Welcome from Mr Tait

What a great start to the calendar year! The children really have kicked

started their time in school, with some amazing work that has been

facilitated by some fantastic opportunities created by our teachers.

Many thanks to those of you that have attended our parent partnership

and witnessed the great behaviour for learning and outcomes that we

should all be truly proud of from our children. I hope you enjoy reading

this newsletter with a snap shot of what has been going on here at

Bishop Aldhelm’s.

Our Church School/R.E./SMSC Team - Reflection

We started off the term thinking about New Year resolutions; in our reflection times

we have considered the goals we want to achieve and gave careful thought to how

we can show courage and wisdom with them. In our worships we have been exploring

the book of Psalms and learning about the different emotions we can have. We have

thought about how to consider these feelings in our everyday life and in our praises to

God. A highlight of this half term has been our ‘prayer space’ week which gave us lots

of opportunity to think about our communities and world around us. As you journey

into this half term break take time to rest in God’s beautiful world.

Psalm 34: 1—2 I will always thank the Lord; I will never stop praising him. I will praise him for

what he has done!

Message from Heidi Moxam—Chair of Governors

Governors ended this half term with a whole day spent in school working together. We enjoyed meeting with all year groups, school council & faith council as well as House Captains. Time was spent in classes listening to readers, enjoying Stormbreak sessions in the playground and meeting with parents and carers at the school gates. One of the overarching factors felt by all governors is that school is a happy place to be, behaviour is very good and children are very mindful of their actions with and towards others – it is clear that Love is at the forefront of everything experienced at Bishop Aldhelm’s and we would like to thank you for being part of our school. Have a safe and relaxing half term.

Message from our PSA

The PSA held their first meeting of 2020 in January where we planned the spring term events and started preparation for the summer fair. The spring term events were very popular as always and this year included crazy creatures for year 2.

Our next meeting will be at 6pm on the 9th March at The Gateway

Church. If you would like to get involved with planning the summer fair

we are always keen to welcome new members. Email-

psa@bishopaldhelms.poole.sch.uk

14th February 2020

17th – 21st February:

Half Term Holiday Week

Monday 24th February:

Children return to school

24th February-28th February:

Whole school writing week

Thursday 27th February 9am + 2pm:

Presentations to parents – supporting children with their maths.

Monday 2nd March 9.45am – 10.45am:

Coffee and Collective Worship Morn-ing

Monday 2nd March 3.30-6.00pm:

Parent Consultations

Tuesday 3rd March 3.30-7.30pm:

Parent Consultations

Thursday 5th March:

World Book Day

Monday 9th March 6pm:

PSA Meeting at Gateway Church. Please come along to support your PSA.

Wednesday 18th March:

Dream Job Day

Friday 20th March 2.30pm:

Headteacher and Governor Reviews– all welcome

Thursday 26th March:

Last swimming session for Year 3/ Year 4 – Spring Term groups

Wednesday 1st April:

Easter Experience – KS2 pupils visit-ing the church for Easter themed ac-tivities

6th – 17th April:

Easter Holidays

Monday 20th April:

Children return to school

Summer half term

25th May—29th May

End of Summer Term

Friday 17th July 2020

EYFS Update—Mrs Torok

This half term we have been learning all about our local environment. We have surveyed the school

site and learned what Mr Torok does everyday at school to keep us safe. Following Mrs Martin’s visit

to China the children have learned all about Chinese culture and how they celebrate Chinese New

Year. In our R.E lessons we have been learning about the significance of baptism.

Year 1 Update—Mrs Light

Year 1 have been busy learning traditional tale stories, acting them out and writing their own. They en-

joyed having parents in to share a love of reading traditional tales and took part in some fun activities to

inspire reading at home. They have also worked hard to design and create a house for the 3 pigs and

tested materials to make a waterproof roof! Lastly, we learnt about Jesus as a friend. A fun half term!

Year 2 Update—Mrs Payne

Year 2 have had a great start to 2019! We launched our Wonderful World topic where we have enjoyed learning about oceans and continents and the diversity and uniqueness of these. During our PE ses-sion they children have been learning dances from other cultures and around the world. In our music lessons, they have been impressing us by using boomwackers to play known songs, which has been great fun!

Year 3 Update—Mrs Parkes

Year 3 have been learning all about volcanoes, finding out about ‘The Ring of Fire’ the most volcanically active place on the Earth! In addition, they have been exploring how forces work around us, especially magnetism. The children have been investigating magnetic and non-magnetic materials and they have designed their own experiments to test the strength of magnets.

Year 4 Update—Miss Hardwick

This term, Year 4 have enjoyed learning about the Jewish Passover as part of RE. We took part in a workshop and visited the Synagogue to help us understand how and where Jews worship. In Music, the children have been working hard to understand syncopation and have enjoyed listening to music by composers of the mid-twentieth century. They composed their own piece about an animal using some of the rhythms they learnt.

Year 5 Update—Ms Piwowarska

Year 5 have had a phenomenal, Science orientated half term. We explored the world of forces and

space through Science and D&T lessons but also during our trip to INTECH Science Centre and BAPS

Science Day. In English and Geography lessons, we explored South America and the Amazonian rain-

forest. The children have thoroughly enjoyed our class reader The Explorer by Kathrine Rundell.

Year 6 Update—Mr Startin

Year 6 have started really well. We have been reading Holes, which has inspired our writing as we

have created some excellent radio adverts. The children have been jumping, rolling and balancing in

gymnastics, while they have also shown their artistic side by sculpting some wonderful, Henry Moore

inspired, clay models.

Update from our Year Group Champions

EYFS Photo

Year 3

Year 6 Photo

Year 4 Photo Year 5 Photo

Year 1 Photo Year 2 Photo

Update in Pictures

Stormbreak

This term we have continued running Stormbreak.

Stormbreak is a registered charity, aiming to

improve children’s mental health through

movement. The activities focus on developing

the following concepts: resilience, self-worth,

relationships, self-care, hope and optimism.

Our children continue to engage very well with

Stormbreak. Children access Stormbreak sessions

in class as well as at breaktimes.

Comments this term include:

Year 2 child during a stretching Stormbreak– “when

life gets tough you’ve just got to stretch it out.”

Year 5 child– “after doing a Stormbreak, I feel better

about myself. It’s easier to do things that I thought I

couldn’t do before.”

Year 5– “sometimes you get that Monday feeling.

Doing Stormbreak helps me feel more energised–

no more Monday feeling!”

Year 6 during a Stormbreak guiding a partner-

“sometimes it feel like you’re taking on some body

elses problems. We’ve got to look after ourselves.

This term 367 Stormbreaks have been delivered

across the school!

Prayer Space Week

Back in January, we transformed the Lookout Club into a reflective ‘prayer’ space with different interactive activities allowing for the children to explore prayer and provide them with time to think.

This year’s theme was ‘community’ with many of the activities centred around praying for their family, friends, school, places they visit in their town and the wider world. There were a few favourite activities – making pom pom creatures to represent their uniqueness, creating LEGO buildings, modelling plasticine to represent themselves in school as well as scratch art prayers to bring light and hope into people’s lives.

“The prayer space was relaxing. It gave me a chance to think. The scratch art was my favourite part – I drew a picture of the stars in the night sky because the message was about how we could show light to others and God.” Charlotte, Y3.

The children were joined by volunteers from 3 local churches and the school community who helped to lead the children through the activities. The staff and children are very grateful for the opportunity to engage with prayer in this way and would like to thank the volunteers for their support.

SoundStorm Concert

The whole school were treated to a live string quartet performance in our school hall. The quartet, from SoundStorm, performed a range of different pieces focused around the theme of dance.

The children were encouraged to sing and clap along and even attempted a Mexican wave. Children learned how to conduct and some even had the opportunity to play the string instruments during the performance. Both the Children and teaching staff had a wonderful time.

Reading at Home

Attached with this newsletter is our reading presentation that we sent out in November. Reading at home is really important for children, all the way up to Year 6. Please could we ask that you sign your child’s sign, along with a comment if possible, when you hear your child read at home. This helps us celebrate with children how often they are reading at home. The comments that you write also help towards assessments of your child’s reading ability.

Remember a child who reads an extra 20 minutes a day, reads 3600 minutes a year. On average that’s 1,800,000 words per year. In comparison, a child who only reads 1 minute a day, only reads for 180 minutes a year. Which works out on average at 8000 words a year.

Bishop Aldhelm’s Facebook and Website Catch-up...

Inclusion Team

The children have had a wonderful time in

China, exploring the country’s culture,

traditions and landmarks such as the Great Wall

of China. They settled back at school really well

and shared a variety of stories and anecdotes

with us all.

We have set up fine motor skills boxes for

children across the school. This gives them the

chance to practise doing up buttons and tying

shoe laces as well as activities that strengthen

their fingers for handwriting,

On Thursday 27th February we are doing

presentations for parents at 9am and 2pm on

how to support children’s maths. Please let the

office know if you’d like to come!

Science Team

We had a very successful Science Day this

term. The Science Club presented their

reasons for loving science to the whole

school in worship and year 3 and 4 had

some special visitors who shared some silly

science with them!

Within the school, we have also been

increasing our physical activity. Each class

now has it’s own target for a play time in

order to keep us happy and healthy.

Together, with our Stormbreak sessions, we

continue to keep active during the school

day.

Maths Team

The Maths team have been hard at work across the school this half term. Times Tables Rockstars continues to be highly competitive and the new display board showing current scores and weekly stars is definitely a discussion point amongst the children. The current leaders are 4LS with 33,502 points and 6DS with 34034 points. Keep up the hard work! Miss Hardwick and Mr Lockett enjoyed going to visit children and classes in Foundation and Year 1 to see how they are getting on with their maths and were really impressed with the children that they spoke to. There are definitely some budding Mathematicians in EYFS and Key Stage 1!

English Team

The library continues to be extremely

popular at lunchtimes and it is really

wonderful to see children from across the

school loving books! Please remember the

library is also open after school on a Tues-

day and Thursday till 3:45pm so please pop

in for a visit. The week after half-term, is

Writing Week and we are launching a whole

school story focus (inspired through the

BBC Radio2 500 words). Please see your

child’s home learning for more information.

World Book Day 2020 is also fast approach-

ing on Thursday 5th March, where we will

be celebrating stories and loving reading as

we join the reading revolution!

Arts Team The subjects of Art and also Design and Technology have been the focus for many year groups this half term. Year 5 were learning about Marc Chagall and the way in which his art work was created. Many of his images were laid out with lots of different images inside of one image. The children studied his work before creating their own. Year 3 have been exploring the structure, types, names and uses of bridges before designing their own special bridge. They have enjoyed finding out about bridges all over the world. Foundation have been looking at maps and have drawn some of their own super maps!

Curriculum Team News

Sports News

Football

The two football teams have been competing all half-term in their respective PEDSSA leagues, playing

a variety of games home and away and continuing to wonderfully represent the school.

Athletics

This term a group of children took part in the Poole Indoor Athletics tournament. The children who

attended did very well, even winning a few races for the school. Well done to all who took part.

Multi-skills

Part of our vision at Bishop Aldhelm’s is to encourage all children to take part in physical activity,

therefore this term the school has entered a variety of multi-skills events which have allowed children to

participate in physically engaging yet fun activities which are appropriate to all.

Dance

A group of Year 4 and 5 pupils had a great time taking part in the Year 4/5 dance festival held at Poole

High. The children created a great routine and then confidently performed it to the other schools. They

behaved perfectly and really made Miss Stickland and Miss Rivers proud. Well done children!

Links with Victoria School

Some children in Year 5 had an amazing afternoon with the Sports Leaders from Victoria Education

Centre. All the children representing Yr5 having a great time - learning new sports.

Squash

Some of our Year 6 children tried out squash. The children represented the school brilliantly and they

all thoroughly enjoyed learning a new sport! We look forward to our children continuing this sport in the

future.

Swimming

A number of children represented the school at a swimming gala. They inspired us and this is certainly

an event we will be competing in next year!

Panatholon

A group of 6 children attended a 'panatholon' at Longfleet Primary School. The children took part in 10

different sporting events. They all took part enthusiastically and showed excellent sportsmanship. Well

done to them all.

Bishop Aldhelm’s Facebook and Website Catch-up...

China 2020

Earlier this term some of our children from Year 5 visited China. What an amazing experience for them

all. Some fantastic stories have been shared with fellow pupils and staff. We are truly grateful for the

children having such an opportunity and also very happy that they have all returned safe and well.

Bishop Aldhelm’s Facebook and Website Catch-up...

Advice for Staff, Parents/Guardians re: Coronavirus Dear Parent/Carer

Please see the latest communication from the Department for Education regarding the Coronavirus which has circulated advice to all early years providers, schools and further education providers.

Advice for parents/guardians You should not be unduly worried about the possibility of your children catching the Coronavirus. There is no reason why your children should not continue to attend their early years, school or further education setting as normal. We recognise that some families or children may be planning to travel to China during the forthcoming half term period. If so, please refer to the FCO’s latest travel advice via the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china Latest information and advice can also be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public

Yours faithfully

Mr. S. Tait

Headteacher