Since September, we have been dedicated to enhancing our curriculum to foster our children’s understanding and appreciation of diversity. A key component of this initiative is the Anti-Racist Education Programme (AREP). We have collaborated with an external consultant who has been training our staff and engaging with the children to gather their views, opinions, and understanding in this area.
All classes from Years 1-6 will participate in AREP before Easter, and we are thrilled to report that the classes who have already taken part have greatly enjoyed and benefited from their learning experiences. You can read more about AREP here.
Following a recent visit from our consultant, we were delighted to receive the following feedback:
“Thank you for your enthusiasm and ability to reflect and think about how to change things in this Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Agenda. It is a journey and has been a real pleasure working with you.”
The children have also experienced assemblies recently to develop their understanding of Protected Characteristics and British Values. Below you will see how we have explained them to your children. Why not ask your children about them?
PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
Protected characteristics are about understanding and respecting different kinds of people. Imagine our school is like a big, colourful garden with many different flowers. Each flower is different and special in its own way and together that’s what makes our garden beautiful. Protected characteristics help us remember that like the flowers in the garden everyone is different and special too. These differences can be things like age, being a boy or girl, skin colour, having a disability, what religion someone follows, who they love, if someone changes from being a boy to a girl or a girl to a boy, being married, or having a baby. It’s important to be kind and respectful to everyone, no matter how different they might be.
BRITISH VALUES
British values are like the rules of a game that help us all play nicely together. They guide how we should behave to make sure everyone feels safe and happy. Think of them as the golden rules for being a good friend and a good citizen. These values include things like democracy (everyone having a say), the rule of law (following rules), individual liberty (being free to make choices), mutual respect (being kind to each other), and tolerance (accepting people who are different from us). By following these values, we can all get along and make our school a great place to be.
This week we have been celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week.
Your children have been actively engaging in activities and discussions centred around mental health. As part of our Wellbeing Assembly, we explored the theme of Children’s Mental Health Week, which is in association with Here4You and supported by Disney. You can find out more about this initiative here: Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week – Official site
This Year’s Theme: “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself”
The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is “Know Yourself, Grow Yourself.” It’s a wonderful opportunity for our children to reflect on their personal growth and self-awareness. In our classes, we’ve been working on several activities to help them understand and appreciate their unique qualities.
The children have all also participated in a special yoga session focussing on listening to their bodies and developing helpful strategies to support good mental health.
Meet our Wellbeing Officers:
We thought that Children’s Mental Health Week would be the perfect opportunity to introduce our new Wellbeing Offices. These children are going to work hard with Miss Waugh to ensure that all our children always have a friendly face to chat with if they need it. They will be there if anyone needs a buddy or someone to help them at breaktimes. The Wellbeing Officers will also deliver half-termly assemblies which will focus on helping us identify and deal with our ‘big emotions’.
You can spot them in the playground wearing their purple hats or around school with their purple badges.
Please read our latest version of Dragon’s Roar here.
The theme for Safer Internet Day on 11th February is ‘Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’
During the week of Safer Internet Day the children will have an assembly and do some extra lessons to help keep them safe online.
There are some tips below for parents below and you can find out more here: Tips for Parents and Carers – UK Safer Internet Centre
Top Tips for use Tips for Parents and Carers of 3-7 year olds
This Safer Internet Day we are starting a conversation about how to spot, respond to, and report all types of scams online. Scams can take many forms and could target anyone, including young people. Whilst your 3-7 year old may not yet be ready to use the internet independently, use our top tips to start good online habits now that will help keep them safe in the future.
Enjoy going online together
Spending time online together with family is an important learning experience for the youngest internet users. Not only will you both enjoy the quality time together, but you can supervise their usage and guide them to make the safest choices.
Talk about their online experiences
Help give your child the language to explain what they’re experiencing online by starting conversations about the internet and technology as early as possible. Talking regularly about what they love doing online, as well as any worries they may have , will help establish this habit and mean they’re more likely to come to you for help as they get older.
Make use of settings, especially relating to online purchases
Parental controls and other safety settings can help protect your child from online harms, including scams. To avoid any nasty surprises on your bank statement, make sure in-app purchases or new downloads require a passcode, and don’t set card details to autofill on devices your child has access to.
Explain that not everything online is true
If your child is too young to understand what fraud is, you can still lay the groundwork to help them stay safe online as they grow. Start simple and talk about the difference between real and make believe. Help them recognise that not everything online is true and that some things they see or hear could be stories, jokes or tricks.
Make sure they know they can always come to you
The most important thing for your child to know is that you are always there to support them, online and offline. Encourage them to talk to you if anything they experience makes them feel worried or upset, and show them they can trust you to stay calm, listen and help make things better.
Top Tips 7-11 year olds
Use these tips to help you stay safe from scams online and enjoy your time learning, playing and chatting with others.
Look for signs that something online cannot be trusted
Ever seen something online that seems too good to be true? This probably means it can’t be trusted. If someone messages you out of the blue, or is asking for money or personal information, they may be trying to scam you.
Look out for these warning signs and ask a trusted adult if you think you’ve spotted a scam online.
Use a secure password
Your password is like the key to your front door, you shouldn’t share it with other people. Make sure to use a password that is hard to guess. It shouldn’t contain any personal information and is best when it’s a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols.
Combining random words can help make more memorable passwords if you’re worried about forgetting it!
Think carefully about when and where you share your personal information
Personal information is all the details that could help someone work out who you are and includes your name, address, school, passwords and more. Sometimes you have to share your personal information, like when you’re setting up a new online account, but some people will also try to steal these details.
Never share your personal information with other players or users online, and don’t enter your details on websites or forms without speaking to a trusted adult first.
Not everyone online can be trusted, including in games
You may enjoy playing games online with other people, but remember that not everyone you chat with can be trusted. If you only know someone from the internet, make sure your chat stays on safe topics, like the game you’re playing together. If someone asks you to chat with them privately or on a different app, be careful as this could be a sign they’re trying to trick you.
If a player offers you an amazing trade, but won’t use the trade tool in the game, they may be trying to steal from you. Only trade in games using the official trading tools.
Ask for help, including if you want to make an online purchase
Being targeted by a scam is never your fault and it’s always okay to ask for help. Speak to trusted adults like your parents, grandparents, teachers, or club leaders if something goes wrong online or if you see something that you’re not sure about.
Remember, if you want to buy something online, you should always ask first to make sure you have permission and the money to do so!
Please read our latest version of Dragon’s Roar here.
Please read our latest version of Dragon’s Roar here.
Please read our latest version of Dragon’s Roar here.
Please read our latest version of Dragon’s Roar here.
Children in Need 2024
On Friday, our school came together to support the Children in Need charity, and we couldn’t be more proud of the kindness and generosity shown by everyone.
Students and staff brought in donations to help fill our Pudsey Bears, and we were amazed by the response. Thanks to all of your contributions, we were able to raise £235.21 for this worthy cause!
A special thanks to the School Council, who worked alongside Mrs. Buttery to carefully count the donations and keep everything organised. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support, and we’re thrilled to see how much we were able to raise together.
Your donations will go a long way in supporting children and families in need, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
Thank you to everyone who contributed—your kindness truly makes a difference.
It’s that time of year again and we’re heading to the panto! OH YES WE ARE!!!
Whole School Panto visit Monday 16th December (PM)
Dear Parents/Carers,
As per our annual Christmas tradition, we are pleased to announce that we have booked for the whole school (F2-Y6) to go on a trip to see the pantomime at Loughborough Town Hall.
Our AMAZING Friends of KPNS have offered to fund every child’s ticket to go to the pantomime ‘Snow White’.
This year, we are attending an afternoon performance which starts at 1:45 which means we will be leaving school at 12:30. The performance finishes at 4pm and therefore we are expecting to be back at school by approximately 4:45pm. As we have to leave early for lunch, we are asking that all pupils bring a packed lunch to school that day.
As Friends have already paid £10 per ticket, we kindly ask for a contribution of £7.50 that we can use towards paying for the coach. This can be paid on Arbor.
Please can your child also bring a drink with them and they can be collected from school, through their usual entrance, from approximately 4:45pm.
Any questions, please contact the school office. I’m sure you’ll hear about all the fun we have on our return.
Thanks again to the Friends and to each and every person who has supported their fundraising by attending their events!
Yours faithfully
Mrs G King
Head of School