Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Berkeley App/ Communication with Parents
Fri 23 Sep 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
We are excited to announce that we have a smartphone app which is free to download and works with iPhones and Android phones. Please visit theschool.app for more information.
As a school, we believe it is essential to work in partnership with parents and carers and part of this is achieved by ensuring that you receive clear, relevant and regular communications.
Benefits of the app for Parents and Carers:
• The app is powered by our school website, which means that when you download it, you will have a single place to view calendar events, newsletters, latest news and all information pages within the school website.
• You no longer need to go searching for letters at the bottom of school bags.
Benefits of the app for the school:
• It will reduce our admin time by keeping all communication tools within one place.
To set up the app
• Download the app as a guest user by visiting your app store and searching for TheSchoolApp then select Berkeley Primary School.
Communication via text and email
Information to parents is sent via text or email so please keep an eye out for any messages we send you. If you are yet to receive any texts or emails from school, please contact the school office to ensure we have the correct number and email. Please note, emails will be from notifications@primarysite.net
Please feel free to contact the school office if you need any further information about this service.
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Inspire afternoon introduction
Wed 21 Sep 2022Dear Year 1 to 6 Parent and Carers,
We are very excited to invite you to our first ‘Inspire Afternoon’ here at school. Every term (three times a year) you will be invited to come into school for the afternoon to join your child and their class with their learning. We want our families to understand our curriculum, what and how we teach, and to get to know your child’s class teacher.
The sessions will take place in the infant school hall (Year 1,2 and 3) and in the junior school hall (Year 4,5 and 6). The halls enable us to set out chairs and tables like our classrooms, with enough space for all children to have one adult with them. Please see the calendar or letter section for the date when it is your child’s Inspire session.
The lessons will vary each term, it could be anything from history, art, geography to DT. The teachers will teach the session, bring all the resources needed, then you and your child will work together on the tasks set – sometimes in pairs, or maybe joining with others to make a small group. We do need you to get stuck in.
If you are not available to join your child, a grandparent, aunt, close family friend, etc, could attend. It would be great if every child had an adult with them. To enable us to ensure children are safeguarded, all children will be closely supervised by the staff and the adults will only be allowed in the hall and to use the toilets.
The afternoons will begin at 1.40pm, finishing about 3.00pm to give enough time for the teacher to take the children back to class and round off the day for 3.15pm (children cannot be taken home early at 3.00pm). It is essential the adults arrive by 1.40pm otherwise it will be very disruptive to the lesson.
When it is your child’s Inspire Afternoon please go to the main entrance of the infants (Y1,2,3) or juniors (Y4,5,6).
We are hoping this new venture will be something that really takes off, and we can continue it for many years to come.
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Remembering Queen Elizabeth II
Fri 16 Sep 2022I wanted to share with you some images from the lovely assemblies held earlier this week to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Each child made a flower which they then laid around a candle as we reflected on her life. These are now displayed in the infant and junior halls. Your children were amazing and so respectful of the occasion.
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After School Clubs Autumn Term 2022
Wed 14 Sep 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
We have been organising our extra curricular activities for this term. We are offering a variety of enrichment activities for the children, trying to cater for a range of interests and age groups. I am sure that you will join me in thanking our great team for giving up their own time to volunteer to run these clubs for our children. The list of clubs available this term are on the reverse of this letter.
If your child would like to join a club then please log on to your ParentPay account where the clubs available for this term will be listed for you to select. To make this process fair you MUST ONLY select ONE club for your child. If you select more than one your child will be cancelled from all clubs selected.
Booking opens from Thursday 15th September at 4.00pm where you will then be able to view and book your child onto a club. As there are limited places at each club, places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If a club is full then the ParentPay system will not let you book onto a club. If you have yet to use ParentPay and need your login details, then please call in at the school office.
All clubs will start from Monday 26th September apart from the Y1/2 Indoor Hockey Club, which will start from Wednesday 5th October. All clubs will run until Friday 25th November. There will be no after school clubs on 19th & 20th October due to Parents Evening.
Gooch Judo will continue their sessions on a Wednesday. The first session on 28th September will take place in the Infant Hall, all other sessions after this will take place in the Junior Hall. There is a £3 charge for this per week. There will also be a cost of £1.00 per week for the Art and Sewing Club to cover cost of materials. Payment for the full term must be made via ParentPay at the point of booking for these clubs. Please note, once payment is made, this is non-refundable so should your child be absent from school or no longer wants to go to the club, we are unable to refund this back.
Young Voices Choir- this club is in preparation for the Young Voices event so please only sign your child up to this club if they would like to attend the event. Young Voices is an exciting event, which takes place annually across the country in January or February in 2023 - date to be confirmed. This will take place at Sheffield Arena. The children will travel to Sheffield for rehearsals during the day and then take part in the concert in the evening (concert times 7pm - 8.45pm) returning to school by coach after. For more information, please see https://www.youngvoices.co.uk/for-parents
Once a child has signed up for a session, we do ask that children stay committed to their activity for a term and attend each week. If for any reason they are not able to attend, please can you ensure that the activity leader is made aware.
As always, Infant children will need to be collected at the end of their after school activity. We recommend that Junior children are also picked up from their activity, but this is parental choice. Please indicate whether your Junior child will be collected or allowed to walk home on the ParentPay system when booking onto a club. Please ensure you are punctual when collecting your child at the end of the club. Should you be late on more than one occasion then your child will unfortunately not be able to attend the club.
Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher
EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AUTUMN TERM 2022
CLUB
YEAR
DAY AND TIME
WHO
Art
Y3/4
Monday 3.15-4.15pm
Mrs Cvijetic
£8.00 for the Autumn Term
Y3/4 Boys Football
Y3/4
Monday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Fell
Young Voices Choir
Y4/5/6
Monday 3.15-4.15pm
Mrs Bennett
Hockey
Y4/5/6
Monday 3.15-4.15pm
Miss Howlett
Y5/6 Boys Football
Y5/6
Monday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Spencer
Y1/2 Indoor Football
Y1/2
Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Jones
Games
Y1/2
Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mrs Elsagood & Miss King
Y3/4 Girls Football
Y3/4
Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Goodall
Y5/6 Girls Football
Y5/6
Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Leek
Sewing
Y5/6
Tuesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mrs Harling
£8.00 for the Autumn Term
Indoor Hockey
Y1/2
Wednesday 3.15-4.15pm
Mr Jones
Judo
Y1/2/3/4/5/6
Wednesday 3.15-4.30pm
Gooch Judo
£21.00 for the Autumn Term
Comic Book
*This club is a lunchtime club
Y4/5
Thursday 12.00-12.30pm
Mrs Marsh
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School closed on Monday 19th September 2022
Mon 12 Sep 2022As directed by the Government, Berkeley Primary will be closed on Monday 19th September 2022 when it is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's funeral.
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Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Fri 09 Sep 2022Dear Parents and Carers,
It is with great sadness that we hear of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She will be remembered for her inspirational dedication to the role she served. Our thoughts are with her family. I know this will be a sad time for our children, staff and families. Over the coming weeks we will be paying our respects as a school community.
Lots of children and families have been talking about this as they have come into school this morning. Today we will join together in an assembly to remember and celebrate our amazing Queen and to look forward to the future with King Charles III as our new monarch.
We will keep you informed as arrangements around this period of national mourning are given to us as a school.
If any member of our community needs support, please reach out to staff and those around you.
Best wishes
Anna Cvijetic
Headteacher
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Year 1 Parents- Bug Club Phonics
Thu 08 Sep 2022Welcome to Bug Club Phonics!
Dear Year 1 Parent or Carer,
Our school has recently acquired a reading programme called Bug Club Phonics that we’d like to share with you.
Below you will find key information about the scheme and how you can get involved. We hope that you and your child will love these books and enjoy reading them at home.
Learning to read
We have chosen to use the Bug Club Phonics programme to help your child learn to read. The programme follows an approach of synthesising phonemes associated with graphemes a child sees; or put another way, learning to read by blending the sounds associated with the letters a child sees. The programme is the product of extensive research on the best way to teach children how to read.
The Bug Club reading books that your child brings home are designed to support them in practising and consolidating the learning they have done at school. They also enable children to experience the pleasure and pride of reading their own books.
All the books in Bug Club Phonics have been finely-levelled to ensure that all children can read books at exactly the right level for them. What’s more, there are online versions for every printed title and a personalised website for each child.
Bug Club home reading books will be changed by the class teacher each week. Please return your child’s books each Monday. Children will receive 2 Bug Club books - the first based on the current week’s phonics learning, and a second that is linked to sounds that have been covered previously, in order to revisit prior learning. Please ensure that your child’s books are returned in a good, clean condition. Lost books will incur a charge as it is vital that we replace any lost and damaged books.
Using the printed books
Inside every Bug Club Phonics printed book there are notes to help you make the most of reading with your child.
Inside front cover: there are suggestions of things to do before your child starts reading, such as saying the sounds and practising blending them to make words as well as things to do whilst your child is reading to you; for example, checking their understanding of the story or information on the page.
Inside back cover: the activities here are to help your child consolidate what they have read and increase their fluency.
Using the online reading world If you have access to an internet connection, your child can enjoy reading Bug Club Phonics books online as well as in print. Each child has a unique homepage and can log into it by following these steps:
1. Go to www.activelearnprimary.co.uk
2. Enter the login details.
3. Your child’s homepage will appear.
Reading a book online
We allocate books to your child according to their reading levels. These books will appear in the ‘My Stuff’ area of their personal homepage.
The eBooks have three main additional features to help your child. Find them in the ‘Independent’ section of ‘My Stuff’.
· Phoneme pronunciation guide: click on the bug icon to hear some of the phonemes (sounds) in the book.
· Read to me: after your child has had a go at reading the book, you can click on this to hear the text read out loud e.g. to help your child with giving expression.
· Quiz question: click on the second bug icon within the book to answer a question designed to reinforce your child’s learning. Their teacher will receive information about attempted questions.
When your child has finished the book, clicked on the phoneme pronunciation guide and attempted the quiz question, he or she will earn ‘ActiveLearn Coins’. By reading more books, your child will earn enough coins to ‘buy’ a reward in one of the many reward schemes.
When your child has finished a book, it will move to ‘My Library’. Children can read these books again if they want to, or they can choose new books from ‘My Stuff’.
Sharing reading: When sharing a book with your child, try to take opportunities to talk about the book - before, during and after reading.
Before reading: look at the book cover and talk about your child’s expectations. Is the book likely to be fiction or nonfiction? Have you read other books together about these characters or by this author? What does your child think the book is going to be about?
While reading: support your child when unknown words need tackling: you can sound them out, split them into syllables, or identify suffixes and prefixes. Remind your child to listen to the words while reading them, to make sure that they make sense. Have a ‘meaning check’ every now and again to ensure that your child understands the text.
After reading: talk about the book. What was it about? Did it match your child’s expectations? Ask questions beginning with the words how and why to check that your child has been able to read between the lines. Ask whether anything seemed puzzling. Then ask your child to explain what the best and worst bits of the book were, and why.
Need help?
If your child is having trouble using the pupil world, help can be found in the Help Section of ActiveLearn Primary (in the top right-hand corner of the website) or ask their teacher.
Please note: We strongly recommend using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers with ActiveLearn. If you prefer to use Internet Explorer, please check you have at least IE9 in order for everything to work as it should.
Best wishes
Jayne Elsagood - Phonics lead
