1. Play is the highest form of research

2. Rowan's Adventures...

3. Hazel's Exploits...

4. Oak's Endeavours...

5. Poppy Appeal

6. Free School Meal (FSM) vouchers during Christmas holiday

7. Potential TA hours - Oak Class

8. Last call for Christmas meal opt-out

9. Nativity Performances

10. Forest School Sessions

11. OPAL

12. School Improvement Activity

12. Safeguarding

Good morning all,

Another week has whizzed by...the Christmas horizon is now firmly in the foreground. Yippee!

We have many projects gathering momentum and I look forward to communicating these over the coming weeks. Last week, we put out a plea of support for loose parts to build up our Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) provision. I have included this information again as we would be extremely grateful for any support you may be able to offer. Car, lorry, tractor tyres, good quality guttering, cardboard boxes, clothes rail, coat hangers, netting, tarpaulin, a water butt...you name it, we'll have it. Well, within reason. Please see the loose parts list detailed later in the newsletter.

We intend to launch our OPAL programme in January through a graduated approach. However, many elements have already been introduced. For example, children have been enjoying the sand pit, climbing trees and enjoying the beautiful spaces available each and every break and lunchtime. I also don't think it will take the community of Bardwell very long to fully engage with this and take on an active role as I am confident it will be clear to see, this has multiple benefits to our young individuals. Only this week, Mrs Allman commented on how wonderful it was to see the children playing actively, collaborating, problem solving and generally enjoying the great outdoors. Children are engaged, stimulated, enthused, autonomous and active - these are the underpinning elements of PLAY! One of our next steps, in January, will be to organise a parent OPAL session with the children (Covid dependent).

Here's to a frosty weekend; stay safe everyone!

Mr Francksen

Executive Headteacher

This week we have been discussing baptism in our RE lessons. The dolls in Rowan Class have all now been baptised, with some very interesting new Christian names. We discussed the symbolism of Holy water and had a very wet half hour washing away all of the things that we don't want in the world anymore. The children decided that they would like to get rid of the Covid virus, bullies, death and quorn burgers!

Hazel class has been learning about division this week in maths. We have been using cubes, dienes, pictorial representations, number lines and place value counters to help us visualise our calculations. The children have been brilliant and demonstrated resilience in our lessons. Our independent write has been completed! The stories sound superb and I am so proud of all the children for their hard work and fabulous vocabulary.

The children in Oak class have worked tremendously hard this week, with Y4 learning some clever tricks in maths to help them remember their 9 x tables and Y5&6 learning about square and cubed numbers. In English we are in the process of planning our own story based on an exciting chapter of ‘The Graveyard Book’. Linked to this, we have been thinking about this term’s theme of Courage in Collective Worship and discussing how brave and courageous, like St Thomas, the main character Bod is. I have been hugely impressed with the developing language and vocabulary of all pupils, shown by the examples below.

Describing the evil character of Abanazer

Describing the precious brooch.

Bod’s act of kindness.

Dear Bardwell School

I am writing to thank each and every one of you so much for supporting the Poppy Appeal this year.

You raised an amazing £114.47!! Well done and thank you. Your contribution will make a difference to people's lives and I hope will also help you to remember what our fellow citizens have done in the past for us.

We all know it has been a very difficult year for everyone in so many ways but you have shown that you can still carry on being a fantastic community and achieve great things despite what is going on in the world around us.

Well done everyone and see you next year!

Ruth

Poppy Appeal Local Organiser

We have received information from Suffolk County Council about how the voucher scheme for those on income-related FSM will operate this Christmas.

We have confirmed recipient details with the Council, who will now make an order with Voucher Express on our behalf. We will then distribute codes to the relevant families - this should be in the week of 11th December. Vouchers will amount to £30 per eligible child and these can be redeemed at Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.

In the Autumn Term we received a small amount of money from the government to support teaching and learning in light of the Covid pandemic and catch-up focus. Due to the obvious challenges and subsequent impact on staffing, we are anticipating that we may have some adhoc Teaching Assistant hours over the coming months. These would be for morning lessons (8.45-midday) and for up to 5 days of the week.

If you are interested in applying, please contact the school office for an application form.

If your child won’t be having the school Christmas dinner on Monday 14th December (whilst wearing their festive jumper!) you must let us know by Monday 30th November. We are catering for all pupils to have a meal on this day and will charge £2.30 to those who pay for meals.

We are so very excited that we have been able to find a way of performing a Nativity this year! The dates are now on the calendar - at 2pm on 15th, 16th and 17th December. We will need to limit the audience numbers at each performance, so will allocate each family 2 seats/spaces at a performance of our choosing. NB: if you are limited as to which day you can attend, please complete the Google Form (below). Also, please complete the sheet if you will have any issues accessing the site which is on uneven, muddy ground. Seating priority will be given to Rowan Class (YR, Y1) pupils’ families, but all Bardwell School families are very welcome to attend as the other classes will also be involved.

We will be adding new information in Section 39 of the School’s Risk Assessment relating to Assemblies and Performances, in order that we can go ahead with this year’s Nativity in a Covid-19 secure manner - do ensure you are familiar with this when we notify you of the change.

We will also send out more detailed information nearer the time - please ensure you read this if you are intending to come along.

We are delighted to be able to reinstate these sessions and have contacted families who previously expressed an interest. They will take place on Friday 4th December and Friday 8th January at 9.30am - 10.15am.

We have added the following to our Risk Assessment:

These sessions can resume after the Autumn lockdown period ends on 2nd December. Our region is in Tier 2 but, because these sessions are educational not social, the Rule of 6 does not apply. The sessions will include small family groups alongside Rowan Class pupils.

Visiting families will be given advance notice of our hygiene protocols (social distancing, hand washing, adult supervision) and their entire visit will take place outside, under the supervision of at least one member of staff. We will advise all attendees not to attend if they have any Covid-19 symptoms.

Remember playing freely, using your imagination as a child...when a chair was really a racing car or a rocket ship? A tyre was a swing, a stage or a piece of fabric was a sail to a yacht Where planks of wood were a bridge over crocodile infested waters?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you remember the joy of PLAY. When the playground was a whole world of adventure and opportunity waiting to be discovered.

Please join us as we embark on our wonderful journey in conjunction with OPAL; an innovative scheme for Outdoor Play And Learning. We are at the very start of our journey to transform your children's playtimes into these nostalgic memories that we all remember from our own childhoods. One where learning doesn't end at the classroom door!

To help us achieve this we are sharing with you our Loose Parts list (see below). Please check to see what you may be able to help with to get this project off the ground for your wonderful children here at Bardwell.

We are also seeking storage for the playground to house your wonderful contributions in, so if this is something you or someone you know may be able to support us with, do please contact us.

All contributions will be warmly received.

And well used!

Many many thanks

Mrs W xx

2a, b, e, f & g. To develop high-quality numeracy across the school - PD Day provided a great opportunity to work with Crawford's Primary School; we all took part in a session, which focused on creating a vision for maths for our schools, ensuring effective progression is in place, supporting staff with training, developing a Mastery style of teaching, ensuring a growth mindset in maths and instilling a love, interest and engagement with maths (for ALL stakeholders).

6b. To develop a stimulating outdoor and play learning (OPAL) environment - PD Day enabled staff, from both Crawford's and Bardwell, to collaborate with Neil Coleman, our Schools Play Mentor, on our vision for PLAY. It's safe to say, we're all fully committed to offering a provision that develops children's personal development via the vehicle of PLAY.