Latest News

Keep up to date with all the news happening in school

• Ofsted Report

  Wed 10 Jan 2024

   

  Dear Parents and Carers

   

  On behalf of the staff, pupils and governors, I am delighted to share our latest OFSTED report with you, where we have been graded ‘Outstanding’ in all areas inspected and therefore maintained our overall grade of ‘Outstanding’. The official report will appear on the OFSTED site within 8 working days, but you will have received a paper copy and email copy today.

   

  Due to the limited number of words that can be used, some of the amazing feedback that we received hasn’t been included. I would like to include a few extra comments from the feedback for you to read. I would also like to again let you know how brilliant your children were throughout the inspection. They acted as they normally do, demonstrating our BADGER and LEARNING values throughout. Both inspectors were wowed by them and they were a credit to you and the school. Our proudest moment in the feedback was when an inspector said they wish their son could attend BWIS

  • High Ambition for all pupils
  • Highly inclusive for all learners with high quality of education for all
  • Excellent rigour within the subjects led to success for all
  • Consistent high quality of teaching led to clear secure learning, where children were proud of their achievements
  • Exceptional outcomes at the end of Year R and KS1 ready for the next stage in their education
  • Transition from Year R to Year 1 was excellent, with the strongest model of integration between YR and YR 1 they had seen-highly consistent with no ‘disconnect’
  • Our curriculum had breadth and ambition in the ‘truest sense’
  • In each of the deep dives (Reading, Maths, Geography and Art), the inspectors praised the subject leaders for their knowledge and passion about the subjects, including their clear understanding of children’s start points.
  • All subject leaders share common understanding of consistency, and openness amongst staff develops confidence and competence.
  • The curriculum is taught with pace and expectations for behaviours of learning are high
  • Our Early Years is highly ambitious, providing a strong start and excellent pedagogy and expertise, within a rich learning environment, strength in teaching and learning and high engagement. The inspectors called it an ‘exceptional offer’.
  • There are shared policies, values and practice embedded across the school and 100% of the staff are proud to work in the school. There is expertise in the governors with different layers of rigour across the whole school.
  • Strong leadership ensures high quality of education and ambition for all, in an open and transparent culture with wellbeing of staff well led. ‘The school cannot do any more’.

   

  There were many more comments which have been shared with governors and staff. We do not have any actions to work on from this inspection (under ‘what do we need to do better?’). The inspectors said at the end of the governor and leader feedback ‘keep doing what you’re doing’. We recognise, however, that education never stands still and it is timely that we now revisit our school vision and what we need to do to equip our children for the future they will grow up in, and for jobs that haven’t even been invented yet!

  I am extremely proud to be the headteacher of BWIS, and the last fourteen and a half years of working with the fantastic, caring, highly skilled staff team, many of whom have been with me from the start, has been a pleasure. I hope you enjoy reading the report, and if you would like to let us know your thoughts about the report via email to adminoffice@bishopswaltham.hants.sch.uk, we would be happy to receive them.

  Best wishes

  Mrs Riches

   

  https://www.bwis.org.uk/ofsted/

• Big Ambition Survey

  Wed 10 Jan 2024

  Please find a link to the 'Big Ambition' survey from Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England. She would like every child to let her know their views and the survey closes on the 19th January 2024. Parents can help fill in with younger children. Please click the link below to start:

  http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition

• Weekly Update Friday 5th January

  Fri 05 Jan 2024

  It has been lovely being back in school this week and the children have been really excited to share their Christmas break stories with us. It was great to see so many tickets in our weekly 'Regular Reading Raffle' and congratulations to Walter in Year 1 for winning for the first time. Some of the children found it really tiring being back and I think some were ready for their beds by Friday afternoon. The teachers have been delighted with the children's phonic assessments and the children have been very proud to show how many words they can read. There has also been some interesting discussions in Year 1 about what we could measure in-I still don't think they believed Mrs Moth about hands for horses-they didn't look convinced!

   

  INSET day Staff Training

  We  had a great  INSET day with a guest speaker Laura Kerbey who is an expert on working with neuro-divergent children, especially children with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance). The day was filled with strategies that can be used with all children and it was reassuring that many of the strategies we were already using. Head teachers and teachers from other schools joined us and it was a good opportunity to engage in professional dialogue with fellow colleagues too.

   

  M and M Productions

  Our pantomime this year saw a magic beanstalk, a pantomime cow, a villain and a hero with clever scenery and quick costume changes. M and M theatre did a fantastic job of engaging all our children in a great production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Our children sat beautifully throughout and joined in with the songs, clapping and booing!

   

  OFSTED

  We received our draft OFSTED report this week to fact check, and we hope to have our final copy to share with the community soon. There is a pause in inspections at the moment, following the recent enquiry, which I am sure many of you have read about in the news. We had 2 inspectors who inspected professionally with rigour, but also put staff at ease. They were also really lovely with our children, who couldn't wait to talk to them. This helped all staff and governors to relax and be as 'normal' as possible when being interviewed and observed. We will send out the final report as soon as we receive it. 

   

  Attendance

  Part of our school role is to regularly let parents know what their child's attendance figure is in school. We follow the DFE guidance, that also classifies any child who has attendance less than 90% as being a 'persistent absentee'. We fulfill this role termly, and all parents and guardians will have an email about this today. We know that a lot of attendance is due to illness and we have had some nasty bugs doing the rounds. We need to stress, please do not bring your child to school if they are too ill to attend. If you would like to discuss your child's attendance or need support, please telephone the school office to make an appointment.

   

  Pick up and Drop off

  We have had a telephone call from a local resident today who said a parent from our school 'screamed, shouted and continually blasted his horn' at the Sainsbury's delivery driver delivering to her home. Please can I remind all parents to behave courteously to local residents when dropping off and picking up children at school. Existing harmoniously in society can only be for the better for us all, and demonstrating kind, polite behaviour (especially in front of children) is a key part of this. Frustrations will come our way, concerning lots of things through the day, but screaming and shouting will never help the situation. It isn't the first call I have received from the resident, and I said I would pass it on to you all. I have made the suggestion to the resident that a note re school times is added to delivery times when booking a slot to ease congestion and possible frustration during this busy time.

   

  Applications for Year R and Year 3 (juniors)

  Lastly, we still have few first choice spaces on our application list for September 2024 entrants. The closing date is on the 15th January, so please make sure you put your application in promptly, to be considered in the first round. Late applicants and their choices are considered afterwards. The closing date for Year 2 applicants for Year 3 is also on the 15th January. From our list, we can see that many parents have not yet applied for a junior school. Please can all Year 2 parents make sure they apply promptly by the 15th January.

   

   

  Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend (hopefully a lot drier than this week!)

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches

   

   

   

• Welcome Back and Happy New Year

  Wed 03 Jan 2024

  What a great first day back the children had today; they were excited to see their classmates and teachers to tell them about their Christmas holidays. 
   

  The excitement carried on through the day, when we had our theatre visit from M And M productions. They performed a brilliant version of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’  pantomime. There were lots of songs to join in with and the children clapped and cheered along. 
   

  Mrs Labram and Miss Meek helped with some great dancing, and lots of fun was had by all. 
   

  We would like to thank the PTA for raising funds so that we can have this fantastic experience every year. 
   

  Happy New Year to you all

  

• Weekly Update Friday 15th December

  Fri 15 Dec 2023

  We finished our Christmas week with our special 'Wishing Assembly' today. Each class thought about what their wishes could be for the world for 2024. In the assembly, class members were chosen to read the wishes out, and we lit a candle for each wish, with a few Christmas songs too.

   

  Our wishes are displayed all year by my office and the children often come back to read them through the year. Their wishing stars are displayed below, and I am sure you will agree with me that our children have very good ideas about what they believe would be a good wish for the world.

   

  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a lovely break. 

   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches

   

  PS -Keep a look out for our Christmas Nativity photographs in the Hampshire Chronicle this year. 

  

• Grandparents’ Service in St Peter’s Church

  Thu 14 Dec 2023

  We had an awe filled afternoon this afternoon at St Peter’s Church. Our children sang beautifully, and told the Christmas story through readings and a nativity tableau. Reverend Hunt showed us all the things that important in our lives for free, particularly peace, love and joy. 
   

  Our furthest travelling grandparents came from Cumbria, and I think everybody felt joy throughout the service. Thank you to all the grandparents who attended. It was really lovely to see you all. 
   

  At the end of the service, our fantastic PTA prepared hot drinks and mince pies. There were so many happy faces, and we all had a lovely time

  

• Father Christmas came to BWIS!

  Wed 13 Dec 2023

  After two days of performances our children had a great day having fun today making their party hats, having Christmas lunch and partying with games and dancing. We had a very special visit from fFather Christmas himself who brought a present for every child in the school.  The children were all very excited to see him- I didn’t think Year R were going to let him leave again! 
   

  Thank you to Father Christmas and our PTA for sprinkling our party day with some very good cheer. The teachers will put more pictures on tapestry of their classes too. 

  

• Heavenly Host

  Mon 11 Dec 2023

  When you come to school to watch your children’s performance this week, please come and see our beautiful angels, designed and crafted by our Year 1 children. They really are beautiful to see. Thank you, Year 1, for bringing Christmas to BWIS! 

  

• Christmas Week Events

  Mon 11 Dec 2023

  Monday 11th December

  9.30am Year 1 and 2 Performance

  1.45pm-Year R Performance

   

  Tuesday 12th December

  9.30am Year R Performance

  1.45pm Year 1 and 2 Performance

  Raffle Draw (straight after Year 1 and 2 performance)

   

  Wednesday 13th December

  Non-Uniform Party/Christmas Clothes

  Christmas Lunch Day

  Christmas Party Afternoon (with a special visitor)

   

  Thursday 14th December

  Grandparent only Church Service at St Peter's Church

  with refreshments by our PTA

   

  Friday 15th December

  Christmas Jumper/Top day (non uniform)

  Donations will be online (link to be sent out)

  We will finish the day with our special Wishing Assembly

  (These wishes for the world for 2024 will be published her on Friday)

   

  3.10pm Break up for Christmas Break

   

   

  If you haven't got a party/Christmas outfit, please do not worry-just come in non uniform. Please make sure sensible footwear is worn on these days

   

   

  We will be having a collection after each performance/church service. The money raised will go towards replenishing our Christmas items and our chosen local children's charity of Naomi House, which has supported so many children at our school.

   

   

   

• Weekly Update Friday 8th December

  Fri 08 Dec 2023

  We have had a busy week this week with all year groups practising for their performances and a dress rehearsal to an audience.  The children were very excited and cannot wait to perform to their grown ups next week.  ((Please remember that there are no babies/primary aged children in the hall and they will need to be booked into the free crèche which is run by staff).

   

  Our Christmas Shopping bazaar  was fantastic as always, with lots of lovely gifts being chosen by the children. Thank you so much to the fantastic PTA ,  all the parent helpers and staff who helped make this event such a success. 
   

  Next week we also see the return of our popular grandparents service in St Peter’s Church. It will be starting at 1.30pm on Thursday 14th December.  It is for grandparents only and there will be mince pies and tea available afterwards. 
   

  It is Christmas lunch and party day on Wednesday. Children can come to school in party clothes with sensible shoes please ( as they will still be going outside to play). 
   

  We also had 2 members from the parish council come and share some exciting news with our children this week. Mrs Labrum is so excited by it all she is writing a piece for our latest news, so watch this space. 
   

  it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Hope you all have a lovely weekend. 
   

  Best wishes

   

  Mrs Riches