Latest News
Keep up to date with all the news happening in school
-
Sun Safety
Tue 25 Jun 2024We monitor the weather regularly during hot days, and give regular reminders toall children about drinking water, staying in shady areas and wearing sun hats. We will continue to do this, this week, and would like to draw your attention to our 'sun safety' page under 'Keeping Safe' on our children page:
https://www.bwis.org.uk/sun-safety/
Luckily our grounds have extensive shady areas, where children can play. Please can you help us this week by:
- remembering to put sun screen on,
- bring in hat
- also talking to your children about making sure they have shade time
- reminding children to drink water
Thank you all for your cooperation.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 21st June
Fri 21 Jun 2024Happy Summer Solstice day, and what a lovely day it is. It feels like summer has finally arrived and the children have had a lovely time, playing in the sunshine. We make sure that the children have shade time and plenty of water to drink too, and we are very lucky with our mature trees giving us lots of shady areas to sit in.
Please make sure that your child has suncream on and a sun hat in school too. They can bring their own named sunscreen to reapply themselves, if you would like to send it in. We would like parents to consider the clothing their children are wearing, and that they can get the items undone on their own. This is particularly pertinent to the playsuits that some of our girls are wearing, where they need help to get them off, and are often dropped to the toilet floor after several young children have been in, and maybe not the best at aiming in the pan!
Our Year 2 children have been trying for their parts in the Leaver's Performance, and are busy learning songs and lines. We cannot wait for it to all come together in a few weeks time, and for our new characters to come on the stage!
What amazing writing is happening in our school at the moment-children seem to be writing everywhere when we walk around the classes-their level of independence and confidence has grown through the year and they enjoy reading their writing to their friends.
Next week Year 2 will be performing with other schools in the Ceilidh Festival in the Palace Ruins. Parents cannot attend the day festival, but are able to purchase tickets for the Friday evening event, where their children will be able to teach them the dances. If you would like to buy tickets, please visit the site here:
https://www.bwfestival.art/events/bw-festival-ceilidh
We had our first two 'Stay and Play' sessions this week, and the children had a lovely time getting used to the Year R surroundings and meeting our Year R grown ups and children. Some even cried to go home! We have two more sessions next week and then our transfer morning is on Thursday July 4th, where all children will meet their new teacher.
On that note, I will leave you to enjoy the sunshine. Have a fabulous weekend!
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Special Euros lunch
Fri 14 Jun 2024
-
Weekly Update Friday 14th June
Wed 12 Jun 2024With the Euros starting tonight, we had a Euro fun in assembly this week, where we looked at where the countries are, and each class drew 3 teams to support. We will be following the competition excitedly as the weeks go by. Our staff had the 3 left over teams to support to. Both our children, and the junior children are excited about the Euros and both schools will be cheering on England and myself and Mr Campbell will be too. We will put our banner up on the roundabout on the weekend, if you would like a photo opportunity.
Thank you to everyone who brought their bags to school on Wednesday. We raised a fantastic £166, which will be joining the PTA funds for our new corridor area.
We haven't managed to hold our Sports Day yet, and have postponed it to Friday 12th July which is a different reserve date to our yellow sheet at the start of the year. This is due to the catering tender meeting needing to happen on a strict timeline, that was out of our control. We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion this has caused.
We had an excellent staff meeting with our school Educational Psychologist this week, discussing anxiety in children. She was really impressed with our Trickbox program that really helps our young children cope with feelings that make them feel uncomfortable. We have lots and lots of resources for parents to access regarding anxiety and other concerns, on our 'healthy hearts, healthy mind' section of our website. If you do have any concerns regarding your child, please make an appointment to come and talk to your child's class teacher after school.
https://www.bwis.org.uk/healthy-heart-and-mind-at-bwis/
Year 2 had their second week of swimming this week and had the biggest smiles again. They are having a lovely time in the pool! They will start rehearsing next week for their Leaver's Production, which is a pirate show with a difference. Thank you to Mrs Moth for helping me rewrite our play and introduce some new characters, with a surprise twist-we can't wait to see it performed now! The children have also been designing their pirate puppets ready to sew, and they have some amazing ideas!
Year 1 had their amazing Southsea Geography trip at the start of this week. Their art work, writing and geography knowledge have been amazing this week and I have really enjoyed talking to them about what they have learned!
Year R have been busy learning about pets and animals and I saw some brilliant pet posters in celebration assembly this week, with fantastic writing-what a clever bunch you are Year R!
Wishing everyone a happy weekend, with fingers crossed for some sunshine!
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 7th June
Wed 05 Jun 2024What a super start back we had this week, with our D Day celebrations and our fantastic project hooks. This term is always a busy one, and we are hoping it warms up and becomes sunnier for some of our events to take place. Below is a brief run down of important dates for your diaries for the term. Some of these are weather dependent, so please check your messages if rain is forecast.
Year 2 Swimming
This started on Thursday and the children all had a fantastic time. Mrs Labram, Miss Whitehead and Mrs Creswell are our 3 trained staff members. We also had loads of Year 2 parents who helped too, which was brilliant for our less confident swimmers. Next year, in Year 3, the children will start swimming every week and our transition sessions help the children feel more confident about doing this independently.
Whole School Photograph
We are having a whole school photograph taken on Tuesday 4th June. This will be a commemorative photograph which will include all children and staff in school on the day. They will be available to purchase soon after, and is a lovely commemorative photo of a snapshot of time in Bishops Waltham Infant School.
Sports Day
Our Sports Day is on Friday 14th June. There will be refreshments to purchase on the day (cash only), and the events will last approximately 1 and a quarter hours per year group. Timings are as follows;
Year R:
9:15am-10.30am
Year 1
10.45am-midday
Year 2
1.45pm-3pm
Each Year Group will 'parade' around the top playground to start, so please stand around the edge of the big playground when you arrive.
Year 1 Southsea Trip
This is taking place on Monday 10th June. Please pay via Arbor, and return consent forms via the office. This is a Geography field trip, and your children will amaze you with their knowledge when they return home!
Thursday 20th June
We have been picked to have a 'Health and Safety' Audit from Hampshire County Council. They will be visiting on this day and checking though our policies and procedures.
Friday 21st June
This is our final day of changing to a new caterers and the process will be completed soon after ready for our September start. It is now down to the final 3 companies, and we are looking forward to tasting their food. Watch this space for the new company's name.
Stay and Play Sessions
We have 2 sessions per weeks beginning 17th and24th June. If you have a Year R child starting with us in September, please remember to sign up.
Friday 28th June
Our Year 2 children will be taking part in the Bishops Waltham 'Ceildh Festival' for the first time. We are very excited and have been learning all the dances. This is not a parent event, unfortunately, but in the evening there is a Ceildh Festival for families to attend. Tickets and information can be found here:
Thursday 4th July- Transition Morning
This is when all children will visit their new class and teacher for the first time. They will spend a morning doing fun activities and getting to know each other. Year 2 will be going to the junior school. Their transition is starting next week, where we have weekly activities planned for the children to get to know the school and the teachers.
Wednesday 10th July
Open Afternoon 2-5pm. This is an opportunity to come into school, look through work, see the classroom and receive your child's 'Record of Achievement'.
Friday 12th July
Reserve Sports Day
Monday 15th July
Rock Steady Concert for Parents of children in Rocksteady (2.15pm)
Thursday 18th July
1.30pm Year 2 Leaver's Performance. Details to come out nearer the time
5-6.30pm Year 2 Leaver's Disco
Tuesday 23rd July
3.10pm, school closes for summer break.
As many of you know, Mrs Kate Charles will be retiring at the end of this half term. She has been at Bishops Waltham Infant School for over 30 years and have taught some of our past and present parents too. We are collecting for a retirement gift for Mrs Charles in the school office. If you would like to contribute, please put your contibution in an envelope marked for Mrs Charles. If you would like to write a personal message, we will include it in the special keepsakes we are making for Kate.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend
Mrs Riches
-
Welcome back and D Day Celebrations near Bishops Waltham
Wed 05 Jun 2024Welcome back to our last half term of the school year. This term is always very busy, so please keep up to date by checking our 'Latest News' page weekly.
We had a special 80th D Day Assembly yesterday, where we followed the first part of two children's journeys about their own relatives who had been part of D Day in 1944. If you would like to watch the rest of the film, it is on our 'Learning Links', here;
We will also be having our own special D-Day lunch on Thursday 6th June, which is advertised further down on this page.
There are lots of events in the South East over the rest of this week, which you may want to attend with your children. In Portsmouth, there are lots of events today and tonight there is a 'Drone Show' over the Solent.
On Saturday, to celebrate Armed Forces Day, there is a free event all day, with a display from the Red Arrows too.
To find out more regarding timings and information for the events, please click the links below:
Events in Southampton and Portsmouth
We also have a Beacon Lighting event in Bishops Waltham on June the 6th. The following Information was taken from the Parish Website:
'A reminder that this Thursday evening, 6th June, the Parish Council's beacon will be lit in the palace grounds, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Please join us to mark the occasion. We will gather from 8.30pm, the beacon, part of the national beacon lighting, will be lit at 9.15pm'
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
D-Day Lunch - Thursday 6th June
Tue 04 Jun 2024Dear Parents/Carers,
We will be celebrating the D-day landings on Thursday 6th June with a themed lunch as follows:
Homity Pie (v)
(Cheese and potato pastry pie)
or
Baked battered fish and chips
on the side:
Mushy peas or baked beans
The kitchen will also be serving the jacket potato option as well.
Kind regards
School Office
-
Weekly Update Friday 24th May
Fri 24 May 2024What a busy end of half term we have had. Our children have been excited throughout and have loved the projects they have been learning about. We have lots of green-fingered children in our school, and it was exciting to see the what they have been growing this week and they wowed their parents at project outcome.
This time last week there was hustle and bustle going on preparing for our summer fayre. What a fayre it was! For once, we had sunshine for the day, which was a lovely change. The overall profit raised from the day was £1850, which is a fantastic amount towards our new learning area outside Year R and Year 1. We will hopefully be going ahead with this very soon, and I know that the children in our school will have some great resources to use for many years. This would not be possible if it wasn't for our fantastic PTA and many helping volunteers (including family members). So much hard work went into the event behind the scenes, and also on the day, where staff joined in on stalls. Thank you so much to Claire, Andy, Maddie, Baz, Veronique, Kath and Karen for all your hardwork. It is our main event of the year and it was fantastic! Thank you to all the extra helpers who joined in helping before and on the day too, including many parents, grandparents and staff. A big thank you to Lilypads, CM Sports and our school governors too, who also helped to man the stalls . We also had great performances from Dance Kidz and Roynon School of Performing Arts and our children (past and present) showed off their talents-thank you to Roynon and Belinda for coming along! We cannot wait for everyone to see the result of their hard work, so watch this space!
This time of the year is a very busy one for teachers, who are very busy assessing the learning for their class' summative school reports, as well as preparing the children for the next transition in their school journey. We will see everybody back in school on Tuesday 4th June, the day after our INSET day.
Year 2 will be swimming in the Junior school pool on Thursday afternoons next half term, and they are very excited about it already. They will be taught by Mrs Labram, Miss Whitehead and Mrs Cresswell, whilst being supported by an army of parent volunteers who help support with changing and swimming. We will let you know how our first session has progressed afterwards! Thank you in advance to every helper, who helps to make these sessions so special.
Our new Year R Entrant evening went really well last night, with lots of new parents coming to meet our school community. Thank you to everyone from our school community who joined us for the night including our governors Helen and Roy, the mental health team Christina and Kate, Luke from CM Sports, Andy and Claire form our PTA, Mrs Campone our SENCO and our whole Year R Team led by Miss Turner. There were lots of new parents and returning parents, and it was lovely to see you all.
We have been asked to advertise all the lovely things that you can do in Southampton over the half term break. Please click below to find out more:
https://www.southamptonrocks.co.uk/
Wishing you all a happy Whitsun break, and we will see you back on the 4th June.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 17th May
Fri 17 May 2024The sunshine has come out for our Summer Fayre and the children are very excited about coming today. So much work has gone into planning and preparing for the fayre, including scrubbing a chest freezer, writing to companies and so much more. I know many more people are helping on the day and we hope everybody has a great time. There will be food and drink available, tokens can be bought on the day, and lot of fun activities to do. We will see you all very soon.
Year 2 have been writing their scripts ready to film their short films this week and what a lot of facts they knew-we can't wait to watch their finished show! Year R have also been showing me their amazing writing today, where they have innovated a story by changing a character and a setting-such fantastic learning!
We have also seen some beautiful paintings in Year 1-what talented artists we have!
We have some exciting staff news to share with you all today. Mrs Withers in Squirrel Class is expecting a baby girl in October. She has told her class today and they were overjoyed. Everyone at BWIS wish her and Sam all our love and luck on their exciting journey into parenthood.
Mrs Palmer our Senior Business Administrator in the school office 'Walked the Wight' on Sunday with her daughter Chloe and her dog Jim. It was a very hot day, very hilly and she raised lots of money for Countess Mountbatten Centre. Well done Michelle-your BWIS family are really proud of you!
We have our September 2024 Year R Welcome meeting on the evening of Thursday 23rd May. If you have a child starting with us and haven't signed up yet, please give our office a call.
We wish everybody a lovely weekend.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 10th May
Fri 10 May 2024We have waited all year for the sunshine, and it has finally arrived! We have had a few glorious days, and the children in Year R and Year 1 have had a great time practising their skills on the balance bikes and scooters. We have given the children plenty of reminders about drinking water and sun safety. Luckily, in our grounds we have lots of shady areas to cool down and all staff have been reminding the children to do this.
Thank you to all the parents who donated chocolate today for our chocolate tombola. Our Summer Fayre is next week and we hope to see everyone there. This year, there are raffle tickets coming out to win a trip-please have a look for these in your child's book bag tonight. The PTA still need volunteers on the day, so please contact Claire to help. They will also run a token system alongside cash. These can be bought beforehand or on the day. Please see the PTA social media page for more information.
This week we joined in with National Hedgehog Week, with a whole school assembly and lessons in Year 2. I have 2 hedgehogs that climb steps to my garden every night, and they really help keen the slug and snail population down in my flower beds. The children were amazed to discover that a hedgehog can cover 2 miles in one night! If you would like to find out more about how you can create hedgehog friendly gardens, please click on the children's learning link below.
https://www.bwis.org.uk/national-hedgehog-week/
We will be back to our PAN of 60 children in Year R in September, and we are full in this year group. We do, however, have spaces in our current Year R (Year 1 in September) and 1 space in our current Year 1 (Year 2 in September). If you are interested in applying for these places, please contact the school office. Our Early Years Lead, Miss Turner, has started visiting the pre schools to meet the children who will be starting with us this year, and our New Parents' Evening is on Thursday 23rd May.
We had our governor meeting last night, where we finalised our budget for the forthcoming year. We have a parent position on our governing body, and emails have gone out to all parents re applying. The roll is a rewarding one, where all aspects of school life are strategically looked at. Please look in your emails, if you would like to apply.
INSET DAYS 2024-2025
These have now been agreed and are as follows:
Monday 2nd September
Monday 25th November
Friday 31st January
Monday 24th February
Monday 9th June
Lastly, we would like to make a plea to parents to pop their phones in their bags and pockets, when dropping off and picking up their children. They are really excited to see you, and want to tell you all about their day, and we see their faces light up when they know you are there!
Wishing you a lovely weekend
Mrs Riches
