Hello families! We've had a great day in school today with our first Wellbeing Day which has been a super end to our Children's Mental Health Week. Through assemblies and classroom activities all year groups have focused on the the Place2Be theme of 'My Voice Matters' and on the Five Ways to Wellbeing (see if your child can name all 5!), then today we have been 'off timetable' and concentrated entirely on activities that support wellbeing. The day ended with two super assemblies where each year group showcased one of their activities from the day, so hopefully our children left school feeling relaxed, uplifted and full of ideas that will help them maintain really positive mental health.

There is lots of info below and I know some parents are asking us to cut down on the 'wordiness' of our newsletters, so I'll stop here and let you read on- we've also tweaked the order of articles again, so it's easier to spot and read the really key information quickly (let us know what you think!).

The winners are:

* ASHA (Reception) - RGR 

* AXEL(KS1) - 2TJ

* ATTIE(KS2) - 6GW

Year 3 started our wellbeing day with some yoga (being active) before we connected with the whole year group in the playground.

We are aware that, recently, many of you have had issues receiving emails from the school. In most cases these messages have appeared in "junk" folders. For this reason we ae urging parents to check their junk mailboxes regularly to avoid missing important messages from school.

Our IT team are looking into this issue and will hopefully find a solution to the problem as soon as possible. We will keep you updated on this but, for the meantime, keep checking those pesky junk folders. 

Interview conducted by LR, FD and JF in 6M

Interviewing SB 6M

Interviewers: When did you sign to Wolves Academy? 

SB: When I was 7, nearly 8

Interviewers: Who did you play for before that?

SB: Aston Villa

Interviewers: Have you played for any local teams?

SB: I used to play for Cadburys 

Interviewers: What position do you play? 

SB: Left wing

Interviewers: How often do you play/train?

SB: 4-5 times per week, I play tennis on the days I'm not playing or training

Interviewers: Have you met any footballers? 

SB: Carl Ikeme 

Interviewers: Have you won any trophies?

SB: lots (hahaha!)

Interviewers: Who is you favourite famous footballer? 

SB: Kylian Mbappé

S's school liaison officer from Wolves Academy said 'The boys were at Wolves last week and as well as training, the U11’s took part in the Corey Price Cup which they went on to win at the weekend, playing against teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa. They also played in a tournament in London which whey won playing against 10 other teams.' 

This week's fabulous work was made by one of our amazing anti-bullying ambassadors. They have created a feelings wheel to help others navigate their emotions. The BVP family think this is a great piece of work which can help others navigate how they may be feeling. 

This week saw the last of our CBSO ‘Escape Room’ workshops delivered to Year 6. The children absolutely loved it and were totally engaged by this trip into classical music. 

Thank you to the whole CBSO team who have delivered a range of amazing workshops to Reception, Years 1, 2, 5 and 6. We are so fortunate to have such a strong partnership with this world class orchestra.

School Orchestra - concerts galore!

The orchestra are sounding fantastic and are practising really hard for their concert at the Birmingham Conservatoire on Thursday 21st March.

The orchestra have also been invited to take part in the Youth Prom 8th - 11th July. As yet we don't know the exact date, but I’m hopeful that this will be on the same night as the choir. As such, if your child isn't in choir, they are more than welcome to join us on the coach but parents will also be able to take and collect them from the Symphony Hall themselves. Once we know the date and timings, I will email all details. Of course if your orchestra would like to join the choir for this project, they are more than welcome. I believe we are singing a Queen Medley this year!

Guitar and Ukulele Concert - Friday March 8th

Parents and carers of children in Years 3-6 who have been learning the  guitar and ukulele for more than a term with Mr Reed are invited to our annual concert in George Hall on Friday March 8th. Doors will open at 2pm for a 2.15pm start. Letters were emailed out today.

Stopping Music Lessons

A gentle reminder that if your child wishes to stop having music lessons, this must be put in writing to Mrs Vaughan by March 15th at the very latest.

Message from King Edwards High School

Kind Edwards High School are offering 6 complimentary tickets to our year 4, 5 and 6 children for the King Edward VI High School for Girls and King Edward’s School biennial concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Monday 18th March from 7 - 9:15pm.

The concert provides a wonderful showcase of KEHS/KES joint musical endeavours and is a highlight of the schools’ calendars. It’s a varied and exciting concert, given by the bands and orchestra of both schools. There’s a massed choir, big bands, wind bands, 394 performers in total!
Joining the students on stage will be James Mayhew, who will paint a live illustration of the work’s story, projected onto the big screen, as they play it. 

For parents/guardians to reserve tickets for the concert, please email [email protected] by Friday 8th March, stating the school your child attends, and how many tickets you would require.

Seats at the concert are limited, so we would encourage you to book in good time!

This year, we will be celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 7th March and we are inviting children to come to school dressed as their favourite book character or their favourite author. Please do not feel that you should go out and buy a costume - the idea is for children to think about costumes they could create using their imagination and items they already have at home. They could even come to school wearing their comfiest reading clothes or pyjamas. Dressing up is not compulsory, and children are still welcome to come to school in their uniform as normal.

You can visit the World Book Day Site for inspiration and ideas on costumes which are imaginative, simple, and manageable to create: https://www.worldbookday.com/resource/dressing-up-ideas-for-parents/

Throughout the day, children will be taking part in some activities to celebrate all things books and reading. If you would like to share them, we would love to see pictures of the all the wonderful places your children like to read, and the books they are currently enjoying at home. Pictures can be sent to school via our twitter account using the hashtag #WorldBookDay2024.

Some parents have asked for our maths calculation policy so they can see the methods we are teaching for particular operations in each year group. The current one is on the website here. We need to update it slightly but it is essentially what we follow at the moment. we will let you know when it is updated. 

Follow these instructions make a liquid thermometer to track how temperatures vary with location, indoors and outdoors. What will turn out to be the hottest spot in your home? What about the coolest? Your very own homemade thermometer will be able to tell you!

Materials

• Clear plastic drinking straw. (Use a permanent marker to mark the straw from the bottom up, at half centimetre intervals)
• Clean narrow-necked, small bottle with lid.
• Rubbing alcohol
• A few drops or red, blue, or green food colouring.
• Paper or cloth towels
• Modeling clay.
• Medicine dropper or syringe
• Water
• Small bowl

Instructions.

1. Add rubbing alcohol to the bottle, filling it about a third to halfway up. (Reseal the bottle of rubbing alcohol immediately)
2. Add a couple of drops of food colouring to the alcohol, close the bottle, and shake it so the liquids mix well.
3. Open the bottle and fill a medicine dropper or syringe with the colored rubbing alcohol. Carefully set the medicine dropper or syringe aside, preferably on a paper towel or cloth in case any liquid leaks out. If the level of liquid in your bottle dropped below one quarter of the way up, add a little more rubbing alcohol to the bottle so the level is between one quarter and halfway up the bottle.
4. Poke the straw through the hole in your modeling clay and place the clay on the bottle's neck so the straw hangs into the bottle. Adjust the straw so the end is immersed in the liquid, but does not touch the bottom of the bottle. The majority of the straw will be sticking out from the bottle.
5. Use the clay to seal the bottle opening and hold the straw in place. Important: Make sure the clay forms an airtight seal around the straw and over the mouth of the bottle, but do not close off the straw's opening.
6. Drip the content of your medicine dropper or syringe—drop by drop—into the straw. The fluid level in the column should reach about midway up the visible part of the straw. If needed, use the dropper or syringe to add more alcohol (uncoloured is fine this time) to the straw.
7. Take your thermometer on a tour of your home. Remember to give it time to respond to each new environment then observe the fluid level in the straw. This level indicates room temperature.

Here are great examples of conversations you can have with your child about how to be safe online.  Taken from https://www.internetmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Internet-Matters-Age-Guide-6-10s-Jan23.pdf

Next week we will be on Week 1. 

Fresh seasonal salad bar and fresh bread available daily, as well as a daily selection of fresh fruit and fruit yoghurts.

Hope everyone had a good half term break.

A few updates on planned activities ...

The Easter Cake Raffle is confirmed. Here is the cake from last year and the Master Baker is currently concocting a chocolatey creation for this year! Entry will be the normal £1 per entry.

School Disco 

The disco dates are locked in for all Year Groups for the rest of the year. If you are able to volunteer for the discos in April please do text 07974331102 and we will get you involved in the Disco Teams.

Quiz Night

If you need plenty of warning to slot the Quiz Night in your family calendars, and secure appropriate childcare, then take this as the "19 week advance notice"! Its on 5^th July. Teams of max 10 with only 120 tickets available. We usually sell out so get your teams sorted.

Here are all the current planned dates for the rest of the Spring and Summer Terms, and we will pop in some School Shop flash sales as well, so look out for messages from School.

As soon as the School launch with the new payment functionality on the Arbor App the various tickets will be made available for purchase.

On Monday 26th February 2024 Bournville Village Trust will be removing a diseased tree on
Sycamore Road near the junction of Linden Road. The works are scheduled to
take two days.

Due to the location of the tree, a partial road closure is required and will be
subject to a one-way system between Linden Road and Sycamore Road on
26th February.

BVT apologise for any disruption that this work may cause you.

The felling of trees is always a last resort for BVT, and they will only remove trees that
are considered a risk to health and safety. Later this year, they will be replanting
another healthy tree in the area.

If you have any questions or concerns about this work, please contact BVT by
calling 0300 333 6540 or email [email protected]

As it is Children's Mental Health Week here at BVP, we thought the above quote from Roald Dahl encompassed this perfectly. 

It's been a busy first week back but certainly one that has ended on a high. We hope you all have a peaceful weekend- take care and stay safe and we look forward to seeing you all back again on Monday!

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is the responsibility of everyone in our school and at all times we consider what is in our children’s best interests. We work to ensure our children our safe and cared for and by doing this we are protecting their health and development and preventing them from harm. If we are worried, we will raise concerns, share information, and take prompt action with the aim of ensuring families receive the right help at the right time.