Bugbrooke Community Primary School
Newsletter 1
Friday 16 September 2016
Welcome back!
This is the first of our newsletters which will be sent out fortnightly on a Friday. We know that good
communication is crucial and are going to focus on improving this. Initially we will send paper copies
of letters as well as emailing them and putting them on our website. The dual system is because many
people have not yet activated their Parentmail account. As soon as possible we would like to reduce
the paper copies to save time, money and resources, but we want to make sure you are getting all the
information we send out. Please give the office or Mrs Bramble feedback on any elements of
communication that you would like us to address.
Lots of new faces!
We are delighted to have some new members of staff: Mrs Civil in Reception, Miss Ovey and Mrs
Smith in Year 1//2, and Miss Cross in Year 3 /4. If you are not sure who they are, their pictures are on
the website! We also have 41 new reception children who are settling brilliantly and new children in
most of our other classes. We are enjoying getting to know you all and already it is hard to imagine
school without you here! We hope you will all be happy at Bugbrooke School.
School Building and Grounds
Over the summer holidays the builders were busy again. They have refurbished some of our toilets,
which look fantastic. We will continue with a rolling programme of improvement, tackling each block
as we can afford it. We also remodelled the school office, which is now brighter and more welcoming.
Thank you all for your positive comments – it is amazing what a difference taking a wall down can
make!
Looking forward, in October we begin work on a project to build an adventure playground and two
outdoor shelters. Photographs of the plans will be available shortly on the Healthy Schools tab on our
website.
We have been incredibly lucky to have been successful in our first application to the Tesco’s Bags of
Help scheme, where £10,000 will go towards the cost of the playground. In addition Bugbrooke Parish
Council have donated £500, the Friends of Bugbrooke School have donated £4000, and the Healthier
Child Project have donated £2500. Huge thanks to everyone for making this possible.
Our luck continues as at the same
time two Outdoor Shelters will
be installed into the playground
and field. We are extremely
grateful to the Big Lottery Fund
who granted us £10,000 for the
purchase and installation of
these incredibly useful spaces
and can’t wait to start using
them. We now need to extend
the seating areas outside for
those children who want
somewhere quiet to relax at
break and lunchtimes.
We have not finished! The next stage of the project will be to “rescue” overgrown areas of our garden
and turn them into productive growing areas and a calm, sensory garden. The plans for these are still
in the early stages as they will be dependent on funding, but we have already put in applications for
grants. The most immediate application relies on your support.
We have been successful in our bid for a second Tesco’s Bags of Help Award. Voting will take place in
Daventry Superstore, Ashby Fields Express and Weedon High Street Express from 26th September to
9th October to decide whether we will be awarded £8,000, £10,000m or £12,000. This will go towards
revamping our garden to make a sensory garden and growing area. Please follow the link on the
Healthy Schools tab of our information about this scheme which uses the proceeds from the 5p charge
on carrier bags to support projects in the local community.
Out of School Club
We have been extremely lucky to be able to move the Out of School Club into the building that was
the Children’s Centre. They now have three separate rooms as well as outdoor space and it is
fantastic! Only when we see how relaxed the children are in the different areas of the club, we realise
how we had outgrown our old area! We are able to take more children in the new space, so if you
require any sessions for your children please ask at the office.
Lunches
Our new school lunches taste much better and there is far less waste. Children are enjoying them and
like the increased choice. We are aware that there were some problems at the beginning of term
ordering meals and the systems are different (you deal directly with Kingswood, the provider), but we
do hope more children will give the meals a try. There are five choices each day and the portions
increase as the children get older so they all have enough to eat. Meals for all children in Reception
and Years 1 & 2 are free. It has been calculated this can save you up to £300 a year based on a typical
packed lunch. For years 3, 4, 5 & 6 the meals cost £2.30 a day, but for families with three children
there is a special deal which means you only pay for 2 meals. This applies even if you have younger
children whose meals are free.
Nicki, our new cook, is happy to talk to you about the lunches if you wish to meet her.
Friends of Bugbrooke School
It was great to see new faces at the first FOBS meeting. They will
be sending out a newsletter shortly, but we wanted you to put
two dates in your diary:
Friday 14 October
FOBS School Disco
Friday 9 December
Christmas Fair.
Parking and road safety
Already we have had complaints about the way parents are parking around school. Residents are
having their driveways blocked and people are parking on the zig-zag lines. We are concerned that
there is going to be an accident. Please park in the car park of The Bakers Arms if there are no safe
places on the road. Thank you for your support in keeping our children safe.
Would you like to help in school?
Volunteers who come in to school make a huge difference to our children’s learning and we would
love to have more people coming in. There is a wide range of tasks that need to be done and we are
happy to talk to you about what you would enjoy doing and where you would like to be. Please speak
to the class teachers or the school office if you have some spare time – school is a happy place to be
and we are sure you would enjoy it.
Coming up
A list of dates for the term and details of school photographs are being sent home with this letter.
Further information about what we are doing will follow closer to each event.