Welcome back to BWPS letter September 2026

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope you have had a wonderful summer and made the most of all the glorious sunshine! We are looking forward to welcoming all our children back to school on Monday 7^th September 2026 for another new and exciting academic year! If you are new to our Banwell family – joining us this September – we are thrilled to have you join our Banwell family -it is a very special place! Welcome to Banwell and we hope that you soon feel settled and part of the family. Our first communication home is quite a lengthy one – there is lots to share and update you on so do make yourself a cup of tea, a large piece of cake (optional) and enjoy (hopefully!)

We have had very busy summer holiday with some significant improvements to our site and provision which we are looking forward to sharing with you all. The most noticeable changes are to the front and entrance, our playground and a new very large servery in the Sport’s hall and kitchenette for the use of afterschool club and breakfast club! Whilst these works were taking place, we have also had new electrics, heating system and boiler installed. This has included new radiators in all our classrooms, a new security system as well as fire and lockdown system. As you can imagine the works have been extensive and there have been some unforeseen delays and challenges but I am very grateful for to our staff team who have worked very hard in preparing our learning environments in a very short space of time! Thank you for your patience and understanding in the delay in some of our communications at the start of the year due to difficulties around access to WIFI, electricity and telephone systems! We are very pleased that all the ‘gremlins’ have been resolved and we are ready! There are still some ongoing works to get the new heating system ready but our contractors will be moving to an evening schedule working between 6pm-6am until the end of October half term.

You are all warmly invited to visit your child’s new classroom as well as these new areas on:

Thursday 10^th September 2026 at 3.20pm – 4pm.This will be open to parents/carers from Reception to Year 6.

A reminder that Mrs Jones, our SENDCO will be moving her working days to a Thursday and Friday. If you have any questions and concerns, please don’t hesitate to speak to us or email the team at senco@banwell.extendlearning.org

On Monday 7^th September 2026, staff will be ready to greet your children and welcome them to their new classrooms. All year groups will have a soft start with classrooms open from 8.40am. Registration will open at 8.45am and close at 8.55am to ensure that the school day starts promptly and there is no lost learning time. Lessons start promptly at 8.55am so it is really important that child arrive in good time to start the day positively!

Mrs Evans and Mrs Parker will be on the gates ready to welcome you into school – please come and say hello! I will be onsite on Monday afternoon at Banwell but I look forward to seeing you all in the afternoon.

Key dates for Term 1

It is a busy start the academic year and there are some key dates for your diary. More details regarding each event will follow and please not we are awaiting confirmation on two key dates which we will share as soon as possible.

Key Dates – Term 1

Date	Event
3^rd and 4^th September	INSET days
7^th September	Children return to school
10^th September	Open afternoon from 3.15-4.15pm for all year groups Friends of Banwell AGM (4pm-4.30pm)
15th September	Reception 2027 school tour at 9.30am
18^th September	Year 6 swimming starts at Hutton Moor
22^nd September	Year 1 trip to Uphill boat yard
30^th September	Reception 2027 tour at 1.30pm
To be confirmed	School nursing team to administer flu vaccination - whole school
To be confirmed	SEND Coffee morning 9.30am-11am with Amy Jones
9th October	World Mental Health Day – Wear something Yellow Real Voices – Real Change
13^th and 15^th October	Harvest Festival assembly including special community Scarecrow trail on Thursday 15^th October 2026 Scholastic Book Fair on Thursday 15th October 2026
9-13^th October	World Nursery Rhyme Week
13^th October	Reception 2027 tour at 6pm
20^thand 21^st October	Parents/Carers consultations
20^th October	Reception 2027 tour at 9.30am
22^nd October	Halloween Disco
22^nd October	LAST day of term 1
23^rd October	INSET day
26^th-30^th October	HALF TERM
2^nd November	INSET day
3^rd November	Children return to school
5^th November	Bikeability: Year 6 Level 2 all day
6^th November	Bikeability: Year 6 (half day morning only) Year 4 (half day afternoon only) Level 1
11^th November	Remembrance Day Details to be shared in early term 2
13^th November	Children in Need
12^th November	Friends of Banwell - 'Snowman drive' at 5pm
3rd December	Friends of Banwell Hot Chocolate and Father Christmas Grotto
Monday 7^th December	Reception and KS1 Christmas Production at 9.30am
Tuesday 8^th December	Reception and KS1 Christmas Production at 1.45pm
Thursday 10^th December	Christmas Film Night
Friday 11^th December	KS2 Christmas Showcase at St Andrews
16^th December	Christmas Dinner day and Christmas jumper day
18^th December	Christmas class family parties

Class names

Here is a roundup of all our class families for the year ahead.

Reception/Year 1 (Mrs Bevan)	Robins
Year 1/Year 2 (Miss Dockerty)	Goldfinches
Year 3/ 4 (Mr Farmer)	Swallows
Year 4/ 5 (Miss Shield)	Kingfishers
Year 6 (Miss Wyatt)	Starlings

PE and Forest School

We are delighted to be able to offer Forest School session for all year groups again this year! This will take place in our forest school and pond area. Each class will have at least 1 term of Forest School. In addition to this, individual and small group sessions will also be taking place for specific SEMH intervention support also on a Friday morning. These will be led by Mrs Amy Clark who is a trained Forest School Lead and has been working hard over the summer to make improvements to our Forest School space in readiness for the start of term!

This term, Goldfinches (Year 1/Year 2) will be having Forest School starting on Friday 11^th September 2026. Please can children bring ‘a bag for life’ containing named wellie boots and rain coat as we will continue to have Forest school in all weathers! We know that sourcing this in time for Friday may not be possible so please do not worry if you are not able to get these in time – we will make any adjustments needed should the weather turn to rain!

Starlings (Year 6) will start swimming on Friday 18^th September 2026. A letter outlining swimming arrangements will be sent out early next week.

Despite cuts to the Sports Premium funding announced at the end of the academic year, we will continue to prioritise PE and Sports provision for year ahead. We will continue to have opportunities to play in tournaments against other ELAN schools or make use of the sports facilities at SIDCOT with Mr Lee Molland.

All children will have two PE sessions per week in Year 2-6. In Reception and Year 1, all children will have focussed outdoor provision every day and so children in these year groups have 1 PE session a week. Children will continue to come to school wearing their full PE kit on days where their year group PE has been timetabled below. It is important the children are wearing the full PE kit so that they are comfortable and able to participate fully in their lesson.

During our first week back, children do not need to wear their full PE kit. From Monday 14^th September 2026, full PE kit must be worn on the days where classes have PE lessons taking place.

PE kit is:

dark (black, navy blue or grey) joggers or shorts
plain white t-shirt
school jumper or cardigan or black, navy blue or grey hoodie or zip up.
trainers or daps
no football strips or brightly coloured gym clothes including very short shorts.

School Uniform

Reading

During the first two weeks back all children will receive a new reading record and book. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that all our children love to read!

In Reception and KS1, children have will have decodable reading book that is matched to their phonic level. In Year 2-6, once children are fluent readers, we use the IPICK system. Children will be supported to pick a book of their choice but will be encouraged to explore different genres and authors by the year group team.

In Years 3, 4 and 5, please can all reading books and records be in school on a Thursday as part of the weekly reading check in.

In Year 6, reading at home looks a little different. Miss Wyatt will send this update to Year 6 families as part of his curriculum map coming out early next week!

To earn a merit, children need to read a minimum of 3 times a week and have this recorded in their reading diary by an adult. Children who read more than 3 times a week have the opportunity to earn an extra merit also.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be sharing further updates about teaching and learning! On Wednesday 9^th September, you will receive your child’s curriculum map outlining their learning for the term ahead. A reminder that our website is an excellent source of curriculum information however, please speak to your child’s class teacher if you have any questions!

School Meals – ELAN catering

School Grid is now up and running so that you can book your child’s meals. Please remember that you need to activate your SCHOOL GRID ACCOUNT for both ordering and payments if you haven’t used this system before. It is now available for you to use.

Here is a copy of our new menu which will be available from Monday 7^th September 2026:

Communication

We use ParentPay to send all our communications and for booking Breakfast Club and Afterschool Club. We are a cashless school and so all payments for this extended provision or contributions for other school events via ParentPay only. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our admin if you are not receiving regular updates via ParentPay or need any support with getting this set up. On some occasions, emails will go to ‘junk’ folders so please do check! We do have some paper copies of key information and our termly newsletter or weekly roundup available from the school office if you would prefer this.

A reminder to ‘like’ and follow our school Facebook page. We will be sharing updates and reminders on this platform throughout the week. We do use social media to send out reminders but we do know that this is not communication choice for all of our families. All key communications will be sent out via ParentPay.

Expansion of the offer of free school meals offer by the government means anyone receiving universal credit can receive this benefit!

We need YOU to APPLY today! It is quick and easy online form to complete!

Everyone who has previously received free school meals MUST REAPPLY! Please use this link: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/pp-extendlearning/

Free school meals (FSM) FAQs (Parent/carer Information menu tab)

Please do get in touch with any questions or concerns, your feedback is very important to us. You can either contact us directly via school office 01934 822498 or via email office@banwell.extendlearning.org.

We look forward to another year of extraordinary learning, exciting opportunities and lots of fantastic growing together!

Kindest regards,

Mrs Roxanne Simpson

Executive Headteacher

Banwell Primary School