Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Parking around school and in Mere Knolls Cemetery

  Wed 25 Nov 2020 Mr J Howe

  The increasing number of cars outside school at the beginning and end of the day is a common issue for the majority of schools in the country.  We encourage families to walk to school wherever possible and politely request that parents and visitors to the school, park in surrounding roads with thought and consideration for the children, other adults and the local community.  Please obey the restrictions in place and do not park in an obstructive manner. 

  I am aware that the local authority together with the police will now be taking enforcement action on inconsiderate parking, including people parking on grass verges in the cemetery, on pathways and on the yellow chevrons.

  Currently, we are running a challenge to encourage more children to make active trips to school, including “park and stride”. If you have to come by car park safely a short distance from the school to avoid congestion, so that children can cross safely and also give your child a chance of earning their WOW badge.

  • Do not park, or wait, on the yellow ‘KEEP CLEAR’ markings. These markings are self-explanatory and are there to keep children safe.
  • Do not block other people’s driveways with your vehicle. This is classed as an unnecessary obstruction and could result in your vehicle being ticketed and even removed.
  • Do not park blocking dropped kerbs. These are in place to allow access to wheelchairs/prams. Blocking these will result in your vehicle being ticketed.

  The safety of the children is our priority.  Thank you to everyone that parks in a safe and considerate fashion.

   

  Security

  We have received reports of small groups gathering on the shared site, during lockdown, causing minor damage with anti-social behaviour. This has now included recent damage to our kitchen windows, as well as littering. We are asking parents/carers to alert police if they notice any suspicious behaviour or groups entering the school site, after school hours.

   

• Healthy Packed Lunches

  Tue 17 Nov 2020 Mr J Howe

  I have been talking to the children in Yrs 3-6 about healthy packed lunches and in particular, the high amounts of sugar some food contain and the impact on their health. This letter clarifies our approach to ensuring children have - where they choose to - a balanced, healthy packed lunch.
  As a rule of thumb, children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (= 6 sugar cubes). Some individual items in a small number of packed lunches - clearly exceed that.
  The letter below (and the policy on our website) set out our expectations on packed lunches as we teach the children about healthy choices, for life.

   

  Dear Parent/Carer

   

  Over the last couple of weeks there have been a number of difficulties with some of the items coming in children’s packed lunches, so I am writing both to clarify our expectations on this and also to simplify the system so that parents can better understand the requirements.

   

  As you may be aware, there is an increasing issue with childhood obesity and tooth decay and, as an accredited Healthy School, we want to support parents as much as possible to make healthy choices for their children’s meals.  There is also a clear link between a high sugar intake and poor behaviour, which we seek to protect our children from. 

   

  We recognise that this issue can sometimes be confusing and would like to clarify this further.

   

  School kitchens – like ours - must stick to very strict nutritional guidelines about what can and cannot be included in school meals. This includes any salt, sugar and saturated fats. The menus have been specially designed and tested to ensure your child receives a healthy, balanced diet full of nutrients and vitamins as well as carefully controlling the amount of fat, sugar and salt.

   

  This means that although the children will sometimes have puddings, cakes or chips for example, these are sourced and cooked in a healthier way and are presented as part of a balanced menu over the week. We understand that it is sometimes hard to explain this to children, who may see their friends as being allowed to have something on school meals that they are not as packed lunches, but we can control the sugar, salt and fat content of school lunches in a way that we cannot with packed lunches.

  In the past, we have tried to ensure that packed lunches are of a similar healthy standard to school meals.

   

  Therefore, to clarify our guidelines for packed lunches, they can include anything so long as there is NO:

  - Nuts (to safeguard those with allergies)

  - Fizzy drinks

  - Sweets, chocolate bars, chocolate covered biscuits (eg Kit Kat) or chocolate mousse.

  Please note that:

  - Cakes and plain biscuits are allowed - but only 1 of these per day

   

  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

   

  Many thanks

  Mr Howe

   

  Headteacher

   

   

• Thank You

  Wed 11 Nov 2020

  Well done everyone - our Harvest Festival has given a much needed boost to Sunderland Foodbank. Our collection of 331.75kg of food will make food parcels for 44 families and 265 meals in total.

  
   

• Remembrance Day 2020

  Wed 11 Nov 2020 Mr J Howe

  Today's minute's silence today and for the first time this term, the whole school saw one another - socially distanced - on our yard. Powerful readings from Oliver, George and Alex - our house captains. #RemembranceDay and cannon fire in the background. #Sunderland

   

  Together with Friends of Fulwell, our school family and Community Ambassadors, painted Remembrance rocks for the war memorials in Mere Knolls Cemetery, Sea Road and the flag outside Fulwell Library.

  

• First Week Back

  Tue 03 Nov 2020 Mr J Howe

  Outdoor Days

  We have two days on Thursday/Friday - where children will be outside as much as possible.
  THURSDAY - Outdoor Learning Day - children should come to school in warm, comfortable clothes suitable for activities outside - whatever the weather. Please note: uniform is NOT required.
  FRIDAY - Scarecrow Day. Non-uniform. £1 - non-uniform, old clothes, dress like a scarecrow. Our scarecrow competition will be judged on this day.  The Friends Group will also be selling toffee apples on the day at a cost of £1. To give us an idea of how many to order, we would appreciate it if parents could let us know in advance if their child would like to order one, as we would hate for anyone to be disappointed if there weren’t enough to go round! If parents could send a message on Class Dojo and the children can bring in their money on the Friday morning.

  Any money raised by this event goes straight back into providing opportunities for all our children.

   

  Remembrance Day

  We are working with our community partners at Friends of Fulwell to prepare for Remembrance Day. We have had an idea about decorating the flag base at Fulwell Library...but need your help! All we are asking, is that children paint a poppy onto a stone/rock (as above), bring into school by the end of the week. We will varnish the stones in school to weatherproof them. 

  In the meantime, children can bring change into school to buy a poppy.  Normally any cash coming into school MUST be placed in a sealed envelope of plastic bag with your child's name and year group clearly marked. Teachers will not accept loose coins from children.

  For poppies, children can place their change directly into the collection box during the morning from Wed, 4th November to Wednesday, 11th November.