Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 3rd March 2023
Date: 3rd Mar 2023 @ 11:25am
World Book Day
What a lovely day we had in school yesterday for World Book Day with our theme of dragons. The classes all shared some lovely story books about dragons and completed some fabulous work related to this. They also bought in some lovely things relating to dragons – I was quite jealous of those with dragon teddies and dragon snuggly blankets! We had a lovely story telling session at the end of the day with our book that didn’t have a dragon in it – or so the title led us to believe (‘There is No Dragon in this Story!’). Please take a look at the class blogs over the next few days as class teachers share what the children have been getting up to.
Social Media Messages
For those adults whose children have mobile phones, please may I strongly encourage you to regularly check your child’s mobile phone activity – messages, apps and online? A number of children are accessing apps that are potentially above the appropriate age limit (for example, did you know that WhatsApp has an age restriction of 16+ in the UK?) and not know how to send messages appropriately.
Ready, Respectful, Safe
This week we have begun using our new rules of Ready, Respectful, Safe. I have spoken to a few children about how they are getting on with them and their feedback is that they are finding it much simpler to remember and follow. Please do chat with your children about all the ways that you and they can think of to show that they are ready, respectful and safe in school – perhaps you could try using these at home too with lots of rewards for following them?
#WakeUpWednesday
Not Gonna Lie (NGL) is another of those ‘bolt-on’ apps which is designed to work alongside a major social media network. In this instance, the ‘host’ platforms are Instagram and Twitter – with NGL (meaning, as you may have surmised, ‘Not Gonna Lie’) inviting a user’s friends and followers to ask them questions anonymously. An intriguing novelty, perhaps – but also not without risk.
Human nature being what it is, some people take the smokescreen of online anonymity as an excuse to behave in ways that they certainly wouldn’t if their identity were visible. The idea of exposing young social media users to anonymous messages is one which understandably concerns many parents: this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide brings you the facts about NGL. This free online safety guide looks at NGL – an anonymous messaging app - and will highlight a number of potential risks including oversharing, cyber-bullying and potentially costly subscription fees.
School Dinners
There were a number of issues with payments to School Spider for dinners during the period that School Spider was not working and over a £1000 was refunded to parents by School Spider during this time, money that we are now having to chase back again. Mrs McFarland has sent some e mails to parents with regards to this and is having to spend quite a considerable amount of time trying to sort this out when she could be doing other things. If you have seen the refund into your bank account, please do repay the money to us and Mrs McFarland continues to work with School Spider to work out exactly what has gone on.
School dinners cost £2.45 per day, £12.25 per week. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free meals as part of the government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme. Dinner money must be paid in advance via School Spider as we do not accept cash in school.
If you are in receipt of benefits and think that you may be entitled to free school meals, please click here for more information and support and how to apply. It is very important to apply for free schools meals whatever year your child is in, even if you receive the UIFSM in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, as the school receives a sum of extra money to further help support your child and their education.
Absence during Term Time
Please may I remind you that schools are not allowed to authorise pupil holidays in term time. Any child going on holiday in term time will receive an unauthorised absence. Our registers are regularly checked by the Education Welfare Service and parents may be issued with a fine from the Local Authority for unauthorised absence, which is currently £60 per child, per parent and this rises to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2023 – new dates highlighted
Week beginning 6th March: Dinners Week 2
Friday 10th March: Oakmere and Linmere to experience an immersive opera in school: ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’
Wednesday 15th March: School Nurses to do annual Reception screening checks
Thursday 23rd March: Blakemere trip to The Lion Salt Works
Friday 24th March: Bikeability Day (for the group that didn’t get to complete last time)
Friday 31st March: Easter Service in St. John’s Church at 9.15am. All welcome.
Friday 31st March: End of Spring Term - school closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon