Wishing all our amazing children and their families a joyful and relaxing summer break! The children have put in so much hard work this year, and we couldn't be prouder. We hope the holidays are filled with rest, laughter, and plenty of fun adventures!

We look forward to welcoming you back to school on Wednesday 3rd September. 

September
1st - INSET DAY SCHOOL CLOSED
2nd - INSET DAY SCHOOL CLOSED
3rd - TERM BEGINS
12th - Parent Information Morning - All You Need to Know About Burlington 9am Great Hall 
25th - Flu Immunisations YR, Y1 & Y2
30th - Y2 Trip to London Wetlands

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the school fund, we are well on our way to reaching our target with £9,325 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

This term is always such a special – and emotional – time as we get ready to say goodbye to our lovely Year 2 children. It’s hard to believe they’re already preparing to spread their wings and head off on their next big adventure.

In the last week of term, each class held their leavers’ assembly, filled with wonderful memories of their time in the infants. The children sang beautifully, and it’s safe to say there wasn’t a dry eye in the room – parents, staff, and children all felt the emotions of the moment. 

We are going to miss them so much, but we know they are more than ready for what lies ahead. We’re incredibly proud of everything they have achieved and how much they have grown during their time with us. The junior school is very lucky to be welcoming such a fantastic group of children in September.

We wish each and every one of them the very best of luck – we know they are going to shine!

We would like to say the fondest farewell to some of our staff who will be leaving us this summer...

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to our lovely teaching assistant Mrs Carney who will be leaving us at the end of this term after 8 years at Burlington. Mrs Carney has been an invaluable part of our school community - always going above and beyond to support our children with kindness, patience, and care. Mrs Carney is well loved by all the children and staff, she has such a calm presence and gentle approach which has brought comfort and confidence to so many children. We are really going to miss her warm smile and while we are sad to see her go, we are so excited to hear what she does next. Mrs Carney will be working towards returning to her original field of Neuroscience and we have no doubt that she will continue to do amazing things! We will miss you Mrs Carney and you will always be part of our Burlington family. 

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to a truly special member of our school community, Ms Hackett who is leaving us after 11 years. During her time with us, Ms Hackett has brought warmth, laughter, and boundless care into the lives of so many children and their families. Her sense of humour, compassionate nature, and unwavering dedication have made her a cherished part of our Early Years team. Ms Hackett will be so missed by us all and her genuine love for helping children grow has been an inspiration. While we are incredibly sad to see her go, we are also so proud of her next adventure which will be supporting older children in a youth centre. The young people she will be working with are going to be so lucky to have her. We wish you all the very best Ms Hackett in this exciting new chapter and you will always be part of our Burlington family.

As we come to the end of the term, we say a fond farewell to Cindy, one of our lunchtime supervisors, who is relocating outside of the area with her family. 

Although Cindy hasn’t been with us for long, her impact has been truly felt. With her warm smile, friendly nature, and genuine care for the children, she quickly became a much-loved and valuable part of our school community. Her dedication to ensuring our children felt safe, supported, and seen during lunchtime has not gone unnoticed.

We are so grateful for the time and care Cindy gave to our children, and we wish her and her family all the very best in the future. You will be missed and will always be part of our Burlington family. 

Parent Information Morning 
Save the Date!
Everything you Need to Know about Burlington Infants! 9.00-10.00am Great Hall

Please come and join us on Friday 12th September at 9am in the Great Hall. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served. 

This will be an opportunity to meet some of our school governors, PTA and staff. We will take this opportunity to welcome new parents and explain the different roles of staff within the school and the support we give to the children. All parents are welcome.

We would be most grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our parent questionnaire for the Summer 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/sv1YGtPHciitupnJ7

Holiday Activities

Today is all about having fun, I am going to give you some recipes for slime, playdough and coloured spaghetti, children (and adults) can play with these for hours on end, it is calming, therapeutic and very enjoyable.
 
Slime
 -  Add 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to 100mls of PVA glue.
 - Add the food colouring of your choice and give it a good stir.
 - Finally, stir in contact lens solution, small amounts at a time, keep stirring and before your eyes, slime will appear.

If you want clear slime you can use clear PVA, if you want sparkly slime you can add glitter, if you want fluffy slime, try adding shaving cream. One tip is make sure that you are actually using contact lens solution and not saline solution or you will just end up with a gooey mess! 
 
Playdough
This is such an easy recipe and really cheap to make. You will need: 

1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar (this is a dry powder that can be found in the baking aisle)
Food colouring of your choice

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and stir it all together over a very low heat, if you have the heat high it will not work. As the mixture slowly heats up, you will see it turn into a lump of playdough, tip it out of the pan onto a heat proof surface, when it has cooled down it is ready to use. 
 
Coloured Spaghetti
The children love this one in school, you could use any out of date dried spaghetti or pasta, put it in a pan of water to cook along with food colouring of your choice. Once cooked, pour into a colander and add a tablespoon or two of cheap cooking oil. When cool it is ready to play with. If you are feeling really brave, make 2 - 3 different colours. Give your children a selection of plastic knives, forks, spoons. play tea sets, saucepans etc and let their imagination run wild. This can be quite a messy activity, so don't forget to protect their clothes and the surface they are playing on.

All of the above can be stored in the fridge and  played with again another day. Good luck, your children will give you 'The Parent of the Year Award' for this! Have a great summer!

And finally, our positive thought of the week:

Life is too short not to nurture your inner child!

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

If you would like to volunteer to read with children in your child's class please come along to the training on Monday 8th September at 2pm. Please let the office team know you are coming!

Many thanks, 

Mrs Davies, Reading Leader

We have just added lots of new items to our wishlist such as paintbrushes, watercolour paint sets, wheelbarrows, dominoes, chunky crayons, sea animal figures and buckets and spades to name just a few! Items are priced from as little as £4 so if you are able to help us we would really appreciate it! Click on the link below to see our wishlist.

https://amzn.eu/983v2T9

If you are able to help, we would really appreciate it!

Please click here for the brand new summer holiday programme for Kingston children's centres with a variety of activities suitable for children aged 0-5 (and siblings up to 8 years). 

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

We raised a staggering £438 from our copper mile with every penny donated to the World Wildlife Fund. A huge thank you to everyone who donated. 

New to Year 1 Parent Talk

Friday 5th September - SAVE THE DATE!

2:50pm Infant Hall

Find out all about Y1, including the topics your child will learn and how you can help at home with maths, reading and writing. 

New to Year 2 Parent Talk and Visit your Child's Classroom

Friday 5th September - SAVE THE DATE!

9am Infant Hall

Find out all about Y2, including the topics your child will learn and how you can help at home with maths, reading and writing.  Afterwards you can visit your child in their new classroom. We look forward to meeting you!

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

Thank you to everyone who attended the workshop this week. If you were unable to attend, please click below to see a copy of the presentation. 

Nutrition Workshop presentation from Wed 2 July

This week 20 year 2 children went on a trip to the Oval in London to watch Surrey vs Durham. Despite the heat the children all had a great time watching the cricket and enjoyed seeing the links between the striking and fielding games they do in PE! 

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children had an assembly today where they found out their new class and teachers for September. They were all very excited! 

Please find attached information regarding your child's new class. If you have any questions, please contact the school office. 

New Classes for September 2025

Thank you and best wishes,  

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

We’ve had a fantastic time celebrating Healthy Living Week. The week was filled with fun, energy, and lots of learning as children across all year groups took part in a variety of activities designed to promote healthy habits and overall well-being.

From sports days to Big Breakfast, Don Rae, Mini Athletics and a visit from athlete Taylor Gough, every day brought something fun and exciting. The children also made some fantastic posters to promote healthy habits!

It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm and teamwork, with children encouraging one another and really embracing the spirit of the week. 

We’re proud of the positive attitudes the children have shown and hope they’ve come away from the week feeling inspired to continue making healthy choices at home too!

This summer holiday we would like your child to join the National Library Summer Reading Challenge online or by visiting New Malden Library. It's called the Story Garden and you can explore new books and earn rewards for reading!

You can find more information on this link:

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

Every Friday we will be sending home an exciting picture to discuss and share at home which will hopefully inspire your child to write and draw. All entries must be brought into class by the following Friday morning. Children can write and draw anything which comes to mind after looking at the picture. Every week in Assembly, winning entries will be shared with the school and stickers/rewards will be given. Please encourage your child to participate in this weekly challenge. We’d love to see all of your ideas!

Click here to see a copy of this week's Inspiration Station.

Well done to everyone who took part in the Skittles experiment - we loved reading all about it.

Inspiration Station Entries 2024-25

Dear Parents/Carers,

Please find attached a letter from Mrs Leech, our OPAL leader with some exciting updates. 

OPAL Platinum Award Letter

Thank you and best wishes, 

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Thank you to everyone who joined us today. Here is the presentation from the session, and the new Mobile Phone Policy which will come into effect in September 2025. Please share this with other parents, and thank you for your support with our drive to improve speech, language and social communication for all our children.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today. Please click here to see a copy of the presentation from this morning. 

With the weather currently being very hot, please can we remind parents to ensure their children bring a sun hat and water bottle to school every day. Please also apply sun screen before arriving to school. 

Thank you.

The children collected the used batteries that have been brought in for the Great Big Battery Hunt. They counted them and found that we have so far collected 527! These will now be taken to the nearest battery recycling point.

Year 2 enjoyed an author workshop from Lucy Noguera, who read them one of her books and took questions via Zoom. The children asked great questions and loved hearing the story.
 
Copies of Lucy's books can still be purchased via your School Gateway account. Deadline for orders is Tuesday 24th June. 

In our KS1 assembly last week, Mrs Yay-Walker introduced the importance of saying goodbye and that in September, Year 1 children will move into Year 2 and Year 2 children will move into Year 3 at the junior school. We will be saying goodbye to Year 2 children in July.

As a leaving gift every year the Year 2 children are given a special leavers t-shirt. This year they have been kindly bought by the PTA.

The children can now wear their special t-shirts on their PE Days, Mufti Days and during Healthy Living Week! We are really enjoying seeing the children wearing them!

Thank you to everyone who has come in as a mystery reader. The children have loved having a special guest read to them. 

If you would like to be a mystery reader, please arrange a time with your class teacher. You can bring your own book or borrow a book from the class. You can read a book in English or even your home language. Just don't forget to keep it a secret - shhhh!!!

A group of year 2 children attended a Swimming Gala at Coombe Hill Infant School this week. It was a fantastic event full of fun, excitement, and team spirit! The children showed great enthusiasm and sportsmanship as they competed in a range of events, from freestyle races to fun relays. It was wonderful to see the children cheering each other on and giving their best in the water. A big well done to all our swimmers—you made us so proud! 

We did the Copper Mile for WWF today and Eco Council helped to collect the money from the playground once the money was laid down. They worked really hard and Mrs Docwra and Mrs Easty will now take the money to the bank to have it counted. We’ll let you know how much we collected for WWF next week.

Dons Local Action Group would be grateful for the following donations:

Rice
Pasta
Tinned meat
Tinned fish
Tinned fruit
Tinned vegetables

Please leave your donations in the Dons basket in the school office before drop off on Friday 20th June.

Maria Sibylla Merian was born in 1647 in Germany and was an explorer and will always be known in the science and art world for her detailed drawings of nature.  Her illustrations were so detailed that people thought the bugs would jump right off the page! She discovered how caterpillars change into butterflies, also known as metamorphosis.  Maria is the first woman known to travel the world for her scientific research. She spent two years in Suriname (South America) painting exotic animals surrounded by the plants that they relied on.  Maria was highly regarded in both the art and science world and she was even featured on German money!  Maria died in 1717, but she is still admired by many (including Sir David Attenborough) and the species of at least six plants, nine butterflies, two bugs, one spider and a lizard are named after her.  

Activities:

1. Create your own piece of science artwork.  You could use different paints e.g. watercolours or drawing materials e.g charcoal, pastels, pencils.  Maybe you could use art drawing techniques such as stippling and hatching. 

2. Make a model of the stages in a butterfly lifecycle with playdough or recreate it by acting it out.  

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

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

This week, Burlington Infants has been alive with the sights, sounds, and flavours of the world as we celebrated our annual Around the World Week! From country-themed classroom activities to traditional music with Earthsong and dance performances with Don Rae, the children had the opportunity to explore and appreciate the rich tapestry of cultures that make up our school community.

The week ended with our multicultural picnic where families and staff came together on the school playground to share delicious homemade dishes. A huge thank you to all our parents for the amazing food and for making this another successful afternoon. It was a wonderful opportunity to come together and celebrate the diversity that makes our school such a vibrant place.

The Burlington Art Gallery is open and accepting submissions for display in its ‘Hall of Creativity’!
 
This half terms exhibition has the theme 'Summer' and is open to each artist’s own unique and individual interpretation. We welcome work in all forms of media - paint, drawing, sculpture, collage, digital, printing etc.  
 
Mrs Drake will be using the artwork submitted by the children to fill a gallery wall in the school. Work will be framed and displayed for all the children to see as they pass by each day. The theme 'Summer' will run until the Summer Break, before a new theme is selected for the Autumn term.
 
Please ensure that all art work submitted has the artist’s name and class on the reverse/base of their masterpiece and to inform your child's Class Teacher that it is for the Burlington Art Gallery!

The school is taking part in the Big Battery Hunt. We invite children to bring in old batteries from home for Eco Council to collect. The Eco Council children will be counting the number of batteries collected across the school and making sure that they are recycled appropriately.

Thank you to all the Year 2 parents who came in for our Opal Pop-in event today.

During the event we shared a booklet called 'The Power of Playtime'. This may be of interest to all parents as it contains some top tips for outdoor play at home! Click here to see a copy.