Bronte School

Headmasters Newsletter 49
16 October 2015
It has been a momentous week for Year 6
families of course, with the Kent 11+ test
results being sent to parents on
Wednesday. 15 of our 20 candidates gained
Selective (i.e. Grammar School) places.
All wrote good papers and in fact no-one
was far off. So very well done to all. Mrs
Wood has been in contact with many Year 6
families with further details about the
results and she has been able to offer
support and advice on choices of senior
schools.
That choices area is the subject of next
Thursdays (7.00pm) transition meeting for
Year 4/5 parents. Details have been sent to
parents by letter and Parentmail. Hopefully
all parents of children in those year groups
will be able to attend.
Last Thursday saw the inaugural meeting of
the 2015 16 Parents Council. The
minutes will shortly be distributed to all
parents. Suffice to say here however, that it
was an extremely useful meeting, covering
much ground. I was grateful to parents who
got in touch with committee members
(though that process is confidential, so I do
not know their names!) and of course to
the committee members themselves.

As the weather gets chillier, and the leaves

turn, last Fridays Harvest Assembly was a
timely reminder of the miracle of food
production. It was fantastic to see so many
parents there. Each class, including
Reception (at their second ever school
assembly!),
gave
a
harvest-related
performance. All did really well. Prayers at
the end were led by Major Bryn Hargeaves
of the Salvation Army.to whom was given
the impressive range and amount of food
which had been brought in by the children.
This food went to food banks and to the
Salvation Armys own local centre for
support to the needy.

On Thursday our two Junior Road Safety

Officers from Year 6 (William Nunn and Sophie
Newby) went to the JRSO's conference at
County Hall, Maidstone. Along with JRSO's
from other primary school's in Kent, they
listened to presentations and voted for what
they thought were the most important three
issues. They then voted on which issue
should be tackled each term. Sophie and
William will present this information to
the rest of the school to help to improve
the children's awareness of road
safety. They gave us all a few pointers
during assembly this morning and we eagerly
await further information

Page 2
You may recall that last summer, the
disciplinary system in operation in the
Infants section of the school (Reception to
Year 2) was extended to the Juniors
section, Years 3 to 6). This is still in a trial
phase, and, during the second half of this
term, we will be discussing with staff how
the system has run, and also I hope
holding a parental evening to brief and get
feedback from parents.
As another trial, and to add a good dose of
carrot as well as the stick of the
various warnings, we have initiated a tea
party for children in Years 5 and 6 who
have had unblemished records this term.
The first was for Year 5 and I am pleased,
and of course somewhat relieved! to say
that there were indeed a decent number
of qualifying children. The system involves
everyone having a green card which can be
lost to orange or red . and the tea party
thus involved lots of green cakes! These
were expertly baked by our chef, Miss
Sarah Sutherland, and very many thanks to
her.and well done to the attendees.

Being a Kent school, the logistics of a trip

across the Channel are easier for us than
many schools but even so, Tuesdays
getting to Calais and back in a day for
Years 5 and 6 involved a 5.45am start ..
and thank you to all you parents whose
early rises thereby made the trip possible!
Ecole St Pierre is a large Calais school, with
a wider age range, and so the Bronte
children got to see a very different sort of
school. Staff
there are extremely
hospitable, and it was a very productive
day, all the arrangements working
smoothly.

Looking Ahead
Week 8
Monday, 19th October
Years 1 and 2: visit to London Aquarium
Tuesday, 20th October
Individual school photographs
Tuesday, 20th & Wednesday, 21st October
Parents evenings (letters have been sent
out confirming times/dates) (Year 5 & 6
appointment times are by the classrooms)
Thursday, 22nd October
Entry to senior school: Transition meeting
for Year 5 parents (Year 4 parents also
welcome): 7.00pm, School Hall
Friday 23rd October
Bad Hair Day : 4 donations invited from
the children to choose Fun Lunch, come to
school in non-uniform and with bad hair
3.30pm Half Term break begins.
Term re-starts 8.45am on Monday 2nd
November 2014