Dear parents and carers,
We hope you’ve had a good week and escaped any of the storm damage and disruption which particularly seems to have affected South Devon.
Speak Out. Stay Safe was the message in our assembly on Monday. We delivered the NSPCC assembly which, very carefully and aged appropriately, taught children about how they can keep themselves safe and what unsafe might look like. We discussed who trusted adults might be, both at school or outside of school, and how important it is that they talk to one if they feel scared or worried about something. The children listened and participated really well and had a lot of really excellent suggestions.
Yesterday we had some visitors in school to look at the learning taking place. Mr Polak (Director of Education), Ms Leggott (Head of School, Brayford Academy) and Mrs Wignall (TEAM Trustee) joined us for the morning. We looked at the learning taking place in writing and art. We visited lessons in every year group, talked to subject leaders and scrutinised books. It was clear to see how hard the staff and children are working and the progress being made.
The visitors really enjoyed hearing about and seeing the outcomes from arts week. It was lovely to hear that the children have been wanting to carry on the art skills they learnt independently, both at home and at school.
Following last week’s newsletter about the impact of screens and technology on our children, the poster below caught our eye. We know how hard it can be to get children off screens and the poster explains why and gives some useful tips on how to do this.
The week commencing 9th February is official Children’s Mental Health week, although we will be marking this next week as we also have Safer Internet Day on 10th February, which we want to give a lot of attention to.
Finally, we know there are lots of nasty bugs and illnesses around at present – sickness, colds and chickenpox. We’re encouraging lots of handwashing at school. Please do the same at home. We hope everyone is feeling better soon.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
John Mortimer
Head of School
