2nd December 2022
Dear Parents and Carers,
As we head towards the last two weeks of term for some children excitement is rising! It is lovely to see the children continuing to be motivated by all the learning activities in school. There have been some great increases in focus, engagement and participation this week; in one class all children participated in hello and some feeling work together in a circle for the first time. An individual child has joined in with all their learning activities and at lunch play one child focussed on a marble run game for 20 minutes and tried hard to work out how he could get the marbles to go back up the run rather than just watching them going down showing some great problem solving skills. The children have also made some great strides in the development of their communication skills. One child has started using a communication book in class and is forming 3-part phrases. Another child has done great listening and has worked hard to sign and say the different class names around school. One child has been using his PECs to ask for different toys he wants. One pupil enjoyed going to playtime and playing ‘Sainsbury’s’ – asking adults what they would like and then going to ‘purchase’ this for them. She has been developing her skills in gaining people’s attention politely too. Also in the area of developing social skills one of our older pupils saw an adult who needed to get a trolley through a door and quickly came and held the door open for them. Some of our younger children have developed their independence skills in walking with less adult support from the bus to class. The children have focussed hard in phonics lessons and in maths some of our older pupils have continued to develop their knowledge of fractions with one pupil doing some great halving of numbers.
Winter germs!
Please note that we have had a rise in sickness absence amongst children and staff over the last few weeks. Please do stay vigilant and do not send your children into school if they are at all unwell. If your child has sickness, diarrhoea, a temperature, is not themselves and has a cold, cough or is achy they need to rest and recover at home. This is important for them in regard to recovering and is also important for the whole school where we want to avoid bugs and viruses spreading which could necessitate class closures if we have too few staff well enough to work. If we all follow these guidelines we are more likely to prevent illness spreading which in turn prevents disruption to classed classes. Thank you so much for your help.
With Christmas approaching, sadly there is an increasing number of unsafe toys being sold online which can be deadly. With many families feeling the pinch this Christmas, the appeal of cheap toys could have fatal consequences.
That’s why the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) launched a new campaign last week, to coincide with Black Friday deals, to raise awareness of the high-risk toys to avoid on online marketplaces
The charity is urging us to think twice when buying cheap toys from online marketplaces, as they often come from abroad and haven’t been safety tested.
TV medic Dr Punam Krishan, who is a GP in Glasgow and has two young children, is backing the initiative which she describes as “incredibly important and worthwhile.”
CAPT is flagging up the increasing number of unsafe toys sold online, which may be made with toxic chemicals, long cords that can strangle or small parts that can choke a small child.
Experts at the charity say super-strong magnets in cheap toys can rip through a child’s gut while easy-access button batteries can kill a child if swallowed.
They warn that unsafe, illegal toys that have been removed from sale can simply reappear under another seller on the same online marketplace.
Top tips from CAPT are:
- Take care when buying from online marketplaces. They don’t have to check if the toys they sell are safe.
- If you can, opt for well-known brand names and retailers.
- Check who is selling the toy. If it’s a company you’ve never heard of, with no UK or EU address and the price is temptingly low, the toy may be illegal and unsafe.
- High-risk toys best avoided from unknown brands and sellers include those with:
- Super-strong magnets that can rip through your child’s belly
- Easy-access button batteries that can kill your child if swallowed
- Long cords that can strangle your child or small parts that can choke them
- Chargers that can catch fire or wires that can cause electric shocks.
- If you buy a toy that looks unsafe, trust your instincts and send it back.
Button batteries
Closely linked to toys are batteries, in particular, button batteries which are found all around the home including digital thermometers, toys, remote controls, gaming headsets, car key fobs, musical/sound books and cards and watches to name just a few. Children are at risk of harm because they like to explore taste and texture by mouth. A button battery has enough charge to burn a whole through the throat or gullet within 2 hours and cause catastrophic internal bleeding and even death. Even a ‘dead’ battery can hold enough power to badly hurt a child if swallowed. The Child Accident Prevention Trust urges us to look around our home for button batteries – in products as well as spare and ‘dead’ batteries
- Keep products well out of children’s reach if the battery compartment isn’t secured with a screw
- Store spare batteries in sealed containers in a high cupboard
- Take care buying on-line or from markets or discount stores as cheap toys may not follow safety regulations
- Keep ‘dead’ batteries out of children’s reach and recycle them as quickly as possible
If you think a child has swallowed a button battery, don’t delay, take them to A&E straight away or call 999 for an ambulance. There may be no obvious symptoms. Don’t them eat or drink and don’t make them sick
For more advice visit www.capt.org.uk/button-batteries
Coffee Morning
Please join us for the last coffee morning of 2022 on Wednesday 7 December, 9.30am – 11am
Help for Households – find out what support is available to help with the cost of living, including income, benefits, bills, allowances and childcare. Click here.
(https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/housing-support/)
Early Help Service
Pop in to see Early help staff on December 8th, 2pm – 4.30pm at Worthing Library Hub Meeting Room 1 if you have any questions around parental emotional support and supporting the wellbeing of your child. You can also scan the QR code for support for a Young Person
Attendance Focus
For the week commencing 14th November, the classes with the best attendance were;
- Explorers hub – Ladybird class
- Investigators hub – Gorilla class
- Engineers hub – Koala class
This weeks Sign of the Week is Jumper.
Have a lovely weekend!
Very best wishes,
Catriona