Ashton Gate Primary School Newsletter

On Tuesday 24th March, Ashton Gate hosted a Bristol panel event with the UK Minister for AI and Online Safety – Kanishka Narayan with Dr Susie Davies. The event was attended by parents from the local area and raised some important conversation topics on supporting children with their use of, and alternatives to, smartphones and related technologies.

Growing up in the online world: a national consultation

Follow the link for 3 different surveys:

1. Full consultation for anyone
2. Survey for parents and carers of children under 21
3. Survey for children and young adults (age 10-21)

Live until 26 May.

Bristol Cathedral Choir School on 5 May at 6pm will host a Bristol Papaya / Smartphone Free Childhood event for parents AND children (Years 3 – 7) 

The government’s consultation on social media closes on 26 May.

Smartphone Free Childhood will be hand-delivering the petition below to 10 Downing Street before the consultation closes.

After only one week, the petition already has over 100,000 signatures.

Anyone can sign – parents, carers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, young people.

Add your name here to show your support:

As part of Year 4’s biscuit making next week, we wanted to let parents know that if your child would like to bring some additional ingredients to add to their biscuits (e.g, chocolate chips, dried fruit, sprinkles), they can bring these in on the day that they make their biscuits. Please remember we are a nut free school.

This week year 2 went on their local area walk spotting human features and mapping the route they took to the park. A big thank you to all our volunteers who helped us. 

Thanks very much to everyone who has so far donated games for the lunchtime quiet play area at the Upton site. If anyone else has any donations of board games (with all of their pieces) or any soft waterproof mats that can help enhance the space we would welcome these. If you have any of these things going spare please drop them into the Upton office. Many thanks!

Thank you to everyone who submitted such wonderful entries to our Storytelling in Nature photo competition. We were impressed by the creativity and imagination on display! We look forward to announcing the KS1 and KS2 winners on Monday.

A special thank you to Story Smith, on North Street, for donating books for our competition winners. We are very grateful for your support.

Mrs Lambert 

Bristol Pupil Voice 2026 is now live from March-June 2026

The Bristol Pupil Voice Survey 2026 gives pupils the opportunity to share their voice with their school and city leaders – please use this link to complete the survey.

Welcome back! We hope everyone had a lovely Easter Break. We have a few bits to share with you this week – kicking things off with:

Smarties Challenge – Don’t forget your tubes!
We hope all your children enjoyed raising money over the Easter break (and emptying their Smarties tube!).
Now we’re back we wanted to remind you that all tubes and any cash raised needs to be returned to the school before Friday 1st May when we will be collecting them from the classes to count before announcing the winners. Don’t worry if you have lost the tube or the piece of paper or both, just return the cash, or a little note saying you have donated online to your teacher, and all these will be counted. Don’t forget that donations can also be made online on using our Just Giving page:

School Discos
Party time at Ashton Gate Primary School is officially starting with our annual school discos, which will be held on the following dates:

Tuesday 12th May
* 4pm – 5pm: Reception at Ashton Site
* 5:30pm – 6:30pm: Year 1 at Ashton Site

Wednesday 13th May
* 4:30pm – 5:30pm: Year 2 at Upton Site
* 6pm – 7pm: Year 3 at Upton Site

Thursday 14th May
* 4:30pm – 5:30pm: Year 4 at Upton Site
* 6pm – 7pm: Year 6 at Upton Site

Friday 15th May
* 4:30pm – 5:30pm: Year 5 at Upton Site

Tickets are £2.50 per child and are available to buy here:

The last day to purchase tickets will be Friday 8 th May when we will be closing off the registration. If you’re unsure if your child wants to attend, we advise buying a ticket anyway as we are not able allow entry on the day without a pre-booked ticket. This is due to us needing to have a complete register before the discos.

Remember that all money raised from ticket sales goes straight to the school, so rather than risk disappoint, purchasing a ticket gives your child the option to attend and is a very helpful donation to the school (unfortunately tickets are not transferable as all kids need to be registered beforehand).

Final reminder: This is a drop off event, so adults leave your dancing shoes at home this time!

Ashton Gate PTA Summer Fair – Save the Date!

We’re excited to announce that this year’s Summer Fair will be held on Saturday 13th June at the Ashton Site. We’ll soon be doing our usual call for volunteers to help us run the stalls during the fair as well as asking for donations of any cuddly toys for our Re-home a Critter fundraiser. More details to follow soon, so for now save the date and we look forward to seeing you all there!

Bristol City Council is proposing safer 20mph speed limits for around 100 of Bristol’s most dangerous roads to make walking, cycling, and driving to and from school and around the city safer. Although these roads make up only 8% of Bristol’s network, they account for around 30% of serious crashes. 

More than half of Bristol residents say their local roads aren’t safe for children to walk, and three-quarters say they’re not safe for children to cycle. 20mph speed limits are a proven way to help make our roads safer for everyone. 

The Council wants to hear from local people before any final decisions are made, and feedback from parents and carers is particularly important because of concerns about children’s safety – have your say by responding to the consultation

Thank you, and please contact [email protected] if you have any queries.   

Amplify’s concert ‘All Together Now!’ is next Wednesday 29th April
2026 starting at 6.30pm at Bristol Beacon. There will also be a steel pan jamboree from 5.30pm on the ground floor, which you are welcome to attend. The concert is in partnership with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and showcases the positive benefits of a true collaboration between a multi-academy trust and a Higher Education institution.
Tickets for this event will need to be purchased in advance. Tickets can be
purchased online via this link, by calling Bristol Beacon Box Office (0117 203 4040) or by visiting the box office in person.
We look forward to welcoming you to our concert and enjoying this wonderful
experience together.

Regular school attendance is one of the best ways to help your child succeed. When children come to school every day, they keep up with their learning, build confidence in their skills, and develop good routines that set them up for the future. Every day at school matters—it helps your child stay on track and get the most out of their education.

It is also important to arrive at school on time. If a child arrives late to school every day, their learning begins to suffer. Below is a graph showing how being late to school every day over a school year adds up to lost learning time over one academic year.

Please remember to order your child’s lunch before 10pm on a Wednesday. If your child only has a meal once a week, you will still need to book this.

We are still having a lot of children who do not have a lunch booked with no packed lunch. Please remember the default meal is always salad bar. No other option will be available.

Please remember not to order a school lunch if your child is on a school trip, where a packed lunch is required. If you have already booked a meal for this date, the meal can be cancelled by the payer until 10pm on a Wednesday for the following week. As all food is pre-ordered there will be no refunds issued for non-cancelled meals.

A reminder that we are a nut free school. Please do not send your child to school with snacks/packed lunch with items containing nuts. This includes items such as Pesto, filled crepes and chocolate spread.

We are now on Facebook. Please like our page, we will be using this page to celebrate events and learning moments taking place across the school. We encourage you to invite other parents and family members to join as well, so that too can be part of our vibrant school network. Rest assured, our Facebook page will prioritise the privacy and security of our children. We will follow all the necessary precautions and guidelines to protect identities and ensure a safe online environment.

Studybugs is no longer in use. Please record any illnesses/medical appointments using the Arbor parent portal app. For planned absences please complete the online form on the attendance page of our website.

Have you considered fostering?

Children in Bristol urgently need foster homes. By fostering with Bristol City Council, you help children say close to their friends and family. Every child deserves a safe and welcoming home to help them reach their potential.

There’s no typical foster family – just as there’s no typical child.

You don’t need to be married, own your own house, or have specific qualifications to be a foster carer. We welcome people of any ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age and religion.

In return for your time and care, you’ll receive:

1. A weekly allowance per child plus weekly payments
2. Dedicated support and regular contact with other foster carers
3. Free access to Bristol City Council gyms and other citywide discounts

“Fostering is the best thing we have ever done and brings us joy and fun every single day.” BCC foster carer.

Want to know more or have an informal chat with our team?

Email: [email protected]

Call: 0117 353 4200