Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter Headteacher: Mr Paul Lavis Deputy Headteacher (on secondment): Mrs Lauren Houlston
November 2011 Volume 4, Issue 15
Contents:
Dear Parents
Uniform
2
School Nurse Drop-in
2
Poppy Appeal
2
Shoe Box Appeal
2
National Heroes day
3
Children in Need
3
When I talk about behaviour I'm really looking at two distinct types: one that is the traditional "being good" type of behaviour and the other which is "learning behaviour".
Talent show
3
Learning Behaviour
Governing Body
4
Diary Dates
4
Celebration Assembly Dates 4th November ~ Yr 2
Dear Parents I hope you enjoyed your time over half-term. The weather wasn't up to much was it? I guess we've been spoiled over the past few months so we shouldn't grumble too much. This month I'd like to talk to you about behaviour - in all aspects of schooling - and hopefully in turn, gain some ideas about how you deal with behavioural issues away from school.
This is all about our children and how they conduct themselves whilst learning. Listening skills, discussion skills, concentration, application and commitment all come into play here. More recently, when I've been observing the teaching and learning that goes on around the school I have been most interested in this aspect of the classroom. Generally, our children have very good learning behaviour which is crucial for making good progress. Those children who struggle to make the progress we would expect them to make, will in general, have to work hard at their learning behaviour. Of course, some children can experience some difficulties in maintaining learning behaviour through no fault of their own. If this is the case then it is likely that your child will have an individual education plan which should include ways of addressing these difficulties.
Remembrance
Low-level disruption (a phrase you hear a lot in the media with regard to schools) can affect learning behaviour but falls into the category below. This is where a child makes choices to disregard learning altogether and chooses to engage in poor behaviour.
18th November ~ Yr 1
Good Behaviour
11th November ~
25th November ~ Yr R
2nd December ~ Yr 6
9th December
~ Yr 5
This is the type of behaviour I'd like to discuss in more detail. This is the sort of behaviour we observe in the playground, around the school building and in the immediate school community. I must be clear that the vast majority (95%) of our children behave well at school. However, I'd like to improve on this. Good behaviour is about choices. Arguments, inappropriate play, bad language, disobedience and not following school rules are all choices of one kind or another. Of course, children are children! They need to make mistakes and learn from them and at Blandford St Mary Primary all of our
children have the opportunity to do this. However, more recently there are a very small minority who are not choosing to learn from mistakes and are choosing to push the boundaries set out for them. Our school has a Good Behaviour Policy (which is available on the school website) and this shows very clearly with how school deals with poor behaviour choices. All parents should be aware of the consequences set out in this document. The policy works best when we work in partnership with families. I can't tell you how heartening it is to hear a parent explain to a child how they will be backing up the school's stance with regard to consequences. Of course, this is not the only way parents can support school. It is always better to employ preventative measures first. Your children will have a much better chance of being successful at school if they know what's expected of them and that this is backed up at home. In a recent assembly I reminded the children of the following: * all members of the school staff are to be treated with respect * rough play is unacceptable - we need to be safe in school * bad language is never allowed anywhere in or near school * we must move safely and with consideration around the school * aggressive, physical reaction to anything is never acceptable - this is always an emotive subject but we cannot condone aggression of this kind. * name calling is never acceptable. * disrupting learning in the classroom is never acceptable and deeply unfair. I can only re-iterate that the vast majority of our children behave well at school. However—I won’t rest until all of the children behave in a way that allows them to fulfil their full-potential. Please share my thoughts with your children and help us to ensure they make the progress they deserve. If you have time, I would be fascinated to hear of how you encourage your children or deal with poor behaviour away from school. Please contact us via the “Contact Us” pencil on the school website with your thoughts.
Page 2
Volume 4, Issue 15
Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter
Notice Board Uniform
Policies & Procedures
We are getting more and more cases of uniform going missing or being misplaced. Can we please ask that you check that all of your child’s uniform has a name clearly written in or attached to it. Please can you also make sure, that if your child comes home with an item that is not theirs, it is handed in to the office where we will try to return it to its rightful owner. We would really appreciate every ones help with this.
We would just like to remind you that all of the policies and procedures that we abide by as a school, can be found on the schools website. This includes policies such as safeguarding, e safety etc which are reviewed on a yearly basis and updated accordingly. We also have a worry button on the website which can be activated confidentially by pupils or parents if there is something of concern they have seen on the internet or anywhere else.
Poppy Appeal
Drop--In School Nurse Drop
We are selling poppies on behalf of the Royal British Legion. Members of the school council will be visiting classes over the coming week, offering the children the opportunity to purchase one. The suggested donation is anything between 20p and £1.
The next School Nurse drop in is on Friday 2nd December at 8.50am. Please let the office or one of the class teachers know if you would like to make an appointment to see Sarah. You can also just pop in on the day.
Operation Christmas Child Our School Council have voted unanimously to support Samaritan’s Purse who run the Operation Christmas Child Campaign. This very worthy charity organises the distribution of shoe boxes filled with small items which are sent to needy children all over the world for Christmas. Due to the success of the scheme and the growing numbers of boxes to be sent abroad, we have been asked to have our boxes ready by Wednesday 16th November to enable them to be collected and distributed. If you would like to contribute, but not do not wish to do a whole shoe box, then please make any donation you wish, as each class will be doing their own boxes. The completed boxes can be brought to the school office. Thank you very much for your support.
Volume 4, Issue 15
Blandford St Mary Primary School Newsletter
Page 3
National Heroes Day A big thank you to everyone for taking part in National Heroes day. We saw some fantastic costumes and were really impressed with the way the children got into the spirit of the event. We raised an impressive: £154.10 We must also say a big thank you to Mrs Houlston’s husband, who is a pilot in the Navy and got permission to fly his helicopter over the school in the afternoon in celebration of the day. Everyone was very excited, but no one was quite as excited as Mr Lavis!!
Children In Need We have decided to raise money in aid of the BBC Children in Need appeal. We will be asking the children to come to school in non uniform on Friday 18th November for a suggested donation of £1. The children are invited to wear either fancy dress or their own casual clothes. Donations will be collected in the classrooms. Thank you
Talent Show We will be having a talent show on 24th November from 6.30pm-7.30pm. Auditions have been taking place this week. Two of the acts from key stage 2 will be chosen to take part in a Blandford Schools Network talent show on 16th January.
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
Website : www.blandfordstmary.dorset.sch.uk
Governing Body update Chair & Vice Chair elections
Parent Governor elections
At the end of the last school year we bade a fond farewell to Mike Brown, who had been a member of the governing body at Blandford St Mary for over 7 years. Mike was a familiar face around school and supported the school in a very hands on fashion. We hope that Mike will continue to visit us from time to time as he had quite literally become part of the family.
As you will know, we recently invited parents and carers’ to stand for election as parent governor to our governing body, The voting took place over the school summer holidays and I am pleased to announce that the new governor is:-
Mrs. Jayne Green
At the start of this school year the Governing body were asked to consider who would like to stand as chairperson and on the first meeting which was held on the 7th September, Mr Mark Phipps put him self forward for this role and was voted in unanimously. Mrs Paula Grant was nominated as vice chair.
A big thank you to the candidates who put themselves forward and thank you to all of those who voted..
School Diary Dates: Tuesday 1st - Tuesday 15th November Thursday 10th & Friday 11th November Saturday 19th November Thursday 24th November Friday 2nd December Sunday 4th December Wednesday 14th December Friday 16th December
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Samaritans Purse Shoe Box Appeal Life Education van at school Ashley Wood Studios Family portraits (FOS) Talent Show Christmas Tree Festival Christingle Lantern Parade Children break up from school for Christmas