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On the transition page you will find the uniform list. Our colours are: white shirts, grey trousers/shorts or tartan skirts, with a navy jumper with our school logo on. We wear black school shoes without any logos, and black or grey socks. Have a look at the uniform list for more information including the PE kit.

We are a middle school for ages 9 to 13 years old. We have Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 at school. We are quite unusual as there are not many middle schools left in the country!

At BMS we expect our students to try their best with their learning. We understand the importance of being in the right state for learning and our staff are always ready to support you if you are not in that right state. We expect you to listen and work hard, be respectful to others and respect your school environment and property.

We have run choirs in the past – we have had students represent our school at the Lighthouse for the Christmas Carol Concert. We have some new members of staff joining our team who may want to continue to run a school choir – we will let you know more about this in September.

We have always offered music tuition and clubs for students but due to the pandemic, we have not been able to confirm anything yet for September as we need to wait for guidance on this. We will update you as soon as we know more.

We have both boys and girls football teams who have been very successful and won major tournaments.

We are a friendly team – if you are lost and don’t know where to go…just ask! Our current students will also help you find your way – Years 6, 7, and 8 have all been in your position once, they know what it is like and they are asked to help. We have published a copy of our site plan so you can see the layout of our school. We also provide paper copies for new students in September.

If you are new to Year 5, everyone in your class is in the same situation and the class teacher will show you where to go.

We don’t know it all and sometimes we really try but we just don’t understand what is being asked of us. At BMS we say that if you don’t understand, we just haven’t explained it in the right way. Just ask for help! We do have some learning support assistants who support students in class, so if there is one in your class, you can ask them for help too! We also encourage peer support, that means you ask the person next to you. Don’t ever worry about not understanding – it happens and our job is to help you understand.

We don’t have hot school meals but we do offer a packed lunch option from our local catering company Chartwells.

You can sign up for lunches via their website. Speak to a member of the school office for more information about this.

In Year 5 and 6 students are taught in most subjects by one teacher. We call this the primary model. Sometimes classes and teachers mix together for projects and activities. In year 5 and 6 you will have a specialist teacher for French and PE as a soft step to secondary transition.

Years 7 and 8 run like a secondary school where students move around the school to classrooms and are taught by subject specialist teachers.

There may be times when your teacher is out on a course or is unwell, in which case, a different teacher will be with you. We don’t use supply teachers, all of our cover comes from our staff at school so you will always be taught by a friendly and familiar face.

BMS does look a little different at the moment as we’ve had to add in one way systems and take out furniture to hold up to 15 students with space between them. We’ve had to remove resources that normally students can help themselves to and this is because we need to ensure that we minimise the risk of any infection. In September, we hope that we can get back to a more ‘normal’ situation. Students who have been in school during Lockdown have been happy and continued to learn successfully.

The Government has hinted that schools will go back to normal in September if the risk of infection has continued to reduce. If we have to continue to stick to the current rules, we wouldn’t be able to have a whole class in at the same time. We would need to put students into bubbles (with a friend of their choice) and students would need to stay in these bubbles all day. We will let you know if this needs to happen, but at the moment we are planning for a normal full school re-opening in September.

If school continues as ‘normal’, we would continue to remind and advise for all our students and staff to continually wash their hands, use hand sanitiser and to use the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ mantra for coughs and sneezes. If a student feels unwell and has a temperature, headache, persistent cough and or shortness of breath, we send them home and ask them to be tested.

We hope for students to come to school in September in uniform but cannot confirm this yet. We are currently waiting for the Government to release guidance about wearing uniforms in the new academic year. We would advise that you prepare for uniform to be compulsory in September.

We have a fantastic art room with loads of great resources to use. We don’t have graphic design lessons as such, but in Years 5 and 6 you do art as part of your topic work. In Years 7 and 8 you have timetabled art lessons. There is also at least one art option for the University of Broadstone that you can sign up to.

The bus from Merley is a public bus. It is a More bus and you can find out the bus charges by visiting their website www.morebus.co.uk.There are options to buy a bus pass.

Yes you can ride your bike to school if you have completed the Level 2 bikeability course. We do offer courses for middle school students, so don’t worry if you haven’t done this course yet.

If you do cycle to school, you MUST wear a helmet – we don’t allow students to cycle if they are not wearing a helmet – safety first.

We have a bike rack that you can use to lock up your bike. This is located near the Year 7/8 area near the car park. It is safe and secure as long as you use a bike lock.

At BMS we encourage independence so at the end of the school day we don’t walk students out to the car park for their parents, students walk out of school independently to either, wait to get picked up or walk home. There are always staff outside at the end of the day to check everyone is ok as they leave.

If you visit the school website www.bmsweb.co.uk, you will be able to locate the term dates for next year. There is also a copy on the transition page.