& Competition at's in this issue?

4. News & Views

7. Baby News

8. What's On

10. Cam Cycle Feature

11. Ask Your Child's School the Difficult Questions

13. School Spotlights

14. Clubs & Classes

EDITOR: Lisa Exell 01945 861336, editor@familiescambridgeshire.co.uk

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Amanda Dawson, admin@familiescambridgeshire.co.uk

SOCIAL MEDIA: Amanda Dawson, admin@familiescambridgeshire.co.uk

DESIGN: Caroline Thompson-Heap, info@cheekymonkeydesigns.net

Families Cambridgeshire is part of Families Print Ltd, a franchise company. All franchised magazines in the group are independently owned and operated under licence. Families is a registered trademark of LCMB Ltd, Remenham House, Regatta Place, Marlow Road, Bourne End, Bucks SL8 5TD. The contents of Families Cambridgeshire are fully protected by copyright and none of the editorial or photographic matter may be reproduced in any form without prior consent of Families Cambridgeshire. Every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, but Families Cambridgeshire its distributors, the franchise company, Families Print Ltd, and LCMB Ltd cannot be held responsible for the claims of advertisers nor for the accuracy of the contents, or any consequence thereof.

Coding Is The New Literacy

Coding has been called "the literacy of the 21st century” for good reason. Just like maths, science, and literature, coding is a key aspect of understanding our technologically-advanced world.

There’s a huge need for a generation that not only understands technology, but how it works.

Code Ninjas® is the world’s largest and fastest-growing kids coding franchise, with hundreds of locations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

At the centres, children learn to code while building their own video games. They gain problem solving, critical thinking, and STEM skills in a fun, safe, and inspiring environment.

Elan who runs the Cambridge Code Ninjas says, “Our experienced and passionate tutors guide children through the programme's nine stages and the children can progress in their own time, beginning with the basics of computer programming before moving onto the fundamentals and finally making their own games. Plus we offer smaller class sizes with 1 tutor for every 5 children and a flexible scheduler that allow Parents to book our sessions online anytime during our opening hours and keep track of children’s progress”.

Screen-Free Entertainment

Screen-free entertainment that doesn’t need to connect to any other device for playback is every parents dream. Award winning StoryPhones does just that! They are able to store and play audio content at any time, and come with a library full of carefully curated content, suitable for children aged 3 and up, that entertains and educates with audio stories, music and more. This carefully selected content allows parents to relax, knowing it’s not necessary to monitor what children are listening to. You can even record personalised stories or a bedtime lullaby in a loved one’s voice and stay connected with loved ones far away. An entertaining way to boost creativity and decrease screen time and great for long car journeys too.

The StoryPhones are available from StoryPhones.com, Amazon UK and Harvey Norman (Ireland) with the StoryPhones

Disney bundle with a Minnie or Mickey Mouse disc at an RRP of £84.99 in pink and blue and the StoryPhones bundle with two StoryShields [Travel and Relax/Creative] in grey or snow white for an RRP of £84.99.

To book a free taster session follow www.codeninjas.co.uk/ cambridge-cam-uk/schedule-tour or email cambridgecamuk@ codeninjas.com or call 07918 296644 for any questions.

Quick and useful food for your freezer: Food you love, in way less time

Stocked Food is everything you want from a food subscription box, quick, easy, tasty and nutritious food. Childhood friends, Sam Moss and Charlie Gilpin together create nutritious, chefcooked, award-winning meals, frozen into space saving, personally portioned blocks.. Make the meals you love in less than five minutes, great for busy parents, new parents or even parents that want to send their son or daughter off to university with healthy, quick and easy food while away from home.

Sam and Charlie are on a mission to make the most useful, delicious and nourishing food you can have in your freezer, they freeze an array of delicious meals into handy, easily stored little blocks that take less than five minutes to heat up and transform back into fresh and tasty meals. Each pack of Stocked contains eight blocks, enough to make 2-4 meals; simply heat and eat them as they are or use them as building blocks for an endless variety of meals.

With dishes inspired by cuisines from around the world, choose from Great Taste Award winning Chicken Tinga and Pork Rendang, or opt for specials like Sausage Arrabbiata and Saag Tempeh. Half of Stocked blocks are plant based, choose from Hearty Vegan Ragu, Harissa Jackfruit or specials like Black Dal and Smokey ‘No’rizo’.

Serve simply with rice, baked potato or pasta or use them as fillings for a lunchtime wrap or sandwiches, get creative at dinner with tacos, nachos and curries or add eggs for brunch dishes. Prices start at £42.00 from as little as £1.10 when you pick a six-pack subscription, courier delivery included. www.stockedfood.com

Charlie and Chocolate Factory is most popular book

Roald Dahl has scooped the top three places in a list of the UK’s favourite children's reads from the past eighty years.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, first published in 1964 and illustrated by Quentin Blake, tops the poll of two thousand parents of children ages 1 to 12 commissioned by the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

The BFG (1982) and Matilda (1988), both also illustrated by Blake, followed in second and third place respectively.

The CILIP Carnegie Medal are the UK’s longest running children’s book awards, recognising outstanding reading experiences created through writing and illustration in books for children and young people.

The poll also revealed that the majority of parents read to their kids for an average of two hours per week and over eighty percent prefer print books to e-books.

To view the Top 15 go to: www.thebookseller.com/news

Children who watch violent TV perform less well

Children as young as age 3 who watch violent TV perform less well once at secondary school than their peers, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Montreal say children who are exposed to violence on screen are less engaged and motivated in the classroom and their grades are worse than those who don’t by the time they reach age 12.

Lead study author, Professor Linda Pagani explained: ‘Pre-school children tend to identify with characters on TV and treat everything they see as real.

‘They are especially vulnerable to humorous depictions of glorified heroes and villains who use violence as a justified means to solve problems.

‘Repeated exposure to rapidly paced, adrenaline-inducing action sequences and captivating special effects could reinforce beliefs, attitudes and impressions that habitual violence in social interactions is 'normal.'

More info: www.bit.ly/UniversityMontreal

How NOT to deal with tantrums

Although it is tempting for parents, research that using screens to calm upset children backfires in the long run because they never learn how to regulate their emotions.

The study is based on over four hundred children ages 3 to 5, who were monitored for six months for signs of emotional dysregulation such as temper tantrums, hyperactivity, sudden changes in mood or refusing to listen to their parents.

Those whose parents relied on smartphones and tablets to calm them down were more likely to have frequent emotional meltdowns, particularly if they were boys. Scientists said this was because children could become dependent on screens to distract them from negative emotions and never learn to manage their own feelings or self-soothe. More info: www.bit.ly/ToddlerTantrumResearch

Confidencebuilding fun with Perform

Spring is the perfect time of year to get those feel-good endorphins pumping and Perform's new summer term themes are sure to get bodies moving and hearts singing. What's more, your child can try a class for free!

Perform offers a different type of children’s drama class. They don't focus on creating perfect dancers or the next child stars. Instead, they put children's social development at the heart of their classes, using a specially formulated mix of drama, dance and singing to bring out every child’s true potential. Exciting termly themes keep young imaginations buzzing while small class sizes ensure lots of individual attention from experienced professionally trained actors, dancers and singers. Classes are for children of all abilities and they can join at any point in the term; the only requirement is to be ready to have the best fun of the week!

From April to July, 4-7s will be setting sail on the Jammy Dodger in Mermaids & Pirates whilst 7–12s will take part in The Dream, an hilarious adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Classes run in Cambridgeshire. To book a FREE trial class, visit www.perform.org.uk/try

It’s time for Red Nose Day

This year, Red Nose Day will take place on Friday 17th March and this year, more than ever, it’s important to have fun and raise money to support people in need.

Red Nose Day is a campaign created by Comic Relief to help raise awareness of and put an end to child poverty. The campaign funds programmes, entertainment and raises money to keep children safe, healthy and educated.

In the last six years, Red Nose Day has raised more than £250 million to help end child poverty. Red Nose Day has also positively impacted over twenty five million children around the world.

So why not buy some red noses and help raise money to keep children safe, healthy and educated?

As well as making a donation, you can find tips on creating your own fundraiser or planning a school fundraising event at www.rednoseday.com

Great British Spring Clean is back

Wherever you live, you and your family can make a difference to your local environment by sparing just a few hours to take part in the Great British Spring Clean from 17th March to 2nd April.

Now in its eighth year, the event aims to encourage people across the country, from individual volunteers – dubbed #LitterHeroes by the charity – to families, schools, groups of friends, businesses, community groups and local authorities to come together to clean up streets, parks, beaches and other public spaces.

It’s easy to get involved. Simply pledge to take part and either organise a litter-pick in your community or join an organised event.

To find out more, join a local event, register to take part and access resources including a how-to guide, visit bit.ly/KBTspringclean

Top tips for your toddler’s first playgroup

If you’re planning on attending a playgroup with your toddler for the first time, you may want to consider how to make the experience as enjoyable as possible, particularly if this is the first time your little one has been around a large group of other toddlers.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

Explain about sharing. Some toddlers are able to understand the concept of sharing toys; for others this comes later. It’s a good idea to stay nearby while your child plays with other children to remind them if necessary. Praise them when they do try to share and tell them how proud you are.

Keep an eye on your child. Kids who are feeling anxious or intimidated can sometimes act out: think snatching, hitting and biting. This might arise when one child desperately wants a toy another is playing with, for instance. Take them to a quiet corner and calmly explain that this is not acceptable. This will give them a moment to regain composure.

Look out for inappropriate behaviour. If you spot your child behaving inappropriately, intervene immediately. If they have hit, pushed, snatched or bitten a playmate, turn your attention first to the victim. See if the child is okay and make sure your toddler hears you apologise; they’ll see that you don't like

By Andrew Campbell

how they behaved and will gradually start to understand the concept of empathy. Apologise to the other parent, who will likely understand that you're working on curbing this passing habit in your child.

If another child is aggressive towards your child, come to your child’s aid and help calm the situation. You may want to identify the other child’s parent and explain what happened, in a non-judgemental way, of course.

Encourage playmates. Some children may attach themselves to you and your child and want your child to play with them. Encourage your child by modelling friendly, inclusive behaviour.

For children who are shy or nervous in social situations, let them stay attached to your side for as long as they need! Children need to adjust and develop confidence at their own pace. Some will want to hang back for a while to observe, before actively participating.

Playgroups are very useful in helping children learn how to play with others; the sessions will give them good practice ahead of going to nursery.

Starting a group

Are you struggling to find a suitable playgroup in your area? Consider starting your own!

Here are some of the things you may need to consider:

How will run your group? Will you start out solo or team up with another parent(s) in a joint venture?

Where are you going to hold your group? Are there any local halls, scout huts or community centres available?

Unless you are covered by the venue’s insurance you will need to get your group insured with public liability insurance.

How much will you charge to cover the costs of playthings, refreshments and recurring costs and, perhaps, a small return for yourself to compensate for your time?

What toys or other equipment will you need? They will need to be in a good, clean condition and checked and maintained on a regular basis. You might obtain some for free from social media sites and other sources.

More info from Early Years Alliance at www.eyalliance.org.uk