The Benhurst Bulletin

The Weekly Buzz 🐝

​A Week of Reflection, Adventure, and New Beginnings

​

Dear Parents and Carers,

​As we fast approach the end of the academic year, this week has been a beautiful mix of reflection on our learning, fun-filled moments, and exciting new beginnings. From thrilling adventures out to delicious baking in school, it has been a truly memorable week. Here is a look at what our wonderful community has been up to!

​🚀 Careers Week: Inspiring the Future!

​We recently held a brilliant Careers Week where our pupils got a sneak peek into the world of work. The children were absolutely captivated by a series of special community visitors who generously shared their time and expertise:

​🐾 A Visit from the Vet

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🚒 The London Fire Brigade

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✈️ The Royal Air Force (RAF)

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💅 Our Local Nail Technician

👩‍⚕️Nurses

⚖️Barrister

​...and many more! A massive thank you to all our guests for sparking so much ambition and curiosity across the school. And of course a wrap to a successful careers week does mean some creativity through a very wonderful careers dress up opportunity. We saw doctors, nurses, beauty stylist, artists, teachers and many more- well done Benhurst for showing such great creativity!

​🎢 Adventures Out: Year 5 Brave Adventure Island!

​Our Year 5 pupils had an absolute blast on their trip to Adventure Island! The day was packed with thrills, laughter, and fantastic behavior from all the children. Thank you to our incredible parent volunteers, your support and time was greatly appreciated.

​🧁 Fun-Filled Moments & Baking Brilliance

​There has been a wonderful aroma wafting through the corridors this week, thanks to some fantastic baking over in Year 3! The children showed great teamwork and culinary skill, whipping up some truly delicious treats. Future star bakers in the making!

​🐻 Zoe Bear’s 10th Birthday Grand Celebration!

​The LIFE Education Trust celebrated a massive milestone this week—Zoe Bear's 10th Birthday! We marked the occasion in grand style:

🧺🎂​🧸Picnic on the Field: Our KS1 families joined us for a gorgeous, sunny picnic.

​Whole-School Cake Cutting: The entire school came together for a special celebration.

​Live Trust Broadcast: Mr. Dutnall took to the platform to initiate the celebration live across all schools in the Trust, making it a truly unified and joyful event.

​📈 Reflecting on Learning: Parents' Evening

​On Thursday, we welcomed families from Reception through to Year 5 for our Parents' Evening. We hope that the summer reports you received, combined with the meetings, provided a valuable insight into your child’s fantastic academic progress and achievements this year. Thank you for partnering with us to celebrate their hard work.

​🌱 New Beginnings: Welcoming Our Next Generation

​This week, we were absolutely delighted to welcome our upcoming September Reception pupils for their first Stay and Play sessions!

​It was wonderful to see the pure joy and bright smiles on their faces as they embraced this new beginning. These sessions will continue into next week to help our youngest learners feel right at home.

​🗓️ Looking Ahead to Next Week

​The excitement doesn't stop here! Next week, we look forward to:

​Year 6 Parents' Evening: A vital opportunity to connect with our oldest pupils' families.

​Whole-School Sports Day: Get your running shoes ready for a day of team spirit and athletic fun! 🏃‍♂️💨

Have a lovely weekend!

The Benhurst Senior Leadership Team

Monday 1st June - Friday 17th July (2pm finish)

📆 Wednesday 8th July- Sports Day KS1 (9:30 - 11:30am)

📆 Wednesday 8th July- Sports Day KS2 (13:30 - 15:15pm)

📆 Wednesday 8th July- Year 6 Parent Consultation throughout the day and after school

📆Friday 10th July- Benhurst Summer Fete

📆 Tuesday 14th July- Meet the Teacher

📆 Thursday 16th July- Year 6 graduation and class party

📆 Friday 17th July 9.30am- Year 6 Leavers' production

Are you interested in playing an important part in the quality of education at Benhurst Primary School? Would you like to work with other professionals to ensure the education we provide is of the best quality? We are looking for individuals who are passionate about the education of our children and who, working with other school governors; monitor the quality of education, scrutinise the views of stakeholders, monitor information on pupil progress and attainment and monitor Safeguarding and SEND and progress towards school development priorities. We are ideally looking for applicants who specifically have education expertise to link to the School Development Plan and the School Evaluation Form.

We would like to give more children the opportunity to win. From this term onwards, we will be monitoring pupils with 100% attendance on a weekly basis. Each week, those names will be entered into a draw. This means there will be more chances to win, and if a child is absent for a day, they will still have opportunities to take part in future weeks.

Wishing everyone a happy and successful Summer term.

We have been so excited to get back to school to start our Summer 2 term! The children have come back very well after our break and are showing all of our Core Values in the classroom and beyond. Well done Year 1!

In Design and Technology, the Year 1 children designed and made their own canvas bags. They explored the leaf printing technique by painting different leaves with brushes and carefully pressing them onto the bags to create colourful patterns. First, the children planned and designed their bags in their books before bringing their ideas to life using paint. They enjoyed creating their unique designs and were very proud to sell their finished bags at the school fair.

We started our Science learning with a Summer walk, we loved comparing the differences we saw from our Spring walk. We talked about how the days are longer, the air is warmer and we even had some extremely hot days which is unusual for the UK.

This half term in Maths, the Year 1 children have been learning all about arrays. They have used rows and columns to help them understand repeated addition and multiplication, and have practised counting groups of objects to solve problems. The children have also been learning about fractions by finding one half and one quarter of shapes and quantities. They have enjoyed using practical resources and pictures to help them recognise and share equally, building their confidence and understanding of these important maths skills.

This term in Science, the Year 1 children have been learning about the weather and the summer season. They have explored the different types of weather and observed the changes they have noticed each day. The children have enjoyed talking and writing about the warm, sunny weather we have experienced, as well as discussing the exciting thunderstorm we had with thunder and lightning. They have developed their observation skills and learnt how weather can change throughout the seasons.

• Bottle green shorts
• Round-necked plain white t-shirt
• Black plimsols or plain black trainers
• Black tracksuit bottoms & black sweatshirt

Please note that football kits are not permitted

• Bottle Green Jumper with Logo
• Bottle Green Cardigan with Logo
• White Polo Shirt
• Black trousers Black Skirt or Pinafore Black Skirt
• Summer Dresses – Green Gingham Dress
• Summer Black Shorts

A reminder that artificial nails including nail varnish, as well as long earrings are prohibited, we are seeing a number of pupils with nails and long earrings. We kindly request that these are removed during school periods.

Our before and after school provider is ABACUS. They have been supporting the children and parents at Benhurst since September 2008.

ABACUS are based in our Dining Hall and provide the children with a range of toys, games, computer consoles, Lego, creative activities, home corner, books, larger equipment and use of the school outdoor space. Only Benhurst children may attend this club.

ABACUS are flexible and will accommodate children who wish to attend other in house school clubs; they will collect them and bring them to the setting.

For further information please visit www.abacusafterschoolclubs.com or telephone 07903 708764.

Break time snacks can be:

● A piece of fruit;

● A vegetable;

● A healthy cereal bar (without chocolate)

Break snacks should not include:

● Crisps (including baked crisps)

● Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets;

● Cakes and biscuits;

● Nut or nut products (although they can be very healthy) because of the danger to other children with allergies.

Please ensure you are booking your child's meals with them on time. For late orders please call 0204 542 7211. If you have not booked your child's dinners please note that they will be offered a jacket potato. We appreciate that meals are free for primary children however you are required to book online so a number can be catered for.

🔈Please be advised that IFG will be moving across to a new food ordering platform SchoolGrid, due to a system changeover.

Your child may be able to get free school meals please see the guidance below from the Government;

• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

Your child may also get free school meals if you get any of these benefits and your child is both:

• younger than the compulsory age for starting school
• in full-time education

If you do not qualify for most benefits (also known as having ‘no recourse to public funds’), your child may still be eligible for free school meals. Ask their school or local authority whether they’re eligible.

Infant free school meals in England

Your child will be able to get free school meals if they’re in a government-funded school and in:

• reception class
• year 1
• year 2

Tell your local authority if you also get any of the qualifying benefits. Your child’s school can get extra funding if you do

https://havering.cloud.servelec-synergy.com/Synergy/Enquiries/Citizen/FreeSchoolMeals.aspx

Havering HAF Summer Programme 2026 – Now Open!

Free holiday activities and healthy meals are available this summer for children and young people in Havering who receive benefit-related Free School Meals (FSM).

✅ Fun activities
✅ Nutritious meals provided
✅ Local venues across Havering

👉 Book now: Book HAF activities
👉 Find out more: Havering HAF webpage

We currently have high volume of unclaimed lost property in the main office and encourage all families to come along and check for any belongings.

We kindly ask all parents and carers of children attending Benhurst Primary School to be considerate and respectful when parking during drop-off and collection times. Thank you for your cooperation and support in keeping our school community safe and respectful.

Contact the school office for more details

01708 450 807

office@benhurst.havering.sch.uk

We are currently looking for donations to support our Outdoor Play and Learning (OPAL) provision. OPAL helps us create rich, creative and active play opportunities for all of our children, and recycled or pre-loved items are perfect for inspiring imaginative play.

We would be very grateful for donations such as:

• Toys
• Old suitcases
• Buggies or pushchairs
• Pots and pans
• Blankets and sheets
• Car seats
• Any other items you may be giving away that could be safely re-purposed for play

If you are unsure whether something would be suitable, please feel free to ask. We are always happy to take a look!

Thank you for your continued support in helping us enrich the children’s play experiences. We truly appreciate your generosity.

Parent short video here with further information https://vimeo.com/1121803010/ffabd80232?share=copy