Newsletter November 2021

 

Dear Parents/Carers

The autumn term has been a busy one! I am so pleased that a number of year groups have been on school trips and that after school clubs are back up and running. It has been fantastic to have had so many parents attending class assemblies and celebration assembly on a Friday.

This week we have been lucky enough to have been able to try wheelchair basketball. Year 5 and 6 children had the opportunity to try out the wheelchairs although I am not sure that they had as much fun as the staff! 

 

I am pleased to announce that we have 3 new Governors that have joined the school. Atisha Tailor is our new parent governor. Shabir Ibrahim and Rachel Draper have joined as co-opted governors. Raj Gill-Harrison is continuing as the Chair of Governors. They are all extremely keen to help the school continue on its improvement journey.

Children and staff are continuing to work on the school areas of improvement. Writing has been a focus with the ‘recipe’ approach which I   know  Mr King wrote to parents about earlier on in the term. At the end of each writing unit, a child is chosen as star writer and this is proudly displayed outside the classroom for all to read. The school are also continuing to develop the wider curriculum and the use of knowledge organisers.

Mrs Dulieu

 

DIARY DATES—December

Monday 6th —Chestnut, Rowan and Hawthorn visit to Holy Apostles Church for the Christmas Tree Festival

Tuesday 7th—Year 4 Carol Concert at Holy Apostles Church @ 6pm

Tuesday 7th—Year 1 and 2 Christmas Concert @ 10am (1CA) and 2pm (1MG)

Wednesday 8th  Christmas Dinner

Wednesday 8th—FS1 (Chestnut) Nativity @ 10am and 2pm

Thursday 9th—FS2 Nativity @10am (Hawthorn) and 2pm (Rowan)

Thursday 9th—Patch Christmas Fair 3-5pm

Friday 10th—Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 10th—Year 1 and 2 Christmas Concert @ 10am (2RM) and 2pm (2RF)

Tuesday 14th—Curve theatre trip for FS2 and KS1

Wednesday 15th—Christmas Party day (all year groups)

Thursday 16th KS2 Pantomime trip—Sleeping Beauty

Friday 17th— Last day of term

Year 3, 5 and 6 will be recording a virtual Christmas message for families and this will be sent out in the last week of term.

SCHOOL REOPENS TO CHILDREN ON WEDNESDAY 5TH JANUARY 2022

 

 

Dear Parents/Carers

The autumn term has been a busy one! I am so pleased that a number of year groups have been on school trips and that after school clubs are back up and running. It has been fantastic to have had so many parents attending class assemblies and celebration assembly on a Friday.

This week we have been lucky enough to have been able to try wheelchair basketball. Year 5 and 6 children had the opportunity to try out the wheelchairs although I am not sure that they had as much fun as the staff! (see photo )

I am pleased to announce that we have 3 new Governors that have joined the school. Atisha Tailor is our new parent governor. Shabir Ibrahim and Rachel Draper have joined as co-opted governors. Raj Gill-Harrison is continuing as the Chair of Governors. They are all extremely keen to help the school continue on its improvement journey.

Children and staff are continuing to work on the school areas of improvement. Writing has been a focus with the ‘recipe’ approach which I   know  Mr King wrote to parents about earlier on in the term. At the end of each writing unit, a child is chosen as star writer and this is proudly displayed outside the classroom for all to read. The school are also continuing to develop the wider curriculum and the use of knowledge organisers.

Mrs Dulieu

DIARY DATES—December

Monday 6th —Chestnut, Rowan and Hawthorn visit to Holy Apostles Church for the Christmas Tree Festival

Tuesday 7th—Year 4 Carol Concert at Holy Apostles Church @ 6pm

Tuesday 7th—Year 1 and 2 Christmas Concert @ 10am (1CA) and 2pm (1MG)

Wednesday 8th  Christmas Dinner

Wednesday 8th—FS1 (Chestnut) Nativity @ 10am and 2pm

Thursday 9th—FS2 Nativity @10am (Hawthorn) and 2pm (Rowan)

Thursday 9th—Patch Christmas Fair 3-5pm

Friday 10th—Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 10th—Year 1 and 2 Christmas Concert @ 10am (2RM) and 2pm (2RF)

Tuesday 14th—Curve theatre trip for FS2 and KS1

Wednesday 15th—Christmas Party day (all year groups)

Thursday 16th KS2 Pantomime trip—Sleeping Beauty

Friday 17th— Last day of term

Year 3, 5 and 6 will be recording a virtual Christmas message for families and this will be sent out in the last week of term.

SCHOOL REOPENS TO CHILDREN ON WEDNESDAY 5TH JANUARY 2022

 

Children in Need Fundraising

Our fundraising activities in school raised £198.45  (so far)  for Children in Need! Children in need will use this money to help fund a variety of charitable causes working tirelessly everyday throughout the country to make the lives of struggling families easier. Thank you to everyone who helped with this fundraising!

 

COVID

So far this term we have been incredibly lucky having low levels of Coronavirus cases. Although, this week we have begun to see a rise in cases. Please continue to be vigilant and follow the Coronavirus guidelines on the school website. 

 

Attendance and Punctuality

Recently there have been a number of children that are arriving late for school. Please ensure that children arrive to school on time. Gates open at 8.40am and close at 8.50am.

The Education Welfare Officer for the school visits every 2 weeks and monitors any child’s attendance that falls below 95%. When children’s attendance falls below this level the school have a duty to inform parents and will write to parents to inform them of their child’s attendance level. The school are here to support you. If you are having any difficulty in getting your child to school, please talk to us as we may be able to help.

 

Safeguarding

At St Mary’s Fields, we know that it is of the utmost importance to have robust systems for protecting children and safeguarding their welfare. If you have a concern, please speak to Mrs Dulieu, Mrs Nott, Miss Haycock or Parmjit Hulait (Family Support Worker) the Designated Leads for Safeguarding. We will treat your concerns seriously in line with our safeguarding policies and procedures.

NSPCC 0808 800 500

Child Line 0800 1111

Social Services 0116 4541004

PROTECTING CHILDREN IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

St Mary’s Fields is part of a Leicestershire domestic violence and abuse initiative called Operation Encompass. During the term our Designated Safeguarding Lead will be informed when any domestic abuse incident has been reported to the police and one of our pupils is in the household. This information will be held confidentially by the school and used only to help us support your child.

If you would like to speak to someone in confidence about domestic abuse or sexual violence, call the United Against Violence and Abuse (UAVA) helpline on 08008020028

School Trips

So far this year,  Year 3 have visited Poole’s Cavern and Everard's Meadow, Year 5 had a brilliant trip to the National Space Centre, Year 1 have visited a temple and Year 2 went to the Bosworth Battlefield.  

 

 

 

 

 

Due to a heating failure and delay in attendance of an engineer we have sadly had to close classes in Years 3, 4, 5, and 6 are closed today. We expect that the heating will be working for Monday. All other classes are open

Read this online

 

What is Squid Game?

Netflix’s Squid Game is set to become the streaming service’s most successful show of all time, with huge numbers of viewers taking to social media to discuss each new episode. The South Korean thriller features some scenes of fairly brutal violence and is rated 15 by the BBFC. It follows a group of adults who compete to win innocent-looking playground games, but who are killed if they do not succeed at the tasks.

An unexpected success in terms of viewing figures, Squid Game’s popularity is beginning to spread across various online platforms. There has been a slew of content created – ranging from memes to apps – that convey the violence of the show, so it is important for parents, carers and educators to understand the basis of Squid Game and the potential risks to young people who might be exposed to it.

 

What are the hazards for children?

Squid Game’s 15 rating has not prevented clips and images from the show being uploaded onto social media sites such as TikTok, with the #SquidGame hashtag being viewed more than 22.8 billion times. There have been reports of children who have accounts on these platforms inadvertently viewing gory, explicit scenes from the programme, and parents and carers should be mindful of the prevalence of these uploads. 

The popularity of the programme has also led to online challenges based on various scenes, which see people taking part in seemingly innocent children’s games. On the show, however, characters are executed if they fail in the game – and videos of people pretending to kill each other after competing in Squid Game-style contests are going viral on social media, where they are easily accessible to children.

 

What is the Squid Game Challenge app?

Squid Game Challenge (also known as K-Game Challenge) is an app for smartphones and tablets that has been released for Android and iOs, and the two systems differ significantly on their age ratings for the game. The iTunes Store rates the app as 12+ (advising of “mild/infrequent horror/fear themes”), while the PEGI rating for Android is just 3+, which means that very young children might be able to download and play the game even with parental controls activated on their device or through Google Play.

The gameplay is frequently interrupted by pop-ups and ads (sometimes appearing while the user is rapidly tapping their screen while attempting to complete the challenge). This could easily lead to unwanted purchases or accidental visits to inappropriate sites beyond the app.

 

What can trusted adults do?

As a parent or carer, keep a watchful eye on the content that your children are viewing. Speak to them openly and chat about how they have been spending time on their devices; let them ask questions, too. Ensure that the parental controls are activated on your child’s device and that age-restricted child profiles are properly set up any on-demand services available through the family TV (such as Netflix, in this case) to prevent inappropriate content being streamed.

If you see your child replicating the challenges from the show or hear them talking about scenes and characters from Squid Game, it would be a timely opportunity to discuss with them that the programme is not intended for children, that much of the content would be inappropriate for their age, and that the violence in the series is very realistic and often upsetting.