Parents

Weekly Parent Bulletin - Friday 14th March 2025

Dear parents,

It's been a typically busy week at Avonwood!

Last week we requested feedback on our new e-bulletin, with an almost unanimous response of preferring our new version. We'll stick with this new format and continue to look for ways to improve this further. Thank you for your feedback.

Please can I remind parents of the importance of closely supervising children before and after school. In recent weeks we are finding friendship issues arising from interactions out on the playground before and after school, at a time when everyone should be supervised. We kindly ask parents to help us by heading straight off site at the end of the day, walking with children by their side. Your support in maintaining a calm start and end to the day helps set the tone for our school. #TeamAvonwood

My other plea this week is regarding the use of disabled bays in our car park. A number of families are dependent on these, yet some parents are choosing to park there without blue badges when dropping off early for Avonwood+ or collecting from after school clubs. With plenty of parking available at these times, please make the effort to park in another space nearby, always leaving these spaces for blue badge holders only.

Today Mrs Sharp officially finishes her Teaching Assistant role at Avonwood. Having been at our school for over 10 years, she'll be missed! Mrs Sharp has been an exceptionally thoughtful, caring and talented member of our team. The good news is she has decided to stay working on Thursdays in her ELSA work, so although she officially finishes her TA role today you'll still see her at Avonwood. We wish her the very best with her career change too!

Next Friday is Red Nose Day and we have decided to link this to one of our Earth Charter inspired events. With it marking 40 years of Red Nose Day, every class will be doing 40 of something. Children are invited to come to school next Friday in suitable non-uniform, with a voluntary £1 donation to the Red Nose Day charity.

Have a great weekend!

Mr Jackson

Whole School Reminders

Introducing Our New Avonwood SEND Parent Information Hub

Please take a look at our new Information Hub for parents that has a growing number of links, resources and information all about things SEND and additional needs. You will find information about upcoming parent support groups, activities in our local area for children with SEND, and links to local private assessors. There is information and helpful resources for different areas of need such as Dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, Speech and Language, Fine and Gross Motor Skills, Emotional Regulation and many more. This hub will be updated regularly with more resources and updated events. Click here.

PTA Meeting

The PTA team would like to invite everyone to their next meeting at The Outback in Southbourne this Tuesday 18th March 7:15pm. Don't worry if you cannot attend until later we would still love to see you. At the meeting staff will be presenting bids for discussion and the PTA team will be looking at fundrasing plans for the months ahead. Attending these meetings is a great way of getting involved in our community, helping Avonwood be a great place for all. Click here for the flyer.

Forest School Feedback Request from Mrs Wright

I am studying a degree in early childcare and for my dissertation am exploring the benefits that forest school has on education and wellbeing. I would really appreciate it if you could spare a few minutes to answer a quick questionnaire on your views - Link

Red Nose Day - Friday 21st March

Red Nose day will be launched as an Earth Charter Day on Friday 21st March. Bringing together the Avonwood values of Family, Past and Future. Pupils may attend in appropriate non-uniform with a voluntary £1 donation to this charity. Parents may donate online via parent pay or in cash on the door.

Weekly Year Group Updates

EYFS

Playground Supervision - A plea to all EYFS families to supervise children (and younger siblings) at drop off and pick up - they should not be climibing on or over our fences, or playing with the EYFS equipment. This helps us to keep everyone safe and protects our special EYFS learning area. Your close supervision during this time is key.
Spare Uniform - A reminder if yiu have borrowed any spare uniform to make sure this is returned as swiftly as possible - washed and ready for another child to borrow.
Spring in our Step - Don’t forget about our ‘Spring in our Step’ topic finale! This half-term is all about life cycles, signs of spring, planting and growing. To finish this topic, we would like to invite parents into school to join us for an afternoon of planting fun! The afternoon will include activities such as decorating pots, planting, making bird and butterfly feeders for our sensory garden. We would love it if you could join us during our continuous provision time on Thursday 3^rd April 2-2:45pm for this topic finale!
Donations - If you have any old wellies or plastic pots for planting, we would be very grateful for any donations. In addition, any empty plastic bottles for recycling are useful to create things such as butterfly and bird feeders. Many thanks.

Year 1

Year 1 Trip - Next Thursday (20th March), children can be dropped at their classroom from 8.20am so that we are ready to leave promptly at 8.40. They should wear their school uniform but can wear trainers, they should ensure they have a coat. If you have booked a school lunch for Thursday, then your child will be provided with a packed lunch. For those bringing lunch from home, please send this in a named carrier bag rather than in a lunchbox. A reminder to take care to avoid any allergens (advice here). You may want to send in an additional bottle of water (please name them). We aim to be back by 3.15pm. Please remember to give your child their medication if they suffer from travel sickness and give the return medicine to the class teacher.
Parent Phonics Workshop - A reminder to return any slips about attending the phonic screening workshop on 28th March to class teachers ASAP.

Year 2

Thank you for making such an effort with costumes for our Great Fire of London day, the children looked fantastic!

Year 3

Sleepover - We are still waiting for the last few sleepover forms to be returned, please send them in ASAP.
Swimming Questionnaires - These need to be returned by Friday 21st March.

Year 4

Rehearsal Day - Reminder of the Aladdin Rehearsals on Saturday 15^th March (tomorrow)
Aladdin performance date: 9.05 doors open on Wednesday 2^nd April. All families will have three tickets to this showing.
Homework - A reminder homework is set on Fridays and due in on Thursdays, this includes reading journals as well as the online tasks. Please ask staff if you have any questions about this.

Year 5

PE Days - From next week, please send your child to school in their PE kits on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Year 6

Mock SATs - A huge well done to all Year 6 children for doing such a top job of mock SATs week. They really did us proud! A big thank you to their families for your support and encouragement this week too.
Viking Day on Thursday 27th March - We encourage the children to dress up in viking inspired attire. If they do not have a costume, or would prefer not to wearone, they should wear dark coloured non uniform (not football kits etc) suitable for Drama workshops.