Article 29
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
Dear Parents/carers,
It has been an exciting and action-packed 11 weeks at our primary school! The children have taken part in a wide range of experiences, from class assemblies to a fantastic trip to the Black Country Living Museum, and even an engaging Titanic workshop. Our after-school clubs have been buzzing with activity, and special events like World Book Day and Red Nose Day brought loads of fun, creativity, and smiles.
Year 6 had an unforgettable time on their residential trip, creating memories that will last a lifetime. Throughout it all, the children have continued to work hard and make excellent progress in their learning. It has truly been a busy and rewarding start to the year!
With 13 weeks remaining in this academic year, the summer term promises to be just as exciting, full of opportunities for learning, adventure, and celebration. We can’t wait to see what the coming weeks have in store!
Have a great Easter break, we hope the sun shines!
Mrs Crook and Miss Stanton
Goodbye and Good Luck Mrs Newman!
Goodbye and best of luck to Mrs Newman, who is leaving us today after seven wonderful years. Mrs Newman has taught classes, supported children’s learning, and been an integral part of our school community.
She is moving on to become a Learning Mentor for Teaching Assistants. We wish her every success in her new role and hope she enjoys this exciting next chapter.
She will be deeply missed by us all.
Goodbye Miss Morris
Goodbye and good luck to Miss Morris, who has now left our Nursery.
We know she has been an important part of the children’s experience, and we are very grateful for the care, commitment, and support she has given over the years. She will be greatly missed, and we wish her all the very best in her next chapter.
Mrs Garratt will now be taking over the group. As she has already been working closely with the children, we hope this will provide a sense of continuity and reassurance during this transition.
Staff Update
We would also like to warmly welcome back Miss Postings, who returned to school on 16th March following her maternity leave.
We are pleased to share that Mrs Dorricott will be returning to school after the Easter break.
TTRS Competition
Well done to all the children who took part in the Times Tables Rock Stars Competition. The competition ran for 5 days - beginning on Monday 9th March.
The finalists, who all performed in assembly, were Raajan, Jeevan, George, Finnley, Ethan, Grayson, Filip, Jacob, Mya and Lucas.
There were some fantastic scores achieved in the '1-minute shootout' in the Studio game setting. Here is the list of winners:
Year 2 - Raajan
Year 3 - Finnley
Year 4 - Ethan
Year 5 - Filip
Year 6 - Lucas
All of the finalists received a Maped pencil case filled with stationery. The winners also received a TTRS trophy to keep on their school desk until our next competition in June. Well done to our fastest TT Rock Star - Filip - who achieved an incredible 115 correct answers in 1 minute in the assembly! This works out at nearly 2 correct answers per second. Amazing!
Keep learning those Times Tables and improving your TTRS scores!
Mr Baker
Year 5 – High School Musical
Year 5 had a lovely time visiting Kingswinford School to watch a production of 'High School Musical'. It was amazing to see so many past pupils taking to the stage in the performance, and we definitely clapped and sang along! If you have tickets to see the show, you are in for a treat.
Abel C: "It was really good and I really liked the songs."
Leo: "I liked the different characters, the story line and the songs. They were really organised and performed well."
Gracie-Mae: "I really liked it because they were really good. They had practised lots! I liked their expressive voices. They weren't shy doing it in front of an audience."
Yr 5/6 Girls Football Tournament
The girls’ football team at Blandford Mere School recently took part in an exciting tournament held at Summerhill School. The team showed great determination, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout the competition, competing against other schools. Unfortunately, we came fourth place out of the four teams that entered. The girls should be congratulated for their hard work and commitment in training sessions and the two evenings of competition that they took part in. Well done to all the players for representing the school so proudly!
Condover Hall
Yr 6 children went on their Residential to Condover Hall in Shrewsbury (18th-20th March) with Miss Stanton, Mrs Oliver, Mr Baker, and Mrs Hart. The children had a wonderful time filled with fun and challenge. They enjoyed a range of activities which included, Abseiling, Trapeze, Zip Wire, Camp fire, Conquest, Archery and Mini Olympics and other fun filled opportunities. The children benefitted from the experience of being more independent and taking responsibility for themselves. I would like to thank the children and particularly the staff, who gave up their own family time to make this experience possible for the children. The teachers will be holding an assembly for parents on Friday 17th April at 2pm
Red Nose Day
You raised £310 this year – this is a fabulous amount. Thank you.
Titanic Workshop
Year 2 have well and truly "thrown themselves into" their learning about the Titanic over the past 5 weeks. Their knowledge and understanding of this horrific disaster have really blown the staff away. To round the topic off, they have enjoyed a dramatised workshop to combine all of their learning. We have hope you have enjoyed hearing the children's enthusiasm just as much as we have enjoyed instilling the children with everything, they know so far.
Lego Club
LEGO Club has been lots of fun, with the children really getting stuck in and using their creativity and imagination each week. We explored different themes, including building bridges and creating animals, and finished with a brilliant team effort to make a LEGO city together. The children worked really well as a group, sharing ideas and helping each other, and it’s been great to see how much they’ve enjoyed the sessions!
Miss Cleeton.
Year 1 Cathedral Trip
This week, Year 1 enjoyed a day filled with fun learning activities at the beautiful Worcester Cathedral. The children took part in a treasure hunt around the cathedral to find symbols of Christianity, enjoyed interactive workshops to tell the Easter story, created their own prayer stones and even made their own gargoyles from clay. The children represented Blanford Mere and our values beautifully and we were proud of their fantastic behaviour and attitude to learning all day.
Blanford Babies - Easter Crafts
Nursery, Reception and KS1 - Easter ‘Eggstravaganza’
Nursery, Reception and KS1 had a wonderful day of Easter activities. The children looked fantastic in their Easter bonnets – thank you for supporting this memorable occasion. The Easter Bunny was able to visit every class to make a special ‘egg’ delivery to every child in school and nursery provided by school.
HSA Easter Sweet Jar Guessing Game Winners:
Congratulations to our winners!
- Actual Number of Sweets in the Jar: 134
- The 1st and 2nd place winners initially guessed the same amount, so they were placed back in the draw.
Winners:
1st Place: Azariah (Guessed 135)
2nd Place: Ray (Guessed 135)
3rd Place: Maddison (Guessed 137)
Thank you to everyone who participated — we hope you all enjoyed the fun!
Football Club Year 4, 5, 6 Message from Tom Postings
Just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has attended my variety of after school clubs so far this year. It has been a pleasure to coach so many enthusiastic young children who have given up their time to develop their skills. They have shown great respect, perseverance and teamwork. Well done everyone. I look forward to seeing you all next term. Enjoy the Easter break.
Safeguarding
We all have a responsibility for the welfare of our children. If something concerns, you about the welfare of a child within school then please contact the class teacher in the first instance who will refer to the Schools Designated Safeguarding Leads within school. If you have concerns which are not school based, you can: Call the children's services referral and advice service on 0300 555 0050 during office hours (9am - 5pm). Out of office hours contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0300 555 8574 or in an emergency call 999. Alternatively, you can call ChildLine on 0800 1111 or email them by visiting https://www.childline.org.uk/
Blanford Mere Protection from extremism April 2026
A school’s responsibility to keep children safe from extremism, this is how we do this at Blanford Mere.
Action:
- Engage and challenge pupils and provide experience to broaden their horizons.
- Ensure pupils understand what it is to be an active citizen; with an understanding of the responsibility it brings.
- Allow pupils to hear and debate different points of view and in that way develop their resilience.
- Give pupils the mental agility, arguments and insight to see through and overcome the propaganda of extremist groups
What we do to support this:
Our school is a place that inspires and engages young minds. Our school believes in democracy and the laws of the country, where every individual has a voice that is heard and respected, no matter what their faith or belief. Our school values discussion, debate and learning from others.
Our school believes that division belongs in mathematics, not the classroom. There is no place for extremism in our school.
For more information regarding this matter and resources to support at home visit:
https://www.educateagainsthate.com/
School Meals
The cost of a school meal is usually reviewed in April each year. We have received notification from Dolce that the cost of a school meal will rise from 28th March 2026 (start of the summer term) to £3.15.
In their letter to us, Dolce have made it very clear that raising their prices currently is the last thing they want to do, however, with the rising costs of food currently they are at the point where they have no choice. Dolce is very aware of the financial pressures facing both parents and schools in these difficult times and were able to avoid a price increase last year. They have kept the increase as low as possible and this still represents good value for a main meal and pudding.
Year 6 SAT’s
I’m sure you and your Year 6 child are well aware that the SATs tests are quickly approaching (5 weeks after the Easter break). We are asking you to support school and your children in the following ways over the holidays, so that children have regular practice with concepts that have been taught throughout the year.
Over Easter -Things the children can do to help be prepared:
- Use their SATs folder and look at old papers that have been completed.
- Mathletics.
- TT Rockstars.
- Revise spelling lists in green spelling book (including Year 3/4 and 5/6 lists).
- Read daily.
- CGP books.
- Have a rest!
- Little and often is best – don’t cram the week before! Please remind them and encourage them.
Monday 13th April – Return to school – Summer uniform can be worn from today.
- Blanford Mere red polo shirt (or suitable alternative) and grey school skirt, pinafore or trousers.
- Red and white checked/striped dress
- Sensible black shoes and white socks (not trainers)
Or
- Blanford Mere red polo shirt or suitable alternative
- Grey shorts or trousers
- Sensible black shoes and grey socks (not black trainers)
Please remind children that they should not wear nail varnish or jewellery (other than a watch and/or stud earrings) for school. Don’t forget that if your child wishes to have their ears pierced the best time is beginning of the summer holidays as it is our policy that children cannot wear any kind of earrings during PE lessons.
Long hair should be tied up for school (not half up/down) this is for health and safety reasons. Please do not put large bows or decorations in your child’s hair – save these for special occasions. A simple hair band is sufficient. Tramlines are also not appropriate for school. Please support us and save this for the holidays.
Dates for the Diary 2026.
Friday 27th March – VIP Day. School closes for the Easter break.
Monday 13th April – Back to school. Summer Uniform. New Nursery Children begin.
Monday 13th – Friday 17th April March Shakespeare Week
Friday 17th April – 2pm Condover Hall Year 6 Assembly with Parents.
Tuesday 28th April – 9-10am Blanford Babies
Thursday 7th May – School closed – Polling Day
Monday 11th-14th May – Year 6 SATs week
Monday 18th May – Year 6 – Helping Hands.
Tuesday 19th May – 9-10am Blanford Babies
Tuesday 19th May – Year 5 My Mate Fancies You.
Thursday 21st May – VIP Day
Friday 22nd May – INSET Day – School closed to children.
Monday 1st June – Back to school.
Thursday 4th June – Rec – Year 6 Sports Day (Weather Dependant. Reserved date Thursday 11th June)
Friday 5th June – Year 4 SPARKS.
Wednesday 10th June – Nursery Sports Day.
Monday 8th – 19th June – Year 1 Phonics Check and Year 2 Re-check.
Thursday 18th June – Reception – Year 1 Parent Meeting. 3.30pm – more details to follow.
Thursday 25th June – Reception new intake parent meeting 3.30pm
Tuesday 30th June – 9-10am Blanford Babies.
Thursday 2nd July – Reports out to parents.
Friday 3rd July– TTRS Dress Up Day. More details to follow.
Monday 6th July – Transition Day – New Classes.
Wednesday 8th July - Parents Evening.
Friday 17th July. VIP Day - School closes for the summer break.
Tuesday 1st September 2026 – Return to school.
