Weekly Update-Friday 6th November

Welcome back after the half term break. We hope you all had a wonderful week and enjoyed some special family time together. The children have returned full of excitement and have loved sharing their Halloween and firework adventures with us.

🎇Firework Safety

As we approach Bonfire Night celebrations, we have held a whole-school assembly focusing on firework safety. If you would like to discuss these important messages at home before attending any bonfire or firework events, you can find the resources here:

Bonfire Night | Bishops Waltham Infant School

 

🎵 Music Mark Recognition

We were delighted to receive some exciting news at the end of last half term. Bishops Waltham Infant School has been awarded the Music Mark of Recognition for Ambition & Quality from Hampshire.

Music Mark is the UK Association for Music Education, championing and supporting access to music for all children and young people. We are incredibly proud to have received this recognition and would like to thank Mrs Moth, our Music Lead, for her fantastic leadership and commitment to music across the school.

 

🌺 Poppy Appeal

We still have lots of poppies available for children who would like to wear one. If your child would like a poppy, please send their donation in a sealed envelope. Poppies will be available until 10th November.

 

🐻 Children in Need

Next Friday is Children in Need Day. Following a pupil vote, the children have chosen to come to school wearing something spotty!

Children may attend in non-uniform as long as they have spots somewhere in their outfit. We would be grateful for any charity donations, which can be brought into school on the day.

 

📚 Scholastic Book Fair

Our Scholastic Book Fair arrives on Tuesday and will be open from Wednesday.

This is a wonderful opportunity to purchase books for Christmas gifts or to add to your child's home library. The fair will be open throughout the school day until 4.10pm.

 

👨‍👩‍👧 Parent Consultation Meetings

A reminder to sign up for your parent consultation meeting if you have not already done so.

This term we are trialing a 50/50 mix of in-person and online appointments in response to feedback from previous parents. Following the meetings, we will send out a short survey to gather your views as we consider whether to continue this approach in future terms.

 

📖 Reading at the Heart of Learning

At BWIS, reading sits at the very heart of our curriculum. Through reading, children develop language, build knowledge of the world around them, strengthen their imagination and creativity, and gain skills that support learning across all subjects.

We ask children to practise their reading skills at home at least three times each week, although daily reading is even more beneficial.

This month, Pie Corbett, who helped our school become a Talk for Writing school, published a wonderful guide showing how a single picture book can be explored over five days. Although the guide was written primarily for teachers, many of the ideas work brilliantly at home too.

 

A Five-Day Picture Book Approach-by Pie Corbett

Day 1 – Initial Responses

• Discuss the cover and title before reading.
• Enjoy the story together simply for pleasure.
• Make predictions about what might happen next.
• Afterwards, talk about favourite parts, questions, feelings and any links to your child's own experiences.
• Compare what the pictures tell us with what the words tell us.

Day 2 – Exploring the Setting

• Re-read the story together.
• Encourage children to join in with familiar parts.
• Discuss any interesting vocabulary.
• Talk about the setting:
  • Does it change?
  • How do the illustrations make us feel?
  • What colours, shapes or words create the atmosphere?

Day 3 – Understanding Character

• Re-read the story using lots of expression.
• Explore different voices and ways of reading.
• Focus on characters:
  • How are they feeling?
  • What might they be thinking?
  • What clues help us know this?

Day 4 – Dilemmas and Solutions

• Continue re-reading with increasing fluency.
• Discuss the story from different viewpoints.
• Use role play, freeze frames or hot seating to bring scenes to life.
• Explore:
  • What problem needs solving?
  • What advice would we give a character?
  • How is the problem resolved?

Day 5 – Summarising and Evaluating

• Retell the story together.
• Make links with other familiar books.
• Discuss:
  • What is the main message or theme?
  • Which images or parts of the story are most important?
• Create a simple story map and encourage your child to retell the story in their own words.

 

Pie Corbett's important reminder: Try not to ruin a good story by over-teaching it. If your child loves the story, read it as often as possible!

 

🎆Community Fireworks Event

Finally, BWJS are holding their Community Firework Night on Saturday evening. Our PTA will be running a sweet stall at the event, so please do pop along and say hello if you are attending.

 

💙Thank you for your continued support.

Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend.

 

Warm wishes

 

Mrs Riches
Headteacher