Dear Parents and Carers,
Thank you all for your friendship and support during this challenging time. There have been some real positives, including watching our children grow in confidence and independence whilst looking after each other. We hope you all have a safe and restful half term break.
Thanks to everybody for an amazing first term of Nursery of Christ the King
Although we have all had the challenge of another school lockdown, our new nursery class has opened and it is amazing!
Firstly can I thank our amazing team of Miss Griffiths and Miss Harvey in the classroom, Miss Stokes and Mrs Norris who support the children at lunch and Mrs Jordan who has planned such a positive opening.
The children have been amazing, have settled into their new routines and brought a new sense of excitement and joy to our school community.
But in particular can I thank our nursery parents and carers. We have worked really successfully with parents to give as many children as possible access to the new nursery, whilst keeping children and adults as safe as possible. Parents and carers have been flexible and understanding which has helped us greatly over the last term.
Thank you all so much and welcome again to the family of Christ the King.
New children's mental health website for parents and teachers
www.happymaps.co.ukHappyMaps website is a single hub of reliable, up-to-date and professional advice on mental health problems in children and young people. It covers many common problems including anxiety, self-harm, tics, gender dysphoria, ADHD, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and much more. It also has a pre-school section for issues such as sleep, behaviour, and fussy eating.
The website has already had over 56,000 users so far, with great feedback from parents, teachers, doctors and others working with young people. Resources are continually updated and we have added new pages such as “Best Apps for Mental Health” and “Mental Health during Covid ”. Although the website is aimed at parents, we have recently also added a “Self-help page for Young People” and a “Professionals” section with resources for teachers.
HappyMaps is a charity and has just received funding through The National Lottery Community Fund. This will see the website expand further and be adapted in response to parent feedback-we are particularly keen to reach parents from all communities.
Possible Reopening Date
As many of you will know, the government has identified the 8th March as a possible date for more children to return to school. They have stated that they will set out plans on the 22nd February and we will update you as soon as possible afterwards.
As before, it is possible that some classes begin to return on this date, but not all.
Home Learning Links on the School Website
Mrs Buckland and Mr Prichard have added a number of very useful links to support English and Maths. These can be found on the school website, under the Home Learning tab.
Reading Book Exchange On Mondays
This is continuing whilst in lockdown . Please keep to within your slots as much as possible to enable social distancing.
New times are:
- Years R, 1 and 2 - 9.15-10.30
- Years 3,4,5 and 6 - 11.00-12.15 Monday morning
Please bring your child’s /children’s book bags and Miss Wakeford or Mrs Martin will match and exchange the books.
World Book Day Thursday 4th March - Theme of Sharing Stories.
Although we will still be in lockdown, we will be celebrating this in school and through our home online learning links.
The local Author and illustrator Karen George, who celebrated with us last year, has designed our very own ‘sharing stories ‘ reading activity sheet. This will be made available online or a sheet can be collected from the book exchange taking place on Monday 1st March. She will be joining our celebration, virtually, on World Book Day which is on Thursday 4th March.
A Guide to using Time tables Rockstars and Numbots (a more extensive guide can be found on the school website under home learning)
Time tables Rockstars (TTRS )is a brilliant programme to support your child learning their times tables. Children in Years 3 to 6 use this regularly in school and just 5 minutes a day, if your child is at home, would go a long way towards improving their maths skills. Your child will have a rockstar name and an avatar to personalise. When your child first started the programme it assessed their ability level and set them a series of ‘gigs’ (1 minute of quick fire tables questions). They will move through the tables from the easiest (10s and 2s) to the most difficult.
Time Table Rock Star BATTLE
Every Wednesday at 1:35pm we will be having a Rockstars BATTLE. This is not only brilliant fun for children and staff, but a link to connect our pupils both at home and in school. It is currently Girls vs Boys and the top 3 in each group will receive a certificate.
Numbots (Log in details are the same for TTRS and Numbots)
This is a programme for younger children (Reception to Yr2) focusing on the addition and subtraction of numbers to 20. The children follow the programme through with the help of a series of robots.
Headteacher’s Awards
Reception -
- Phoebe for working really hard doing her home learning and for counting lots of household objects to 28!
Year 1 -
- Phoebe - for her fantastic, detailed portrait of Mr Condon.
- Mouhammad - for making a great effort to attend our class zooms regularly.
Year 2 -
- Leo - For having a fantastic attitude to his learning throughout term 3.
- Kian - For making a fantastic effort with his reading.
- Fritzhie -For always putting 100% effort in all her home learning and producing work of a very high standard.
Year 3 -
- Sofia- For showing determination to improve her times table knowledge. Incredible progress in her TT Rockstar scores!
- Ellis- For coming back to school with brilliant enthusiasm and a positive attitude.
- Ella- For writing and illustrating an incredible information text.
Year 4 -
- Des’ Arai - For persevering with the routine of home learning, improving her skills using google classroom and for spreading so much joy during our shared zoom meetings- especially reading with Mrs Holmes.
Year 5 -
- Chris - for storming through his Numbots programme
- Cienna - for managing her return to school brilliantly and trying out new things in the google classroom.
- Missey - for working with Mrs Sims to develop strategies for beating fraction addition.
Year 6
- Isabel - for your amazing Juilian Opie inspired artwork. You showed resilience and perseverance to achieve the look you wanted - well done!
- Layla - Fantastic attendance on Zoom, high quality of work submitted and consistently improved work, following guidance - great job!
Dates for Diaries
End of Term 3 - Friday 12 February 2021.
Term 4 - Monday 22 February 2021 to Thursday 1 April 2021.
World Book Day - Thursday 4th March
Term 5 - Monday 19 April 2021 to Friday 28 May 2021.
Term 6 - Monday 7 June 2021 to Wednesday 21 July 2021.
Yours sincerely
Matt Condon
Headteacher
