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

• Celebration Assembly - Great Women

  Sat 29 Apr 2023 Mr John Howe

  This week our school value of determination was epitomised by boxer Nicola Adams - the latest role model we have chosen for our Great Women section of our Values Assembly.

  Trailblazer Nicola made history as the first woman to win the Olympic gold medal for boxing. She was also the first openly LGBT boxer to win a medal. Up until 2012, the Olympics didn’t allow women to compete in boxing, so Nicola was fighting stereotypes to earn her place in the ring.

  Always a trailblazer, Nicola didn’t stop making history when she stopped boxing last year. Two years ago, she was on our screens in Strictly Come Dancing.

   

  

• Reduce Plastic Pollution

  Sat 29 Apr 2023 Mr John Howe

  We are all worried about the impact plastic pollution and litter is having on our beautiful coastline.
  Now, our children can use their creativity to spell out a message about this issue, by designing a poster to encourage people to reduce single-use plastic, to reuse materials where possible, and to recycle and stop littering at our coast. Winning entries will go on display at Roker and Seaburn.
  There are two age categories – 5 to 10 years and 11 up (Yr 6)
  Entries can be handed into me by Tuesday, May 16, we will email them to Sunderland City Council on the children's behalf.
  While we weren't successful in having designs picked for the new Travel Tracker badges. Well done to everyone who submitted an entry into this national competition.

• News round up, week beginning 17.04.23

  Sun 23 Apr 2023 Mr John Howe

  High Five Netball

  Well done to our Y5/6 High Five Netball team who were runners up in their city finals, after qualifying top of their league. The team - playing together for the first time under Mrs Smith - were fourth on the night, with two narrow losses and a draw. They represented the school fantastically well with their teamwork and positivity.

   

  NURSERY 2023
  To parents who have applied for NEW places in our nursery for September 2023, a letter confirming your place will be posted out to you on Monday, 24th April - the official deadline.
  For further information/queries, please contact Mrs Baker in the school office from that date.

   

  Golden Broom/Travel Tracker

  Yr 4 won the Golden Broom for having the tidiest class and cloakroom, while Yr 2 were the Travel Tracker trophy winners, with 97% activity and and 49% engagement.
  A special mention to Nursery, who continue to push hard for the top, overall close in school.

   

  Every Schoolday Counts - Attendance

  Attendance trophy winners this week were Yr 5 on 100%, closely followed by Yr 2 on 98.8%. Reception were third on 96.1%.
  Our overall school attendance was 94.6%, this is above average - currently - for Sunderland primary schools, which were 93.4% last week, but below our target of 96% plus.

   

  Celebration Assembly - Great Women

  This week, we featured Nadiya Hussain, the Great British Bake Off winner and children’s story/cookbook author.

  She was bullied as a child and revealed mental health difficulties in a Sport Relief film and tackled childhood anxiety in her book My Monster and Me.

  Hussain learned basic cooking skills at school. Her mother never baked a nd used the oven for storage. She taught herself the rest from recipe books and watching videos on YouTube. What a great role model.

  Despite this, she won Bake Off and said,  “I'm never gonna put boundaries on myself ever again. I'm never gonna say I can't do it. I'm never gonna say 'maybe'. I'm never gonna say, 'I don't think I can.' I can and I will.”

  She is now a TV presenter, mum and award-winning author.

   

  Scroll of Honour

  Dreaming big and showing aspiration this week, were Jessica (Nursery) and Oliver (Y6). Here is Jessica with her dancing certificate and Oliver on his eight-week trial with Newcastle United.

   

   

  
   

  

• NEU strike latest

  Fri 21 Apr 2023 Mr John Howe

  Dear Parents/Carers,

   

  You may be aware from media coverage that the National Education Union (NEU) have declared further industrial strike action, which will take place on Thursday 27^th April and Tuesday 2^nd May. The strike is happening because of a national dispute between the unions and the government over school funding and teacher’s pay and not because of any issues at our school. 

   

  Staff do not have to inform me whether or not they intend to strike; however, in many cases they have chosen to in order to ensure the safety of all children and so that the school can give families as much notice as possible that learning may be disrupted on the dates set out above.

   

  We are considering options and issues, including avoidance of disruption to Year 6 assessment preparation. Currently, I can confirm that some classes will be open and some will be closed; however, please note that this could change. For example, if the unions hold successful talks with the government or there should be picketing that affects the rest of the staff coming in, then we may have to close the whole school at short notice.

  Please see the table below for details of individual classes and what I know so far.

  Class	Thursday 27th April	Tuesday 2nd May
  Nursery	Closed	Closed
  Reception	Closed	Closed
  Year 1	Open	Open
  Year 2	Closed	Closed
  Year 3	Closed	Closed
  Year 4	Open	Open
  Year 5	Open	Open
  Year 6	Open	Open

   

   

  We recommend that you start to make alternative childcare arrangements for these dates in case things do change.

   

  If, however, you are a critical worker and have no other alternative childcare on one or both of these days, there is a very limited number of places, outside of your child/children’s year group, accessing a variety of activities, supervised by staff familiar to them.

  Click on this link for more information:

  https://forms.gle/HQWqRHG6EKELbMrh8

   

  Breakfast and After-School Club will be open at the usual times for children if their classes are open on these dates. Lunch will be served to children, who are in school as normal.

   

  I am sorry about the potential disruption to you, your family and to your child’s education. I understand that this situation may be frustrating, and ask that all members of our school community continue to treat each other with respect and kindness. The staff at Seaburn Dene remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our pupils and delivering high-quality teaching and learning.

   

  We are working closely with our staff union representatives to keep up to date with the situation, and I will inform you as soon as possible if arrangements change further.

  
  If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

   

   

  Yours sincerely,

   

   

  Mr John Howe
  Head Teacher

• Domestic Abuse + Testing of National Emergency Alert System

  Wed 19 Apr 2023 Mr John Howe

  Dear Parent/Carer,
  
  You may be aware that the UK Government is set to test a new emergency siren on phones and mobile devices across the UK on Sunday 23 April from 3 to 4pm.
  
  Any 4G and above enabled mobile device will be capable of receiving the Emergency Alert. This includes mobiles and mobile devices such as tablet PCs that are connected to the mobile cell network via a 4G or above SIM card.
  
  The siren will flash up on devices with a warning message, as a nationwide test of the new system is carried out. We understand that people will be required to acknowledge the Emergency Alert in order to dismiss it, that the phone or mobile device will make an audible noise and will vibrate even if on silent. The device will continue to make an alert noise until the alert is actively dismissed.
  
  We are aware that this could cause concern, and potentially exacerbate domestic abuse, where an individual may have a hidden phone or data based tablet that their abuser is not aware of. An abuser may be alerted to a hidden device by the emergency alert system.
  
  We understand that alerts will not be received where a phone or mobile device is:
  
  turned off;
  in airplane mode;
  connected to 2G or 3G (as opposed to 4G or 5G); or
  connected to wi-fi only during the period of the alert.
  This useful link from Woman’s aid gives more information and explains how to disable alerts on I Phones and Androids.
  
  https://t.co/TwVGBTdEHT
  
  Further information about the upcoming test message for the Emergency Alert nationwide test message is hosted on the https://www.gov.uk/alerts website https://www.gov.uk/alerts/announcements