It was great to see you all at this week’s parent consultation meetings. We hope that you found the meetings useful and an important part of home and school working together to best support your children. If you were unable to attend your appointment, please ensure that you rearrange a time with your child’s class teacher next week.
The changing of reading books is a theme that often crops up during the year including during this week’s meetings. We know that you look forward to seeing the new books that your children bring home, especially when they “move up” a colour band. Please don’t be disheartened if that process takes a while as the teachers will make that decision based upon how well a pupil understands texts rather than how fluently they can read them. We are always looking to challenge and push on a child’s learning but we also like to be sure that we have the evidence to support our judgements so that we do not hinder the progress.
On Tuesday morning, the parent workshop will be led by an external visitor called Digital Jen, focusing on e-safety. The session has been designed to make parents aware of the benefits and dangers for primary age pupils (and older) who use apps, social media and mobile technology. It will include evidence and a discussion about the impact that the internet has on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of children. The session promises to be an insightful, informative “reality check” for any adults whose children use technology and mobile devices. I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
The school choir performed at the Alban Arena on Wednesday as part of the Primary Schools Music Festival. Every single one of our pupils who took part sang their hearts out and helped to make it a very special performance. It was a joy to see and the choir was fantastic! Thank you children, for doing Bowmansgreen proud.
As the weather is beginning to show signs of spring, please could you send pupils in with a water bottle, especially on the day that they have PE.
Don’t forget that the clocks spring forward this weekend!
News
Headteacher’s Message – 16.03.18
On Tuesday, Captain Emma Henderson, an Easyjet pilot, led the parent workshop and whole school assembly based around the theme of ‘inspiring girls.’ Emma is an inspirational woman in a male-dominated industry and she was full of encouragement and advice for our pupils.
Last night’s curriculum evening featured, amongst other things, collages based on work by Picasso, a ‘replica’ of the Sagrada Família, tapas, flamenco dancing and quizzes! Thank you to everyone who turned out to support this event and a special thank you to Mrs Manly for organising the evening and Mrs Pitcher for her culinary talents! We hope that you had a great time finding out what your children have been busy learning this half term.
Today we held our first Book Swap event. It was great to see so many children going home with new titles to interest and motivate them to read for pleasure. This will be a regular date for our diaries, with the next Book Swap taking place next half term.
It is always great to hear about pupils’ achievements and hard work outside of school and I am very proud to hear that some Bowmansgreen pupils have been busy helping to look after their local community. Some attended the litter pick with the scouts on Saturday and helped to collect 50 bags of rubbish from the local area. Thank you children for being so helpful and responsible.
Mrs Stanley continued the Spanish theme into breakfast club this morning, with a delicious Spanish breakfast. I thoroughly enjoyed my cheese, Spanish omelette and fresh fruit which gave me a super start to my day! If you missed out today, please come and try breakfast with us any morning from 7.30am – you won’t be disappointed!
Senior leaders and governors have recently reviewed the security of the school site and have agreed that we need to amend the times that the back gate is open to parents. A letter will follow on Monday, to further explain what measures are being taken and why.
A letter has gone home today with details of our after school clubs that will be running after Easter, including a few new ones. Please tick your preferences and return your form to school by Tuesday. You will be notified which clubs you have secured places in before the holidays.
Enjoy your weekend – hats and gloves at the ready!
Parent Workshop – Inspiring Girls
This week we welcomed Captain Emma Henderson from Easyjet to host our Tuesday assembly. Emma told us all about her journey to becoming a pilot and what a typical day in her working life looks like. Emma works with the charitable organisation Aviatrix which was created to encourage girls into male dominated careers and we hope that she encouraged all our students to reach for the skies! Thank you to those parents and grandparents who came to support your youngsters and took part in the inspiring follow up Q&A workshop.
Spanish Curriculum Evening
It was great to see so many of you showing your support at our Spanish Curriculum evening. We had dancing, art, writing, cookery, music, and much more – all influenced by the Spanish culture. One of the main stars of the show was the tasty tapas, kindly cooked for us by our own Mrs Pitcher.
We are sure you’ll all agree it was a great evening, which gave you a small taste of Spain at Bowmansgreen.
Author, Reader and Mathematician of the Week
Congratulations to:
Author of the week:
KS1 – Abigail – 1H
KS2 – Lewis – 5CW
Reader of the week:
KS1 – Indy – Rec JD
KS2 – Kaleb – 6HW
Mathematician of the week:
KS1 – Leo – 2BC
KS2 – Micah – 3D
Sports News from Mr Sanders 16.03.18
Girls A v Garden Fields
The Girls A team went out of the St Albans Cup on Friday, losing 1-0 against Garden Fields in a very tight match. The only real chance for Garden Fields during the first half was taken well by the centre forward and whenever Bowmansgreen got within range of the goal, their shots were either blocked or saved by the keeper. The second half was one way traffic as the Bowmansgreen girls pushed hard for the equaliser and created several chances which again were either blocked or saved. It was a good team performance despite the score, especially as Lily was missing due to injury, which was a huge loss for the team. It did mean that Jacey got her debut for the A team, coming in to deputise really well.
The final score was 1-0 to Garden Fields but encouraging in terms of performance for the girls who now have a chance to hopefully win the league next week when they travel to play St Peters.
Squad – Emily, Kyeesha, Lucy, Sofia, Marilena, Laila, Lacie and Jacey.
Quick Sticks Hockey scores from the Tournament today.
Bowmansgreen 1 scores from the Quick Sticks Hockey
0-0 St John Fisher
0-0 Cunningham Hill
1-3 Sauncey Wood
0-3 Wood End
1-1 St Dominic’s
2-1 Prae Wood
2-0 Crabtree
2-0 Kings
0-1 The Grove
0-2 Killigrew
Bowmansgreen 2 scores from the Quick Sticks Hockey
1-4 The Grove
6-0 Killigrew
1-1 How Wood
2-0 Markyate
0-1 Cunningham Hill
3-0 Prae Wood
2-0 Wheatfields
0-8 Crabtree
0-2 St Dominic’s
4-1 Windermere
Squads from – Taye, Adam, Dylan, Zak, Jack, Owen, Evan, Kyeesha, Anisa, Emily, Lily, Natasha & Marilena.
Breakfast Club News from Mrs Stanley – 16.03.18
Looking forward to Easter, we have started our Easter Egg competition with every child who attends Breakfast Club can enter! Our Spanish Breakfast this morning was popular with Spanish dancing afterwards. With the chicks due to hatch next week we will be very busy feeding everyone.
Remember we open at 7.30am and the last breakfast is served at 8.10am. We welcome all children. Any questions please speak to Mrs Stanley.
KS2 School Lunches
HCL are increasing the cost of a school lunch.
From 1st April a school lunch will increase to £2.45 each day.
Lambing
Lambing
On Tuesday, class 6G went on a school trip to Willows Activities Farm and learnt all about lambing! Did you know, lambs that can’t be fed by their mothers have to be bottle fed up to 7 times a day?
Parents
A female sheep is called a ewe and a male sheep is called a ram. If a lamb is a male, it will be called a ram lamb, and if it is a female lamb, then it will be called a ewe lamb. A cade is a baby lamb that is either an orphan or a triplet. If a ewe only gives birth to a single, and another gives birth to triplets, the workers will try to get the single’s mother to accept one of the triplets by rubbing it against the ewe after its birth; this way, it results in the lamb smelling like the parent (which is how they recognise their children). If a lamb tries to suck from a ewe’s udder, but the ewe is not its mother, then the lamb will start to call for its parents.
Once a lamb is born, the workers will hang it upside down, so that all the fluid inside of it will come out. It is also important that the lamb comes out head first, otherwise it might get stuck if coming out backwards and will try to catch air but will sadly suffocate. So if it does come out backwards, the workers have to pull it out as fast as possible. Once a lamb is born, the workers will put a rubber band around its tail so that it will eventually fall off. They do this because in the summer time, when they play on the grass, faeces can get on the end of their tales which could potentially attract flies and disease. So, they put rubber bands around the end of the tail , so after a few weeks, it will fall off.
Markings
When ewes are pregnant, they get different types of markings in different types of colours on their backs; depending on how many lambs they are having. An orange spot on their behind signals that they are having triplets. If the ewe is having twins, then there will be an orange spot on the shoulders. Finally, if a ewe is having one single lamb, then they will have a blue spot on their backs. They are labelled 1 to 100. Lambs are labelled the same number as their mothers.
Did you know a ewe is pregnant for five months?
The pregnancy process
During the process of the ewe’s pregnancy, it will go through some strange side-effects. One of the tell-tale signs of pregnancy is that it will start to make space in the hay with their hooves to make a nest-like space for them to quietly sit down away from all the other ewes and lambs.
We hope you have now learnt a lot about how lambs are born!
By Isabella and Megan in 6G.
Parent Workshops
This term’s parent workshops take place on the dates shown below. All parents are welcome and are encouraged to come along if you can.
Tuesday 27th March – Esafety