Mental Health Week 1

This week is Mental Health awareness Week (10^th -16^th  May), children and families in County Durham are being encouraged to talk more about mental health. The theme is around “nature” and the Emotional Health and Resilience team for Growing Healthy County Durham led by Claire Birks and with Durham’s digital lead Hayley Agnew are working with the community over our social media pages and sharing with schools (sharing presentations) to help children and young people talk more about their feelings, focusing on nature and our surroundings.

The Emotional Health and Resilience Team, said: “It is so important the community in County Durham, as in all communities across the county, can talk about mental health so that talking about emotional health is normalised no one is embarrassed about how they feel as this is as important as our physical health and no more has this been tested throughout the pandemic.

We know taking in nature and getting outside promotes good mental health and physical health and has been so important over the last year or so. So this week, and at all times in our work, we are promoting the importance of connecting, being active, taking notice, keep learning and giving.

The team are posting each day on social media and are running a competition for our children around sharing pictures that focus on nature that could brighten  up someone’s day this encourages talking about the images and appreciating the things around us and generally talking.

Many Thanks From the Emotional Health and Resilience Team

Mon 10^th May-Thur 13^th May- KS1/KS2 SATs (Teacher Assessment)

Fri 14th May- Archery Taster Day

Tue 18th May-Class Bubble School Photographs

Fri 28^th May-End of Summer Half Term

Mon 7th June- Children return to school

Fri 11^th June-  New Reception Starters for Sep 2021 Parents Meeting

W/B Mon 7^th June- Year 1 Phonics Screening Tests and Y4 Multiplication Check (Teacher Assessment)

Tue 22nd June- Sports Day. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Wed 30th June- Class Swap Day. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Thur 8^th July- Class 1 Performance of Jack and the Beanstalk for parents/carers of Class 1 only. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Fri 9^th July- Class 4’s performance of WOW! What a Year! for parents/carers of        Class 4 only. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Fri 9^th July- Times Table Rockstar Day

Fri 9^th July- End of Year Reports sent out to Parents/Carers

Mon 12^th July- Parents Open Evening 2-5pm (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Thur 15^th July- Y6 Leavers assembly. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

Y6 Prom

Fri 16^th July- Outdoor Picnic with Parents/Carers and Celebration of Mrs Shaw’s Retirement. (If Government Guidelines Permit)

End of Summer Term

Thur 2nd Sep- Children return to school

Further letters/details will follow about each event

Well done to all our superstars this week!

In Class 3, Lucie has knocked our socks off with her written multiplication and is an all round superstar! Well done Lucie. 🙂

Well Done Jake for excellent doubling and repeated addition.

Super star Oliver in Class 2

Well Done Lexi for your fabulous Maths work this week.

UNCRC Article 29 – Education should develop each child’s personality and talents to the full.

A huge well done to Skye in class 1 for being our first ever artist of the month! Skye did a beautiful self portrait and really took her time drawing diagonal lines. Well done Skye!

We are celebrating the work of Frida Kahlo this month too. Frida also used lots of bright colours in her self portraits, which reminded her of the hot country where she lived. Frida was very proud of her Mexican heritage. She was born in 1907 and didn’t really become famous until after her death.

In Class 3, Linzi has been awarded this week to recognise her lovely handwriting and  beautiful presentation in all her books. Well done Linzi – so proud of you! 🙂

Jack has been doing some wonderful Maths work to achieve his Head Teacher’s award for Class 4; well done Jack.

Well done Autumn for an excellent start at your new school.

Well done Jasleen for consistent outstanding work.

Online Safety Update April 21

One of the side effects of lockdown has been the increased use of technology.  Most children have really benefited from this when in lockdown but unfortunately sometimes it can go wrong. The misuse of technology that some primary aged children have experienced includes, bullying, fraud and child abuse.  We now need parents to take an active role in keeping their children safe in the online world, just as they would in real life!

The best way of protecting your children is to talk with them about how they use technology, find out about the apps, websites and games they use and make sure they can share any worries they have with you.  Both the net-aware and internetmatters.org websites are full of helpful advice.

As a school we take online safety very seriously and children are taught about keeping safe throughout their time in school, so they develop the skills and resilience needed to keep themselves safe on line.  We should remember that they are still children, they will make mistakes and they will need your support not only to stay safe but to grow and flourish both online and offline.

Below we have listed five useful websites to help support your child staying safe.  Please take some time to talk to your children and find out more on the websites below.  Parents and carers are also welcome to discuss issues and get support from the school – we will help.

Every week until half term we have the pleasure of taking part in Friday afternoons yoga, it is great to see the children relax and unwind from their wonderful, busy week in school 🙂