Newsletters

February 2022

NEWSLETTER | February 2022

HEADTEACHER'S MESSAGE

The half-term after Christmas is always a quick one, and we reach the half-way point in the school calendar. We will hopefully be able to look forward to a brighter and more consistent second half of the year and with possible changes to isolation rules afoot, attendance will hopefully be on the rise again which will have benefits for all the pupils. 

After half-term, a mid-term report will be sent home which gives you information about how your child has done over the first part of the school year. This forms part of our feedback cycle to parents and is a helpful start to the conversation at parents' evening. 

I've been in lots of lessons this week, seeing children working hard across the school. I enjoyed seeing 5B present their business model to me 'apprentice' style and I'm sure we have lots of budding business men and women amongst them! It was lovely to see their enthusiasm for the project and I've ordered my copy!

I also spent time in Year 3 seeing them putting their wormeries together (they look great!) as well as watching them work together on a shared pieced of writing. 

Year 4 have been busy in the art studio this week adding to their Rousseaux art. They have added some wonderful tigers to their colourful backgrounds.

In Year 6, it was wonderful to see the concentration on their hot writing task. It was absolutely fabulous (you could hear a pin drop) and they are working hard to up-level and improve their writing skills. 

Lastly, a well done to the Year 6 children who led assemblies across the school to raise awareness of Children's Mental Health Week. A good experience for them.

Have a good half-term. 

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher

Attendance 

Attendance for the year so far stands at 91.67% which is around the national average for this academic year. Hopefully we will see this rise as we go through the spring and into the summer.

Learning Champions

Every half-term we recognise a child in each class for their super focus and learning behaviours. This half-term the following were chosen:

Billy (3C), Jessica (3W), Lewis (4P), Freya (4I), Kaja (5B), Esther (5H), Julia (6W) & Hoi (6R)

Well done to all!

Diary Dates - January/February

Friday 25th February - Cross Country @ Horsford - 2pm 

Friday 25th February - Mid-term reports home

Monday 28th February - Book Week (please see separate letter)

Friday 4th March - CSF Football tournament 

Monday 7th March - Parents' Evening (3:30pm - 6pm)

Wednesday 9th March - Parents' Evening (5-7:30pm)

Wednesday 9th March - NESSP Sportshall athletics - all years 

Friday 11th March - Cross Country @ Old Catton - 2pm 

Friday 18th March -  Red Nose Day

Norfolk County Council and Sprowston Town Council would love to invite the children and families in our school to join us for a fantastic tree planting opportunity during half-term!

On Monday 14th February we are holding two tree planting sessions at Sprowston Recreation Ground (10am -12pm) (1pm -3pm) and everyone is welcome to join us!

We are undertaking an exciting planting trial that could help grow more trees more quickly  and may  be rolled out across the country in the future. This planting technique is  the Miyawaki Small Forests technique Innovative mini forests set to spring up in Norfolk thanks to council collaboration - Norfolk County Council and we are hoping that the people of Sprowston will not only help us plant the trees but also help us monitor how they grow. This planting technique could help establish the thousands of trees we are going to need to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.

The basics are:

  • Places are limited, so people need to book (see link on poster emailed separately)
  • Everyone is welcome and people can stay as long or as short as they want
  • Bring a spade and gloves if you have them – but we can provide them

Children's Mental Health Week 2022

The theme for this year was 'Growing Together' emotionally and finding ways to help each other grow. Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt to try new things. We've had some good discussions this week about how moving out of your comfort zone can be sometimes a little scary, but this helps us to gain confidence and grow further.

Our Year 6 Pupil Ambassadors visited each class this week to give an assembly on 'Growing Together'. They were joined by Ella in 5H who produced a wonderful booklet with some top tips for looking after your own mental health. Copies of these booklets were used in their assembles and have been given to each class to help. 

 

5B's Stories of Suspense

A class at Sprowston's Junior School has succeeded at perfecting a book! The order form has been sent to the childrens’ homes and if their mum, dad nan or any parent wants their book of magnificent stories sign the order form and get this book for £3.99, big deals here people! We hope you enjoy the cool book with 31 different stories for a small price. I mean who would ignore this amazing bargain? Be quick they're selling mega fast!     

Noah 

Recently 5B have been writing a suspense story (which they have worked really hard on).  5B have been working on this for a week now and are all really delighted with all their work. The book has 31 stories, most of which are two pages long. The majority of the writing is in black and white, but there are some pages with brilliant bold colours. All the pictures are in the middle of the book on four pages with eight pictures on each page, all the pictures have names on, so that you can tell which ones which.  There is an index which you could use to look for a certain person's story. 5B were inspired by the book Skellig to make their own book. The book costs £3.99 and 25% of the money we gain is given to charity (not yet decided which charity.) I mean who would ignore this amazing bargain!!!

5B would really like you to buy a book.

Be quick, there selling fast!!!

Joel 

Internet Safety Day 

Top Tips for Parents and Carers (from Uk Safer Internet Centre)

Have a look at the tips and links below with some suggestions on how to get you started and help you to stay safe and positive online. You and your family can #PlayYourPart in creating a better internet by…

 

Having conversations without judgement.

Whether by playing games, watching videos, or doing things your child enjoys, spending time together online is a great way to start conversations about the online world and how they’re finding being a part of it.
It is important to ask questions and take an interest in what your child enjoys online.
An essential part of having this open dialogue is to not judge, even if their behaviour or life online isn’t what you wanted or expected. This ensures that your child feels they can come to you if ever they make a mistake or experience a problem online. 

 

Knowing where you can learn more about their favourite apps and games.

Websites like Common Sense Media or The Family Gaming Database can be invaluable sources of information. When your child starts talking about a new game or app, why not do some research into the reporting and blocking options available? Then you can help your child if they come to you with an issue.

 

Getting support if things go wrong.

There are lots of organisations who are there to support you and your family if something has gone wrong. The Report Harmful Content website can help you with issues such as cyberbullying, impersonation and threats. You can report worrying behaviour towards children to CEOP. Find out more on Childnet’s Get Help page.

 

Reassuring your child that whatever happens online, you are there to support them.

Let your child know that the best way to address any problem they have online, is to tell a trusted adult immediately. For example, this might include someone sending them a friend request; an online message; telling them to visit a specific website, or app; or asking them for their personal information. Reassure them that if anything happens online that they are unsure about, or makes them feel worried or upset, they can come to you for help.

 

Year 3's Wormeries!

Year 3 have been creating wormeries as part of their science work. They have been learning all about soil and its different layers, learning about the bedrock, subsoil and topsoil. 

See the source image

Parents' Evening 

You have been emailed separately about parents' evening today. It will go live on Monday morning (14th February). If you have problems booking up over half-term, please don't worry as we will arrange with you a mutually convenient time with you if any remaining slots are not suitable. 

 

8 Week Plan

Our next 8-week plan will be starting a few weeks after half-term. This plan will be focusing in on spelling and reading; two very important areas of learning. We have purchased a new spelling scheme (Read Write Inc) which follows on from the phonics scheme we use. We hope this will give the children a boost to help them improve their spelling accuracy and with it, their confidence.  As part of the plan, we will be having some fun events, like a poetry slam and a spelling bee competition.