Beddington Infants’ School
Letter 9
Tuesday, 25th March ‘14
End of term Arrangements
Just a reminder that this term ends on Friday, 4th April at 1.30pm.
As next week is International Week, on Friday,4th April, children will be invited to wear
international clothes/mufti. Beddington Buddies will be holding an Easter Fun Day that day,
so children are asked to bring cakes or £1 please. Cakes can also be international —
they will be sold from the Beddington Buddies Hut from 1pm.
Nursery times (Bear Cubs session: 8.45—10.45 Lion Cubs session: 11.30—1.30).
The Summer term starts for everyone on Tuesday, 22nd April.
Bell ringing will, of course, take place as usual, from 1.30 on the last day of term.
Have a lovely holiday!
Returning to school
Beddington Buddies
Thank you again to Beddington
Buddies and all those of you who
attended the recent disco —
an amazing £800 was raised!
This dynamic and creative team
continues to organise all sorts of amazing events!
These events are great occasions for everyone to
meet as well as opportunities to raise money for
projects which we otherwise wouldn’t be able to
afford eg year groups are busily creating designs
for wooden houses to be used for role play outdoors.
Please watch out for the letters on their way from
Beddington Buddies about Mothers’ Day
(gifts on sale from the Beddington Buddies Hut at
the end of the day on Thursday 27th
and 28th Friday).
They are also going to write to
you with details of the Fun Day
on the last day of term.
Thank you!
Extreme Reading at
As the weather is so unpredictable we are
trying to be prepared for all weathers.
All children should have a named sun hat which is left
at school please. Hats can be any colour so that
children can recognise their own hats easily.
All children and staff wear sun hats in the outdoor
areas. Once the sun shines, any children without a sun
hat stay in the shade.
Children’s shoulders should be covered at all times when
at school please.
Children do not wear sunglasses.
Sun cream—all day sun cream should be applied
before school please.
Earrings: ideally children should not wear earrings to
school. If they do wear small stud earrings they will put
micropore tape over them for PE.
Children should not wear large stud or
hooped earrings to school at all. Thank you.
Please remember that all children are encouraged to
bring a box of tissues and a glue stick
to school at the beginning of term. This is
the one time they don’t need a name on
them as they are stored to be used by
the whole class over the term. Thank you!
Beddington Infants’ School
We have been amazed at the great photographs
children have brought to school to be displayed in the
reading areas in their classrooms. You have been very
creative! Don’t worry if you haven’t sent one in yet
—all classes would be happy to add more to the display!
Office Team
Welcome to Mrs Charlotte Slade, our new Office Manager, and
Miss Zoë Pullinger, our new Finance Officer. Thank you to Mrs Jackie
Dowden who joined us three years ago on a temporary basis, as a
bursar, while we worked with governors to restructure the admin
aspect of the school to ensure that it meets the current needs of the
school. Mrs Dowden has been with us much longer than any of us could
have anticipated and we will be sorry to see her go! We very much hope that she will keep
in touch. Mrs Dowden will continue to work here for a few weeks to ensure that the
transition is a smooth one.
Thank you also to Mrs Bull, Mrs Rudling, Mrs Elliott and Miss Smith who have
ensured that the office has run smoothly throughout!
Contact Details
Please let the office team know as
soon as any of your contact details change.
A note in the blue home/school book is fine.
Earth Hour is a global initiative
encouraging us all to turn off
electrical items for 1 hour this Saturday.
Greenhouse
Thank you for the great response to the request from
Mrs Lane, Mrs Wenham and Miss Potter for help creating a
greenhouse out of recycled materials! We are very
grateful for the many offers of help and bottles. Sixteen
hundred bottles is quite a target, but we love a challenge!!
The bottles can be any colour. Thank you already to
Bradley Harding in Giraffe Class, and his family, for
donating all the bamboo canes! Thank
you also to Dominic Bales in Elephant
Class, and his family, who have put us
in touch with a local company who
would like to help us in this venture.
Leaflets
We are asked to
distribute many leaflets
in the book bags but
instead, as an eco school, we display
one leaflet in the notice board at the
front of the school and keep a few in
the office. If you are interested in
any of the leaflets please ask at the
office and they will give you a copy.
After School Clubs for children
in
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2
Thank you to Miss Smith for
organising them. Letters about clubs
for the Summer term will be coming
home in the book bags
very soon.
Sports Partnership
Thank you to Sutton Grammar School for their continued support this term.
They run a very successful programme involving their students running
supervised small group, PE sessions with our children in Year 2. This is a real
bonus, not only for the extra PE tuition, but also for the fact that they are
providing such positive role models for our children.
Musicians at Beddington Infants’ School
We are delighted that so many children are playing instruments either as part of their
year group provision or in assembly.
In assembly we have enjoyed recitals by Anishka Dhankani in Panda Class on the
violin, Caitlin Elliott in Tiger Class on the guitar, Alex Leah in Zebra Class, Jennifer Lim
in Giraffe Class and Noura Haq in Kangaroo Class on the piano.
In addition, all children in all year groups have been composing and performing their own
music—and indeed many children are making their own instruments!
We’re very much looking forward to International Week,
next week, when the IROKO Theatre Company will spend Tuesday
and Wednesday with us — every child will take part in an African
drumming workshop and an African dance workshop.
Weather permitting, on Wednesday, the IROKO
team will perform from 3.10 near the bell tower
so that you can experience it too! The IROKO Theatre Company would
be thrilled if you would like to dance with them!
Thank you to Mrs Thevathas (mother of Suruthi in
Kangaroo Class) who will be leading Indian Dance
lessons in Year 1 and Mrs Ratnayake (mother of
Thakshila in Panda Class and Kalpana in Jaguar Class)
who is going to show each year group how to play some
Indian Instruments.
Charities
Thank You for your continued generosity, even in these very difficult times.
We will continue to support charities as it is a big part of the children’s learning but
please don’t feel that you have to make donations to all of them.
We recently donated £150 to St Raphael’s Hospice from the
Gift Box Fund, on your behalf.
Sport Relief
All the children were thrilled to walk the Sport Relief mile last Friday. The School
Council measured the site, created a route around the school site and led the way.
All classes enjoyed walking, jogging, hopping and singing their way around the route.
The total of £253.64 will be sent to Sport Relief
on your behalf.
Thank you again!
New build
From time to time I have mentioned our plans for an extension at the front of the school. It is now
looking like a positive outcome is approaching!
We are hopeful that when we welcome you back in September we will have a new office, reception
area and meeting room. The current office space will become a flexible learning environment—
set up as a Dance/Drama Studio, allowing us much needed flexibility across the school.
This will be a modular build so much of the work will take place off site. The timetable is being
finalised but work should be completed within 5 months. We will, of course, minimise disruption for
you and for everyone in the school during that time.
Drawings of the proposed build are available below and in the notice board at the front of the school.
Thank you to the governors who have worked very hard on this project for a number of years!
Existing structure
New structure—
converting the
existing office space
into a flexible learning
environment by
moving the offices into
the new build adding a
welcoming reception/
waiting area, a toilet
and a meeting room.