It was lovely to see all of the Grandparents who came along to the Christmas Lunch.  I’ve passed on your lovely comments to the staff and the catering team.A massive thank you to the PTA members who joined in to help the lunch run so smoothly.  And – a huge thank you to Mrs Dean who organised the lunchtimes and ensured everything ran to plan.

Early Years Christmas Performance

It was so great to have families back in school to watch our youngest children perform.  They were brilliant – it’s not easy standing and singing in front of so many people.  Beautiful singing and dancing, with lots of smiles from the audience.

Well done to all of our early years children. 

Thank you again to the staff for their efforts in putting the performance together and the parents for their help with costumes.

On Monday our Year 3 class got to experience going on the Polar Express as part of their writing topic. As you can see, they had an amazing morning! They even got their very own jingle bell and a hot chocolate too.

PTA Bingo

What a night!  We have all been looking forward to the return of our chocolate bingo and it didn’t disappoint.  So much fun was had by everyone.  Well done to all of the winners.  And thank you to everyone for supporting this successful PTA event especially those who helped to tidy up at the end.

A MASSIVE £1,278.15 was raised. Thank you!

New Kitchen Menu

Here is the new Kitchen menu to start after the Christmas break.

Reminder about school start times

It’s become quite noticeable that more children are arriving late to school.  The morning activities which your child misses out on have an impact on further learning activities throughout the day.  Children who are late don’t always get an opportunity to catch up on this work as the teacher is teaching the rest of the class and every class has a very busy timetable.  Please can I ask that you aim for the earliest start time to ensure your child doesn’t miss out.  Thank you.

KS1 & 2 children – the doors are open from 8:40 and close at 8:50.

Nursery & Reception children start at 8:45.

Winter Weather

The weather forecast is definitely changing to more wintery weather.  Can you please ensure your child comes to school in appropriate coats / footwear.  We do go outside in the snow, so wellies or boots are a must.

The grounds team will be coming to school to grit.  Please can we ask that you walk on the gritted pathways to avoid any accidents.

The steps from the fields to the pathways are not gritted so please ask your child not to use them.

 

Rise in infections

As many of you will have heard on the news, there is a rise in infections such as Scarlet Fever and Strep A which are usually controlled by antibiotics.  The dreadful news about some children dying from this infection has caused understandable anxiety.

Below, I have copied some information from the Government website and put the link to the NHS website should you need to know more information.  Needless to say, if you are worried about your child – contact your GP or 111 immediately.  If it’s serious, call 999.

Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common bacteria. Lots of us carry it in our throats and on our skin and it doesn’t always result in illness. However, GAS does cause a number of infections, some mild and some more serious.

GAS causes infections in the skin, soft tissue and respiratory tract. It’s responsible for infections such as tonsillitis, pharyngitis, scarlet fever, impetigo and cellulitis among others.

While infections like these can be unpleasant, they rarely become serious. When treated with antibiotics, an unwell person with a mild illness like tonsilitis stops being contagious around 24 hours after starting their medication.

We are currently seeing high numbers of scarlet fever cases.

The first signs of scarlet fever can be flu-like symptoms, including a high temperature, a sore throat and swollen neck glands (a large lump on the side of your neck).

A rash appears 12 to 48 hours later. It looks looks like small, raised bumps and starts on the chest and tummy, then spreads. The rash makes your skin feel rough, like sandpaper. The rash will be less visible on darker skin but will still feel like sandpaper. More information on scarlet fever can be found on the NHS website, including photos.

Information to schools from the Government

If a child has scarlet fever, advise they stay at home until at least 24 hours after the start of antibiotic treatment to avoid spreading the infection to others.

Encourage parents to trust their own judgement and if their child seems seriously unwell call 999 or go to A&E if:

• a child is having difficulty breathing – you may notice grunting noises or their tummy sucking under their ribs
  • a child’s skin, tongue or lips are blue
  • there are pauses when a child breathes
    • a child is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake.
    •  

Next week

There are quite a few events happening next week, so here’s a reminder:

Monday 12 Dec – Children to come in Christmas jumpers (& school uniform) with a tin of baked beans for the Alice Baked Bean Christmas Tree

Monday 12 Dec – am – whole school will be walking to the local church (wrap up warm).  Due to limited seating, Early years and KS1 parents are invited to join us.  Please note that we can’t guarantee everyone will have a seat.

KS1 Christmas Performances – don’t forget to bring raffle ticket money!

Tuesday 13 Dec – 9:15 – KS1 Christmas Performance – Yr1 parents invited

Wednesday 14 Dec – 9:15 – KS1 Christmas Performance – Yr 2 parents invited

Friday 16 Dec – last day at school

Tuesday 3rd January – return to school

 

Thank you as ever for your ongoing support.

Enjoy your weekend.

Take care and stay safe.

Mrs Wilmer

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Some useful advice for parents regarding online safety

Useful Links for Parents

Advice by age:

Younger children need different advice and guidance than older children. Older children need different advice and guidance than teens. It can be really difficult keeping up with everything that is online and what risks and issues may affect children of different ages, so on these pages there is some age-related advice and guidance for parents and carers:

Pre-school – https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/0-5/

6 – 10 year olds – https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/6-10/

11 – 13 year olds – https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/11-13/

14 plus – https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/14plus/

Setting up devices:

It can be difficult knowing all the different settings that are available on different devices to help protect children, this includes allowing or disallowing chat, friends, spending money, content filters and much more. On these pages you will find the details, as well as non-technical instructions, which will help you understand what is available to you and how to set up your child’s devices.

Gaming consoles and devices – https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/gaming-consoles/

Smartphones – https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/

Broadband and mobile networks – https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/broadband-mobile/

Entertainment and search engines – https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/entertainment-search-engines/

Safety/privacy settings on social media:

With many children and young people using social media it is important to understand what features are available to you to help protect your children. This is also important because for the most part, all privacy settings are default off when a new account is created, but also because some social media providers change their features quite frequently, e.g. TikTok.

Take a look at this link to see what is available to you and how to set up your child’s social media. We would also advise doing this with your child so that you can discuss the features together.

Useful new features on YouTube and YouTube Kids

YouTube is hugely popular with all age groups but historically parents haven’t had a lot of control over what their children can/cannot watch. But things have changed and YouTube now gives parents a greater degree of control. It isn’t perfect but it is a step in the right direction. Take a look at the page below where you will see a few short videos of newer features that can help you on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

Gaming

Finding good games, as well as knowing what is appropriate for the age of the child isn’t easy, particularly when there can be lots of peer pressure to play the more popular games which are not always appropriate. Taming Gaming is a great resource for parents to find new games for children as well as lots of advice about content, suitability etc.

https://www.taminggaming.com/

Absences

Please report any absences on the first day of the absence to Mrs Dean on 01782 470401 (please leave a message if I am not in the office) or email angela.dean@coopacademies.co.uk .

If your child has sickness/diarrhoea they do require 48hours symptom free before they come back to school.

Co-op Ways of Being 

Be yourself always

Succeed together

Do what matters most

Show you care