School Newsletter : 28 February 2025

At the end of half-term, we crowned our school’s Kindness Kings & Queens, celebrating students who consistently show kindness and compassion. From sharing a smile to helping a classmate, these young leaders have demonstrated the power of positivity.

We honoured these shining examples of empathy and generosity through fun activities and heartfelt recognition. Let’s continue spreading kindness and making our school a place where everyone feels valued and supported.

Keep being kind, and remember, kindness makes us all royalty!

Thank you to our parents who attended our first Online Safety Workshop with Julie, the Prevent Educational Officer from Westminster Council. It was a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together and learn!

We’re excited for our next workshop which will be held on Wednesday, March 12th at 9am. Be sure to join us for another informative session, with coffee, tea, and biscuits provided.

Workshop Overview:

• In today’s digital and social world, our children are more connected than ever. However, with greater access comes greater responsibility.
• To help learn how to support your children online, all parents & carers are warmly invited to please join us for two engaging parent workshops where we will explore Online Safety and the Prevent Strategy.
• We will share essential tips on protecting your child from online risks, managing screen time, fostering healthy digital habits and building resilience against online threats and radicalisation.

Both sessions are designed for parents and carers of all year levels, with expert advice from Julie, the Prevent Education Officer from Westminster City Council, sharing most-recent data, real-world strategies, and a chance to ask questions.

Let’s work together to create a safer online world and support our children in making informed resilient choices.

Please note a change of day for Year 1 and Year 4  PE lessons for the Spring Term, effective from week beginning 13th January 2025.

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

Pupils 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.

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.

The next FOBC event is the Easter Fete on Wednesday 2nd April from 15:30 – 17:30.

March:

• Tuesday 4th March: Year 6 Trip to the London Transport Museum (as part of the Westminster Junior Citizenship Scheme) 12:00 – 15:30
• Tuesday 4th March: Parent Workshop/Coffee Morning – with Julie from Prevent Education
• Thursday 6th March: World Book Day – see the main body of the newsletter for more information on this event.
• Wednesday 12th March: Choir Performing at the Royal Festival Hall Concert with Westminster School @ 16:00 – 20:00.
• Wednesday 12th March: Nursery Class Trip to Vauxhall City Farm @ 09:00 – 14:30
• Thursday 20th March: Reception Class Trip  to Vauxhall City Farm @ 09:00 – 14:30
• Friday 21st March Red Nose Day: More information to follow.
• Monday 31st March – Thursday 3rd April: Scholastic Book Fair in the Ground Floor Hall from 15:00 – 16:00 each day.

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.

We currently have the following availability for places in our Early Years provision:

Reception class:

• 3 places (from January 2025)

Nursery Class (3-year olds):

• 4 afternoon part-time places
• A waiting list is now in place for full-time places. Please contact the office for information on how to join the waiting list.
• You can also enquire at the school office with regards to any upcoming vacancies. Although we are currently full, we are in the process of extending our intake numbers, so please keep in touch.

 Preschool (2-year olds)

• 2 full-time places from April 2025.
• You can also enquire at the school office with regards to any upcoming vacancies. Although we are currently full, we are in the process of extending our intake numbers, so please keep in touch.

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 09:15 – 14:30 during term time.

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.