Kindness
Dear families and friends,
Wow! January has just flown by and there is only 7 days left until half term! We have had an action-packed January and the children have worked so hard.
We started the year by focusing on New Years Resolutions and how if we support each other we will manage to stick to the changes we want to make. The changes that we have decided to make link very well with our school value of the month – Kindness. We are going to be kind to everyone and everything within our school.
The team have been asked to nominate children that they believe have shown kindness during this month and they received a certificate in assembly and a great big thankyou for promoting kindness!
House Points – January 2024
House Points…
The House Points were collected, counted and verified and here are the results for the first month of 2024!
RockKidz 2024
RockKidz
On Wednesday 8th January, we had our annual visit from RockKidz who delivered workshops to the whole school on Anti-Bullying and Relationships. The children were fully engaged, excited and thrilled to be able to dress as Rockstars and sing and jump around the hall alongside listening to the key messages delivered. It was amazing. The teacher ‘v’ children battles were great but really difficult for the teachers!
A huge well done to Miss Brown who won the whole school rockstar battle 😊
Year 5 Mosque Visit
Year 5 Mosque Visit
Mrs Lane’s class were lucky enough to visit Telford Central Mosque on Monday 22nd January. This trip supported our understanding of our recent RE topic, when the children were learning about ‘How and why do Muslims and Jews pray?”. They thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Muslim beliefs and visiting a real mosque. During this visit our Year 5 children modelled our school values and Fundamental British Values.
A big thank you to ‘Telford Central Mosque’ for their hospitality and their invaluable knowledge that they were happy to share.
The children were excited to share what they had learnt on the way home in the minibus and talked excitedly about their experience!
Year 4 – Making Torches
Year 4 – Making Torches
The children have been studying circuits and electricity in Science and designing and making torches in Design Technology. The children had two design briefs and had to create their torch for that person (either a cave explorer or a criminal catcher) Here are some of the comments from the children:
Euan – I enjoyed making the circuit and then putting it inside the bottle to make a real-life torch.
Sienna – I love that we learnt to make a torch from all different materials. I enjoyed making the switch the most as I wasn’t expecting it to make it work!
Bobby – I enjoyed making the torch. It was fun getting to cut the bottle open and learn new things.
Aaliyah – I liked drawing all the little details on the torch.
Year 1 – Judaism Assembly
Year 1 – Judaism Assembly
The Year 1 class performed their class assembly to the whole school and some parents last Friday and they were able to explain to everyone listening what they have learnt about Judaism. It was lovely to hear them explain that Christian and Jewish believers both share the same creation story and that it can be found in Genesis Chapter 1. The children shared the creation story and that in the Jewish faith they have their own day of rest.
This is known as Shabbat.
The children proudly explained what they had been learning to the rest of the school and their parents. Well done everyone! You modelled our school values and Fundamental British Values beautifully.
Year 2 – Buildwas Abbey
Year 2 – Buildwas Abbey
The Year 2 children have visited Buildwas Abbey over the last week to look at an Abbey. It would be so easy to show them a picture on the screen but with the minibus available they were able to go and visit a real one for free! They could see it, draw it and even touch it! What a wonderful morning they all had.
Changes for February…
No more toast…
Sadly, after half-term, we will no longer be selling toast at breaktime. We have made this decision based on several reasons. Due to the increase in food prices and electric prices we would need to increase the price of toast to 25p a slice to make sure we are covering costs. We do not think that this would be fair to you.
With changes to the food standards, we would only be able to serve brown wholemeal bread and most children do not like this which would mean wasted food.
Our children in EYFS and KS1 already receive fruit everyday which is provided to schools for free through a Government scheme.
Children in KS2 will be encouraged to bring in a piece of fruit or a healthy snack to be eaten at breaktime. This can include, fruit, vegetable sticks, rice cakes, popcorn, raisins. Unhealthy snacks such as crisps or chocolate bars will not be allowed at breaktime.
Following advice from a visiting dentist, we would encourage children to have only water in their water bottles as the sugar in the juice can have a detrimental impact on their teeth.
Late pick-ups…
Late pick-ups…
We understand how busy life can be and we all run a bit late every now and again, however if you are persistently more than 10 minutes late to collect your child from their class at the end of the day then we will need to pop them into After-School Club which will come at a cost to you.
This also applies if you are late to collect your child from their Nursery session. Teachers are extremely busy and have lots to do after 3.10pm.
Attendance Matters
Attendance Matters…
Our attendance target is: 96%
Our overall attendance for January has been:
Our Year-to-Date attendance is: 95.90%
Attendance % per class
Attendance is everyone’s responsibility!
It is our school’s policy that we visit all families that are absent for 3 days whether contact has been made with school or not! This is so we can complete a safe and well check and to see if there is anyway we can support you. We will always come out so please do not be offended. We miss our children when they are not here!
A Parent’s Guide to Attendance
These are the attendance expectations for parents of Sir Alexander Fleming Nursery and Primary School. It will explain what we classify as an authorised or unauthorised absence and explain our monitoring processes. All schools are required by law to keep attendance registers for morning and afternoon sessions.
Absences must either be marked as Authorised or Unauthorised.
Only the school can approve the reason for the absence.
At SAF our aim is for all our children to have attendance above 96%
What is an authorised absence?
- If your child is ill and you have contacted the school before 9.10am
- If your child is attending a medical appointment and school have seen evidence.
- Religious observance
What is an unauthorised absence?
- If the parent has received a SAL 2 letter and need to provide evidence of illness and are unable to do this.
- Your child not attending school due to birthday celebrations, visiting family, friends, going shopping or having their hair cut.
- Your child taking a full day off school for medical/dental appointments
- Your child arriving to school after 9.10am
- Your child being absent with an ailment that school would expect them to attend with (headaches, cold, treated after headlice)
- Your child taking a holiday during term time that has not been authorised by the headteacher
- Your child missing school due to a medical/dental appointment for a parent/sibling.
Punctuality
It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure their children arrive at school on time.
School has a clear procedure for the ‘start of the school day’. The doors open at 8.30am. We expect children to be waiting ready to enter their class at 8.30am. The class doors close promptly at 8.40am and the site manager locks the gates.
Children arriving after 8.40am have to enter school from school reception and receive a Late Mark.
Lateness
Children who are not in the classroom at 8.40am, ready to start the school day are late. They will be recorded as late on the class register.
Children who arrive after 9.10am will receive an unauthorised absence mark for the morning session as the morning registers have closed.
All students arriving late must enter school via the school reception where parents must sign their child into school with an explanation of why they are late.
Late arrival at school may result in:
- Your child feeling stressed or anxious
- Your child learning less and achieving poorer outcomes
- Your child disrupting the learning of others
- Parents receiving a fine if children arrive after 9.10am on a regular basis
Illness
If your child is too unwell to attend, school must be notified by 9.10am
Parents must report all absences to the school office via email or by leaving a voice message on 01952 327820. We ask that parents do not give absence messages to teacher or school staff via Seesaw.
Where an illness lasts longer that one day, we ask parents to inform us daily of their child’s absence.
If school recognises a pattern of absence, we will contact parents to see if any support is needed and in some cases we will ask for medical evidence that the child has been seen by a GP.
Medical/Dental appointments
We ask that wherever possible all appointments are made outside of the school day. Where this is not possible children should only be absent from school for their appointment and not all day.
For morning appointments, we request that your child attends school in the morning to receive their registration mark at 8.30am and then leaves for their appointment.
For afternoon appointments during school hours, we ask that your child receives their registration mark at 1.00pm and then leaves for their appointment.
Appointments will only be authorised where evidence of the appointment has been seen at the school office.
Without them it will be recorded as unauthorised.
Leave of absence
Leave of absence in term time can only be authorised by the Head Teacher in exceptional circumstances.
All requests will only be considered if parents have completed a Leave in Absence form. This is obtained from the school office. The Head Teacher who will consider each request on an individual basis.
Upcoming Events…
Dates for your diary 23-24
Please click the link above to see the upcoming events for 2023-2024
The highlighted green shows what has happened so far!
“Let’s put on our mittens and button up our coats . . . ” The awe and wonder of winter!
Our curriculum takes into account seasonal and natural opportunities that we know children will be fascinated by! We have been learning about the season of winter and spotting signs outside. This topic has been a vehicle for cross-curricular learning; developing children’s understanding of time, making physical marks in the frost to develop our motor skills, developing our knowledge and understanding of the natural world and encouraging us to communicate.
By being immersed in real experiences and enhancing this with poems, songs and books the children have learnt many words and concepts such as, “frost, bare, evergreen, hard, robin, frozen, ice, snow.” Adults encouraged children to use adventurous language too – “That shard of ice looks like a shark’s fin!”
The adults have high expectations of children and have been talking and showing them how some birds migrate to hotter countries in the winter. The children have been feeding the birds in different ways as they know that food is harder to find in the winter. Lacie used her knowledge of three, from our mathematics sessions, to subitise three pieces of cereal left on one of our bird feeders! Octavia and Archie spotted a nest and built another for the birds to lay their eggs in, in the coming spring. (This will make their future learning easier as they make connections to past experiences.)
The shape of the ice fascinated the children and they loved changing the shape by throwing, smashing and crushing the ice! We explored the concept of being trapped too, as there were many natural and some man-made objects stuck in the ice.
We returned at different times of the day and noticed some of the frost had gone. Some children had theories about why this happened and it led us to think about the scientific concept of melting. The children experimented melting the ice with their bodies, including their tongues! This made us think about what ice was made from.
C is for Community
We plan our EYFS curriculum using ‘big’ ideas. We have progressed from thinking about our unique selves to how we are part of a community.
This ensures learning is meaningful, drawing on children’s personal experiences and extending their knowledge through a range of new ones.
Today the children had a memorable visit from the Police and Community Support Officers. They have been studying the role of a police officer and the equipment they use through books, poems and songs. Children were able to compare Police Officer Dominik’s uniform from Life Savers the book to Police Officer Sam’s. The children applied and used vocabulary such as, “radio, helmet, handcuffs, siren, protect” while also learning new words such as, “custody, baton” and, “shield.” They learnt about different ways the police travel and how they help others.
This knowledge will be very useful when we apply it to acting in our Police Station role-play area.
This topic about community also allows us to develop children’s understanding of place which supports their geographical understanding as they move through the school. Watch out for our religious education learning too as we learn about religious communities; We have arranged for an Imam to visit in the next few weeks . . .
