Beechwood London Marathon Runners

Good Luck to two Beechwood parents running in this month’s London Marathon for two fabulous charities.

Hannah Gray is running for Great Ormond Street Hospital

Millie (Top Form) and Ed’s (Year 4) Mum, Hannah (pictured), is running the 2023 London Marathon to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

Hannah explains why she is running for this charity: “As many of you know, Ed and his family are lucky to be a GOSH family. Ed has been looked after by GOSH since he was 6 weeks old and had his 13th operation at the hospital last month. Running the marathon and fundraising for this incredible place are part of the way the family try and give back and they would love support from our wider Beechwood family. Millie will be out supporting on the day and Ed is hoping to be near the finish line.”

For a little more detail on why Hannah is running, how the hospital have supported the Gray family and to show your support, please click here

Nick Robeson, running for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity

Albie (Y2) and Joseph’s (Y3) Dad, Nick Robeson is running the 2023 London Marathon and has set himself a crocodile sized target!. Marvin the Marvellous Crocodile has even been seen running in the grounds of Beechwood as he prepares for his big run!

Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, based in Amersham funds 86 nurses who serve 25000 children, parents and carers) across the UK. Nick is attempting to raise one year’s salary and to do so would love support from the wider Beechwood Park family. We asked Nick why he was running and why he had chosen to support the work of the RDMCC:

“I have got to know this amazing charity well and the work their nurses do to support the lives of many children with extremely complex care needs is extraordinary. With two nerve-wracking (albeit brief) exposures to Paediatric Care at Great Ormond Street and Luton and Dunstable Hospitals (both hospitals are served by Roald Dahl Nurses) it was an easy choice. The marathon is a great opportunity to raise awareness and critically needed financial support and I hope you will lend me your support to hit the target. Individual or corporate donations welcome”.

To how your support for Nick and Marvin and Marvin the Marvellous Crocodile, please click here

Food Committee

As part of Beechwood’s commitment to Pupil Voice, the School Catering Manager and the Deputy Head (Pastoral) host termly Food Committee meetings to discuss provision at Beechwood and other issues relating to catering. The Food Committee, comprised of 16 pupils members from Year 2 upwards recently met to discuss a variety of topics including food waste, sustainability and most importantly, Beechwood meal times.

The first topic up for discussion was snacks at School. The committee talked about which snacks the pupils enjoy most, which snacks are least popular, and they also considered some new additions. Smoothies seem to be popular current option, although the Committee also had some suggestions for new flavours as we move towards the summer months – wild berry, tropical, and carrot / orange are now on the list of potential new flavours. At Holroyd Howe’s Spinach Tasting Table earlier this month, pupils had tried out and enjoyed a spinach & apple smoothie so this has also been suggested as a Smoothie of the Week. Food waste is an important issue, and members discussed the 1,2,3 system – what works, and what can we do as a community to reduce plate waste. One member explained how her commitment to reduce food waste as part of her Lent resolution means she is starting with a Portion 1 and only if she still feels hungry would she come up for seconds. Individual acts such as this can make a big difference to our overall food wastage totals.

Sustainability is, of course, high on everyone’s agenda, and the Committee had an animated discussion about packaging, food miles and the importance of sourcing local ingredients, the effects of air pollution, why planting wildflowers and initiative such as No Mow May are so positive, and much more!. Ultimately the plan is to build our own Beechwood Park Recycling Centre, to encourage our community to embrace the importance of recycling and do our part to create a sustainable future.

Of course, the Food Committee cannot meet without discussing LUNCH – the most important time of the day according to our pupils. They discussed plans for the Summer Term and talked in depth about the types of dishes pupils would like to see on our menus – for breakfast, lunch and supper. Suggestions included a Breakfast Bagel Bar, Polish dumplings, and gyros, and the idea of a foreign focus once a week when pupils should learn about a different national cuisine and try a new national dish – watch this space!

Message from the Catering Manager

We want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and restful Easter, and we look forward to welcoming everybody back after the holidays.

Our focus for the summer term will be around food wastage, balanced diets and sustainability, with a visit a from Holroyd Howe’s Nutrition and Sustainability team.

Emily Henry Catering Manager

Easter Reading Lists

Don’t forget to have a look at our Easter Reading Lists - and share with us next term which books you read, and which ones you enjoyed most. There are two lists - one for Woodlands and the Junior Department, and one for the Middle and Senior Department, and both feature books in a variety of genres, roughly in ascending order of difficulty. Click on the links below to see the lists:

WOODLANDS / JUNIOR READING LIST

MIDDLE / SENIOR READING LIST

Rainbow Reading Challenge For Junior Department

The librarians have suggested another great reading challenge for Junior Department pupils this Easter – Read the Rainbow!

There are a few rhymes to help you remember the colours of the rainbow; “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” or maybe you know “Rinse Out Your Granny’s Boots In Vinegar”.

It doesn’t matter which one you remember, but to ‘Read the Rainbow’ you simply need to read books with the right coloured covers. Start with a mainly Red cover, then an Orange, a Yellow, a Green, a Blue, an Indigo and finally a Violet – then you have Read a Rainbow. You can pick any book you like (as long as it’s the right colour in the right order) and you can read on your own or with your family. Most importantly enjoy your reading challenge.

How many Rainbows can you read?

We really look forward to hearing how you made your Rainbows and which books you picked for each of the colours – Please send us a photo of you with your ‘Book Rainbows’ so that we can display them for everyone to enjoy.

MEET AUTHOR TOM PALMER AT NEXT PAGE BOOKS, HITCHIN

If you are free on Thursday 20 April from 1600-1700, author Tom Palmer (some of you may remember him from an online assembly) will be visiting Next Page Books in Hitchin as part of his RESIST book tour.

Resist shines a light on the incredible work of the WWll Dutch Resistance, in a story inspired by the childhood of Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn. As the brutal Second World War stretches on with no end in sight, life for ordinary Dutch people in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands is perilous and full of hardship. There is very little to eat and they face the constant threat of arrest and enslavement.After the murder of her beloved uncle and the capture of her brother by the Germans, Edda is determined to do anything she can to help the resistance fight back. But how much risk is one teenage girl willing to take?

Forest Fun

Just before the end of term, 30 local pre schoolers and their parents enjoyed a morning of “Forest Fun” in the Beechwood Woods. During the course of the morning, children enjoyed taking part in lots of arts and crafts activities in the woods, as well as sampling a delicious Beechwood Brunch. Thank you to Mrs Le Bas for masterminding this successful event, the first of this type we have hosted for a while, and we hope to run more events to share this wonderful natural resource with our local community. Thank you to Mrs Palin and Mrs Pope for helping out, and our wonderful team of Top Formers (Mille G, Aidan B, Josh D, Thomas G, Tommy H, James H and Finlay W) who all remembered how to make Forest School wands and were brilliant ambassadors

Markyate Village School Visit Forest School

Earlier in the term, Forest School Leader Mrs Le Bas hosted a session for Year 2 pupils from Markyate Village School - it was lovely to be able to share this wonderful resource, and we look forward to welcoming MVS back again soon!

Porsche in the Park - 15 July

Porsche in the Park is coming to Beechwood Park on the 15th July. Over 300 Porsche cars from classic to racing will be on display, and there wlll be lots of fun activities including a games bus and motorcycle stunt shows performing twice on the day.

Food and Drink available.

Tickets for children are free for the day including all the activities and adult tickets can be purchased here

Hope that everyone’s had a good term and is now enjoying spring. For the BPSPA, Lent term is in some ways a term to pause breath, sandwiched between the hectic Michaelmas and summer terms. Before I get told off, I realise that there’s never a quiet term for the children, staff or parents! At the BPSPA, we’ve been organising activities, asking what you want and planning for the fun-packed summer term.

Early this term, we held a successful disco - for those in junior and middle departments, plus year 6. The DJ somehow managed to keep lots of different ages entertained and the children seemed to enjoy themselves.

Via the Dressing Up Box, we supported the hiring out of costumes for children to wear on dressing up days, notably World Book Day. Shortly afterwards, there was the kind donation of sports shoes from lots of parents to the charity, One Impossible Thing. Thanks to everyone that contributed.

We’ve also pulled together and given out small Easter craft bags for everyone in the junior department. We hope they get to enjoy and use them over the holidays.

We’ve done a BPSPA survey this term too. Thank you to all of you that completed it. We were delighted that we had responses from over 100 people. We’ll work through your comments and then share key insights, plus what we plan to do about them, early in the summer term. It won’t surprise you to hear that there are lots of different views amongst the parent community and that it is difficult to please everyone, but we’ll do our best to listen and to respond fairly.

We’ve been doing lots behind the scenes too. We’ve reviewed finances and have made a large amount of money available for school projects plus have passed on large sums to charity, particularly our longstanding charity partner, Keech Hospice Care, where the team is extremely grateful for all your support.

Thank you as ever to the BPSPA Committee - including Nicola Palin, who looks after merchandise and the BPSPA online shop, but who only officially joined the Committee this term. And thanks everyone that’s supported BPSPA activities in different ways this term. Special thanks to two people, who have gone ‘above and beyond’. Firstly, Pippa Peel, who has run the second hand uniform shop for several years and who is now handing over the reins. Whilst the second hand uniform shop is run separately from the BPSPA, the profits go to the BPSPA – and Pippa and helpers have raised many many thousands of pounds for the BPSPA over the years. Secondly, Sarah Bremner, who has not only helped Pippa with the second hand uniform shop, but has also worked incredibly diligently and thoughtfully on so many different BPSPA events and activities over the years – typically quietly behind the scenes not wanting to take praise. From the whole Beechwood community, thank you Pippa and Sarah!

Next term we have a feast of fun activities for you to get involved in and enjoy! For all the family, there will be a coronation tea party mid to late afternoon on Fri 5th May (more on that early next term); picnic on the lawn on Sun 14th May; Beechwoof, the BPSPA’s first dog show, on Sat 20th May; and the end of term bonanza of Fun night on Tues 4th July (tickets for which go on sale next term). There is also Beech Club, the end of year parent social (previously called Beechfest), taking place offsite at Luton Hoo on Sat 10th June. Maybe even the odd ice lolly on a Friday afternoon as well. We’ve been starting to plan BPSPA events for 2023/24 too, but we’ll spare you the details on that for now... Hope you all have a great Easter holiday!

Click here to book tickets to BPSPA EVENTS

Dan Crossley BPSPA Chair