Bute Bulletin 604

Dear Parents,

It’s been another busy week at school and a very important one too, as it marked our Wellbeing Week with a special Wellbeing Whole School Assembly on Wednesday, led by Mrs Howard and the Wellbeing team. The girls learnt about the importance of keeping their own and other people’s buckets full – make sure that you ask your daughters to explain what this means, I am sure they will be delighted to talk to you about it. The girls then took part in wellbeing workshops, art therapy and mindfulness sessions focusing on how to look after their body and mind. As you may already know, for all of us at Bute House, wellbeing is of particular importance for both our pupils as well as for the Staff. I do hope that your daughters enjoyed learning about it and brought home some nuggets to share with you.

This week we also celebrated Cycle to School Week. Well done to all of the girls and the staff who participated. Special congratulations to the girls who won the golden lock for their efforts, whose photographs are featured on the website.

Today’s Assembly was all about our School Learning Powers and we heard from Miss Green and Mrs Vaughan about each of our seven Learning Powers. We heard some wonderful examples of how these powers had been used by the girls and many of our staff. We were all very excited to learn more about our new Learning Power, Tanzanite Power, representing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our school. For our new parents, there is a page about this on our website https://www.butehouse.co.uk/admissions/learning-powers/

It was wonderful to see so many of our new parents at the BBQ, despite the chilly weather. It’s always such a great opportunity to meet you in a more relaxed setting and learn more about you and your families.

Finally, I’d just like to remind you of a few things coming up on the following week.

• The deadline for returning your questionnaires is Monday 4^th October, please do send them in if you haven’t already, as your feedback is valuable and it helps us inform our school development plan.
• The Lower School Curriculum evening and Supper Party are taking place on Thursday 7^th October, at 6pm, and again, we hope to see as many Lower School parents as possible.

Lastly, I’d like to let you know that we have updated our parent booklets and you can now find them on the Parent Area of the website.

Class/Year Information

I wish you a very happy weekend.

Sian Bradshaw

This week’s Whole School and Year Group Letters:

• Year 5 Show Information Letter
• Year 4 Chiltern Open Air Museum Trip
• Lower School Curriculum Evening Reminder
• Middle School Curriculum Evening & Supper Party

Please log into our Parent Hub regularly for letters and forms to complete.

CLARION CALL

Curriculum Evenings

Curriculum evenings will be held on the dates below. Parents will spend time in their daughter’s classroom to find out about how she is learning Maths and English, the resources we use in school and some suggestions for ways that you can support your daughter at home. Each curriculum evening will be followed by a supper party organised by the House Committee.

– Lower School Curriculum Evening: Thursday 7^th October, 6 – 7:30pm

– Middle School Curriculum Evening: Tuesday 2^nd November, 6 – 7:30pm

– Y5 Curriculum Evening: Thursday 11^th November, 6 – 7:30pm

We are Game Developers in Year 5!

In Computing recently, the girls have been creating hills, valleys and mountains with the odd lake or two and possibly some bubbling lava thrown in too! Sounds more like a Geography lesson, doesn’t it?

In fact, they were designing a 3D environment for their game character to roam and interact. Using Microsoft Kodu, they were investigating how to code a complex game for one player initially. Later, the challenge was to incorporate a two-player option with an elaborate scoring system.

Kodu is a simple visual programming language which focuses on creativity, problem solving and teaching the principles of efficient coding.

The Kodu interface can be overwhelming at first but with heaps of Learning Powers utilised, the girls soon became confident and were building immersive games in no time.

Don’t mention it was a lot of fun… it annoys Mr Man!

Libraries Week

Next week, we will be celebrating Libraries Week! This year, Libraries Week takes place between the 4th and 10th October and celebrates the nation’s much-loved libraries and the central role they play in their communities as a driver for inclusion, sustainability, social mobility and cohesion. We will be having activities and lot of surprises at our wonderful library. See you there!

Year 4 Geography – Rivers

This term, Year 4 are learning all about rivers and the water cycle. As part of this unit, we went to do some field work on the River Thames at Chiswick Pier. This was our first trip in almost two years and everyone was beyond excited. As you can see from the pictures, we were very lucky to have such wonderful weather. During our workshop, we learnt about the history of the Thames and the impact humans have had on it. We then went down to Chiswick Pier to carry out some field work.

We tested the pH level and depth of the water, the speed of the current at the time and made notes on what the river smelled and looked like. We also took a walk along the houses by the river. The guide pointed out all the different methods the local people use to protect their properties from flooding. We ended our trip by walking on the foreshore looking for living things. We were all amazed at the range and size of creatures that we came across. Take a look at the guide on the Parents Area that shows you what you can find in the Thames and ask your daughter which one(s) she managed to spot.  A great day was had by all.

 Netball Results vs Putney

A – 6-4 (L)

B – 8-4 (W)

C – 10-6 (W)

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