1. Rowan's Adventures...

2. Hazel's Exploits...

3. Oak's Endeavours...

4. BMX Enrichment session - this Thursday

5. After School Club - Tuesday change

6. Coronavirus update letter from Mr Berry

7. Active School Hero

8. Half Term Activity Camps

9. Leavers’ & Achievement Collective Worship - date change

10. Walk to School Week - 17th to 21st May

11. Y4 & Y5 pupils and their families: SET Ixworth Open Evening

12. Suffolk County Council reminder - Lateral Flow Testing for Asymptomatic Adults & Young People

13. Could you foster?

14. Communications Flow Chart

15. Safeguarding & Wellbeing

We have all been thoroughly disappointed this week by the lack of growth in our beans! We have discovered that they are incredibly fussy and don't like too much or too little water. We have planted a second crop to see if our latest predictions are correct. Our maths this week has been super tricky as we count forwards and backward to 100. As always, we have taken full advantage of our glorious daisy meadow and created some beautiful natural art with Mr. Boyd. We welcomed Frankie and Jenson to our class and are very excited to have two new friends.

We have had lots of fun this week in Oak Class! To inspire their Art the children have been looking at patterns in nature, in particular ‘infinite spiral patterns’ linked to our ‘To infinity and Beyond’ topic. To develop their understanding further, Oak class experienced some spiral Tai-Chi with Mr. Boyd, moving their bodies in spiral patterns. Oak class has also been widening their vocabulary in English through drama activities, acting out parts of the current novel being studied ‘Cosmic’. The dramatics continued with a Year 6 performance, directed by Mrs. Box and performed for the whole school. This helped us all be more aware of the school cogs and the importance of being ‘Aspirational’, ‘Reflective’ and ‘Kind’.

Mr. Hurkett has arranged for more OAA (Outdoor Adventurous Activity) for Y2 and above pupils with a BMX day next Thursday 27th May. Children can wear their usual school clothing that day, all equipment needed will be supplied by the organiser.

After half term, the Tuesday After School Club will change to Summer Sports and will include racquet sports and athletics-based activities.

Please see the link, below, for the full programme of Early Help Clubs (breakfast and after school).

If you/your child would like to cancel their Tuesday place, now that the Parkour course has ended, please let the office staff know.

As before, all the clubs on Monday through to Thursday are over-subscribed and have a waiting list, so do please let us know if you don’t need your place(s) on any day. If you would like a place on Fridays, you can book these via your Arbor account.

We are *very* excited to announce that both Mr. Hurkett and Mrs. Boyd have been nominated for the Active School Hero Awards. Thank you to those who nominated them and if you’d still like to do so, the nominations are open until 11th June. Please see the link, below.

We have agreed to circulate a flyer and review (see below) for MatchDay sports camps being held at Walsham-le-Willows Sports Club. Please note that these are organised and run by a third party and are not endorsed by the school.

Half term activities for families on income-related Free School Meals

Abbeycroft Leisure Centre have asked us to let you know that they are offering:

• Family Park Cooking Days (At least one child from each family must be aged 8 years or over). Families take home a week of food and ingredient cards.

• Adventure Day (children must be aged between 8-12 years). Children receive packed lunch and snacks.

“To be eligible families should be entitled to Free School Meals. We can also accept Young Carers, looked-after children, children in care and children at risk of exploitation.

If you have parents that would like to book, please get them to email Explore Outdoor directly and we will send them all the relevant information.

Please ask them to identify which school they have been nominated from for a Family Park Cooking Day or an Adventure Day.

exploreoutdoor@acleisure.com”

Abbeycroft Leisure have also asked us to compile a list of any children/families that may be interested in taking part in their Summer Holiday programme. They say, “We have secured DfE HAF funding and will be delivering a much larger programme of activities running in the Summer Holidays. Once we have filled our May half term dates we will be signposting families to our summer holiday programme.

During the summer we will be offering our Family Park Cooking sessions and Adventure Weeks (4 days of activity).

Please start compiling a list of all the children you would like to attend in the summer holidays.

Our offer is in addition to all other summer holiday offers. Remember we provide every family a week of food. Don’t let your vulnerable families miss this opportunity.”

If you are interested in their Summer holiday provision, please let Mrs Allman know and she will pass on your details to them.

Please note that we’ve changed the date of the Y6 Leavers’ & Whole School Achievement Collective Worship to Thursday 15th July at 2 pm in the Church.

Parents/carers/families are warmly invited to attend this annual service that celebrates pupils’ achievements and says a fond farewell to the Y6s that are moving onto the next stage of their school career. Those that attend can take their child(ren) home with them after the service, once the pupils have been dismissed by their teacher. If your child is booked into the After School Club and you cannot attend the service, please be assured that members of staff will accompany your child(ren) back to the school.

Coming up very soon is one of Bardwell’s amazing annual events - Cars on the Green. This is the first of the village’s many summer events to return and, happily, it coincides with the start of half term so let’s make it a BIG one! Vintage vehicles of all shapes and sizes will be on display, with refreshments and stalls, all taking place on the beautiful village green. Musical entertainment will be provided by The Knightingales and tractor rides around the village are available. The weather is always kind to Cars on the Green and it’s a great family day out, so why not come along to support local causes including the school’s PTA.

The PTA is also hoping to recruit some new volunteers to help sell raffle tickets; please contact Tracey, Laura, or Emma in the playground or via the school office staff if you can volunteer - even an hour of your time would help.

Please see the flyer below for details of the SET Ixworth Open Evening for Y4 and Y5 pupils and their families.

SCC has said to us, “Please continue to encourage all families to continue with regular lateral flow testing at home to help stop the spread of the virus. Testing kits are free to order and available from Order coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid lateral flow tests - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Families can also pick free testing kits up from their local pharmacies and libraries. A full list of where families can collect lateral flow kits can be found here Find where to get rapid lateral flow tests - NHS (test-and-trace.nhs.uk). Rapid lateral flow tests are for people who do not have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, if anyone is showing symptoms of COVID-19 they should obtain a PCR test.

Nexus Fostering is a well-established and highly regarded fostering agency, based in Norwich, who is urgently seeking full-time & respite foster carers throughout the area. The agency is rated Ofsted 'Outstanding' in all areas and place a high premium on the quality of support and care that they provide to every one of the foster carers and, in turn, the children and young people placed with them.

To find out more about becoming a foster carer or a respite carer in Bury St Edmunds and surrounding areas please call 0800 389 0143 or email foster@nexusfostering.co.uk.