Good afternoon everyone,

It's another bumper edition for the Bardwell Massive!

We've got news of our recent Bardwell Vs Crawford's football match, up and coming school events, including next year's Year Reception Taster Sessions (please spread the word), next term's FREE wrap around care offer, a festive PTA event, parent surveys (please do give your feedback as it helps us grow stronger as a school and community) and a variety of extra curricular opportunities during half term.

I cannot believe this is the final week of term 1, however, I am extremely excited to build upon such a wonderful first term back, come November.

For now, stay well, and wish me and Mrs. Mansfield all the luck (I think we're going to need it) as we embark on our PGL trip adventure with Oak Class... not to mention the very high climbing walls, zip lines, rifle shooting, orienteering, fencing, and campfire antics.

Mr. Francksen

Our warmest wishes go to Mrs. Pratt, who has now had an operation on her broken radius; she is recovering well but may not be fit for a return to work just yet. She has visited us twice now and, hopefully, the next time she visits, we'll all be able to write on her cast (when it is less tender).

In her absence, Mrs. Webber has been working with the class and this has enabled the same routines, learning journey, and support. We will keep you informed, however, if Mrs. Pratt is going to be off for a longer period we will be looking to add to the team with a supply member of staff.

We wish you a speedy recovery, Mrs. Pratt, and miss you!

Please join in with the PTA's Halloween Trail during Half Term, this event was very popular last year.

You can buy a map before the end of term, from the office, or from Laura or Emma in the playground, or via the PTA Facebook Group. If you are able to help out with organising, please let Laura or Emma know.

We are inviting families with 3 and 4-year-olds that are due to start school in September 2022 to join us for Taster Sessions. These will run from 9.30-10.30 on the following dates:

Thursday 4th November - indoors

Tuesday 9th November - outdoors

Thursday 18th November - indoors

Tuesday 23rd November - outdoors

Please contact the school office if you would like to attend or book online.

We would also appreciate you letting others know about these sessions, via email or your social networks. Please download a pdf (for emailing) or an image file (for social media) and share away! If you have a child in a local nursery and can put up a poster there, please speak to Mrs Allman who will provide a hard copy

Please log in to Arbor and check that all of your and your child's details are up-to-date. Ensure any change in address, new phone numbers, etc. are noted and let us know if there has been any change in circumstances, also check that your doctor's surgery is listed. You should be able to make most changes yourself, via the app or the website, but do get in touch with the office staff if you need to.

Also, please ensure that we have an email address for both parents/carers where applicable, as this will ensure that information is sent to everyone that needs it.

Thank you,

Mrs Allman

Scarlett and Isla's mum, Hannah, has very kindly organised a raffle to raise funds for the PTA. You can win one of her amazing Bakerlicious Boutique cakes. Please see her Facebook page for details of how to enter or speak to Tracey or Laura in the playground.

Good luck everyone - and a very big thank you to Hannah!

Next half term After School Clubs will run as follows:

Mondays - Table Tennis with Mr Hurkett

Tuesdays - Dodgeball with Mr Hurkett

Wednesdays - Archery (40mins), Football/Tag Rugby (1hr) - Gipping Valley & Thurston School Sports Partnership

Thursdays - Racquet Sports - GVTSSP

Fridays - Multisports - GVTSSP

These need to be booked in advance, via Arbor, and will be available to book from 10am on Saturday 23rd October. Note that there will be no After School provision on Friday 17th December.

Despite the prevalence of COVID cases in the area, we are pleased to see that our whole school average attendance is at 96% so far this term. As a school, we aim to meet or exceed the national average for primary schools, and we hope that all parents and carers will work with us to ensure their children attend school when possible. As our Attendance Policy states, "Central to raising standards and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential is an assumption so widely understood, it is insufficiently stated - pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education."

Therefore, when a pupil's attendance drops below 95%, we may be in touch to see if your family requires any support from us or the County Council's Education Welfare Officer.

Well done to everyone that had their nasal flu immunisation recently. The nursing team praised all the children for how calm they were and also said a big thank you to our staff team for looking after them so well - they said it was a very friendly school with a lovely atmosphere!

Anyone that didn't receive an immunisation on the day, but who had consented, will have received a follow-up letter giving details of what to do next.

Dear parents/carers, staff, governors and members of the community,

Whilst the past 18 months have been a difficult and turbulent time for us all, I also feel it is certainly worth celebrating and acknowledging the response of our school to the pandemic - a real example of Christian vision in action.

Therefore, it would be great to receive feedback on the questions, below, in order to continue to support our pupils and community.

Many thanks.

This October Half Term Explore Outdoor is continuing to offer FREE sessions across Suffolk to support families entitled to free school meals or in financial hardship.

We have both our Family Park Cooking days and free Adventure Days programmes running throughout the holidays in the Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.

Free sessions are for any children as listed below:

• Eligible for free school meals
• Young Carers
• Children in Care
• Fostered Children
• Any children deemed vulnerable or at risk
• Children who have experience bereavement
• Children entitled to Pupil Premium
• Children of families in financial hardship

(Please notify us if a child doesn’t appear on the Free School Meals database)

Family Park Cooking Days (At least one child from each family must be aged 8 years or over).
A full day out for the family in a local green space or country park

• Active family day out (Pumpkin carving, fire lighting, archery and more)
• Outdoor cooking master class
• A week of food and recipe cards to take home

Adventure Week (children must be aged between 8-12 years)

A fun day out for adventurous kids

• 6 hours of outdoor activity
• Lunch and snacks included
• Lots of active and exciting activities

HOW TO BOOK:

Please share the attached posters with your families and encourage them to book into the programme.

To book parents must email exploreoutdoor@acleisure.com with the name of their school and the sessions they want to book.

We will then send out an email containing all of the booking information, locations, timings and kit list.

Places are limited and filled on a first come first served basis.

Parents of YR and Y1 pupils - we have submitted a photograph to the East Anglian Daily Times for their 'First Class' supplement which is published on Tuesday 19th October.

Your child may be eligible for free school meals throughout primary school. This could save you approximately £437 per year.

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To check or apply online, visit: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/apply-for-free-school-meals/

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Check if you're eligible

Your child will get free school meals if you receive any of the following:

• Income Support

• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

• Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

• Child Tax Credit but no element of Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenues & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190

• If you are supported under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

• Working Tax Credit during the four-week period immediately after your employment finishes or after you start to work fewer hours per week

• Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400 (£616.67 per month), as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods).
  

To check if your child is eligible, apply online for an immediate response or call 01473 260989.

We encourage you to apply, because the school receives additional funding (Pupil Premium) for all children on income-related Free School Meals.

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We are delighted that some parents at the school have been able to re-start the village Toddler Group which happens on Wednesdays from 2pm until just before the end of school. If you have a pre-school-age child, please come along for a chat and playtime. The group works co-operatively so please lend a hand if you can.

You will need to sign in at the reception desk for fire evacuation purposes, but there is no need to book.

If you know of other parents/carers in the area who may be interested, do spread the word!

The government provides dedicated funding to schools to help improve the provision of PE and sport. The money has been provided by the Departments of Health, Education and Culture, Media and Sport. This year we will be receiving £16000 in funding (plus £10 per pupil). To help us achieve our aims, and determine how we spend future funding, we would very much appreciate feedback from parents. This is an opportunity for you to comment on the current PE provision at our school. This applies to both PE that is taught in the school day, after-school sport provision and competitive fixtures or events against other schools. We would welcome positive feedback as well as areas for further development.

The Gipping Valley School Sports Partnership will be running their half-term holiday clubs as follows. Booking is essential, please see the flyer:

Mon 25 Oct: AM Ipswich Town Football/PM Ipswich Town Football OR Parkour

Tue 26 Oct: AM Parkour/PM - Capoeira OR Multisports

Wed 27 Oct: AM- Skate/PM- Bikes

Thurs 28 Oct -AM Dance/PM- Gym

Fri 29 Oct- Am Nerf + Laser Tag/PM Nerf + Laser Tag

AGES: 5 – 12 Venue: Beyton, Thurston Sixth (IP30 9AQ)

Kinetic Kids Holiday Clubs are back this October Half-Term! We have a range of exciting activities in store. Our clubs are for children from 5-14 years old, and will be running on Monday 25th & Tuesday 26th October in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.

Please find attached a flyer for upcoming children’s tennis camps to be held at Walsham Sports Club during October half term holidays. If possible please can you share this information with parents of the children attending your school, contact details for the tennis coach is included on the flyer if parents have any queries.

Thanking you on behalf of Walsham sports club in anticipation of you support for this community event.

Jan Murton, Walsham Sports Club.

We’d really appreciate parents and carers taking a few moments to add a favourable Google review for our school, to help raise our profile in the community. To do this, please search for Bardwell Primary School within Google Maps then select ‘Write a review’.

If you have any queries that would prevent you from posting a 5-star review, please raise these with the School first, via your child’s class teacher or the office staff

Please use the links below to learn more about important topics including online/social media, safeguarding and wellbeing resources, updates.

The children's mental health charity, Place2Be, has launched a new website aimed at helping parents with typical situations they can find themselves in with their children.

The advice can be found on over forty topics including:

• Understanding sibling rivalry
• My child is lying, what does it mean, what should I do?
• My child has trouble going to sleep
• My child says ‘I hate you!’
• Cultural identity: who am I?

The Parenting Smart website can be found here: