Article 2
All children have these rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what their parents do, what language they speak, what their religion is, whether they are a boy or a girl, what their culture is, whether they have a disability, whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.
Things that have been happening in school recently:
TTRS Day for the NSPCC
On Friday 7th May we took part in raising money for the NSPCC charity. Thank you to everyone who supported the event by donating money, dressing up and playing TT Rock Stars! Blanford Mere managed to raise a total of £260.85. In the UK, a total of 1,477 schools, 8,498 classes, 90,365 pupils took part and answered a grand total of 32,601,160 questions correctly. Blanford Mere came 659th overall. Year 6 were the overall winners for our school with Year 5 in 2nd and Year 4 in 3rd.
A special mention to our top 3 pupils:
1st - Karys, Y6 with 3,556 points.
2nd - Krishna, Y4 with 3,547 points.
3rd - Lily Bant, Y5 with 1,930 points.
Well done to everyone who tried their best at school - and at home - to score points and help raise money for the NSPCC.
Reception
Ashleigh: "We came in our own clothes for charity to raise money."
Isabella: "The money will help children who need it."
Lily: "We played Numbots because it was about Maths."
Georgia: "Raised money for people, on Math's day."
Year 1
Olivia: "On Friday, I dressed up for number day and I went on the computer!"
Arjun: "I liked the times tables on the computer and I liked dressing up!"
Year 2
Enqi: "Friday was number day. We dressed up as Rockstars and raised money for the NSPCC. We played on TTRockstars to get as many points as we could."
Kaci: "Friday was fun. We went on TTRockstars and practised our times tables."
Rose M: "The dress-up day was really fun, I enjoyed trying to compete against other schools and improve my speed."
Tobias D: "I went on TT Rockstars at home to try and earn some points for my class. I really enjoy learning my times tables."
Year 3-4
Jack H: "I got to dye my hair and dress up as a rockstar."
Grace E: "Because it was Number Day we spent more time on TT Rockstars."
Harrison G: "I really enjoyed the day because we got to raise money for charity and it was fun to be able to play TT Rockstars as well."
Danny-Lee D: "I really liked being able to dress up and seeing other people dressed as rockstars."
Year 5-6
Harry: "I think TTRS day was a great idea. We got to dress up and raise money for charity. It might also make children better at maths!"
Caitlin: "It was fun dressing up and raising money. Every class got to play on TTRS in lessons."
Grace B: "I enjoyed TTRS. It shows everyone is different wearing their own clothes. I also enjoyed competing against other people using my times tables knowledge."
Reception - Tigers!
In Reception this week, the children have been learning about Tigers. As part of their literacy focus, they have explored the story, 'The Tiger who came to Tea'. The children created their own invitations by applying their phonic skills to their writing. Children have also had the opportunity to make a variety of tiger-related artwork, one particular activity looked at collaging the repeating patterns for the tiger's stripes, linking to shape, space and measure. Alongside this, children have engaged with their topic work by watching videos and reading non-fiction texts about where tigers live, what they eat and why they need to be protected. The children have all thoroughly enjoyed their learning this week!
Year 1 - The Seaside
In Year 1, we have really enjoyed the start of our new Topic - The Seaside! We have been learning about the characters from traditional Punch and Judy shows. In D&T, we have been designing our own split pin characters to add to the story, and we've begun to write a script of our own puppet shows including Punch, Judy and our new character. It wasn't a route we originally intended to go down, but it's been a wonderful experience to allow the children to guide their own learning. They are all superstars!
Year 2 - Bugs!
Year Two designed their own bug hotels last week linked to their topic in Science 'Living things and their habitat'. Today, they have made their bug hotels following their designs from last week. The children will then be evaluating their bug hotels and comparing them with each other. We are using natural materials such as sticks, bark and leaves. The children had a wonderful time exploring!
3/4C - English
"This week, we have been creating a non-chronological report for a rainforest animal that we created ourselves. My animal was part of the monkey family but it had four snake heads! I really enjoyed making up all the facts about my animal - including its appearance, diet and habitat." Mason D
"This week we did our end of unit test for Rocks in Science. I've really enjoyed learning about rocks and fossils and doing lots of investigations including testing different rocks to see how hard and how permeable they were. I remembered lots of our rocks work, did really well in my test and feel very proud of myself." Leonie J
Drumming - 3/4O and 3/4D
3/4D and 3/4C have been drumming with Del from Dudley Performing Arts this half term, with 3/4O commencing their sessions this week. The children have had the opportunity to play a range of drums, including the bass drum, kettle drum and tambourine. They have learnt how to change the pitch, tempo and dynamics when playing, as well as creating their own beats with notes of varying lengths. The sessions began with each small group rehearsing their individual parts and ended in a fantastic, rhythmic performance as a whole-class ensemble.
Pupil voice:
Isabel - I really liked the drumming. We found out about tempo, beats and rhythm. I really enjoyed making lots of noise!
Thomas - I enjoyed how the teacher got us to play different rhythms at the same time. We learnt about the groove and the break where we all played the same rhythm. I am looking forward to our next session. I wonder what drum I will be on?
Year 5-6: Road's End
For the past few weeks Year 5-6 have been engaged in a visual text called Road's End. We really enjoyed the video and have written a narrative and newspaper report about the strange happenings on an isolated road in the middle of a desert!
Mason: "Learning about Road's End has been exciting and mysterious! We watched the video and then our task was to write a newspaper report about the sinister, red-scarfed man."
Grace B: "I enjoyed the mystery of the story. It was shocking that it ended on a cliff hanger."
As you can see, the children are fully engaged in their learning, with a huge amount of learning taking place.
RRSA Champions
RRSA Champions met in a 'socially distanced' way last week to discuss children's rights. They have been working hard in their classrooms to ensure their peers are respecting their own rights and those of others. They have been given a task to explore rights with their class and will be meeting again after half term to share their findings.
Sunflower Competition
Raring2Go are holding a Sunflower Growing Competition. Your child might like to join in. It was popular last summer and they had some fabulous entries.
Children could have a go at growing sunflowers at home, in the garden, or on a windowsill.
All they need to do to enter is email a photo (s) of their sunflowers to me at kidderminster@raring2go.co.uk by 30th June 2021.
The winning child will win a lovely bundle of gardening goodies from Webbs Garden Centres.
You can find more details here: https://raring2go.co.uk/kidderminster-and-stourbridge/competitions/sunflower-growing-competition all by all means call me on 01384 377536
Children's Mental Health Awareness - How to connect with your children
"How was your day?"
"Fine."
"What did you learn today?"
"Nothing."
Yes, these types of conversations happen in my home, too.
So how do we get our children to open up and share about their day?
Because what we really want is a deep connection with our children (this helps a LOT when they're older) and it doesn't happen if we don't get to know their world.
One-word answers don't help us reconnect with our children after a long day apart from each other. This is a great list of suggested questions you can use to create great discussions. Happy talking! Mrs. Cartwright
Please click on the link for suggestions on how to have great discussions with your child.
Safeguarding - Staying safe online
We have a number of parents who tell us that their children are receiving upsetting messages from children in school when at home, on social media sites such as: WhatsApp', 'Snapchat' 'Facebook' etc. We have talked to children, in lesson's about how to keep safe online. We would urge parents to report the incidents to CEOP as this is a matter that arises out of school. Please type the link into a search engine, this will give you a wealth of information about keeping your child safe online.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
How to reduce the risk of your child being in an upsetting situation
In order to avoid these sorts of situations in the first place, it's worth sitting down with your child before they start using any website and reading the terms and conditions to learn what is, and what isn't, acceptable on the site.
You should check whether your child is old enough to have an account with a particular social media website. Many sites including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Ask.fm and ooVoo require users to be 13 years old and will deactivate the accounts of any users suspected to be under this age.
Other tips for increasing your child's online security:
- Set their privacy settings to medium or high. Without updating their privacy settings, anyone can't contact them and their profile information is visible.
- Explain to them that they should not share personal information with people you do not know, such as your address, school, parents name, etc
- Children often share their passwords. Know your child's passwords and discuss that passwords are "secret" words and should not be shared with friends.
- Children sometimes leave themselves signed in at friend's house on someone else's mobile device or computer. We suggest that you remind them to always be sure to log out.
- If your child receives an unwanted friend invitation be sure to ignore the request and also block this person from contacting again.
Please read the flyer attached below for further advice.
Safeguarding - Childline
Childline is here to help anyone under 19 in the UK with any issue they’re going through.
Children can talk about anything. Whether it’s something big or small, our trained counsellors are there to support. Childline is free, confidential and available any time, day or night. Children can talk to them:
- by calling 0800 1111
- by email
- through 1-2-1 counsellor chat
We would like to thank you for your continued support the past few weeks, we really appreciate this. Can we ask that all parents continue to do the following:
- arrive and leave at the correct time and gate
- arrive and leave their designated area promptly
- only one adult drops off and collects
- wear a face mask
- socially distance and keep your child(ren) by your side when waiting to enter and exit
- remember all of your child’s belongings daily, we are still limiting items in and out of school
We are still following the current Government guidance and want to keep everybody
safe and well, as we are sure that you do too!
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Miller and Miss Stanton
Forthcoming Dates
- Friday 21st May – TTRockstar dress up day for those eligible – see your child’s planner nearer the time.
- Thursday 27th May school closes to pupils for half term
- Friday 28th May – INSET day – school closed to pupils
- Monday 31st May – Friday 4th June – half term
- Monday 7th June – School reopens to all pupils
- July (Date TBC) – Sports Day – closed to parents – in house only.
- Tuesday 20th July – School closes for the summer holidays
- Wednesday 21st July – Staff Inset day- school closed to pupils
