Air Balloon Hill Primary School Newsletter No: 38 19th July 2019

School Telephone No. 0117 903 0077 Website: www.abhps.com

Everyone can achieve. Everyone can learn. Everyone belongs.

Hello,

And so the end of another year has arrived! It has been a really great year at Air Balloon and I would like to thank everyone for making it so enjoyable. We end the year with some positive news about our outcomes for children. I am really pleased that our children are achieving in line with the national average for the second year running. A big thank you to everyone who has worked hard this year (and in previous years) to make this happen. You can see our end of year outcomes in the table below.

But, school really isn’t just about test results. When I’m out and about around the school, it is seeing the children happy in their work and play that reminds me why we’re all here. As we say farewell to our Year 6 children, who are off to start a new journey at secondary school, it is with a great feeling of pride that we see just how ready they are for their next challenge.

Best of luck children and thank you for the many memories we shall have forever. Don’t be strangers!

I hope you all enjoy the summer holiday and I look forward to welcoming you back to Air Balloon in the autumn.

Thank you,

Tim Browse

The Long Goodbye

This year, we are saying farewell to some fantastic members of staff who are either moving to pastures new or who are retiring.

Miss Campbell

Miss Campbell has been teaching in Bristol for eighteen years and has been a familiar face at Air Balloon for twelve of them. So many fond memories of her time here have been shared by adults and children alike. Such as her calm and steady support for the Year 2 team last year, her enthusiasm for ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ at the school May Day event and her support for several of our newly qualified teachers over the years. I can certainly attest to Miss Campbell’s ability to make new members of staff feel welcome - during my first week, she awarded me a ‘well done on your first week at a new school’ certificate in celebration assembly. Miss Campbell will be missed by everyone and we wish her a very happy retirement.

Ms Rooney

Ms Rooney is also retiring at the end of the year after an impressive 20 years of teaching in Bristol and, identically to Miss Campbell, has been at Air Balloon since 2007. She has been our resident reading expert who, according to the children, has a story for every occasion. She is creative, always willing to help and any child who has worked with her will know that she has a great sense of humour. Many of you, whose children have worked with Ms Rooney, will know all this of course, but did you know she used to be a bus driver? Thought not! We will really miss Ms Rooney at Air Balloon and we wish her well as she enjoys her retirement from teaching.

Have you registered for ParentMail yet? It is the best way to pick up school messages. You can download the App for free. For more information or for a copy of the registration details, please ask at the school office.

Mrs Noakes

Another Air Balloon legend: Mrs Noakes has been with us for over seven years. Known by staff for her cake baking talents as much as she is for her care and support for children. Mrs Noakes has supported many of our children through primary school. She is unflappable and is always kind and caring to those she works with. I know that many children, especially those in Year 6, will want to join me and the staff in wishing Mrs Noakes a happy and well-deserved retirement.

Mr Bennett

Caretaker extraordinaire, Mr Bennett! For the last five years, Mr Bennett has been a stalwart member of the site team. He is calm, cool and collected and always has a smile on his face come rain, wind, snow or shine (although especially when the sun is shining!) He will be greatly missed by all the staff and children at Air Balloon, especially by our site manager Mr Lea and his caretaking compadre Mr Murphy. All the best, Dave. Think of us when you’re sunning yourself in your caravan with your family!

Fond Farewells

We are also saying farewell to one of our Year 1 teachers, Mrs Butcher, who is leaving Air Balloon at the end of the year. Mrs Butcher has been a great support in

Year 1 and will be fondly remembered by all of those children whom she has taught over the last two years.

Miss Curnock has been a superstar addition to the Air Balloon team. Happy to teach in any class, she has really put her heart and soul into teaching at Air Balloon and we will all really miss her – especially the children in Sky class who have benefitted from her maternity cover of both Mrs Watton and Mrs Monk.

In Year 6, we are saying goodbye and good luck to Mrs Mathieson who has been teaching Comet class to cover Miss Huish’s maternity. It’s not an easy thing to take over a Year 6 class but Mrs Mathieson should be very proud of her achievements this year. All the best for your future teaching career Mrs Mathieson from the whole Air Balloon team.

We are also saying farewell and best of luck to some of our fantastic support staff who have helped so many children this year.

Miss Lavandeira Facal has been a supportive face for lots of children this year especially in Year 5 and Sirius class. She will be greatly missed by children and staff alike who have benefitted from her kindness and support throughout the year.

Mrs Petrenko, who has supported numerous groups of children in Years 3 and 4, is also leaving us at the end of the year. The children will really miss her and I know that they wish her well.

Mrs Kaur who has supported some of our youngest children in Reception is also leaving for pastures new. Thank you for all of your hard work over the years – the children will never forget your fantastic Diwali assemblies, they were inspiring!

Mr Hodgson who has been a supportive force in Year 5 and helped many children throughout the year so that they are ready to learn. All the best Mr Hodgson, it’s been so great having you work at Air Balloon, all the best for your future.

Also, we are saying a farewell (of sorts) to Karen Manning who has been one of our friendly SMSAs during lunchtimes. Karen is leaving this post to concentrate on her fantastic charity work. She will still be working at Space Cadets though, so many of you will still see her, or work with her, around Air Balloon.

It is always sad to say goodbye to people who have worked so hard to make Air Balloon the great school that it is. I sincerely thank every one of them for their dedication right to the end. It was a pleasure to have you on our team and I wish all of you the very best for your futures.

Best Class Attendance of the week

This week’s winners are:

Year 2/3 Hall: Discovery 1 00% PE Hall: Aurora 99. 1 8% Dining Hall: Comet 97. 82%

Attendance for the week = 94.12% that’s 2.88% below our target of 97%.

Term Dates for 2019-2020

Term 1 - Monday 2nd September to Friday 25th October 2019. Inset days - Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September.

Term 2 - Monday 4th November to Friday 20th December 201 9.

Term 3 - Monday 6th January to 1 4th February 2020. Inset Day - Monday 6th January.

Term 4 - Monday 24th February to Friday 3rd April 2020. Inset Day - Friday 13th March.

Term 5 - Monday 20th April to Friday 22nd May 2020. Term 6 - Monday 1 st June to Monday 20th July 2020. Inset Day - Monday 20th July.

Start times and where to line-up in the mornings

Just a quick reminder about where to line-up in the mornings:

Reception and year 1 - enter the classroom through the external classroom doors.

Year 2 - the front yard (by the main entrance).

Year 3 - the middle playground.

Years 4 and 5 - the front playground.

Year 6 - bottom end of the middle playground. The school site opens at 8:30am to allow children to enter the playground and socialise with their friends before lining up.

Doors into the school open at 8:40am. Children should line up between 8:35am and 8:45am, where teachers will be available to talk to parents/carers. At 8:45 teachers will take the children into class .

Registers are taken at 8:50am - after this children arriving will be marked as late and must sign in at the school office.

Parents’ Evenings

Date for your diary - Parents’ evenings will be held on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd October. More details to follow in Term 1.

Team Points

1st - Rowling (45) 2nd - Brunel (39) 3rd - Banksy (37) 4th - Dixie (27)

The final results for the year are:

1st - Dixie (1895) 2nd - Rowling (1780) 3rd - Brunel (1632) 4th - Banksy (1410)

Congratulations to everyone in Dixie for being awarded the most team points throughout the year.

Music News

A big ‘well done’ to all the children of the Key Stage 2 choir who were amazingly focussed at our rehearsal and performed with confidence at the concert last Friday evening. A special mention to Maria who did an incredible job as the soloist in ‘A Million Dreams’.

All music clubs have now finished for the term and will begin again in September. The following clubs will be available free to all: KS1 Choir, KS2 Choir, band, recorder club (beginners and improvers), steel pans and school band. A letter inviting you to sign your children up will be sent via ParentMail at the beginning of next term..

Have a great summer!

Miss Sadler

Netball News

Air Balloon Hill In-House Tournament

A fantastic afternoon of netball was had by all on Thursday 11th July 2019. Four teams went head to head to play for the winning title.

Throughout each game, the defence was intense, there was excellent pressure from attack and over 50 goals were scored. Each team had a competitive edge but also showed true sportsmanship.

1st – Ball Hawks 2nd Basket Hounds 3rd – Shooting Stars 4th – Hot Shots

Congratulations to all of the players.

A BIG thank you to Mama B, Mrs Penney and Mrs Noakes, all of the parents/carers and our team sponsors, Leeds Building Society. Tuesday 16th July 2019

Air Balloon Hill (Development) 0 – 15 Two Mile Hill The hottest match of the year was an away game at Two Mile Hill. Two Mile Hill had an absolutely fantastic game and it was a much deserved win. There were some good performances from Air Balloon Hill, especially from players who adapted to new positions and fought until the final whistle. Year Six

A special mention to our Year 6 players who will be leaving us today – it has been an absolute pleasure coaching you. We are very proud of your enthusiasm, dedication, sportsmanship and fun loving attitude. We will miss you all – make sure you sign up for the netball team at your new secondary school! Mrs Cox, Mama B and Mrs Penney

Library News Happy holidays everyone and I hope you have fun with the Summer Holiday Reading Challenge.

The link to join in with this Summer's Reading Challenge https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/join-in Thank you to everyone who has returned their library books. If you haven’t done so yet and still have some at home, please return them to us as soon as possible.

Spelling Bee

Congratulations to everyone who took part in Spelling Bees this term The winners are:

Year 1— Michael in Venus Year 2—Twisable in Discovery Year 3— Iskander—Jupiter Year 4— Emily in Pegasus Year 5— Yuviikissan in Sirius

Flip Out Reward

Well done to the following children who won the prize draw of a bowling ticket for reading 3 times every week in Term 6.

Chaitanya in Saturn

Maisie in Endeavour

Charlie in Venus

Year 6 Well done to our Year 6 children on the fantastic performances in their play this week! You have really put us in the mood for the summer holiday! We will be sharing links for you to download photographs from the Year 6 leavers’ disco and play today. If you do not receive the links or have any problems please contact sally.king@abhps.com.

Flu Vaccinations

We have received confirmation that the annual flu vaccination programme will be carried out in school for all children (Years R - 6) on 13th and 14th November. Attached is some early information about the vaccinations - more information and consent forms will be distributed in Term 1.

Also, we would like to clarify that children in Reception to Year 6 from September 2019 will be offered the vaccine.

The vaccine is given as a nasal spray and not an injection. There are no needles used during the process.

Parent Questionnaire

The Governors are launching their annual parent questionnaire today, via ParentMail. It will remain open over the summer to give you plenty of time to respond.

All responses are anonymous to encourage you to be honest in your feedback.

To access the questionnaire click the 3 lines at the left of the ParentMail app and choose ‘forms’ - There you will find the questionnaire to complete.

FAB News

Due to the weather, Ice-Cream Friday is cancelled today.

HAPPY’S CIRCUS Tickets can still be booked via Parentmail for the circus on 20th September. Prices are:

Family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £28 Single tickets £8

Tickets will be issued in September once payment is received and will be issued on a first come, first served basis. Once you have completed the form on ParentMail, please pop your money in an envelope marked “Circus” together with your Child’s name and class.

We hope you have all had a chance to see the amazing new painted designs in the Year 2 playground. The FAB team have been able to fund these works by holding Ice-Cream Fridays, School Discos, Cakes Sales and the School Fayre.

Which leads me on to say, our summer fayre was a great success and we made a profit of £3,196.19. These monies will go towards our next project which is resurfacing around the ball court and weather proofing the Year 1 area.

Save the Bees

We are big fans of bees at Air Balloon. Some of our children discovered a struggling bumble bee one morning last week.

Freddie from Sirius Class came to the rescue with a solution of water and sugar. Fortunately, the bee was revived and flew away. Well done Freddie!

Up-to-date contact Details

Please make sure you keep us updated with any changes to your contact details. It really is essential that we are able to contact you if we need to.

Translations

Our newsletter is available to read on the school website (https://www.abhps.com/newsletters/) which can be translated into over 100 different languages using the button at the bottom of the page.

If you would like any school information in a different format, for example Braille, audiotape, large print, computer disk, or community languages, please contact Mrs King in the school office.