Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
RISK AND RESILIENCE
Thanks to our fantastic Year 2 class assembly, that idea of determination (our value this month) and resilience have been the topic of much conversation in school this week.
At our school, we are constantly trying to demonstrate and teach the concept of resilience. It is sometimes a tricky task with children, in our risk averse society. I think we sometimes forget that children have more resilience than we give them credit for - it just needs constant nourishing.
They encounter risks in every part of their lives, from riding a bike around the cemetary to jumping on a trampoline - and as parents, we weigh up those risks fairly quickly, instantaneously. As a school, we encourage our children to run, dig, carry, jump, experiment, try, fail, try again. We balance risk continually, through many different channels and the outcome is that our children leave us understanding the fine balance between risk and resilience. Risk of failure shouldn't ever become a barrier to children achieving, it's a marker on a longer journey, resilience is the armour we give them on this journey. This will form part of our Staff Inset on Friday - when school will be closed.
PE KIT
We are very proud to offer the wide range of sports and PE opportunities that we do at our school. Children, however, need to be prepared for these lessons. Unfortunately, we have an increasing number of children who file up outside the office to borrow PE kit, when they come to school without any. PE kits should be left in the school for the whole of a half term, marked with names, ready to use for the children's two designated slots. Children without PE kit are liable to incur a red mark for uniform on their reports, including those without the correct footwear.
DONATIONS
Next week, we will be acception donations for our harvest festival (to go to Food Banks) with Fulwell Methodist Church in school on Thursday. I hadn't realised that Sunderland is home to 10 separate food banks spread across the city. These provide emergency donations of three days food for families without any. It is a sobering thought that in an age where items and objects have become so disposable, there are hundreds of families on our doorstep who rely on donations to feed themselves. I reminded the children of this very same fact, after seeing the amount of waste left over from our school dinners. Some of our children are throwing their whole dinner away or taking a bite out of a cup cake and disposing of it. I used the word "disgraceful" to sum up the waste and it is. Please talk to your child about their menu choices. Not only do we not want to see children refusing or throwing away meals that have been cooked from scratch, but when we are collecting food for those that haven't any - I wonder what they would think?
Now and again, you catch yourself and realise how lucky you are. This week (and there are more occasions than I care to recall) the most memorable was, during Meccano club, where two Y5 boys were have a gentle disagreement over the exact lines in Verse 2 of Tyger, Tyger by William Blake - while building, no creating something from tiny metal panels. That is the point of what we do. Rich and varied opportunities to learn - off by heart something which will remain with them for a lifetime, while lost in an entirely different activity. Magic.
PE
Sport is one of our four drivers for us at Seaburn Dene and this week the variety in what we offer remains something that we are proud of and underlines our status as a Platinum Sports School. I was able - through the course of my week- watch Street Dance, Rugby, a cracking Y5/6 football match (W 8-0, W 4-1), skipping and KS1 gymnastics.
Harvest Donations
Donations for the harvest collection will be welcome from this week. Anything you send in will be given to the local food bank so please ensure products are in date. We will be celebrating this year with Fulwell Methodist Church, enhancing links with our local community. On this very note, the Friends of Fulwell will be helping the children plant bulbs around the school grounds, to add a splash of colour once Spring arrivers. It is so important for us to support our local community, at every opportunity.
Poetry Recital Competition
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Poetry Recital Competition 2018. The standard was even better than in 2017, with most of the finalists leaving us abolutely amazed by the performances. Both the runner up and winner had wonderful dramatic interpretations to enhance their poems, with Beau, from Yr 6, lending a comic twist to the Adventures of Isabel by Ogden Nash which, completely dressed as a huge set of fangs, he delivered with dead pan brilliance. Macy's atmospheric Witches' Chant from MacBeth was similarly inspired. We are proud of all the children who took part and thank you to the audience for supporting every child.