BlueCoat Primary School News

Making the choice of which school is right for your child is a really big one, we know. In October we are going to help prospective parents of the school make that choice a little easier (we hope) by opening our doors to give a taster as to what we stand for and where we hope to be heading.

We broke our 'Big Breakfast fast' today by reintroducing the event to our Key Stage 2 community. Support from families was, as usual, excellent as early risers tucked into a selection of cereals, pastries and drinks from 8am in our school hall.

Last week, children in Year 1 to Year 6 classes got creative in their electioneering campaign to be voted in as pupil leaders of our school. Blue Coat's Future Leaders are elected 'for the pupil by the pupil' on an annual basis. Their role? To work alongside the school's leaders to improve our school for everyone.

Announced in our Star Achiever assembly on Friday, the excitement mounted as this year's leaders were, one by one, called to the front to show the rest of the school who was representing them. The children were very convincing in their campaigns and gave pupils and teachers alike great confidence in them to communicate issues and ideas raised in classes to the school's leaders for their attention.

Several newspaper column inches have been devoted to the government's launch of website parentinfo.org over recent days. Recognising the importance of young people staying safe online, the Education Secretary has called for a website that informs parents of the perils of the online world and how they can help keep children safe. It raises parental awareness of a number of issues, websites, and technologies that parents should get to grips with, but also publishes a glossary of 'text chat' used by young people when socialising online. Please do check out this resource and its partnering websites for invaluable up-to-date information.

It's been 2 years since the school embarked on the OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) project. Without a Play Co-ordinator to spearhead the first year, we found it difficult to make progress with the ambitious plans we had for our pupils' play. That all changed, this academic year, with the appointment of Mrs Murray who has formed and led a fantastic 'Play Team'. They have trained and worked tirelessly to ensure that play times for our children are valuable, exciting and fulfilling. 

Friday evening saw Gloucester Cathedral open its doors to a slightly more diverse crowd than usual. The Sainsburys School Games Celebration Ceremony was hosted both in and around the cathedral in honour of celebrating those who have represented their school in the Gloucestershire School Games over 2014-15. This involved the place of worship being turned into a haven for BMX bandits, skaters, dancers, cheerleaders, musicians, archers and gymnasts!

This year's Sports Day was highly anticipated: a warm-up District Sports track event last night coupled with competitive tweaks to the Key Stage 1 format made for an interesting fixture.

The children did the format justice. 

At our mid-year consultations, parents were asked to express their views on the school via paper questionnaires following the Ofsted suggested format. The questionnaire stretched across eleven key themes including how happy your child is at school through to bullying, reporting, homework and pupil progress. Ultimately, parents were also asked whether Blue Coat is a school that they would recommend to other parents.

As a school, we have decided to invest in an esteemed Personal Social Health Education (PSHE) tool intended to address key areas of our pupil's personal development. The 'Jigsaw PSHE Scheme' regularly covers age appropriate issues of diversity, bullying, hopes and aspirations, teamwork, enterprising behaviour, physical and emotional health, drugs education, e-safety, friendship and far more. It also delivers the school's statutory duty to teach Sex and Relationships Education (SRE). As the school is revising its approach to SRE in the context of the scheme, we felt it important to share our intentions with parents ahead of time.

The Blue Coat PTA May Fayre is always well received by the community, gathering big crowds and in the process raising significant funds for the school. However, this year's beach theme brought a refreshed format to the fayre which was held, in its entirety, on the school field.