Balsall Common Primary School

The read-a-thon raised a total of £916!! We will be donating all of this to Children’s hospitals and have also presented four books to children who were particularly successful with their reading campaign, namely Sara A RC, Christopher MC 1B, Isabella W 5P and Thomas G 4D. Many thanks indeed for supporting your children with this endeavour.

Our annual Egyptian Day, linked to the Year 4 history topic really brings that period to life. The children, and the adults, looked fabulous in their Egyptian garb, taking part in workshops that allowed the children to experience the typicality of Egyptian life. Many thanks indeed to the Year 4 teaching team for their organisation, to all of the children for entering into the spirit of the day and, of course, to all those adults who gave up their time to support this event.

Before-school chess club is cancelled this week. No chess on Friday 23rd November.

Thank you to Mrs Clark who volunteered the services of 4C to talk briefly about the end of WWI and sing together to celebrate Armistice Day. Well done to the class for a super few minutes’ commemoration of an extremely important event in history. Lest we Forget.

Our Forest Area is now underway, being created at the bottom of the school field; the nursery kitchen has been refurbished; the replacement of all of the school windows has begun, and is scheduled to complete in February.

Our swim coach, Mr Bird, swam in the British Masters Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield. Mr Bird is now Champion of the UK, in his age group, for the 200m Backstroke, and managed second place, again in the UK, for the 100m Backstroke. The coaching of your children in swimming is in very good hands. Well done Mr Bird!

Children and staff in Year 6 dressed to impress as Victorians, experiencing some specific elements of Victorian Life in a fun and illuminating way. Many thanks Year 6 teachers, parents and children for entering into the spirit of Victorian Adventure!

Well done to our Year 6 footballers who progressed to the next round of the Schools Cup with a 1-0 home win against Coleshill before half-term. Mikey R fired in from distance for the only goal of the game, whilst Man of the Match, Oliver M, was outstanding. Well done to Henry J-B on making his debut, and many thanks to Mr Green and all those who supported this event.

Mrs M Brown has been very busy researching and purchasing equipment that can be used by the children during ‘wet play’. She has also been researching, and arranging the fitting lots of playground markings. None of this would have been possible without YOU and the PTA! This is because the PTA made clear that the money they were raising at the Summer Gala would be used for these items, and YOU attended, spent money and……look what you have achieved for the children. Thank you all so much

Next Friday (16th November) is Children in Need day. We will once again be raising money for this cause and children can come to school wearing something spotty or a pair of Pudsey ears. This is not a full non-school uniform day, children still need to wear normal uniform but supplemented by a bit of spotty creativity!

New Forest Area and the DFE Good morning all. Our work on the new forest area is progressing well. We have a wild life pond within the area and will be impressing upon the children that they must NOT enter this area unaccompanied because of potential danger near water. Signs will be going up imminently, but I wanted you to know in advance. In addtion, we have received a letter from the DFE, attached, which celebrates the achivement of last year's Year 1 children in their phon...ics screening check. Phonics work is cruicial to the development of reading and we take our responsibility very seriously. Many congratulations to the Early Years and Year 1 teaching teams for this excellent outcome, and to all of you for your continued support with phonics homework. Together we are making a real difference to the life chances of the children in our school.
See More

As part of the build up to Armistice Day on Sunday we are, as usual, selling poppies in school. Designated Y6 pupils are selling direct to classes. As well as the good old fashioned poppy, we also have a range of other items which you may have seen in shops and supermarkets - bracelets and wrist bands and other more 'fancy' items. These are for sale direct from the school office so if pupils wish to purchase these they, or yourselves as parents, can come to the office (at a suitable time) to purchase.

The Mayor of Solihull popped out to meet Mikey in school a couple of weeks ago to see how the money he has been raising is being used for the benefit of all children in school. Thank you Mikey for your amazing work!

Morning all Please do not park where you know you shouldn't! The yellow lines outside the school are there for the safety of the children, rather than for your convenience when dropping children off! Please be sensible!

Very well done indeed to Max H who has had a spectacular IAME Bambino Class season in The British Kart Championship. In the final round of the Championship, Max put in a magnificent performance to finish 4th overall....and set the record for the fastest lap time of that day. Max now moves from the 3.5bh Bambino Class, into the 8hp Cadet Class, which can race at speeds up to 60mph! Everyone is very proud of him and wishes him all the very best for the forthcoming season.

Just before half term, the St. Martins Biathlon saw BCPS go head to head with St. Martins School where BCPS swimmers put in a good show of speed and stamina. The biathlon comprised a 50m swim, followed by an 800m run, with Jessica L posting outstanding times. Final scores were BCPS 4650 points, St. Martins 4836 points. So close - well done to everyone that took part, and many thanks to parents and Mr Bird!
In addition, our footballers played Solihull School and our Tag Rugby... team played Bablake bringing the total number of children involved in competitive sports last week to 30!
The Year 3 boys were unbelievable against Solihull School, winning 5-1 and just missing out 6-5 in an exciting game. All 11 boys were fantastic and deserve so much praise, with Jack S being a shining example.
The theme of Year 3 continued with a visit to Bablake for our first tag rugby match of the year. Although not matching our hosts for scoring, the team was a credit to the school with captain Sean K leading from the front. Well done to every single competitor, and thank you Mr Green.
See More

Good evening all. I hope the half term has gone as smoothly as possible. We are looking forward to welcoming the children back tomorrow. Clubs all carry on from tomorrow, as they did before the half term. Starting tomorrow, the children in Key Stage 2 will be able to enter the school from 8.45am. This is a trial for this half term. See you all in the morning!... G. Burgess
See More

Don’t forget we’re back to school tomorrow, we hope you have had a lovely half term.