Berryfields Bugle Issue 6

Dear Parents Diary Dates As we head towards the Spring half-term break, there is certainly a great deal going on in school. Art Week 2016 began in earnest on Wednesday with the arrival of our Artist in Resi- dence Pippa North who is an experienced community artist who is working in school on behalf of Queens Park Arts Centre in . She brought with her, her mobile in- stallation the WanderHouse and led sessions in the community suite with the children during the day and with families after school (pictured below). Pippa worked with us previously, in 2015, helping us to create a storytelling carpet, that can still be seen around school, from felt berries, fruit and leaves. This year our art week is entitled Windows and Woodlands and is an exploration of woodland and trees, sometimes viewed through windows, and draws inspiration from the work of Austrian artists Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Gustav Klimt. Pippa will be leading workshops throughout the school up to the half term break with each class as we embark on our next collaborative artwork the Tree of a Thousand Songs. Please do come and see some of the artwork produced during art week after school on Thursday 11 February, before school closes for the half-term break. Our informal art exhibition will take place upstairs in one of the spare Key Stage 2 classrooms and can be visited before, during or after the FoBS Valentine’s Discos.

Other events for parents so far this term have included the exhibition of Tell Me a Story work that took place alongside the WanderHouse workshop on Wednesday and the second in our series of maths workshops for parents. A Powerpoint presentation and other materials from this and previous workshops are available to download on our website in the Berryfields Parents pages under Support for Parents. http://www.theacademy.me/page/?title=Support+for+Parents&pid=131 Next half term we are looking forward to a range of events, including:  World Book Day, when the children will be invited to come to school dressed as a Julia Donaldson Book Character in return for donating a book (new or nearly new) to our school library, or bringing a donation towards the library fund.

Yours faithfully, Jonathan Walker, Headteacher

Berryfields Church of Primary School—Part of the Academy Join us on the journey. Achieve today; amaze tomorrow. Community Focus

Healthy Living Supporting Families

Next Tuesday, 9 February, has been designated Safer For the first time this year, we will be sending home a mid- Internet Day and we have created a new Staying Safe page year report for each pupil. The report comes out next within the pupil pages of our school website. Please do week and will briefly summarise your child’s achievement take some time to have a look at it. in terms of their attainment (whether or not they have reached the expected level), their progress (how rapidly http://www.theacademy.me/page/? they are moving from one level to the next) and their title=Staying+Safe&pid=296 attitude to learning; as well as giving curriculum targets for next half-term. On the page, parents and pupils can follow a number of links to other websites that will help you and your child to We do hope the reports will provide a useful summary for think about our children can keep themselves safe from parents and there will be an opportunity to discuss your harm. This includes internet safety as well as other risks child’s achievements and next steps in the parent and hazards in society at large. consultations which take place the week after the half- term break on 23 and 25 February. I would particularly like to draw your attention to the Click CEOP button on the webpage which provides a direct link We look forward to seeing parents at the consultations. to Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre where To book their preferred time slot, parents should parents and children can seek advice about or report complete the return slip on the parent consultation letter suspected criminal activity that may be taking place which they should have received together with this online. newsletter .

Attendance and Punctuality

Please look carefully at the attendance percentage given

on your child’s mid-year report next week. We have also included a copy of Digital Parenting, a We expect all pupils to have good attendance, which is magazine aimed at helping parents to understand how considered to be between 96 and 100% Those with less they can keep their children safe online, with this than 90% attendance are considered to be persistently newsletter. We hope that all parents will read it and find it useful in helping them to guide their children’s screen absent and are expected to make a significant improvement in the second half of the school year.

For support and advice please speak to your child’s teacher or contact our Home-School Link Worker, Miss Berryfields Church of England Primary School Abbie Blanks. Celebrating Achievement John Fitzjohn Avenue, Aylesbury , HP18 0FG Thank you to staff and children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who have taken part in multi sports events and 01296 674263 competitions this term with other schools in Aylesbury. [email protected] Some of our Year 3 and 4 pupils will be participating in a basketball tournament on 7 March. And finally...please note