Dear Parents and Carers,
SCHOOL VALUE OF THE WEEK: Respect
It has been another busy week preparing for our Harvest Festival assembly and engaging in Black History studies across the school. On Saturday 10th October, it was World Mental Health Day. As a school we will be looking at ways in which we can improve our mental health. This week our Forest School sessions will be replaced with Wellbeing Sessions with the Wellbeing Lead, Mrs Dean-Roberts. The children will still be required to wear their outdoor learning clothes. Parents please ensure that your children have waterproof clothing as this enables them to participate in activities outdoors regardless of the weather.
Mental Health:
World Mental Health Day 2020—’Good Mental Health for All’
Top tips for good mental health:
- Create a wellbeing board at home – ways to calm, positive words, post it compliments for your family
- Tense and Release – close your eyes and sit on a chair. Starting with your feet tense your muscles for a few seconds and then release, repeat this working up the body
- Create a home worry box – deposit your worries and parent/carer will check daily and have special ‘bubble time’ chats
- Positive intentions – at the start of the day the whole family will write down a positive intention, e,g, I will be kind to my sister today, I will do some exercise, I will wash the car, I will bake my neighbour a cake
- Gratitude notes – everyone lists 3 things they are thankful for at the end of everyday
- Growth mindset – Everyone will focus on learning a new skill together. This could be learning to hula hoop, a handstand, a cartwheel, baking, knitting , learn a tongue twister etc
- Create a feelings poster – each day a member of the family adds a new feeling word to the poster to expand your children’s vocabulary for discussing their emotions
- Belly ache laughs – have a joke off! Take turns in telling a joke and see which joke creates the most laughter
National Online Safety:
The online world is posing an ever-increasing risk to children and it is important that schools, parents and carers work together to take an active role in teaching children about online dangers and how to act safely when using the internet.
We are therefore delighted to announce that Stanborough Primary School will be continuing to show our commitment to protecting our pupils online by working with National Online Safety to deliver an interactive online workshop for all our parents & carers.
The following courses can be taken at your own convenience and covers:
• Information about online dangers and the newest platforms
• What online risks to look out for and how to protect your child
Please find below the URL you need to visit to register your account You will need to complete your details in order for us to receive our whole school National Online Safety Award (I really want this!) and select “I am a: Parent/Carer” from the dropdown:
http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/stanborough-primary-school
Once you have registered, you will be able to access the “Online Safety for Parents and Carers’ course and National Online Safety’s Resources (which includes 50+ online platform guides on the latest social media channels and games). This aims to help empower parents with the knowledge to protect their children from the dangers of the internet.
If you have any questions, or trouble accessing the course please contact support@nationalonlinesafety.com.
School Council Elections:
Within the last two weeks, we have appointed members of the School Council and House Captains through a democratic election process. All candidates were asked to prepare a speech for their peers to persuade them to vote for them. All children were encouraged to vote, and direct reference was made to democracy, forming a crucial part of our British Values. I want to thank all of the candidates who put themselves forward this year for election and congratulate the following pupils:
House Captains:
Bunyan – Blake and Addison
Nightingale – Laura and Samuel
School Council:
• Seth & Sophia – year 3
• Nomsa & Hannah- year 4
• Tayla-Ann & Eden – year 5
• Paige & Arjun – year 6
• Sinuo – Treasurer
• Nathaniel – Secretary
• Matthew – Chair
The School Council, our junior leadership team, will provide you with regular updates through the school’s newsletter. I am excited to work with the School Council, Mrs Zvezdova (our School Council Lead) & Mrs Swain (our School Council Support) this year.
Black History Month:
This week, I would like to encourage you to read this inspiring poem about Black children entitled ‘Hey Black Child’:
Hey Black Child
Do you know who you are
Who you really are
Do you know you can be
What you want to be
If you try to be
What you can be
Hey Black Child
Do you know where you are going
Where you’re really going
Do you know you can learn
What you want to learn
If you try to learn
What you can learn
Hey Black Child
Do you know you are strong
I mean really strong
Do you know you can do
What you want to do
If you try to do
What you can do
Hey Black Child
Be what you can be
Learn what you must learn
Do what you can do
And tomorrow your nation
Will be what you what it to beBy Useni Eugene Perkins
Challenge: Can you write your own inspirational poem based on ‘Hey Black Child’?
On this occasion work can be handed in. Initially, work will be quarantined, before being used for a whole school display. All work should be handed in by Friday 23rd October 2020. Please remember to review your child’s class blogs each week to see what the children have been learning about.
Survey – Return to School:
Thank you to all parents and carers who completed our survey. The results are very pleasing and the staff and I would like to thank you for positive and encouraging comments. The following two points were concerns :
- Face coverings during drop off and collection
- Exit pathway in the carpark
Actions which we will be taken in light of the concerns raised:
- Request that all parents and carers wear a face mask/shield during drop of and collection times. Please note disposal face masks can be purchased from the school office for 50p. Alternatively, you can order a specially designed black mask with a coloured school logo on it from the school office for £5.00. See below design:
Thank you Mrs Roswell for designing our very own face masks.
- You will see that we have restricted parking spaces in the carpark. This is to provide a temporary pathway for our school community to use whilst we have the one way system in effect. We are extremely mindful that we have now limited the number of car parking spaces available. We will monitor the situation in case we need to stagger collection times. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter.
Harvest Festival: A heart of Gratitude
Due to current Government guidelines we will not hosting our annual Harvest Festival assembly in our usual fashion. This year our assembly will be recorded and uploaded on Class Dojo by Thursday 15th October. Samples of work and items included in the assembly will be uploaded onto our class blogs on the school website. We hope you enjoy this new ‘concert’ format until we can meet and perform again in our normal fashion.
On behalf of One Vision and New Hope, the charities we are currently supporting, we would like to thank you for all of the donations currently received. May God continue to bless you richly as you bless others less fortunate during these unprecedented times. Please note we are still receiving donations for New Hope until Wednesday 14th October 2020.
Values Role of Honour:
| Excellence | Zuriel-Vina, Michaela, Sophia, Chloe, Joyce-Samara, Thandiwe, Kemuel, Year 5, Tristan, Alicia, Arjun & Blake |
| Resilience | Early Years, George, Evelyn, Jadon, Diya, Aniyah, Year 3 & Year 4, Blake, Addison & Samuel |
| Independence | Year 3 & Year 4 |
| Co-operation | Stephanie, James, Sophia, Philip, Piers, Isaiah, Reeya, Oluwaloni, Caden, Aaron, Tayla, Simona, Noah, Lyxandra, Paige, Alicia & Neriya |
| Self-Control | |
| Curiosity | Early Years, Year 3, Year 4, Amanda, Jana, Christopher O, Arjun & Gabriella |
| Acceptance | Hazel & Neriya |
| Respect | Early Years, Lucas, Christopher D, Isaac & Matthew |
Stars of the Week (Headteacher Awards):
| Nursery | Matthias |
| Reception | Zuriel-Vina |
| Year 1 | Aaron |
| Year 2 | George |
| Year 3 | Seth & Marqueza |
| Year 4 | Thalia |
| Year 5 | Eden |
| Year 6 | Laura |
Keep up the good work all!
Attendance & Punctuality:
Each school in the local authority has an attendance target which is set for them. This year our published school attendance target is 96. Thank you all parents & carers for ensuring your child/ren arrive on time to begin learning at 8:45am.
Please see below for all class attendance last week:
| Nursery | 100% | |
| Reception | 88.89% | |
| Year 1 | 100% | |
| Year 2 | 97.5% | |
| Year 3 | 95.56% | |
| Year 4 | 100% | |
| Year 5 | 97.5% | |
| Year 6 | 97.33% |
If you are requesting time off for your child, for exceptional circumstances such as an operation, you must complete an Absence Request Form. You can get an Absence Request Form from the office. Please let the school office know if your child needs to isolate immediately as this will enable us to provide a remote provision for your son or daughter.
Keeping our Community Safe:
Please check your child for symptoms, and do not come into school if they or anyone in your family show the following symptoms:
- a high temperature (please try to take their temperature every morning)
- a new, continuous cough or symptoms – this means coughing a lot, for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
- a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – this means they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
The above 3 symptoms are from the NHS, and you should always consult your GP or call 111 NHS or use the coronavirus service https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/
What to do if you have symptoms:
If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus:
1. Get a test to check if you have coronavirus as soon as possible.
2. Stay at home and do not have visitors until you get your test result – only leave your home to have a test.
3. Anyone you live with, and anyone in your support bubble, must also stay at home until you get your result. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/ Always contact the school if you are unsure of what to do or would like some advice.
SHOULD YOUR CHILD DEVELOP ANY OF THE ABOVE SYMPTOMS OVER THE WEEKEND, PLEASE INFORM THE SCHOOL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (VIA EMAIL) TO ENSURE THAT THE SCHOOL CAN TAKE THE NECCESARY PRECAUTIONS IN-LINE WITH OUR RISK ASSESSMENT AND GUIDANCE FROM OUR LOCAL HEALTH PROTECTION TEAM. PLEASE SEND THE EMAIL TO EITHER head@stanboroughprimary.org.uk or info@stanboroughprimary.org.uk
Secondary school applications – Year 6:
The closing date for secondary school applications is the 31st October. Please let us know if we can help in any way. Please follow the link below to complete : www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/actweb/education/admissions/startpage.cfm
Mrs T Madden
Headteacher
