Latest News | Bishops Waltham Infant School

Weekly Update Friday 27th March

Fri 27 Mar 2026

What a fantastic final week we’ve had in school, filled with Easter fun, sunshine and celebrations! 🌞🐣

🐰 PTA Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we enjoyed our brilliant PTA Easter Egg Hunt, complete with a special appearance from the Easter Bunny! The sun was shining and the children had a wonderful time racing around and collecting eggs from their teachers – did you guess the right word? 🥚🔤

A huge thank you to our PTA, teachers and office staff for making this much‑loved event such a success every single year. 🌟

🎉 PTA Quiz Night

Last Friday we held another successful PTA night, with Andy as our fantastic host. Congratulations to “Harry’s House of Trivia” who were our winners! 🏆🎉

🎨 Easter Egg Competition

Today we welcomed Tracy Conduct and Kevin Jones from the Parish Council who came to judge our Easter Egg competition. They were genuinely amazed by the creativity, care and imagination shown in every single entry. They took their time, carefully inspecting each design, and were incredibly impressed by the effort the children put in. 🌟👏

A big thank you to Tracy and Kevin for being so thoughtful and thorough in their judging.

We were delighted to award five winning eggs per year group:

Year R: Eric, Zara, Robyn, Cora, Hughie
Year 1: Jasper, Arlo, Sadie, Ella, Charlotte, Mabel
Year 2: Louis, Arlos, Jemima, Ophelia, Heidi

There were prizes for everyone who entered. Thank you to all the children (and families!) for making the day so special. 🐣💛

👋 Goodbye to Mr Churcher

Today we say goodbye to Mr Churcher, who has been covering maternity and sickness leave across Year 1 and Year 2 this past year. He has been a super teacher, a supportive colleague, and a valued member of our team. We will all miss him and wish him every success in his future teaching career. 🌟📚

🍃 Welcome Back, Mrs Moth

We are delighted that Mrs Moth is now back full‑time. She will be teaching Hedgehog Class for the remainder of the summer term and will also be our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo). All the children know her from last year, and we are sure they will give her a big, warm welcome back. 🦔💐

🛍️ PTA Easter Extravaganza Sale

Don’t forget! Our PTA are holding a big Easter extravaganza sale in the turning circle today. Bring along your pennies and enjoy a little treat! 🍬🌈

🌷 Wishing You a Wonderful Easter Break

We hope you all have a lovely, restful Easter holiday, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 13th April. 🐣🌼

With warm wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Easter Egg Hunt

Mon 23 Mar 2026

Weekly Update-Friday 20th March

Fri 20 Mar 2026

What a wonderful week of learning, creativity and collaboration we’ve had in school! The children have been busy, enthusiastic and full of curiosity—as always—and we are so proud of everything they’ve achieved.

🌱 Year R – Incredible Mini Gardens!

Year R have been arriving with the most beautiful gardens this week, and we have all been amazed at just how inventive and creative they are. Each garden is completely unique—full of tiny details, imaginative touches and brilliant ideas. Well done, Year R! Your hard work and creativity really shine.

🍓 Year 1 – Fabulous Fruit Fiesta!

Year 1 have been enjoying a fruit‑tastic time with their exciting Fruit Fiesta project. They have been working interdependently to design special fruit dishes for the Year R children, combining teamwork with imagination. The class have absolutely loved discovering lots of different fruits—trying new flavours, sharing favourites, and learning how fruits grow. It has been such a joyful project.

🎩 Year 2 – Wonderful Writing About Nelson’s Hat

Year 2 have been getting creative with their writing, using Nelson’s hat as their inspiration. Their progress this year has been incredible—their vocabulary, sentence choices and confidence have all grown so much. We can’t wait for mums and dads to see the project outcome… you’re in for a wonderful surprise!

🐣 Looking Ahead to Next Week – Easter Fun!

🥚 PTA Easter Egg Hunt – Thursday 26th March

Our fantastic PTA will be hosting the ever‑popular Easter Egg Hunt next Thursday. This is always such a fun and exciting event—children love racing around to find all the hidden letters before meeting the Easter Bunny!

🌟 Remember to buy your tickets, as this event usually sells out.

There will also be a lovely tea and cake area for adults to enjoy, including Krispy Kreme doughnuts on sale!

🎨 ‘Decorate an Egg’ Competition – Friday

On Friday, we’ll be holding our much‑loved Decorate an Egg competition.

Eggs must be 3D (no flat paper drawings please).
They can be real eggs, papier‑mâché, or any other creative material.
Judging will take place for each year group.

We also have:
🐣 Parent Category – for grown‑ups who want to get creative!
🐥 Pre‑School Category – if we have enough entries.

Every entry will receive an egg‑themed prize, with larger prizes for our winners. We can’t wait to see your “egg‑citing” creations!

🍬 PTA Big Easter Treats Sale – Friday After School

To finish the week, our PTA will be hosting their big Easter Treats Sale in the turning circle. Expect plenty of goodies, surprises and delicious treats to take home.

❓ PTA Quiz Night – This Evening

If you're coming along to the quiz tonight, we look forward to seeing you there!

💛 A Huge Thank You to Our PTA

There has been a lot of behind‑the‑scenes work over the past few weeks to prepare all of these wonderful events. We want to say an enormous thank you to our PTA for their incredible effort, dedication and creativity. All funds raised are going towards developing an exciting new sensory and imaginative play courtyard, and we’ll share more updates as quotes come in.

🌞 Enjoy the Sunshine This Weekend

We hope everyone enjoys the lovely sunshine over the weekend. Thank you for your continued support—you help make our school the warm, joyful and creative place it is.

Have a wonderful weekend!

With warm wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Weekly Update Friday 13th March

Fri 13 Mar 2026

🧹🕰️ Year 1 Step Back in Time

On Tuesday, Year 1 walked into a very different classroom… the Victorian era had returned!

The children threw themselves into their role play with huge enthusiasm — some even told me they had to sweep the chimneys when they got home!

It was lovely to welcome parents to their learning outcome. The children are becoming fantastic young historians:

👑 ordering monarchs on a timeline
🕵️‍♂️ examining artefacts for clues about the past

Well done to the Year 1 team for planning and teaching such an inspiring project

🌞🌿 Year R Enjoy Sunshine at the Arboretum

Year R were treated to the only sunny day of the week (their sun dance certainly worked! ☀️).
They enjoyed a whole day outdoors at the Arboretum, learning:

how plants grow
exploring nature
taking part in hands-on activities

They couldn’t wait to tell us all about their adventures, and they’re excited to use their new knowledge when they grow plants in their classrooms 🌱

A huge thank you to the parents and grandparents who joined us — our trips simply couldn’t happen without your support 💚

⚓📜 Year 2 Dive into History

Year 2 have delved deeper into their project on Horatio Nelson, and they are becoming wonderfully curious and thoughtful historians.

A special well done to Cobi and Arlo for their incredible writing about sailors this week — their effort, improvement and pride in their work gave me the biggest smile. We are all super proud of you! 🌟✍️

📚💙 Celebrating Success Beyond BWIS

Today we had a visit from one of our past parents, who is returning as a reading volunteer — wonderful news in itself, but she also shared that her son Samuel, who I remember as a blonde, fluffy haired 6 year old, has been offered a place at Cambridge University for September. A huge congratulations to Samuel — we are incredibly proud of this wonderful achievement! 🎓👏

❓🍞🧀 PTA Quiz Night — Tickets Still Available!

We still have some spare tickets for our PTA Quiz Night on Friday 20th March.

🎟 £10 per ticket (includes sharing platter of meats, cheese & bread)
🍹 Licensed bar
🤩 Hosted by Andy
🎉 Open to current and past parent/carer/grandparent teams

Come along for a fantastic night of fun — we’d love to see you there!

🐣🥚 Easter Egg Trail & Egg Decorating

Tickets are also on sale for our always-popular Easter Egg Trail.
And don’t forget to get creative for our egg-decorating competition on the last day of term! 🎨🐰

🌞Tenant Partnership Team, Winchester City Council

Please remember if you are a tenant of Winchester City Council, then there is a workshop on Saturday 14th March (tomorrow) for you to attend:

Housing Improvement Workshop, at The Jubilee Hall, Little Shore Lane, Bishops Waltham, Southampton, SO32 1ED on Saturday 14^th March at 11am – 12:30pm. The Topic we will be discussing is ‘Complaints & Learning’.

🏉 Six Nations Super Saturday

Tomorrow is the final day of the Six Nations — and after the dramatic Italy and Scotland wins, it’s going to be a Super Saturday indeed!
England and Wales are battling it out for the Wooden Spoon… though I suspect Wales may just take that title. After Rhys Carre’s joyful try last week, welsh fans are certainly rallying behind the youngsters in the team! 🏉

💐💛 Happy Mothering Sunday

Wishing all our mums and grandmothers a very happy Mothering Sunday this weekend. We hope you are all thoroughly spoiled and have a lovely day.

Here’s hoping for a little more sunshine next week! 🌼🌞

With warm wishes

Mrs Riches

Headteacher

Weekly Update Friday 6th March

Fri 06 Mar 2026

🌼What a wonderfully busy and joyful week it has been in school! With the sunshine finally joining us and our spring flowers dancing in the playground, the children have been able to enjoy so much outdoor learning and play. Long may it continue! 🌞🌷

👩‍🏫 Parents’ Evenings – Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our two Parents’ Evening sessions this week. We were absolutely thrilled with the fantastic attendance — the vast majority of parents came into school to look through children’s learning and discuss their next-step targets with class teachers.

Your engagement and support make such a difference, and we are so proud of the home–school partnership we continue to build.

Our third meeting opportunity will take place during our Open Afternoon in July, but please remember:
👉 Our door is always open for any questions or concerns at any time.

📚 World Book Day Magic!

World Book Day was a truly magical celebration of reading!
Children (and staff!) arrived in their cosy pyjamas, ready to share their favourite bedtime stories. The whole school was filled with calm, warm reading moments that showed just how special books can be.

In the afternoon we held a Giant Book Swap, where children voted for which storytime and adult they wanted to visit. 📖✨
The smiles, excitement, and gentle buzz of storytelling made it a day we will all remember. We hope it inspires a lifelong love of reading well beyond their time with us. 💛

📚 Special Visitor

Year 2 had a special visit this week from Mr Martin, Miss Martin's father, who shared what life is like in the Royal Navy now. The children were relieved to know that times had changed since Nelson's time! What a special treat this was for the children-thank you Mr Martin!

🍫 PTA Thank You – Chocolate Bars & More!

A big shout-out to our amazing PTA for their wonderful chocolate bar initiative! 🍫
The children absolutely loved this small but very special treat. Thank you to everyone who supported it.

And don’t forget:

🧠 Quiz Night – 20th March → tickets still on sale!
🐣 Easter Egg Hunt tickets are also available now!

🥚 Annual Easter Competition

For those who love to plan ahead…
This year’s annual Easter competition is to decorate and make an egg!
🎨🐣 Get creative — glitter, paint, googly eyes… we love to see it all!

Eggs will be judged in year groups
We kindly welcome any donations of chocolate Easter eggs for our prize table
Please bring all entries and donations into school on Friday 27th March

We can’t wait to see your egg-cellent creations! 🥚✨

🌞Cleverchefs

We had a catering meeting yesterday, where we discussed our current menus, the new menus coming up. The new menus will be coming with photographs, which we have asked for since the company started. They are also making the descriptions easier to understand for young children.

Cleverchefs have also brought out online food magazines for teachers and parents. Please follow the link below for more information

Cleverchefs magazine

🌞Tenant Partnership Team, Winchester City Council

We have been contacted by Annie Hall the Tenant partnership Officer for Winchester City Council, she has asked for family's who are tenants to come along to a meeting to be held soon, to give their opinions and discuss improvements. Please find the details below:

Housing Improvement Workshop, at The Jubilee Hall, Little Shore Lane, Bishops Waltham, Southampton, SO32 1ED on Saturday 14^th March at 11am – 12:30pm. The Topic we will be discussing is ‘Complaints & Learning’.

🌞 Spring Sunshine

We have welcomed some glorious sunny days this week, and the children have loved every moment of playing and learning outdoors. With the flowers blooming and the brighter weather lifting everyone’s spirits, it has truly felt like spring has arrived. 🌻🌼

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support and for being such a wonderful part of our school community. We are incredibly proud of everything our children achieve each week.

Warmest wishes,
Mrs Riches
Headteacher