March
7th - Parent Information Morning 9-10am Great Hall 
14th - PTA Cake Sale
20th - Reception Visit to St James' Church (class and times TBC)
21st - Reception Visit to St James' Church (class and times TBC)
21st - Red Nose Day (more details to follow)
28th - Eid Celebration Afternoon 2-3pm (more details to follow)
28th - PTA Spring Hop Disco

April
2nd - Class Photographs
3rd - Easter Egg Competition (more details to follow)
4th - SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1.45PM for the EASTER BREAK
23rd - Y2 trip to Kingston Liberal Synagogue - Classes TBC (more details to follow) 
28th - Y2 trip to Kingston Liberal Synagogue - Classes TBC (more details to follow) 

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the school fund, we are well on our way to reaching our target with £8,455 raised so far!

Our voluntary contribution is £75 per family - if you feel you are able to contribute, this can be paid online via your School Gateway account. There is also an option to pay on a reducing balance with smaller instalments throughout the year. 

The money we raise from these contributions goes towards enriching experiences for the children such as Earthsong drumming, “Pretend Holiday” days, art workshops, Healthy Living Week Big Breakfast, school trips, multicultural picnic and classroom resources. 

You can read more about our School Fund by visiting the webpage: 

School Fund web page

Eco Council has an ongoing responsibility for taking care of the birds and other Burlington wildlife. Today they filled up the bird feeders and Mrs Easty helped by filling the water tray.

The children also put the hedgehog house in the Rainbow Garden and decided where Mr Williams should put the bat boxes.

Spring has sprung, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. I simply love this time of year, it's full of hope and better things to come. As I walked around the playground at lunch time yesterday, it warmed my heart to see all your children having so much fun just being outside, building tents, playing in the mud, dressing up as whoever they wanted to be, I could almost feel their imaginations running wild.

Children love being outside and at one with nature so why not harvest their passion by allowing them to grow their own. This can be done in the smallest of homes, if you have a windowsill, you will be able to grow your own little green space.  All it takes is a tiny pack of seeds, some plant pots and some compost, (get together with other parents as compost and pots are always cheapest bought in bulk). Plant your seeds, water them, then cover the pots in cling wrap, you will then have your own little greenhouse environment which will help the seeds grow and keep the soil moist. Then just sit back and wait, most seeds will germinate in about 10 - 14 days. At this stage you can take the cling wrap off and watch them grow into beautiful flowers or tasty vegetables. If the plants get too big for your windowsill, your children are welcome to bring them into school and we can look after them together. Give it a go, seeing something grow from seed and watching it grow into something amazing is one of the best therapies on earth. Good luck!

And finally, our positive thought of the week:

Your children only get one childhood, make it one to remember.

If you have a parenting concern, you can contact Mrs Easty via the school office - admin@burlingtoni.org.uk

Mrs Davies reading Errol's Garden on YouTube

Mrs Davies reading Grow Flower Grow!

ASD Parent/Carer Support Group

Wednesday 19th March 2025, 9.30 to 11am

at Grand Avenue Primary School, Surbiton, KT5 9HU
 
Join us for coffee, biscuits and chat to other parents that understand.
Karen Lowry and Rob Harris will be joining us to talk about local services.
 
If you would like to come along, please register by following this link:
https://forms.gle/pPwX19WzkJbccGKM7

or contact
Jane Pidduck (e-mail: jpiddu2@grandavenue.kingston.sch.uk)

We are overwhelmed by the support we have had and if you are able to help, please check out our wishlist here -  https://amzn.eu/983v2T9

Every week in the book bags, we will be sending home an exciting picture to discuss and share at home which will hopefully inspire your child to write and draw.
 
Children can write and draw anything which comes to mind after looking at the picture. Every week in our Learning Assembly, winning entries will be shared with the school and stickers/certificates will be awarded.
 
Please encourage your child to participate in this weekly challenge. We hope that the pictures will inspire us all!

Thank you and well done to all the children who sent in their own Inspiration Station ideas. Each week, we will choose one for the whole school to complete. 

Please click here to see this week's Inspiration Station by Albert in Hedgehogs.  Deadline for entries is the morning of Friday 14 March.

Inspiration Station Entries 2024-25

Please click here for a programme of activities being held during the spring term at local Children's Centres.

We currently have a vacancy to join our team here at our school.

We are seeking to appoint an Extended Services Playleader for 3 hours a day, Mondays to Thursdays (3-6pm).  You will assist and supervise children during our popular after school club.

To find out more and if you are interested in applying, please visit our Vacancies web page: 

Vacancies web page

If your child needs to use the toilet after pick-up, please walk back to your classroom door and ask for your child to go back through the classroom to use the toilet. Parents are not allowed in the toilets. This is to safeguard the other children we have on site after school in clubs and at Acorns. 

Thank you for your cooperation.

Just letting you know that Burlington Infant & Nursery School are now registered with easyfundraising, which means you can raise FREE donations for us every time you shop online.

Over 7,000 brands will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself! These donations really mount up and make a BIG difference to us, so we’d really appreciate it if you could take a moment to sign up and support us.

It’s completely FREE and only takes a moment. You can find our easyfundraising page here.

Thank you so much!
 
All you need to do is:
 
1. Go to the fundraising page by clicking here and join for free.

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, the brand will make a donation to Burlington Infant & Nursery School at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
 
There are no catches or hidden charges and we will be really grateful for your donations.
 
Thank you for your support.

Parentkind, a charity that supports school PTAs have teamed up with Asda, who is making millions of pounds available to donate to primary schools across the UK through their ‘Cashpot for Schools’ initiative. To support our school, all you have to do is opt-in through the Asda Rewards app, shop and scan in store or shop online at Asda.com.
 
Between 2nd September and 30th November 2024, every time you shop with Asda using your Asda Rewards app, Asda will donate 0.5% of the value of your shop to your chosen school. Also, every time somebody opts-in to support our school, Asda will give an additional £1 to the school Cashpot. Plus, it doesn’t stop there – Asda are also giving £50 to every school to get them started.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3
1. Download the Asda Rewards app, register and opt-in to Cashpot for Schools (make sure you have the latest version of the app installed)
2. Choose Burlington Infant & Nursery School by searching the name or postcode
3. Shop instore across Asda and George, or online at Asda.com and start filling your Cashpot as you shop
 
Asda does the rest, all money raised will be donated to schools to spend on the things they need the most.

Remember, anyone can sign up, so start spreading the news and raising funds for our school.

A reminder to all parents that the yellow zig-zag lines outside our school at both the front and back gates indicate the length of road where stopping or waiting is strictly prohibited. If you park on these clearly marked, yellow zig zag lines you are putting the safety of our children and their families at risk.

Cars should not be parked on the zig zag lines for any amount of time - even if it is just a minute or two to drop off children.

Thank you for helping us to keep our school community safe.

Please can we remind parents that children are not allowed to ride scooters on the school premises. Please use the scooter stands provided or carry your child's scooter once inside the school gates. We really appreciate your support.
Thank you

If you have not already downloaded the School Gateway App, please do this immediately. This is our communication and payment system for the school so it is really important that you have activated your account. We will use this system to send emergency text messages and all clubs, trips, Acorns, nursery fees etc can be paid using the app. If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to ask the school office. 

How to access School Gateway instructions for new users

You can find all our policies on our Policies web page:

School Policies web page

We recommend parents read: 

Medical Conditions Policy
Attendance Policy
Parent & Visitor Code of Conduct
Behaviour & Anti-bullying 
Complaints policy
School Uniform

What a wonderful Book Week we have had celebrating reading for pleasure and poetry. Highlights have been Buddy Reading with the Junior school, a bedtime story in PJs, learning and performing a poem, dressing up as a book character and a visit from Mrs P the children's author. Thank you for all your contributions to the Big Booky Bedtime sponsored read, the Extreme reading competition and the book fair. Please send in any further entries by Wednesday next week.

Dr Parvez Alam is a senior lecturer in materials at the University of Edinburgh.  When he was at school he liked maths, science and PE. In his spare time he loves sports and spending time with his cats. Skateboarding is his favourite hobby and during the winter he goes snowboarding. 

The best thing about his job is that when he does his research, he very often makes new discoveries. One month he might discover an animal that spins the world’s toughest silk egg case and another month he might discover a new way of designing materials for improved strength.

Dr Parvez Alam would like you to take part in a materials experiment to answer the question: What is the best material to keep an ice cube from melting?

You will need: ice cubes, containers with lids for your ice cubes, a range of materials to wrap the ice cube in e.g cotton wool, towel, foil, bubble wrap.

Create an insulated container for your ice cube, using the range of materials.

Create a control - a container that does not have any materials in it.

Check on your ice cubes every 10 minutes and record how much they have melted. 

Challenge question: How could a scientist use what you have learned to create a product in the real world? What kind of products could they develop? 

Take a Science Selfie and post your photo on Tapestry!  If you would like to have your photo included in our weekly school newsletter, please e-mail your photo to admin@burlingtoni.org.uk

If you are taking part in science learning at home, please take a photo and email it to the school. It could be a photo of you trying out an experiment, sharing something that you have created or an interesting find. You could be with an animal, reading a book, feeding the birds, at your allotment or visiting a science museum. Please add comments and quotes from your child explaining what your science selfie is about and what you were learning.

Please email your science selfie to admin@burlingtoni.org.uk.  We look forward to seeing your Science Selfies!

Here are some of the Science Selfies we've received!

Science Selfie Challenge Photos

8 of our Year 2 children took part in a Dodge Ball tournament this week at The Kingston Academy. The children did so well and had so much fun. We are so proud of their efforts - well done! 

The HENRY Programme in Kingston helps parents to transform family life for the better in all sorts of ways – including improved nutrition, emotional wellbeing, parenting skills and getting more active.  

 All of their support for families is underpinned by the HENRY approach to supporting behaviour change which helps parents gain the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to help the whole family adopt a healthier, happier lifestyle and to give their children a great start in life.

Click here to read their February newsletter. 

Please click here for a programme of activities being held during the half term break at local Children's Centres.

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached details for the after school clubs for the second half of the spring term. We will be taking bookings from Monday 10th February at 8PM in the evening. Any requests sent before this time will not be valid.

After School Activity Clubs for Spring 2 term

Thank you and best wishes,  

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

A big thank you to everyone who came into school today to help us celebrate the Lunar New year. It was lovely to see so many parents in class enjoying the activities with the children. 

Every half term the children in KS1 learn about a Scientist. This half term, the children have been learning about Dr Sheila Kanani.  We were very lucky that Dr Sheila Kanani visited us on Thursday. She told the children all about her job and answered their questions about space. She was very impressed by their space models, writing and their knowledge about the planets. To read more about her, please click on this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Kanani

We now have a permanent collection basket for the DONS Local Action Group food bank. The basket is in the reception area of the school office. Any food donations are welcome as long as they are non-perishable. 

Thank you.

Boys trousers ages 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8
Jogging bottoms (black, navy or grey) ages 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8

If you have any of the above items second hand to donate, the school office would be very grateful - thank you.

At Burlington we are very proud of our diverse community. This Spring term we will be looking at religious festivals such as Lohri/Pongal, Lailat al Miraj, Lunar New Year, Tu b' Shevat, Holi, St Patrick's Day, Eid, Vaisakhi, Easter.

We know that many families will be celebrating a variety of different religious festivals throughout the Spring Term. We would love the children to share their news and personal experiences with their class. This could be anything from artefacts such as special story books, photos, special clothes, a piece of music/food and some helpful written notes of information about the artefacts/festival. Remember: photos and videos can also be uploaded to share via Tapestry of which I can then share in my special festival assemblies.

If you’re a parent and you would like to volunteer to come into school to talk to your child's class about any upcoming festivals, we would love to hear from you. Please let your class teacher know.

Don’t forget: Lunar New Year Celebration morning is on Friday 31st January 8.50- 9.30am. Pop into your child's class for some fun craft activities. We look forward to seeing you then.

Miss Braithwaite

Today was our annual Science Day. We loved seeing the children dressed as scientists and wearing science themed tops, and it was great to see our staff taking part too! Thank you to all the parents who joined us this morning to take part in different science activities including a STEM investigation to discover the strongest shape. A special thank you to all the parents who shared their science related jobs and hobbies.

This year the children from Nursery to Y6 took part in a whole school science experiment called Rocket Mice. The children in Nursery and Reception investigated which container would shoot the mouse the highest and KS1 investigated which material (mouse) would travel the furthest. The children developed their science vocabulary and made simple predictions. They also learnt how to make the test fair. In Y2, the children recorded their results on a block graph. In the afternoon, classes across the Infant and Junior schools buddied up to compare their results. 

Thank you for all the lovely feedback about the day! 

I really enjoyed this morning.  I was amazed by how much the children knew about science!

The hands on experiments were fun and particularly useful in providing examples of how to do this at home.  It doesn't have to be complicated or messy which has always put us off in the past.

Great activities, very interactive and lovely to see the children so engaged!

We would be most grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our parent questionnaire for the Autumn Term. We really appreciate your feedback and would like to know your thoughts so we can continually improve our school. 

To complete the survey, please click on the link below: 

https://forms.gle/bchGddEnWiKH6Bm49

This week we announced in assembly who are our new Opal Play Detectives would be. During the Autumn Term, Year 2 were given the opportunity to apply for the role. In an OPAL assembly the children were told about what their role would be. Some of the tasks the OPAL detectives will undertake are: celebrating great play by using the OPAL iPad, supporting other children in their play and helping Mrs Leech, Ms Farr, Miss Biscoe and the Play Team develop the play experiences. Congratulations to Naila and Henry in Venus, Andrea and Casey in Saturn, Maythage and Alexander in Mercury and Ada and Hyomin in Jupiter. The whole play team and myself are looking forward to working with you!
 
Mrs Leech

Thank you to the three parents who have volunteered to help repair our Sandpit. We will be repairing our sandpit on Friday 24th January from 1:15pm (weather permitting) and there is still plenty of time to volunteer if you are free that afternoon. We will be removing all the existing sand and liner and then inserting a new liner and sand. If you are able to volunteer, please let the school office know. 

Each half term the KS1 children will be learning about a scientist. Last half term they learnt about Milly Hennayake and this half term they will learn about Dr Sheila Kanani MBE who is an astronomer and the Education, Outreach and Diversity Officer at the Royal Astronomical Society. She is also an author and has written books including 'How To Be An Astronaut and Other Space Jobs' and ‘Can you get Jellyfish in Space?’ Dr Sheila Kanani will be visiting our school on Thursday 30th January!

This half term we would like the children to use their creative skills to make the Solar System. They can also record questions they have for Dr Sheila Kanani.

Paper copies of the homework will be sent home with the children or you can click here to view it. This homework is optional but do encourage your child to take part!

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to the various charities we have been supporting. 

We have collected a whopping...

£502.90 for Wear it Pink 

£458 for Children in Need 

£772.92 for St Raphael Hospice 

Wishing all our children and their families a wonderful festive break. We hope the children have lots of fun and a good rest. A huge well done to all the children for their amazing Christmas concerts. They all performed so well and we are so proud of them. 

We look forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday 7th January. 

The Reading Tree Challenge helps to promote reading for pleasure and encourages children to read widely. Like our Inspiration Station, Picture News  and Maths Challenges you will receive a sheet to complete at home to recommend a book. Once completed your child can hand them in to their class teacher. Every month there will be different challenges from fiction, non-fiction, fairy stories and poetry. The winning entries will be awarded in Assembly and win a book with a special certificate for their classroom. Please encourage your child to participate.

A big thank you and well done to everyone who entered the December challenge!

Reading of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Mrs Davies

Click here to enter the January challenge. 

We would be most grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our parent questionnaire for the Autumn Term. We really appreciate your feedback and would like to know your thoughts so we can continually improve our school. 

To complete the survey, please click on the link below: 

https://forms.gle/bchGddEnWiKH6Bm49

Please click here for a programme of activities being held during the spring term at local Children's Centres.