Dear Families
Time, as usual, is zipping by and it is wonderful to see the children continue to learn and grow as the new academic year embeds.
As it begins to get a little cooler and most definitely wetter, please make sure that your child brings a coat into school and that it is named! And, eventually, please name scarves, gloves and hats too!
Assembly
This week’s Monday assembly was all about our school value: Kindness and we came up with a bingo chart of 7 kind things that we could do over the next few weeks.
We also explored the well-known phrases: ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’ And, ‘Your kindness could change someone’s world.
It was really interesting to see what the children thought about this and how they can apply it to their daily lives.
We then read the picture book: We’re All Wonders, which is based on the book and film (but book is better J) Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It ends with the quote: “Look with Kindness and you will always find wonder,” and teaches children to see beyond our individual differences.
Please talk to your children about what it means to be kind and the importance of being kind to themselves and each other.
Year 3 and Vicar Griff Harvest Festival Assembly
This week we were spoiled with three assemblies as we had the Year 3 and Purple Class Harvest Festival assembly and WOW! It was amazing! The singing was fabulous and the Harvest Samba is always a huge hit! Well done Year 3 Team, Sarah and Purple Class! Brilliant!
Thank you to everyone who donated a tin or two to our Harvest collection – everything goes straight towards supporting our school food bank. Thank you.
Then, today, Vicar Griff came to school to lead an assembly all about Harvest.
We Rock!
Tuesday was a very special (and noisy) day for us! Our hall was transformed into a Rock Concert when Rock Kidz visited. This was a very special experience to teach the children all about inclusivity, diversity and being proud of their individuality. They learnt the song: ‘Nobody like me!’ and the word YASBA (You’re Awesome So Be Awesome!) We hope that the children had fun learning about how awesome they are!
Walk in Wednesday
This Wednesday saw the return of our termly, Walk in Wednesday with a reading focus. I was disappointed to miss it (sadly, I can’t be in two places) but the staff shared how wonderful it was and well attended (thank you!). We appreciate that many families can’t attend such events for many reasons but please be assured that we always make sure that your child has someone to read to and with. No one is ever left out.
Our next Walk in Wednesday is on 27th November.
Today’s Safety Drill
Today your child may come home and talk about a special safety drill that we did. They might call it the: ‘Silly dog is loose,’ or ‘Hide and Seek,’ drill. As a school, we know this as the ‘Lockdown’ drill and it is an emergency procedure if ever there was a threat inside or outside of the school building. A definition of a Lockdown procedure is:
Lockdown procedures should be seen as a practical and proportionate response to any external or internal incident which has the potential to pose a threat to the safety of staff, pupils/students, visitors and contractors in the school.
Whilst we hope that we never, ever have to use this drill, as a Head, I would much prefer to be safe than sorry. Therefore, once a year we practice this. We always reassure the children and describe the situation as if a dog was loose on the playground to not raise any unnecessary concerns. If you have any questions at all about the drill today, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher, their phase leader or myself.
New Intake Forest School Session
Tomorrow, our school is open to welcome potential new intake children who will be taking part in an extra special Forest School Session. If you know of anyone who has a child due to start school in September, please do share our intake tour dates with them. Fingers crossed for the weather!
R.E.D. October
Finally, we are very busy planning our RED (Read Every Day) October month. Did you spot that we have a mufti day on 11th October (more information to follow) and we are also having a Pumpkin Carving competition. All pumpkins will be used during our Spooktacular and the winning pumpkins will get House Points and prizes. I am just flagging this up now so that you creative types can get planning!
Have a lovely weekend and I will see you on Monday.
Ms Pennington