Weekly Blog Friday 8th September 2023
Date: 8th Sep 2023 @ 11:16am
Welcome/Welcome Back!
It has been so lovely to welcome everyone back this week. All the children have settled in really well in their new classes and have blown their teachers away with their behaviour and attitude to their learning this week.
We have welcomed new children this week throughout school, including our new Nursery and Reception children. Parents/carers of these new children, we are so proud of how your children have settled in and just got on with things. They have made lots of new friends and have coped really well in their new environment and have already got used to the routines of our school day.
They have been amazing and we know they are all going to do great things here at Mayflower. We look forward to getting to know the children and their families over the coming weeks and months.
We would also like to welcome our new staff who started with us this week:
Mrs Ward Reception Teacher
Mrs Singh Year 1 Teacher
Miss Ridley Year 1 Teaching Assistant
Miss Scott Year 3 Teacher
Mrs Hollingworth Year 3 Teaching Assistant
We hope you have all had a good first week working at Bawtry Mayflower and we are happy to welcome you to our Mayflower family.
Goodbye (for now!) and good luck!
Next week is Mrs Birkinshaw's last week with us for a while, as she is starting her maternity leave. We hope you will join us in sending her all our love and best wishes as she prepares for the birth of her second child. We will miss you Mrs Birkinshaw and can't wait to meet your little one when they arrive!
Attendance
Every week in our Celebration Assembly, we celebrate the class who has achieved the highest attendance for that week. This week, Mrs Singh's class had the highest attendance with 99.47%. Well done Year 1! What a fantastic start to the new term
Please see below for the attendance figures for this week. The target attendance for all children is currently set at 97%.
Nursery - 94.03%
Reception - 99.32%
Year 1 Miss Singh - 99.47%
Year 2 Mrs Davies - 93.37%
Year 3 Miss Scott - 98.27%
Year 4 Mrs Wood - 95.60%
Year 5 Mrs Pickersgill - 97.55%
Year 6 Miss Dunn - 92.44%
Stars of the week
Each week in our Friday Celebration Assembly, we celebrate our stars of the week. Each class teacher chooses 2 children from their class each week who have really impressed them. Please see below for who has been chosen this week, together with the reason for them being chosen.
Nursery & Reception
Sophia in Nursery for a very settled start and making good friendships in her first week at school.
Fox in Reception for coming back with a good attitude to school and trying really hard to do what is asked of him.
Year 1
Henry and Seren - they have both had a fantastic first week back to school.
Henry has been so kind by sharing and letting other children join in the activities and has been extremely respectful to all teachers with his manners and willingness to learn.
Seren has been working so hard this week and has shown great listening skills. Seren has enjoyed making great use of our arts and craft area and has made a great effort in participating in our carpet time.
Year 2
Robyn - for an excellent start to Year 2. She is always respectful, kind and ready to learn.
Jacob - for a wonderful start to Year 2. He is always ready to learn and is applying all of the strategies he learned last year to his work.
Year 3
Jesse - James - for brilliant work in Maths and joining in class discussions using mathematical vocabulary.
Oscar F - for a great attitude to learning this week, especially his fantastic work in Maths.
Year 4
Joe - Joe has made a great start to Year 4. He has shown how responsible he is by helping in class and has worked hard in every lesson. Excellent Joe!
Ezamay - Ezamay has had a fantastic start to Year 4! She listens carefully and is following classroom instructions. Ezamay is following our Work Hard rule every single day!
Year 5
Caydon - Caydon has made a great start to the new school year. He is focussing on himself and is showing appropriate and acceptable behaviour in different situations. Caydon is making the right choices and is being respectful to those around him. Well done Caydon! Keep it up!
Gracie-Mae - Gracie-Mae has made a great start to the new school year. She demonstrates increasing confidence in new and unfamiliar situations and faces challenges with a positive attitude. Gracie-Mae has been working hard, using the resources that she has been given, to complete tasks with growing independence. Well done Gracie-Mae! Keep it up!
Year 6
Jack - I have been so impressed with Jack's attitude to his learning so far in Year 6. He has really thought about the attributes that we agreed as a class would be important for this year, and I have seen a huge improvement in his focus and attitude towards learning tasks. Keep this up Jack; I'm very proud of you.
Faith - Faith has had a fantastic start to Year 6. She has embodied the attributes that we decided as a class that we would strive to be this year and her determination and resilience to the learning demands placed upon her this week has been exemplary. With this fantastic attitude towards your learning, I'm sure that you'll have a very successful year.
Headteacher Award
Each week in our Celebration Assembly, Mrs Powell chooses someone who has really impressed her during the week and presents them with her Headteacher Award trophy. This week, Cohen in Year 5 received this award for always following the school rules and for always being so kind, caring and thoughtful.
Well done Cohen - you really deserve this award. You are a shining example to everyone in school.
Nut Free School
We currently have children throughout school with a range of allergies and are a nut free school. People who suffer from nut allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction.
If someone has a nut allergy, it is not just eating nuts that can cause a severe reaction, just being touched on the skin or smelling the breath of someone who has had nuts or a product containing nuts can trigger anaphylactic shock (which can cause breathing and swallowing difficulties).
Most staff members in the school are trained to use Epi-pens (an injection of adrenalin) which are required immediately if this happens. School also has emergency Epi-pens in the event that a child’s Epi-pen fails.
We cannot have nuts in school in any form so please can we ask that you do not put nut products in your child’s lunch box or that no nut products are brought into school as a snack.
For example:
- Peanut butter sandwiches
- Chocolate spreads
- Cereal bars
- Some granola bars
- Cakes that contain nuts
- Biscuits / Cookies that contain nuts
- Peanut butter cakes
This list is not exhaustive, so please check the packaging of products closely. We appreciate that this is an additional thing to check but we know that you will recognise the importance of it.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to a member of staff.
Reporting absences
If you need to report your child as being absent, please ensure that you phone the school office on 01302 710721 by 8.30am that morning please. The office staff are available to answer calls from 8am each day; however, if you would prefer to ring prior to 8am please leave a message on the answer machine and this will be picked up once the office staff arrive.
Please do not email to report your child's absence. We provide a timescale of 48 hours to read and respond to emails and whilst we do endeavour to deal with them well within that timescale, it is not always possible for the office staff to check emails prior to working on the registers for that day.
Class Updates
We are currently working with School Spider, the company who provide us with our website. They also use part of their system to allow staff in the classrooms to share updates of what is happening with parents/carers. We are very close now to being able to roll this system out and will be sending out communication regarding this later this half term.
School Website
We are currently working on updating our school website with information and photos. This will be completed as soon as possible, so please bear with us while we continue working on this.
Training days for this school year
Please see below the training days for this school year. Please note, the training day for 30th October is no longer taking place and has been replaced by a date further into the school year, so school will be open as normal on this day (this is the first day back after October half term).
Monday 4th September 2023
Monday 3rd June 2024
Tuesday 4th June 2024 (this is the changed date and replaces the training day which was planned for 30th October 2023)
Monday 22nd July 2024
Tuesday 23rd July 2024
These have been updated on the website calendar and a new school holiday calendar which will include these dates is available to view on the 'For Parents' section of our website by clicking on 'Term Dates'.
PE Days
The PE days are as follows:
Reception - Mondays and Wednesdays
Year 1 & Year 2 - Mondays and Tuesdays
Year 3 & Year 4 - Tuesdays and Thursdays
Year 5 & Year 6 - Tuesdays and Wednesdays
On PE days, we would like the children to come in their PE kits please. They will stay in their PE kits all day, so there is no need to send uniform in for them on their PE days.
Please note that when the children return to school after the October half term holiday, they will need to wear their school uniform every day and bring their PE kits with them to get changed into. We would appreciate it if the children could get into the habit of bringing their PE kits to school on a Monday and taking it home on a Friday please, as it may not always be possible for the office staff to take PE kits brought in after the start of the school day round to classrooms.
Payment for After School Clubs
If your child is taking part in one of our after school clubs this term and you haven't yet made the required payment, please ensure that you log in to ParentPay this weekend to make the payment.
School dinner payments for children in Year 3 and above
Children in Year 2 and below receive a free school meal as part of the Government's Universal Infant Free School Meal Initiative.
If your child has school dinners and is in Year 3 and above, payment for these should always be made in advance of the meals being taken. Payments can be made as far in advance as you wish. The amount paid then remains on your child's dinner money account on ParentPay and each time they have a school meal, the cost for that meal is deducted from the balance.
There is a facility to use Auto Top-Up on ParentPay, whereby you can set an automatic payment to the value of your choice to come out of your bank account when your child's dinner money account reaches a limit that you specify. This then ensures you don't have to remember to top up your child's dinner money account, as the system will do it automatically for you when required.
If you currently owe any dinner money, please ensure you log in to ParentPay as soon as possible please to clear the outstanding balance and then ensure that your child's dinner money account remains in credit going forward.
Music Lessons start next week
If your child is in Year 3 and above and you confirmed that they would like to take part or continue with music lessons, these will start next week as follows:
Woodwind - Thursdays - Mr Willis
Guitar - Fridays - Miss Hill
The first lesson is usually spent with the music tutors getting to know the children and talking them through how the lessons will work. Mr Willis will discuss with the children about loaning an instrument from the Music Hub, if this isn't something that you've sorted directly with the Music Hub already. A letter was emailed out last term to the parents/carers of those who had signed up for guitars, advising the type of guitar to purchase and also advising of a music book to purchase. Please don't worry if you haven't done this yet - it would be useful however if these items could be purchased ready for the lesson on 22nd September.
We have worked with Miss Hill and Mr Willis for many years and have a huge amount of respect for them. They are both brilliant with the children and have the knowledge and expertise to ensure your child will get the most out of their music lessons.
If you haven't yet paid for your child's music lessons, please ensure this is done by the extended deadline of 30th September.
Join us on Twitter
If you would like to join us on Twitter, please use the Twitter handle @BawtryMayflower
We post regularly about what is happening in school and also post from any events we attend.
PTA Crafternoons
Our PTA has organised some Crafternoons for our younger children - please see the poster below. If your child is in Year 1 or Year 2, they should have brought home a letter earlier this week regarding this event - if you would like them to attend the Crafternoon next Thursday, please ensure that your reply slip and £3 is returned to your child's teacher by next Tuesday, 12th September at the very latest please.
If your child is in Nursery or Reception, their Crafternoon will take place on Thursday 5th October. A letter will be coming home with your child in the next few weeks to enable you to book a place.
PTA Key Stage 2 Socials
Please see the poster below for dates and details of our PTA's Key Stage 2 socials which will take place later this month. Letters will be coming home with the Key Stage 2 children next week regarding this.
Messy Church is coming to Mayflower!
We are so excited to announce that St Nicholas' Messy Church will be held in school for the first time starting later this month. Further details will follow next week regarding this. Places will need to be booked in advance.
Welcome Assembly for new starters Wednesday 4th October
We would like to invite parents/carers of all our new children throughout school to a welcome assembly on Wednesday 4th October at 10am. This will be led by our Year 6 children.
Please come to the school office to sign in and then the office staff will direct you to where the assembly will take place. Please ensure you arrive on time so that the assembly can start promptly at 10am.
Open Days for Nursery and Reception ready for September 2024
We will be holding some open days for those parents/carers whose children will be starting with us in either Nursery or Reception in September 2024. The open days are as follows:
Thursday 28th September 1.30pm
Thursday 26th October at 1.30pm
Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 1.30pm
Please contact the school office on 01302 710721 or email admin@bawtrymayflower.doncaster.sch.uk if you would like to book a place at an open day or for more information about our wonderful school.
Secondary Applications for September 2024
If your child is currently in Year 6, you can now apply for a secondary school place for them for September 2024 as the application process is now open. If you live in the Doncaster Local Authority, please click on the following link to start your application.
https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/schools/secondary-admissions
If you live in another Local Authority, please contact your local School Admissions Team.
The deadline for secondary school applications is 31st October 2023, so don't forget to make sure you've completed your application and have a receipt before then. In the meantime, you can always check in with your local secondary school to see when their next open day is and pop in to visit before making your appplication.
It is really important to apply by this deadline, as Doncaster Council are aware that a number of schools will be full next September.
Applications for Nursery places for September 2024
If your child will be 3 years old on or before 31st August 2024, you can now apply for a nursery place for them for September 2024. If you live in the Doncaster Local Authority, please click on the following link to start your application.
https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/schools/nursery-admissions
If you live in another Local Authority, please contact your local School Admissions Team.
The closing date for nursery applications for September 2024 is 2nd October 2023.
Applications for Reception places for September 2024
If your child will be 4 years old on or before 31st August 2024, the application process to apply for a Reception place for them for September 2024 will be opening soon.
We will update parents/carers on a future blog when the application process becomes available.
The closing date for Reception applications for September 2024 is 15th January 2024.
Hoglets Wraparound Care
Please remember that if your child attends Hoglets in our upper hall, you should not park in either of the school car parks at any time. Thank you in advance for your co-operation with this.
PTA Colour Run
Our PTA wanted us to let everyone know that they raised £302 from the Colour Run which was held last term. Thanks again to everyone who came along and a massive thanks to our PTA and helpers for making this event so fabulous. It was a brilliant day which was enjoyed by everyone.
Congratulations!
Just before the summer holidays, Isabella in Year 2 travelled to Blackpool to take part in a dance spectacular at Blackpool's Winter Gardens. Isabella loves her dancing and was an absolute superstar on the stage. Her family were bursting with pride and no wonder! Such a big stage for someone so young, but it didn't bother Isabella in the slightest! Well done Isabella!
Lunch Menu for week commencing 11th September 2023
Please see the menu below for next week. There may need to be last minute changes to the menus on occasion, to take into account availability of items or delivery issues.
Diary Dates
Please see below our current diary dates. It may be that there are dates on here that involve your child that you haven't had any information for yet. Please don't worry, information will come out in plenty of time prior to the date concerned. Dates that have been added since the last blog are shown in bold.
2023
Thursday 14th September - woodwind lessons start today
Thursday 14th September - Key Stage 1 Crafternoon 3pm to 3.45pm (without parents)
Friday 15th September - guitar lessons start today
Thursday 21st September - Social event for Years 5&6 3pm to 4pm
Wednesday 27th September to Friday 29th September - Year 6 residential to Caythorpe Court PGL Centre
Thursday 28th September - Open Day for those with children starting nursery/reception in September 2024 1.30pm
Thursday 28th September - Social event for Years 3&4 3pm to 4pm
Monday 2nd October - closing date for Nursery applications for September 2024
Wednesday 4th October - Welcome Assembly for our new families 10am
Thursday 5th October - Foundation Crafternoon 3pm to 3.45pm (with parents)
Friday 20th October - last day before half term
Monday 23rd October to Friday 27th October - half term
Thursday 26th October - Open Day for those with children starting nursery/reception in September 2024 1.30pm
Monday 30th October - first day back after half term
Tuesday 31st October - closing date for Secondary applications for September 2024
Wednesday 1st November - individual/sibling photos (session for those with younger siblings etc to be held from 8am)
Thursday 16th November - flu vaccinations for all children except Nursery children
Thursday 23rd November - Open Day for those with children starting nursery/reception in September 2024 1.30pm
Thursday 30th November - flu vaccination catch up sessions for those children who weren't in on Thursday 16th November
Friday 22nd December - last day before Christmas holidays
Monday 25th December to Friday 5th January - Christmas holidays
2024
Monday 8th January - first day back after Christmas Holidays
Monday 15th January - closing date for Reception applications for September 2024
Friday 9th February - last day before half term
Monday 12th February to Friday 16th February - half term
Monday 19th February - first day back after half term
Wednesday 21st February - Young Voices concert at Sheffield Utilita Arena this evening for our choir children
Thursday 28th March - last day before Easter holidays
Friday 29th March - bank holiday - school closed
Monday 1st April to Friday 12th April - Easter holidays
Monday 6th May - bank holiday - school closed
Wednesday 15th May - class photos
Friday 24th May - last day before half term
Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May - half term
Monday 3rd June - Training Day - school is closed to pupils
Tuesday 4th June - Training Day - school is closed to pupils
Friday 19th July - last day before Summer holidays
Monday 22nd July - Training Day - school is closed to pupils
Tuesday 23rd July - Training Day - school is closed to pupils
