Posted: Fri 2nd Sep 2022
Dear Parents and Carers,
A very warm welcome back and a very special ‘welcome’ to our Biggin Hill Pre-school, Reception and new families joining us this year - we welcome you all to our school community. We are all looking forward to a fabulous BHPS academic year! The children have had a brilliant first few days back.
They have enjoyed learning about their class name and learning amazing facts about their landmark and the history it holds in the world. Most importantly, they all seem very settled and happy. The start of the school year brings everyone - children, parents/carers and staff - a new beginning and is an exciting time for us all. We do understand that this time can be a little daunting for some, so if you are in need of some support please do get in touch with us via our main office - our pastoral support here for children and families is second to none!
You may also recall as part of our Platinum Jubilee celebrations, each class designed a card and these were sent to The Queen along with a letter from the school in time for her celebrations. On Wednesday morning, during our first whole school assembly of the year, we were delighted to share the most wonderful ‘thank you’ letter that the children received from Her Majesty's Lady in Waiting for the marvellous cards that were received from the children of BHPS. This very special and important ‘thank you’ letter will be placed on display in our main reception area for you to view.
We would like to formally welcome Ms O’Mahony, Assistant Headteacher (Curriculum, Equality and Diversity Lead) to the leadership team. Ms O’Mahony will be teaching Orinoco Class (Year 6) as well as assisting with the strategic delivery and development of our engaging curriculum across the whole school.
We are delighted to advise that Mrs Kemp joins us back in the pre-school after maternity leave and Mrs Kennedy will be rejoining us as part of our LSA team. I would also like to welcome our new staff starters; Ms Dawkins joins us in our main office, Ms Pluim joins us as class teacher to Parthenon Class (Year 4) and Miss Coker, Miss Gardiner and Miss Kitson join our amazing support staff as LSAs. On behalf of the whole school, we extend a very warm ‘welcome’ to them all.
We would also like to announce that Mrs Churchward has given birth to a beautiful baby boy. We wish her and her husband all the very best on this wonderful and exciting new chapter ahead. We hope you enjoyed our ‘Meet the Teacher’ event yesterday afternoon and this gave you an insight into class routines and the term ahead. Next Friday, children will be bringing home Curriculum Maps which provide an outline of what children will be learning this term. We hope both of these initiatives will help you to feel informed about the term ahead and school life. We also issue our BHPS Newsletter weekly which has a handy ‘Diary Dates’ section with upcoming events. Our Safeguarding Bulletin, ‘Spotlight On’ and our Inclusion Bulletin, ‘Same but Different’ will also be issued throughout the year. Also, this website contains a wealth of information and our updated BHPS Prospectus can also be found under the 'About Us' tab. Please note: class pages on our website are currently being updated - this will be complete by 9th September.
We would like to remind families that attendance at school is mandatory and we ask for your support in ensuring that any routine appointments are made outside of school hours and that term time holidays are not taken. Please also ensure that children are in school on time each day. Our ‘soft drop’ option is available from 8.40-8.50am where learning activities are set and children enjoy a settled start to the school day - we encourage all children to take advantage of this time. Any child arriving between 8.50am and 9am will be signed in through the gate and/or office as registers are promptly closed at 9am, with lessons starting immediately after. Please try to avoid ‘lateness’ as much as possible as this allows teaching and support staff to focus on their duties, prevents any disruption to the start of learning time and allows your child to have a settled and calm start to their school day.
We are all very excited for the year ahead; teaching staff have rigorously prepared for children’s learning and development and are very much looking forward to delivering an exciting and engaging curriculum!
Our door is always open, please let us know if you need any help or have any questions. We hope you enjoy the welcome messages from our teaching staff.
Our very best wishes,
Mrs Freeman, Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Lawrence, SENCo and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead
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