Last week Mr Forman and Mrs Turner did some balance bike training and we have just received six brand-new balance bikes and helmets for EYFS to use on the playground.
Owls class have enjoyed the beautiful weather on Thursday for their Level 1 Bikeability training and Year 5 went out on the roads on Tuesday and Wednesday, after initial assessment of ability on the playground. They learnt how to turn at junctions in the village with real traffic around, as part of their Level 2 training.
A full pathway from Early Years to Year 5 to develop children's confidence, bike handling skills, safety and road awareness to create healthy and safe cyclists of the future. Maybe this week has seen the first cycling sparks lit of a future Tour de France winner... or (more likely maybe) meant that many Manor children will have a healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport and leisure activity that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.
Thanks to the expert instructors for their work with the children and to parents for supporting the children with getting bikes into school in good working order.
Thank you to the Chetwynd family for forwarding the link at the end of the Newsletter below for free 'bike marking and registering' in the Castle Grounds on Sunday if you are interested.
Your Arbor Data
A request from Mrs Everett for parents and carers to please check the data we hold for you on our MIS system (Arbor where you pay for trips, dinners etc). Please check we have the correct, up-to-date contact details such as mobile phones and emails and that these do not contain any errors. Please also check that the contacts list has the correct priority order for who we should contact in the event of an emergency. Clearly, it is important that we are able to contact the appropriate people quickly and efficiently. If you need any help with how to do any of this, Mrs Everett would be more than happy to help.
Mr Culff Engaged!
Some lovely news following half term when Mr Culff popped the question and Emily (amazingly!) agreed. Swans were very excited to hear that Mr Culff is going to get married. Congratulations to the happy couple. Now, Mr Lloyd... no pressure!
Music at Manor
We rounded off the first half of the spring term with a music concert for parents held in the school hall. Penguins children performed some of their repertoire from their 'Whole Class Ensemble Tuition' (WCET) lessons that are provided by Staffordshire Music Service specialist music teachers. Mrs Garbutt has recently taken over this role at Manor and she helped Penguins to perform their Doods (starter clarinets) before leading her woodwind groups though a performance. These were flute and clarinet players who have extra lessons in school time paid for by parents who were invited to come and watch. We also had a guitar performance by the many guitarists who also have extra lunchtime lessons. Their parents were also invited to join us. Finally, we had Zach who has his own keyboard lessons at home. Zach wowed the audience with his exceptional talent, playing several Grade 2 piano tunes from memory without music. All of the children performed brilliantly and made us all very proud.
Penguins playing their 'doods' on non-uniform day
Forest School
As the weather starts to improve (fingers crossed) and the buds are starting to appear on trees, we thought we would bring our Forest School programme out of hibernation. Mrs Viollet will be starting with Year 5 in a couple of weeks, on Monday mornings, up until the Year 6 have completed their SATS tests in May. We then intend to do some sessions for Year 1 and Year 3 in the summer term. If we have any volunteers to support Mrs Viollet, please do just let the school office know. We can obviously guarantee this beautiful weather every week!
Of course, Robins and Ducklings have never stopped their Forest School sessions throughout the winter, whatever the weather. As they say... 'no such thing as the wrong weather, as long as they have the right clothing'!
Parent Survey
Our team is gearing up for a new survey in which we'll be giving you the opportunity to express your opinion on parent and guardian engagement at Manor Primary and your overall confidence in the school’s strategy. Our goal is to open up a communication channel where your voice is heard and organised in such a way that we can create the best learning environment for your child. To help us with this, we're working together with the Edurio survey platform. To complete the survey, please click here:
Surveys are completely anonymous and confidential, though the responses will be aggregated for the purpose of analysis. The survey will be available until 19th March. Your opinion and honesty are much appreciated. If you have any questions or concerns please do get in touch. We look forward to your feedback!
PTA Events
The PTA have been busy planning for the rest of the school year and have lots of fun ideas in the pipeline. The dates in the Newsletter below have the next couple of events, which are a film night and a uniform sale, but there are more dates on the full calendar on the website and more to be confirmed shortly.
The PTA have also been busy looking for alternative sources of funding for the school such as grants and other schemes that we can be entered for. The PTA team are all busy people with family lives and jobs who freely give so much of their time and energy for the children at Manor. They are all very much appreciated. If you would like to get involved and help out at any of the events or support them in bid writing etc. then approach any of the members directly or ask in school, and we can introduce you. It is fun and worthwhile to get involved, and they're a friendly bunch who would always welcome an extra bit of support!
World Book Day
Next Thursday 6th is World Book Day. We would love the children to join us in dressing as a book character for the day. We will be doing activities through the week related to books and a whole school text, all to encourage the enjoyment of reading.
Trust Student Council
In a few weeks' time, Manor will be hosting the first Fierté Trust Student Council meeting since before Covid times. We have invited a pupil selected from each of the 10 Fierté schools to join us to talk about their ideas for pupil involvement in the Trust and how we can bring the family of schools together more closely. They might decide to run inter-school competitions, cross-Trust campaigns or chances for further interaction between children in different schools. There will be a full range of ages with infant schools and junior schools from across Tamworth and Burton. It is up to schools to decide how they select their representative as long as there is some form of democracy involved. At Manor we chose from the school council children who had been elected by their class already. We then looked at who had been the most proactive and had consistently performed their school councillor role throughout the year. We also decided to look at some of our older children in school council so they could help lead the group when they meet. It was a difficult decision, but we eventually decided that Evie in Year 6 deserved to be our representative. If children have any ideas that they would like Evie to share with the Trust Student Council then they should either speak to their school council representatives or to Evie herself.
Online Issues
Another week and another set of issues caused by Penguins children using social media at home. The problems have spilt over into school again, and it has taken Mrs Armstrong several hours to sort them out... until the next time. We would rather that Mrs Armstrong was teaching, marking, assessing or planning in this time rather than having to do her job after she gets home at 6:30pm or at the weekend.
No child at our school is old enough to be at the recommended age for social media use (at least age 13) and the few children who never go on social media or don't have a phone of their own in Penguins, through no coincidence, are never involved in the dramas and falling outs. It is up to parents to decide these things, of course, but it is also up to parents to closely monitor and manage their own child's use.
We work hard to educate the children in school to use the internet safely and this includes social media. We will always help to try and sort out any issues between children at school, but these issues are becoming more frequent and time-consuming and the children are often not showing us the emotional maturity needed for the interactions that they are having online. Either removing children from social media entirely or parents policing it more closely are potential short or medium-term solutions.
There are no easy answers and this part of parenting is always going to be tricky. The slow release of control leading to well-balanced independent adults is a long and winding road with plenty of potholes along the way; we are happy to talk to anyone if you think we can help.
Mobile Phones in School
We have had a steady increase in the number of children bringing mobile phones into school for teachers to look after during the day. The reason given is often to do with staying over at someone's house. If this is the case, please pass the phone to the adult whose house they will be going to rather than sending them to school.
This leaves our teachers responsible for expensive devices in their desk drawers that children have handed them. From now on we would ask that any essential phone is brought by an adult and handed in to the school office where it will be locked in a locker. We will be asking the adult to complete a form with a waiver and the reason that we are being asked to keep the phone in school.
Phones brought in by children will be retained in school for an adult to collect or to come in and complete the paperwork. Wherever possible, please avoid any phones being sent in to school.
Science Workshop for Parents
During British Science Week we are holding a science day with parents and carers invited to join us for a workshop. Mr Lloyd, our science leader will talk to parents from 9-9:15am in the hall before they join the children in the classrooms for a science lesson. Early Years parents will be in class up to 10am and parents in other classes will have up to about 10:30am to share the science learning. Those with more than one child can swap between classes as they wish. Lab coats and safety glasses are optional!
Swans have been busy over the last few weeks creating their 'Paper Play' art project based on the ‘Maman’ spider sculpture (1999) by the artist Louise Bourgeois. Mr Robson started the projectand worked with the children to create the structure. The children then worked in sma...
Today is Safer Internet Day 2025.Children at Manor received an extended assembly on a range of key areas based on e-safety. Owls Class also took part in a nationwide BBC lesson where they took part in 3 activities to help be aware of, and spot, potential online scams as well as how to create a s...
order for who we should contact in the event of an emergency. Clearly, it is important that we are able to contact the appropriate people quickly and efficiently. If you need any help with how to do any of this, Mrs Everett would be more than happy to help.
of weeks, on Monday mornings, up until the Year 6 have completed their SATS tests in May. We then intend to do some sessions for Year 1 and Year 3 in the summer term. If we have any volunteers to support Mrs Viollet, please do just let the school office know. We can obviously guarantee this beautiful weather every week!
strategy. Our goal is to open up a communication channel where your voice is heard and organised in such a way that we can create the best learning environment for your child. To help us with this, we're working together with the Edurio survey platform. To complete the survey, please click here:
Next Thursday 6th is World Book Day. We would love the children to join us in dressing as a book character for the day. We will be doing activities through the week related to books and a whole school text, all to encourage the enjoyment of reading.
the Trust and how we can bring the family of schools together more closely. They might decide to run inter-school competitions, cross-Trust campaigns or chances for further interaction between children in different schools. There will be a full range of ages with infant schools and junior schools from across Tamworth and Burton. It is up to schools to decide how they select their representative as long as there is some form of democracy involved. At Manor we chose from the school council children who had been elected by their class already. We then looked at who had been the most proactive and had consistently performed their school councillor role throughout the year. We also decided to look at some of our older children in school council so they could help lead the group when they meet. It was a difficult decision, but we eventually decided that Evie in Year 6 deserved to be our representative. If children have any ideas that they would like Evie to share with the Trust Student Council then they should either speak to their school council representatives or to Evie herself.
During British Science Week we are holding a science day with parents and carers invited to join us for a workshop. Mr Lloyd, our science leader will talk to parents from 9-9:15am in the hall before they join the children in the classrooms for a science lesson. Early Years parents will be in class up to 10am and parents in other classes will have up to about 10:30am to share the science learning. Those with more than one child can swap between classes as they wish. Lab coats and safety glasses are optional!
