29th September 2023
Dear Parents and Carers,
The children have done some fantastic learning at this midpoint in the half term. In classes across the school, pupils have made progress in their phonics and reading; confidently reading to adults from their reading books or from the traditional tales, their classes are learning through. Pupils in the Investigators Hub are really enjoying the traditional tales they are learning through and it has been great to hear them recalling the stories. In one class, pupils acted out ‘The Three Little Pigs’ using key language and story book phrases and were so excited to join in with the repeated phrases. One pupil did some fantastic writing and read to me that he had put ‘watermelon and tasty strawberries’ in Red Riding Hood’s basket.
In the swimming pool, a number of pupils made great progress and one pupil dipped his toe in the water for the first time. There has been lots of development in children’s social skills with one pupil eating lunch in the dinner hall for the first time, another being happier within their toilet routine and another tolerating wearing their clothes for longer periods. One pupil from the Explorers Hub went to a social skills session in an Engineer’s Hub class and really enjoyed it and showed lots of focus. One pupil persevered to climb onto the pirate ship in the playground for the first time. There has been significant progress in a number of pupils’ engagement and transitioning too.
Finally, many children have made progress in their communication this week. A number of children have used their aided language boards to support them including to request a favoured song. One child has been making more vocalisations and another has been signing ‘please’ when asking for something. Another pupil is repeating lots of the words he is hearing. Others have been engaging in lengthier and more complex conversations. It is lovely to experience the children’s growing communication skills as the term progresses.
Attendance Focus
Best attendance last week :
Explorers Hub – Peacock class
Investigators Hub – Gecko class
Engineers Hub – Sloth class
Online Safety
A lot happens in a minute online whether it’s checking emails, sending messages, making purchases or watching TikTok videos. There are many potential dangers for children online so it’s really important to make sure that children can enjoy the internet safely.
The Ofcom Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes 2023 report found that YouTube was the most used online platform among 3-17-year-olds (88%), followed by WhatsApp (55%), TikTok (53%), Snapchat (46%), Instagram (41%) and Facebook (34%). Use of WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat increased from 2021 (up from 53%, 50% and 42% respectively), while Facebook was less popular this year (down from 40%).
About nine in ten children (89%) played video games. A key reason children aged 3-17 said they played was to ‘hang out with friends’ (24%). On top of this, the study found that children aged 8-17 used games as a way of playing with (55%) and chatting with (47%) people they knew. Of more concern is that 25% played with, and 22% talked to, people they didn’t know outside the game.
Each month we will post a new newsletter with up-to-date information and top tips to help keep your children safe online
First Aid
If your child has an accident at school and/or requires first aid, you will be notified of this either, by way of a phone call, email, note in the communication book or in person when you collect your child. The method of contact will depend on the nature of the accident and first aid required. We have moved to an online system for recording incidents which means that we will no longer send home a first aid form however, the information you can expect to be informed of is the time of the incident, any injury sustained and where and the treatment given.
All parents/carers – please join us for coffee morning on Wednesday 4th October 9.30am – 11.00am
The sign of the week is wait.
Therapy Dog
We had our first visit from Liz and our new therapy dog Willow. They will be in school every Monday afternoon. If you have not already done so, please complete and return the consent form for your child to be able to see Willow. This week, they saw some of the children in Peacocks, Leopards and Lobsters.
Next week we will be sending out details about our Autumn term parents evening. Please look out for this letter.
Have a lovely weekend!
Very best wishes,
Catriona