Forest School Clothing

As mentioned above, we have started a block of 6 weeks of forest school for Years 1, 3 and 5. For Year 3 and Year 5 they have forest school in the mornings so come to school in their Forest School kit. They need to have uniform to change into for the afternoons as they will often be muddy or wet.

For Year 1, following some parental and staff feedback, we have decided to ask them to come in their forest school kit all day with just wellies in a bag to change into. This saves lost time changing in school and parents having to pack uniform etc. They will go home in the kit they have worn at forest school. Wellies can then be stored in school if they are not needed at home for the half term.

PTA Fundraising

Our fabulous PTA were a hive of activity leading up to Easter. They put together a range of beautiful gifts and goodies that they sold on the playground. These helped to build some excitement among the children and were convenient and quality gifts that helped parents too. There were fun games for all to take part in and refreshments to keep the adults happy. A huge amount of work behind the scenes by a small group of parents and carers allowed the PTA to raise a total of £469.13 over the 2 week period (before card machine fees). This allowed them to provide gifts such as an Easter egg for every child (and staff!), prizes for competitions and equally as importantly, fun and a sense of community and belonging, working with the school to bring everyone together. Thank you to all those who were involved.

If you fancy helping out and getting involved, whether that is for half an hour at an event or more regularly, do speak to the school office or any of the PTA members and they will be more than happy to share the load!

....in fact, I have just been asked to include the following advert below...

...Wanted - Pre-loved Uniform Coordinator

PTA are looking for someone who can lead in the role of collecting any donated uniforms, popping them in a bag with a label and then help out at sales a few times a year. 

This role is really important as it reduces costs for parents when times are hard for everyone as well as reducing our school's carbon footprint. If you (or you and a friend together) want to help out then please let us know through the school office or approach a PTA member. Thank you.

e-safety

Are you switched on to your child’s online privacy?

At Manor Primary, we teach children about staying safe online as part of our curriculum. But online safety doesn’t stop at the school gate. If you’re a parent or carer of a child aged 4-11, there’s a new campaign that could make a real difference to their safety online.

Every time children use apps, games or websites, information is collected about them - often without them realising. This can include their location, habits and even their mood.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a free campaign called Switched on to privacy to help parents and carers of children aged 4–11 start these conversations. It’s built around three simple steps:

• Chat with your child about online privacy.
• Choose actively what personal information to share.
• Check the settings whenever your child uses a new device or app.

Just like we teach children to cross the road safely, we can help them build smart habits online. Small conversations now can make a big difference as your child grows up.

Find free tips, videos and conversation starters at

• Switched on to privacy (ico.org.uk/SwitchedOn) | ICO

• Kids vs Grown-ups: what we really share online | ICO

Parent Forum

We have rearranged a parent forum meeting for next Friday 24th April from 9-10am. Mrs Armstrong will represent the school. Apologies for the short notice. If you have any items for the agenda, please let us know by email to the office or to Mrs Rooke who is chair of the forum. We hope to see you there. All welcome! 

Easter Competitions

Thank you to all those who took part in the creation of the amazing Easter hats and egg dioramas. The creativity and work that went into them was incredible and the children were so proud of their creations. It was such a lovely supportive atmosphere in the hall so thank you to those of you who were able to attend. Hopefully, you and your children had a great time working together at home and all the children were winners who took part. Having said that, we did have some judging of winners. Mrs Everett and Mr Robson chose their favourite hats in the hall which were:

Ducklings - Ezra

Robins - Sienna

Year 1 - Nina

Year 2 - Harry

Later in the morning we 'persuaded' two of our regular visitors from the Fierté central team (who had thought they were in school for a simple budget meeting!), Mrs Marriott and Mr Jones, to judge the egg dioramas. They chose:

Year 3 - Piper

Year 4 - Imogen

Year 5 - Bruno

Year 6 - Zachary

All of these children won an Easter goody bag donated by the PTA, who also supported the event by serving refreshments. Thank you again!

New Curriculum Units for this Half Term

With the start of the summer term this week, classes will have started on their new topic units in many subjects. The best way to see what your child is doing in each subject is by going on the website 'Learning' drop down and selecting 'curriculum'. With our two year rolling cycle for many subjects we are currently on 'cycle B' and the term is 'Summer 1'. If there is any further information you need in order to keep up with what your children are learning, please feel free to ask their class teachers and they will be happy to help.

Food Safety

We wanted to pass on some of the advice that we get as a school about one aspect of food safety that some people may not be aware of. For children, especially in the younger end of school, some foods have an increased danger of being a choking hazard. The most common one is grapes but can be anything that is similar in size and shape to a grape e.g. small tomatoes or chunks of sausage. The round shape and relatively firm coating means they can slip down and block passages causing choking if not chewed properly.

In school we always cut such food in half following the advice given. We also ensure that children are not left to eat alone and EYFS children have a member of staff assigned to supervise them and watch them eating.

We would not want to deter the feeding of healthy foods like this but would ask that any lunchboxes with such foods have them cut in half before sending in to school please. The chance of choking is slim, but there have been rare cases where food like whole grapes have caused this and this is one small thing we can add to keeping our children safe. Thank you for your support in this.