Congratulations to Mr Broadwell and Mr Major, our newly elected parent governors. I look forward to welcoming and working with them, as part of the school’s governing body.

We hope that you have found this week’s Meet the Teacher appointment a helpful opportunity to discuss your child’s return to school and the impact of the partial school closure upon their learning and progress. A summary of the meeting discussion will be sent home for you to refer to and discuss with your child. If your child has a pupil passport, this will also be sent home for you to sign and return to school.

‘Catch-up’ opportunities and interventions have already begun across the school and will continue for the foreseeable future, as part of our provision until there is no longer the need. Additional small group and individual teaching interventions and after school booster sessions are two of the ways in which pupils will be supported to close the gaps in their learning, that have formed as a result of the absence or lack of teaching at school.

Different children will be targeted for different interventions, some of which, pupils themselves will not be aware of because they will be incorporated into their weekly class timetable. Their teachers are the experts in knowing what your child needs, and how best they should be supported, to help them to make up for the lost learning time. Please do not panic if your child is not targeted for a particular intervention – trust their teachers to know what is best for each pupil. Please also remember that this will be a long lasting programme of support and will involve a range of activities, approaches and opportunities.

We will be able to offer some additional teaching sessions to some pupils, during the first week of the Easter holiday. If this intervention is aimed at your child, they will bring a letter home with them, next week. Again, please do not worry if your child is not selected for this intervention – there will be plenty more opportunities to help your child catch-up, throughout next term.

We have an inclusive, whole school model and approach to teaching, promoting and managing behaviour and conduct that are based on shared expectations and common values which
reflect and best support our diverse school community. At Bowmansgreen, we strive to create a culture of certainty and consistency, where all pupils feel secure, safe and confident of the rules, values, boundaries and expectations. Staff use scripts to help achieve consistency in their language and approach and to support them to know what to say in the heat of the moment or when faced with a challenging situation. Scripts help staff to remain calm, in control and avoid conflict. Families might also find these scripts useful, to help resolve disagreements and to manage challenging behaviours at home. We are currently focusing on using the following scripts, which can be adapted to suit a range of situations:

Proximal praise (and positive reinforcement)

• Look at (name) sitting sensibly
• (Names) are showing us how to line up
• (Name) thank you for listening
• (Name) thank you, you are sitting quietly – you may go

Give limited choices

• (Name) you can choose, work sensibly now or at playtime
• (Name) sit quietly or go to time out
• (Name) choose this seat or this seat/ this sticker or this sticker
• (Name) you choose: work with the group or by yourself
• (Name) either work at this table or that one
• (Name) choose a partner or I will choose for you
• (Name) you choose: put the toy in your pocket or in your tray

Acknowledge feelings

• (Name) I can see you are cross
• (Name) I think you look a bit worried
• (Name) I know you are having fun with your friends but …
• (Name) I can see you are finding this difficult
• (Name) it looks like you are bored/tired/cross/fed up with this but …

Assemblies this week have focused on our half-termly school values of courage and determination. See if your child can tell you which group of incredible people we share these school values with. Staff have spotted lots of pupils demonstrating these values, this week in their learning and play, as role models for their House and wider school peers. Well done, everyone!

Congratulations to 1OW and 3G as the classes with the best attendance at school this week, in each key stage. Attendance since fully re-opening, is currently at 96%. Keep up the fantastic effort to be at school, every day!

There is lots to look forward to next week at Bowmansgreen, including another crazy hair day….

Enjoy your weekend!

It has been really lovely seeing all pupils back together at school, this week. It has clearly been a bit of a shock to the system for some – back to early mornings and a full-school timetable. I have no doubt that some children will have slept very well last night!

We know that many parents are worried about the impact of the partial school closures on their child, particularly regarding their progress and attainment. Lots of parents have asked if their child is now ‘behind’ where they should be. The loss of daily, class teaching at school has had an impact on all pupils and for most, the sad and frustrating reality is that it has interrupted the progress that they had been making. It is a consequence that we have been expecting and are prepared for but there are no quick fixes or magic wands to make it disappear. Teachers have already begun assessing the impact of lost teaching time and school hours on your child and planning opportunities and interventions to identify and address gaps. We hope that next week’s Meet the Teacher appointments are a timely opportunity for you to discuss your child’s return to school, including a focus on their learning and what home and school can do together, to support your child to have a successful rest of the school year.

Remote learning continues to be published on our school website for families who have to self-isolate or shield. This content has moved to a new dedicated Remote Learning page and will continue to be updated weekly.

There have been a few arguments, frustrations and tears in school this week, that have stemmed from pupils falling out whilst playing on-line games with each other. It often takes lots of adult intervention and time to resolve such conflicts and upset, often involving a number of pupils. Please continue to talk to your child about what on-line games or conversations they are engaging in so that you are aware and can help them resolve any issues they might be experiencing. At a time when we are trying to maximise the teaching and learning time for pupils, now that they are all back in the classroom, I am sure you will agree that we do not want to compromise this valuable time, dealing with issues involving fallouts between pupils that have occurred online and outside of school.  Please also check that the online content, including language, that your children are exposed to and engage in, is age-appropriate and what you expect. It is all of our responsibilities to ensure that your children are safe online.
PEGI games ratings – Parent Zone
Online safety – NSPCC.
Online safety – Thinkuknow

Please read this letter from Jim McManus, Director of Public Health

If you are concerned about your child’s emotional health and well-being, we encourage you to talk to us as there are lots of ways that we can help. Parents and carers can also contact the school nursing team via https://www.hct.nhs.uk/our-services/school-nursing/ or the duty School Nurse line on 03001237572 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm). Families can also access up to date information on www.healthforkids.co.uk.

Please could I remind parents and carers not to park in front of the school gates, including for the breakfast club drop-off. With all families having now returned to school, traffic and parking pressures on local roads have also returned, causing renewed frustration for our neighbours and increased risks and danger for pedestrians. Cars should not be pulling up in front of the school gates, blocking cars or pedestrians entering or leaving the school site.

The closing date for voting in the parent governor ballot is Monday 15^th March 2021 at 9am. Read the supporting statements from each candidate  and vote via the link sent to you by email, last week. Please let us know if you did not receive an email and we will send out a voting link, by text or email. Alternatively, if you wish to vote by paper, please collect a form from the office or click here to download.

Bowmansgreen celebrated World Book Day in style this year, with pupils and staff dressing up as book characters or in their pyjamas, to mark this annual event in the school calendar. Masked readers tried to hide their true identities from pupils, as they talked about and read from some of their favourite books. Thank you to Miss Ottley for organising this event and to parents and carers for helping your children to look fantastic!

All pupils are currently studying a whole school unit of English based on the book ‘Tuesday’ by David Weisner. Throughout the unit, each year group will have completed one or more writing tasks. Families who have been learning remotely, please could the pieces of writing be emailed to your child’s class email address or brought into school on Monday so that they can be used to help plan your child’s next steps in writing, which will be shared at the Meet the Teacher meetings.

March 8th is International Women’s Day.  Despite all pupils returning to school on the same day, we did not want to miss out on celebrating this important date. All pupils will hear stories and learn about some amazing girls and women and hopefully be inspired by their adventures and achievements.

Please be reminded to book your appointment for Meet the Teacher, on Tuesday 16^th or Thursday 18^th March, 2021.

Breakfast club provision – information and update for March 8th

Three more sleeps until all pupils return to school – exciting!

Enjoy your weekend.

We are looking forward to welcoming all pupils back to school, next week.

Details about our plans to re-open school on Monday, can be read here.

Our next Meet the Teacher evenings will take place on March 16th and March 18th. Appointments will again take place via video call and the booking system is now open. Some of the January meetings were affected by a power outage suffered by the the company hosting the calls – we do not anticipate the same issues re-occurring. With all pupils returning to school from March 8th, we feel that it is important to meet with all of our families quickly, to focus on how best to support your child after such a lengthy, unsettled period.

We expect and will be prepared for many pupils to find the transition back to school quite a challenge – whether they have been learning remotely since the beginning of January or they have been in school throughout, as part of a very small class. It will be a different experience for each child, affecting them in different ways. If September is anything to go by, our pupils will amaze us with how positively they will manage and embrace this transition. We will not, however, underestimate the impact that this second Lockdown and another partial school closure will have had upon our pupils and we will work hard to identify and meet their needs, acknowledging that this next period of recovery will be long lasting.

Next week, we will provide details about our recovery curriculum and how we plan to support pupils holistically, as they all return to school, addressing their social, emotional and learning needs as a result of this pandemic.

Next Thursday, March 4th, is World Book Day. Miss Ottley has been busy organising some exciting activities to support this event, detailed in her letter, sent out earlier this week.  We look forward to celebrating this day with you, in your pyjamas or fancy dress!

Enjoy Mr Bronstein’s music assembly with a focus and activities for World Book Day.

There have been three applications for our two parent governor vacancies. We are currently setting up an online voting system for the election, which will take place next week.

This half-term’s home learning grids are now available.

British Science Week starts next week (March 5th – 14th) with the theme of ‘Innovating for the future.’  Pupils learning at school and remotely can get involved in some exciting and inspiring activities and experiments.

Enjoy your weekend.