May
19th - Around the World Week 
19th - Wake up, Shake up with Don Rae 8.30am Infant Playground
20th - Wake up, Shake up with Don Rae 8.30am Infant Playground
21st - Year 1 Burlington's Got Talent Performance 2pm Great Hall
22nd - Wake up, Shake up with Don Rae 8.30am Infant Playground
23rd - Around the World Dress-up Day
23rd - Multicultural Picnic 2.00-3.20pm
26th - HALF TERM BREAK

June
2nd - WWF Week (more details to follow)
6th - Spelling workshop in class for Y1 & Y2 parents 8.50-9.30am
13th - Nursery reading morning 8.30am and 12.30pm
13th - Mental Health Support Team workshop on emotional regulation 9am Infant Hall
13th - PTA Non-Uniform Day for Summer Fair - £2 donation 
16th - Year 1 Trip to RHS Wisley (more details to follow)
19th - Year 2 Choir performance at Rose Theatre (more details to follow)
20th - PSHE - Body Parts workshop 'Changing Me' (9.30-10am) plus Parent Information Morning on screen time & language and communication (10-10.30am) - virtual meeting **CHANGE**
23rd - Healthy Living Week (more details to follow)
23rd - Reception Sports Day (classes and times TBC)
25th - Year 1 & Year 2 Sports Day (Times TBC)
27th - Reception Sports Day (classes and times TBC)
27th - PTA Non-Uniform Day for Summer Fair (more details to follow)

July
4th - PTA Non-Uniform Day for Summer Fair (more details to follow)
5th - Summer Fair - 12-3pm 
9th - Year 2 Burlington's Got Talent Performance 2pm Great Hall
15th - Jupiter Class Leaver's Assembly 9.10am
15th - Saturn Class Leaver's Assembly 2pm
16th - Venus Class Leaver's Assembly 9.10am
16th - Mercury Class Leaver's Assembly 2pm
18th - SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1.45PM FOR THE SUMMER BREAK (NO YELLOW OR PURPLE NURSERY)

A gentle reminder as we approach the May half-term break...
 
As per our Attendance Policy, if your child is off for 1 or more days, for any medical or sickness reasons, immediately before or after a school (or other booked) holiday or closure AND no evidence is provided, this will be marked as an unauthorised absence. Please click here to see a copy of our  Attendance Policy.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the school fund, we are well on our way to reaching our target with £8,855 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

Next week is our Around the World Week! 

During this week, the children will explore and celebrate the rich diversity of different countries and cultures from across the globe! Each class will "travel" to a different part of the world through fun activities, music, stories, food, crafts, and traditional dress.

This week is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about global traditions, and appreciate different cultures in a fun and engaging way.

Monday 19th, Tuesday 20th & Thursday 22nd May: Come and join us on the infant playground at 8.30am for Wake up, Shake up dance sessions with the fantastic Don Rae. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Friday 23rd May: We will end the week with a dress up day and multicultural picnic. The children can come to school on the Friday wearing traditional clothes from a country of their choice. Children must be picked up on this day at 2pm for the picnic. 

We invite all parents to attend the picnic (maximum of 2 adults per family only) and bring a small dish that feeds up to 6 people and represents either your own culture or a country that you have visited. This can be shop-bought or homemade. You are welcome to bring a larger dish that feeds more than 6 people.

All the dishes will be displayed together and served buffet style by members of staff. There will be separate tables for meat dishes, vegetarian dishes and desserts. We ask that no foods containing NUTS be brought into school. Please label your dish with the name, country of origin and the ingredients it contains plus your child’s name and class so that you can collect the dish before leaving.

If you are unable to bring a dish, we ask that you pay a small entry fee of £5 on the gate. 

On the day, we would like to ask that you take your rubbish with you at the end of the picnic so please bring an empty rubbish bag. 

Please also bring your own soft drinks (NO ALCOHOL) and picnic blankets. 

We will be playing music from all around the world. Come in traditional dress if you wish!

We are really excited about getting the whole school together to celebrate our rich cultural diversity!

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.

This week is mental health awareness week and it's at times like this that we should think about how hard we are on ourselves. As parents, we all want our children to grow up into perfect little individual people, but from the day they are born, all we do is compare them to other children. There is always that amazing baby who sleeps through the night from day 1, when you hear this it makes you feel like the only person who does not get any sleep. Then, when your little ones start on solids and you are struggling  with your baby who simply does not enjoy new tastes and textures, once again there will be that perfect baby who takes to it like a duck to water and will demolish everything that is put in front of them, there will also be that parent who is happy to share this with you! It does not stop there, you will get the early talkers, the early walkers, the early sharers, the early socialisers, the early readers, the early writers, the list goes on forever and we as parents will beat ourselves up as our children are not turning into the perfect people that we aspire to.

This is where I step in to tell you that ALL of your children are amazing, all of your children are individual and all of your children will grow and flourish at a different rate. Try not to compare them with other children as this will leave you feeling stressed and incompetent, it is also no good for your mental health. This week is a good week to start thinking about your mental health, celebrate what your children CAN do, not what they can't do. Enjoy your time with them, feeling good that you are that amazing person/people who have brought a little person into the world, nurtured them, cared for them, loved them and watched them grow. Be kind to yourself, stop comparing and be PROUD of what you have done.

And finally, our positive thought of the week:

The only person who can pull me down is myself and I'm not going to let myself pull me down anymore.

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

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!

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

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.

Mrs Ridley, our Geography leader, was so impressed with all the entries from last week where the children wrote all about their favourite countries. Well done to everyone who entered!

Inspiration Station Entries 2024-25

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.

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

On Thursday, the children celebrated the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE Day). They took part in a variety of fun and engaging activities that brought history to life! Nursery children got to make jam sandwiches for their own tea party, reception children made butter from scratch for their tea party sandwiches as well as making spitfire planes using toilet rolls while year 1 & year 2 made their own medals and spitfire planes as well as enjoying a tea party of course! We also joined forces with the junior school for a fabulous sing song of 'We'll Meet Again', 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and 'I can see a Rainbow'. A special well done to our nursery children who bravely sang in front of year 4 and year 6 children! The whole day was a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore the significance of VE Day in an interactive and memorable way, enriching their sense of community and appreciation for history. 

Shhhhhhh! Would you like to come in and read to your child's class as a surprise? Keep it secret until you come to read and your class teacher will build up the excitement over the day! Come and read a book of your choice in English or your own language. Please sign up with your class teacher on the Mystery Reader sheet on the classroom door from Monday.

Thank you to all the Reception 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.

We have a limited number of brand new Burlington bucket hats available via the School Office for £2 each. Please come to the office if you would like to purchase one. 

Twelve of our enthusiastic KS1 children proudly represented our school at the Mini Marathon on Saturday 26th April. Each and every one of them showed incredible determination, energy and resilience as they took on the challenge with big smiles! The children ran so well and truly gave it their all – we couldn’t be prouder!  You are all shining examples of perseverance and teamwork and truly earned those medals – what a remarkable achievement! Well done to each and every one of you.

Thank you to all the year 1 parents who came in for our Opal Pop-in event last Friday. It was so lovely for the children to share this with their parents and great to see so many parents getting stuck in with the all the imaginative play! 

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.

A little while ago, our Eco Council children visited B&Q to purchase some new plants for the school. The manager of B&Q very kindly gifted some of the plants to us and so the children decided to write thank you letters to show them how much they appreciated their generosity and kindness. What a kind thought!

Sir David Attenborough was fascinated by wildlife from a young age and studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He decided to use his passion and knowledge as a naturalist (a biologist who studies the interactions between living things) to become a television broadcaster, writer and conservationist (someone who works towards the protection of animals and their habitats).

Sir David Attenborough is 98 years old.  In 2021, he gave a memorable opening speech at COP26 in Glasgow. He inspired hope saying that humans were ‘the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth’. Sir David Attenborough has at least 20 animals or plants named in his honour, and he has been awarded over 30 honorary degrees.

Activities

1. Can you help Sir David Attenborough to encourage everyone to protect animals and their habitats?  Make a poster about your favourite endangered animal.  Can you include information about its habitat, what it eats and its lifecycle.  The WWF website can help you with this. 

2. Sir David Attenborough thinks that it is important that children observe nature.  Have a nature day out with your family, for example in Richmond Park, and take photos of, and identify, the animals and plants that you see.

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

Our Maths Day today was a fantastic celebration of the many ways maths is present in our everyday lives. From the beauty of art and nature to the puzzles we solve, maths truly is everywhere. Throughout the morning, children and parents engaged in a variety of fun and interactive activities that showcased the usefulness of maths skills. Before the event, we asked the children what they loved most about maths, and their responses inspired the day's activities. It was a day filled with learning, creativity, and a lot of fun – reminding us all just how essential and exciting maths can be! A huge thank you to all the parents who came along and for the really positive feedback. 

So many great activities especially the number and shapes treasure hunt.

I loved the car parking activity and shape sorting. I'll try to copy it at home.

It was wonderful to see how naturally the school incorporates maths concepts in the nursery setting. You make it look easy!

Great range of activities and so great to be able to go outside too.

It was so nice to see how the kids interact with each other on the carpet and how confident they are.

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

A huge well done to everyone who entered the Easter egg competition! We have loved seeing all the wonderful creations and we are so impressed with the creativity that has gone into every design.

The winners this year are: 

Nursery 
Orange - Ava, Teo, Chen Chen and Yue Yue
Purple - Alfie, Kai and Deva
Green - Theo, Victoria and Devesh
Yellow - William, Eliana, Isla H and Isla M
Blue - Grace, Donnacha and Rebecca

Reception
Foxes - Gledis, Arthur and Leilah
Hedgehogs - Romy, Rio and Alexander 
Rabbits - Harry, Freddie and Niamh
Squirrels - Ava, Rubin and Nola 

Year 1 
Diamonds - Sally, Flo and Maisie
Emeralds - George, Jessica and Latifah
Rubies - Amelia, Oscar and Aroosh
Sapphires - Rosie, Niraj and Ben

Year 2
Jupiter - Ethan, Nelson and Jamie
Mercury - Charli, Ho Yin and Charlotte W
Saturn - Naty, Max and Kianee
Venus - Ava, Amelie and Jessica 

This week in our Reading Assembly we announced the winners of the Extreme Reading competition. The winners were chosen by our new Reading Champions. Thank you for all your amazing entries!

Extreme Reading Competition Winners 2025

These two children won the Reading Tree for January and February respectively. Congrats to them! They each won a new book for their class.

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached an important letter from Mrs Yay-Walker regarding the use of smart phones in schools. 

Smart Phone Ban Letter April 2025

Thank you and best wishes, School Office

Please find attached a letter from Mrs Yay-Walker regarding some important changes for accessing the infant school site after the Easter break and for the rest of the summer term. 

New Gate Entrances for Summer Term 2025 - parent letter

Thank you and best wishes, School Office

Thank you very much for all your generous contributions for the Big Booky Bedtime Sponsored Read. We have raised £823 which will be spent on buying new books for the school. Certificates will go home to all of you who entered. 

Thank you to all the children who applied and congratulations to the following children who have been chosen as School Reading Champions. They will help Mrs Davies inspire others and make the school an even better place to read and love books!

Yesterday BrightBites dental team visited our school. They taught the children the importance of brushing all their teeth gently in a circular motion twice a day and using a pea sized amount of toothpaste. The children then got the chance to use a special toothbrush to brush Toothy!  

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. 

In recent years, we are finding that more and more children are starting school with lower levels of language, and there are increasing numbers of children across the school who struggle with focus, attention and listening. As a school, we are focusing on Oracy to develop and strengthen children’s speech, language and communication skills, which are essential skills for children to thrive and succeed in school.  In order to understand exactly what we need to work on, we need your help with some simple questions about the use of screens and other free time activities at home. 

The survey can be completely anonymous if you wish and we would really appreciate honest answers. The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete and we would be grateful if all parents can complete it.

Please click the link below:

https://forms.gle/v66ZcMz3PQZ3saoM7

Thank you in advance for your support.

Year 1 children had so much fun on Friday 21 March taking part in lots of pirate activities! It was wonderful to see the children dressed up in their amazing costumes - thank you to parents for making so much effort! 

All parents are welcome to come and join us in your child's class for our Eid celebration on Friday 28th March after drop off. 

Each class will be doing lovely activities and learning all about why Eid is so special to so many of our families in school. 

When you write in the Reading Record it really helps us work together to help your child become a great reader.

Mrs Davies has put together this guide to give parents an idea about the kind of things they can write in their child's reading record and information that is useful for us to develop your child's reading in school. 

Last week, our Eco Council had a little trip to B&Q to buy some new plants for the school. The children did such a good job at helping to choose which plants to buy and helped carry them all the way back to school. We would also like to say a huge thank you to the manager at B&Q who kindly gifted some of the plants to us. 

Eco Council has an ongoing responsibility for taking care of the birds and other Burlington wildlife. Earlier this month 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.

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached an update about our OPAL playground scheme. 

OPAL Update for Spring 2

We are also looking for some volunteers for Friday 28th March to come and help with one of the projects in the playground. More details in the attached letter. 

Thank you and best wishes, Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Mrs Yay-Walker regarding extra closure days at the junior school and important information for accessing the infants at drop off and pick up after the Easter break. 

Letter re: Junior School closure April 2025

Thank you and best wishes, Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Burlington Infant and Nursery School are taking part in the SPARK book awards again this year. At home, you can listen to Mrs Davies read the four shortlisted stories on video (below) and vote for your favourite on the google form here. We will also be reading the stories to children in class and having a class vote. 

SPARK Poetry Competition

This year your child can enter the poetry competition by writing a poem based on the front cover of one of the shortlisted books. Please give the poem to your class teacher and put it in the special box by the office. Any type of poem is great! For more information follow this link:

https://www.sparkbookawards.co.uk/schools/pupil-competitions

Here are the shortlisted books: 

Farah Loves Mangos

Who Ate Steve?

If I Were Prime Minister

Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf

Dear Reception Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter regarding our Opal play scheme which reception children will be introduced to shortly and we would like to invite reception parents in to have a look at what it involves too. 

Welcome letter to OPAL - Reception 2025

Thank you and best wishes 

Mrs Leech, Outdoor Curriculum Leader

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

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