BELMONT SCHOOL NEWS 02 July 2021

BELMONT SCHOOL NEWS
  THOUGHT FOR
    THE WEEK
      Brave
                                   02 July 2021

Action on ACEs Change Maker Award 2021
When I am asked what I am most proud of at Belmont my response was always the children, but a close
second is the work of the staff team on building and maintaining relationships. It’s been the key to the
success of our school and so we were delighted to hear that Belmont School had recently won an Action on
ACEs Change Maker Award 2021.

Action on ACEs Gloucestershire is a unique collaboration between public sector, voluntary and community
organisations. ACE’s are ‘Adverse Childhood Experiences’ that can impact on young people. If you would
like more information the website link is here. The vision is a resilient Gloucestershire where communities,
schools and organisations are acting on ACEs by building resilience with young people.

ACE informs ways of working that protect children and young people from harm and that support adults
who have experienced ACEs. We aim to be a trauma informed school that helps to build resilience and
strength in others, and that acknowledge the impact of safe, stable, nurturing relationships. Within
Belmont we have been working as a Relational School for some time and more information on this work is
available on website www.belmont.gloucs.sch.uk.

Belmont School was nominated by Molly Macleod for an
outstanding contribution to addressing childhood adversity
and building resilience in young people. I would like to thank
Mrs Yeates who has led a huge amount of this important work
in school, and the staff team for the work that has helped the
children and the whole Belmont community.

Foxes’ class visit to the new classrooms
Foxes had fun visiting the new classrooms being built.

Year 11 Leavers
Friday 25th June is always a mixture of sad and happy as our Y11 pupils have their final day in school. Earlier
in the week we had a wonderful day out with a picnic and a walk around the sculpture trail in the Forest of
Dean and everyone had fingers crossed for good weather for the final day assembly. It worked!! Parents
arrived for some food and drinks so they could look at pupils’ work and a video of some of the things they
have taken part in during their time at Belmont.

Everyone then came together for an assembly outdoors in the sunshine to celebrate the Year 11
achievements in front of staff, parents and governors. Mr Shand and Mr Day were expertly helped in
running the ceremony by Belmont’s very own star of stage and screen, Frankie Devine. Pupils were given
their Record of Achievement and presented with their leavers hoodie and everybody left with a smiley face
and happy memories.

For the year 11 leavers, Monkeys class
   made a goodbye poster for the
   assembly. The students created
   wonderful posters with lovely messages
   to the students leaving the school this
   year but also allowed us to remember
   every single one of them for all the good
   memories that they have created here
   at Belmont.

Duke of Edinburgh
                          On the 10th of June a group of students set off across the wilderness of the Cotswolds
                          and Cheltenham in an effort to get back to school for a BBQ! This was just the first day
                          of the Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. The evening was spent putting up tents, cooking
                          food on an open fire and telling stories by the light of the flames. The next day the
                          weary explorers set off once more into the wilderness. Over the two days all the year
                          11 students were a credit to themselves and it was an amazing end to the Duke of
                          Edinburgh course.

                          They have all worked hard on the challenges that the course has asked of them during
                          a difficult year; volunteering to help keep the school site tidy, developing their
                          physical ability during P.E. sessions and improving cookery skills for life in the future.

                          Well done to all our amazing year 11 students.

   Meet Nibbles the Hamster
On behalf of the Koalas, thank you to everyone that
bought raffle tickets for the class.

Under the Sea with Hippos
In Hippos, our topic is Under the Sea. After watching a
documentary about plastic pollution, Ethan, Ryan and Alfie
decided to collect rubbish from the field whilst walking the Daily
Mile. We are very proud of our responsible citizens!

Cotswold RDA (Riding for the Disabled)
On Friday 11th June we clapped and cheered as two horses arrived on a tandem bike. It was the Cotswold RDA
(Riding for the Disabled) who were riding 50 miles to raise money. As many of you know we have been very lucky to
access the RDA enrichment for many years now and it has benefitted many of our pupils. Thank you to all those who
donated money to this amazing charity.

Japan Day
On Friday 18th June, the Belmont School Community visited Japan virtually. All pupils enjoyed a
fantastically packed full day including: Japanese fine motor activities, Origami and sushi making with
playdough, tracing Japanese symbols, Mount Fuji paintings, kimono designing, making Japanese flags,
name writing, tasting noodles, Pokémon hunt, Jujitsu – physical session, PE Taekwondo - had a go at our
own YouTube session, learning about the culture of Japan, watching a Japanese Manga movie, using
iMovie to create our own Manga movie, Japanese blossom art Zazen meditation, bread sushi, flag collage
and many more interesting activities linked to Japan.

Everybody had a go learning basic Japanese phrases:
                              Konichiwa                      Hello

                              O-genki desu ka?               How are you?

                              Sumimasen                      Excuse me

                              Jaa ne                         See you

                              Arigato                        Thank you

Pupils watched the live footage of the Olympic torch relay across some of the prefectures in Japan. They
learned about the preparations the Japanese nation is putting in place to host the Olympic Games 2020.
The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, start on Friday, July 25 and end on Sunday, August 8, 2021.
The Paralympics follow on August 24 to September 5, 2021.

Spring Challenge
Evie from Giraffes and Jay from Jaguars won certificates for completing the 2021 Doodlemaths Spring Challenge.

Diversity Week
Diversity Week is a favourite week at Belmont!
We were thrilled to celebrate Diversity week last week and the school looked very bright, colourful and full
of rainbows! Throughout the week pupils learnt about acceptance of all differences and how ‘Love is Love’
no matter who we choose to love. The Daily Mile on Wednesday was extra colourful as pupils waved their
PRIDE flags. Face paints, nail painting and dancing around the Maypole were enjoyed and the highlight
was the cake sale…the cakes were AMAZING! Thank you to all that contributed to this incredible
week. The money raised will be donated to the Just Like Us Charity.

Ladybird Book Artists
“The Wonderful World of the Ladybird Book Artists”, is
opening at the Museum of Gloucester on Saturday 26 June.
This beautiful and colourful exhibition puts on display an
unparalleled collection of books, original artwork and
artefacts and shows how the numerous, talented Ladybird
illustrators played such an enormous role in the
extraordinary success of the company in the 20th century.
The exhibition is supported by a variety of family activities,
including bug hunts, music, dancing, storytelling, gallery trails
and lots of vintage books to browse and share.