Welcome Back!

A HUGE welcome back to all our pupils, parents and staff. The weather may not have been as great as it could but we have had an EXCELLENT start to the new academic year. It is wonderful to see our school filled once again with energy, laughter, fun and curiosity for learning from our pupils.

We are delighted to extend the warmest of welcomes to the many new pupils and families who have joined us this term. We look forward to meeting and getting to know you across the rest of this term.

All classes across the school have settled in brilliantly, with the pupils getting to know each other, as well as their new teachers and classrooms.

All new starters to Nursery and Reception Classes have been completed across this week, and it has been a hive of activity down in the Early Years as they have explored and familiarised themselves with their many learning and play spaces!

Pupils in Years 1 – 6 have also had a busy start to their curriculum learning, with many educational trips and visits planned for many classes over the next few weeks, some of which have already taken place.

We hope you’ll find the information in this newsletter useful but if you have any questions, please feel free to pop into the school office and we will try our best to help you.

Wrap Around Provision: Autumn Term 2024

There is high demand for Breakfast Club and After School places this term. If you still require places for your child/ren in any of our wrap-around clubs, please complete an application form, available to collect from the school office.

We will try our very best to accommodate your request.  If there are no spaces available, you will be added to a waiting list in order of when you’ve applied.

After-School Club Collection Times:

  • Please make sure that your child is collected by 18:00 (6pm) each day that they are enrolled for this club. If you’re late collecting your child/ren, a late fee of £5 for every 5 minutes will be payable.
  • If you are running late, please call the school office before 18:00 (6pm) to inform staff.

Breakfast Club:

  • Please ensure your child is on time for breakfast club.
  • The final service time is 08:25, to ensure the children have time to eat without rushing (eg: 15 mins) before they go to their classes at 08:40.

Autumn Term Wrap-Around Club Dates:

  • Breakfast Club @ 07:45 – 08:45: Starting Tuesday 3rd September and finishes on Friday 20th December.
  • Extended School Day Clubs @15:30 – 16:30: These will start Monday 16th September and finish on Thursday 12th December (see further information below)
  • After School Club @ 15:30 – 18:00:  Starting Tuesday 3rd September and finishes on Thursday 19th December.
  • If you have a place but do not utilise this/attend for more than 2 weeks, we will contact you to discuss your needs.
  • If it is no longer needed, we will offer the space to someone on the waiting list.

Year 6 Secondary Transfer Meeting

Year 6 parents & carers, an information booklet about secondary school transfer has been sent home with your child this week. Please read this carefully. You can also find links to this booklet below.

We will be holding a Secondary Transfer meeting on Thursday 19th September from 09:00 – 09:45, in the Ground Floor Hall.

This offers the opportunity to discuss this information with us, as well as for us to answer any questions you may have regarding this process.

School Photos

Kindly note that school photographs will be taken on Tuesday 24th AND Wednesday 25th of September.

All pupils will have their individual photographs taken. If you would also like to have sibling photographs, please email the school office by Friday 20th September to inform them of this request.

Please ensure that they are wearing their full school uniform on both days, including the correct shoes eg black school shoes. You can find a list of the correct full school uniform here: https://burdettcoutts.co.uk/school-life/uniforms/

If your child has PE on either of those days, they will need to bring their PE kit to school with them to change into on this occasion. If you have any queries about the correct school uniform, or regarding bringing their PE kit, please email the school office.

MacMillan Fundraising Event & School Open Morning

PE Lessons

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

Please ensure that all items of school uniform are clearly labelled with either a permanent pen or label.

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)*
  • Plain black trainers (velcro or slip on if they can not do their laces).

* Kindly note: Pupils in KS2 (Years 3-6) must wear a school sweatshirt for PE lessons and not the v-neck jumper from their main school uniform.

Autumn Term PE Lessons:

  • Monday: Year 4
  • Tuesday: Year 3
  • Wednesday: Reception & Year 5
  • Thursday: Year 6
  • Friday: Year 1 & Year 2

Winter Wonderland Art Competition

Out and About………

Thursday 12th September: Year 6 Trip to The Imperial Warm Museum.

We visited the Imperial War Museum as we continue to learn about WW1 across this half term. As we explored the gallery, we made our very own documentaries about the artefacts which were important to us and more importantly, what they taught us about Britain back in 1914. It was also an opportunity for us to find artefacts which historian Peter Daniel had spoken about on our previous trip, which has helped to deepen our understanding of  the period and events surrounding WW1.

Wednesday 11th September: Year 3 Trip to Fulham Palace

At Fulham Palace, Year 3 had a great opportunity to take part in a workshop about the Stone Age. We sat down on logs (because modern chairs didn’t exist in the Stone Age!) and examined replicas of Stone Age tools, such as hand axes and sharp stones used for cutting skins from animals as well as food. We then split into groups to create a Stone Age Society. We made shelters out of sticks, made traps to capture animals, differentiated between edible and non-edible plants, and created some art in the dirt. Afterwards, we played in the natural playground and took a couple of lovely group pictures!

2024 Outcomes: A cause for celebration!

We are delighted to publish the following outcomes for our pupils, alongside the national comparisons.

Reception: Good Level of Development (GLD)
Burdett-Coutts: 76%
National: 68%
Year 1 Phonics Check
Burdett-Coutts: 83%
National: 80%
KS1 Year 2 SATs Outcomes
 Expected Standard (EXS)         Greater Depth (GD)
Reading  Writing Maths   RWM (EXS)  Reading  Writing  Maths  RWM (GD)
 Burdett-Coutts  83%  78%  83%  78%  44%  28%  39%  28%
 National 71%  62%  71%  57%  19%  8%  16%  6%
KS2 Year 6 SATs Outcomes
Expected Standard (EXS) Higher Standard (HS)
Reading Writing Maths SPAG RWM (EXS) Reading Writing Maths SPAG RWM (HS)
Burdett-Coutts (13/15)  87% 80% 87% 87% 80% 47% 33% 33% 73% 13%
Burdett-Coutts (13/13)  100%  92.3% 100% 100%  92.3%  53.8%  38.5%  38.5%  84.6%  15.3%
National  74%  72%  73% 72%  28%  TBC  12%  23%  31%  7%

Biscuit Bytes

Woof….

Welcome back everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer break and fun visiting friends and relatives, and maybe even exploring new places near and far!

My summer was great. I had a great time meeting up with my other doggy friends, cooling off in streams and pools when the weather was really warm. I enjoyed beautiful walks in several National Trust parks, where I met new and interesting friends; Brown Swiss cows!

They were super friendly, liked eating grass (like me) and best of all, they were also the same colour as me! The parks had an excellent supply of sticks although it was so hard to choose the best one.

I also enjoyed lazing about in the garden on the warm summer afternoons, as that’s what holidays are all about!

I have really missed you all over the summer, and I’ve been so excited about seeing you again over the last week. I think I have met all the new children who have joined us this term (which has been lovely as I got so many pats and some cuddles!).

Of course it was fantastic to have hugs with all my friends from last year as well. Some of you have grown so much!

I have had lots of fun visiting in the Early Years this week, and I also spent some time listening to a Maths lesson in Year 2. Well done to all the children who were listening and contributing so well! I learnt that 1 bone + 1 bone = a very happy dog 🐶 Hmmm, maybe I need more practice!

Wishing you a restful weekend and can’t wait to see you on Monday.

Love Biscuit x

Accelerated Reader Program

We are very excited to announce that we are now part of the Accelerated Reader program, for children in Years 1 to 6.

Accelerated Reader encourages children to read regularly, while ensuring that they bring home a book appropriate to their reading level. There are three steps to the program:

1. Pupils complete a star assessment which informs us of their reading level
2. They choose a reading book from the library, appropriate to their reading level
3. After they’ve read the book, they complete an online quiz about the it. The children earn points for the quizzes that they complete.

Pupils can log into the Accelerated Reader portal @ https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/2243804

They can also log in by clicking on the Accelerated Reader link found at the top right hand corner of our website (in between Staff Login and Sooper Books).

Please click the image below for information about Accelerated Reader, or click here for a PDF >

Our PTA: The Friends of Burdett-Coutts

Welcome back to the new school year and a warm welcome to all our new families who have joined our school’s community this term.

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 first meeting will take place on Wednesday 18th September from 09:00 – 09:45 in the Ground Floor Hall, with refreshments. Everyone is welcome – please come along and join us, your energy & support is very much needed!

Upcoming Events:

  • Our first PTA supported event will be the MacMillan Open Morning on Tuesday 01st September – 08:45 – 09:45
  • Christmas Fair: Wednesday 18th December – 15:30 – 17:30

Upcoming meeting dates:

  • Wednesday 25th September
  • Wednesday 16th October
  • Wednesday 06th November
  • Wednesday 20th November
  • Wednesday 04th December
  • Wednesday 11th December

Upcoming Events

September:

  • Tuesday 17th September: Year 4 Trip to the British Museum.
  • Thursday 19th September: Secondary Transfer Parent Meeting – Ground Floor Hall in school, 09:00 – 09:45.
  • Monday 23rd September: Year 2 Trip to the Kings Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
  • Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th: Individual and Sibling Photographs.

October:

  • Tuesday 1st October: MacMillan Coffee Morning and Open Morning – 08:45 – 10:00.
  • Thursday 3rd October:  Year 1 Trip to Museum of Childhood – 09:00 – 15:00.
  • Monday 7th October:  Peter Daniels (Westminster Archives) in to lead Workshop “Black & Blue Project” with Year 6.
  • Tuesday 8th October: Year 6 Trip to the Science Museum – 09:00 – 15:00
  • Tuesday 8th October:  Blessing of the Animal Service, St. Stephens Church – 18:30 – 19:30
  • Wednesday 9th October: Harvest Service at St. Stephens Church – 10:00 – 11:00.  All parents are warmly invited.  Please be seated by 09:55.
  • Friday 11th October: Year 6 Trip to Stanford Bridge (part of the Black & Blue Project with Westminster Archives) 09:00 -1 5:00
  • Monday 14th October:  Peter Daniels (Westminster Archives) in to deliver “Moving Away Your Dust Project) with Year 6 – 09:00 – 15:15
  • Tuesday 15th October: Year 4 Trip to the Science Museum – 09:00 – 15:00
  • Tuesday 22nd October:  Year 5 Trip to the Science Museum – 09:00 – 15:00
  • Friday 25th October: INSET Day – school closed for pupils.
  • October Half Term Monday 28th October to Friday 01st of November  – School Closed

November:

  • Wednesday 6th November: Year 1 Trip to the Florence Nightingale Museum – 09:00 – 15:00
  • Friday 8th November:  Remembrance Day Service (in school) 10:30 – 11:30.  Parents are warmly invited and need to be in the school playground (weather permitting) by 10:25am.
  • Friday 8th November: Year 6 visiting Westminster Abbey as part of the “Moving Away Your Dust Project” – 13:00 -15:00.
  • Monday 11th November: Year 5 Trip to The British Museum – 09:00 – 15:00.
  • Monday 18th November: Year 3 Trip to The British Museum – 09:00 – 15:00.
  • Monday 25th November: Year 4 Trip to The British Museum – 09:00 – 15:00.
  • Tuesday 12th November: Year 1 Trip to The National Portrait Gallery (Significant People Exhibition) – 09:00 – 15:00.
  • Thursday 28th November: Year 6 visiting The Abbey Centre,  as part of the “Moving Away Your Dust Project” – 10:00 – 12:30.
  • Friday 29th November: INSET Day – school closed for pupils.

December:

  • Monday 2nd December: 9 Lessons Carol Service at St. John’s Smith Square Church: 09:30 – 11:00.  Parents are warmly invited to attend and asked to be seated in the church by 09:20
  • Wednesday 11th December:  KS2  (year 3 – 6) Disco – 17:00 – 19:00
  • Wednesday 18th December:  School Christmas Fair – 15:30 – 17:30
  • Friday 19th December: School closes for the Christmas Holidays as 13:30.

Term Dates 2024-2025

Please find here the agreed term dates set by our school’s Governing Body for the upcoming academic year, starting September 2024.

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:

 

AUTUMN TERM 2024

Start of Term (for Years 1-6)

Tuesday

03 September 2024

To

Thursay

24 October 2024

Half Term

Monday

28 October 2024

 

Friday

01 November 2024

Return on

Monday

04 November 2024

End of Term

Friday

20 December 2024

 

SPRING TERM 2025

Start of Term

Tuesday

07 January 2025

To

Friday

14 February 2025

Half Term

Monday

17 February 2025

 

Friday

21 February 2025

Return on

Monday

24 February 2025

End of Term

Thursday

04 April 2025

 

SUMMER TERM 2025

Start of Term

Monday

22 April 2025

To

Friday

23 May 2025

Half Term

Monday

26 May 2025

 

Friday

30 May 2025

Return on

Monday

02 June 2025

End of Term

Friday

22 July 2025

 

INSET DAYS
Teaching & Learning: Curriculum & Safeguarding

Monday

02 September 2024

Teaching & Learning TBC

Friday

25 October 2024

Teaching & Learning: Wellbeing

Friday

29 November 2024

Assessment & Pupil Progress

Monday

06 January 2025

Teaching & Learning: Curriculum, Assessment & Pupil Progress

Friday

27 June 2025

BANK HOLIDAYS (school closed)
May Bank Holiday

Monday

05 May 2025

Online Safety

Did you know that not all apps are safe for children, with many popular ones having certain age restrictions. For example, WhatsApp, Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook operate a minimum age of 13+ years, and therefore primary school children should not have their own, nor access to, such apps or accounts.

As parents, you can help safeguard your children online by researching these apps and their purposes, as well as their age restrictions, BEFORE agreeing to download them. If you do choose to download them, remember that parental controls such as password protection, can be set up so that in-app downloads or purchases, cannot be completed by the children themselves.

For example, to prevent iTunes, Apple App Store purchases or downloads, all you need to do is:

  1. Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
  2. Tap Content & App Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
  3. Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases.
  4. Select a setting and set to Don’t Allow.

Tips on how to install parental controls on other apps and devices (Android or Apple) can easily be found online, or even from the app developers themselves.

Preschool, Nursery & Reception Admissions

We have the following availability for places in our Early Years provision from September 2024:

Reception class:

  • 2 places

Nursery Class (3-year olds):

  • 2 full-time places
  • 2 part-time place (afternoon)

 Preschool (2-year olds)

  • 1 full-time place from September 2024
  • 2 part-time places from September 2024
  • 2 full-time places (1 from January 2025)

If you are looking for a Preschool, Nursery or Reception place for your child we’d love to have you join us for a 30-minute bespoke EYFS tour. Here, you’ll 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.

Contact us to register for our tours which take place every Thursday, with times available from 10:30 – 14:30 during term time.

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.

Preschool:

We’ve had so much fun meeting new friends and settling back into PreSchool this week. We have enjoyed water play and painting outdoors, plus exploring our classroom and the exploration room!

Nursery:

Nursery’s first week has been amazing! The children have had so much fun settling in, exploring their new surroundings, and making lots of new friends. It has been wonderful to see their happy faces as they get to know each other. We can’t wait to share even more exciting adventures and fun learning experiences with them in the weeks to come. Here’s to a fantastic year ahead in Nursery!

Reception:

Reception have bounced into their new environment with confidence and excitement. The children have quickly got involved in all the opportunities and open ended learning their new classroom environment has in store for them. We look forward to seeing how they grow in the coming year.

Year 1:

Year 1 have settled well into their new routines and have had a fantastic week. The pupils have enjoyed learning to sort objects into different colours and shapes during Maths lessons. We are also enjoying reading Jack and The Beanstalk and collaboratively sequencing the main events of the story.

Year 2:

What a great start to Year 2. The pupils have thoroughly enjoyed settling into their new classroom and shown great enthusiasm for their learning., welcoming each other back with joy, friendship, and plenty of lively chatter! We have been busy familiarising themselves with the new routines and expectations for Year 2. We read Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen, a story about how, “Family isn’t always your relatives. It’s the ones who accept you for who you are, who would do anything to see you smile, and who love you no matter what.” Inspired by this message, the children created a class promise, surrounding it with self-portraits to represent how we are building a positive, safe, and supportive environment in our classroom. This week, we’ve focused on getting to know one another, and it has been wonderful to see everyone’s confidence grow.

Year 3:

What an excellent start to the school year in Newton Class! We have started Year 3 with an excellent introduction to our Maths unit of place value, where we are looking at two digit numbers; then discussing how many tens and ones are in each number. We do this by asking how many groups of ten make up the number, followed by how many ones are there? We are also enjoying our start to our History topic of the Stone Age to the Iron Age, and how it links to our Art unit of Prehistoric Painting.

Year 4:

Year 4 has had a very exciting week back. The pupils were delighted to reunite with their friends and welcome and meet some new friends into the class. We spent the week getting to know each other by participating in a variety of activities, the most notable being an ‘All About Me Jersey’. The children have enjoyed demonstrating their artistic flair and creativity by creating a unique jersey showcasing the amazing things about themselves. We look forward to seeing the finished designs and displaying them in our classroom.

Year 5:

Welcome back and a special hello to our new children who are settling in so very well. We are all excited to be reading our first Year 5 class text, Beowulf. Written by the famous children’s author, Michael Morpurgo, it is an adaptation of an Anglo-Saxon epic poem. This ties in with our history topic and we hope the book will inspire some great narrative and descriptive writing. Parents & carers, please encourage your child to do some independent research which would help greatly with our studies.

Year 6:

Year 6 have had a brilliant first week, working hard in lessons and demonstrating an excellent work ethic right from the start. We have begun to explore place value in Maths and have revisited our knowledge of place value up to 10,000,000. In English, we have begun tour class text ‘Private Peaceful‘. We are really enjoying getting to know the characters and the context of the story as it also relates to our History topic, where we will be learning about WW1.