Welcome back, to the final half-term of the school year.

Pupils looked fantastic yesterday – thank you for ensuring that we had a school filled with red, white, blue (and royalty), in celebration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee year. Throughout the week, pupils learnt about the monarchy, aspects of British history, custom and tradition, to help them understand the significance of the jubilee and the celebrations they have witnessed during the last few weeks. Your child has received a book about Queen Elizabeth, as a commemorative souvenir of the platinum jubilee.

Reminder – our additional bank holiday is Friday June 24th. There is also an INSET day on Monday 27th June.

As well as being the Queen’s jubilee year, 2022 is also the year of Bowmansgreen’s 70th birthday! On Friday 8th July, we will be holding our own birthday tea party – more details to follow.

Please be reminded that the start of the school day has now reverted to its ‘pre-lockdown’ time of 8.45am. Pupils who do not attend breakfast club can be dropped off from 8.35am onto the Key Stage 1 playground. If your child arrives to school after 8.45am, they must enter via the school office and will be registered as late. Lateness to school is logged as absence on your child’s attendance certificate and, if persistent, may lead to a referral to the Attendance Improvement Officer. Pupils arriving late miss out on valuable learning as well as the opportunity to experience a calm, settled, social transition with their peers. Arriving late to school is usually an anxious, unsettling experience for children and one which can deeply affect pupils if it is a regular routine.

Thank you for all of your efforts to make packed lunches at Bowmansgreen a healthy option. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the lunchtime staff to choose a single, daily winner as there are now lots to choose from! It is great to see so many more pupils eating a range of healthy foods in their packed lunches and to hear them discussing and comparing their healthy choices with their friends and staff.

After receiving their peer mediator training, our Year 5 friendship coaches are now ready, willing and able to support pupils across the school, with disputes and disagreements, help resolve issues and repair friendships. Thank you and congratulations to the following Year 5 pupils who successfully completed the training, and are giving up some of their time each week, to support their peers:

Celebration assembly this week was extra special as we were joined by the families of pupils who were being celebrated, for the first time in nearly two years. Pupils were surprised and excited to see their family members in attendance and it was lovely to share the experience with them. For now, we will continue to limit attendance at celebration assembly, to invited adults only and review the situation, next term.

Breakfast club – price change from Monday 20th June. We will be introducing a £1 charge for attendance at breakfast club for pupils whose places were previously free of charge. All other charges remain the same. Please read for more information and details.

Anthony Glenn also returned to Bowmansgreen yesterday, to perform a Shaking up Shakespeare performance of Macbeth. It was a wonderful hour of entertainment and enthusiastic participation which pupils loved and will surely remember for years to come. There was also lots and lots of laughter – just what we all needed!

Support for Parents/Carers of children with Eating Disordered Behaviour or Poor Body Image
Hertfordshire has commissioned a new 4 week programme called First Step ED skills. It offers free online workshops for Hertfordshire parents, carers & older siblings, who are supporting a young person with their body image, disordered eating and/or eating disorders. Find out more.

Due to a few recent incidents where children have walked or run into the roads around school, we will be having discussions with all pupils about their road safety knowledge and awareness of potential risks and hazards. Please follow-up and reiterate key messages with your child.
Teaching road safety to children (capt.org.uk)    Skills for Carers – First Steps ED    Education resources – THINK!

Next week, it is our annual Bowmansgreen Reading Festival, with lots of activities planned to encourage, promote and excite pupils about reading for pleasure. Lots to look forward to!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Year 1 stepped back in time yesterday, to experience a Victorian school, during their trip to the British Schools Museum. Pupils had great fun learning about Victorian school life and were able to explore and compare toys and objects from the past and present. Pupils were very excited to be travelling off-site, on a coach and have already been asking when their next trip will be taking place!

Our regular Bowmansgreen Book Swap took place this week, with pupils choosing new titles to enjoy during half-term. Our next Book Swap event takes place during our Reading Festival, June 13th – 17th. Book donations are always very welcome – thank you for the steady supply!

Hertfordshire’s Family Centre Service brings together a range of activities, services and resources to support children and their families. Find out what your local Family Centre Service has to offer.

We have two blue badge parking spaces within our staff car park, available for staff and visitors. With an increasing number of families holding blue badges, we will no longer be able to guarantee parking within the carpark. If both spaces are full, we will be unable to let blue badge holders into the carpark until a space is available.

Step2Skills is offering two courses, to help parents and carers of Year 5 and Year 6 pupils, understand the transition to secondary school level maths and English.
Getting Ready for maths at secondary school – a five week, online, live-streamed course, starting on Tuesday 7th June – 10am to 12pm.
Getting Ready for English at secondary school – a five week, online, live-streamed course starting on Tuesday 7th June – 1pm to 3pm.
Both courses will cover the various topics within the curriculum and the strategies and methods used to teach your child. As a Hertfordshire resident, you can access this course for £15 and places can be booked on the Step2Skills website.

2022 is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year. Many celebrations are taking place over the special bank holiday weekend, from June 2nd to 5th. Bowmansgreen will be marking this occasion with a jubilee tea party for pupils, on Friday 10th June. Pupils can wear red, white or blue or dress up as a Queen or King, to join in the celebrations.
Reminder: our additional bank holiday is Friday June 24th, 2022.

On Thursday, I was lucky enough to join Ms Franks and a group of KS2 pupils for a ‘Go Wild’ adventure in Hudnall Park. Set in the park’s beautiful grounds, pupils had a fantastic outdoor learning experience and great fun climbing, swinging and building in the woods before enjoying s’mores around their campfire. A wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

Enjoy your half-term.

Bowmansgreen is taking part in the ‘Life Skills for Resilience’ project, led by Flip Theatre. This project is a four-week programme of drama workshops, focusing on building confidence and self-esteem. The sessions include drama, opinion polls, role plays, chants, discussion and meditation to encourage pupils to speak out about issues that are affecting them and to provide practical tools to support mental health, that they can use in their everyday lives. Pupils in Y1, Y3, Y4 and Y5 have really enjoyed taking part in their first two workshops which focused on the 5 Ways of Wellbeing (Connect, Get Active, Learn a New Skill, Be in the Moment and Give to Others). Sessions 3 and 4, after half-term.

Sports day – families are welcome!
11th July at 9.15am – KS2 sports day 
12th July at 9.15am – KS1 sports day 
12th July at 2pm – EYFS sports day

Regrettably, we will no longer be able to fully subsidise places at Breakfast Club for pupils whose families qualify for pupil premium. Increased day-to-day running costs over time as well as the recent steep rises in energy costs, mean that we cannot afford to provide these places for free. From Monday June 20th, we will be introducing a £1 charge for attendance at breakfast club for pupils whose places were previously free of charge. All other charges remain the same. Families will receive further communication explaining this change, in more detail.

We have been given a generous number of free child tickets to the Hertfordshire County Show, taking place this weekend, May 28th and 29th. One free family ticket is also available. Please contact the school office if you would like a ticket or further information. Child tickets (children must be accompanied by an adult) – first come, first served. Names will go into a hat on Friday, for the family ticket.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to enjoy Excel Performing Art’s Excelebration show, at the Sandpit theatre. It was a pleasure to be part of the audience, to see so many fantastic performers dancing, singing and acting their hearts out, on stage. Well done, Sam and Stephen – it was fantastic! It was lovely to see so many Bowmansgreen pupils up on that stage, including some of our newest families and many ex-pupils, now at secondary school. What a talented bunch you are! Congratulations everyone – you should all be very proud of yourselves.

Primary school statutory assessments are back this year, after a two year interruption due to Lockdown. KS1 SATs take place throughout the month of May and KS2 SATs tests took place this week. Our fantastic Year 6 pupils should be very proud of the way in which they approached their preparation and tests – they all worked incredibly hard and demonstrated the resilience and determination to do well. Staff could not be more impressed or proud of pupils’ attitudes and efforts. Well done, Year 6!

Last week, the school council launched a new competition to encourage and promote healthy eating at Bowmansgreen. ‘Who is eating a healthy packed lunch?’ involves one pupil per day being recognised for their healthy packed lunch, by the dining hall staff.  The five winning pupils are celebrated and receive a certificate during Friday’s assembly. Take a look at the competition launch video, below.

Sustainable St Albans – Annual Sustainability Festival 15-31st May 2022: This year’s hybrid festival, of online and in-person events, features an exciting range of over 100 different activities, to encourage everyone to think about sustainable living and connecting with nature. Many events are free. The festival will launch with a sustainability market in Harpenden this Sunday 15th May. Visit www.sustfest.org to see all the events and activities across the district.

Mr Sanders has been very impressed with the Bowmansgreen sports teams who have recently taken part in a range of fixtures and events. A special mention goes to the Y4 speed stacking teams who ‘cleaned up’ at a recent tournament, taking the top two spots. Amazing!
1st place team: Henry P, Hadley, Rhys, Arthur, Ellie, Millie, Zoha, Mia
2nd place team – Frank, Xavier, Mason, Henry W, Poppy, Arsel, Cassi, Libby.

Enjoy your weekend.