This is the place where you will be able to read my weekly newsletters. Thanks for taking the time to read them, Jessica

• Newsletter Friday 28th March 2025

  Fri 28 Mar 2025 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  I hope you have had a good week. I know many of you will be celebrating Eid this weekend and on Monday. May this Eid bring you endless joy, peace, and prosperity. Wishing you and your family a blessed Eid filled with love, laughter, and happiness from all of us at Betty Layward. 

   

  I would like to thank you for your responses to the letter I sent this week about the cost of trips and how we cannot continue to cover the cost of these in the future. It was lovely to receive so many emails of support. I also appreciate those of you who have gone back and paid for past trips and have set up direct debits. Every contribution makes a difference. Thank you for all your support with this.

   

  Cerise class performed a great assembly about rivers this week. It was informative and well performed  and the children did an amazing job. Well done Cerise class. You remembered all your words and sang beautifully. 

   

  On Tuesday, Year 2 visited the Estorick Collection of Italian Art and were fortunate enough to have the entire gallery to themselves. They had time to explore the gallery and looked for curved and straight lines, warm and cool colours, and geometric and organic shapes in the artworks. Year 2 then had a chance to act as curators by grouping works of art and deciding how they would display them in an exhibition. 

   

  Thank you to everyone who came out to support our first Betty Refillery shop. It was wonderful to see so many families championing our mission to reduce plastic usage. A big thanks to the Eco-Committee for their hard work. Betty's Refillery will open again on Thursday, May 8th, at 3:15 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there.

   

  In OPAL this week we have enjoyed seeing our planting spring into life.  Our bulbs are beginning to grow.  The children have enjoyed watering the plants and seeing them grow.  We have also been enjoying the balance equipment, dress-up, obstacle course, stilts and balance boards.

   

  Please can you ensure that the children are at school on time. We are having too many children being late to school. We are currently monitoring this and would like to see it improve. Thank you for your support with this. 

   

  We are looking at what children can bring in for their birthday treat which I know they like sharing with children in their class. We are now asking that it is not cakes or homemade items as more and more products are saying they contain nuts or might contain nuts. We therefore cannot have these in school. We ask that you bring in individually wrapped items such as McVities Club biscuits, Tunnocks caramel wafers or McVities Gold. You must ensure that there are no nuts or a trace of nuts in the product as we will not be able to give those out. Please do not bring in sweets or chocolate bars. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  One of our children,  Silas got involved in an initiative last weekend - tidying up and replanting the massive low traffic neighbourhood planters on Nevill Road. It was organised by Abi, who runs the Everyday Sunshine cafe on the corner of Nevill and Barbauld Road and the Rude graphic communications agency. Neighbours tidied up the planters and plants for the summer. It is going to become a regular activity. Well done Silas, it is so important to look after your local area and this is an example to us all. 
   

  Please remember to book your parent and carer's meeting on Thursday. We look forward to seeing you there. School closes at 1pm. 

   

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher 

  Jessica Bailey

  Headteacher 
  The Betty Layward Primary School

  

• Newsletter Friday 21st March 2025

  Thu 20 Mar 2025 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  It is so lovely to see the sun out and feel some warmer weather. It is great to see the children enjoying the sunshine in the playground. 

   

  Thank you to our Nursery parents and carers for attending our family morning on Monday, it was lovely to see you there. We hope you enjoyed it too.

   

  Chilli's class performed an amazing assembly on Tuesday about World War 2. Their knowledge, acting, singing and dancing were incredible and they kept the audience engaged all the way through. I thought about this class when they joined in Nursery or Reception and am so proud of how they have grown into such wonderful, independent, creative and wonderful children. Well done Chilli class, it was a great performance and one you should be very proud of. 

   

  You will have received a letter about parents and carers meetings and we look forward to seeing you there. This is an important meeting about your child's report which you will receive in the same week. Years 1 - 6 will receive reports then and Nursery and Reception will receive theirs in the summer. Meetings are available for all classes. These meetings allow us to share your child's progress, learning and behaviour at school so please ensure you sign up. We want to share all their achievements with you. 

   

  Our refillable shop opens on Thursday 27th March after school. Please come along and buy some household essentials such as shampoo and conditioner. It would be lovely to see you there and thank you for your donations of bottles. More are welcome. 

   

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

   

   

   

  

• Newsletter Friday 14th March 2025

  Fri 14 Mar 2025 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  We hope you have had a good week. We have had a productive week with lots going on and there are lots of exciting things coming up.

   

  We are pleased to announce the opening of Betty's Refillery, a new eco-refill shop at Betty Layward. The shop will offer a selection of eco-friendly, plant-based products to help families live more sustainably. To support our first shop on Thursday, 27th March, we are asking parents and carers to bring in 500ml bottles for refills. We appreciate your help in reducing waste and promoting sustainable choices. You will be able to come and buy shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and other items in our refillable bottles or you can bring your own. This will be an ongoing project and one we hope you will find useful. We look forward to seeing you on 27th March to fill your bottles.

   

  On Friday, 7th March, a squad of Girls from years 5 and 6 took part in an International Woman's Day football competition at Berger Primary School. We played against Millfields, Gayhurst, Mossbourne and Berger. The girls had lots of fun and played very well. Well done to all the children who took part.  It was great to share in such an important celebration.

   

  This week, we introduced an obstacle course into Opal playground. The children have enjoyed crossing over planks, crawling through tunnels, and balancing on beams and stepping stones. The children have been generating different pathways and combining different levels of movement. The children have been particularly successful in teamwork, sharing and turn-taking. It is great watching them plan and make different obstacle courses. They are really enjoying it.

   

  World Down Syndrome Day is on Friday, 21st March. We are asking everyone to 'rock their socks' and wear bright, bold and funky socks to celebrate the uniqueness of every chromosome - each one is one of a kind. The theme this year is 'Improve Our Support Systems':  governments are being urged to make sure that people with Down Syndrome get the support they need all around the world.

   

  Please remember Chilli's class assembly on Tuesday at 9:15am. We look forward to seeing Chilli parents and carers there.

   

  If it is your child’s birthday, they can bring in individual cakes to share with their class. Please can you check that there are no traces of nuts on any of the labelling. We cannot give these out and if they are homemade please ensure that all ingredients are nut-free too. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  Have a very lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

   

   

   

  

• Newsletter Friday 7th March 2025

  Fri 07 Mar 2025 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  We have had a lovely, sunny week with many great things going on. World Book Day was amazing and thank you for all your support with the costumes and story jars. They were great. This year, the children from Reception to Year 6 were arranged into mixed classes. Each group enjoyed a morning of book related activities. The children created new stories, acted out puppet shows and devised new characters for well known books. The children had a fantastic day and it was great to see the deep love of stories. Thank you to all the staff who made this possible. The children really enjoyed the day and loved being in classes with all the year groups. The children were extremely excited and it was wonderful to see so many amazing costumes and Book in a Jar creations. 

   

  Thank you to those of you who organised, helped and attended our jumble sale on Saturday. The sun shone for us and it was lovely to see so many of you there. The extra clear up help also made a huge difference so thank you to those of you who also did that. The Jumble Sale raised a total of £3125.67, including the sponsor money from Winkworth for the estate agent boards in your gardens. This is an amazing result and will make a difference for us. A big thank you to Winkworth, too.

   

  On Monday, Year 4 had an exciting visit to the National Gallery, where they learned about Tudor portraits. The children eagerly deciphered the clues hidden within the paintings, such as clothing, certain objects and facial expressions, to identify the subjects of each portrait. They demonstrated impressive knowledge, explaining who the figures were and their role in Tudor society. Throughout the trip, the children displayed excellent behaviour, engaging fully with the guides and showing respect for the gallery environment. It was a truly enriching experience for all involved.  

   

  On Tuesday, 4th March, a team of children from years 5 and 6 took part in the Hackney Primary School cross-country race at Hackney Downs Park. Huge congratulations to Olly, who finished in 11th place in the boys' race; Jane who finished 7th; Illy who finished 11th and Elsie who finished 12th in the girls' race. Well done to all the children who took part and thank you to all the parent volunteers for your help.

   

  Tomorrow is International Women’s Day under the theme “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. This year’s theme calls for action that can unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind. Central to this vision is empowering the next generation—youth, particularly young women and adolescent girls—as catalysts for lasting change. At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum. We at Betty Layward, want to ensure no one is left behind. On Tuesday, 25th March 2025, we will be hosting Girl’s Can Build. Girl’s Can Build is a ground-breaking initiative aimed at inspiring primary school girls to explore careers in construction, which has achieved remarkable success. Local Basildon business OCL Facades Limited will be coming in to deliver an assembly for all Key Stage 2 girls and then will lead a series of workshops for girls in Year 4 led by a group of talented women from OCL Facades Limited. We look forward to the girls having the opportunity to engage in these hands-on sessions.

   

  Opal is going well in the playground and we are now introducing large parts such as planks, crates, etc. Children can use their imagination to create obstacle courses or make cars, etc. We are excited to see how they will use them.

   

  Have a lovely weekend and enjoy this sunny, warm weather,

  Jessica

  Headteacher