St Ursula's Bulletin - St Ursula's E-ACT Academy

St Ursula’s Bulletin
Friday 25 September 2020
Dear parents and carers

This week has been a very exciting one; all the children have been engaging in some
quality art work in their curriculum learning in the afternoons. We have seen Urquhart
in Year 1, Banksy in Year 2, Kandinsky in Year 4 and Banksy in Year 5 with some
really topical knowledge being discussed. Children in Year 5 have been developing
their perspective on whether Banksy is a great artist or a social menace and why he
defies the typical norms of being an artist when it comes to selling and presenting his
work and revealing his identity.

Message from the office
Over the past few days, as expected, the number of children and incidents of family
members showing symptoms of COVID 19 have increased. Whilst there is guidance
being provided from both the DFE and PHE some of it is conflicting and often leaves
a bit of a grey area for us as schools. Throughout lockdown and the re-opening of the
school we have always made decisions based on what is best and safest for the
children, staff and wider community and this remains now. As a school, we have
admittedly been slightly cautious and where the guidance is involved we tend to take
the more cautionary version. We completely understand that, after a lengthy
lockdown, parents and carers are doing their best to get back to a new normal and
return to more normal working patterns. We also know that any request from the
school to collect children will cause added stress and anxiety, and potential work
difficulties. But I would ask you to understand that we as a school are not sending any
child home for innocuous reasons and we are checking children thoroughly. The office
only ever make contact when I (or a member of SLT) have asked them to. We
understand having to pick the children up may be inconvenient or stressful but we are
always acting out of safety and I would like to ask if you have any concerns about this
please speak to me. The office is dealing with a lot of processes around COVID 19
and are working incredibly hard, so please be patient with them and talk to them with
respect.

Thank you so much to the two parents who wrote the staff positive messages - it was
a timely lift for the school and goes to show what an amazing community we work
within.

We were fortunate enough to be nominated by you for an award around our work in
lockdown. We were one of only two schools to win, so we have £150 to spend on
items of our choice. The school has decided to ask for Amazon vouchers so that we
can spend the money on some forest school resources.

Medical needs
Please can we ask again that if your child has any medical/dietary needs please can
we be sent the information through so that we can log it in our records.

Home-school agreement
If you have not managed to return the home school agreement paperwork and photo
permissions to us, then please do so; this will enable us to start using Seesaw and
Facebook more regularly to celebrate learning.

Studybugs
Lots of you are now using Studybugs to log all of our attendance notes, which is saving
the office a lot of time; we have nearly 60% of parents/carers signed up by
downloading the app and following the instructions to set up our school. Messages
will not be taken on the answer phone from next week. To download Studybugs
please follow this link https://studybugs.com/about/parents

Stars of the Week
The following children have achieved stars of the week by their teachers:

1PT: Alexis                                 4AW: Ellie C
1SS: Natalie S                              4CW: Lauren
1CT: Isabella O                             4NM: Cameron
2AW: Ayaan                                  5CT: Macy
2EA: Issy S                                 5GS: Miranda
2RD/CB: Amelie R                            5ACW/JB: Morgan
3AO: Lowenna                                6SB: Sam R
3RF: Sophia                                 6OE: Freya
3HT: Phoebe                                 6CB: Elijah

Kindness Awards
Our value this week has been kindness and we have been impressed by the
independent acts of kindness, the teachers are looking for behaviours being displayed
not for reward but because they help us as a community to be a happier place and
the following children have demonstrated this:

1PT: Alexis                                4NM: Violet
1SS: Natalie S                             4AW: Emily
1CT: Isabella O                            4CW: Lexi
2EA: Hamish                                5GS: Arthur
2RD/CB: Amelie                             5CT: Charlie
2EA: Issy S                                5ACW/JB: Imani
3HT: Piper                                 6SB: Matilda
3RF: Emily                                 6OE: Soroosh
3AO: Reuben                                6CB: George

Parents' Evening
Parents' evenings are getting closer and we have noticed that the 'Teams' app does
not connect with Gmail email accounts. Therefore, it may be that we have to initiate
phone calls with parents with Gmail accounts. We know this is not quite as personal,
but currently as a trust Teams is our only approved app for video calling.

Associate Governors and Head Girl/Boy/Deputies
Thank you to all the parents and carers of the children who have one of these roles
for giving Mrs Shaile the sizes for their special blazers. All blazers have now been
ordered. We can't wait to see how smart they all look!

Drop-Off Times
The morning and afternoon pick-up system seems to be working much more fluently
so thank you so much for all of your support in making this work. The children are
enjoying the independence of walking down to the building on their own and, after
practising the end of the day routine, it seems to be becoming much more fluid. We
do ask that, although it is getting better and there is less bunching through the one-
way system, you continue to stick to your time slots on drop off and pick up. This is
especially important because we have the Reception children starting full time next
week. We also ask that you exit the site as quickly as possible please.

                         Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

                       Mr Arthur and the Leadership Team

TERM DATES 2020/21
Term 1
Tuesday 1 September 2020 to Friday 23 October 2020
Term 2
Monday 2 November 2020 to Friday 18 December 2020
Term 3
Monday 4 January 2021 to Friday 12 February 2021
Term 4
Monday 22 February 2021 to Thursday 1 April 2021
Term 5
Monday 19 April 2021 to Friday 28 May 2021
Term 6
Monday 7 June 2021 to Wednesday 21 July 2021

INSET DATES (school closed)
Tuesday 1 September 2020
Wednesday 2 September 2020
Monday 2 November 2020
Monday 4 January 2021
Monday 5 July 2021
Monday 19 July 2021
Tuesday 20 July 2021
Wednesday 21 July 2021

Reception wanted to share….

 This week Early Years children have continued to settle
 in really well.

 We have been building relationships with others and
 learning to follow daily routines.

 We have also busy practising our mark making, to
 prepare us for writing and exploring shapes and
 numbers in our environment.

 On Friday, we met as full classes for the first time. This
 was very busy and there were lots of new faces but we
 all did really well and even managed to make some new
 friends.

Year 2 wanted to share….

 Another super week for Year 2! We started Art this week
 and enjoyed looking at Banksy and his graffiti as well as
 designing and creating our own stencils which we then
 made colourful prints from. In English, the children have
 been inventing their own stories based on the story 'How
 the World was made'. They used fantastic adjectives and
 verbs to add detail for the reader and looked at how to
 edit and improve their work. In Maths we have been
 looking at comparing numbers using greater than, less
 than and equal to symbols as well as counting in 2's, 5's
 and 10's from any given number. Thank you for your
 continued support in hearing your child read at home.

Year 5 wanted to share….

 This week Year 5 have been creating their own still life
 compositions of something that represents Bristol. We
 have enjoyed experimenting with multiple mediums and
 gaining inspiration for our artwork from a variety of
 different Bristol artists. In English we have written our own
 invented myths and in Maths we have been consolidating
 our knowledge on place value and started to look at
 negative numbers. In reading, we looked at part two of
 our poem and worked on our vocabulary, inference and
 retrieval skills. We have had a fantastic week and are very
 much looking forward to next week.

Year 6 wanted to share….

 This week in Year Six we have been writing our
 invented stories based on someone being kidnapped
 and making their escape. We have worked hard to
 include expanded noun phrases, modal verbs and
 parenthesis.
 We have finished our science unit of Light by
 investigating how shadows change when we change
 the angle or the distance from a light source.

 In Art, we have been learning about Banksy and the
 reasons he creates his pieces of work. We then made
 our own Banksy-style pieces of work with a political
 message.

Breakfast Club
Just to confirm that breakfast club needs to be booked
via the following link:
https://e-act.bookinglive.com/

Once your child attends breakfast club then their name
will then be added to Parentpay for payment.

If you haven’t received a Parentpay activation letter
then please email the office and let us know on:
receptionurs@e-act.org.uk

         Please report all absences via the Studybugs.
    Follow the link below to download the Studybugs app
                https://studybugs.com/about/parents

             Henleaze & Westbury Park Youth Group - Year 6 to Year 9

Year 6 to Year 9 meet at the North View Methodist Church on one Saturday a month, to
give youth a safe and fun space to meet friends in Year 6 and keep in touch with friends
in Year 7 to 9, when many go to different secondary schools. We usually start our year
in September, however due to the pandemic, this is now likely to be October. With sport,
cooking, craft, table tennis and camp/activity days, youth find this a great way to
socialise. In Year 9, youth can move up to our older group, which caters for Year 9 to
Year 12, where youth meet around three Saturdays a month, with visits to the cinema,
bowling, tennis, badminton to name a few activities! For more information and to join the
email list please contact Liz at lizradfordis@virginmedia.com

We are delighted to confirm that we will be offering kung fu club at St
Ursula’s again this term:

Outdoor Kung Fu Bootcamp

Term 1 dates: Tuesday 22nd September to Tuesday 20th October (5
weeks)

Sifu Kee, founder of City Gongfu KIDS, is a qualified primary school teacher
(PGCE 5-11/QTS), kung fu instructor and sports coach who runs extra-
curricular clubs and out of school clubs in Bristol.

Fees are paid in advance on a term basis. Term 1: £30

Social distance training will be undertaken using pads and target sticks with
students practicing in their year bubbles. Students will also learn the kung
fu codes of conduct including the importance of respect, self-discipline,
avoiding conflict, teamwork and helping others.

To register your expression of interest or for further information,
please     email  Sifu   Kee     by    Thursday     17th September
via: citygongfu@gmail.com

PLEASE CLEARLY STATE YOUR CHILD’S NAME AND YEAR GROUP
WHEN RETURNING YOUR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST.

Once your expression of interest has been received, the club will proceed
with the highest total of students across two/three years, subject to
sufficient numbers. Spaces will be limited to 15 and allocated on a first
come first served basis.

For      further   details    about            City      Gongfu        KIDS
visit: www.citygongfu.com/schools

Please click on the boxes below:

https://www.childline.org.uk/toolbox/calm-zone/

Concerns or Issues
Should anyone have an issue or concern about anything at all please let the
office know. The email address is:
receptionurs@e-act.org.uk

The office will forward emails received to the appropriate member of staff.

School Information
Please see the behaviour policy and a child friendly version of the anti-bullying
policy on the website which explains our approach in full:

https://stursulasacademy.e-act.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/sites/14/2019/11/Behaviour-and-Anti-Bullying-Policy-FINAL-
Approved-Nov-19_STU.pdf

https://stursulasacademy.e-act.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/sites/14/2019/09/STU-anti-bullying-child-policy_Sept-2019.pdf