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

• Cash Boost

  Tue 28 Jan 2020 Mr J Howe

  Cash Boost

  A huge thank you to Sunderland-based financial services company BGL who popped into school to present a £1,000 cheque for the revamp of our new Lighthouse Room. The help - organised through parent helper Mrs Youern - will continue with BGL staff volunteering in school. Pictured are Claire Leighton and Denise Straughan, part of BGL's CSR team, with Yr3. Claire - auntie to Yr 3 pupil Alexander - requested the funding for our school. If you or your friends/family work for BGL group they could be eligible to help school with match funding. Thank you.

   

  Positive Behaviour

  Following discussions with staff and pupils, we have adopted traffic light behaviour system – which will be adapted from our Positive Behaviour approach. Each class will have a traffic light system displayed.

  What is it?

  In the class, there will be a classroom reward ladder with five coloured parts: gold, silver, bronze green, yellow, red (x2). Each child will have their names placed each day on green and moved up and down depending on their behaviour over the course of a day.

   How does it work?

  All pupils begin the day on green (regardless of where they ended the previous day).

  · If a pupil displays good behaviour they get moved up the chart each time by one step, until they reach gold.

  · If a pupil has maintained gold at the end of the day and earned a super power they can be rewarded with a Positive Memo and three Dojos. Similarly, if they end they day on Silver – they can finish with two Dojos.

   · If a pupil misbehaves or acts in a way that is contrary to school rules/values, they will be moved down one step, for each incident. In the first instance they will be given a verbal request. A verbal warning represents a move down the ladder. Then they will be moved down.

  · A pupil moves back up the chart as soon as they show they are able to improve their behaviour during the session.

  School Rules 

  The school rules clearly define the high standard of behaviour that we expect in school. They are referred to frequently and our aim is to encourage our children to be positive and resilient in all they do and should h create a happy environment for pupils to work in. 

   

  Seaburn Soundscape

  We are keen to innovate and show our creativity and Yr 5 will be doing this today, as they head down to Seaburn seafront to record the sounds of our area, for their own musical composition with The Lake Poets. This builds on their original school song and shows what an exciting place our school is to learn.

   

  Healthy Food Stall

  Every Monday and Wednesday - Yr 5 - are running their own Fair Trade fruit staff for the school. Fruit is just 20p each and again we are grateful for the support of parents, such as Mrs Hodgson, in making this possible.

   

  Friends of Fulwell

  EYFS welcomed Peter from Friends of Fulwell/North East sport for a mass bulb planting in the school grounds on Monday. The school is keen to work with our community and people like Peter are trying their hardest to make our area a great place to live in.

   

  

• What a night...

  Sun 19 Jan 2020 Mr J Howe

  Basketball Team -the Sunderland Hoops for Health Champions

  Well it was an exciting on Friday, watching our fantastic Y5 team triumph in the Sunderland Hoops for Health final. Our first match in the semis was a tough match against Farringdon Primary.  We left it late, but eventually won 4-0. Having watched the first half of the main match in which Newcastle played Cheshire, the moment came as we walked out to take on St Cuthbert's RC Primary. The children worked really hard, particularly in defence, winning 4-0 and lifting the trophy for the second year running. 

  The children received marvellous support from a while section of parents and family, who were rightly proud of their achievements. Among them were Mr Smith and Mrs Houston, leading the cheerleading from the stands.

  Thank you to the Newcastle Eagles, but particularly Mr. Ashton for his enthusiasm and giving up his own time to train the team on many lunchtime and after school training. Next stop, North East finals.

   

  Focus on Reading

  As reading is the key to unlock all learning, we are continuing on our journey to becoming a real reading school. Staff are maximising every possible minute so that we are able to hear more children read during the school day. Story telling is a key part of our assemblies and our classroom routines. 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.

   

  Busy PE week

  It's a busy sporting week - as ever - at Seaburn Dene, with gymnastics with  former Team GB Sports Acrobatics athlete and gym coach Dannie Hailstone and DanceCity's Paul Allen, who is delivering breakdancing and street dance in lower key stage two. Our football team are in five-a-side action on Friday at Goals for the McCauliffe Trophy - which we won in 2018. There is of course, swimming for Yr 5 at the Aquatic Centre on Thursday. As a result of this activity - it is essential PE kits remain in school and are named.

   

• Anti-Bullying Poster Competition

  Wed 15 Jan 2020 Mr J Howe
  The school council have come up with the idea of a competition for all children to design an anti bullying poster at home. All posters will be collected by Friday, 31st January and judged by myself, Mrs Chalk - Chair of Governors, alongside a few representatives from the School Council. The winners from each class will be displayed throughout the school. Well done to everybody that has entered so far...
  Criteria: A5, or A4. Any medium (paint, pencil, pens, ICT).
  Entries to Mr Howe. Thank you and good luck.

• Well done and watch out...

  Tue 14 Jan 2020 Mr J Howe

  Attendance

  A huge well done to all our gold, silver and bronze attendance award recipients for Autumn term. As we explained to the children, being in school - every day - is what allows them to be "that little bit better." Our attendance target as a school is to reduce unauthorised school absences, particularly holidays in term time, and raise our overall attendance to 96% plus. More children in school every day allows more learning and progress to take place for every child. Clearly illness happens, particularly over winter, but during the course of an academic year that evens itself out, it doesn't if a child then takes an unauthorised holiday. There is then a strong likelihood that they will fall below the national average for attendance and into the category of persistent absence.

  So a huge thank-you to families for supporting both your children and Seaburn Dene in ensuring that doesn't happen.

   

  Class Dojo

  On Friday, we rolled out Class Dojo across school. This is something we have been trialling out across all classes, but with the parental contact function in Yrs 1 and 3 - successfully.

  We will now use Class Dojo as part of our school reward system to encourage positive behaviour in school, but also as a means to share information with parents more effectively - as we move towards a system, where less paper is needed.

  Children can earn Dojo points by demonstrating positive behaviour such as helping others, working hard, being kind to others and making good progress during lessons. However, children can also lose Dojo points for breaking the school rules, including being disrespectful, being off task or hurting others.  As parents, you will be notified about your child's positive behaviour via Dojo. 

   Parents/carers can access the details of their child’s Dojo account through the Class Dojo website www.classdojo.com or the Class Dojo app for their mobile phone or tablet. Once you are signed up, you are then able to monitor the points that have been earned or lost each day and Class Dojo can also be used to send messages between teachers and parents.

   Each class has a ‘Class Story’ which teachers update with information and photographs to show what the children have been learning about in school and this can be viewed by parents once they have logged into their account. If you are a parent/carer and do not have the login details for your account, please contact your child’s class teacher.

   

  Mr Ashton

  We talk frequently to the children about adopting a "growth mindset", trying to be a little bit better, grit and resilience and in Mr Ashton we have the perfect role model for that life message.

  This week, after several unsuccessful seasons, he finally qualified to represent GB in the amateur European Triathlete Sprint Championships in Malmo, Sweden in the summer. He is living proof of what determination and goal setting can achieve. Well done.

   

  TikTok Guide

  I am aware that several children in our school are using the video sharing social media app TikTok for recording and uploading lip-synching videos.  There is a 12+ age restriction on this app and serious concerns have been raised about children of that age and younger using the app on their telephones or devices. Parents need to be aware that the app allows children to participate in live chats in chatrooms where the children do not know who they are chatting with. Please read the attached advice or https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/wake-up-wednesday/tiktok-guide/

   

  

• Happy New Year

  Tue 07 Jan 2020 Mr J Howe

  As the wind whips across the quad and the leaves seem to move in waves, we welcomed the children back today. It is back to our routines, back to school, setting goals for the start of a new decade.

   

  And the months ahead reach out to us with all of those annual events we often enjoy (World Book Day, Poetry Recital/Sports Day) and sometimes just have to put up with (new Yr 4 times table test, SATS) yet life in school is rarely - if every - predictable.

   

  Today, Yr 3 welcomed a new teacher and former pupil: Mr Good, while Miss Watson - our new apprentice - has joined our FSU team. The children have helped them settle in - displaying the kindness and good manners we are used to in our school.

   

  This week is Design Technology week, with lots of sporting opportunities thrown in around it: street dance, gymnastics and basketball, with Year 5 competing in the Hoops4Health competition.

   

  With only 6 weeks before the next holiday, we have some exciting plans for the start of the school year and look forward to squeezing in as much as possible...happy new year.