Parents

Weekly Parent Bulletin - Friday 4th April 2025

Dear Parents,

We have made it to the end of another action packed term at Avonwood!

I've enjoyed several highlights this week, with the Year 4 Aladdin show being one of them! Seeing our children perform is always a treat, but the confidence and delivery of this show felt on a new level. I'll be humming the 'Aladdin' song for the Easter break!

Year 6 have been busy again this week... undertaking heart dissections on Tuesday followed up by CAD Library design showcases on Thursday. These opportunities go well beyond national curriculum expectations, offering Avonwood children some memorable experiences.

Year 1 followed up their trip to Beaulieu by running a car wash marathon on Wednesday. They did a super job of cleaning cars and raising funds for the Beaulieu Car Restoration Fund.

EYFS welcomed parents in for their sunflower planting afternoon yesterday. Being able to spend time with parents in our outdoor learning area on such a sunny afternoon made for a great way to end another top term.

If you fancy a fun holiday activity, check out the details in the Whole School section below about the Julia's House Mermaid Trail. Mr Mathers art club did a superb job of painting a beautiful sculpture that will be based in Boscombe library. One of many tail sculptures across BCP.

Today we bid farewell to Mrs Irvine as she is heading off to a permanent role at another local school. Having joined Avonwood as a TA, progressed to HLTA, completed her Teacher Training and now become a fully qualified teacher here - it's been a brilliant journey! She is a much loved member of staff. Whilst we are sad to see her leave, we are pleased she has secured an excellent long term position. We also say farewell to Mrs Attewell, a superb member of our Teaching Assistant Team. After the holidays I'm pleased to announce the arrival of three new Teaching Assistants - Mrs Coffey, Mrs Borowski and Miss Prague.

Happy holidays!

Mr Jackson

Whole School Reminders

Avonwood Calendar

You can find a PDF of our school term dates here and it is permanently hosted on our website on the parents' calendar section.

Julia's House Mermaid Trail

The Great Tail Trail for Julia's House Hospice is starting on 5th April until 1st June.

You can download the app to find the map and follow the sculptures from around Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset. We have had a sneaky peek at the map and found out that our fantastic Avonwood tail is at Boscombe Library so go along and take a look!

Find out more information about The Great Tail Trail at www.Juliashouse.org

Stevensons Uniform Shop

Updated opening times here.

Sports Days - Dates for Diaries

Thursday 19^th June 2025

Years 5&6 - 9:15-11:30

Years 3&4 - 13:00-15:00

Friday 20^th June 2025

EYFS, Years 1&2 - 9:15-11:30

PTA Updates

Thank you to everyone who made such wonderful bakes for our bake off. The quality was outstanding and the judges had a tricky job choosing the winners! We hope everyone enjoyed the cakes and bakes after school too. All the money raised will go to the PTA for things like sports day ice lollies and the winter pantomime.

After the success of last year we are excited to be hosting our next Avonwood PTA quiz on Friday 9th May 7:15 -10pm. Get a team together and bring along your food and drinks for another fabulous and fun night of quizzing all in aid of raising money for the school. Payment can be made via the collectiv link: https://pay.collctiv.com/avonwood-quiz-79589 or the QR code on the posters. Please add your quiz name as a reference. Email avonwoodpta@gmail.com with details of team name and numbers so we know who to expect on the night. Just a reminder that this event is designed for grown ups. We look forward to another great event!

Emoji's

Following the raised profile of the Netflix hit 'Adolesence', please refer to the attached guide for the hidden meaning behind some uses of emojis here.

Mental Health in Schools Team - Virtual Meeting Opportunity

The NHS MHST are increasingly supportin parents with excellent hints and tips for supporting chidlren with mental health. A flyer for an online event can be found here.

E-Safety Advice

A really helpful guide has been produced about how to set parental controls on a wide range of technolgy. A copy can be forund here.

Lost Property

Please can we ask all parents to come and check the lost property by Friday 25^th April. After this date, it will be gone for good and distributed to the clothes bank or the 2^nd hand school uniform shop. If you have any spare school uniform, please drop them into the uniform shop.

Weekly Year Group Updates

EYFS

A big thank you to all the parents that attended our 'Step into Spring' event this week

Year 1

None this week

Year 2

Forest School - A reminder that Forest school Fridays are starting the first week back after the Easter holidays. The children can wear sensible non-school uniform that is appropriate for all weather conditions.
School Trip - A reminder that our Year 2 trip is on Thursday 1^st May and to pay for this via ParentPay.

Year 3

Swimming Lessons - A polite reminder that swimming lessons begin on Monday 28^th April from 9:30am - 10:30am.

Parent helpers from Willow class can enter the classroom with the children at 8:40am as we will be departing at 8:50am. Parent helpers from Elm need to be at the front office 9:15am.

For their lessons, the children will need to bring in their swimming costume/shorts and a towel in a separate bag. Please can Willow arrive at school with their swimming costume/shorts underneath their school uniform.

Goggles are advised. A swimming hat is also advisory as it will stop the children from having wet hair all day. We can help them put this on before the lesson.

No jewellery, including earrings, should be worn in the pool. We will not have time for showers so no toiletries will be needed. Please ensure that all belongings are named.

Year 4

Aladdin - Thank you so much to everyone who came to watch Aladdin Trouble: The Musical, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! Thank you for your support in costumes, practising lines, props and morale! It is very much appreciated and not possible without your unwavering support. We hope you are as proud as we are at the children's dedication and outstanding performances!
Trip Volunteers - If anyone would like to volunteer to help at the Tank Museum Trip on the 2^nd May, please let Mrs Short know ASAP.

Year 5

No updates this week.

Year 6

Buddens Information Talk - we will be holding an online talk providing additional information about our upcoming residential on Thursday 24^th April at 5:30pm (Join the meeting now). We will record this meeting foy anyone who is unavailable to join us at this time. During the meeting, we will be providing you with more information regarding the specific activities we will be participating in whilst away, and we will be able to answer any questions you may have. A reminder that a kit list was sent out with medical forms - we will recap these during the meeting also.

Further information will be sent out via letter closer to the time to clarify final details. In the meantime, if there is anything that you wish to discuss with us regarding your child, please feel free to catch us on the door or contact us via the office.

Home learning over Easter

We are looking forward to your children showcasing their learning through the Y6 SATs after Easter and we wanted to express our gratitude for all the ways that you have helped the school in our efforts to get your child ready. Over the Easter holidays, we are not setting pages from the CGP books. However, your child may wish to complete some short bursts (no more than 20 minutes at a time) of revision, looking over key topics of their choice. We are providing a list of potential resources/websites which they may wish to explore:

10-a-day challenges - spend ten minutes each day recalling the key facts from one of these pages. Children can be verbally tested on the information and may wish to create revision cue cards. Resources to help with Maths and Grammar.

Revision websites:

All subjects: Avonwood Primary School > Parents > Y6 Revision Guides