Friday 19th October 2018

GOLD! The school are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the Artsmark Gold Award. We cannot be said to be a school that chases awards and accolades for their own sake, but we are really proud to have achieved this award as it

reflects the commitment and passion that the staff and pupils have for the Arts. Our recent STEAM projects have been hugely exciting and enjoyable all round and remain highlights for us all, but we are also pleased as this award recognises that the Arts and STEAM are firmly embedded in our everyday curriculum. As a school we get great results year on year in English and maths, but, as indicated by the receipt of this award, this is not to the detriment of other subjects. The pupils at Buryfields receive a really rich, wide-ranging and exciting curriculum and experiences. All of our staff work amazingly hard to ensure this, but an awful lot of time was spent on completing the application to the Arts Council by Mrs Fawcett who leads STEAM, and by Mrs Jennings, so a particularly huge thanks must go to them! For more information about Artsmark please click on the logo.

Deputy Headteacher Recruitment Earlier this month the governors and I interviewed four candidates for the position of Deputy Headteacher. It was a good field but we made a unanimous decision not to appoint as we all felt that we had not found the right person to be our deputy head. The school is in a strong positon in terms of our outcomes, quality of teaching and learning and in our leadership - at all levels – and securing the absolute best person to join our team is crucial. We will advertise and recruit later in the year. We hope that you all have a much-needed and hugely-deserved half term break. Our Reception children feel like they have been here forever and we are constantly impressed by how well they have settled in to life at Buryfields. We are very much looking forward to welcoming our Early Years pupils and parents to our Friday Celebration Assemblies. Our Year 1 and 2 pupils have also made great progress this half term – both year groups taking on their new responsibilities such as lunchtime helpers and Playground Squad with typical Buryfields aplomb!

BURYFIELDS NEWS DIARY DATES

OCTOBER

22nd – 26th HALF TERM

29th INSET DAY

NOVEMBER

1st PTA Meeting

5th/6th Parents consultations

7th Parent consultations YR only

8th Service Parents coffee

afternoon

16th Children in Need

16th PTA Quiz night

24th Odiham Extravaganza

28th Flu immunisations

30th PTA Non uniform day, bring

a bottle

DECEMBER

7th PTA Extravaganza

11th 9.15am Year R performance

11th 1.30pm Oak and Hazel

performance

12th 9.15am Horse Chestnut,

Lime and Beech performance

12th 2.00pm Year R performance

13th 9.15am Oak and Hazel

performance

13th 1.30pm Horse Chestnut,

Lime and Beech

21st TERM ENDS at 1.10pm

INSET DAYS 2018-2019:

29.10.18, 15.02.19, 22.07.19,

23.07.19

LUNCH MENU

To see the new lunch menu

please click here.

SCHOOL POLICIES

To view our school policies

please click here.

TERM AND HOLIDAY DATES

To view dates for 2018-19

please click here.

Buryfields’ Superheroes The children have thoroughly enjoyed this half term’s topic of ‘Superheroes’ – and the staff have enjoyed teaching it! It was great to see so many parents in school yesterday and we were thoroughly impressed with your crafting creativity!

Bug busting A gentle encouragement to all to regularly check hair as some children are repeatedly getting headlice. Whilst we encourage making new friends…we’d rather they only have 2 legs! Please use half term to check your children’s hair and send these unwelcome visitors away!

Alms House Visit Year 2 made their first visit to the residents of the Alms Houses who were delighted to spend half an hour sharing books with our fabulous pupils. Mrs Flynn organises a visit at least every half term to read, play board games or games on the iPads with the residents. It is such a lovely thing for the children to do and both adults and children enjoy our strong relationship.

Remembrance During the week of 5th -9th November we will be learning about Remembrance. As this is a particularly special year, we will be focussing on the centenary of the end of World War I. We have many things planned for the week but would be very grateful if there are any World War I family stories or memorabilia that the children could share with their class friends and that we could display in our classrooms. If so please send them in on 5th November. We realise that the artefacts will be very special and are very happy to receive photographs or photocopies. Alternatively, please ensure that they are clearly named. Mrs Flynn

Harvest Festival As always, our harvest celebrations were an utterly joyous occasion and the children performed beautifully. Thank you for all your generous donations, which were sorted and distributed by groups of Year 2 pupils, organised and assisted by Mrs Williams and Mrs Flynn. The children had a lovely time meeting the residents of the Alms Houses.

Parent Consultations Thank you to all who have returned your parents evening slips; if you haven’t as yet, please do as soon as possible to secure your preferred timeslot.

Children in Need This year Children in Need is on Friday 16th November. The newly elected School Council are currently in discussion about how we are going to support this worthwhile cause and we will update you very shortly!

Christmas Performance Dates The dates for our Christmas performances have been set. Please see our diary dates on the front of this newsletter. We will issue invitations and tickets nearer the time.

Volunteers We always welcome parent helpers into the classroom – either on a regular or ad hoc basis – to read with the children, practise spellings or work with a group in class across the curriculum. If you have a particular talent, such as for art, craft or sewing, we would appreciate any time you might have to give, but general support is also incredibly valued. All volunteers must of course be DBS checked – which is now a really quick and easy process and completely free. All you need is to collect some forms from our lovely office staff who will be happy to talk to you about what you need to do.

Flu Vaccination After half term, flu leaflets and consent forms will be coming home in book bags regarding the flu vaccine for the children. It is available for all children in Year R, 1 and 2. The date for the flu vaccination is Wednesday 28th November.

Class Web Pages Each class has their own page on the school website which has photos and updates of what the children have been doing. These can be found under the ‘Buryfields Classes’ tab on the home page.

iPads Last year the school very gratefully received money from the parish council and the PTA for iPads. The tablets have been such a helpful addition to the teaching and learning in the school and have been usefully employed in absolutely every single curriculum area. From exploring the local area in geography, taking photos of different materials and shapes around the school in science and maths, to being able to film each other in PE and see instantly what they need to improve, the iPads have had a great impact. The children have also enjoyed playing maths games and we have seen some great acceleration in learning key number facts such as doubles and halves and times tables. We are hugely appreciative of being able to use this technology in school and would like to say a rather enormous thank you, to the parish council of course, but also to all the parents who support our amazingly hardworking PTA, enabling them to raise much needed funds that benefit the learning of our little people so much. THANK YOU!

French Club Stars of the Week

16.10.18 Grace Wilson, Mimi Langdon

PTA News A gentle reminder that our next PTA meeting will be the first Thursday after half term (1st November) at 7.45pm in the nook at the Bel and Dragon, everyone welcome – and don’t forget they kindly offer us a 10% discount during our meetings! If you aren’t able to make the meeting, or if you have any ideas for the PTA, please email ptaburyfields@hotmail.com

We had some fantastic dancing at the years 1&2 disco last night! Thank you to all that helped make it run smoothly.

Our first cake sale of the school year is tonight and is being hosted by Year 2. Don’t forget to bring some pennies to support them and buy a cake or two!

Buryfields Whole School Self-Portrait Tea Towels All the children have been busy drawing their portraits for the annual Christmas tea-towel. Every child’s portrait will be included plus teachers as well! The tea towels are only £4 each and make a really lovely keepsake, Christmas present or….quite simply, a tea-towel!! Order forms will come out in book bags in due course. Happy Bags Collection Our next Happy Bags collection is 13th December – why not use Half Term to clear out the cupboards and start collating any unwanted clothes etc.

Fliers for our Quiz night came out recently in book bags. The quiz is being held this year on Friday 16th November in the main hall at Buryfields, 1930-2230. Tickets are only £10 per person that includes a ploughman’s supper. Why not get a table of 8 together and form a team, or, if you just fancy coming along – fill out a form and we’ll sign you up to a team – everyone’s

welcome – not just Buryfields parents and friends! BYO drinks and glasses. There will be a pudding auction as well as other prizes up for grabs. Odiham Extravaganza This year Buryfields and Mayhill will be sharing a stall at the Odiham Extravaganza on Saturday 24th November. If you feel you can spare half an hour to help on the stall, please let your class rep know ASAP or contact ptaburyfields@hotmail.com. All help is greatly appreciated and the stall helps raise funds for our lovely school.

Class Reps 2018-2019 Maple Susan Zafaree, Dolly Riddoch Apple Hannah Neophytou, Fiona Buckland Horse Chestnut Clare Partridge (Yr R), Nicky Pietersen, Adele Gilmore (Yr1) Oak Layne Hale (Yr1) , Carly Seymour (Yr2) Beech Becky Daly, Becky Crichton Lime Leanne Newman, Becca Heap Hazel Sally Donovan, Jenny Kellie We still need one more class rep for Oak class to work alongside Layne; if you are interested, please us via ptaburyfields@hotmail.com