Week beginning 25th April 2022
Week beginning 25th April 2022
On Friday, we broke up for our two week Spring break – we all hope you have a happy, relaxing and safe one and for those of you who celebrate, we wish you a happy Easter.
Autism: we finished the term with a very special assembly where we welcomed back an ex-pupil, Thomas who came in to talk to us about life with autism and to raise awareness and acceptance of neurodiversity. It was a fascinating assembly and we are sure that the children have learned much from this. Thank you, Thomas.
Science Week: many thanks to Mrs Piamya who organised and led Science Week which was full of awe and wonder (which can be seen by the photos below!) All children had the opportunity to take part in a range of practical experiments throughout the week and it was great to welcome back the science company ‘EurekaSeekers’, who certainly inspired our children. It was an awesome week.
Mental Health Champions: we would also like to say a huge well done for the children in Year 4 who have been learning, in the last couple of weeks, about how to take good care of their mental health. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, 1 in 6 children now have a probable mental health disorder, which was previously 1 in 9 children (NHS, 2017). Stress, anxiety and feelings of uncertainty amongst children and young people have been higher than ever. It is important to us that our approach to supporting those with mental health difficulties is co-constructed with the children. It is only through high levels of pupil involvement and input that we can understand how they are feeling. We are currently working with our children in Year 4 to consider ways that we can promote peer-led support. In the last 2 weeks they have been learning about ways to keep mentally healthy and today they have taken part in a zoom workshop to learn more about how this can be promoted across our whole school community.
On the 27th April, they will take part in a workshop in school with an organisation called One Goal to learn about the 5 key skills and 5 qualities needed to become a great Mental Health Champion. They will have an opportunity to practice and roleplay these strategies and develop an action plan about how they can promote positive Mental Health across our school. Following the workshop, we will be introducing a new pupil leadership role and will be looking into appointing some Mental Health Champions. Those who are interested will then be invited to apply. We will send more information about this after the break.
Primary School Offers: during the holidays, on the 19th April, the local authority will be releasing primary school offers. Please may we remind you that, as a community school, we are not in control of our own admissions, this is all done via the local authority and we have no control or influence over who is or is not offered a place. However, we are also excited to receive the list and look forward to working alongside our new starters and their families to prepare them for starting school in September.
St George’s Day: on the first day back after the break, children who are members of uniformed organisations such as Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Cubs, Scouts etc. are invited to wear their uniforms to school in recognition of St George’s Day.
Monday Runday Club: got off to a great start this week, but we were missing several children who had signed up for this (perhaps due to the rain?). The 2nd session will take place on the first day back. Please can all members of this club be in school and ready to begin at 8:15.
Clubs: there are some new clubs starting when we return after the break as well as some long-standing older ones. Please click on this link: Clubs and Extra Curricular Activities | The Hayes Primary School to see when the clubs take place. Infant and Junior Choir will be starting again with a concert in the Fairfield Halls in June, if you would like to join either, please pick up a letter from the office. The infant choir is aimed at Year 2 children and the Junior Choir for Years 4, 5 and 6. Additionally, two new clubs: cricket and rounders, please sign up via Parentpay if you would like to join our clubs. There are limited spaces.
It's National Gardening Week from Monday 2nd May to Sunday 8th May. It would be lovely to involve the children in taking care of some sunflowers. This is to show our support for Ukraine (their National flower is a sunflower). If you have any spare larger plastic plant pots that you are not using and would like to donate to the school we would receive them gratefully. Each class will have some sunflowers to take care of and we intend to donate some to local care homes, and plant some outside the school in our nature area.
Uniform: we are also currently accepting donations of uniform that children may have grown out of for our school spares (all ages). These are used if the children have a toileting accident or get wet/muddy in the playground for example. If you have any spare uniform at home that your child/children may have grown out of, please consider donating this to school. Thank you in anticipation of your help.
Egg Rollers: congratulations to all our egg rolling winners who were awarded with a tasty Easter treat courtesy of the PTA. We hope the children had a fun time at this event.
Head Teacher’s Award: congratulations to the children from EYFS-Year 6 who were nominated for the HT’s Award. All true ambassadors and role models of The Hayes – they collected a certificate from Miss Slade and chose a book. Well done! The children’s names and reasons for being nominated will be in the Head Teacher’s Newsletter that will be emailed out to you when we come back from the break.
Have a wonderful break. See you in 2 weeks!
Stay safe, The Hayes Team
