Latest News | Bishops Waltham Infant School

School Closure

Thu 02 Nov 2023

Unfortunately school will be closed today due to the severe amber weather warning for the rest of the day posing a risk to site safety and journeys to and from school for pupils and staff.

Teachers will be in contact with children and learning will be on our website/emailed.

We will see you back in school on Friday.

Kind regards

Mrs Riches

We have sent an email regarding storm Ciaran, which has gone into many junk mails (mine included). Please can you check your junkmail and make the school email address a contact, which should stop this happening.

At the moment, the advice from Hampshire is to open, but also to monitor carefully regarding the weather, so that staff and children can travel to and from school safely and be safe on school site. Mr Campbell and I will be in touch with each other, monitoring the weather closely this evening and in the morning and if we do have to close our schools, we will let you know by 7.30am, possibly sooner if Hampshire advises us to.

We are really sorry we cannot be more definite. Hampshire is a very large county, and the weather is only affecting certain areas, with information changing hourly, and blanket decisions to close are more localised than smaller counties.

Kind regards

Mrs Riches

Welcome Back

Mon 30 Oct 2023

What an amazing first day back we had today, with our whole school Hindu day. Indri, from Hinduism Education Services, taught us about some of the festivals and stories in Hinduism. Children also danced and dressed up, and looked at the beautiful resources. In class, children made and decorated different artefacts, and our whole school display will be open next week during parents evening, in our lobby through to the library. The children had a fantastic time and thank you to everybody who has donated towards the cost of this special day.

Each year group will be posting pictures on their tapestry pages for you to see, so please remember to look on your year group page.

Please remember to sign up for your child's parent meeting, if you haven't already done so. These are held next Tuesday and Thursday in school.

Lastly, just a little reminder for our Year R parents. Our Year R team are holding a 'Phonics Talk' in the hall at 9.15am on Wednesday 1st November. Everybody who attends this talk say that it really helps their children with their early reading and writing skills. Please come along, if you can.

Please make sure you have looked at the latest HC3S menu, which runs from October to April. It will really help to look at the choices before coming to school in the day. You can find the menu here HC3S MENU

It is going to get even stormier this week, so please take care when walking to and from school. We will be checking our trees and site, to make sure it is safe for children to play outside.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update Friday 20th October

Fri 20 Oct 2023

What a finish we had to our half term this week with our Year 2's history led project outcome for 'Fire Fire'. The children opened their exhibition with singing rounds, then amazed their parents with their historical knowledge and skills. What fabulous historians we have!

After half term we will be having our RE Whole School day and we cannot wait for the children to experience the day's activities. We are looking forward to inviting you in to see our shared art installation the following week.

Our Parent Teacher meetings are on the 7th November and the 9th November, and this will be your opportunity to talk to your child's class teacher about their learning and any other questions you may have. Please remember to sign up, if you haven't done already.

We held our Governor budget review meeting last night, which happens at this time of the year annually. The cost of all services, resources and training has increased much higher than anyone could have predicted, and we are very aware that we will be tightening our belts across the whole school, as we try to save pennies and pounds where we can. One of our biggest costs, is the price disparity between our income for the lunches from the government and the rising costs from the caterers for Hampshire County Council. The lunches are now costing the school thousands of pounds over the year, taking resources away from children. We will be looking at different catering options over the coming months, and will keep you up to date with what our decision will be going forward.

We are now trialing sending all emails via our Arbor system, in response to the Parent Survey in July where parents reported that information was coming from too many places. Some parents have let us know that they aren't receiving these emails. Please check your junk emails for your weekly information from the class teachers. Our methods of communication are now as follows:

Arbor-emails and app messages from office, when needed, and every Friday from teachers

Weekly Update-here on website every Friday (www.bwis.org.uk)

End of Month Newsletter-paper and website (www.bwis.org.uk)

Board outside-reminder only when walking past (no new information)

Facebook-PTA page for PTA events

We hope that this will make it easier to keep up to date for all parents and carers.

If you are following the Rugby World Cup like myself and many of our children, we will all be cheering England this weekend as the last Northern Hemisphere team in the competition. There have been some amazing games played and I have had lots of chats about the results with the children in school. Let's see what the weekend will bring!

Wishing you a lovely half term break-fingers crossed it keeps dry!

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update Friday 13th October

Thu 12 Oct 2023

We are coming to the end of our first half term and the days are now getting colder and shorter. We all went to St Peter's Church on Monday to celebrate our Harvest festival. The Meon Valley Foodbank were very grateful for all the donations that were brought in by parents , so thank you from us all!

This week our parent governor elections came to a close and I am pleased to announce we have 2 new governors; Mr George Denman and Mrs Helouise Bailey. Both parents have a child in Year R and the governors would like to warmly welcome them to the board.

This week Miss Tracy Meek received her 'long service' award from Hampshire County Council for 25 years service. We would all like to wish Miss Meek congratulations for her dedication to working in our school.

Year 1 had their amazing learning outcome today for their 'Project Power' where they have learned about their bodies and being healthy and fit. Year 1 parents had lots of activities to do designed by the children in Year 1. How fit were you?

We had a really good PTA meeting this week, where all the positions are now filled. Congratulations to our new Chair Claire Rawlings who is looking forward to the role. Our other new members are:

Andy Knight -Vice Chair

Karen Humphreys-Secretary

Barry Rawlings - Treasurer

Veronique Anning and Maddie Humphries-Communications and Publicity Officers

Katherine Bell-Volunteers Officer

We look forward to planning and running our next events!

Many parents and grandparents expressed an interest to help, which is great news. There will be lots of events through the year that will need help. The main ones this term are:

Wrapping Christmas presents from Santa

Christmas shopping helpers and wrappers-please note this needs lots of helpers to make the experience lovely for our children.

Selling raffle tickets and asking for prizes and donations-everyone can help with this, especially if you work for a business that could possibly donate a prize

Please come and let the office know if one of these events is one that you or someone in your family can help with. We will then call you nearer the time to confirm details.

We wish you all a lovely weekend. I'm looking forward to the exciting rugby matches ahead this weekend-Who will go through?

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update- Friday 6th October

Sat 07 Oct 2023

We had a busy week this week at school. Year 1 and 2 children voted for their new school councillors with Mrs Charles. Our Year R team led a meeting with Year R parents who may have extra questions now that their children are in school. Our Year 2 children had an amazing day stepping back in time in Little Woodham in Gosport.

All our projects are well underway with children being taught key knowledge and developing the skills within the subjects. Language and vocabulary is key, and we hope you are finding time to talk to the children about the words they are learning on their vocabulary bookmarks. They cannot wait to share their learning outcomes with you in the next few weeks!

On Monday, we will be going to the church to celebrate harvest. This celebration is for children only, and it is our first visit of the year as a school. If you would like to donate food (especially tinned and dried items) for the Meon Valley Foodbank, please bring it in on Monday morning in a carrier bag, as we will be carrying our donations to the church.

We hope everyone is making the most of the lovely warm autumn weather, and wish you a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update- Friday 29th September

Fri 29 Sep 2023

What a super week we have had this week in school. Year 1 and 2 learned about Emmeline Pankhurst as part of our assemblies about people who do extraordinary things on Monday. They had lots of questions about why women were treated so unfairly in history and all the children were in agreement that it ‘wasn’t right’. If you would like to find out a little more at home, I have put a learning link here;

Emmeline Pankhurst

Year 1 learned about first aid from the heart start team in Bishops Waltham, Year 2 learned about keeping safe at home from Hampshire Fire Service and Year R have started to learn their phonic sounds. We also had our school photographs with Nikky Wood. Don’t worry if your child was away- Nikky will come back to take retakes for absent children.

We also had our Open Morning for September 2024 intake. The children were able to answer all their questions and the prospective parents and children enjoyed their visit.

Next week is the start of ‘Walktober’. As a Hampshire school, we take part in this Hampshire Travel Team initiative, whose target is to reduce vehicles around the school, and develop healthy habits. We are very aware that some of you now live a very long way from school. During ‘Walktober’ we try to encourage all parents to leave a little earlier, and use our ‘Park and Stride’ car park at Hoe Road or Jubilee Hall. We hope you can all take part, even if it is for one day of the week.

Year 2 will be going to Little Woodham on their first school trip of the year next week. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who are coming. We couldn’t do our trips without you and really appreciate the support you give us.

On Wednesday, after drop off, the Year R team will be having a meeting in the hall for any Year R parent who would like to find out more about Year R now that your child is on school. It is a follow on meeting to the Welcome meeting we held in May. Any questions can be answered and our team are ready to help, so please come along!

All our extra- curricular clubs are now up and running, both after school and lunchtime. Please ask your children about their club- we have had great feedback in school!

The week has ended with some sunshine, and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Weekly Update-Friday 22nd September

Fri 22 Sep 2023

We had all kinds of weather this week and our Year 2 children have had fun charting the weather-from great downpours to strong winds and sunshine! What a week!

The Year 2 children also had lots of fun at their new clubs this week. We all look forward to teaching and playing in the clubs over the next few weeks.

Year R enjoyed their first full week of school, and have great fun chatting about their lunch choices with their classmates. They are very kind and caring and learning all the class routines in school. They were a little tired this morning, but enjoyed our Friday dance hello.

Year 1 have also been very polite around our school and the teachers are noticing how well they are displaying our BADGER values.

We had an update from our PTA on Monday at our AGM. A letter has been sent out to all parents regarding the future of our PTA, and we have a meeting scheduled on the 9th October at 2pm. On a personal note I would like to thank Shez, Kelly and Hannah for the great job they have done-we have had fantastic events this year-they even laughed when they were cleaning our the spiders in the PTA shed! We will miss all three of you and without your hard work, our Nest would never have been built. Thank you all.

We also had our first governing body meeting with our new Chair of Governors, Simon Brownlie. Mr Brownlie has been a governor with us for many years and has lots of experience of life outside of school. I am looking forward to the year ahead, with governors who are providing challenge and support to our school. We have been excited to receive 6 applications for the Parent Governor positions. Voting is open for two weeks, so please cast your votes!

Our individual school photographs are on Tuesday 26th September (next week). Please make sure your child has their cardigan/jumper wit them on the day. We also have our 'Heartstart' first aid session for Year 1 children on Tuesday, a visit from the Fire Service on Monday and our 'Open Morning' for Year R 2024 on Wednesday. There is quite a lot going on, so please read your Year Group emails to find out more!

Remember to also look at your child's Year Group section under 'Children' on our website. There are lots of activities you can do at home and links to learning that is happening in school too.

Let's hope the weekend stays sunny for us all. Fingers crossed for England and Wales in their rugby games this weekend! What an exciting tournament it is turning out to be.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

Open Morning

Mon 18 Sep 2023

We are holding an open day on Wednesday 27th September for children starting Year R in September 2024. Please contact the school office on 01489 892375 to book a space.

Weekly Update Friday 15th September

Tue 12 Sep 2023

We had a lovely week in school this week. Year 1 and 2 enjoyed an assembly about the Rugby World Cup. All children in 1 and 2 will be playing rugby this term as part of our team games this term. To link to the assembly and the World cup website, click below:

Rugby World Cup 2023

Most of our Year R children stayed for lunch and enjoyed eating with their friends this week. We have loved having them in school all day!

Year 1 and 2 had their grand Class Openings and welcome meetings this week. The children were very excited to share their learning environments with their families. We will have a meeting for Year R parents on Wednesday 4th October after drop off in the hall. Our welcome meeting for Year R was in May, but that seems a long time ago-now your children are in school there may be questions you would like to ask, so this meeting will give parents the opportunity to ask lots of questions.

Sometimes as a parent, we ask our children 'What did you do in school today?' and quite often in infant school the answer is 'played'. We learn through play in every year group in school, so they are probably telling the truth! However, sometimes it is harder for children to answer questions about their whole day. Below is a list of questions you can try to ask, which may help you find out more about their busy day and how they feel.

Who made you smile today?
Who was kind to you today?
What made you laugh?
What was the funniest thing you heard?
Did you try something new today?
Can you tell me one new fact today?
Did you show kindness to anyone today?
Is there someone you would like to say sorry to today?
Did you learn something new today?
What are you thankful for today?

I am sure you can think of many more, where you may get a different answer about their day!

PTA AGM

Please remember it is our PTA (PARENT/TEACHER ASSOCIATION) AGM ON MONDAY 18th September. It will be held at 3.30 in the school hall, and our Year 1 classrooms will be used for any children brought along (the teachers will be inside to look after children). We are trying this timing instead to hopefully encourage more parents to join, grow and develop our association. The purpose of our PTA is to fundraise for our school, so that we can invest in bigger projects, such as our outdoor learning area (The Nest). This year we will be focusing on developing our corridor areas and individual learning spaces. All these projects cost money, that our budget does not cover. Please come along and find which role would suit you this year.

Year 2 Clubs

All Year 2 children have the opportunity to join a free lunchtime club in school during Autumn and Spring Term. These are led by all the teaching staff who give up a lunchtime to provide these fun experiences.

This year our clubs for Year 2 are:

Monday Art

Tuesday Games

Wednesday Choir

Thursday Lego

Friday Sewing

Club membership changes at the end of the term. All Year 2 children have chosen their club and we are looking forward to starting our clubs next week. This year, 2 St Peter's choir members are coming to help us run our choir. In addition to these clubs, CM sports run a sports club every Friday outside at lunchtime, available free to all Year 1 and 2 children on the playground. They set up games and teach the children how to play them.

Special Mentions Book

Please remember we have our special mentions book outside our school office where any parent/carer can write about their child's successes for Celebration Assembly. The children love having their achievements at home shared with their friends

After School Clubs

Remember our after school clubs start next week too (except for Taekwondo which is the following week).

Football-Tuesday

DanceKidz-Wednesday

Royston Performing Arts-Thursday

Taekwondo-Monday 25th September

Rock Steady, our music club that happens during Monday afternoon in school time has spaces too, if your child would like to try an instrument/vocals in a rock group.

On that note, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Keep an eye out for the Red Arrows on Saturday at 1.30pm, when they’ll be flying over Bishops Waltham on their way back from Southampton Boat Show. I know some of you will be watching the rugby- hopefully we will see some more magical drop goals from George Ford in the RWC.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches