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

• Message from the staff of Anthony Bek

  Sun 19 Apr 2020

  It has been a long time since we've all been together and with the recent news, it is clearly going to be a while longer. We miss you all so much and wanted to share this message with you. A special thanks to Mrs. Braithwaite for pulling this altogether!

  Click on the following link and enjoy!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCbDoazbPI

  Or, go to YouTube and search The Anthony Bek Dream.

   

  My next challenge is on there!

• Free School Meals update

  Sun 19 Apr 2020

  Many of the pupils eligible for Free School Meals chose to have a hamper to cover the two week Easter period. It was my understanding (and hope) that this would be the arrangements moving forward but unfortunately, that is not the case at the moment. It is possible that this might be offered again in the near future but it is not definite.

  You may have also heard about the national voucher system. I have been trying so hard to organise this but they have many problems with their systems so this is not yet available to us. Again, this is being worked on as we speak and we hope to see a remedy in the very near future. However, for now it leaves us with just one option- providing a packed lunch each day for any child eligible for free school meals (not universal meals) just the same as we had before the Easter holidays.

  If your child is eligible for free school meals and you would like to collect a packed lunch from the main reception each day, please e-mail:

  headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk by 9am on Monday 20th April. You will need to collect your child's packed lunch between 10:30 and 12noon each day.

  In the meantime, I will do my absolute best to either get the hampers back on offer again or the shopping vouchers as I appreciate coming to school everyday to collect a packed lunch is not the best option, particularly for those that don't live within walking distance to school or for those needing to self-isolate.

• Home learning examples week 2

  Fri 03 Apr 2020

  Lots of parents have shared aspects of their home learning with us this week. Here are a few from this week that have been sent to me which are wonderful examples of home schooling. Please also have a look at the class pages under the Children's tab for even more. Vinny made an amazing Soup presentation which is too big to upload to our website! His vegetable research powerpoint presentation is also particularly impressive (year 5 page).

  We've had our first Parent Crusader award (I'm not sure everyone in the family was as happy!). Well done, Mr. England! We've also had our first consequence- Stevie the cat- I hope to see an improvement soon!

  Samantha has continued with our weekly choir practice and Trinity has sent me audio files of her practising a range of songs.

  Gary and Lola look they had an amazing time in their craft session! Jessie challenged my knowledge with a very difficult quiz she's made about ocean life (it's lucky I'm a scuba diver!)

  Tiger-Rose and Destiny have made a stunning rainbow which I hope is now proudly displayed in their window. Rhys and Sophie have also been making beautiful rainbow cards with messages of love and hope and have delivered them to vulnerable members of the community. Charleigh has shared her rules and cloud behaviour system and Seth has made a beautiful cross to display in his window as well as a family plaque which will be something to remember these times in years to come. The Parson family have also been keeping everyone's spirits up with some amazing dancing!

   

  Many of you might like to try the family plaque (if you have the following ingredients). Mrs Parsons said it is easy to make.

  500g plain flour, 250g salt, 250ml water. Mix to a dough. Roll, flatten, imprint. Bake on low for 4-5 hrs. 

  Remember- we love to see what the children are doing so please keep sending us your special photographs.

  

• Mrs. Johnson's Tower competition results!

  Fri 03 Apr 2020

  Thank you to everyone who took part in the 'Impressive tower' challenge. Please see the Children's tab- Mrs. Johnson's Community Competition for full details and lots of photographs. I was overwhelmed by the imagination shown and I'm glad I wasn't the judge!

  Well done to all! Special congratulations to:

  Ivy R 1ST PLACE with a doll tower

  Thomas Y2 2ND PLACE with a book tower

  Cornelia Y4 3RD PLACE with a lego/figures tower.

   

  Staff winner- Mrs Barnes with her garden furniture tower!

  Remember- no tears if you didn't win- (mine didn't win and I'm not crying (much!) they were all fabulous and you look like you had fun making them and that's what counts!

   

• Easter school closure update

  Fri 03 Apr 2020

  The Easter holidays are almost upon us signalling the end of the Spring term and who could have expected that we would be in the position we are when we began this term? Thank you so much for sending all the photographs of your children taking part in my challenges or completing some really fantastic activities. You are all doing an amazing job keeping your children engaged and we love seeing their smiling faces. I hope you're keeping up to date with photographs on class pages, news section and my competition section.

   

  Easter holiday period

  We know the holiday period is not going to be like any other Easter holiday you have experienced but we really hope you find something different and enjoyable to do over this period. We do not expect/want you to continue 'home schooling' your child over this period. It is as important for them as it is for staff to have a break from their usual learning routine during this time. Staff will therefore not be providing work over this period or responding to e-mails etc- they will be having their usual Easter break. Staff will resume looking at e-mails and posting new work from Monday 20th April (assuming school closures continue- we only know what you know- schools are closed until further notice).

  All of the websites and activities currently being used by the pupils will of course still be available if pupils really want to do something but hopefully, they will enjoy different activities over this time.

   

  Work packs

  The next work pack (paper kind) will be ready for collection on Monday 20th April. We will text to confirm this after the Easter holidays. We will also be sending an exercise book home so pupils can complete any other tasks in it (I know not everyone will have lots of paper or a printer). It may be that we are not permitted to send any more paper copies after this date (depending on how the restrictions change) so an exercise book will come in very handy if this is the case.

   

  Refunds

  Many of you are still waiting for refunds for Lion King, Walesby and Whitehall. We are so  sorry for the delay. It has been extremely challenging to get funds back into our accounts from different companies to be able to send these. We now know that we will be able to issue these on Monday 20th April 2020. Lion King payments will be issued straight back onto the card that was used to pay for the visit. Payments for Walesby and Whitehall that were made on cards will be transferred back to the card they were made from. Payments that were made before we moved to School Money will be paid by cheque. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation with this.

   

  Take care and be safe.

   

   

• Easter competition

  Thu 02 Apr 2020
  You might remember that a few weeks ago we sent out a letter about an Easter Accessory competition. As we are officially not at school over the Easter break there will not be a competition from Mrs Johnson. However we will still be running the Easter accessory competition. 

  You could design and make an Easter bandana, hat, cap, belt, scarf, hair clip, tie, bows for shoes or anything else that you can think of that can be worn. Maybe you could sew, paint, stick or colour – we don’t mind – you can be as creative as you like.

  It needs to have an Easter theme and it will be judged on creativity and how much has been completed by the child themselves (we realise that there will need to be parental help for some parts.)

  Please photograph your creations and email them either to Mrs Johnson or me (clairesmith@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk) after the Easter break.

  We will display all photos on the web site.

  Happy creating!

• Home schooling shared (updated)!

  Wed 01 Apr 2020

  Thank you to those parents who have shared some of the activities your children are doing at home. It is wonderful to see these. Feel free to e-mail your class teacher and or me (Mrs Johnson) if your child is doing something special. We are all very interested in seeing these and we'll try and share these on the class pages or in this news section if they are extra special!

  Have a look at the photographs below. Samantha has got her own behaviour tower and has had a good work assembly, Seth has been busy baking for front line NHS workers, Lilly has made a lovely rainbow for her window, Jacob and Luzia have made beautiful bird cages and Jessie has written a wonderful persuasive piece of writing about the Coronavirus!

  

• Mrs Johnson's competition 1 winners announced!

  Mon 30 Mar 2020

  Thank you to everyone who took part in the Alphabet challenge. Please see the Children's tab- Mrs. Johnson's Community Competition for full details and lots of photographs. Lots of pupils chose the letters B, C, S and T.

  Well done to all! Special congratulations to:

  Grace S Y3 1ST PLACE with 151 items beginning with B

  Zack B Y3 2ND PLACE with 102 items beginning with B

  Lottie B Y2 3RD PLACE with 84 items beginning with S.

• CHANGES TO FREE SCHOOL MEALS

  Fri 27 Mar 2020

  If your child is currently entitled to free school meals (not universal meals) packed lunches are currently being offered to collect each day. You may/may not be using this service.

  We were hoping to move to a voucher scheme but this is proving extremely difficult and we are being told that while our kitchen is able to make meals, we should be using this.

  With that in mind the kitchen have found a better solution moving forward. Parents will be able to collect a hamper/bag of food (fresh, tinned and dried) for each child eligible for free school meals. These will be available once per fortnight. They expect this to be ready to put in place for the Easter holiday so if you let me know you want this, I will add you to the list and let you know when they are ready to collect. I need to know by Monday 30th March by 12 noon at the latest. I will not be able to add pupils to the list late as the order will have already been placed.

  Next week, we will continue to offer packed lunches for those who wish to collect them each day. Please be aware if you order and no not collect (without good reason0, your child will be removed from the list as this is a waste of food.

  From the Easter holidays onwards, we will move to the fortnightly hamper (for as long as schools are closed). You won't be able to opt for a daily packed lunch instead- the school can only offer one option and we have decided this will be better for families as it reduces the number of times you have to leave your home.

  Please e-mail headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk to confirm you would like to receive the hamper. Please include the names of all eligible children in your family.

  Bear in mind, when you collect the hamper/bags, if you have more than one child, you may need to bring a car or something to help you carry them (I haven't seen a pack yet so I've no idea how big they are but they are based on £15 per week of produce per child.

  If you are not already receiving daily packed lunches and you would like to get these next week. Please also let me know on the e-mail.

  Kind regards,

  Mrs Johnson

• MESSAGES DURING SCHOOL CLOSURE

  Tue 24 Mar 2020

  Please be safe

  The latest message from the Government to Stay at Home will certainly be challenging for everyone but please follow the guidance to keep you and your family safe. You are a very close knit community and this will really help over the next few weeks. Support and care for each other and remember we are here for you.

  I can't imagine how difficult it must be trying to keep children in the home and garden and keeping them from socialising with others but we all need to do this to keep safe.

   

  Thank you

  We were all overwhelmed by the kindness shown today when we received the hamper and flowers. These are challenging times for not just us but you too so to receive this gift today was a really beautiful act of community spirit. From each and every one of us-THANK YOU.

   

  Free School Meals

  Many parents have been collecting their Free school meal packed lunches each day. Please remember that if your child is eligible for free school meals (not Universal free school meals that all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 get), you can request this. Please e-mail headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk to order yours. These need to be collected from the school Reception between 10:30 and 11:00am. Please remember if you do not collect your child's lunch and do not ring to give a reason, we will have to remove your child from the list to ensure food is not wasted.

  We are aiming to move over to offering weekly vouchers to use in supermarkets very shortly. It is expected that the value of these will be approx. £15 per week per child (this is still to be confirmed). We are currently working to get this in place as soon as possible (hopefully next week) although it is unclear if the Government will be offering these over the Easter holiday period. If your child is currently eligible for free school meals but is not already receiving packed lunches, please e-mail me to request this. If you would rather wait until the vouchers are ready, please also e-mail me and let me know this. I know there are a variety of supermarkets in the area and the school will need to choose one to purchase all the vouchers from so it would be useful to know which supermarket is your preference. I will only be able to choose one so I will go with the majority. Parents who are already receiving free packed lunches will also need to e-mail to confirm their supermarket preference.

  Ask for help

  I have already received e-mails and telephone calls from many of you asking for help and advice. Please continue to do this. We want to be there for you and help you in any way we can.

   

  Communication

  Your child's class teacher will be in contact with you frequently (unless they are unwell of course). This may be by telephone, e-mail or text message so they can check you are okay and see if there's anything you need. We are hoping that most children (not Early Years) will use the Purple Mash e-mail system. They will be able to e-mail their teacher and e-mail their friends. All messages to friends are checked by the teacher first so please be aware they will not get a swift reply from their friend. It would be nice for children to show their teacher and their friends what they are doing. They may give each other some good ideas. I have already received some wonderful e-mails with photographs of the wonderful things children are doing and these are a pleasure to receive. If your child hasn't yet used Purple Mash e-mail yet, please see the help guide on the 'Helping you child at home' page (Parents tab). It is really easy to set up.

   

  Keeping busy

  Most children really benefit from having a structure/routine to their day. I have asked staff to put together a suggested timetable for each year group which should be uploaded onto your child's class page. This is just to give you an idea. It would be even better if you could sit with your child and decide what type of activities they would like to do and put together a timetable. It will be far more effective if the children have had a say in it. They could even make a visual timetable so they know what the day will look like. It is really pleasing to see how many different companies are making sure there are plenty of things to keep you and your child engaged and healthy and even more pleasing that they are free. I appreciate many of them require an internet connection but hopefully most of you have this. Our staff will continue to add ideas to the website, either on the class page (Children's tab) or on the 'Helping you child at home' page (Parents tab). Twinkl (a great site for all ages and all subjects) are offering parents a free subscription (Google Twinkl offer), YOU TUBE are showing daily phonics' sessions, David Walliams is doing a story telling daily session and there's loads of virtual exercise sessions. Please share anything you have found that is really good with myself or your child's teacher and we'll pass these ideas on too.

   

  Stationery packs

  The order for the resources to make the packs has been placed and is expected to be received on Friday 27th March. I am not quite sure how to get these to you. We could have staggered collection times so not everyone is out together and it could form part of your daily walk/ exercise allowance or I may be able to deliver them to you (I'm not sure if this would be allowed but I will look into it and let you know.)

   

  Work packs

  We are aiming to produce and send out another paper pack of activities and ideas next week. More details to follow.

   

  Remember- we are here so please use if whenever you need us.