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Friday 6th October 2023

Messages from the Principal, Miss Jarrett

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Dear Phoenix Community!

As we transition into the (mostly) beautiful autumnal weather, I hope this newsletter finds you all in good health and high spirits. This season brings with it a new sense of energy and excitement as we embark on a variety of activities and initiatives at our school. Here are some important updates and highlights from our wonderful Phoenix family.

I am thrilled to announce the success of our recent Cycle to School Week! It was heartwarming to see so many of our children embrace the initiative, choosing to ride their bikes and scooters to school. This not only promotes physical activity and a healthier lifestyle but also reduces our carbon footprint. Please do continue to keep this up!

We are continuing to hold regular parent workshops - please do try to attend these as they provide an opportunity for you to understand our school curriculum and how you can help at home.

One of the most fundamental skills we can impart to our children is the love of reading. Reading is not just a tool for acquiring knowledge; it is a passport to other worlds, a gateway to creativity, and a lifelong source of joy. We encourage all parents and guardians to set aside some time each day for reading with your child. Whether it's a bedtime story, a shared chapter book, or reading independently, fostering a love for books will have a lasting impact on their intellectual and emotional growth. We love to see photos of children reading at home, so please share these with your child's teacher via either Learning with Parents or Class Dojo.

As the leaves change colors and the weather cools down, it's essential to ensure that our children are dressed appropriately for the season. Please make sure they come to school with jackets, sweaters, and other warm clothing. Please ensure these are named and please do bear with us if items go missing. One of our HEROIC values is "Independence" and it is important that we all support our children with this and understand that occasionally a jumper/cardigan may go missing! We still have lots of second hand uniform, so you are more than welcome to pop by the office and take a spare jumper/cardi home!

Have a lovely week!

SAFEGUARDING

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Safeguarding Team Spotlight: Meet the Guardians of Our Phoenix Community

At Phoenix Infant Academy, the safety and well-being of our students are of paramount importance. We are proud to introduce you to the dedicated members of our safeguarding team who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure a secure and nurturing environment for all our students.

With a wealth of experience in child protection, Miss Jarrett and Miss Austin are our go-to staff for safeguarding concerns. Mr Bowskill and Miss Tait are also highly experienced and trained in safeguarding and are also be happy to help if you have any concerns.

Our safeguarding team is always available to support both students and parents. If you have any concerns or questions related to the safety and well-being of your child, please do not hesitate to reach out to them. We believe that by working together, we can create a safe and nurturing environment where our students can thrive.

World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is happening on Tuesday 10 October 2023. The official theme for this year’s event is ‘Mental health is a universal human right’, as set by the World Federation for Mental Health.

Mental health has declined in almost 40% of schoolchildren1
ITV’s Britain Get Talking is setting the nation a different kind of homework for World Mental Health Day
A task designed to help ease stress and reduce anxiety, by helping young people open up about the hardest subjects on their minds.

ITV and STV have launched a new initiative from the UK’s most recognised mental health campaign, Britain Get Talking. The broadcaster is encouraging every school in the country to set a different kind of homework ahead of World Mental Health Day on 10th October. Designed in collaboration with a psychologist and the teaching community, the task encourages young people to have a proper chat with an adult they trust about the hardest subject on their minds.

Building on moments when millions of households across the country sit down together to do homework, the task is created to make starting a conversation easier, and also to remind everyone that our daily lives present valuable opportunities to have a meaningful conversation. Please spend time with your child talking about any worries they may have. You could draw together or write them down. There is no right or wrong way to complete this homework! The important thing is spending time talking together.

We would like everyone to wear yellow and say #HelloYellow 2023 on Tuesday 10th October.

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ONLINE SAFETY TIPS:

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Celebrating our Children!

This week has seen children in KS1's writing go from strength to strength! Children (and teachers) have been upskilling their Makaton use to retell their stories. Do ask them to retell you their focus texts! Year 1 have been writing about Kevin from the text "Can I Build Another Me?" and Year 2 have been writing descriptions of different characters, having learnt the text "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig". Below we have writing from Hadiya, Zainab, Harry and Saira.

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Student Leadership

Thank you to everyone who supported our Macmillan Coffee morning. We raised £240 which is brilliant. A special thank you goes to our new School Councillors for supporting their first fundraising event so successfully!

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Sporting Updates

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Dear Parents

In school PE lessons this term so far, the children have been learning to use their feet in different ways. We call this footwork and the children have been learning to control their feet in different ways such as side stepping, skipping, zig-zagging, hopscotching and using high knees to name a few.

So, Mr Pell has a challenge for the children to do at home. This can be done in any room in the home or garden. Choose a room and travel around the room using three different pieces of footwork. Talk to your parents first about which room to do this in and think about your route around the furniture. How can you make it easier and how could you make it harder?

Enjoy the challenge!

Parents, I also have a request of you. At my last school, one of the parents was a former Premier League footballer and he was gracious enough to come in and do various PE workshops with the children and even ran some clubs.

If any of you parents have a hidden talent and play a sport that you would like to share with us, please let me know. It could be cricket, football, rugby or even a lesser known or played sport such as archery, kurling or it could be a sport from your culture that no one has heard of here.

It would be wonderful to expose the children to a rich array of sports which then widens their learning to other cultures.

Thank you, Mr Pell

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ParentPay - Trips

Year 1 and Year 2 trips for Autumn 2 are now live on Parentpay. We would be grateful if you could pay these as quickly as possible to ensure the trips are able to go ahead.

All trips for the rest of the school year will be live on Parentpay within the next month. This is to help improve communication between home and school (so you know what trips are coming up) and enable you to plan for, and budget for these over the course of the year. You can choose whether to pay these straight away or nearer the time of the trip.

If you do not yet have an active parentpay account, please speak with our school office who will be happy to help.

ATTENDANCE

Well done to all parents/carers who continue to ensure their children attend school regularly.

This week Year 2 has the highest attendance of any year group across the school. Well done!!

The class winners in each year group can be seen below.

All attendance expectations can be found on our website.

Please do get in touch if you would like any support getting your child to school and on time.

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RECEPTION CLASS WINNER

Well done to Blackbirds class who won the attendance trophy this week with 98%.

Keep it up!

YEAR 1 CLASS WINNER

Well done to Kingfisher class who won the attendance trophy this week with 97%.

Keep it up!

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YEAR 2 CLASS WINNER

Well done to Buzzard class who won the attendance trophy this week with 98%.

Keep it up!

Attendance Challenge

We have already completed Week 1 of the Challenge. 2 more weeks to go and Mr Bowskill can give out our very 1st Attendance Challenge badges.

Remember, your child needs 100% attendance for the 3 week period to receive their badge. That means they need to be in school EVERY day.

If you are having difficulties with getting your child to school on time or to collect them on time, please let the school know so we can work with you to improve this.

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