Headteacher’s Blog

This week, we welcomed two new members of the school community to Bowmansgreen. Cotton and Socks (our two newly adopted rabbits) have settled into their new home. Pupils have shown them lots of love and attention and have been helping them to get used to their new surroundings.
Please be reminded that our next parent workshop takes place on Tuesday morning at 9am with the focus on Relationships and Sex Education. Please see the section about Parent Workshops on the next page.
Forest School at Bowmansgreen has proved to be a very popular and much enjoyed part of our curriculum. Pupils who have taken part so far have had fun learning and working together around the school site and Mrs Stanley has been really impressed with the positive attitudes, resilience and great team-work that pupils have shown. Next term, Mrs Stanley will be leading a parent workshop focused on Forest School so that parents can find out more about this part of our curriculum. When your child takes part in Forest School, please ensure that they wear warm layers, hardwearing clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty and sturdy outdoor shoes or boots. They will get messy!
On Monday, pupils will be taking part in The View from Space to Earth event – a duathlon run by the Triathlon trust. For more information about what your children will be involved in, please follow the link below. www.triathlontrust.org/news/theview-from-space-to-earth_158
I have been really inspired by two of our KS2 pupils this week. Thomas (4C) will be taking part in Macmillan’s ‘Brave the Shave’ and Eva (4C) is currently in the process of swimming the length of the English Channel (not in one go!) to raise money for Wateraid. In Monday’s assembly, they were able to explain to the whole school what their sponsored challenges will involve and their reasons for supporting their chosen charities.
Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome back!
Your children have returned to school after the Christmas break with positive, enthusiastic attitudes and have settled down to some great learning this week.
Our school value for this half-term is Friendship. We will be talking to pupils about the qualities and characteristics that make a good friend as well as discussing the importance of friends in our lives. Friendship will be the theme of assemblies and circle time activities and staff will be on the look-out for pupils seen demonstrating this value.
Our programme of parent workshops continues on January 23rd with a focus on PSHE and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We would encourage parents to attend this session to find out what RSE your child is taught at different stages of their school career and what policy changes are coming into effect during the next year.
Our full programme of after school clubs starts next week. We would welcome any feedback on the new booking system so that we can further improve this process for next term.
On Tuesday January 30th we will be visited by a Team GB athlete who will be leading an inspirational assembly as well as pupil workshops. To support Team GB as well as raise money for school PE equipment, later this month, we will be running a sponsored challenge for all pupils to take part in. More information will follow next week.
Enjoy a lovely weekend.

Today, we have had an exclusive! This morning, Year 3 and Year 4 performed Bowmansgreen’s first ever carol concert in Spanish…… and it was amazing! Parents were thoroughly entertained by fantastic singing, acting and Spanish and it was a pleasure to watch. We hope that family members enjoyed the concert and I am sure they will join me in saying thank you to all of the staff involved in making it such a wonderful concert.
On Wednesday, staff and pupils enjoyed Christmas lunch together. Traditional Christmas food was served by some of our Year 6 pupils, including our always-reliable house captains. Crackers and Christmas songs helped to make it a very special lunchtime. As always, pupils were very well-mannered and behaved and from the feedback, empty plates and smiles, they all enjoyed themselves.
It was lovely to see pupils in their Christmas jumpers today, helping to raise funds for Save the Children as well as ensuring that they looked very festive for their class Christmas parties. Thank you to all parents who sent in food – do not be surprised if your child does not eat as much dinner as usual tonight!
On Monday, we will be holding our first Bowmansgreen ‘house’ event of the year. All pupils will be working, as part of their house team, on a piece of Christmas craftwork. The finished articles will be displayed and judged and a winning house will be announced. We hope this will be the first of many fun house activities which pupils will take part in throughout the year.
With a day and a half left of the term, this will be the final newsletter of 2017. Please remember that school closes at 1.30pm on Tuesday (Golden Opportunities is open until 4.30pm).
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy holiday and we look forward to seeing you in 2018.

Key Stage One has been extremely busy this week! Especially for Father Christmas, the Jolly Postman and Mr Rushforth! Your children have sung, entertained and really shone during their Christmas performances and judging by their huge grins, they have thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Thank you for supporting your children with costumes and learning their lines. They looked and sounded great!
We are really sorry that we had to change the seating expectations for the KS1 performances at such late notice. The fire safety regulations that we were recently reminded of relate to the amount of chairs we can have in the school hall if there are people also sitting on the floor. With the safety of your children our priority, we know the decision to limit seats was unhelpfully late and unpopular but we hope you understand that it was necessary. We are already thinking about how to prevent this from being an issue next year.
Thank you to the parents who attended this week’s parent workshop. Pastor Adrian Woods provided information about how to access free, independent legal advice as well as the support available to local residents from the Churches Together foodbank. If you have any time or donations to give to the foodbank, Adrian would love to hear from you via email: londoncolneybc@gmail.com. Debbie Stewart shared some tips and suggestions about looking after our own well-being, especially during this busy festive period. Please see Debbie’s top tips for managing stress over Christmas, attached to this newsletter.
These workshops have become a really worthwhile and well-supported part of our work with parents. Please look out for the timetable of spring workshops from Mrs Manly and Mrs Stanley. Next week is the final parent workshop of 2017. Please come and join us for a cup of tea, a mince pie and share your thoughts and suggestions about future workshops.
Today was the final celebration assembly of 2017 and as always it was a pleasure to celebrate the successes and achievements of our fantastic pupils. Today that included congratulating super swimmers Leila, Jack and Lola who all took part in a local championship last weekend. Well done!

What a spotacular Friday today has been!
It was great to see so many pupils (and staff!) in their spotty non-school uniform and Pudsey ears today, in support of Children in Need. A special thank you to Samuel and his dad who organised a stall of Pudsey merchandise which has helped the school to raise over £300 for this charity.
It is hard to believe that there are just over four weeks left until the Christmas holidays. As always, this half term will be incredibly busy at school and there will be lots of events and opportunities for the school community to come together. We appreciate that it is also a very busy time for families outside of school and that it can be particularly stressful not to mention expensive. The Baptist church in Kings Road offers support to members of the local community, via the foodbank and additional seasonal donations at Christmas. If Christmas is a particularly challenging time of year for you, and you are in need of additional support, please contact the school office, Miss Golding or Mrs Connell, in complete confidence, who will endeavour to access some advice, support and where possible, extra seasonal items.
I would like to draw your attention to an area within the Hertfordshire Directory website called the Families First portal. This site includes resources and information to support Hertfordshire families and can be accessed via the link below.
https://directory.hertfordshire.gov.uk/kb5/hertford shire/directory/familiesfirst.page?familiesfirstchann el=0
Bowmansgreen uses the free School Gateway app as a means of communicating quickly and easily with parents via emails and texts and is also our preferred payment method. Please can I encourage all parents to download this app so that you do not miss out on important notifications. Please contact the office if you need help with this app.
Y5 Home Learning this half term has been amazing! Miss Golding and I have been so pleased by the creativity, thought and quality and particularly impressed by the Viking ships. Keep up the great work Year 5! Enjoy a lovely weekend.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Thank you to those of you who turned out for our parent workshop on Tuesday. Miss Golding and Miss Chilton led a session focused on supporting pupils in Early Years and KS1 with their learning in maths. For those of you with children in Key Stage Two, the maths workshop on December 5th will be specifically tailored to the KS2 curriculum, expectations and strategies. I would urge you to come if you can make it, as it promises to be really informative and will give you an insight into the curriculum that your children are currently working through.
The morning bell rings at 8.45am to signify the shutting of classroom doors with only five minutes remaining until the registers close. Pupils who arrive at the classroom door at this time will be allowed in until the register is closed. After the register has closed, pupils will be asked to go round to the school office and they will be marked in the register as late. Unfortunately, this late mark in the register is also recorded as an unauthorised absence, even if it is a matter of 5 minutes late so please ensure that your children make good use of our ‘soft start’ to the school day where they can go into their classrooms between 8.35 – 8.45am. We will now also ring a bell in the reception playground so that everyone is able to hear the signal.
Mrs Minaoui is on duty by the door to the KS2 playground every morning to see pupils into school and take any messages from parents that need to be passed on to staff. For safeguarding reasons and because of how busy the corridors and classrooms are at this time, parents are not able to enter the school building through this door unaccompanied and must therefore go round to the school office.
Next week is national Anti-Bullying Week, with this year’s theme being: All Different, All Equal. Throughout the week, there are activities and opportunities to empower our pupils to take individual and collective action to prevent bullying. On Tuesday, pupils will see a theatre performance about issues relating to cyberbullying which will reinforce key messages.
And finally, some exciting news to share! I am very happy to inform you that Miss Cutmore has given birth to a healthy baby girl. They are both doing well and we hope to see Miss Cutmore and baby Charlotte very soon.
Have a lovely weekend.

Welcome back!
This half-term promises to be very busy with planning already under way for our Nativity and Christmas performances, our carol concert and Christingle service. Please check the ‘dates for your diary’ for events relating to your child.
Pupils have returned after the break with a very positive attitude to their learning and they are producing some exceptional work. I have been so impressed with the quality of poetry that I have read across the school this week. Bowmansgreen clearly has some very talented poets!
Forest School has arrived at Bowmansgreen! This week, pupils in 3S were the first to experience this new part of our curriculum. They spent the day learning and working together outside and had a fantastic day. I am very excited about this aspect of our school curriculum which will make the most of our wonderful school grounds and help to build pupils’ resilience, collaboration skills and self-esteem through hands-on outdoor learning experiences. Mrs Stanley will contact parents when it is the turn of your child and their wellies!
Today, pupils in Y1-Y6 were able to take part in the Big First Aid Lesson which was live-streamed to their classrooms. This interactive lesson, organised by St John’s Ambulance, was based on the theme of bonfire night and included safety tips and first-aid information associated with firework-related injuries as well as more general life-saving skills.
On Thursday, we were treated to a workshop led by students from the Purcell School for young musicians. Pupils were able to see and hear a selection of orchestral instruments being played, including a harp – which was very exciting! It was great to be able to welcome back the very talented musicians from Purcell and they certainly entertained and inspired your children.
Please be reminded that next Tuesday we are holding another parent workshop, this time with the theme of maths in the Early Years and Key Stage One. Parents who attend are asked to make their way straight to the mobile classrooms after the drop-off, where tea and coffee is available, rather than wait in the school lobby. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible.
Enjoy the fireworks and stay safe this weekend.

Well-being week has been a huge success and pupils have really engaged in the activities and opportunities to help them better look after themselves and each other’s emotional and mental wellbeing. Thank you to all parents who came to our first curriculum evening of the year where some of the resources and work that your children have used and produced this half-term were on display. Thank you to Mr Bailes for coordinating this event.
This week our wonderful house captains launched Bowmansgreen’s new house system. Soon, we will begin planning our first ‘house’ event so look out for details after half-term.
With half-term about to begin, many of your children will be looking forward to exercising their freedom and independence, spending some of their time together or with older children at the local parks. Please be aware that evidence and equipment relating to drug use has been found in a local park by some of our pupils. We will continue to advise and provide age-appropriate information to pupils about the dangers of drug use and how to take responsibility and keep safe in uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situations and we would encourage you to reinforce your expectations of your children if they are likely to be out on their own during this next week.
I am pleased to announce that Mrs Karen Penn has been elected as our new chair of Governors after Ms Louise Calder stepped down last term. On behalf of the school community, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Louise for all of her hard work and commitment to Bowmansgreen over the last few years.
I hope that many of you have had the chance to see our amazing new ‘welcome’ to the school that proudly sits at the front of the main entrance. The mosaic was based on the fantastic designs of three of our very talented pupils and funded by FOBS. It really is a stunning piece of artwork and I hope you will agree, provides a fitting welcome that reflects our wonderful school community.
Thank you to everyone who donated items for the Harvest Festival. The Kings Road Baptist Church were very pleased with the donations.
I wish you a calm, happy and safe half term.