Welcome to your newsletter for week ending February 27th

It has certainly been another inconsistent week with the weather, sunshine one minute, wind and rain the next! However, that has not stopped our children from embracing some wonderful opportunities beyond the classroom.

A group of pupils had the pleasure of visiting Bourn View Care Home, where they spent time with residents and shared their talents, bringing smiles to many faces. We are always so proud of the way our children represent our school within the community, showing kindness, confidence and respect.

A selection of our children took part in Young Voices, performing as part of the world’s largest children’s choir. Performing alongside thousands of other young people.

This month, we are absolutely delighted to be working with Sampad again, a vibrant arts organisation dedicated to bringing communities together through music, dance, theatre and visual arts inspired by South Asian culture and heritage. Sampad’s work celebrates diversity, champions creativity and creates powerful opportunities for young people to explore culture through first-hand artistic experiences.

We are incredibly proud to be welcoming their talented artists into school and know that this is going to be an inspiring and memorable month for our children.

What’s happening in school?

Dance – Year 4
Wednesdays 4th, 11th, 18th & Friday 27th March
Artist: Anushka Amliwala
Our Year 4 children will explore movement, rhythm and storytelling through dance, building confidence and creativity as they work towards a special performance.

Art – Year 5
Mondays 2nd, 9th, 16th & 23rd March
Artist: Abeda Begum
Year 5 will be developing their artistic skills, learning new techniques and drawing inspiration from cultural themes to produce their own fantastic pieces of artwork.

Theatre in Education – Year 6
Tuesday 3rd March (PM) & Thursday 5th March (AM/PM)
Artists: Janaya Alcock and Vimal Korpal
Through interactive theatre experiences, Year 6 will engage in thought-provoking performances and workshops designed to spark discussion, reflection and deeper understanding.

Drama – Year 6
Tuesdays 10th, 17th & 24th March
Building on their theatre experience, Year 6 will take part in drama workshops, developing performance skills, teamwork and expressive confidence.

And of course.. we are very much looking forward to welcoming families into school on Friday 27th March for our Celebrating Our Cultures Day, a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community and recognise the richness and diversity that makes our school so special.

As part of the celebration, we warmly invite children and families to bring along tasty food and drinks native to your country or heritage to share in our communal celebration. It promises to be a joyful, colourful and delicious day!

Lost Valuables 

The school office has quite a collection of valuable lost property. We have some purses/ bags from previous discos, prescription glasses and watches. 

If your child has misplaced such items, please come to the school office and give a description of the item you believe is lost and hopefully it can find it's way home! 

To view more dates, please visit our website calendar under the 'Families' tab or click here.

Celebrating Cultures Day 

We are looking forward to our "Celebrating Cultures Day" on Friday March 27th.

Year 4 will be performing the dance they have learnt in their SAMPAD sessions. This will commence at 2.45pm. Parents are welcome to attend.

Finally, parents are welcome to bring food to share into school at the end of the day.

SATs Mock Week: 09/03/26- 12/03/26

In March, we will familiarise the children with the layout and logistics of the actual SATS week. During this time, they will complete past papers, and teachers will use the results to identify any additional support they may require. Any questions, please contact your child's class teacher:

6M - Miss McCabe [email protected]

6S - Miss Stone [email protected]

6B - Miss Becker [email protected]

** If your child is in KS2 and has their Values assembly in the George Hall, please can families wait at the school office, NOT the playground.**

Today the following pupils received the Values Certificate for demonstrating Compassion...

Bourn View Care Home Visit

This afternoon, a group of students from Years 2-6 made the short walk down to Bourn View Care Home to visit some of the residents. They enjoyed getting to know each other, chatting and sharing stories, as well as doing some activities related to St. David's Day. Thank you to the care home staff for welcoming us, and we look forward to the return visit next Tuesday - more details will follow in next week's newsletter!

All Upcoming Reception Activities

This half term our topic is Our Family, Our Heritage. We will also be learning about Easter, and we have lots of exciting activities planned for the children and we would like your support and involvement.

Please see the important dates below:

Thank you for your constant support.

Reception Team 

Information for Families – Coombs Catering Partnership

As the school’s catering provider, Coombs Catering are proud to serve your children a healthy, nutritious lunch each day, with a choice of options designed to suit a wide range of tastes.

We also cater carefully for all dietary requirements and operate a robust allergy management process to ensure every child is served safely and in line with their needs. 

There is currently no pre-order system in place at BVP, which means we can’t always guarantee that every dish will be available to every child. Our experienced kitchen team carefully plan and prepare based on popularity and always provide daily alternatives such as wraps and jacket potatoes to ensure there is plenty of choice. 

In KS2, children are served on a daily rotating basis to ensure fairness across year groups. Very occasionally, a popular option may run out (our kitchen team work very hard to pre-empt this happening) - if this does happen, we actively encourage children to speak to a member of the team.

If there is something else we can offer or prepare, we absolutely will. The last thing we want is for any child to leave the dining hall hungry or unhappy.

We really value feedback from both pupils and parents, as this helps us continue to improve our offer. If you have any comments or suggestions about school lunches, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Attendance Armadillos 

This week, the attendance armadillos were handed to... 

Attendance and Absence Policy

We would like to draw your attention to some key updates to our Attendance and Absence Policy, particularly around how absences are reported and how we respond to attendance concerns. We will be taking a more proactive approach when patterns of absence begin to emerge. This will include initiating supportive attendance meetings with families, in line with the policy. These meetings are intended to be collaborative and solution-focused, ensuring we work together to remove any barriers to regular attendance and provide the right support where needed. Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership in prioritising strong attendance for all children. The Attendance and Absence Policy can be found here.

World Book Day- 05/03/26

We are starting to think ahead to World Book Day, which we will celebrate on Thursday March 5th this year.

This year the theme will be Go All In to support the National Year of Reading Campaign to get more people reading from pre-schoolers to our grandparents! The National Year of Reading theme, Go All In, is all about diving deeper into the things you already love through reading. Whether you’re passionate about football, animals, space, fashion, gaming, history, music or making people laugh, books can bring your interests to life in exciting new ways.

It would not be World Book Day without our children (and staff!) dressing up! We hope that this will help our pupils recommend books to each other and express their own reading identity. This year we have

several options:

• a favourite book character
• an outfit reflecting a non-fiction (fact) book about an activity/topic they are interested in e.g. pirates, a cookbook, sports
• wear or carry a clue to a particular book or genre they enjoy e.g. a wand and wizard hat for Harry Potter, a golden ticket for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a red and black stripy top for The Beano, a light sabre for Star Wars….

We will be encouraging children to share their reading choices with their class on the day, so please can they also have a copy of the book with them (from home or school).

Wherever possible, please use what you already have at home rather than buying new costumes. With a little imagination, you and your child can have great fun sharing ideas and putting together their outfit or creating their object as a clue.

National Book Token Competition

To celebrate World Book Day and the UK’s National Year of Reading 2026, the sponsors National Book Tokens are inviting children of all ages to DESIGN A NATIONAL BOOK TOKEN for their annual competition.

Children are challenged to create a bold, eye-catching gift card design that celebrates their interests and shows how books help them explore ideas, spark imagination and go further through reading, and they could win prizes galore.

Six winning entrants will win book tokens for their school and themselves. Plus, one overall winner will see their design turned into a real National Book Token for every child in their class.

So get the pencils, pens and paints ready… and let’s GO ALL IN this World Book Day.

The closing date for entries is Friday 27th March 2026. Winners will be announced in May 2026.

To find out how to submit your child’s entry (either by post or online), more details on how to enter and the terms and conditions, please use the link below:

https://www.worldbookday.com/competitions/design-a-national-book-token-competition-2026/

Cancelling for Summer Term

If you want to CANCEL your child's music lesson - you must notify us before Tuesday 17th March. Failure to do this will mean your child will continue lessons after Easter in the Summer Term and you will be charged up until the Summer Holidays.

Upcoming Concerts...

Next week we will be on WEEK 2 of the menu.

You can pre-book meals in advance on Arbor till the end of the academic year (Arbor>> Meals>> Meal Choices Available>> Select Meal Choice)

Reminder: Even if your child is a packed Lunch, parents will need to book that lunch option on Arbor! 

BVP Discos

We have lots of lovely events happening this term. It is especially exciting for the Reception children as this includes their first disco!

For those with children planning to attend, we thought it might be useful to explain how the discos usually work...

Reception/ Year 1:

- The Reception/Year1 children who have purchased a ticket will be taken to the Elizabeth hall straight after school.
- Bags and coats will be stored and a snack and drink provided.
- The dancing begins!
- After about 20 minutes we try a couple of party games.
- There is now an area by the flower tables that allows a slightly quieter environment with colouring. A limited number of ear defenders are available at all of the discos should the children need them.
- At 4.30pm, the door by the ramp will be opened for you to come into the hall for collection following the one way system.

Years 2-6:

When the children are in years 2-6 they will go into George hall for their discos. They then have a pay-for tuck shop and a proper DJ with lights (at Christmas there is even a bit of fake snow!). Free water and biscuits are available for the children, along with a chill-out room off the hall. The discos in the George hall will last 1 and a half hours to enable to the children to enjoy the disco and spend time in the tuck shop.

Parent volunteers

In order for the discos to run as planned, it’s essential we have volunteers come forward. We already have established teams that you can join and it's a great way to meet like minded volunteers that enjoy making fun things happen around school. Any families keen to get involved in any of the discos please send me a message on 07964166963 and I can add you to the Whatsapp group/s.

Tickets are available on Arbor now.

Holi celebrations

Before the discos, we have the Holi celebration next Friday(6th) in the TOP playground after school. Samosas will be available at £1.20 each, cash or card payment taken. We have some wonderful Alumni who are organising the music and plenty of colours for the children (and adults) to play with. The colours are all natural ingredients and completely washable. We look forward to seeing you then!

And finally...

As we head into the weekend, we hope you are all able to enjoy some rest, whatever the weather decides to do! We are very much looking forward to our exciting Sampad activities beginning next week and cannot wait to see the creativity and energy they will bring to our school. Please also keep an eye out in next week’s newsletter for a special update on how our Young Voices experience went, we are looking forward to sharing it with you. Have a wonderful weekend!

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 are 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.