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

• Thank you

  Sun 30 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  SPORTS DAY

  Thankfully and to my great relief, we were blessed with amazing weather and a fantastic turn out, so can I take this opportunity to thank you for your enthusiastic support at our Sports Day and Family Picnic on Thursday. One of the warmest sports days I can recall, it was certainly the right choice, when we had to unfortunately cancel our previous date.  Please head to Sports Day 2019 in the gallery section, for some of the wonderful photographs from the day. As you can see, the children's smiles provide the perfect feedback.

  Our thanks go out to the Friends for their hard work and determination in making the day extra special with warming drinks and essential snacks. Mr and Mrs Baxter donated their hugely popular Laser Tag for the day - a real hit for Yr 2 upwards. Also to Gillian who provided her very popular curry, rice and chips and especially to Mr. Ashton for organising and managing the whole event. Best year yet.

   

  UNIFORM-NO TRAINERS PLEASE

  There's nothing smarter than a group of children in the correct uniform. It creates a sense of community within school and an identity to the outside world, one we are proud of.

  I've noticed that quite a few of our children are wearing trainers to school. While it is a little understandable towards the end of the school year with growing children, this is not acceptable in September. Please ensure your children are equipped with leather shoes as in the uniform specification. Boots are for outdoor wear only and not part of the uniform.

   

  MEET AND GREET

  All our parents will be keen to discover what children need to know and learn in the next 12 months, meet their class teacher and this very popular evening provides a flavour of the year ahead.  Even if you have only an hour to spare, why not come along at 6pm for session 1 and then 6.30pm for a short presentation in the hall on the year ahead, including the 50th anniversary celebrations.

   

  Miss Sanderson

  Thirty three years after retiring, our first headteacher Miss Sanderson had a tour of school on Friday, spending the morning with us in assembly and visiting classes. She noticed similarities and differences, with the modernisation of facilities, but loved every moment of it - particularly meeting the children, who asked all manner of questions, from sports at Seaburn Dene in 1969 to corporal punishment (no, we didn't then!)

  

• Alexander's Amazing Idea

  Mon 24 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  Budding entrepreneur Alexander, Yr 4, has come up with a way to combine Sports Day and fundraising for school. Alexander, and friends came up with idea to create t-shirts for Sports Day in the colours of their house teams, with their own logo: Dodo Comics and emojis. Alexander has spent most of his free time this weekend creating the t-shirts, which will be on sale - to wear - on Sports Day itself at just £3. 

  With only 30 t-shirts, aged 9-11, they are the ideal way of children wearing their house colours for Sports Day, while rewarding the entrepreneurial initiative of one of our pupils.

   

   

  

• Great Feedback

  Sun 23 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  Setting the Standard

  Well done Yr 4/5. Some fantastic feedback from Sunderland University's Mini Medics programme, who popped into school last week to inspire our children into following a career in medicine. There are ex-pupils of ours doing that just now and it's part of our core values: "aspiration" (dream big.) While working with our children they praised their attitude, contribution and behaviour. It was a similar story with our Yr 6 children, who spent an afternoon at St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle, for the Annual Leavers' Service. Their participation was enthusiastic - as every -  and they looked the part too. Well done also to Susannah and Frances for using their initiative to create their own piece of art on the theme of "Light". Independently, they sourced the materials, organised their time and designed a eye-catching creation, which took pride of place in the cathedral. Great work.

   

  Forecast alert

  While there appears to be storm clouds on the horizon for this week, Thursday - our rearranged Sports Day/Family Picnic- looks the clearest of the next five days. We can but hope....

   

  Pobble

  Many of you will have seen your children's writing via our online portal: Pobble. Last week, I was fortunate enough to speak to other headteachers from the North of Sunderland about the impact Pobble is having on engaging our children in their writing. To underline that point, we are just 400-or-so views away from the magic 10,000...please have a look at https://app.pobble.com/welcome, comment, view, celebrate, some of the wonderful work are children are accomplishing. Your views are important.

   

  Howzat

  Congratulations to the Year 4 cricket team. Last week the team paraded across the field to lift the cluster  trophy, for the first time, bringing with it vital points which could see us take overall lead across our cluster - including Fulwell Jnrs, Redby, Dame Dorothy, Grange Park and Southwick -  for sports. All teams played with enthusiasm and enjoyment, yet the Seaburn Dene team won every match, triumphing against unbeaten Southwick in the final. With head coach Mr Ashton giving half time and between games coaching tips, the Year 4 team played with elan and panache, showing their mastery of bat and ball (also Sunderland hockey champions.) Another feather in the cap against bigger school.

   

  Spelling Bee

  Well done to Phoenix for lifting the annual Spelling Bee last week. In two year groups, only one correct word separated winners and runners-up, amazing. One performance proved eye-catching: Jack in Yr 1 - who was devastatingly accurate, correctly accounting for three-quarters of the 20 points on offer to the eight children competing from his class.

   

  Frank Styles

  The amazingly talented artist Frank Styles is popping into school tomorrow (Monday) to chat to children about art, inspiration and his arresting, eye-catching designs that are injecting colour on huge "canvasses" across our city. It promises to be a memorable start to the week.

  

• Sports Day Postponed to June 27th

  Mon 17 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  Sports Day - new date

  With forecasts of heavy rain all day, we have taken the decision to postpone this year's Sports Day until Thursday, June 27. Obviously, there is a great deal of planning goes into this event and with all the various activities lined up and we constantly monitor the weather especially as we are spending a full day and picnic on the school field. This year - apart from persistent rain on Wednesday itself - the weather looks glorious. Typical. I appreciate that many of you have taken time off work and made arrangements to spend the day with us - but I would rather let you know in good time, than cancel on the morning itself, so alternative arrangements can be put in place in good time.

   

  Parking

  We value good relations with our neighbours on Torver Crescent, so I would politely remind parents/carers to consider others when parking at various drop-off and collect times. Parking across drives, for example, makes it extremely for people to actually get in and out of their homes and I have had at least one conversation with a pregnant neighbour who is finding it extremely difficult to get access to her own driveway at 3.15pm and 4.30pm, leaving her with no alternative but to park some distance away. Please consider others when dropping off. Or "park and stride", leaving the car slightly further away and then walking in with your child. Thank you.

   

   

• Making Memories

  Sun 09 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  Derwent Hill

  I made an interesting discovery this week, while chatting about Derwent Hill. Most of us, fortunate enough to, have made the trip to Portinscale for the Derwent Hill "experience", either in primary or secondary.

  It's an important part of the journey through our school, that our children experience the awe and wonder of waking up to one of the most stunning views in the world.

  The reasons we commit to Derwent Hill do include establishing those character building traits that are often talked about as being lacking in each generation. Not a bit of it. Our children possess problem-solving and reasoning skills, resilience, empathy, risk-taking, kindness, determination (to name but a few) in bucket loads. Derwent Hill probes these characteristics and remain, for many departing Y6s, their fondest memory of primary school (despite everything else we do...)

  Which leads me to my original point. I discovered that Derwent Hill, was effectively "created" by a band of passionate head teachers and teachers - who dedicated their weekends to travelling up to the Lake District for months on end, to build bunks, fit out wardrobes, paint, nail, clean and generally making the place fit to cater for children.

  This sacrifice is in keeping with the thinking that if it needs doing, let's do it and ensured that Derwent Hill, still 50 years on is providing a first-class destination for our children to make memories. It certainly doesn't go unnoticed by many parents, that teaching staff are still willing to give up their week, 24/7 to give our pupils the chance to take it in. When we wave them off tomorrow, it will be in the hope that they have an amazing time, but also remembering that without the three committed members of staff who will be swapping their homes and loved ones for 5 days at Derwent Hill, experiences like it wouldn't happen.

   

  Safety Message

  Our PCSOs (Police and Community Support Officers) have been in school this week discussing "stranger danger", while we have been also re-enforcing the important message about acceptable mobile phone use. It's so important that children understand and can balance, what is acceptable and unacceptable and understand the consequences of their decision making.

  Being online is part of their world and we are clear about the fact that strangers exist in this virtual world as well as the real world, while also extending that necessary caution to older children, whom they don't know.

  I will be sending out a letter regarding mobile phones to parents and carers of children in Yrs 5 and 6. Unless a child is walking to and from school, there is generally no need for them to bring a mobile phone with them into school. Those who do, should switch them off while on school premises and hand them into the office. If a child makes the choice to use a phone, while in school, it will be removed and their parent/carer ask to come into the school office to retrieve it. This is for everyone's safeguarding.

• New Term

  Tue 04 Jun 2019 Mr J Howe

  It's June and we are at the beginning of the last half term of the year, with weather that looks ready to welcome us into a wonderful summer. While the forecast can be changeable, we still need to be sun safe with caps, hats and sun cream, as we look to make the most of the outdoors and wonderful space we have around school.

   

  Workshops and Visits

  We are gearing up for a busy term. On Wednesday, all our staff are heading to a cluster of other schools to share the work we have been doing around writing and maths. This is a wonderful opportunity to gauge how well are children are achieving, compared with children of the same age in different parts of the city. Next week, Yr 6 and some Yr 5 children are heading off to Derwent Hill for the week, while we welcome Sunderland University into school next Friday to film and deliver their mini medics programme to Yr 5/4 - inspiring our children to possibly follow a career in medicine.

   

  Workshops and Visits

  Mrs Beck, one of our governors, took the opportunity to pop into school on Monday, as part of her work with Fulwell Community Library. While she was with us, she handed out our Leavers' hoodies to Yr 6. This was the result of some gentle pressure from our Yr 6 school councillors Frances and Dylan, who were very persuasive. They helped choose the design, write the parental letter and their hard work paid off. The hoodies look extremely smart.

   

  Sports Day

  Just to remind you that our Sports Day and Family Picnic takes place on Wednesday 19th June. The long range forecast indicates that it will be mostly sunny and 12 degrees, which are not quite - but almost - good conditions. We look forward to seeing you there.