Dear Parents and Carers,

 

It is good to see the sun shining after the wild weather we had at the weekend. I hope it did not impact you.

 

As you know, we have our Christmas events coming up. These are on our website's calendar, so please add all these events to your diaries. The Year 2-6 Christmas concert in the church will start at 1:30 p.m. Please remember that the children will need to be picked up from school, not the church. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you there.

 

On Friday 6th December we have a non-school uniform day for the children in return for them bringing in items for the Winter Fair. This can be chocolates, toiletries or alcohol. The planning for the Winter Fair is well underway and the main thing we need are volunteers. We would really appreciate it if you could sign up to help. At the moment we do not have enough help and if it does not improve we might have to cancel it. That would be a big shame as so much has already been done and it does raise a huge amount for school and with everything as it is at the moment we need as much financial help as possible. PLEASE sign up and help even if it is just for an hour. It is also a really lovely way to be part of our school community. A massive thank you to those of you who have already signed up. It really does make a difference.

 

We were very proud of our children this week as they attended the Panathlon Challenge. Here is what they wrote about it –

‘On Wednesday some children in KS2 went on a trip. We went to the Panathlon on the 141 bus. When we got there, we were super excited. When we entered the building, we started doing some activities like beanbag throwing. We did basketball, then we did curling, then we balanced a ball on a racquet and walked around cones. Finally, we threw four balls at a target. At the end, we had a medal and we took pictures as a group together.’By Ajahni, Diana and Taliayah (Fuchsia Class) Well done to these children. It sounded like you had a great time.

 

This week we launched a new handwriting scheme, Letter-join, for all year groups. Letter-join is an online platform that teaches handwriting in line with the National Curriculum. Handwriting is an integral part of children's writing, which allows them to share their ideas and structure their thoughts in a well-crafted manner. Letter-join has structured lesson plans that build the children's skills incrementally. The lessons will not only teach the children letter formation and joins but also how to develop their writing posture and correct pencil grip. In addition to this, we had an assembly on Wednesday where the children discussed what good handwriting looks like, how we can achieve it and why it is such an important part of their writing. We will be sharing handwriting for the children to complete at home too. To further encourage the children's handwriting development, we will be awarding handwriters of the week a special treat. The children chosen for this honour will be able to choose a pencil topper to put on their pen or pencil for the week as an extra incentive. We look forward to seeing the amazing efforts the children put into this, as well as the opportunity to celebrate their success.

 

We are now registering 3 and 4 year olds for our school nursery places in September 2025 – 2026. Rainbow Nursery in Betty Layward Primary School prides itself on providing caring and inspiring provision for our children. We are very popular so we advise you to secure your space now. You are very welcome to come and visit us and our school and have a look around our delightful nursery for yourself. We provide 15 hour part time morning places and 15 hour part time afternoon places. We also provide full time 30 hour places that can be fully funded or partially funded and then the other hours are privately paid for. Our nursery is aimed at preschool children aged three and four years old. Children can apply for one of these nursery places if they turn 4 between 1st September 2025 and August 31st 2026 or in the term after their third birthday. Any questions about admissions to nursery in 2025 – 2026 do not hesitate to drop an email to paularamsden@bettylayward.org. We look forward to receiving your applications and meeting you next year. 

 

We finish for the holidays on Friday 20th December at 1pm. There is no Premier or clubs on that day so all children will need to be collected at 1pm. 

 

I hope you have a lovely weekend and please sign up for the Winter Fair.

Jessica

Headteacher