School Newsletter

Welcome back to World Book Day and Y5/6 introduction to politics!

World Book Day 2019

As always parents (and children) did themselves proud as they dressed as an array of favourite characters on Thursday. It was great to see the enthusiasm from the children about their chosen characters and wonderful that so many of them were able to bring their books! Thank you so much for all your support both with costumes and books. Year 6 held a book sale/swap too which was so successful we plan to repeat it in the future. So lovely to see the kindness of the children towards one another as some children came unprepared for the book sale and had not remembered about costume day either.

Visit from Ronnie Campbell MP

No matter what your politics, we have enjoyed a great opportunity to learn all about how government democracy works, in Year 5 and 6 this week. We welcomed Gillian Bell a local north east representative of schools outreach team from the Houses of Parliament. Gillian explained to all the KS2 children all about Parliament, our British electoral system and how we can represent our preferences using MPs. Then Year 5 and 6 took part in a debate, and grilled Ronnie on his position with regard to Brexit and other current affairs! Some very interesting debating techniques were learned by the children.

Ashleigh’s outdoor ideas …

Blindfold a family member (with appropriate supervision!) and then lead them to a tree. Can they identify the tree by touching the bark and leaves, and considering the size and
shape of the tree’s trunk? We would like to ask for a huge thank you to Azure Garden Centre for their generous donation of plants, as well as Forever Green for their donation of
artificial grass! We are so grateful to those who support our outdoor learning!

More forest school rangers

Congratulations to Thomas and Anna, our new forest school rangers who were commissioned at the end of last half term. They have shown fabulous knowledge and real commitment to
forest school this term.

Community Store scheme

We have decided to support the Community Store in Silverlink by becoming a school clothing pick up point. There are lots of free offers of both PE and Sports clothing as well as
other uniform items, that are available, as well as heaps of other items. This includes household items, books, toys and games as well as special occasion wear, and free baby
equipment. Check out their facebook page which has been shared on the class facebook accounts, and contact numbers for the community store at Cobalt Park, Silverlink are: 07305
963706, as well as emails to the info.communityschoolscs@gmail.com.

Due to the ready supply of free uniform items, we will be gradually depleting our school stocks of spares so please try and ensure that you have full sets of uniform ready. Allison Morton has volunteered to coordinate this worthwhile cause.

Attendance and Punctuality

YR 97%(1)
Y1 98%(2)
Y2 98%(1)
Y3 100%(3)
Y4 99%(3)
Y5 96%(2)
Y6 100%(1)

Homework/reading returns (%)

YN 60/nil%
YR 58/72%
Y1 66/34%
Y2 90/59%
Y3 65/61%
Y4 93/96%
Y5 89/57%
Y6 94/94%

Well done to Y3 and Y6 this week for excellent attendance and Y4 and Y6 for excellent homework and reading at home returns.

STEAM Parent showcase event

Friday the 29th March from 1 to 2pm is an opportunity for parents to come into school and see the STEAM learning that the children have worked hard on throughout the week. (STEAM highlights the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). We are delighted to be hosting a full timetable of visitors throughout the week.

E safety

In assembly this week I have reminded children about the recommended safe ages for social media accounts. I have had friend requests from children at our school as young as 8 and the dangers of social media are too significant for this age group unless children are very closely monitored. It is illegal for companies to hold data on children less than 13 years old. There are links online from CEOP to give parents information about online dangers and there are plenty of opportunities online to find out how to stay safe. Last year we held some information events about online safety for some year groups and we intend to do this again in the summer term.

I have also circulated to parents of pupils in Y5 and Y6 an example of a mobile phone ‘contract’. This is available on the class facebook pages and is attached to the email on this newsletter. Feel free to adapt this to suit your personal situation, but the 17 points offer very sensible boundaries to give to primary aged children. It’s our opinion as a staff team that mobile phones should be regarded by children in primary school as a privilege not an entitlement and we would support parents to implement the contracts suggested.