Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Entering School Safely
Tue 26 Apr 2016Dear 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
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Year 3/4 Totally Tennis Tournament
Fri 22 Apr 2016Yesterday 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!
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Live Music From Hampshire Music Service
Wed 20 Apr 2016Today, 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!!
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Miss Graingers' England Dream
Sun 17 Apr 2016Wow! 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.
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Our Annual Arts Festival in May
Fri 15 Apr 2016During 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.
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Visit to Viables Craft Centre
Thu 14 Apr 2016Today 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!!!!
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Early Years and Year 1 had SUPER Scooter Training
Wed 13 Apr 2016The children in Early Years and Year 1 arrived at school extremely excited, as today was the day they were able to keep their scooters at school! Each class participated in an hour session, ran by instructors from Bike Ability Hampshire, as part of their road safety scheme. Once the children had found their scooters and popped on their helmets they were very eager for the session to begin. The classes were split into two and each group completed both parts of the session. Some of the activities took place on our school playground; the children practised their gliding skills, how to ride their scooters and stop safely and played lots of fun games. For the second part of the session the children took their scooters to the road outside the school. The instructors taught them the golden rules for crossing a road; always being with a grown up, looking in all directions to check for traffic before and whilst they cross the road, using our ears to listen for traffic and finally to walk with our scooters across the road. In small groups and with an instructor the children practised crossing three different parts of the road safely. The children enjoyed riding their scooters, but also learnt how to keep themselves safe - especially near roads. Lots of children couldn't wait to be reunited with their scooters at home time and were keen to tell their families all about the training!
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Drop Off and Pick Up from School
Tue 12 Apr 2016Dear Parents
Thank you to everyone who parked away from the school site this morning. As you will now understand, things will be a bit difficult in Binfields Farm Lane probably for the duration of most of the building work. If you can all continue to walk the last section to school it will really help us greatly.
We are keeping three spaces in the first layby clear for the taxis who are contracted by Hampshire County Council to bring some of our pupils to school, and also to help the "out of school providers" who regularly deliver and collect in excess of eight children. Your help with this, both at the start and end of the day, is appreciated.
We have now had some time to think about how the system worked this morning and have a few suggestions. If your child is in Holly or Maple class you might find it easier to walk along the public footpath from Binfields Farm Lane and enter school from the gate in Pyotts Copse. From this direction you can enter the courtyard area as before and your children can enter their classrooms through their usual doors. This may also be the best way for you to collect them at the end of school. If your child is in Years 1 or 2 this might be an option for you too.
If you are bringing your child from the side gate in Binfields Farm Lane your child will enter their classroom from the doors on the fire trail on the outside of the school building. If you are collecting your child from the same gate they will need to leave their classroom from the door to the fire trail and meet you on the outside edge of the building. Parents should not use the fire trail to gain access to the courtyard as this will cross a fenced area for Maple Class.
If your child is in Years 3 or 4 and you can collect from the Pyotts Copse end of the school, it might be worth asking your child to meet you in the playground area (giving them some independence) as otherwise the narrow path from the courtyard to the playground will be very congested.
Similarly if you are collecting more than one child from the Binfields Farm Lane gate, you might want to consider asking the older of your children to collect siblings and meet you near the cycle racks or just outside the gate. The fire trail is not a very wide path and parents with pushchairs may find it difficult when children are leaving classes at the end of the day.
If you are taking advantage of the parking available at the Hampshire Court and you see other families you know, would it be possible for one parent to walk several children to school? This would ease the parking situation in the morning.
It may be that we will need to look at different scenarios as the project goes forward but we will always put the safety of the children first and are very grateful for your cooperation.
The end result of this disruption is going to be a fantastic school so please bear with us while these alterations are being made.
Kind regards
Mrs Worgan
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Remember we have an INSET Day!!
Thu 31 Mar 2016Just to remind you all, we have an Inset day on Monday 11th April so the school is officially open on Tuesday 12th April.
On Monday 11th April our staff will be in for training. This time we have a compulsory input on Fire Safety first thing as part of our on going Health and Safety Training Programme. We then are having inputs on Maths, English and the Use of Effective Questioning to enhance our children's learning experiences.
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Busy Builders at GBP!
Thu 31 Mar 2016I came into work this morning to find 5 queuing lorries waiting to take tonnes and tonnes of earth away and there has been a steady stream of them throughout the day. Check out the photographs below showing what the builders have achieved so far. It is pretty incredible.
