Water, Water we're so cool!

It's been an exciting time here at the HQ! We've seen tremendous success in our recent sports day, with Water House emerging victorious. The children displayed exceptional sportsmanship, resilience, courage, and aspiration. I'm particularly proud of our children's improved fitness with Ivy children running 400m with ease. Definitely some Olympians in the making!

Our Summer Term is crammed full with enriching trips and I want to extend my appreciation and thanks to the staff and parent volunteers whose hard work make these happen. Our children are extremely lucky to experience a great deal of extra enrichment outside of the classroom. Many, many thanks to our PTA and especially to Penny who has worked tirelessly this year to make the PTA such a success. The level of fund raising has been phenomenal (thank you all for your generous donations) which has meant large subsidies, across multiple trips, this year. These include; Duxford Air Museum, WCET music festival, The Food Museum and PGL. Looking ahead, we're eagerly anticipating trips to Crucial Crew, Knettishall Heath, Pleasure Wood Hills and West Stow.

Don't forget our open afternoon on 17th July – we can't wait to share our achievements with you! This will be an informal afternoon and we'd love you to join us for a family picnic. More details will follow on Dojo.

Many thanks for your continued support in making Bardwell such a successful and unique school.

Mrs B

If you haven't already done so, please sign up on Arbor for forthcoming trips which you have had a letter for - we need your permission to generate an accurate pupil register.

• Ivy Class & Y2 from Willow Class - Knettishall Heath trip (sign up by Monday 1st July)
• Willow Class - West Stow Anglo Saxon Village (sign up by Monday 1st July)
• Y6 Leavers trip to Pleasurewood Hills (sign up by Friday 12th July)
• Y6 Crucial Crew (sign up by Friday 5th July)

Thank you,

Mrs Allman

Don't miss these incredible artworks at our Open Afternoon.

Bardwell is an inclusive school where children are treated with equality and their individuality celebrated. Our school’s active uniform plays a key role in promoting pride, self-confidence, and a feeling of belonging. We strongly believe that this contributes to the children's well being, removing the additional pressures of deciding what to wear and the added stress of meeting the expectations of peers. In an ever increasing world of social pressure for young people, our uniform removes the points of difference between students and provides a greater focus on school based activities and learning. Therefore, in the interests of equality;

● Active uniforms should be worn at all times

● Spare clothes should be our active uniform NOT home clothes

● Hairstyles must not attract undue attention

● No make-up

● Piercings and jewellery should be discreet and safe to wear, e.g. single studs in ears.

Your child can wear any one of the six Cog colours (red, royal blue, navy blue, green, yellow, purple) as their polo shirt, OR a white one. These are the only acceptable colours for the polo shirt. Please note that the polo shirts do NOT need to have the Bardwell logo on but the sweatshirts MUST.

Colourful polo shirts are available in the school uniform ranges of all the major supermarkets. Logo'd polo shirts (white) and sweatshirts (all colours) are available only from our uniform supplier, Gooddies.

As always, children are also welcome to wear gingham dresses, in any of the six Cog colours, during any term.

Please ensure your child has a hat or cap in school to wear when outdoors. We would also advise that you apply a high factor 'once a day' sunscreen at home each morning before school. We are unable to apply sunscreen to children during the day.

Here are some products that we have found:

Aldi, Boots, Asda, Superdrug, B&M, Morrisons.

Please could we ask school leaders to share the below opportunity with parents/carers:

Are you looking for an opportunity to get back into work after taking an extended career break (over 2 years) due to parental responsibilities?

Following the success of last year's pilot scheme, Suffolk County Council (SCC) are running the returnship programme again, giving you the opportunity to join SCC to work for 12 weeks.

Please visit Suffolk Jobs Direct for more information: Parental Returnship - Suffolk Jobs Direct Careers (suffolkjobsdirect.org)

Contact: Rising.High@suffolk.gov.uk

Suffolk County Council (SCC) is pleased to confirm that the Government announced a six-month extension to the Household Support Fund from April 2024 to September 2024.

We can confirm that funds have been made available for SCC to extend the support previously provided to low-come families in receipt of Free school Meals (FSM) over the 6-week summer holiday 2024. There is currently no confirmation from the Government on whether the Household Support Fund will continue after this date.

The grant will be issued as a £90 supermarket voucher for each eligible child from our provider Pluxee and is designed to help families with their essential living costs during the holiday.

Dear Suffolk Schools,

The School Summer Holidays are fast approaching, and it is time to remind the families in receipt of Benefit Related Free School Meals about the Suffolk Holiday Activity and Food programme.

As per the Easter Holidays we will not be using codes and will continue to use the Eequ booking system where parents can book their children in directly to activities and eligibility will be checked for each booking. (Codes will no longer be used for Suffolk HAF bookings.)

We have attached instructions on how to use the Eequ booking system for parents/carers ease, along with some other items to help spread the word.

If you would kindly share the information with your families in receipt of FSM, that would be brilliant.

Any questions or concerns please contact us on HAFenquiries@suffolk.gov.uk

Further information can be found here: Suffolk InfoLink | Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme 2024 in Suffolk

Eequ Registration and Booking system: Eequ · After school. In place of school. Beyond school.

Thank you,

The HAF Team

More information on Suffolk HAF : Suffolk InfoLink | Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme 2024 in Suffolk

Suffolk HAF registration and booking system: Eequ · After school. In place of school. Beyond school.

Dear schools,

It would be wonderful if you could share this summer holiday club activity with your parents, especially those with children in receipt of free school meals.

Thrills and Grills!

Free spaces available for 7–11-year-olds in receipt of free school meals at the Food Museum’s summer cookery club in Stowmarket.
(Tuesday and Wednesdays, 09.30-15.30 across the summer holidays.)

Pasta, paella, pizzas! Feel the heat in our summer cooking programme!

Come for a full day of cooking with professional chefs and cookery teachers. Making full use of the wood-fired oven, open fire pit and outdoor cookery area, you will work together with new friends to prepare tasty food from scratch.

Each day you will cook a different lunch and afternoon treat, learn professional chef skills and gather freshly grown fruit and vegetables from the Food Museum’s garden.

Register now by emailing our Learning Manager David.Thomson@foodmuseum.org.uk or via the HAF activities portal https://eequ.org/thefoodmuseum for those eligible for free schools meals.

Good afternoon,

Here at Bury Spectrum Gymnastics Club we will be running our Summer Gymnastics program.

We think many of your children will enjoy the activities, so we would be very grateful if you would be kind enough to share the attached flyer with your parents/pupils.

Our club is a non-profit community organization, not a business, so we rely on the kindness of our partners in the community to help us promote the sport we offer.

We thank you in advance for your support,

The Bury Spectrum Gymnastics Team

Sports Camp 22-26 July 2024

Monday 22 July: 9.00am-12.00pm Ipswich Town Football or Target games / 12.30-3.30pm Ipswich Town Football or Karate

Tuesday 23 July: 9.00am-12.00pm Gymnastics or Summer Sports / 12.30-3.30pm Dance & Musicals or Parkour

Wednesday 24 July: 9.00am-12.00pm Skateboarding or Adventure / 12.30-3.30pm Bmx & Skateboarding or Team Games

Thursday 25 July: 9.00am-12.00pm Inflatables&Multisports / 12.30-3.30pm Inflatables&Multisports

Friday 26 July: 9.00am-12.00pm Nerf and laser Tag / 12.30-3.30pm Nerf and laser Tag

Flyer Attached

Ages: 5 – 13 yrs

Venue: Beyton, Thurston Sixth (IP30 9AA)

£12 per workshop

www.gvtssp.org

Kind regards

William Hopkin-Jones

Sports Partnership Manager

Gipping Valley and Thurston Sports Partnership

07734495860

We have a new, with labels, Gooddies sweatshirt for sale in the school office for just £8. It's an Adult size Small and is in the original packaging.

Please contact Mrs Allman if you would like to buy it.

The July issue of the Knowsley newsletter is available here. Please read it and ensure you are fully aware of what your child is accessing online.

This issue contains important information about CapCut, roulette messaging and the dangers of online challenges.

It's nearly time of year again. Soon class rooms will be locked, bags will packed for warmer climes and children will cheer their way out of the school gates. For six to eight weeks, pupils and educational professionals will enjoy a much deserved break from the scholastic odyssey. For one category of children though, the end of another academic year will provide cause of concern - those in Year Six. After years of attending the same school and forging close relationships with staff and peers, it all suddenly stops and the transition to secondary school awaits. For many this will be a concerning time, and their worries will build up throughout the summer holidays. The Salvation Army has once again released its Small Fish Podcast, where they seek to allay the fears of children going into this next developmental stage. The podcast had 2,000 downloads last year, and the feedback from educational professionals has been positive. If interested in recommending this to your class, or simply to get to know the state of mind of new secondary pupils, please click on the links below:

Spotify Version

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2jKz4AyAwkC01FHhHf7G5O?si=660ff7e40bc04981&nd=1&dlsi=001e6638d09a4a3c

Illustrated YouTube Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AritDYDhdRw&list=PLIVf2jMavW4uYR0SMNQUyeZgDqasE

Albie has been our voicemail superstar for the last couple of weeks, so it's his greeting you will listen to if you need to leave us a message.

Thank you Albie!

Mrs Allman

Ixworth library has a few spaces left at code club this Sat.

Would you be able to pass a message on if anyone new wants to join? See poster and text below.

Thank you

Sally Withers

Volunteer Ixworth Library

A few remaining spaces left in code club at Ixworth library this Sat. The 29th June. We are making archery games in scratch or python.

Email if you want to come codeclubixworth@outlook.com

LEGO® enthusiasts will have a treat this summer as a special exhibition comes to The Hold on Ipswich Waterfront just in time for the school holidays.

Wonders from around the globe will be presented in half a million LEGO® bricks at this spectacular exhibition.

The exhibition opens on Friday 12 July and runs until the end of September.

Book tickets at: Brick Wonders - Suffolk Archives (suffolkarchives.co.uk)

During the workshop, the children will learn a variety of songs based around a musical theme. The workshop runs from 10.00-16.00 on Tuesday and 13.30-18.45 on Wednesday, with a concert for family and friends at 6pm on Wednesday. The workshop and concert will be at Thetford Grammar School.

Parents can register their children here: https://tinyurl.com/Thetford24

Any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,

Polina Sosnina

Director

Thetford Voices

Monday - Cooking

Tuesday - Games (board games and outdoor)

Wednesday - Coding

Thursday - Forest

As always, please provide a snack. Every club will start with the chance to play outside before starting the main activity.

We have recently become aware of someone photographing a family's car at the school gate. Whilst we realise this may be distressing or concerning, on this occasion we believe that the photographs were being taken for a valid reason concerning parking. However, if you are photographed in this way and you feel uncomfortable, threatened or harassed by it, we'd encourage you to go to the Suffolk Police online reporting tool to report it.

We'd like to remind you that stopping on the zigzags is not allowed between the hours of 8am and 4.30pm.

The Dun Cow pub on Up Street warmly invites you to use their car park at drop off and pick up times - marked green below. The walk from there to school is under 5 minutes. Thank you to Alan and Denise for this continuing offer.

You may also park near the Church porch from where there is a footpath that comes out to School Lane next to the Windmill.

Please ensure that if you park along School Lane you do not block any driveways and avoid the residents' parking spaces at 25-43 School Lane (marked red below, parking in the green spaces is fine).

We are writing to remind you of our upcoming free online parent/carer workshops! Please see the flyer attached for dates and booking information for parent/carer workshops on mental health and wellbeing.

All our upcoming workshops can be booked for free on our Eventbrite page, a referral is not needed to access them. Information on all our workshops, past and present, as well as workshop recordings, can be found on our website.

Yours sincerely,

Psychology in Schools Admin Team

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1axiJucVbTbbTZEgaOiXaQUr39DFIU9m4/view?usp=sharing

Information from Suffolk County Council

The new Separating better app offers free support for separating parents. It has been created by relationship experts at OnePlusOne, a leading relationship research and innovation charity.

Separating better will equip parents with the practical information and emotional skills they need to help them self-manage their separation and put arrangements in place that work in the best interests of their children.

For full details please click the link above.

In addition to the app, which can be downloaded from app stores or OnePlusOne’s website, Suffolk residents also have free access to the following online courses offering relationship support:

• Me, You and Baby Too – a course for new and expectant parents.
• Arguing better – a course to help improve conflict resolution and communication skills.
• Getting it right for children – a course to help separating and separated parents co-operatively parent together and develop positive communication skills.

To access the courses, parents can visit the Parent resource sign up page on the OnePlusOne’s website and select Central England and then Suffolk from the list of options. They can then create their own personal account to access the courses as often as they’d like.

Contact: ReducingParentalConflictTeam@suffolk.gov.uk

Term dates for 2024-25 are now available - ask in the office for a hard copy. They are also available from the school website (scroll down for 2024-25).

Download PDF

Download Google Docs/Word

Please take time to check that all uniform items in your cupboards/laundry pile are yours.

Please continue to ensure that your child's name or initials remain readable in all items, so that we can reunite them.

Thank you.

• Arbor balances

Please ensure you clear any debt on Arbor (lunches or clubs) before 19th July.

• Walking home unaccompanied form (Y5/6)

If you would like to give permission for your Y5 or Y6 child to leave the school unaccompanied at the end of the day (including after ASC sessions) please download and complete this form, or contact me to ask for a hard copy to be sent home with your child.

• Arbor contact details

Please take the time to check that all your details on Arbor are up-to-date. For example: Do we have the emergency contact details for at least two parents/guardians? Is/are your phone number(s) correct, including any work number? Is your doctor's surgery information still correct? You should be able to make changes via the Arbor website or app. If you have any problems, please don't hestitate to ask.

• Asthma medication & healthcare plans

I have recently contacted you if your child's healthcare plan or medication is out of date - it is so important that we have a plan that is 1yr old or less so that we can work with you to keep your child safe in school. Please ensure you speak to your medical practitioner ASAP to obtain an updated plan.

The dates below have been set for the full academic year but are subject to change. Please keep an eye on the newsletter and your email for any date/time changes and for additional events.

We are matching with SCC term dates and PD days for the 2024-2025 academic year, please see our Term Dates page on the school website or ask in the office if you'd like a printed copy.

Summer Term (event, year group(s), day, date, time)

Swimming lessons, Y2-Y6, Thursdays.

YR transition session (2 of 2), September starters, Wednesday, 3rd July, 10.00am.

Transition Day TCC Day 1 of 2 (and Parents' Evening), Y6, Wednesday, 10/07/24,

Transition Day TCC Day 2 of 2 (and Parents' Evening), Y6, Thursday, 11/07/24,

Leavers' Trip, Y6, Tuesday, 16/07/24,

Leavers' Service at Church , All, Thursday, 18/07/24, 1.15pm

Next academic year

25/09/24 - School photographs (Individual & siblings, all pupils), Please wear your clean, colourful sweatshirt.

27/09/24 - Flu immunisations. Nearer to the date you will receive a link to the NHS portal - ALL parents need to complete the portal process to either opt in or opt out.

You may be aware that we have a large minibus taxi transporting some of our pupils to and from school. We have an established risk assessment with the taxi company and Suffolk County Council's transport safeguarding team, developed to ensure the safety of transported children, drivers, staff and other families. This states:

• the minibus has to drop off and pick up children at the gate entrance to meet a member of staff for handover
• in the morning they drop off between 8.30-8.35am and leave promptly at 8.35am
• in the afternoon, they may wait along School Lane, then pick up promptly at 3.30pm.

The taxi takes priority for access at the gate during these times, so we ask that all other families are aware of this and time their entrance to / exit from school accordingly.

The school premises open at 8.35am to all pupils.

We have been asked by the trustees of the Bardwell Charities fund to encourage our local families to apply for financial support. They've said,

"There is money available whether for trips, music lessons, uniform or other need.
Please DO encourage parents/carers to apply."

You might, for example, wish to request some help with the Y5/Y6 residential, or with transport costs for HAF holiday programme activities. All you need to do is write a short email explaining:

• that you are resident in Bardwell
• what the need is and why it is important for your family/child.

Please note that, contrary to previous information, we have recently been informed by Bardwell Charities that this information only applies to Bardwell residents.

Send your email to bardwellcharities@btinternet.com

If you would like any help with your request, please ask Mrs Allman who is happy to help and will keep all information you share with her confidential.

To find out more, please visit our webpage at:

http://bardwellcharities.onesuffolk.net/

Please see the church website for services and information.

The BVN can be read online.

You may wish to consider setting Kiddle as your default browser on your home devices. They say:

Kiddle is a kid safe visual search engine. Kiddle returns results for each query in the order shown:

1. Safe sites and pages written specifically for kids. Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.
Typically, results 1-3.

2. Safe, trusted sites that are not written specifically for kids, but have content written in a simple way, easy for kids to understand. Handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors.
Typically, results 4-7.

3. Safe, famous sites that are written for adults, providing expert content, but are harder for kids to understand. Filtered by Google safe search.

Typically, results 8 onwards.

Since Kiddle results are either handpicked and checked by our editors or filtered by Google safe search, you know you get kid-oriented results without any explicit content. In case some bad words are present in a search query, our guard robot will block the search.

We are very keen to have children attending school if they are well enough. Please have a look at this NHS advice if you are unsure.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

If your child is ill, you must phone into the school before 9am, giving a reason for the absence ('unwell' is not sufficient), leave a voicemail if you need to. Please do not email in for absence.

We recommend that you are familiar with the Tilian Attendance Policy.

Suffolk County Council has asked us to share with families their updated 'Cost Of Living Support' information.

Your child may be eligible for free school meals throughout primary school. This could save you approximately £484 per year.

​

To check or apply online, visit: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/apply-for-free-school-meals/

​

Check if you're eligible

Your child will get free school meals if you receive any of the following:

• Income Support

• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

• Guarantee element of State Pension Credit

• Child Tax Credit but no element of Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenues & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190

• If you are supported under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

• Working Tax Credit during the four-week period immediately after your employment finishes or after you start to work fewer hours per week

• Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400 (£616.67 per month), as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods).
  

To check if your child is eligible, apply online for an immediate response or call 01473 260989.

We encourage you to apply, because the school receives additional funding (Pupil Premium) for all children on income-related Free School Meals.

​

Email: bardwell@tilian.org.uk
Website: https://www.bardwell.org.uk/
Location: School Lane, Bardwell, Bury Saint Edmunds IP31 1AD, UK
Phone: 01359 250854
Twitter: @BardwellPrimary