Bournville Village Primary School -

Weekly Newsletter September 8th

Hello families and welcome to the first newsletter of the school year.

It has been a wonderful first week and the weather has certainly helped us to continue feeling summery! We have been really proud to welcome our newest members of the BVP family; our new Reception classes have been visiting in small groups and today stayed for lunch for the first time!

Thank you for ensuring your children have arrived at school promptly and looking super smart. The introduction of ties for our Year 6 children is one of a few changes you may spot in and around school. (Apologies that we still have scaffolding round the Bell Tower- I'm afraid this work was out of our control!)

Hopefully you've also noticed that the format of this newsletter has changed too. It is now coming to you directly from our website (which has had a bit of an overhaul too!) From this newsletter you can go to the top of the page and navigate around the whole website. Please bear in mind that we are currently updating lots of pages, and it isn't looking quite as good as it should for your first viewing, however, we wanted to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Following lots of parental requests, we have planned key events for the whole year. These can now be found using the calendar page under the Parents tab- we will be busy adding to these over the weekend so you can make arrangements to attend, as early as possible.

As mentioned in the last newsletter last term, we have a series of parent/ carer workshops beginning next week with Year 6's on Monday. This is an open invitation and attendance is not at all compulsory. It is just a chance for me to talk about changes in school and also have a tour around the buildings. It isn't a 'meet' the teacher event, but we can certainly endeavour to answer any questions. You don't need to book, just turn up at 6pm on Monday via the front entrance on Woodbrook Road. We'd love to see you there. For information about the other year group meetings, please see the calendar.

Don't forget we're open tomorrow as part of Bournville Village Heritage Day

Weekly School Dinner Menus

Just a quick note about our school meals...ALL meals offered can be produced as 'Gluten Free'. You don't need to give us any other information when booking meals if you want the gluten free version, because we know if your child has any allergies.

What's Coming Up...

Monday 11th	Year 6 Parent/ Carer Open Evening - 6pm
Tuesday 12th	Year 5 Parent / Carer Open Evening - 6pm
Sunday 14th	PTA Picnic and Duck Race- see below for more details

Getting Back In The Groove

We’ve made a fantastic start to music at BVPS with an inspirational visit on Thursday by 5 members of the SFE Brass department, lead by our very own brass teacher Mr Saph Ali. Children in Years 3 and 4 listened to a trumpet, 2 French Horns, a euphonium and a tuba playing among other pieces, ‘The Final Countdown’. They then took part in class workshops, where every child was given a pBuzz to play. Think of a cross between a Vuvuzela and a trombone! The children played brilliantly, and we are hoping that some of the children will now be inspired to play a brass instrument. Do look out for an email with details of how to sign up in the next few weeks.

Here’s our very own Mr Ali in action.

Music Lessons

Instrumental music lessons will start from next Monday 11^th September except for clarinet and flute, which will start on the 18^th. Please note oboe lessons are now on a Tuesday.

If your child has a guitar lesson, please do ask them to check with their teachers which day it is, as it might have changed from last year. Music timetables are displayed by the Year 3 door and all class teachers have a copy.

If your child is continuing lessons, please could you ensure that their instrument is labelled (we have plenty in school if needed) with their name and class.

Musical Instrument Timetable

Monday	Flute	Mrs Taylor
Monday	Clarinet	Mrs Taylor
Monday	Bassoon	Mr Brookes
Tuesday	Oboe	Mrs Morson
Tuesday	Keyboard	Mr Joshi
Wednesday	Violin and Viola	Ms Scott
Wednesday	Brass	Mr Ali
Thursday	Guitar	Mr Reed
Friday	Guitar and Ukulele	Mr Reed
Friday	Percussion (inc. Drums)	Ms Reid

School Choir

Thank you to those children in Years 4,5 and 6 who have signed up for choir. Rehearsals will start on Monday 11^th September with Mrs Vaughan and Miss Barber.

An important date for your diary is 10^th December when the choir and Year 6 handbell group will be performing in the Town Hall as guests of Midland Hospitals Choir! More details will follow shortly.

If you have any queries about music in school or would like to know of any music opportunities within our community, please don’t hesitate to email Mrs Vaughan [email protected].

As you know we have been working hard to secure quality before and after school provision for our children. Many clubs are fully booked, but some of our providers have availability in Dance and Gym Years 1 to 6, Lingotots KS1, Drama KS2.

Please look out for the emails or contact Mr Evans for more information.

More information on after school sports clubs will follow soon.

SeeSaw

Following the huge response to our Parent Survey last term about homework, we are in the process of changing the way we set work and what we expect. We know some children are wanting to continue to share work/ news from home via the Seesaw App- we are just waiting for this to be updated with new classes etc and then it will be back up and running.

Keep your eyes peeled for more information about homework!

Reception's Picnic In The Park

A reminder that we will be holding 'Picnic in the Park' for all Reception pupils on Sunday 17th September from 11am in Bournville Park.

The duck race will be starting at 14:00. You can book in via ParentPay as of next week, or simply turn up on the day.

Don't forget your picnic blanket!

We are excited to let you know that on Friday 29th September we are holding a Macmillan Coffee Afternoon (after school!). More details to come next week but just to give you the heads up, we will be looking for creative bakers to offer up some donations!