ALL SAINTS BENHILTON NEWSLETTER October 2, 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we come to the end of another busy week, I hope that you will be delighted with some of joys

and highlights of the Michaelmas term via the enclosed newsletter.

There have been many changes, trials and constant modifications to deal with over the last few

weeks not to mention the fire alarm going off on Monday morning… not the start we all wanted.

I am happy to report that this was a fault on the system and not a real emergency. Thank you all for

your patience and a huge congratulations to the children, staff and parents that were in school at

the time and had to carry out a full evacuation of the building. I am very proud of the children’s

behaviour during the drill and I am delighted to report that it all happened in under three minutes!

Thank you to those of you that had to wait patiently outside the gates.

Thank you for all your kind words of support and encouragement to myself and staff, it really does

make a big difference at this time.

We will shortly be sending out the invitations to book your time slot for Parent Consultation

Evenings which will be carried out virtually. More details of how to book etc. will be sent separately.

Have a great weekend.

Yours truly,

Karen Stanley-Bristowe

God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.” Exod. 33:14

Dear Parents/Carers, On Saturday 10th October it is World Mental Health Day. On Friday 9th October, as a school, we will be taking part in Young Mind’s ‘Hello Yellow’ day to raise awareness of children’s mental health. For this day we would like every child to wear one item of yellow clothing to school. This could be a t-shirt, jumper, hairband, etc. that is to be worn in addition to normal school uniform. We will be sharing a Worship about raising awareness of children’s mental health and this may be a conversation that you may wish to continue at home. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is incredibly important to share ideas around looking after our mental health. In light of the current situation, we are not asking for donations towards Young Minds this year. We will continue to celebrate this occasion in the future and will look to donate towards the charity in subsequent years. If you would, however, like to donate to the Young Minds, then please feel free to contribute. Kind Regards, Mr Owens

Black History Day

On Thursday 1st October, we celebrated the start of Black History Month with a special

day dedicated to celebrate achievements of significant black people. Families with black

heritage were invited to wear their traditional clothes from their culture and it was

wonderful to see the colourful outfits.

Each year group had a different person to focus their learning on. We chose a variety of

people to learn about from different skill sets such as Usain Bolt (sportsperson), Rosa

Parks (activist), Malorie Blackman (children’s laureate) and many more.

The children enjoyed a virtual worship where they learnt about why we were

celebrating the day and we ended with the song ‘Together We Can Change the World’.

All year groups were highly engaged in their learning where they wrote speeches like

Martin Luther King, enjoyed drumming and made African prints just to name a few! We

also enjoyed a theatre company video of a West African folk tale ‘Come an See Anansi’,

as we were unable to have the company come in due to coronavirus. It was an

empowering day with memorable experiences.

Reception children have settled into school wonderfully. They have been very busy

building with Lego, playing in the home corner, using their imaginations with the small

world and lots of painting and sticking.

Hazel Class have been focusing on wellbeing through art. We discussed how different

colours can represent our mood, emotions and feelings. The children created their own

well-being poster exploring how they felt. We have created a wonderful display!

In Year 4, Maple class we have started looking at how to create bright backgrounds

using watercolours. We have been looking at different techniques to begin to blend

the colours together. We have also been listening to the song “What a Wonderful

World” by Louis Armstrong. We have been rewriting the lyrics to the song to talk about

our ‘new normal’ school!

Year 2, Chestnut class have been thinking about hope and what their hopes are for the year. We related this to not waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.

In Holly class we have been looking at the story ‘Here We Are’ and thinking about our

wonderful world. We spoke about all of the things are fortunate to do in our world and

spent some time outside searching for mini beasts, making streamers to test wind

strength and direction, and having fun with our friends.

Oak Class Year 1 have been enjoying their learning in the outside area over the last few

weeks. They have been having fun with a range of activities such as painting,

construction, shape sorting, and using the giant snakes and ladders grid to practise

counting and addition. In RE we have been learning the parable of the Prodigal Son. The

children were eager to retell the story using puppets!

In Willow Class we have explored the book ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The

Horse’ by Charlie Mackesy as part of our PSHE and Art lessons. We have used some of

Charlie’s words to shape our thoughts and actions as we return to school. Using

pencils to sketch and colouring pencils to add a touch of colour, we have recreated

one of the illustrations based on the illustrator’s style. Below is a selection of our

work:

Lots of the children were moved by Charlie’s words and images and felt inspired to

write their own advice for life to go on display in our classroom as a reminder to

cherish life and work together.

Beech class have been very busy since returning to school. The children have all settled in well and have adjusted to the new norms of school life. Some lovely personal letters, formal letters to Paul Scully and poems about the sky have been written since returning to school. The children have recapped on their knowledge of place value and completed some wonderful artwork applying sketching skills. In the photo you will see their amazing close observational drawings of items linked to their remote learning experience. Beech class have even managed a visit to the prayer shed and spirituality garden where the children were able to have a moment of silence and reflection. Although this year is a very different start for Year 6, they are still eager and excited for this academic year.

In Larch class, we have been experimenting with different shades of colour. We created dawn and dusk backgrounds and then painted a silhouette of an owl. After that, we added in any extra details such as tree branches or grass. We loved the activity and it was a calming way to spend our Friday afternoon.