Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
SUPERB CLASS ASSEMBLY FROM YEAR 4
On Friday afternoon Year 4 presented their very effective and emotional class assembly. The children retold the Easter story using light as their only prop. Rev'd Child is leading the school's end of term Easter assembly on Wednesday but has already said that he is unable to better Year 4s interpretation. Congratulations to Mr. Howe and the whole class.
PARENTS EVENINGS
Staff are looking forward to discussing your child's progress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Children are welcome to come along as we believe they are part of the process when discussing progress, targets and next steps. However, we appreciate that your children often have a very busy social diary with cubs, Brownies, swimming, dance etc!
TRAINING DAY -THURSDAY
Tim Taylor from Norwich is leading our training day on Thursday. He will help us to explore creative routes into the new National Curriculum so, as this is a passion of mine, I am particularly excited and looking forward to the day. We are being joined by colleagues from four other schools too so it will be a day of high quality professional training and dialogue.
LIVING EGGS
We return to school on Monday 20th April. On that day living eggs will be delivered to the Foundation Stage Unit so that we can observe chickens hatching and take care of them until they are rehomed on a free range farm.
FAREWELL MR. FRYATT
This week we will say farewell to Mr. Fryatt as he moves on from Seaburn Dene Primary School. We wish him well in the next stage of his career in education and send him off with the hope that his mountain of jelly babies never erodes!
LOST PROPERTY
We do everything we can to return lost property to its rightful owners but, at this stage of the year, we find that names have been washed or rubbed off. Please spend 15 minutes of your two week break renewing names on garments including footwear to make it easier for us to match the misplaced items to their owners.
COMPUTER GAMES
I think the vast majority of our parents would be shocked to hear that children in our school as young as Year 3 play "Call of Duty" and "Grand Theft Auto", both games being aimed at the adult market. It will be interesting to see what happens in Nantwich where a group of schools consider this to be neglect, reportable to police. The article is in the "Daily Mail" today.
NSPCC PRESENTATION
On Tuesday, Rachel from the NSPCC will announce how much the school has raised to help children and families who need the support of the NSPCC. Thank you to all our families who have taken part. We will let you know how much has been raised after tomorrow's assembly.
EASTER CHOCOLATE TOMBOLA
Organised by the Friends of SDPS, this delicious event has become a school tradition. The aroma of chocolate in the main hall is always overwhelming (and very tempting) before delighted children strive to find winning tickets. Thank you everyone for donating a chocolate gift. Several members of staff are on a course after school on Wednesday so send their apologies....it leaves more for the rest of you!
NO DRAMA CLUB
Reminder that there is no Drama Club on Wednesday this week. Enjoy chocolate instead gang! We are still rehearsing next Wednesday even though it's Parents Evening and the last day of term.
Rehearsals of "Shakespeare Rocks" are at an early stage yet four boys acting as women had us in stitches on Wednesday. What gorgeous pouts for your pose boys!
AWARDS AFTERNOON
On Thursday the awards afternoon celebrates the successes of children from years 2 to 6. Congratulations to all children who will receive a special certificate.
YEAR 4 CLASS ASSEMBLY
And finally this week, Year 4 are celebrating Easter with a special class assembly on Friday.
TEACHING POSTS AT SDPS
It is my pleasure to show potential candidates around our school and the feedback is quite remarkable. Sometimes we forget how special we are!
TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS THIS EASTER
Last week there was an online incident that worried one of our pupils. When playing "Clash of Clans" at home a stranger asked her for a date. As she felt uncomfortable, she immediately stopped the game and the next day rightly disclosed her worry to an adult in school. We immediately took all the steps recommended to us under child protection procedures so that parents and police are fully informed and the incident logged. The fact that the child felt secure to tell an adult shows the impact our half termly e-safety lessons have and the outcome is exactly what we would hope for. If you have any concerns or want to learn more about e-safety the parent section on the CEOP website is very useful. https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Primary/
WE SAY GOODBYE TO.....
Mr. Fryatt who will be leaving us at Easter. Mr. Fryatt has decided to leave full time teaching but will continue to work in education. After almost 13 years of dedicated service in our school we wish him every good wish for the future. Teaching Year 3 for the Summer term will be Mrs Brown who has a wealth of experience including leading learning in schools abroad and other parts of the UK. She has recently relocated to the north so we hope she enjoys working with the children and families of Seaburn Dene.
TEACHING JOBS AT SEABURN DENE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Very soon you may see adverts locally for a temporary teacher and permanent teacher to start in September. We will be searching for exceptional teachers and it's always an exciting challenge to discover all the wonderful talents and skills teachers at different stages in their career possess.
NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE WEEK
This week is the second National Shakespeare Week with all our classes taking part by coming off timetable. Year 6 have been talking about "Romeo and Juliet" at lunchtime and, as the week progresses, I look forward to seeing the school's wonderful Shakespeare work.
DRAMA CLUB
So many events are happening in school this term that we need to cancel Drama Club on Wednesday 25th March as the Chocolate Coffee afternoon will be taking place in the main hall. Added to which, four of us have to attend a lecture starting at 4.00pm. So if some teachers are missing from the Easter celebration afternoon, they are working hard!
SINGAPORE MATHS
There are some "buzz" words flying about related to maths in schools. These are "mastery" "Singapore" and "Shanghai". The government is very impressed with standards of maths in the Far East so are pushing us to take what is the best from their approaches to introduce into our schools. With Mr. Smith, I attended a course last week about the Singapore method of teaching maths. In Singapore itself this method has quickly moved the country up the international rankings and looks to make sense. However, it is a huge investment financially so we need to consider its place in our school, work out a plan if we decide to introduce it and then review its success each term before investing further. We have been delighted with the impact of Primary Assertive Mentoring in maths during the past year so want to "marry" the two approaches together. We'll keep you informed.
GOOD LUCK GYMNASTS
Selected Years 1 and 2 pupils are attending a gymnastics competition on Wednesday so we hope they have a successful afternoon.
Reminder to all parents that the Friends Group will be holding a Non Uniform Day on Tuesday 17th March. Bring in a donation of chocolate for our Easter Coffee Afternoon/Tombola and wear your own clothes to school!
Our Coffee Afternoon is on Wednesday 25th March 3.30pm to 5pm. There is going to be a paste egg competition, winners will be announced at the Coffee Afternoon. We are always looking for donations of cakes and other sweet goodies to sell on our cake stall. Can donations please be handed in to the school office on the Wednesday morning.
INSET DAYS
During the past two years we have attached INSET training days to the October holidays so that parents are able to organise a holiday that would be less expensive than travelling on the weekend we break up. This has been a very popular decision and quite a few families have taken the opportunity to book 7 or 10 day holidays around the October holidays. For instance, in 2015 a Thomsons holiday in a hotel in Palma Nova is £130 per person cheaper by flying on the Wednesday rather than the Sunday.
You will now be pleased to know that in 2015 3 of our training days will begin on Wednesday 21st October, providing you with the same opportunity. It is also very beneficial to staff as we can spend 3 days with an in depth focus on one of the aspects of our job as teachers. In 2015 we anticipate spending the 3 days reviewing the curriculum, how we plan, what we plan and how we assess in subjects such as science, geography and history.
SHAKESPEARE WEEK
Next week is National Shakespeare Week and, once again, every class will be exploring Shakespearian plays, Tudor times and the Globe theatre.
NETBALL SUCCESS
The school netball teams have been playing very well and enjoying success at their recent tournaments. We wish them good luck on Wednesday for their next match.