Latest News | Bishops Waltham Infant School

Weekly Update Friday 31st January

Wed 29 Jan 2025

This week has seen Year R children continuing to explore Traditional Tales, reading stories where language is familiar, and often repetitive. Who doesn't love a story that starts with 'Once Upon a time'? They often transport children into a land of make believe-of wizards, wolves with characters who behave in not such a nice way. If you read these stories at home with your children, they are great to stop and ask questions, such as 'what do you think the character will do?', 'How will the character act/respond when this happens', or 'what will happen next'. A traditional tale is a magical door into enjoyment of reading with lovely stores to share at all infant levels. I have loved seeing the pigs appear in Year R, and some clever house-making and ideas from our children too.

Year 1 have started their next project all about Victorian Childhoods. Our children are shocked about what life was like in Victorian times. They will be journeying back in time on our Manor Farm Visit in two weeks time, where they will have first hand experiences of being a Victorian. How to compare and describe are two key skills teachers will be teaching over the next few weeks, as they explore artefacts from the era.

Year 2 have had the best time learning and working collaboratively to design their Wacky Wheels vehicles. Their learning walls are full of their fantastic ideas, and they are nearly ready to test their vehicles. Watch out on our media section for the clips when they test them.

With February just around the corner, we are all hoping for some less stormy weather, and looking forward to the longer days. I have found a great thing to do with your children, that some of you may already know about. There is a Sir Quentin Blake Blue Peter Book Badge, that all children aged 5-15 can apply for, by following the children's instructions below:

Blue Peter Book badge application

To earn this badge, you must:

Be aged between 5-15 years old.

Apply for your Book badge online using My Blue Peter or click the 'Book badge postal application form' button above, to apply by post.

Ask your parent or guardian for permission to apply and ask them to read the Privacy Notice.
Get your parent or guardian to help you fill out your form and personal details.

Tell us about a book you have read and what you think about it. Maybe you liked the characters, or perhaps you enjoyed going on exciting adventures in faraway places.

Upload your illustration of a character or a scene from the story. This could be a drawing, painting or even digital artwork.
Let us know what other books and authors you have enjoyed reading and why.

To find out more about this badge and other Blue Peter Badges, please visit the link below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/blue-peter-apply-for-a-book-badge

All children who have a Blue Peter Badge can visit over 200 attractions free in the UK. Please find the link to where they can get in free here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/attractions

Happy Badge Applying All!!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and get better soon if still poorly.

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Weekly Update Friday 24th January

Fri 24 Jan 2025

Year 1 performed their amazing dragon dances as the culmination of their Dragon project this week. There was much excitement in all of the classes when devising their dance to perform. Well done to the Year 1 teachers and children. What a memorable learning experience it has been!

Year 2 are continuing with their Wacky Wheel designs. The children have been thinking really carefully about what design will work best. They have also been writing about the experiments they have been doing in class. They have really enjoyed writing for a different reason.

Year R have been busy story telling and discussing the Three Little Pigs. So many of the children have brought their learning to me to show this week- they have been AMAZING!

Luckily Storm Eowyn seems to be further north than us, and we have had much drier weather than the rest of the country. Please take care if the wind does pick up again, especially looking out for flying debris.

Some of the Year 1 and 2 children are missing warmer weather PE clothes in their PE bags. We go outside for PE every week in Year 1 and 2, so please make sure your child has warm named joggers and tops for thee colder months.

We have an INSET day on Friday the 31st January, the same as the junior school, and will not be open at all. Please mark this day on your calendar as a little reminder!

Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Weekly Update Friday 17th January

Fri 17 Jan 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have been hit particularly hard with a series of 'flu'-like/Upper respiratory/high temperature/cough bugs this week, in both the classroom and the staffroom. 13% of our children have been away daily and 10% of our staff. In children, it is presenting as a temperature spike and often accompanied by sickness due to this. Please be extra vigilant at home, and reinforce the importance of washing hands, especially if the children are coughing and sneezing. We would like to stress the importance of not sending children in when they have a temperature with a dose of calpol, as this is one of the contributory factors to the spread of bugs/virus like symptoms in class, and appreciate parents' cooperation with this.

We have three class outcomes next week in Year 1. Each outcome is at 9.15am in the hall on the following days:

Wednesday 22nd Robins

Thursday 23rd Squirrels

Friday 25th Otters

This week on our school data collection day, children who had packed lunches were offered to try a hot lunch. Many of the children enjoyed the lunch offered, and with a vast choice of lunches, we would like to encourage more parents to try the hot school lunches every day, even if this means bringing a pack up lunch as a back up. If you would like your child to order a lunch with their back up, please tell the classteacher in the morning. Often, if children see their friends eating something, they will want to try it too. Our Year R children currently have the highest amount of school lunches each day, and tuck in enthusiastically in the lunch hall. A warm, nutritious lunch is particularly welcomed on a cold January day, so please encourage your child to give them a try!

We are now two weeks in to our Spring term, and the amount of children arriving late is still quite high since Christmas. If you have found it difficult to get back into the routine on these cold January mornings, please see below for some ideas to help:

Having a timer to finish getting dressed/breakfast etc

Having a picture chart on what to do in each order

Putting school clothes out ready in the morning

Leaving home with enough time to get to school (especially if frosty/rainy in morning)

Setting the alarm a bit earlier, if things are taking a bit longer

Reward charts for leaving the house on time such as stickers/marbles in jar etc

Coming up with the order which the children are going to do things with the child (giving ownership)

Not having screen time/tv on in the morning

This list is not exhaustive, and we are sure that many parents already tried some of these things in the past. Starting school with their friends after a little chat outside or on their way to school, and not arriving late in the middle of phonics, helps children to settle in to the school, ready to learn.

Lastly, if anyone is having a clear out of items after Christmas, we would receive the following donations, gratefully, for playtimes and our wet play boxes:

Lego

Pretend fruit/food for cafe/shops

Dressing up clothes

Dolls and doll clothes

Toy cars

Balls (soft type, not leather)

Skipping ropes

Hula hoops

Role Play items (tea sets etc)

Building toys (duplo etc)

Complete top trumps and uno games

Please can all donations be playable/working order.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update Friday 10th January

Fri 10 Jan 2025

Our school has been a hive of activity this week, with the start of new projects in each year group. Please look in your children’s book bags for their project leaflets and bookmarks to help support learning at home.

With the weather turning a lot colder, we were really pleased to see so many children in their warm coats. Please remember to check that all clothing is labelled, to make sure clothing gets back to its correct owner.

Year 2’s lunchtime clubs will start back next week. These are free clubs that our staff run to enhance children’s experiences at school. We all look forward to meeting our new club members. All our after school clubs started back this week, with good attendance at them all.

Lastly we would like to congratulate Mrs Labram and her husband, Jamie, on the birth of their new daughter, Emilia. She arrived at the start of the holidays, and they had a lovely first Christmas together. We cannot wait to meet her!

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

Tue 07 Jan 2025

Happy New Year to all our lovely children and families! We have had a super start back to school this week and the children have come back full of excitement to see their friends and teachers. We had the fantastic M and M Theatre Company come to our school with their production of 'Snow White.' The pantomime was full of singing, dancing and laughter and the children had a brilliant time joining in (Oh yes they did!).Below are some pictures from the show, if you would like to talk about it with your children when they come home. Thank you again to our PTA for raising the funds to enable us to have this annual special treat for our children. We are very lucky to have you!

Best Wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher