Latest News

Keep up to date with all the news happening in school

• School Break In

  Sat 30 Jan 2021

  Unfortunately, a local teenager caused a lot of damage to our school late last night, by breaking in, climbing on the roof and kicking the ceiling fans in through the roof. The worst affected areas were Lilypads Pre School, Rabbit Class and Bat Class. A quick thinking local neighbour alerted Mrs Ely, who telephoned the police and went to the school with her husband and son. Our roof is a pre-fabricated construction, that isn’t safe to walk on without the right equipment, and we are relieved nobody was seriously hurt.

   

  The police were called and the teenager was taken home. The holes have been temporarily patched and we are awaiting for the damage to be assessed. Lots of our resources and soft furnishings are being stored in the loft areas and have been ruined.

   

  Thank you to all who helped, especially to Mrs Ely and her family, the neighbour, Mountjoy contractors and the police. If anyone who lives local to the school ever hears a disturbance on the weekend or in the evening, please don’t hesitate to telephone the police and report it. 
   

  The classes affected will be operational for critical care workers on Monday.
   

  Mrs Riches

  Headteacher

• Weekly Round Up

  Fri 29 Jan 2021

  Dear Parents and Carers

   

  Our newsletter will be posted today without my input as I write so regularly on this section during lockdown instead. We have had our first critical care bubble closure today, and everyone who needed to isolate have been notified. All other children and staff in school have been informed and to be extra vigilant in looking for signs that may require a test. Please can we ask that tests are taken as quickly as possible so that we can contact trace staff and children who need to isolate.

   

  It was lovely seeing everyone's learning this week in assembly. What amazing learning you are sending in. The certificates will be posted to you all today. 

   

  I am sure you have heard the government's announcement that they are hoping to start opening schools on the 8th March, if conditions allow it. We will let you know if we hear anything before then and continue with our support through every school week.

   

  We had our annual visit from our LLP (Learning Leadership Partner) from Hampshire County Council this week (remotely). Because of lockdown, it was a slightly different format to usual and offered both robust challenge and support. I shared some of your lovely learning and comments, celebrated our successes and areas we have identified to improve. I will share some of the key points of the report when I receive it.

   

  this week saw all staff at BWIS do our first Lateral Flow covid test in school. All staff have signed up to take part and from now on we will be completing the test twice a week on the weeks we are in school.

   

  I hope you have a lovely weekend  and look forward to seeing your exciting learning updates.

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches

   

   

• Latest Update-Please Read

  Tue 26 Jan 2021

  Dear Parents and Carers

   

  I hope you managed to have some fun in the snow on the weekend-we had nothing in Bursledon, and I was very jealous of everyone's snowy pictures. I don't think we have been forecast any more, but am hopeful!

   

  We have updated our Remote Learning Plan on our Parent Info page, to better reflect what is happening during this Lockdown. We have no news on when we are starting back and headteachers find out the same time as it is announced to everyone. Teachers and school staff are not  on the priority list for the vaccine either. We are obviously hoping this may change at some time.

   

  Change for Life have produced some shopping and meal ideas for families who may be budgeting more during this lockdown and the resources for this can be found here:

   

  https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/lunch/cheap-lockdown-lunch-ideas

   

  There are some good ideas in there, with a costing plan to help. We are now using the Edenred voucher scheme for parents whose children qualify for Free School Meals. if you find your circumstances change during these few months and think you now qualify for the vouchers, please ring the school office and Mrs Palmer/Mrs Greenwood will talk you through how to apply for them from the government. We can then issue the weekly voucher which is worth £15, and the code is sent directly to your telephone.

   

  Active 360, who run from Swanmore College, have secured holiday funding for children to provide activities, breakfast and lunch through the week of February half term. The eligibility for this is as follows:

   

  • FSM.
  • Vulnerable children (at schools discretion who they class as vulnerable and in need of funded provision).
  • Young Carers.
  • Children under help, i.e. with a social worker.

   

  The funding will cover their place on our provision, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm each day, and include both breakfast and lunch.

   

  The purpose of this funding is to provide access and opportunity to registered holiday activity programmes for low income families (FSM children), this includes provision of food and will be funded by the £220million national funding provided to local authorities to administer. In partnership with Swanmore College we will be applying for this funding when applications open this week, and will be in touch with you along the way to ensure your children can access our provision.

   

  If you are eligible, please let us know if you are interested in this provision as soon as possible by Friday this week, so that we can inform Active 360. 

   

  They will be providing information on possibly providing care for critical worker children during this period too. I will let you know the details, when they let us know.

   

  It was lovely to see nearly everybody accessing our assembly on Friday and I hear there are lots of excited children receiving their certificates in the post! Whenever a child demonstrates great learning, it can be in a skill or knowledge, they are awarded a learning star on their class chart. When it gets to 5 learning stars, they earn a certificate. Once a week, one child is picked for 'Star of the Week' and their super learning is also celebrated. Using Tapestry has been a great way of linking remote learning with school and we have even been receiving some videos! Keep them coming- we are really impressed with what many of you are achieving when juggling working at home and siblings.

   

  If your children require more challenge, sum dog and TT Rockstars are designed to work at your child's ability and progress with them. There are also links on the Year Group Learning grid to extra lessons that are relevant to the topic and theme. We suggest, sticking to the timetable and sessions provided to ensure the breadth and consolidation are there. That way, when children return, there will hopefully be no 'gaps' in their learning.

   

  Our 'Lateral Flow' Covid-19 self testing kits for school staff arrived today and all staff who work in our school will be testing themselves twice a week.. There are no plans to test children in primary schools, these are for adults only.

   

  Keep up the fantastic learning-remember to let us know on Friday if a learning pack is required for the next week. Packs can be picked up after 9.10 am on Monday.

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches

   

   

   

• Help Pack for all Parents

  Thu 21 Jan 2021

  Dear Parents and Carers

   

  Hampshire County Council, our Local Education Authority, has produced a parenting support pack for use by schools as a resource for parents. 

   

  The power point has been put together by the county PSA’s (parent support advisors) who are part of the Primary Behaviour Service.  The pack is intended to be easily accessibly to parents, covering a range of topics and questions you may have from sleep to positive parenting routines and beyond.  All things familiar to families but which may have been impacted or exacerbated further by the lockdown situation and which in turn may have affected the wellbeing of the parent and child.  We have put the resource onto our 'parent information page'

   

  Parent Information Page-click here

   

  Lots of parents are letting us know how difficult they are finding it this time. We understand and we hear you, but until the school is out of lockdown , which has been driven by the high number of deaths and the hospitals being full, we are unable to open to you, even for a morning or afternoon as many have asked. To be clear, we are not a school that has opened to everyone full time. Critical Care workers were asked to confirm hours needed and children are not attending school when care isn't needed. Many are adjusting their hours to help reduce the number attending school. This doesn't mean there is 'more room'. It means that the risk of transmission of the virus to staff and children is reducing further with less children on site every day. We currently see up to 90 children through the week, which is 41% of our school. A  staggering rise in the number accessing us from the last lockdown where we were at 20 children.

   

  To help identify staff who are asymptomatic, and further halt the spread of the virus, all staff , working in schools in England, have been invited to test twice a week, using 'lateral flow testing' kits at home. It is not compulsory, and if a staff member does test positive, then the bubble will be closed. This will hopefully help to bring the spread of the disease down further. It isn't a 'safety net' as people carrying a low viral load may not get picked up by a LF test, but we are seeing it as a positive way forward and hopefully a way to opening schools to all sooner. Our first kits are arriving next week, which is when we will start the testing.

   

  Kind regards

   

  Mrs Riches

   

   

   

  

• Christmas Costumes

  Thu 21 Jan 2021

  I am sure not many people are thinking about Christmas yet but a parent saw some Christmas costumes in a sale and has kindly donated them to the school. 

  Thank you and we look forward to putting them to use later in the year.  

  

• Reading with your child at home

  Thu 21 Jan 2021 Miss Salter

  Dear Parents, 

   

  It has been wonderful receiving videos on Tapestry of your children reading at home.  Reading is something as a school we are keen for your children to continue to do daily. We understand that resources at home can be limited, however do not fear!  The Oak Academy and The National Literacy Trust have a wonderful online resource for you all to access. 

   

  Please follow the link below and explore the free books and videos. 

  https://library.thenational.academy/

   

  Have fun and keep reading! 

  Miss Salter 

  English Leader 

   

   

• Lego Competition

  Mon 18 Jan 2021

  If you are mad about Lego, and think you can design an amazing mythical creature then this competition is for you.

   

  Lego says:

  A Once in a Lifetime Competition

  We are giving one lucky winner the opportunity to shape the world of LEGO® MYTHICA forever and have their very own mythical creature brought to life on an EPIC scale and featured in our brand new land - the FIRST EVER time a model of this scale has been built in the park, designed by YOU!

  This AWESOME prize includes:

  • Your mythical creature brought to life as a 6ft tall LEGO model, presented pride of place in the heart of the new land 
  • Place the final LEGO brick of LEGO® MYTHICA, in a once in a lifetime unveiling ceremony
  • Overnight stay at one of our LEGOLAND Windsor Resort Hotels
  • Premium LEGOLAND Annual Pass for a family of up to 5
  • LEGO Goodie Bag
  •  

  Closing date is on the 31st January 2020. Click on the link below to find out more!

   

  https://www.legoland.co.uk/explore/theme-park/2021/create-a-creature-competition/

• Thank you

  Mon 18 Jan 2021

  Thank you for this donation of fruit for the children in school.  Our usual delivery of fruit for break time has temporarily stopped so this is really appreciated.  

   

  Also thank you for the yummy treats that arrived for the staff.

  

• French and Yoga

  Fri 15 Jan 2021

  Mrs Hewitt has made some french videos and Miss Wherwell has made some yoga videos on our video stream. They are fun activities that can be used as a little break.

   

  click on links below to go to the videos

   

  French

   

  Yoga

  
  click on these links for pages mentioned in earlier post

   

  Learning Links for all ages

   

  Keeping Fit and Healthy

• Successes to Celebrate

  Fri 15 Jan 2021

  Dear Parents and Carers

   

  Well done on surviving another week of Lockdown. You are doing a fantastic job at home and we have loved seeing all the brilliant learning! Teachers are having excited conversations about what they can do next with the children. As always, with the amazing staff at our school, ideas are shared and tips are being swapped. We all love the ease of being able to feedback on learning through the Tapestry App. Your children,s journals on there are looking great, 

   

  One thing that is really shining through the remote learning is the individuality and the creativity of the learning taking place at home. You are blowing us away! We have also been really impressed with the quality of the learning taking place and also the improvement in the children’s handwriting,

   

  Our zoom lessons in the morning have been really successful with the children. It is our time to let the children know what is happening in the day and sometimes the teacher will do some teaching immediately afterwards. We take our register in these sessions and they are really important to log into. We have a duty of care to all children at BWIS, whether learning in school or remotely, and it is important for us to see the children and for them to see their friends. We are also enjoying the stories, but understand if you have chosen to exercise with your child then. This ending to the day, will help you to structure the day with your children and an end to their learning.

   

  Well done to everyone who got their pack request in today, They are ready and waiting for collection on Monday.. We do not have the capacity to offer any extra places to what is currently in place, and appreciate everybody juggling hours and using support bubbles to help us keep our school as safe as it can be. We understand how hard it is and for this reason we are working in partnership with you to help as much as we can.  We will not be setting up regular 1-1 call/zooms as we are doing the whole class ones. We are here to help when needed however.

   

  Some parents have mentioned their children are missing their friends, which is why the zooms are especially Important to see their friends and their teachers every day. Some parents have set up some separate small zoom sessions too- what a great idea! We would also welcome any videos from our parents who would like to make one, to share with children. We are aware there are some very talented mums, dads, grandads and grandmas out there and if you would like to share an activity, or something interesting please send it in. ( examples of this could be making something  art and crafty or a song or even a skill/ job!)

   

  Any interesting general sites we find that are good fun for all ages, we usually add to our ‘Learning Links’ page under the Children tab. There are some great projects and fun things on here. We also have links for children’s well-being and health under ‘Keeping Fit and Healthy’ page also under children. A fun app I recently found is ‘Quiver’ which is free to downlaad and brings colouring and pictures to life- it’s really good fun to use with young children.

   

  We have had three new tablets bought by a family and donated to the school. Parents are also bringing in laptops and  iPads that can still connect to the internet. If you are struggling to connect, thanks to the generosity of these families, we can help, so please come and let us know.

   

   

  The learning certificates are all winging their way to our children as we speak and thank you to everyone who came to our assembly to celebrate our learning and have a boogie today, I won’t take up any more of your time but just wanted to reassure you you are doing great- so WELL DONE! 
   

  Have a lovely weekend.

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches