Latest News
Keep up to date with all the news happening in school
-
SAFEGUARDING UPDATE FOR PARENTS-SUMMER TERM 2023
Wed 21 Jun 2023Dear Parents and Carers
BWIS has an excellent safeguarding culture, where all staff receive regular training, that is updated every year. Our policies for our safeguarding culture can be found under our 'Key Information' policies page.
As part of our safeguarding culture, our children are regularly taught how to keep themselves safe, which includes when they are online. Our two SAFETY pages are routinely updated and we will alert you via latest news, when there is new information on these pages.
With the summer fast approaching, we have updated our parent factsheets to help parents feel confident on ensuring their children can be as safe as possible when online. Please see our June factsheets on 'Snapchat' and 'Fortnite' here (scroll to the bottom of the page).
We hope that we can help you to be confident in your knowledge in keeping your children safe in this fast paced technological world. If there is a specific site you would like more information on, then please contact myself as the school's Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), and I will be very happy to help.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 16th June
Fri 16 Jun 2023What a super week we have had in school this week. Year R had great fun on their school trip to the farm (Thank you to all the volunteer helpers), Year 2 had great fun swimming and starting to rehearse their pirate leavers' show, and Year 1 have been busy using their geography skills in class and around the school.
Thank you to everybody who came to our sports day today. the children had great fun and so did all the grown ups. Thank you to the staff who made and donated cakes for refreshments too, and CM Sports for coming to run one of the events.
We sent some 'sun safety' information out this week, letting parents know all the kinds of things we do when the UV is high. If you missed it you can find it here:
If you would like to see some of our Year 2's fantastic 'Wild World' videos, which they worked interdependently to produce, please click on the link below. They are a great watch!
Year 2 are still looking for parent volunteers for their trip to Stubbington, so please come and let your child's classteacher know if you can help.
Our Year 2 teachers had a great moderation visit from Hampshire County Moderators on Thursday. The moderators were impressed with all the super learning the children have been doing and how well our teachers knew their children. They also commented on how high the standards were in our school, and the quality of the learning in the children's books. Well done to the whole Year 2 team led by Miss Apsey.
That brings my update to a close. We hope you have a lovely weekend. Wishing all our dads and grandads a 'Happy Father's day' on Sunday.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Weekly Update Friday 9th June
Thu 08 Jun 2023What a lovely sunny week we have had in school this week. Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed their geography field trip to Southsea on Wednesday, and came back with lots of exciting information they had found out.
Our governors came to school this week to talk to the children about our learning values and our knowledge retrieval quizzes. We went on a learning walk around the school and they were very impressed by our children's confidence when talking about their learning. They also talked to some of our subject leaders, and were amazed by all we do. During work scrutiny with the children, they commented about our high standard of learning in the books. Thank you to all the teachers and children who talked to the governors-you all had a lot to say!
Mrs Charles has also been very busy working on uniting all the excellent strategies we have in place in school for our 'healthy minds and body' leaflet. This will be coming out to everybody very soon, but she has sent an email to all parents with a brief summary of the things we have in place to support children if they display anxiety or anything else that affects their wellbeing when at school. We have also have signposted many parents to agencies that can support with anxiety at home too. The important thing is to take action at home, and not to do nothing-as by making changes, no matter how small, can have a bigger impact over time. Please see below for the link for home self help and the anxiety booklet on our website:
Directory of services for Hampshire
The Primary Behaviour Support Service also brought out excellent resources to help parents with a range of issues-from sleep to anxiety. It is titled 'Parenting Support Pack' and you will find it on the link below:
https://www.bwis.org.uk/information-letterspamphlets/
Sports Day
This year we are celebrating our sports in Year Groups on Friday 16th June. Children will be sent home with their PE bags on Thursday 15th June. Please can you send them in to school on Friday 16th June, wearing their PE clothes, with a hat and sunscreen.
The timings are as follows:
Year R Sports 9.15-10.25
Year 1 Sports 10.45-11.55
Year 2 Sports 1.15-2.55
CM Sports will be helping us on the day and there will be refreshments served for cash donations. We look forward to seeing you and celebrating their super sport with you.
INSET DAY
Monday 12th June is our last INSET Day this year. We will see you back in school on Tuesday 12th June.
Phonics Screening
Year 1 will be doing the statutory phonics screening with their children next week. This consists of reading 40 words, some nonsense words, using the phonics they have learned in school. Our children have been little superstars learning their phonics in Year R, 1 and 2 and our staff are really pleased with their progression when tackling unfamiliar words in their reading.
Moderation of SATs
Every four years or so, schools are picked to have a moderation visit from Hampshire's moderating team. The team look at the assessments the teachers have made, and agree/disagree with their assessments. A robust discussion takes place, and I know how well our staff know the children they teach, because we have robust discussions about where a child needs to gain a better understanding, in our school inhouse moderations each term. I moderated with the Hampshire team for several years and sharing children's learning with teachers was always the best part of the role. This will be the first time we have had a moderation session since pre 2020, so we are looking forward to showing all our children's amazing learning.
Bishops Waltham Family Fun Day
The Rotary Club are running their annual Family Fun Day at Hoe Road recreation ground tomorrow. The fun starts at 12.30. To find out more, click the link below:
We hope everybody has a lovely weekend in the sunshine!
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
CAMHS event
Thu 08 Jun 2023
-
Weekly Update Friday 26th May
Fri 26 May 2023What a busy week we have had this week! Year 1 and Year R had their Learning Outcomes and it was lovely to see so many parents and carers coming to see everything they had been learning in class. Year 2 are busy editing their videos and they will be on our video resource centre soon-they wrote some exciting scripts for them!
In celebration assembly we were all amazed by the super learning the children shared-they all had a well deserved certificate and clap! Our lucky book winner was Ethan from Robins, and he chose a funny book to make himself laugh.
This time last week we were getting ready for our Summer Fayre-just before the heavens opened. Our School Governors were very impressed by everybody's 'we can carry on' spirit, and polite children. Thank you to our PTA and all the volunteers who came to help. BWIS Men Shed ran a stall and gave us the proceeds, there were performances by Dance Kidz and Roynon Dance, with lots of other stalls and fun to be had. We have made a little video from some of the photographs taken, and there are more to see on the PTA social media page. The total funds raised amounted to £1,559.49, and we will put it to good use when we further develop our outdoor area, so THANK YOU.
Our new Year R Parents' Evening took place this week, and our new parents had the chance to meet key staff and people from our school community. We had a lovely evening and look forward to seeing our new children in our stay and play sessions.
We also had a visit from Nigel Hyde MBE, who founded a charity Home Leone in Sierra Leone. Nigel is also grandfather to Esther and Zara, who were really pleased that he came to share his story. If you would like to find out more, please click the charity link below:
We had our Full Governing Body meeting yesterday, where we agreed the budget for next year and looked at the forecast for future years. There will be no surprise when I tell you that future years show a deficit budget, due to the cuts in school funds and rising living costs. We hope that there will be a resolution forthcoming soon, as the majority of headteachers at my recent headteacher meeting were also in this situation.
We also agreed our INSET days for next year (the same as BWJS) and they are as below:
Friday 1st September 2023
Monday 4th September 2023
Tuesday 2nd January 2024
Monday 19th February 2024
Monday 3rd June 2024
And on that note, we wish you all a lovely sunny half term.
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
Nigel Hyde - Home Leone
Fri 26 May 2023On Tuesday, Nigel Hyde, the founder of the charity Home Leone came to school to speak to the children about his work in Sierra Leone. The children loved his assembly and his granddaughters, Esther and Zara were especially proud to show off their granddad’s MBE!
https://homeleone.org
-
Weekly Update Friday 19th May
Fri 19 May 2023What a lot has happened this week! We had our Grand opening of our Pond and Outdoor Reflection learning area (now known as 'The Nest'), our Walk to School Week and as I write this I can hear everybody getting ready for our Summer Fayre in the sunshine.
On Monday we had a visit from PCSO Sarah McCulloch, who came to our Road Safety Assembly. She was so impressed by the children and our song, 'Stop, Look, Listen, Think.' She said she was singing it all day on her beat. Our children were brilliant at knowing how to walk to school safely and where not to park-they said they were going to teach their parents too!
We hope to see lots of you at our fayre this afternoon. Remember a lot of stalls are cash only. Our PTA have worked incredibly hard at organising today, especially Hannah, Kelly and Shez who have been in school nearly every day. Thank you so much-we are all looking forward to it!
Have a lovely weekend in the sunshine
Best wishes
Mrs Riches
-
The Opening of our School Pond and Reflection Learning Area
Fri 19 May 2023This week we held our Grand Opening of our newest areas for outdoor learning in our school. It has been an exciting project that started in 2021 with an email from Matt Howell, who was soon to be one of our parents.
Matt wanted to support an outdoor project in memory of his wife Lucy, who had loved the outdoors and nature. His daughter was about to start at our school and family and friends had raised lots of funds to support outdoor areas that the family had liked to visit. We talked about the biggest area that had been in disrepair at our school which was our pond.
That is when the fun started. Matt's friends and family came to the school on a weekend and with staff, cleared the pond area. It was very overgrown and wild! We took a lot of bags of overgrown thorns away and then looked at the pond that was left in the middle. Sadly, we could not rescue this part at all. Matt and I met with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust to talk about what would be best to create the perfect area for pond life to live
We then called Sam Crutchfield and Ian Gower from Vitaplay. Sam had worked with us for many years, creating all the amazing outdoor learning areas we have at BWIS. (He was very used to me drawing ideas out on paper!). We worked together on what the pond could look like, and how amazing it would be for our children. The staging was put in, and the new pond area made. We then had to wait for the wildlife to come back. Matt's family and friends have come to clear areas and keep the pond in shape.
Whilst we were waiting for the pond to grow and attract the wildlife again, our PTA had been busy raising funds to help us develop our outside area. We wanted a special area that could be multi-purpose; where children could sit and have a place to reflect quietly at playtimes, but could also be used as a teaching area outdoors, shielded from the elements. The concept of 'The Nest' was born!
When working with Sam and Ian on this design, we also talking about rejuvenating our story circle, and this became part of the project too. We didn't have quite enough money for the whole project, but through a £500 grant from the Co-op, our small Capital Fund budget and the generous donation from the PTA, we were able to visualise our dream.
So on a sunny day in May, this week, we opened our 3 new learning areas. All the school came to celebrate, one of our governors, the PTA, with Chairs past and present, as well as Matt and his family. Mr Ritchie Latham came from the Parish Council to cut the ribbon and a lovely afternoon was had by all.
We are so grateful to everybody who have helped us raise the funds for this venture. Our Trailbazer Curriculum leads us outdoors throughout the week and these new areas will enhance our children's learning spaces even more. Thank you to everybody who have made the project such a success and for the Howell family for continuing to help us maintain this special area. All good things are, indeed, wild and free.
-
Lilypads Staff
Fri 19 May 2023Lilypads staff lost a beloved member of their team last week, with the passing of Karen Ayres. We have worked closely with Lilypads Pre-School and Karen for many years, and everyone at BWIS is greatly saddened by the news.
Karen was always full of fun and saw the brighter side of life. She was extremely knowledgeable about the children she worked with and the care and love for them was evident to see. The whole school community have many happy memories of Karen, and all of the stories we are sharing are full of love and laughter. I am sure many parents and children will remember Karen as fondly as we do too. We have been asked by Lilypads to send a letter to our parents asking to share their memories of her, which will be coming out today.
We wish all of Karen's family and the Lilypads team our love and strength at this difficult time.
With love
Everyone at BWIS
-
Walk to School Week - Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May
Mon 15 May 2023We are supporting 'Walk to School Week' from Monday 15th May to Friday 19th May.
How can you help?
- Walk with your child and discuss potential hazards such as driveways, junctions, parked cars and bends
- Work out together the safest route even if this involves a slightly longer journey
- Let your child suggest places to cross and discuss their choice
- Practice the green cross code on your way to and from school - reminding them to stop, look, listen and think
If you don't have time to walk!
- Park the car some way from the school gates and walk the last part of the journey
- Try to find time to walk with them once during the week
- Your child will qualify for a certificate if either option is taken
What are the advantages of walking?
- The chance to teach important road safety skills which cannot be taught in a car
- The chance to learn about the local environment
- A chance for a chat about the day
- Less congestion at the school gate
- A healthier way to start the day
