Brownmead Newsletter Spring 1 2015

Keep in Step
Brownmead Academy
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Newsletter
Spring Term No 1
Welcome back!
Attendance
I hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas
and New Year. We are now back into the working term and
the focus for everyone this half-term is to push further from
the solid base created in the Autumn Term. We were sad to
see Mrs Taroni leave, but after 11 years she deserved the
opportunity to take on a new role. As an interim measure Mrs
Green and Miss Broadhurst will take over SEN/Pastoral
responsibilities until a permanent appointment is made. If
your child is on the SEN register or is involved with other
agencies, for queries, please see either member of staff.
Congratulations to Year 4 for getting the highest
attendance for the month of December with 92% and
well done to Year 2 for week beginning 8th
December with 96.9% and Reception and Year 4 for
92.3% and Year 1 and Year 3 for 94.3% and 92.5 %
respectively for the week beginning 15th December..
These classes are moving along our new
attendance Grand Prix track. Keep it up.
Brownmead Creative Curriculum
As a new initiative at Brownmead Academy we are
introducing a creative curriculum across the whole school.
This will give all children the opportunity to develop and
enrich their learning through a variety of different subjects
and skills. This approach focuses on teaching a theme for a
whole term and will focus largely on history, geography, art,
PE, ICT and PHSE ensuring that the creative curriculum is
always evident in the classroom.
Themes covered for Spring term:
Reception:
Year 1 :
Year 2 :
Year 3 :
Year 4 :
Year 5 :
Year 6 :
Transport
Poles Apart
Indian Spice
Blast Off!
Roman Rule
Mexico and the Mayans
Rule Britannia
Classes will be sending home their own newsletters about
what is coming up this term.
Half Term Holiday Club
For the first time, we will be offering children the chance to
attend a holiday club. The holiday club will be run by Sports
Plus, not Brownmead Staff, and will be available for the full 5
days during half-term from 10-3pm. The children will be led
by fully qualified sports coaches and will take part in a variety
of different sports, leading to a presentation on the last
afternoon for all participants. A letter will be sent out shortly
giving further details. The school has subsidised this first club
that would normally cost £35 per child for the week. Please
look out for the letter soon if you are interested.
A big congratulations to Reception and Year 4
who were joint winners in our 2nd Attendance
Grand Prix. We are in the process of arranging
their prize of a trip to the cinema.
Swimming
Swimming starts again next Friday 16th January for
Year 6 and Year 4. Please remember that swimming
costumes/trunks plus a towel are required. All
earrings must be removed before school please.
If for any reason your child cannot do swimming any
week, please send a letter to the class teacher
informing them of the reason.
5-a-side Football
Towards the end of the Autumn term our Year 5
boys and girls 5-a-side football teams took part in an
inter school tournament at Washwood Heath
School. Many schools from the local area took part.
Brownmead played very well and every match was
very close. Well done to the boys team who came
second overall and to the girls team who came third.
We look forward to the next tournament.
Parents Evenings for Spring Term
Our Parents Evenings for Spring Term will be held
on Monday 9th February and Wednesday 11th
February from 4pm-6.30pm. Details will follow at a
later date.
Deputy Head
As you know, Mrs Green will be leaving us at the
end of the year to holiday when it is cheaper!
Before Christmas we appointed a new Deputy
Head Teacher who will start after the Easter
holiday. Mrs Cotterill-Carter will work alongside
Mrs Green for the Summer Term ensuring a
thorough transition into Brownmead. We look
forward to working with Mrs Cottterill-Carter in a
few months time.
School Council
The School Council have been busy taking part in
both interviews for the new Deputy Head teacher.
They have also met and discussed what they
believe makes Science teaching and learning
good. These ideas along with those of the staff
will form the basis of the Science Principles for
Teaching and Learning at Brownmead.
Uniform
We seem to be collecting a great deal of lost
property and many items have no names in.
Please label everything for your child, so if lost, it
can be returned.
We will put out all lost property in the hall on
Friday after school. If you know you have lost an
item please come and browse through.
Language of the Month
This month’s language of the
month is
Choir Performances
Our choir is always busy in the lead up towards
Christmas and this Christmas was no exception. They
took part in the Shard End Christmas Lights Festival
performing at All Saints Church for the general public
before performing at Cheshire Court Old People’s
home, an annual event..
This year for the first time we were asked to perform at
Solihull Hospital, in a ward for people recovering from
a stroke. It was a brilliant afternoon and the hospital
staff and patients really joined in the Christmas spirit.
Finally , again for the first time, we held a joint concert
with Hillstone Primary at All saints Church. This
concert included songs from both schools, as well as
joint performances and, of course, performances from
the joint staff choir of Hillstone and Brownmead. This
was a fantastic event and we are already thinking how
we can make it better for next year!
Thank you to the children of the choir for committing to
these events and a big thank you to the families for
your wonderful
support.
Nativity DVD’s
These will be available soon. We only recorded the
Wednesday afternoon performance. If you would like a
copy at £2.50, please pre-order at the office
Christmas Jumper Day
A big thank you to everyone who donated to Christmas
Jumper Day and helped to raise an amazing
£122.45
French.
For The Save The Children charity
Playground Leaders
During the Autumn term children from Year 6 have
been trained to be playground leaders. They have
learnt how to create fun and safe activities using P.E
equipment such as bats and balls, quoits and skipping
ropes. These activities, led by the Year 6 children,
have been shared with the younger children in the
school at lunch times. This has proven to be a great
success enjoyed by all involved. This term Year 5 are
learning to be playground leaders.
Christmas Fayre
Our first Christmas fayre was a big success. We would
like to thank all the parents involved for their time and
effort in helping us to raise
£1524.55
for much needed school funds. It was a very enjoyable
day for the children and a lovely start to Christmas.
Our next newsletter will be on Wednesday 21st January