Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter Headteacher: Mr Paul Lavis Deputy Headteacher: Mrs Sam Harris
25th January 2010 Volume 2
Issue 6
Contents:
Our children
2
Surveys
2
Football report
3
School Nurse drop 3 -in Pots and pans
3
Blue Light Day
3
Haiti Appeal
3
Diary Dates
4
Upcoming Events
Friday 5th February ~ School Disco
Monday 15th– Friday 19th February ~ Half term
Dear Parents I’m writing this letter on a Sunday afternoon. The football has finished for the weekend ~ with mixed results for the Lavis family. As my children create mayhem in the living room, thoughts are now returning to work and the next week at school. Football aside ~ I have spent a lot of the weekend reflecting on the news story concerning the two children in South Yorkshire who endured a horrific attack by two similarly aged children last year. The two perpetrators have of course been detained indefinitely and thankfully the two victims have made recoveries. Throughout my time, following the story on the TV, internet and in the newspapers several thoughts kept coming to mind. ‘Where were the services?, and ‘Where were their parents?’ How did those two boys become so violent? How could their behaviour become so dangerous and thoughtless? Why hadn’t somebody intervened? Why hadn’t something been done? Of course, when you dig deeper, there appear to be explanations and excuses. There are also apologies made and an acceptance that ‘more could have been
done’ to prevent what happened. As a parent it just doesn’t seem good enough. Of course, when Sunday rolls on to teatime, I begin to think as the Headteacher again and ask questions of our own school and our systems. Do we do enough? The balance between academic and social education and citizenship is a difficult one. I feel we generally get his right at Blandford St Mary Primary but I’m not blinkered enough to say we can’t improve ~ as I say to the children. ‘All we can do is try our best, learn and improve’. (At the bottom of this letter you will see you have the opportunity to give some feedback on this). What this weekend’s reflections have reinforced for me however is that we have a responsibility to our children as a community. School and the local authority have their responsibilities. Parents and their families have their responsibilities. Together we can make quite a force! Our recent workshop evening on Rights and Responsibilities showed very clearly the commitment the school and its
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Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter
community have to producing children who understand their role in today’s and tomorrow’s world and I think this is something to build on. Right now, from this moment on. I have had several meetings recently with representatives from several local service providers all concerned with supporting families and schools in providing for our children. We all need to be making better use of what they have to offer. We all need to be making better use of each other too. I think times have changed (not necessarily for the better) from when I was growing up. Families are not always as close, geographically as they were and that on-hand advice and guidance isn’t always available. Maybe our community can help fill that gap. Our community can perhaps ensure that none of our children fall between the gaps in the system like the boys in South Yorkshire. On Friday mornings from this week onwards, F2 (the old ICT suite) will be open for tea and coffee from the beginning of assembly until 11 o’clock. Sometimes, I will invite visiting professionals who will be on hand to discuss all sorts of issues, ranging from parenting questions and advice on further education, from medical queries to nutritional advice. Sometimes, there will be the simple offer of tea and a chat with other carers who want to talk and share ideas. It is open to everyone who is involved in caring for our children. If you bring your young children to school or attend assembly with them ( and maybe they make what you consider to be a fuss during assembly!) you can take them to F2 with you—take the opportunity to meet other people and share some experiences. As time goes by ~ it would be fantastic if this venture could be driven by yourselves. Any burning parenting issues could be approached.
Volume 2
Issue 6
Although I have met lots of parents who work hard for their children, love and protect them as best they can—I’ve yet to meet a perfect one. I am certainly not a perfect parent (just ask my children) and we are not a perfect community. However, we can aspire to be and if we all could share our collective expertise and good ideas then when we ask the questions ‘Where were the authorities? Where were their parents? We will be able to answer: ‘ Working together to help our children be the best that they can be’ Best wishes
Surveys From time-to-time we ask parents and children to answer some questions about their experiences of school and give suggestions about how we may improve what we provide at Blandford St Mary Primary. If you venture onto our school website and then access your child’s class blog, you will find a link (in the top left or right hand corner) that will take you to the survey. The only information collected is the information you give an is anonymous. Feel free to be as positive as you like and of course let us know where you feel we can improve. If you or your child has a disability or your child is considered to have special educational needs (and therefore has an IEP) then please take the time to complete a survey which is on the SEN blog.
Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter Volume 2
Issue 6
School Football Team ABW Primary 0 BSM Primary 11 On the 21st January our school football team played against Archbishop Wake primary school. It was a great football match! Our man of the match was Jack Hargraves. He played brilliantly, he scored goals but he defended goals too. He also crossed it in the penalty box well. Ben Oxtoby also played well and he scored a goal as well. Jamie and Billy scored goals. Jamie scored, then Billy scored, then Jamie, then Billy then Jamie and then finally Billy! This was with no goals scored between them. Jamie Russell worked his socks of fighting to win every tackle. In the end the final score was 11-0 to us. By Jamie and Sammy Lyth
Blue Light Day
Pots and pans
Poster Competition 2010 Dorset Police are holding a poster competition to: Design a poster for ‘Dorset Police and the Blue Light Day’ to be held on Saturday 24th July 2010 at Gillingham Police Station 10.00am-3.00pm. The winner will announced on March 15th 2010. Prize– A Day Trip to the Air Support Unit– A guided tour of the police helicopter and the helicopter department.
If you have any old/unwanted saucepans, plastic or metal mixing bowls and jugs, we would be very grateful to receive these in school as we would like to use them for our science experiments. Thank you.
All entries to be with the school office by Monday 1st March 2010.
Haiti Appeal School Nurse Drop In Our next visit from the school nurse will be on Tuesday 9th March as from 8.45am, do pop along if you have any queries or concerns .
Thank you so much for your generosity last week with regard to the Haiti appeal. You will be stunned to learn that we covered the map of Haiti with over £200!
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Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter Blandford St Mary Primary School Birch Avenue Blandford St Mary, Dorset DT11 9QD
Phone: 01258-453331 Fax: 01258-455865
Diary Dates:
Diary Dates
Monday 15th –Friday 19th February Tuesday 9th March Thursday 1st April Monday 19th April Tuesday 20th April
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Half-Term School Nurse drop-in End of Spring Term Staff Training Day Children back to school.
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HAND IN THIS SLIP TO HAVE A CHANCE OF WINNING A PRIZE! FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
Child’s Name……………………………………………………….
Base Name…………………………………Year Group…………………..
Please remember to complete the online survey—if you went to use a computer in school then you are more than welcome.