Newsletter 7th October 2022

Posted: Fri 7th Oct 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

#HelloYellow
Today has been #HelloYellow day at BHPS - the yellow additions to school uniform were lovely to see. Being able to support the vital work of YoungMinds today helps us all to further understand the importance of this amazing charity in today’s society. We would also like to thank Ms Keane, a very experienced mental health practitioner, for coming into school today to run some workshops for our children. A very special ‘thank you’ to Miss Wigfield, PSHE Lead, for organising #HelloYellow day for the children.

Year 6 Netball
A very special ‘well done’ to our Year 6 Netball team players for their amazing team spirit during the netball tournament at Farringtons School last Friday. Mrs Horgan informed us that the team played brilliantly and showed fantastic sportsmanship.

Year 5 Netball
Next week, it is the turn of our Year 5 Netball team players as they have a match against CMO on 12th October. We would like to wish them good luck. Well done to them all (and to Mrs Horgan) for getting into school at 7.30am last Wednesday for an extra training session to ensure they are all match ready!

Our school dog, Olive

Last Friday we were excited to introduce and share our plans with you for Olive, our school dog. Today it was a pleasure to bring her into school for a very brief and distant introduction to the children and school. It has been lovely to receive your emails with respect to this initiative for the school and your support is very much appreciated. To give you an update, Olive is settling very well in the Freeman household and the small steps we are taking to socialise her are being received well by Olive! I would just like to reiterate and provide some assurance to you that Olive, as the school dog, will be the only dog (outside of guide dogs) that are permitted to be on the school site.

Parents have been asked to inform us if they wish for their child not to have contact with Olive and this situation will be managed very carefully by us. If you have concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via the school office.

If you are bringing your dog on the school run, you must not bring it on site and make arrangements for your dog to be looked after away from the school site entrance. We do have some children that are frightened of dogs and their safe access into and out of school is very important to us.

Attendance - Reporting Absence
Yesterday, Mr Devlin wrote to parents and carers of Reception to Year 6 announcing that Biggin Hill Primary is introducing a new, more efficient and secure system for reporting your child’s absence due to illness, called Studybugs. If you haven’t already, please download the free Studybugs app, or register on the Studybugs website, and use it to tell us whenever your child is ill and is unable to attend school. Of course, we are still happy for you to report attendance in the usual way. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Get the app or register now at: https://studybugs.com/about/parents.

Parent Consultations
On Tuesday, we were delighted to write to parents and carers (R-Y6) regarding Parent Consultations. These meetings will be face to face - please book your slot in the usual way via Arbour. Consultation meetings will take place on Thursday 13th October from 3.30-6.50pm and also from 8.30-10.50am on Friday 14th October, please note that Friday 14th is also an INSET day. Children are welcome to attend meetings but if you would prefer for your child not to be present, this is also fine. The booking system for parent consultation slots opened at 8am on Wednesday 5th October and will close on Wednesday 12th October at 12.00pm. We ask that when you book your appointment you leave 30 minutes between appointments for siblings. Appointments will be at 10
minute intervals this year but please do build in some time to look at your child’s books before or after your appointment as these will be available for you to look at. So that we can work effectively in partnership with you, it is an expectation that an appointment is made to see your child’s class teacher this term.

BHPS Community Coffee Morning

On Wednesday, we wrote to you all regarding our BHPS Community Coffee Morning. This coffee morning will be slightly different as we will be having various stands available for you to visit. Do come along and find out more about both Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and also the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals (FSM). Also find out more about Inclusion and
Wellbeing at BHPS and how we support your child and our families. You will also be able to browse and purchase pre-loved school uniform and purchase some books at our book sale. We very much look forward to welcoming you next week to the BHPS
Coffee Morning and Parent Consultations.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Our best wishes,

Mrs Freeman, Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs Lawrence, SENCo, Deputy Headteacher and Deputy Designated
Safeguarding Lead