Dear Families
Welcome Back! Spring 2… here we are! We have had a shorter teaching week as we started with a training day but, as usual, we came back to school with a whole school, welcome back assembly. Have you spotted any snowdrops recently? We often talk about snowdrops in our assemblies and about how they are a symbol or hope, resilience and a sign spring is on its way!
Assembly
In our Welcome Back Assembly, led this time by Mrs Fenton, the children revisited the British value of tolerance and learned about the Unicef celebration, Mother Language Day - a celebration of the many wonderful languages spoken worldwide.
KS1 and KS2 particularly enjoyed the story I am Nefertiti by Anne Anang, which explores personal identity and the importance of heritage and culture. Seeing the children back in school after the break was so lovely.
Mobile Phone and Online Behaviours
Hopefully, you will have seen my email earlier this week about checking your children’s mobile phones and online behaviours. Sadly, we are seeing an increasing amount of unkind online behaviours between children outside of school hours. This is then upsetting children greatly and coming into school.
Please, if your child has a phone or device that can get online, talk to them about kind and responsible behaviours. Check you have set the right parental controls and check what they are sending, watching and doing.
Whilst we will do everything we can to educate your child about online safety and kindness, we cannot monitor their phones or devices.
Each week in the newsletter and via Dojo we send out helpful advice to families about online usage and if you want any more support or information, please contact your child’s class teacher, our e-safety lead Mrs Lampard or our Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Lucy Boswell.
Safer Internet Day
In the final week of last half term, we had our annual Safer Internet Day. The children took part in lots of activities where they learnt about how to stay safe on the internet. Each week, we publish guidance to families on things like setting parental controls on devices or the dangers of the latest games to come out. Please make note of these and if you ever want any support or advice with internet safety, speak to our e-safety lead: Carol Lampard.
Supporting your child at home
We often get asked, ‘What more can I do to support my child?’ Our top tips are:
- Regularly, read to and with your child– everyday is ideal, share stories and books! Make it fun.
- Learn your KiRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) including times-tables and number bonds. These numerical foundations really support your child’s development.
- Eat well
- Get lots of sleep
If you need any support with these suggestions, please contact your child’s class teacher or members of our pastoral team.
Do you want to be a Governor?
We are looking to elect a parent governor. Please click here for a nomination form and refer to the letter which was emailed on 24th February. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact me via email. All nominations must be in by 9am on 10th March 2025.
World Book Day (WBD) – 8th March
Like in previous years, we are not dressing up for World Book Day; however, we are doing LOTS to celebrate books and reading. Before half term your child came home with a WBD token which they are able to use in all participating retailers. Please keep an eye on your Class Dojo about what your child’s class will be up to on World Book Day 2025!
Coming up…there’s lots to look forward to this term like:
World Book Day, our legendary House Pancake Event, Parents’ Evenings and neuro diversity week. We are proud of the diversity and enrichment opportunities that we provide our young people but if you ever have any suggestions for improvements, we would love to hear them.
Have a lovely weekend – I saw this and thought of our value of Be Kind…
Ms Pennington