Newsletter Issue 10
Ferncumbe Friday
Friday 11th February 2022
Book sharing
We are looking to invite parents back into school safely so that you are able to experience first-hand the variety of exciting learning taking place daily at Ferncumbe. This is something we are all very much looking forward to. We understand how important it is for you to share in your child’s learning and progress by looking at their books, so we will be inviting you to come and look at your child’s work with them on afternoons at 2.45pm after half-term. Do wrap up warm as, depending on numbers, this is likely to take place outside in the gazebo. Dates for each class are below - the playground gate will be opened on each of the days at 2.45pm. We look forward to seeing you.
Friday 4th February - Wroxall Class (Year 5)
Monday 28th February - Honiley Class (Year 2)
Tuesday 1st March - Haseley Class (Year 1)
Wednesday 2nd March - Rowington Class (Year 3)
Friday 4th March - Lowsonford Class (Year 6)
Monday 7th March - Shrewley Class (Year 4)
Tuesday 8th March - Hatton Class (Reception)
Children's Mental Health Week (7-13 February 2022)
A child's mental health is equally important as their physical health. At Ferncumbe, we value the 'whole child'. We prioritise and invest in learning and activities that promote a child's sense of wellbeing. This is evident in our Enrichment provision, Forest School, after school clubs and the caring, nurturing relationship between adults, pupils, and their families.
There is a bounty of resources available online to promote good mental health in children. You may wish to engage with some of the suggested activities as a family. https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
Sometimes families need support with a specific issue affecting their child's mental health. The Entrust care partnership offer several free training courses that have been endorsed by some of our parents.
As always, do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns about your child or if you would like to recommend any resources that may benefit our school community.
E-Safety Week
Across the school this week, we have been delving into our understanding on the subject of ‘Online Relationships’ during National E-Safety Week. Unfortunately, we started our week with two days of no internet, which made this endeavour a tricky feat, however, we have persevered and managed to get some really important lessons in. Have a look below to see what key messages each class has learnt this week…
Hatton class
This week in Hatton class, the children met Smartie the Penguin who has given the children lots of advice and tips on how to stay safe when using the internet. We talked about how we use the internet at home and the things we enjoy. We loved the story of Smartie the Penguin!
Haseley class
In Year 1, we have been learning about getting permission online. We explored what we needed to ask permission for, to do things like order pizza or watch YouTube. We also looked at why we needed to ask permission and figured out that most of the time, we did it to make sure we stayed safe. In our last lesson, we made Miss Forbes a promise that if when we are online, something happens that makes us worried or sad, we WILL tell our grown-ups straight away!
Honiley Class
In Year 2, we have become experts on how to keep ourselves safe when we are using the internet! We have had lots of great discussions about what type of information is private and how it is important that we do not share it online. We have also discussed who we can trust to help us if we see something online that makes us sad.
Rowington class
In light of E-Safety Week we have been focusing on respectful relationships and how we conduct ourselves online. We have created our own recipes for what a respectful online relationship must include and we considered other people's feelings and the impact of the things we say online. Keep an eye on our Twitter page to see some pictures of what we got up to.
Shrewley class
Year 4 have been looking at online relationships this week. We started by thinking about how knowing someone online is different to knowing someone in-person offline. We discussed how there is a difference in how much you trust and share with someone you only know online.
We then looked at different scenarios to identify respectful and disrespectful behaviour online. Our class definition for respect included valuing people's privacy and treating others how we would like to be treated.
We finished the week by completing our own online respect charter, including how we will show self-respect and respect towards others online.
We will be keeping a special look out for these respectful behaviours online and offline in Year 4!
Lowsonford class
This week, on E-safety day, we thought about all the different things we can do on a device. We then focussed on what we can message and send. We thought about the positive and negative impact of the images and messages we could send. This really helped us think about what we might send and the affect it could have. We thought about how far a ‘screen shot’ could travel and how quickly. It helped us understand the importance of thinking carefully before we send a message. We are designing E-safety posters – look out on Twitter for our finished posters next week!
yoga
Wroxall Class worked together so well yesterday during their yoga enrichment session. Impressive trust, patience, teamwork and communication on display as they challenged themselves to show poses in pairs, groups and finally as a team… fantastic!
Want to learn to play steel pans?
Warwickshire Music Hub offers steel pan tuition for Key Stage 2 pupils (Years 3-6). It is taught by Miss Forbes and Mr Siddiqui and we are looking for new players to join our lessons. The sessions, held at the Workshop at Coten End Primary School, run from 3.30-4.30pm (getting there anytime between 3.30 and 3.45 is fine, especially with the distance from Ferncumbe to Coten End!) You can find information to join on https://www.warwickshiremusichub.org/warwickshire-music-activities by scrolling down to the Central Warwickshire Area Music Centre – Training and Intermediate level Groups and clicking on Pandemonium (Steel Pan Group). At the moment, tuition is free and will remain free for the rest of the academic year. If you have any questions, please let Miss Forbes know (either on the playground at pick-up or by emailing via the office).
With very best wishes for a lovely weekend, and for a happy and healthy half-term to follow at the end of next week.
Tracey Webb, Head of School