Books are pleasure, something to treasure. In between their pages, they can transport the reader to different parts of the world, teleport you to fantasy lands and different times, past and in the future. Books have the ability to make you laugh and cry. They teach you how the Pyramids were built, the difference between a mountain and a hill, how to handle social situations, how to become resilient.

It is and has been our school policy that every child should read to an adult at home every single day, with our very youngest children sharing picture books with you. It is so important that every term we recognise those children whose reading records reflect this dedication to reading in our Everybody, Every Night awards.

We know that many of our families are dedicated to supporting their children in becoming the best reader they can possibly be, listening to them each day and signing the Reading Log. However, there are still too many children who are not supported by their families and do not read regularly enough. If you find it difficult to make the time, try and make it part of your daily routine by sticking to the same time every evening e.g arrive home, have a glass of milk then read aloud.  If your child forgets their book bag it is best to hear them from another book or comic and then sign a piece of paper. Class teachers listen to children read and check their reading records as we - as a school - believe it is a fundamental skill which unlocks a world of learning.

POETRY COMPETITIONS

This weekend, I have asked children to spend time drafting their entry to The Ivan Jones Amazing Poem Award, before they are sent for judging by Ivan then and an overall winner announced on National Poetry Day (Thursday 4th October). The theme of the poems are: kindness, respect, determination or aspiration and children can create a poem, which needs to be given to me by next Friday.

On National Poetry Day we will also be holding the school's annual poetry recital competition. This is its fourth year so we are expecting more entries than ever. The poems to learn have been circulated to classes. Last year Frances  (now in Year 6) won but she had some very close competition. Get learning everyone and good luck.

SUMMER CHALLENGE COMPETITIONS

Well done to all those children and their amazingly creative entries to our Seaburn Dene Summer Challenge - 30 activities to have a go at over the six weeks holiday from watching the sun go down to making a kite.

Year 1 produced the best class entry with an astonishing array of scrap books, so I had a very difficult task of narrowing down the field to winners/highly commended.

They are:

Winners: Beau, Jacob (Y6), Skye, Ruby (Y4), William, Sophie (Y2),  Jessica and Sebastian (Y1).

Highly commended: John (Y6), Liam (Y5), Zoe (Y4), Amelia, Rosie (Y2), Eleanor (Y1), Erin (R).

POBBLE

We are aiming for 5,000 views and 600 comments on our writing on www.pobble.com (just search for Seaburn Dene). This week we published the work of 18 more children. Please help us by helping your children view work of our prospective authors on the site.