Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
A huge congratulations to Year 5. Last week they took part in the Hoops for Change tournament, inspired by the Newcastle Eagles. Not only did Team Loaded win the tournament but we achieved third place too. And in addition to that 6 players were identified as having a particular talent to join training sessions in Newcastle and the behaviour of the class was nothing less than immaculate! What fantastic ambassadors for the school.
Team Loaded is to play before the next Eagles match on the evening of Friday 10th February and, if they win that match, they're through to the final which will take place at half time. The school is buying a basketball kit so that we look the part too.
Thank you to the Newcastle Eagles, especially Dan who trained the class and, to both Mr. Ashton for his enthusiasm, and Mr Traves for giving up his own time to train the team. This training will now be intensive until the day of the match but it'll be worth it.
Hockey for Years 3 and 4 begins tomorrow. We are targeting 2018 as the year for entering hockey tournaments as, by then, we will have honed our skills to a high standard. Sports Premium funding from the Government has enabled us to introduce these new sports and sporting experts into school. It is clearly having impact!
Keeping our children safe:
So far this term my own training in Risk Management and Child Protection has been updated. With mobile technology the biggest problem for many parents today is online safety for their children. There's some excellent advice along with mini films you may wish to share with your child on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency (CEOPS) website. If you wish to know more click this link https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
A WEEK OF SPORT
The theme for school assemblies this week is hard work and determination. I introduced it by showing the children two film clips: the first of Andy Murray's training schedule and the second of Kyle Maynard's mountain climbing success. Both films fitted the theme perfectly.
This week some of our children are involved in sporting competitions and will have an opportunity to show their grit and determination. Today, Tuesday, the school netball team will be playing their first match of the season against Fulwell A team.
On Thursday Yr 5 are spending the day in a basketball tournament at the university's CitySpace. They have been working with their coach for several weeks in preparation for this so we wish them the very best of luck.
On Thursday a group of Yr 5 and 6 swimmers are representing our school at the Aquatic Centre. We hope they are motivated to swim their races with new personal bests.
And staying on the theme of sport, next week Mr. Wilson will begin working with Years 3 and 4. Building on the Olympic success of the women's hockey team, he will introduce them to the game and build up their skills in the year ahead in preparation for matches in 2018.
It was pretty soggy in the playground this morning but, as children arrived in school, most had huge grins on their faces. Children are completely unaffected by so called media red letter days -today is apparently Blue Monday.
Perhaps instead our children are reflecting on the wonderful day we had with author, and friend of the school Chris Lloyd. A group of Year 5 pupils were so fascinated with the presentation that they stayed behind to ask questions and present their own scientific knowledge and theories. Ideal for Key Stage 2 children, is the free to join Family Book Club on the What on Earth? website. Click here to be taken directly to the website. And probably they are trying to discover the answers to our weekly What On Earth questions about Velcro set by Chris himself. He donated a wonderful Timeline book to win. The draw is on Tuesday.
Maybe some children are anticipating a fabulous fun filled evening with CASA arts. CASA welcome all children at Key Stage 2 to join them on Mondays between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. They can bring friends from other schools too.
And many will be ready to welcome back the Open The Book performers who will be in school tomorrow for the first time since Christmas. Open the Book bring the Bible to life with their amazing props and children as extras into their performances so we always look forward to seeing them.
Could Yrs 4, 5 & 6 be looking forward to today's science lesson which is supported by STEM consultant Mr. Watkins? Last week he could not believe how far he could take our children, with some working at Yr 8 level. As you know, science is our focus subject, alongside reading, and the children have never been more enthusiastic about discovering and investigating.
Perhaps the thought of Mr. McNally's music lessons on a Friday puts the smile on the children's face. Having been Head of Department, an Advanced Skills Teacher, a former member of STOMP and a current member of a band that continues to gig, Mr. McNally's passion for music shines through so that children cannot wait for the next music lesson. He has the best Youtube film clip of the best drum solo ever on a chair! Click here for the link.
So we may sing the blues or turn litmus paper blue but our lives here at Seaburn Dene are a rainbow of wonderful colours.
Teaching Term
Just to let you know that this term, as in the Spring term for the past 16 years, I will be teaching a group of Year 6 pupils to support them as they prepare for SATs. This means that some days I will not make it to the gate in the morning.
A reminder-the school colours are navy blue and grey.
Focus on Reading
As reading is the key to unlock all learning, we are rejuvenating our approach to it. You will have received a letter from Mr. Howe, who is responsible for English throughout the school, explaining how, as a staff, we are maximising every possible minute so that we are able to hear more children read during the school day. You may see our signatures in the margins of that day's Reading Journal-it means that a member of staff or trained volunteer has listened to your child read. We've set ourselves a real challenge but there's not a more important skill for children to acquire so that every possible opportunity is available for them as they move through education into the workplace. It is vital that children understand the words they reading so exploring the language of the text is crucial even if reading is fluent. Your support in this can make a huge difference.
Chris Lloyd
Author Chris Lloyd is spending all day Tuesday with us. He is using the Science and Technology timeline as the theme for his talks and will involve the whole school from the Reception class to Yr 6. Chris will have all his Timeline books at the reduced rice of £10 for sale after school. He also has superb sticker books that really help children to learn all about different aspects of history.
SchoolComms
In the interests of spending public money wisely, we are in the process of changing our providers for getting email and text messages to you. Every text message costs us a fee and multiply that by almost 200 per message and it becomes a significant amount. Of course, this does not come without hiccups and problems so we currently have no service available. However, we are expecting it to be back up and running in the next week or two. Thank you for your patience.
Bad Weather
Despite the excitement of the media, there seems no significant snow forecast by the Met Office for the North East coast for the next 5 days. If we do have extreme weather in the next two or three months we do everything to keep the school open while others around us close. Listen to local radio stations for information and, once they are up and running again, keep an eye on text and email messages. If you don't hear from us assume everything is running as normal. Staff travelling a distance may be late but there are sufficient staff who live locally who will keep the school open until everyone arrives safely.
Christmas Jumper Day
The last day of term was a very colourful day with the most magnificent Christmas sweaters Sunderland has ever seen. The school raised £178.10 for Save the Children at the same time. Thank you to everyone for supporting this very worthwhile cause.
The Dots on the Reading Journals
As some of you know, I regularly listen to children read. However, when I do find a few minutes to do this, children spend more time looking for their books and reading journals than they do actually reading to me. I thought that if the books were more accessible and organised in the classroom then I could hear more children read and this is the same for all staff and volunteers.
Just before the holidays I bought 3 plastic baskets for each class in red, blue and green to go along with matching dots. The dots match the baskets in which children will put their journals every day. A teacher may say to me that he/she has heard all the children in the red basket so I would begin on the blue.
It's as simple as that.