On Tuesday, it was Safer Internet Day. Online safety is a topic we speak about with the children on a regular basis as it is so important they know how to keep themselves safe in all situations. The theme for this year’s Safer Internet Day was ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online’ and the children discussed this in their classes.
In addition, on Monday’s assembly, I shared the story, ‘Troll Stinks’’. The moral of this story is to behave towards others online in the same way that you would if you were speaking face to face to a person. Unfortunately, too regularly, issues that have started on games and chats outside of school become issues that we have to deal with during the school day and these take away from important learning time. We thank all parents who support in preventing this by ensuring that their children are only using age-appropriate apps and games and by monitoring their children’s activity online. As a reminder, there is no commonly used social media application that has a user age below 13 and therefore these should not be in use by any of our children. A really useful parent guide can be found here: Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre
World Book Day
We are excited that it is nearly time to celebrate World Book Day (6th March) at Galley Hill!! As always we will be following the theme for the year which is: 'reading your own way'. We are planning lots of exciting reading based events for the children including online events and activities in the classrooms.
A few things we thought you might like to know in advance:
Dress code: PJs and onesies for the day. (The children can still come to school in uniform if they would prefer.)
Parents/Carers 'story time': We will be inviting parents and carers to come in to read with their children from 2:45pm - 3.10pm.
We are asking that all of the children bring in a book to share with their peers. This can be a favourite story, magazine, graphic novel, comic etc.
WBD vouchers will be coming home today. You are able to get a free WBD book from various retailers including: The Works, Waterstones and most local supermarkets. You can also use it as a £1 off voucher instead (please check the terms and conditions).
Sharing Assembly
We are incredibly sorry for any inconvenience caused by the cancellation of Topaz’s sharing assembly this week. This was due to staff illness. Team Topaz will now be presenting their learning on Thursday 27th February at 9am. We hope many parents are still able to make it.
Following on from that, Team Crystal will be presenting their learning on Thursday 13th March.
FROGs Valentine’s Disco
I would like to say an enormous THANK YOU to Mrs Sproat and her wonderful team of FROGS volunteers for putting on such a fantastic event for the children last week. Thank you also to all parents for supporting the event by buying tickets and providing their children with some pocket money to spend. These events are not only wonderful for our children, they also raise vital funds for the school and we were delighted that the event raised over £700.
Recently FROGs purchased some additional wooden resources for the playground, including a little train for the KS1 playground and a small shelter for KS2. We very much look forward to these being built and ready for the children to play with soon. We are so grateful for everyone’s continued support in raising money for these things that just would not be possible otherwise.
News
Year 3/4 Times Tables Open Morning
On Wednesday 5th March at 9am we will be running a times tables workshop.
This will be an opportunity to learn about how you can support your children with learning times tables. We will discuss which times tables we teach in which year groups; how often we practise times tables within school; what resources we use to support your child within school and about what the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) is and how it is administered for Year 4 in the summer term.
Once we have shared some information with you, you will then have the opportunity to work with your child in their classroom practising their times tables.
Anti-Racist School - Parent Forum
As we strive to become an anti-racist school, we would like to hear the views of our parents from minoritised ethnic groups, and parents of children from minoritised ethnic groups. We will be holding a parent forum for these parents, run by Mrs Reynolds and Miss Ambrose, on Friday 21st March at 9am. This is an opportunity for you to talk with other parents and discuss your children's experiences at Galley Hill in a comfortable and relaxed environment, with refreshments! If you would like to attend please let the office know. We really do want to hear from you so that we can ensure we are doing everything we can to become a truly anti-racist school.
SEND Parent Coffee Morning
Our next SEND parent coffee morning will take place on Friday 28th March from 8.55am until 10am with Miss Elsey and Mrs Reynolds. Part of this meeting will be used to discuss our therapeutic approach to behaviour at Galley Hill. We will provide tea, coffee and biscuits. We look forward to seeing you there.
