Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Great to see FOGB on site again.

  Sat 12 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  Yesterday our FOGB group held a uniform sale in our courtyard and they managed to raise well over a hundred pounds. Thank you to all of you who bought items. It’s great to reuse good quality clothing and be environmentally friendly too.

  Although a table top sale could seem like a small thing, it was great being able to fundraise this way again. The group have really suffered throughout the pandemic and have missed holding their usual events for our school. FOGB have been successful in diversifying events to raise some funds like the super Christmas Elfridges event but I’m hopeful that we can now have more of our usual events on site from now on.

  You can in the meantime help FOGB raise funds over the next few weeks by collecting pennies to go in each classroom’s jar. Let’s try and beat our last attempt.
  Once again a big thank you to our FOGB team - you are all amazing! Oh and if you are able to give up time to help them, just speak to our school office and they will pass on your details. 

   

• Thank you for helping to encourage wildlife at GBP

  Sat 12 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  One of our lovely families have been busy building bat boxes and bird boxes in their shed at home to pop up in our school woodlands - 7 of them in fact! We are so grateful for this - what a lovely gift to give  our school and encourage more wildlife to the area too. The boxes were such a super quality and a great project for the whole family to get involved with, learning lots of skills along the way too. 
  This Saturday morning I met with them so together we could help place the boxes up in and amongst the trees. Let’s hope they are occupied by bats and birds soon.

  This is another super example of what a great school community we have… a family giving up their time and resources to do something for our school and the environment. They were quite rightly proud of their achievements and they mentioned what a lovely sense of well-being it brought too. 
  A massive thank you to the Bishop family - our children will let you know if they see evidence of them being occupied! 

  

• Year 5 Get Growing for Children's Mental Health Week

  Fri 11 Feb 2022 Mrs Osborne

  Today, the children in Year 5 got their wellies on to plant some new bulbs and flowers around the school. They worked so hard and loved spending lots of time in the fresh air (which we all know is great for our well being and mental health). We can't wait to watch the bulbs bloom in the following weeks. Take a look at the photos to see our green-fingered gardeners in action...

  

• 5 ways to grow with your child

  Fri 11 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  This year’s Children’s Mental Health Week theme is Growing Together. Your children already have regular sessions on wellbeing as it is very much part of parcel of our curriculum here at GBP. We have however included extra sessions this week  and year groups also have a homework based on Mental Health too. 

   

  As parents and carers we are constantly having to grow, learn and adapt. I found this useful information on the Place2Be website and I will certainly be taking on the tips, being a parent too. 

   

  As our children get older, it can be hard to know how best to be there for them as a parent or carer, and it can be challenging to adapt our parenting styles while our children grow and mature. Each stage of your child’s development may require a new or different response as a parent, and this will mean learning a new way of doing things. It is important to know that we don’t have to know all the answers as a parent, and we can learn and grow together with our children. Here are five ways that you can do this:

   

  Be flexible and adapt

  It can be easy to feel pressured to follow what other parents are doing, or to assume that what works for one child in your family will work well for another. Every child is different, but as parents and carers, we know our children best.

  There is no rulebook or official guide to parenting, so take the time to learn what works best for your family. Sometimes, you may need to adapt or change your approach, but together as a family you can figure out what works well.

  For example, your child might be looking for more independence as they get older – you could help them do this by adapting your relationship, and gradually giving them more responsibility when they are ready for it.

   

  Be open to all conversations

  It is important your child knows that they can talk to you about anything and ask any questions they may have. Try to be open and accepting about what your child can talk to you about, even if it is a topic that you were not able to talk to your own parents about.

  Create a dialogue that enables your child to ask questions – they will appreciate the opportunity to ask you about things they are curious about. As children get older, they may have questions about more ‘grown-up’ topics, so think about how you can talk about some subjects in an age-appropriate way. This might be uncomfortable, so it helps to think about what to say in advance, maybe with the help of another trusted adult.

  If our children know that they can talk to us about anything and that we are always there to listen, they are more likely to come to us when they need support or advice.

   

  Take time to reflect

  We live in such a busy world, so it’s important to create moments to reflect on your own journey as a parent. Sometimes, we make the wrong decisions and that’s okay.

  Try not to be self-critical. Just like our children, we are all learning and growing and making mistakes is part of that journey. Perhaps we overreact when our child does something wrong, or we don’t listen when they’re trying to tell us something.

  When things don’t go well, reflect and consider other ways you could approach the situation if it happened again. If you can, have a conversation with your child about this too, so they know it’s okay to make and discuss wrong decisions.

   

  Don’t make comparisons

  It can be easy to compare our children to other children – be it comparing siblings, comparing to other children at school, or even children in popular culture. Try not to focus on what you think your child should be doing.

  It can also be easy to compare our children to how they were before, but as they grow older (both physically and emotionally), children are constantly changing. This growth is not always linear and sometimes there will be setbacks. Your toddler might happily wave you off as they go into nursery one day, and then cry when you drop them off the next. Your teenager might appear to be happy and unfazed by their exams one day, and anxious and stressed the next. This is all part of how we grow emotionally.

   

  Prioritise your own self-care

  If you fly in an airplane, you’re told that in the event of an emergency you should put your own oxygen mask on before you put on your child’s. This is because if our children lose consciousness, they are still breathing – but if we, as parents, lose consciousness, we won’t be able to help our children.

  The same can be applied to all aspects of parenting. Taking care of yourself will put you in a better position to take care of your own child.

  Think of ways you can look after yourself and feel supported. This could be external support; finding other trusted adults around us to talk to, or to bounce ideas off. It could also be internal support – finding time to switch off and focus on you.

  As our children continue to grow and change, our ways of parenting them will also do the same. We need to be kind to ourselves as we try our best to respond to new situations that we will face while parenting. There is no one right way to grow with children, only a right way that will work best for us.

   

  Here is the website if you would like further information to support your child's wellbeing: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/ 

   

  Hope you all have a super weekend and be kind to yourself. 

   

• Year 2 author visit

  Wed 09 Feb 2022

  Today year 2 had an exciting zoom call from an author! Lizzie Ingram has recently wrote a children's book called 'The Little Wonky Pumpkin'. The story links to our concept of individuality. Year 2 were lucky enough to have her read them the story and talk about her writing experience. She told us how she wrote the book in 2 hours but it took her 9 months to edit it! We spoke about the importance of editing our work. We will be using what we learnt about being an author to write our own stories in class and sending them to Lizzie to read! She has even said she will send some prizes to children she is most impressed with! 

  We have put the link for the book on the Children's seesaw in case they would like to buy it and share the story with you at home :). 

  

• Safer Internet Day 2022

  Tue 08 Feb 2022 Miss Grove

  Today the whole school took part, alongside hundreds of other schools across the country, in Safer Internet Day. The theme this year was: 'All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online'. It was fantastic to see the wide range of activities going on across the each of the year groups, from drama and role play to creating presentations and posters. There were many purposeful and insightful conversations about the many aspects of online communication and how this can be done in a Safe way. 

  We linked lots of our learning to our Great Binfields values too, particularly respect. We had many discussions about having respect for others and their boundaries online. As more and more of our communication is done online it is vital that we know how to do this respectfully and what to do if we do not feel respected ourselves. 

   

  Well done to all of the Great Binfields Community for another successful Safer Internet Day! 

• Year 3 First Aid Day

  Tue 08 Feb 2022

  Year 3 enjoyed a thoroughly informative First Aid Day led by our Governor, Mrs Gilham. We learnt what we would need to do in an emergency situation, who to contact, what information to provide and what first aid we could provide, if needed. We learnt how to put someone in the recovery position and how to bandage an injury. 

   

  We have learnt so much, thank you Mrs Gilham (& Jess!)

  

• Year 4 field work study

  Fri 04 Feb 2022

  This afternoon, Y4 had a very exciting Geography session out and about on our school grounds. Miss Crossley, our Thematic lead, inspired us to get out and complete some field work so it was time to put our knowledge to the test. Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about the key aspects of earthquakes. Thankfully, earthquakes don't happen in this part of the world and we don't experience too 'extreme' natural hazards, however we decided to do a risk assessment of our school grounds to see which areas were the riskiest IF we were in a location that was prone to earthquakes.

   

  We had to think carefully about exit routes, things falling, obstacles and further hazards that could be caused because of the quakes. Ash investigated Ash Class, the EYFS outdoor area, Y6 outdoor area and the staffroom. Pine investigated Pine Class, the adventure trail and the woodland. There were risks in each (particularly the amount of electrical cables in the staffroom) and the children worked carefully to think of the danger that might be posed in each area.

   

  As you can see by the pictures, we took this risk assessment role very seriously! 

  

• What parents and carers need to know about Youtube

  Wed 26 Jan 2022 Ms Rogers

  Youtube is a video sharing social media platform that allows billions of people around the world to watch, share and upload their own videos with a vast range of content – including sport, entertainment, education and lots more. It is a superb space for people to consume content that they’re interested in. as a result, this astronomically popular platform has a huge social impact: influencing online culture on a global scale and new celebrities. It does however have inappropriate content, connects people with strangers, has high visibility, trends and challenges that could cause harm or injury. There are also sneaky scammers. This poster is useful reading so together we can protect your children.

  Check out this link to find information about staying safe on Utube: Keeping Safe on YouTube

• Year 5 Treehouse Theatre

  Tue 25 Jan 2022 Mrs Osborne

  Today, the Year 5 children put on a 'Play in a Day' with Treehouse Theatre. The children were absolutely fantastic and took on the roles of: Mummies, Tutankhamun, Julius Caesar, Queen Nefertiti, Perfume Dealers, Farmers, Traders, Scribes and many more. Take a look at the pictures to see them in action.