Bell Lane Primary School’s Newsletter Issue: 03 Date: 18/12/2015

Welcome to the Christmas newsletter. Welcome to the Christmas newsletter.

WWW.BELLLANEPRIMARYSCHOOL.CO.UK

NativityNativity PlayPlay

We have all enjoyed a productive term this autumn and I would like to thank all our children for your incredible hard work and smiling faces! Thank you to Year One and Year Two for your beautiful Nativity story telling – and for inviting all your parents to sing along with you! We look forward to Nursery and Reception parents joining your children for their Carol Concert. The classrooms have turned into creative hubs at the end of term with everyone developing their skills working on designs in readiness for the Christmas Fair. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Have a lovely holiday and we wish everyone a peaceful New Year!

Year 1 and 2 put together a very successful nativity play this year! All classes worked incredibly hard to memorise many songs and Year 2 memorised lines for the play. We all wanted to thank the parents for coming to watch the play! It was great to see your support and the teachers would like to thank all the children for their hard work!

The names of Santa’s eight reindeers are: Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donder and Blitzen.

Christmas FairChristmas Fair Congratulations to all our children who used their Design and Technology skills to produce goods for the Christmas

Fair! The classes will count the money taken for their sales, deduct the cost of the raw materials and work out their

profit. Thank you to all families who generously bought the items made by Bell Lane School children. Happy

Christmas!

First day back at school after the Winter holidays is Tuesday 5th January

Mathletics Awards

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In the News

Reception Parent Reading WorkshopReception Parent Reading Workshop Thank you to all the Reception parents who have been attending our Reading workshops. The workshops have given the parents an opportunity to watch their child learn about the early stages of reading, engage in activities and gain ideas of how to support their child’s learning at home. We will begin mathematical workshops in the Spring Term.

Tell Us What You Think About ChildcareTell Us What You Think About Childcare As part of a borough-wide review Barnet Council is seeking the views of parents, parents-to-be and carers about their childcare needs. Under the Childcare Act 2006, all local authorities have a duty to make sure there are enough accessible and affordable childcare places for local parents. The Council is required to report annually on how they are meeting this duty and produce a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) to find out if existing childcare is meeting the needs of families. Parents can take part in this assessment between now and 31 January 2016 by completing a questionnaire about the childcare they would like for their children. At the same time childcare providers, including children’s centres, child-minders and nurseries, are completing a questionnaire to help the council build up a picture of what childcare is available. You can take part in the assessment by visiting: https://engage.barnet.gov.uk/childrens-service/childcare-sufficiency-assessment-2015.

Congratulations to the following children who have gained Silver Mathletics Awards:

Laura 1A, Jaddon 2K, Szelina 2Y Nathan 2Y, Kyle 3W, Mohammed 5C and Yanis 5G.

Santa Claus has two addresses - Edinburgh & North Pole. Letters addressed to "Toyland" or "Snowland" go to Edinburgh, but letters addressed to "The North Pole" are really sent to the North Pole because, as you know, there is really such a place.

Andrey 2K, Michaela and Taisei 5G have really worked hard to gain two silver awards each and are well on

their way to gain a gold award!

Mathletics Awards

Petition to improve road safety on Bell LanePetition to improve road safety on Bell Lane

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In the News

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Festive Card Competition 2015Festive Card Competition 2015

The Homeless Appeal Children and staff have donated shoeboxes filled with gifts to Homeless

Action in Barnet (HAB).

HAB is an organisation which provides basic support for those in crisis

on a daily basis. HAB provides hot meals, facilities to shower and a change of clothes at

its centre and go out into the community to offer support to people

who may be spending Christmas day on the streets.

Clare, Teaching assistant, heard of the plea for Christmas shoeboxes and decided to make it this term's charitable

appeal – by supporting a local cause that the children could easily identify with and engage with the meaning of

Christmas as exemplified by ‘giving rather than receiving’. Gifts inside the shoeboxes included, toiletries, woolly

hats, gloves, socks and scarves. Clare took some children along to donate the shoeboxes at the centre, which were

gratefully received.

Well done to Nathan! Who won the 2Simple Festive Card Competition. There were over two thousand designs sent in from all around

the world. We were particularly impressed by the way Nathan utilized the tools and textures in 2Paint. The circle and line tools give both Santa and Rudolph smooth lines, and Santa's textured beard really brings him to life. The detailing on both characters' faces adds real warmth to the picture, and the gently falling, textured snow tops off a great winter scene.

HHeennddoonn FFiirree SSttaatitioonn VViissiitt This week both Reception classes visited Hendon Fire Station as they have been learning about ‘People Who Help

Us’. The children and their parents had lots of fun and the Fire Fighters thought the children’s behaviour was super!

Petition to: Introduce measures to improve road safety at the corner between Bell Lane and Green Lane, including zebra crossing and more school signs. You can sign the petition if you go onto the following click: http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/BellLane/

In the News

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Attendance & PunctualityAttendance & Punctuality Remember, school registers take place at 8:55am and children need to be at school before that time. Children must be ready to learn on time. Remember our target is 100% attendance. Attendance percentages for November 20th to 16th December 2015

Nursery AM Nursery PM RD RS

89% 88% 92% 90%

Year 1U Year 1A Year 2K Year 2Y

92% 89% 91% 95%

Year 3T Year 3W Year 4B Year 4D

96% 94% 97% 94%

Year 5C Year 5G Year 6R Year 6S

95% 95% 96% 93%

Bell Lane Primary School

Absence for 2015

All schools in England

Absence for 2015

Overall absence: percentage 5.1% 3.9%

Persistent absence: around 15% +

3.5% 1.9%

Absence!Absence! Parents, as you can see in the performance table below, Bell Lane Primary school’s percentage absence is still

unacceptable. Ofsted will not accept such high absences. Please make every effort to send your child to school each

day. We cannot authorise holidays taken during term time and please do not take your child out of school during term

time without authorisation from the school. Reception and Year One parents must remember to support your child’s

attendance early in their school career; good attendance is building good habits for life.

Please let us aim to achieve good attendance throughout 2016!

EEaarrlly y EEdduuccaatitioonn ffoorr TTwwoo YYeeaar r OOllddss Bell Lane Primary School is now providing Early Education for two year olds.

Provision is available for 15 hours per week, running in Bell Lane Children’s

Centre between 12.15 pm to 3.15 pm daily. Children are expected to attend all

sessions.

Early learning benefits children’s social, physical, and emotional development

while also helping them to prepare for school. Evidence shows that regular good

quality education has lasting benefits for all children. If you are interested in

Early Education for your Two Year old children please contact Miss Doherty

(EYFS Phase Leader) or Mrs Faulkner (Children’s Centre Manager).

Dates for your Diary Dates for your Diary

4th January - Teacher’s training day

5th January - First day back to school

All school meals must be paid for in

advance. From 5th January 2016 -

12th February 2016 the total due is

£62.35 (29 days)