Week commencing 19th June 2023
The Week Ahead
Growing lives that bear fruit
Quick Stop Notices
IMPORTANT: Please log on to the BCS Parent Portal to read and accept the school’s Acceptable Use Policy and update your child’s Medical record for this year. Make sure you’re logging into version 1.174.
- School Fees 2023/24. Many thanks to those Parents who have sent in their proof of income. For those who have not shared this information with us your monthly fees from September 2023 will be £424 if you have 1 child in school; 2 children £636 and 3 children £954 plus any middle or upper school supplement. Please also note from September you will receive an invoice each month for fees and we will no longer accept fees in cash. All fees are to be paid be standing order on the 1st of each month
- Summer School Uniform for Middle / Upper School. Blazers and school jumpers are optional. School trousers material knee length shorts in grey or black are acceptable. Mr Moon / Mr Prothero will make a day by day decision about whether ties need be worn in class, or whether top buttons of shirts can be opened. Please remember sunscreen, hat and water bottles.
- Summer School Uniform for Primary School. Smart black/grey shorts and white aertex for boys and summer dresses or smart black/grey skirt and white aertex for girls. Blue school jumper or cardigan. Black shoes are still required unless told otherwise, for trips etc. Shorts and t-shirt for PE. Please remember sunscreen, hat and water bottles
- Following a recent IT incident and following discussion with our Local School Police Liaison Officer we have made the decision to remove the ability for students to send and receive external emails with their school BXS account. They will still be able to communicate with internal BXS addresses. If you have any questions regarding this, please email help@bxs.org.uk.
- Parking. Please be mindful of our neighbours when parking near school. Avoid parking on verges, driveways, corners and pavements. The local residents have received a letter from the council asking them to photograph any incidents of inconsiderate parking.
- Marks and Spencer will be offering 20% discount on School wear from 4th July. (See below)
- From Hannah Fairs Billam: As one of my many hats, I am running a Befriending service one day a week at the Millside Centre in town. This is for people who are isolated socially and in need of companionship. We are trying to recruit more befrienders …it is simply a commitment to contact someone in need once a fortnight. I have attached the information flyer to this email. If anyone is interested…they just have to let me know and I can explain more hannah@millsidecentre.org or call me on 07426314832. Thank you so much, Hannah
- Anti Bullying Policy – New amendments
- A helpful article for parents navigating teen social media use.
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/social-media/
School Uniform Information
Next Week
| Tuesday |
| AP Unit students to visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park |
| Thursday |
| Windrush Day – Middle School students to wear colourful clothes |
| Friday |
| Y8 Barmitzvah Meal @ The Great Victoria Hotel, 6.30pm |
Dates for your Diary
- 13th July – Celebration & Awards Night for the whole school @6.00pm. Sunbridge Road Mission.
- 21st July 12:45 – school closes at for Summer. (Lunches for Primary school only).
Lunches
Please order before 9:00am on Monday 12th June.
Latest version v1.174 – Parent Portal help
Stars and Students of the Week
Primary School Stars of the Week
| Love Class |
| Emilia for amazing phonics and identifying rhyming words. Gabriel for amazing creativity outside in the mud kitchen and super mark making in all areas. Jake for an amazing drawing and matching sentence. |
| Peace Class |
| Yarnaa for being a kind friend and an amazing attitude towards school. All of Y2 for an amazing SATS week. |
| Kindness Class |
| Joshua for fantastic mathematical reasoning. Leah for excellent work on metaphors. |
| Silver Award |
| Charlie Henry |
| Gold Award |
| Emily |
| World War Two reading challenge |
| Naomi (involved reading 14 books of different genres in 6 weeks). |
Middle and Upper School Students of the Week
| Middle School |
| Shalom (Y5) for a great PE lesson when Mrs Ryan was away Toby (Y5) for a great PE lesson when Mrs Ryan was away Rebecca (Y6) for hard work ink in Maths, asking for extra revision, achieving results above her target grade. Katie (Y7) for Maths, a positive attitude to work, open to asking for help and working hard for best performance in tests. |
| Upper School |
| Jaylan (Y9) for supporting and encouraging fellow peers on DofE Alfie (Y10) for supporting and encouraging fellow peers on DofE |
| Autism Provision – Acorns |
| Isaac for being a good role model and for being patient with his friends. |
| Autism Provision – Oak |
| Mo, Daniel and Folami for a great Duke of Edinburgh expedition. For persevering and participating so well. |
Helpful links
Fund Raising
It’s free to sign up to and start supporting us with Give as you Live. Send our unique campaign links to friends and family so they can support us for free too!
Regular campaign link – https://www.giveasyoulive.com/charity/bradford-christian-school
Headteacher’s Message
Our mission
To provide a holistic Christian education for all and to inspire discipleship.
Our Vision
To be a Christian community in which everyone grows in character, faith, knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
It takes a village to raise a child.
In 1996 Hillary Clinton, the wife of the President of the United States, published a book on children and family values entitled “It Takes a Village”. The advert for the book says she ‘chronicled her quest—both deeply personal and, in the truest sense, public—to help make our society into the kind of village that enables children to become smart, able, resilient adults.’
However, this proverb originated from the Nigerian Igbo and Yoruba communities; it is echoed all across the world and exists in many languages, acknowledging the importance of community, or a group of people, in raising children. In Nigerian culture, children are considered a blessing from God for the whole community. Other African proverbs have similar themes – for example in Tanzania there is a Sukuma proverb “One knee does not bring up a child”.
The multiple uses of this Nigerian proverb and similar other African proverbs show their timeliness and relevancy in today’s world.
Rev. Joseph G. Healey, M.M. (1998) described African culture as one which ’emphasizes the values of family relationships, parental care, self-sacrificing concern for others, sharing, and even hospitality’… close to the Biblical worldview as seen in scripture texts related to unity and cooperation.
However, caring for one another’s children is not exclusive to Africa – it is embedded in so many cultures and communities, although it’s outworking may look different.
To raise a child requires more than just a parent. There can be many individuals and professionals who have significant roles to play in helping to raise a child, which could include combinations of guardians, siblings, grandparents, aunties, uncles, teachers, midwives, doctors, neighbours, friends, religious leaders… the list goes on.
‘The village’ in the proverb naturally becomes a community of people who have a shared responsibility in the development of a child. Through caring for each other, building each other up and holding each other accountable, there are benefits that include exposing children to a variety of knowledge, experience and world views. It enables them to learn not just about themselves, but the world they live in. They can learn how to interact, communicate and build relationships.
In a post pandemic world it has been challenging to re establish such communities, even in a school context. Families became more insular in a locked down world, when interacting with others was limited for extended periods of time.
This generation of children can say they grew up with social media, and whilst every child is different, as a whole, this generation is starting from a level much less connected to self and much more used to comparing themselves to others than any generation before them. This can lead to mental health deteriorating.
Recent NHS research found that students today can experience more isolation and anxiety, and even depression. They do not always know what they are missing, but fear missing out.
In school and church communities, we face the tension of trying to help families without treading on toes, or not wanting to come across as judgemental in telling people how to parent. The village mentality can feel threatening to an increasingly isolated and disconnected community.
Alexandra Hamlet, a clinical psychologist of the Child Mind Institute, says, “the less you are connected with human beings in a deep, empathic way, the less you’re getting the benefits of a social interaction,” and “the more superficial it is, the less likely it’s going to cause you to feel connected, which is something we all need.”
One of the lines in our vision and mission is:
Through partnership with parents, churches and the wider community, all BCS students are loved, valued and respected. Each child is accepted, nurtured, challenged and encouraged. They are inspired to discover and develop their unique God-given abilities as they grow in confidence to see themselves the way Christ sees them.
‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is an attractive idea for me in trying to build a thriving community in school, and achieve this part of our vision and mission. I appreciate those of you journeying with us as we try to achieve this.