Ashton Gate Primary School Newsletter

Lily Goodman will be leaving us at Easter as she is relocating to Cornwall. I know that the entire school community will be very sad to see her go. Lily has been an incredibly dedicated, popular and hard working teacher since she joined us in 2018. Her commitment to supporting the children, their families and her colleagues is unparalleled. 

Not only has she been a wonderful teacher for us, she has been an integral member of the leadership team in recent years. Lily has approached every aspect of her role with relentless positivity, and this will serve her well as she takes on her new role as Head of School.

On behalf of everyone at Ashton Gate I would like to thank Lily for everything she has done for our school and wish her every success in the future.

Mr Jones 

As part of our ongoing work around inclusion, belonging and understanding different cultures and faiths within our school community, we are pleased to invite our Muslim children and their families to join us for our first school iftar during Ramadan. We hope in future years to be able to open this up as a whole-school event. 

An iftar is the meal that breaks the fast at sunset. This will be a calm, community-focused evening, giving families and staff the opportunity to come together and share a special time together. 

Date:. Monday 16 March
Time:  5:45pm–7:30pm (approx)
Location: Ashton School Hall

There will be rooms available for prayer, please bring your own prayer mat.

For this first event, numbers will be limited to our Muslim families and we kindly ask for families who wish to attend to complete the Google form using the link below. Please complete by Friday 6th March.

Food and Allergies

To keep everyone safe, families will be asked to bring a vegetarian or halal dish to share, with clear ingredient labelling. We will provide dates and water for breaking the fast.

The KS2 children have been enjoying using the PlayPod resources at playtimes. They now have a range of items to play with and they have been having a lot of fun with them!

A huge thank you to Jono from Circomedia for delivering some circus skills taster sessions to children in school this week. We were able to try juggling, balancing feathers and spinning plates. The sessions were very fun and exciting!

EY & KS1 Parents Evening will take place on Monday 9th March and Wednesday 11th March

KS2 Parents Evening will take place on Tuesday 10th March and Thursday 12th March. Parents Evening for 6K will be Monday 9th March and Thursday 12th March. Parents Evening for 6BH have changed and are as follows: Tuesday 10th March 3.10-5.10pm, Thursday 12th March 3.40-6.00pm, Tuesday 17th March 3.10-4.10pm

Bookings will open via Arbor on 12th February at 7am.

We’re excited to share that our afterschool kung fu club at Ashton Gate Primary School is launching brand‑new Young Leader Awards. This initiative is designed to recognise students who consistently model our club’s code of conduct and lead by example in class.

The Young Leaders Awards will be open to pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6, with two levels available:

Silver Young Leader Award (Years 4 & 5)

Students working towards the Silver Award should be training at Orange Stripe Belt (Level 3) or above, and demonstrate respect, self‑discipline and strong teamwork skills. Silver Young Leaders act as positive role models for younger pupils and help create a supportive training environment.

Gold Young Leader Award (Year 6)

The Gold Award is for our most committed students, usually training at Orange Belt (Level 4) or above. Gold Young Leaders show strong focus, a positive attitude, perseverence and eagerness to help others. Gold Young Leaders set the tone for what excellent conduct looks like at the club. 

Young Leaders will receive a silver or gold leader badge and certificate to recognise their achievement. 

These awards are not about being the fastest or the strongest. They celebrate character, effort and the way students contribute to the club community. We look forward to recognising our first Young Leaders this term and celebrating the fantastic role models we have here at Ashton Gate.

Further information can also be found on our Kung Fu Club Schools Page here: 

We are delighted to invite all pupils aged 4–18 to take part in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, one of the UK’s most prestigious art competitions.

Each student may submit one artwork. There is no set theme, giving pupils complete creative freedom. When submitting, participants will be asked to include:

• The title of their artwork
• The size of the piece
• A short piece of text explaining what or why they created the work and what it means to them

The artwork can be made using any material; it can be a painting, sculpture, photograph, installation, video, drawing or a combination.

Selected artworks will be featured in the Royal Academy of Arts online exhibition, with some pieces also being displayed in person at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Artwork can be submitted individually (the school is already registered), and the deadline for submissions is 4th March 2026.

For support or further information, please speak to:

• Mrs Carkeek – EYFS / KS1 Art Lead
• Miss Rivers – KS2 Art Lead

We encourage all young artists to get involved and share their creativity on a national stage!

Josh Hicks will be visiting years 3, 4, 5 and 6 on Tuesday 3rd March for a special World Book Day event based around his brand new thrilling school mystery YOU VS The Poison Plot. This fast-paced Choose Your Own Path adventure keeps children actively reading, thinking and problem-solving as their choices lead to different twists and endings. Further information can be found at: https://storysmithbooks.com/joshhicks/ashtongate (please ensure you clearly state your child’s name and class in the order notes). Josh will be able to sign copies of the book on the day of the event. Please place your order by Tuesday 24th February. Storysmith bookshop, who are facilitating this author visit, are also kindly donating a copy of the book for our school library.

Have you got books your child has grown out of? We’d love them!

Did you know that around one million children in the UK don’t own a single book? Having books at home makes a huge difference to children’s love of reading – helping them to relax, use their imagination and grow in confidence as learners.

As part of World Book Week, we’re proud to be supporting the Children’s Book Project. We’re inviting children to bring in any good-quality books they’ve outgrown so they can be passed on to children who have very few books of their own.

If you’re having a clear-out at home, please consider donating any books your child no longer reads. Your donation could help spark a lifelong love of reading for another child.

Books can be dropped off between Monday 23rd February and Friday 27th February. There will be drop off bins at both school sites.

There will be displays in the windows at both the Ashton and Upton sites.

A big hello from us at the PTA – we hope you all had a great half term and now we’re back we wanted to kick things off with a Save The Date!

Save The Date – Let’s Get Quizzical!

It’s time to work up a sweat with your brains as we prepare for a return of an old favourite (and our first of the year) – with the PTA Quiz Night!

Key Info:

• Friday 20th March
• Doors open at 7pm – Quiz starts at 7:30pm with an aim to have everything
  wrapped up by 11pm
• Our fully stocked bar with the usual choice of wine, bubbles and a selection of
  the finest beers from amazing friends at the Bristol Beer Factory
• Pre-ordered Pizza’s delivered freshly cooked to the school
• Adults only – so a great reason to call in the babysitters and enjoy the
  evening.

Tickets will be going on sale Monday at 7pm – but be quick! The PTA Quiz Night is always a popular event so get your table booked early. Tickets will be available on the PTA website here:

Amazon Wish List

Just a reminder about another great way you can directly support the school is through the Amazon Wish List, which has a range of different items that have been selected by our teachers.

There are items starting as little as a few pounds – From classroom equipment, games, sports equipment and musical instruments, there is a range of things big and small.

You can view the Wishlist by following this link:

Joining the PTA

We hope you enjoyed reading Jo’s piece in our last newsletter about her role and the PTA. If you have been inspired by Jo’s story, remember you can email us at [email protected] to find out more or arrange a chat. We’ll be doing more Meet the PTA sections in future newsletter so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

We are looking to recruit an SMSA for the Upton Road site. If you are interested please apply via Eteach

Bristol City Council introduced the School Streets scheme at Ashton Gate Primary, Upton Road site, on 21^st October 2024. This involved creating a walking and cycling-only zone on a section of Upton Road. 

Vehicles are not permitted to enter the zone for 45 minutes in the morning between 8.15am and 9.00am and 45 minutes in the afternoon between 2.45pm and 3.30pm. Emergency vehicles, Blue Badge holders and residents in the affected section of Upton Road are exempt from these restrictions. 

We are now inviting local residents, parents, teachers and local businesses to share their views by taking part in a short survey.  We would like to understand what you think of the scheme, your perceptions on compliance and safety and the impact it has had on your daily life. 

Your feedback is important to us and, alongside other monitoring data, will help to determine the future of the scheme.  

The survey can be accessed online via the following link from Monday 16^th February:

The survey will close on Monday 23^rd March.  

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.