Dear Parents/Carers

On Tuesday 3 May our new staff car park will be in use.  The entrance for this is via Pyotts Copse so there is going to be additional traffic on this residential road.  If you currently use Pyotts Copse to park your car, could you please consider using either the South Car Park at the Chineham Shopping Centre or the outside tennis court at the Hampshire Court Hotel.  We are aware that there have been near misses on Pyotts Copse, particularly at the entrance from the mini roundabout on Great Binfields Road as this access road was not designed to have vehicles parked on it.

The first layby on Binfields Farm Lane is needed for vehicles bringing our VI and PD children to school, and also for external providers who bring children from Breakfast Clubs or collect them for after school care.  We also need to ensure this layby is kept clear for any emergency vehicles like ambulances or fire engines who may need to attend any incident at school.

We are very grateful to the parents who have started leaving their cars away from the immediate vicinity of school and who are walking the short distance from the parking we have arranged.  Your cooperation is helping to keep our school a safe place at the start and end of the day.

We have now come to the end of phase 1 of the project and you will see a lot more activity on Binfields Farm Lane from Tuesday as this will become the main hub for the contractors Balfour Beatty.  Exciting times - the next New Build Newsletter will be issued shortly giving you more information.

Kind regards

Mrs Worgan

A massive congratulations to the 8 Key Stage 1 children, who represented the school at the football tournament this afternoon. Just as we arrived the rain started, however this soon stopped and the children were very keen to get going. The children played 4 games in total, they lost 3 and won one - a great achievement for them and a great goal scored. I was very proud with how the children conducted themselves, they demonstrated great sportsmanship, determination, encouragement and teamwork. Everyone left the tournament with their head held high and keen to start practising for the next event!! It was also super to see so many of our families there supporting the children - thank you everyone. Miss Lemar

A fabulous day for our Quad Athletics Team. 8 children competed in howler throws, long jump, 600m run,  a 75mm sprint and a team relay event too. They did ever so well  and Miss Grainger was incredibly proud of them. We just need to practice passing the baton in the relay!! Thank you to the team - pat yourselves on the back as we achieved a bronze medal. The children will receive their medals in a forthcoming Merit Assembly.

Dear Parents

We are still in the early days of becoming used to the new methods of entering our school but one issue has been highlighted this week.  If you are trying to gain access through our temporary entrance you should buzz and wait for a member of the office staff to answer you.  All teaching and support staff have been asked not to open the door to anyone - they are not being rude or ignoring you, but we need to ensure that everyone within the school is in a safe, secure environment.  Office staff need to be aware if someone is coming into the school to ensure they come to the office area to make themselves known. 

Please be patient while we all adapt to the new procedures necessary while building work is being carried out.  The safety of your children is paramount and at the end of all the building work we will once again have a welcoming area for visitors when they arrive at our school.

Kind regards

Mrs Worgan

Yesterday Miss Wright and Mrs Davis took a group of Year 3/4 pupils to represent Great Binfields in the Basingstoke Totally Tennis Tournament and were really impressed by their behaviour and level of sportsmanship. All children played their socks off! Although Great Binfields didn't make it through to the quarter finals, two of our teams made it to the finals of the second tier competition with Orla Smith, Aneeka Sangha, Carter Wright and Kieran Crick winning this match. Well done to all students involved!

Today, we had a treat from the Hampshire Music Service where Mr White and Mrs DeSousa came into play for us as well as tell us all about the instruments they were playing. We learned a lot about stringed instruments and how different sized instruments had an effect on the pitch of the sound produced. We recognised lots of the songs played and it was also interesting to hear how some songs made us feel as they were being played. Some children got to play a steady beat using the instruments whilst the rest of us sang a song.

It was great fun and the session hopefully inspired our children to pick up an instrument and learn how to play it. The message was clear - practice and effort makes you better - you are not born a musician!!

 

Wow! Where do we start? Our very own, Miss Lou Grainger is realising her dreams as she has been selected to represent England for the Indoor Nets World Championships in New Zealand this Summer 2016. Miss Grainger went to trails for the England squad where there were about 150 people and they picked 20 for the long squad. She then had to attend 4 lots of 6 hour training sessions in London before the coaches made a decision on the final travelling squad of 12.

‘Shock was the first emotion that hit me when I received the email that I had been selected for the long squad after trails in London. I was so thrilled! Utter disappointment was the next when during the first training session, I dislocated my finger. I really thought I had blown it! I visited the Salisbury Hospital to see a hand specialist 4 times and worked tirelessly on fitness in between sessions. But without being able to catch a ball, my hopes of reaching the final squad were fast diminishing. In the last session before final selections I decided to go for it - even if it was against the hand specialists wishes. When would I get this amazing opportunity again? I strapped my finger up and did my best. And I’m so glad I did! I have been selected for the Ladies England Indoor Nets Squad to travel to New Zealand for the Indoor Netball World Championships. As you can imagine, I was so, so, so, so excited to have been selected and to be honest I couldn't quite believe it. As you know I lead PE and Games at GBP. I am responsible for making sure that all of the children at our school are excited about health, fitness and sports. I have worked so hard over the last 3 years at school to ensure that our children are getting the opportunities to participate in sports and physical activities… and to inspire them to achieve! I am now so proud that I have been able to tell them my amazing news and hopefully, be an inspiration to them. I hope I have shown them I have a growth mindset - how hard work and determination can really pay off. Dream it, believe it, achieve it!’

Unfortunately for Miss Grainger, there is no funding in Netball so the lucky athletes that have been selected have to self-fund this trip! From plane and train journeys to training, kit, equipment, coaches and everything in between this honour will cost somewhere in the region of close to £5000! So Lou has a ‘go fund me’ page to help raise £4000 of the funds. www.gofundme.com/mxwby5zv Any donation, no matter how much, will be greatly received and in return she promise she will do her best to represent England proudly and come home with a medal. A huge thanks to anyone in advance that decides to help her on her England dream.

During the last week of this half term, we will have our now annual Whole School Art Festival where the theme this year is going to be ‘Our Animal Kingdom' with an emphasis on endangered animals too. 

It promises to be fabulous week once again and planning is already underway. We kindly ask that you encourage your children to get out their non-fiction books out find out about endangered animals or perhaps even take your child/ren to the zoo for a family adventure now the weather is kinder to us. Art is a passion of ours at GBP and we have a focus team dedicated to it within school so I am very much looking forward to seeing what our children create throughout the week with our teachers, LSAs and the artists we have booked to work with our children.

We will of course invite you and your family into school to see your children’s pieces of art like we did last year as that was a huge hit on the last day of term, Friday 27th May at 3.15 through to 4pm.  Further details of this will follow.

If you, like me, love art and craft and are free to volunteer some of your spare time during the week of 23rd-27th May then please contact your child’s class teacher. We would really appreciate the support.

 

Today we took a group of 12 children over to Viables to Pots 2 Paint where they met Stef the owner  and she led a super workshop for them. The children got so much out of the session and definitely want to go back with their friends and family. The children learned new techniques as well as learning how they are fired. Did you know in order to get the super shine on mugs and plates etc it needs to be fired at 1000 degrees?? It also needs to be a slow process where the temperature builds up or else the product will crack.

Mrs Lee and I were immensely proud of what the children achieved and we can not wait to see what their items look like next Wednesday when they will all come into school all wrapped up. At certain points it was great seeing them all concentrating so hard - tongues hanging out a mile and you could have heard a pin drop!

I explained to the children that Stef has turned a real arty passion into a successful business and who knows - perhaps this group of children may do something similar when they are older? Thank you Stef for letting us take over your workshop and we will certainly be back with another group if you allow us to.

On our way back to the minibus we popped into 'Alison's Wonderland'. Alison Clement will be one of our guest artists during our Art Festival Week. She showed the group of children around her shop and shared how she creates her own cards - also turning a passion into a business! She also taught the children about Fair Trade too. She stocks items that are made in Madagascar and the people who make them get better working conditions and a better wage being part of the scheme.  

Check out the photographs below from the day and we will post another news report once they come in. I don't know who is more excited, Mrs Lee, myself or the kids...the anticipation of what they will all look like is immense!!!!