Article 2

All children have these rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what their parents do, what language they speak, what their religion is, whether they are a boy or a girl, what their culture is, whether they have a disability, whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.

Another academic year over and what a fantastic year it has been.  We have embedded our school values, introduced wonderful walking, legendary lines, tremendous transitions and the children have been offered a plethora of opportunities.  This has included visits, visitors, residential, a range of experiences such as Diwali, Blanford’s Got Talent, Christmas Church service, Sports Days, extra-curricular clubs, class assemblies…the list is endless!  We are delighted with our end of year outcomes in EYFS, Phonics, MTC and Year 6 – you can see the results on the school website.  All of this has been achieved by the whole school community working harmoniously together this enables children to be the best that they can be.

Attendance Winners

July attendance winners were Rec LK 96.73% Superb!  They wore their own clothes to school today.

Blanford's Got Talent

On the afternoon of Wednesday 3rd July, the whole school were invited to watch Blanford's Got Talent. It was a fantastic afternoon filled with enjoyment, entertainment and, of course, lots of talent! The performances included dancing, singing, piano playing, recorder playing, joke telling, comedy sketches, impressions, magic, gymnastics, and circus skills. Everyone did brilliantly and the standard set made it extremely difficult for our judges, Mrs Crook, Mrs Cameron and Paul Wilmott, to reach a decision.

In third place was Taiya (Reception) with a spectacular lyrical dance piece to music from Disney's Moana. A real superstar! 

Our runners-up were Annabelle and Ariell (5/6MB). Annabelle's incredible piano playing combined with Ariell's pitch perfect vocal made them a phenomenal duo. Well done girls!

Finishing in first place and taking home our first ever Blanford's Got Talent trophy was Sierra (3/4DD). Her confidence and love of magic truly shone through as she showcased three truly spellbinding tricks before our very eyes. Congratulations Sierra, a very deserving winner!

Staffing News

There will be a few staff changes at the end of this term.

• We say goodbye to Miss Barclay, who will be leaving us to relocate. We wish her every success in the next stage of her career.
• We say goodbye and good luck to Jim Cox, one of our cleaning team. Thank you and good luck for the future.
• We say thank you to Mrs Tighe, who has been supporting on a temporary basis in Nursery. She will still be part of our Lunchtime team.
• We welcome Mrs Garratt, who will be joining the nursery team in September, as well as working as a lunchtime supervisor.
• We welcome Miss Davies, who will be joining us from September. We are sure that you will make her feel extremely welcome. 

Our teaching team have been preparing for September. They have already spent time in school getting to know their new classes on ‘Transition Day’ and being part of the ‘handover’ of information to ensure continuity and a swift start to the new academic year. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our staff team who have worked relentlessly this year in their various roles, to make 2023-2024 year a happy, successful and productive one for the children.

Our final thanks, however, goes to you, our parents for supporting your child’s education and caring for your children, and to our superb children.  We look forward to helping them achieve even further next year and many more opportunities at Blanford Mere Primary School.

Goodbye Year 6

Congratulations to our Year 6 children on their brilliant SATs results! We are so proud of their hard work and achievements.  Thank you to the teachers for supporting the children with their learning and enabling them to achieve.

Year 6 what can we say? What a wonderful year group you have been. You’ve made us laugh, you’ve made us proud, and you’ve kept us busy! On to the next step of your journey – we know that you will all go on to do amazing things and we look forward to hearing news of your adventures and achievements! Good Luck in the future and pop back and see us some time!

Peer Supporters

Thank you for being wonderful role models and helping so many children. 

Year 6 Leavers Assembly

On Thursday 11^th July, Year 6 Leaver’s assembly ‘Aladdin Trouble’ was an excellent performance and greatly appreciated by their families.  Thank you to Mrs Oliver and Mrs Hart for their hard work and dedication in organising and preparing for the memorable occasion. We look forward to hearing about the children’s success in the future!  Good luck!

End of term Reward

On Friday 12^th July, the whole school from Nursery to Year 6, enjoyed an end of term treat with fun inflatables.  They also enjoyed the rest of the morning or afternoon as a reward for their good behaviour over the past term. The whole school enjoyed this treat.   Keep up the high standards of behaviour.

Year 6 Leavers Treat Day

Yesterday, Year 6 enjoyed their Year 6 Leavers Trip with a fun filled day at the Dudley Showcase Cinema followed by Bowling. They even had an extra treat of a demonstration from a West Midlands Police officer and his 2 dogs - Riot and Nate! This was truly enjoyed by staff and children; we wish Year 6 every success at secondary school.

'The Lost Words'

What a fantastic two weeks of learning the children have had using 'The Lost Words' culminating in a whole-school, sharing assembly. 

Nursery and reception have been learning about magpies and shared their fantastic interpretative dance. There have been magpies appearing all around the school. 

Year 1 built nests and created clay wrens in order to consolidate their clay skills. They also shared their own lyrics to the song "True Colours". 

Year 2 created their own Lost Words books, writing blurbs and decorating front covers. They created fact files about newts and gathered data to create tally charts and bar graphs.

Year 3/4 created some amazing fact files about kingfishers and newts. The school heard some superb performance poetry and some short stories.

Year 5/6 discovered that ravens are extremely intelligent whilst researching to create a fact file. They wrote their own acrostic poems to perform. Rhey also found out about otters and recorded voice overs to a clip from Our Planet.

All around the school, there has been a buzz and the vocabulary that your children have been learning and using is impressive. 

Well done, all!

Summer Reading Challenge 

Over the summer if you are looking for something fun to do why not take part in the Library Summer Reading Challenge ‘Marvellous Makers’.  This is a nationwide reading challenge which is being ran by the local libraries.  If you would like to join in, you can sign up using the following link:  https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/library-zone 

All of the instructions that you need are on the above web page.  Children will receive lots of fun reading challenges and certificates from the library when they join in.  The nearest library to school is Kingswinford Library, Market St, Kingswinford DY6 9LG.  It would be amazing to see any certificates that you get for taking part after the summer holidays.  

Reminders:

• All inhalers and epi-pens MUST be in school on the first day of term. Can I remind parents that although we do our best to look out for expiry dates, it is the responsibility of parents to ensure that these items are in date. If your child is registered as asthmatic, you should complete the form that has already been sent home with your child. Please send the completed form into school with two inhalers and a spacer.  These must be labelled clearly with your child’s name. Please send into school on Tuesday 3^rd September 2024. If your child has been diagnosed with asthma during the holiday please email info@blanford.dudley.sch.uk with your child’s name, year group and the subject as asthma.  We will then email you the appropriate form for you to complete and return with your child in September.
• Rec-Yr 2 bring a red book bag to school with their belongings. KS2 should have a small bag to bring their belongings to school – planner, reading and spelling book, is all that they need to carry. Please support us with this as we simply do NOT have room for large rucksacks.
• Children are not allowed to take part in PE unless all jewellery/earrings have been removed. If you wish your child to have their ears pierced, can I suggest that you have this done at the very beginning of the of the summer holiday so that their ears have the full six weeks to heal.
• Hairstyles: it is not suitable to return to school in September with shaven heads, tramlines or extreme colours. Please remind your children of the rules. Children who have long hair must tie it up.
• Could you please make sure that your child has all of their PE kit available in school every day from the first day of term as our timetable starts immediately. Although staff will let you know when the planned PE sessions are, there are often times when we have PE for classes or when teachers take advantage of good weather to do PE.
• Dogs are not allowed on the school premises at any time, and if you have a dog please do not obstruct the pathway/gate as a number of children, who are frightened of dogs, find this intimidating.
• In September, children may return in either summer or winter uniform depending upon both the weather and your preference. Please ensure that skirts are of an appropriate length, so that children feel comfortable moving around school.
• Dinners should be pre-paid, where applicable online using School Grid. All lunches should be pre-ordered on School Grid, regardless of year group.
• All children in Reception Class and KS1 receive free fruit each day for tuck and therefore do not need to bring any food from home. A reminder that all children in Year R, 1 and 2 will be entitled to a free school meal, we would like all children in these year groups (Universal Free School Meals) to take this option from September. Children entitled to Free School Meals through benefits should also take this option. Please remember to apply for free school meals if you are eligible as some of school funding depends on it.
• Children in KS2 should also bring a piece of fruit for break – Not healthy snack bars or crisps, chocolate please.) KS2 children: May we remind you that we operate a ‘healthy tuck’ policy. Since schools are now subject to strict guidelines about the type of food that is allowed/ available during the school day, we hope that parents will support our efforts to encourage children to make healthy choices. For parents of current Year 2 in particular, this is a real opportunity to continue the good habits established in KS1 where fruit has always been offered as the only choice at playtime. We also encourage children to bring in healthy lunchboxes.
• Children should only bring a filled water bottle (not squash – see healthy tuck policy on the website). This needs to be named please so that children can easily recognise their own bottle and do not touch or drink out of bottles belonging to other children.

Attendance/Absence and Holidays in Term Time:

Attendance in school is compulsory.

Don’t forget that our policy on attendance, reporting children’s absences and holidays in term time is on the school website. If children are too ill to attend school then parents must phone the school office by 9.05a.m. to let us know the reason why children are not in school—unexplained absences are recorded as “unauthorised”. It is then your responsibility to ring school before 9.05am on any future days of illness, so our registers are kept up to date.  Our policy reflects the government’s stance on holidays in term time.

Dudley Education Investigation Service are issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (fines) for a leave of absence in term time which is for a period of 5 days (10 sessions) or more or are being prosecuted. Please can parents be aware of this information when booking any holidays, trips etc.

Holiday Dates:

A reminder that we break up for the summer holidays on today – Friday 19th July. School re-opens for the children on Tuesday 3rd September 2024.

Please familiarise yourself with the information about start/end times and entrances/exits for your child(ren), that was sent out to all parents in a newsletter on Thursday 18th July 2024.  This can be found on the website in the ‘Newsletter’ tab.

Dates for the diary

Friday 19^th July – Break Up for summer. 

Monday 2^nd September – INSET Day – school closed to pupils.

Tuesday 3^rd September – Children return to school – usual time.

Wednesday 11^th September – ‘Meet the teacher’ Parent Meeting.  Save the date.  More details to follow.

Tuesday 24^th September – 9am – 10am Blanford Babies

Friday 27^th September Friday 27th September – Macmillan Coffee Morning

Help us to make this event extra special by joining us for a coffee/tea and a slice of cake – only £2.00 donation.  Everybody welcome 9.00am – 10.15am.  Music Club will be singing throughout the morning too. 

We are asking for your help by donating cakes either home cooked or shop bought. Please send these in with children on Thursday 26th or Friday 27th. We are asking children to wear their own clothes and make a minimum donation of a £1 via School Money. They will receive and drink and a treat. Let’s try and beat last year’s amazing total.

In September, tickets for the coffee morning will be available in the School Money ‘Shop’ – please purchase as many tickets as you require by adding them to the basket.  We will not issue ticket.

In addition, for those who wish to make a charitable donation to Macmillan Cancer Research, there will be a voluntary payment option available on your child’s School Money.  You can donate as much or as little as you like, with the ability to enter and pay any amount over the minimum specified. Again, this payment will be available when we return September.  If you’d like to Gift Aid your donation, we will ask you to complete the Gift Aid form at the coffee morning.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept cash, we are a cashless school, so are unable to accept cash.

Wednesday 16^th and Thursday 17^th October – Parents evening

Tuesday 22^nd October - 9am – 10am Blanford Babies

Thursday 24^th October – Diwali Day – more details to follow.  Children break up for half term at the usual time.

Friday 25^th October – INSET Day – school closed to children.

Monday 4^th November – Children return to school at the usual time.

Monday 11^th November – Anti- bullying week

Friday 15^th November – Yr 3 Bully 4 U

Monday 18^th November – Year 5/6 – Anne Frank Trust Day.  More details to follow.

Wednesday 20^th November – World Children’s Day – Unicef - more details to follow.

Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to welcoming you back to school in September.

Mrs Crook and Miss Stanton

Head teacher and Deputy head.