Dear Parents and Carers,

We have made it to the half term break! There has been so much amazing learning over the past seven weeks.

The focus of the Monday’s Worship was all about the importance of play. When we play, we are leaning how to get along with each other, understand body language, use teamwork, cooperate and communicate with each other. We also linked the importance of play to our well-being. After thinking about the meaning of the story ‘Can I Play Too?’feedback from our recent Community Circles which focussed on the question ‘What do the best playtimes look like?’ was shared. In their House Communities, there were some common thoughts. The best playtimes are when:

• Everyone is happy

• We let others join in

• We play active games

• We play make believe games

• We play with children in other year groups

• We use our THINK values

  The children have said playtimes could be even better if

• We get some different equipment to play with

• The school grown-ups set up games to play

• There are some quiet areas we can go to

  These ideas have been heard by the school and we will keep you up to date with how they are responded to.

  Before leaving the hall, we thought about who should benefit from play. Zechariah (an Old Testament prophet) said, ‘There are many childish things we must put aside when we grow, but playing should not be one of them.’ (Zechariah 8:5).

  THANK YOU

  We received lots of positive feedback during and after the two Open Mornings we held last week. A big thank you must be given to the team of Year volunteers who gave up their Saturday mornings to act a brilliant ambassadors leading the tours and sharing why our school is such a special place. Thank you to Maddie, Betsie, Jessica, Tighe, Lilli, Jake, Hope, Lucas, Edgar, Zack, Freddy, Ruby, Elissa, Brooke, Bethany, Rosie and Imogen.

  CONGRATULATIONS

  Well done to everyone who is in St. David’s House for gaining the most points through earning merits each week. They have already chosen to spend their reward time with some sports time once we come back after the half term break.

  AUTUMN TERM 2 LEARNING HOOKS

  Attached are the hooks which will launch the learning at the beginning of the second half of the Autumn Term. There are lots of exciting learning opportunities planned, not just for the first day back, but throughout the next few weeks.

  MILD ILLNESSES AND ATTENDANCE

  The change in season does bring along a few more bugs and illnesses. Please use this link

  which provided information from the NHS about whether or not to keep children at home when the are unwell.

  OCTOBER HALF TERM FOOD OFFERS

  There are a number of outlets which are are offering free meals for children over the half term break. Others are offering meals for £1. Attached is a list.

  YEAR 6 BIKEABILITY AND KEEPING SAFE

  Here is a date for the Year 6 families. The Bikeability training – where our Year 6 children are taught how to ride their bikes safely on the roads – will be held during the week beginning Monday 29th January 2024. Further details regarding this will be sent out over the next few weeks.

  With road safety in mind, a number of concerns from our neighbours and parents about the safety of some of our children as they make their way to and from school have been brought to our attention recently. The concerns are around how children are riding their bikes and scooters. If you allow your child to travel to and from school by these means, please can you make sure they know how they need to keep themselves safe. Although it isn’t compulsory, we would recommend the children wear helmets and have some high visibility and reflective clothing – especially as the mornings and evenings are now getting darker.

  SECONDARY SCHOOL APPLICATIONS

  A reminder to Year 6 families the deadline for the applications to secondary school process is Tuesday 31st October.

  PEVENSEY CLASS

  Mrs Railton will continue to teach the children in Pevensey Class for the forthcoming half term.

  BOTTLES FOR REMEMBRANCE

  We are going to create our own ‘field of poppies’ as a way of marking Remembrance Day at school. Please could your child bring in a clean empty plastic bottle (e.g. lemonade, squash, etc) during the first week. We will then make our poppies on the Friday.

  DATES

  Don’t forget that there is an INSET Day on Monday 30th October. We look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday 31st October ready for another half term of amazing learning including Outdoor Learning Day on Thursday 2nd November. The children will need to come to school in clothes suitable for being outside for a lot of the day.

  May I wish you a happy and safe half term break. Perhaps it will be times of play for everyone…!

  Take care

  Kim Huggett