Hellingly Community School Newsletter 16th December 2020
Welcome to our Term 2 Newsletter,
Well what can I say...when I first met our Chair of Governors, Michael Nix, back in March who knew what the rest of the year would hold! It certainly has been rather different than expected with managing the many challenges we have all been dealt. It is important for us to take time to reflect on the impact that Coronavirus has had on many of our families and we send our love and thoughts to you all. We also need to take time to reflect on the positivity that has shone too. The children returning in their school uniform in September excited to see their friends and their teachers for one and the support of the local community another.
When I looked back at my last newsletter I read my paragraph introducing the Google Classroom. I wrote back then ‘as a community we still have some challenges to face in the coming months with the Coronavirus pandemic. We have now set up a Google Classroom per year group. This is a new way of working for us and strangely, one I am hoping that we won’t all have to use!’ Who knew that as a whole school we would be accessing this for two weeks! We were pleased with how this worked on the whole. We knew it was going to be a steep learning curve! We have taken on board any comments raised about the Google Classroom. Please see the section on Google Classroom further on in this newsletter where the children have shared their experiences.
We are very aware that this Christmas seems a little different but it is fantastic to be back, even for the last week of term to enjoy the festive season with the children. We are looking forward to sharing the children's class videos with you before Christmas, as well as the children taking part in Christmas dinner on Wednesday, Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday and Christmas Party Day on Friday. The children will be enjoying Jack and the Beanstalk as an online (this link will be shared on Google Classroom for children self-isolating). We are also hoping the man himself may pay us a visit too!
We will be saying goodbye to Lauren McDonnell at the end of term 2. Mrs McDonnell has worked at the school for five years and has chosen to take the opportunity to work in a different position within education. We wish her well in her new role. Mrs Hefferenan will replace her in Meteors one day a week.
Throughout this term I have been full of respect for our teaching team, for our hard working and resilient pupils and been grateful for all the positive comments we have received from our parent community. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas time and all the very best for 2021.
We look forward to seeing all the children back in school on Tuesday 5th January.
Mrs Michelle McKay Head of School
Christmas at our School
We hope you have all managed to see our beautiful Christmas tree and lights donated by our PTA. We knew all the children and families would not be able to see the tree if it was in the school hall so we asked for one to go outside. We hope you agree that it is a slice of Christmas cheer we all need. Thank you to Mrs Camp for creating the banner too.
Governors
A message from Michael Nix
We had an excellent response to our call for new governors. At our meeting this month we agreed to appoint Stuart Weston and Emma Maynard as Co-opted Governors and Catherine Williams as an Associate Governor. Stuart, Emma and Catherine all have children at Hellingly and they bring valuable skills and experience to the Board. We're really grateful to them for stepping forward and making this extra commitment to Hellingly
See our school website for more information on our School Governors https://hellingly.e-sussex.sch.uk/about-us/governance/
Keeping Hellingly Litter Free
Thank you to Dylan in Year 1 for sending in this poster reminding everyone to keep our environment litter free.
NEW DATE - SCHOOL PHOTOS Your child's individual school photograph will be taking place on January 21st January. Please ensure that your child is in full school uniform, looking their usual lovely best. Please be advised that we will not be offering photos with siblings who are not already school age due to COVID-19 restrictions. We hope that we will be able to offer this when the photographers will be in June instead.
Pupil Voice - Remote Learning using the Google Classroom
The children were keen to tell us their experiences on using the Google Classroom.
Galaxies ‘I was a firework at home (PE lesson)’ - Annie I liked Mrs Varley was showing us the book’ (Poo at the Zoo by Steve Smallman)- James ‘I watched some sounds’ - Reuben Asteroids ‘I liked when we played the d and b game on the video’ Evie ‘ I liked when we played the game with you, Miss hosken, when we had to find things’ Parker
Comets
‘I enjoyed doing the art lesson where we made waves like the sea. It was good to say hello when we could all see each other’ - Samuel ‘I liked the work we did on the spaghetti poem and the rhymes’ - James
Satellites
‘I like Google Classroom. I liked being able to message my teacher to talk about my work’ - Ella ‘I really enjoyed our live lesson. It was good to see everyone when we couldn't be in school together’ - Lea & Jack
Meteors ‘I enjoyed reading the book online’ - Heidi ‘I liked the maths perimeter work we did’ - Dexter ‘I enjoyed moving the slides on myself’ - Lilly ‘ I enjoyed the live lesson’ - Jacob Planets I likes that if we needed to we could ask the teachers about the learning’ - Abigail I found it better than Purple Mash as you could message the teacher about any work - Matthew ‘I liked it, I could still communicate with Miss Griggs’ - Archie
Year 6 Astronomers & Stars
Callum, "I thought making carrot biscuits was fun as we were able to take part together even though we weren't in school."
"I enjoyed having the live lessons as it was a chance to check in with my friends." Eva
"I was really happy to join in with the live lessons to do the work and see all my classmates." Sam
‘it was really easy when you got the hang of it!’ Isobel P
‘It was useful and I feel I was still learning stuff but it was a little tricky at first to work it out’ Izzy
‘You could go at your own pace’ - Jess
‘I liked having the chat option. it was useful and fun’ Dexter
Find out more information about Google Classroom on our school website https://hellingly.e-sussex.sch.uk/classes/google-class
Keeping Safe Online With technology gifts being high on wish lists each year, it is important to ensure that you and your children are safe when playing with new devices. To help you over the holidays, here are some excellent top tips from the UK Safer Internet Centre to help keep your household safe online. The article also contains links to further information about Online Safety.
Buying technology as gifts?
Learn your way around Most devices have controls to ensure that children can’t access content you don’t want them to. These include settings for online searching, “in-app” purchases, as well as screen time allowances. Once you hand over devices on Christmas morning, it can be hard to get them back, so it’s great to have a go on any devices you buy before handing over on the morning of the 25th! This allows you to set up any restrictions in advance and learn your way around any settings and functionalities in case your child comes to you for help!
Setting-up your tablets in advance Tablets are really popular with younger children and there are a wide range to choose from, including child-friendly and educational models. When it comes to setting up and using tablets, why not start slowly? Download games and apps you have checked out carefully. Sites such as Net Aware or Common Sense Media provide useful advice.
For mobile phones If you have older children and are thinking about getting them a new phone for Christmas, this can pose different challenges. The warnings are evolving, having your home computer in a communal place doesn’t easily apply to this modern technology. If you think about it - phones are literally mobile computers and have the power of most traditional desktop PCs.
Parental controls over the holiday As young people will be spending more time online over the holidays, why not consider setting up parental controls on your Wi-Fi? You can block access to inappropriate or adult content and set time limits. For advice on how to do this, Internet Matters have a great guide on setting up parental controls.
Top tips for phones or tablets over the holidays ∙ Set boundaries Our advice is to set some ground rules, and ensure they understand them. For example: ∙ Apply Screen Time Limits Agree a time limit or number of games beforehand, to avoid repeated disagreements around how long they can spend online. ∙ Sleep comes first We advise that phones or tablets stay out of the bedroom overnight to charge. This avoids those night time distractions. ∙ Ask for access If you’re concerned about something happening or want to take a look at the games and apps they are on, ask them to allow you access to the phone. ∙ Monitoring vs having a conversation It is possible to install software onto devices that monitors online activity on devices. This type of software is becoming increasingly popular, but while this might sound tempting, it does pose a number of issues around your child’s right to privacy. Instead why not have a conversation about the types of things they are doing online, and create a family agreement to set out expected behaviour. The best advice we can give is to talk to your child regularly and openly about behaviour and risk, so that they know they can come to you if something goes wrong.
Deciding about gaming Each year there are so many exciting games and consoles around, there is a good chance you might have one coming into your house. There are a few different ways to make a judgement about the types of games that are right for your child – but research is key. Downloading and using the game or app yourself is a great idea to experience first-hand what your child may be exposed to. Understandably for some parents, this can seem a little intimidating but it will also mean you’re well placed to support your child if you go on to let them use it too. Alternatively, you can go to NetAware or Common Sense Media for more information. We have also put together specific guidance on how to decide and manage which games your child is allowed to play.
Setting New Year’s resolutions New Year is a great time to make some new resolutions around technology use. From taking a look at your account settings and cleaning up friends lists to getting involved in Safer Internet Day, why not resolve to make the online world a little kinder?
Article featured on: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/staying-safe-online-christmas Dec 2019
PTA Rather than a Just Giving page the PTA have decided to use the link to their existing PayPal account. If you would like to make a christmas donation to the school please follow the details below. The link needs to be entered into a browser and not google search and you can leave a message if you like too!
PayPal.me/hellinglyPTA
Free School Meal Vouchers
th On the 8 N ovember the government announced the COVID Winter Grant Scheme. Under the scheme, funding is being provided to Councils to support those most in need across England with the cost of food, Energy and water bills and other associated costs.
East Sussex County Council has agreed to use some of the fund to support the provision of vouchers to children and young people eligible for free school meals over the Christmas and February half-term holidays.
The local authority has identified a voucher provider, huggg, and are currently working with then to set up accounts for all eligible pupils for the two week Christmas holiday.
If your child is entitled to free school meals you will shortly receive an email from Huggg with more information.
Support outside of school
https://hailsham.foodbank.org.uk/ https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/
Phone us - 07474 671350
Email us - info@hailsham.foodbank.org.uk
For more support and suggested sites during the For information from the school and outside agencies Coronavirus pandemic see our COVID-19 page on on Special Educational Needs and disabilities visit our our website SEN page on our website
https://hellingly.e-sussex.sch.uk/parent-info/covid-19 https://hellingly.e-sussex.sch.uk/about-us/sen-local-o -information/ ffer/
Reading
Have a look at these links for some last minute ideas for giving the gift of reading.
https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/5/5-plus-readers.html
https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/t10/UK-Top-10-Childrens-books.html
Communication
Our Website https://hellingly.e-sussex.sch.uk/
Hellingly Community Primary School Facebook page We are pleased to inform you that Hellingly has a new official Facebook page which we will be sharing news, updates and reminders on. Please like our page Hellingly Community Primary School to keep updated. You can also find the link to this page on our school website.
Class Newsletters Teachers send out a class newsletter at the start of each term to give you the information on your child's learning for the upcoming term. These can also be found on the class pages of the website.
2021- 22 Prospective Parents Visits Please contact the school office for information
Dates for your diary
2020 - 2021
th Term 1 7 September – 23rd October nd th Term 2 2 November – 18 Dece mber th th Term 3 5 January - 12 February nd st Term 4 22 February – 31 March th th Term 5 19 April – 28 May th Term 6 7 June - 22nd July
We are Tier 2
Mrs McKay’s Christmas Jumper Competition Result
Hello I’m the Year 6 School Council member Grace. I just want to thank all the participants of the School Jumper competition (including parents). Many people had amazing designs but the winners were Imogen, Freddie, Abigail, Orla, Ella, James, Dylan and Florence. The overall design winners that Mrs McKay will be wearing on Christmas Jumper Day are Abigail from Year 5 and the back of James’ design from Year 2.
Thank you to all children who participated.
Grace School Council - Stars Class
Winning design Abigail Planets Class Winning back design James Comets Class
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From all of us at
Hellingly Community Primary School