The Week Ahead weekly newsletter

Growing Lives that Bear Fruit

This week...

Thanks for the positive feedback about ISI, it was lovely receiving your comments and encouragement.

Quick Stop Notices

Raise Some Praise

St James's on Bolton Road are trying a new thing at church and wondering if anyone at BCS might enjoy it.

There’ll be a live band and food, Rev'd Tracy is doing a quick talk too so it should be great.

Start & End of the Day + lunches

Start of the day

We usually have someone on gate duty at 8:45am Before this staff are in meetings and are not available to supervise. Please do not leave your children before 8:45.

If it is wet, please do not send children into the building before 8:45am - there is nobody available to look after them.

The bell rings at 8:55am, when school starts. ALL children should enter school through either the Early Years outside entrance, the AP entrance or the school playground, not the main entrance.

The main entrance is for emergencies, and for people waiting for meetings. It is not the main way into school. Please make sure you are prompt so children can enter school with their peers, through the appropriate routes.

End of the day
School ends at 3:30pm and all children should be collected promptly. Please let us know if you are held up, as children get anxious when they have to wait after school.

School Lunches

Mrs Trice Parkin is doing an amazing job with school lunches, but is finding a number of parents are forgetting to pay and order, yet their children turn up each day expecting her to provide lunch. She buys ingredients according to weekly order numbers, which keeps the price affordable and keeps waste to a minimum.

Please make sure you top up your MIS account and order by Sunday evening each week. If a child turns up who has not ordered, they will not be served lunch.

If your account is not working for some reason, please contact the office staff who will help you sort it out.

Please DO NOT add trip money to your MIS account.

Labelling clothes
You will have received an email about our mountain of lost property - all un named or containing names of unknown people. There are eleven coats, several large school jumpers, thirteen black hoodies - all without names and all similar sizes. Please please please label your child's clothes - then when we find them strewn around school we can return them.

World Book Day 2024 - Primary and EYFS

On Thursday 7th March (next Thursday) we will be celebrating World Book Day in school.

World Book Day is a chance to celebrate the love of reading and encourage reading for pleasure.

Children are encouraged to come to school dressed up as a character from one of their favourite stories. Ideas in the past have included Matilda, Snow White, Umpa Lumpas, The Gruffalo, Fantastic Mr Fox, Lucy and Edmund from the Narnia stories, superheroes,princesses and many more!

Do spend some time over the next few days chatting with your child and deciding together what they might like to come as.

We will have a parade of the costumes in the hall on the morning of World Book Day and children will take part in WBD based activities in their classrooms.

Each child will also receive a book token that they can use in their local bookseller to purchase a new book to enjoy at home.

We're sure it'll be a great day!

Any questions, please speak to your child's class teacher.

Support religious literacy

Music Equipment

Political actions on VAT policy - take action

From the ICS:

All schools should be in touch with local politicians to make them aware of the impact of Labour’s tax proposals. We encourage you to focus on the impact on your parents, local state schooling, and your school operations. Stress whenever possible your school’s public benefit work, and existing links to the local community – as well as any specialised provision. While we still expect to see the tax proposals in the next Labour manifesto, our combined efforts are necessary to provide the best possible basis for conversations with Labour if they form the next government.

The ISC and associations are working at a national level to engage with the Labour VAT/charitable tax policy – but schools also have a vital role to play as local advocates. We are speaking to political parties, education groups, and unions – making them aware of the unintended consequences of the policy, but also the hugely positive role independent schools play in UK education. We are also highlighting the diversity of independent schools, the specialisms schools provide, and myth-busting about the true nature of our sector.

Parent Prayers

Second use uniform

Parent WhatApp Group

Missed last weeks Week Ahead?

Go to our Parent Zone page to view the archive.

Parent Zone

Next Week ➡️

Monday 4th March

Primary Drama Club - 15:30 - 16:30

Homework club, 15:30 - 16:30

Tuesday

Y11 Final PC Issued to parents via email - 13:00

Middle School Drama club, 15:30 - 16:30

Wednesday

Homework club 15:30 - 16:30

Y11 Parent consultations drop in - 17:00 - 19:00

Thursday

WORLD BOOK DAY - Primary and EYFS

Y11 residential - SET OFF - 10:30 from school

Homework club 15:30 - 16:30

Friday

Y11 residential - RETURN - 15:00 at school

Dates for your diary

13th March - Staff Training day - school closed to students
22nd March - School CLOSES at 12:30 for Easter break
8th April - School OPENS for Summer term
10th April - Y1 - 10 Sum1 Progress Checks published to parents

⭐️Stars & Students⭐️ of the week

Primary School

Love class

Abigail for being independent and very enthusiastic

Samual for writing some amazing sentences and having a great attitude towards school

Peace class

Lucy for being a kind and caring friend and always looking out for others

Yarnaa for excellent contributions on the carpet in Topic.

Kindness class

Charlie for focusing well in lessons and independent work.

Trystan for amazing work in Science.

Bronze awards

Abigail

Trystan

Silver Award

Yarnaa

Henry

Head teacher Award

Rosalie for being brave and having a super week.

Zebedee for fabulous work and brilliant behaviour.

Penelope for being a superstar and having a great attitude towards her work.

Middle School

Joy for excellent engagement in Shakespeare drama workshop lessons

Shalom for Excellent engagement in Shakespere drama workshop lessons

Upper School

Y10

Braden Mallloy for improvement in Maths

Autism Provision

Oak Class

Darnell for working hard , working a little faster and getting ahead in some of his lessons.

🧑‍🎓Classroom News

Y7/8 Skipton Academy trip

Year 7&8 went to see Romeo and Juliet at Skipton Academy this morning - “from the word go it was full of action… when it slowed down there was always something else happening”. Wow- Years 3-6 are in for a treat tomorrow!

Y9/10 Barcelona Trip

The trip has been a huge success from start to finish. One of the team has written a short piece for our Headteacher's message at the bottom of this Newsletter with some more photos.

Helpful Links

Online Safety

Parent Resources

Prevent Stratergy

Chromebooks for school & home

Fundraising

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!

giveasyoulive-asset-new-supporter-giveaway-2024-twitter-post

Regular campaign link - https://www.giveasyoulive.com/charity/bradford-christian-school

£15 raised so far!

To say it's only been a short time we've been apart of the Stikins campaign, this is an incredible achievement. Please continue to engage with this campaign. Thank you!

Marks & Spencer Uniform

£120 raised so far!

Every time someone purchases a BCS school uniform through our affiliate, M&S, we receive a small commission. So far this year we have receive £120. Thank you for your support.

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.

This week I give big thanks to the Barcelona team. Taking a bunch of year 9 and 10 on any residential is a big ask, and I am grateful to Mrs Garcia, Mr Prothero, Mr Kershaw and Mrs Virgo for stepping into this role, and for filling the week with a number of new opportunities.

In just 4 days, our students have done a number of things that would be difficult in February in the UK. They have visited some iconic sites, including the Sagrada Familia, they have played beach volleyball, paddled, walked, shopped in Las Ramblas and heard from refugee communities. They have tried new foods, heard native Spanish speakers, and been exposed to a different culture. They have had time to enjoy God's creation and respond to it, and

A visit like this has knock ons for families, teachers in school, covering classes and making sure that our students here have a great week too.

So thanks to the BCS team for playing their parts so well.

One of the team has written a short piece about the trip.

Hola!

I am currently sat on a beautiful courtyard in Barcelona reflecting on the week, (although by the time you read this I will be back in England!)

Throughout the week we have spoken a lot of how God's love for us is reflected within his creation, and how we can also glorify him through the skills he has given us to be creative... and you don't have to go far to experience this here in Barcelona.

When speaking to the students, the main highlight of the trip has been our visit to La Familia Sagrada, which is absolutely breathtaking and your eyes are instinctively drawn upwards. Antoni Goudi's main aim was to glorify God and was inspired by the creation around him, if you have ever been you will have seen God's creation reflecting back in all his work.

We have had a very busy week with walks around the city, the Picasso Museum, getting lost in a Labyrinth, shopping on La Rambla, homemade authentic Spanish Paella at Mrs Garcia's Mother-in-law's home, talks from refugee's and church ministers and another highlight; beach volleyball!

It's been great to get to know the students a little better, and I hope they will all have a restful weekend.

Poppy Virgo

Job role: Learning Support Assistant (LSA)

Church: Christ Church, Bradford

Poppy joined BCS in 1996 as a 9 year old but came back in 2022 as a member of staff. Her background is in youth work and children's nursing and has a passion for helping young people reach their full potential.

She is married to Matt and they have three children who all attend BCS. In her spare time she loves to bake cakes.