Welcome to another blog. This week has seen the fidget spinner craze take over the school. Their use been well documented in helping children and even adults with ADD and ADHD reduce the stresses and anxieties linked to the conditions. Unfortunately, however, this is not what myself and the staff have seen them being used for this week. We have had to ask the children in Key Stage 2 not to bring in any fidget spinners as they have not been used properly and have had the opposite effect and distracted the primary pupils from their learning. As parents you are already aware of the work the primary staff and Ms Williams do on a regular basis to help the children learn how to manage their anxieties. This is an important skill as our pupils work their way through the challenges of school and growing up.

I have spoken to all our Key Stage 3 pupils about fidget spinners and said that I would mention their proper use as a calming tool in my blog. Some of the spinners have fallen apart, ball bearings have come out and been lost and sadly some of the older pupils have used them as a weapon. Please could parents of secondary pupils reiterate to their children that the spinners are only allowed out during unstructured times. If they continue to be misused then I will have to ban them.

Let’s move on to find out what some of the classes have been up to this week, starting with Miss McMurray’s Key Stage 3 class..

During Science lessons the pupils had the exciting opportunity to speak with 2 members of the local fire and rescue service and explore their fire engine. The pupils were able to try on the fire equipment, sit in the fire engine and even have a squirt of the fire hose – the pupils had a fantastic time!
Taylor said afterwards, “It was cool as we were able to play about with equipment and they even let us use the hose pipe!”

In Art the pupils have been decorating a cut-out of their hands to make a whole school display. The pupils were able to design and paint their hands as they wished and we are a little unsure who was enjoying themselves more in the lesson, the pupils..

..or Miss Sharples!

During English the pupils have been writing their own acrostic poems about war; all the poems were very moving..

Now let’s hear from Mr Rawson’s Key Stage 2 Nurture class..

Despite being a short week, the Nurture class has been busy. Tobias and Bradley have been working hard on SATs revision and preparation while the remainder of the class have been working hard on Maths, English, Geography and Science and have produced some really good work. This week’s assembly saw Tobias as Star of the Week for his hard work towards his SATs next week and all the class were presented with their e-Safety Award which they have worked on last term and part of this term. All the class were successful and passed their award and were presented with their certificates today..

We also celebrated Bradley’s birthday with cake and a card from the staff and class..

Our weekly rehearsals for the Summer show ‘Aladdin and Jasmine’ over in the theatre at New Bridge are going really well. Ciara has been rehearsing her role as narrator, conquering her nerves and trying very hard to find the courage to perform…and this week she sang in front of the whole cast!! Well done, Ciara, we can’t wait to see the show..

Our SEAL target for this week is “I can tell or show how I feel when I lose someone or something that I care about.”

Our SEAL Superstars and our Stars of the Week are:

• Mrs Dunsdon’s class:
  Star of the Week: Joshua for being a good friend to Myla
  SEAL Superstar: Amario for showing staff how he feels when he has lost something
• Mr Corrigan’s class:
  Star of the Week: Lucas for fantastic effort with his money work in Maths
  SEAL Superstar: Zachary for dealing with the loss of something important to him really well
• Mrs Lomax’s class:
  Star of the Week: Jack for using describing words in his writing
  SEAL Superstar: Joshua for showing how he feels when he has lost something
• Miss Louden’s class:
  Star of the Week: Olivia for great work this week
  SEAL Superstar: Jenna for telling her friends how she is feeling
• Miss Parkinson’s class
  Star of the Week: Jayden for being so helpful in class this week and helping his friends in class with their work
  SEAL Superstar: Luke for telling an adult how he feels
• Mr Heap’s class:
  Star of the Week: Maia for fantastic work and behaviour
  SEAL Superstar: Nicholas for discussing his feelings and giving examples of how he feels when he loses someone or something that he cares about
• Mrs Halkyard’s class:
  Star of the Week: Eden for some excellent independent work in English
  SEAL Superstar: Leon for sharing his feelings with the class

Well done, everyone!

Only a short blog today, I’m sure next week there will be a lot more to share with you all.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jaina

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