Message from the Headteacher

Merriott First School F R I D A Y 8 M A R C H

Church Street

Merriott

Somerset

TA16 5PT

Telephone: 01460 72547

Email: office@merriott.

somerset.sch.uk

ACADEMIC YEAR

2018/19 No. 10

Dear Parents & Carers,

It was lovely to see some of you at the parent meetings and share the school's progress and next steps with you. We will have Summer meetings, I will communicate the date with the notes from the meetings next week. I hope more parents are able to attend, if you have suggestions of more popular times, please let us know and we can adjust the times. We are a team and the ideas that come out of the meetings through discussion are fantastic!

We have been fortunate to have some parents speak with the children and share their skills and experience, such as Mrs Oldfield speaking with year 1s and bringing in an Ostrich Egg. If you would like to share your skills or have an interesting career to share with our children then please do let us know. Having visitors in classes is always so exciting and engaging. Also sharing different jobs, careers and talents helps develop their dreams and aspirations.

We are also looking for volunteers to support the children in school, whether it be running a club, reading 1-1 or general support in the class room during busy times such as art or outdoor learning. If you would like to volunteer at the school then please let Miss Abbott know what you would like to support with and what time you are able to offer. Also if you have any ideas that we have not suggested, don't be shy, come and share them.

As you are aware, Comic Relief is on 15th March. I just wanted to remind you that we are having a non - uniform day and inviting children to dress in 'wacky' outfits and donate £1. We will also be selling red noses during the day, they are £1.25, should you wish to your child to purchase one. BBC Radio 1 started a 24 hour Lol-a-thon on 6/3/15 to raise money for comic relief. They are collecting lots of jokes to share. On Monday we will be sending the children home with a form to write their favourite joke on. Please could you help them with this. We will be sharing a few that make us chuckle on Facebook on Friday the 15th. The cornier the better!

Kind Regards,

Miss A. Higginbotham

Executive Headteacher

Online Safety: page 2

Sports News: page 3

FOMS: page 4

Diary Dates: page 8

Stars of the week: page 8

World Book Day: pages 9

-11

P A G E 2

M E R R I O T T F I R S T S C H O O L

Talking to Your Children About Healthy Internet Use

As we all know, the internet is a significant part of most children's lives now. As a parent, it can be a challenge to ensure your child has a healthy relationship with technology. The Mental Health Foundation have released new advice for parents to support you in talking to your children about their use of the internet. Five of their tips are:

Remember: the internet isn’t all bad

An internet ban is rarely helpful

Be age-appropriate

Keep talking

Use the internet alongside your child

For more details about these tips and further advice, visit:

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/talking-your-children-about-healthy-internet-use

On Monday 4th March we shared our Online Safety Assembly with parents. The children shared lots of tips to keep us safe online such as;

- Only access age appropriate games, apps and sites

- Ask permission before downloading any new apps

- Do not give personal information

- Do not open unknown web links and emails

- Always be kind online

- Do not accept invites from strangers

- Always tell a trusted adult if you something comes up that you are not expecting or if you are unsure about something

- Ask for help and advice from trusted adults

What can I do as a parent?

Talk to you children about how to stay safe online you can use some of the tips above from our online safety team

Closely monitor their internet use and strictly moderate the access to content that your child has on web-enabled devices by ensuring filters are in place

Ensure that your child only accesses age appropriate games, apps and sites

Who can I report to if I am concerned about the online safety of my child?

If you do think your child has been targeted, you can report this to the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) by visiting www.thinkuknow.co.uk. Please also inform a member of school staff.

We are all committed to the safeguarding of our children and this includes when they are online. The school will continue to educate about online safety and please speak to us if you have any questions or suggestions about this and we will be happy to help.

Sports News

P A G E 3

A big thank you to all the families who braved the rain and wind and came to Hinton St George on Sunday to run the Slay the Dragon 2km race.

We had 6 runners from Merriott First school who all did extremely well. They were Harry Wilmott, Vincent Brown, Laurence Goldsmith, Gabriel Oldfield, Charlie Tither and Nancy Brown.

Congratulations go especially to Harry Wilmott, who had an amazing race, coming 7th and winning the Key Stage 1 first boy trophy. It was also a great team effort with lots of our runners in the top 30 and, looking at the results, we were really close to winning the team cup.

Well done everyone!

Mrs Bryant

PAGE 4

Mother’s Day Sale

Friday the 29th March,

during school time.

Please can each child bring in

a gift donation by the 28th March and

place in the allocated box in the

child’s classroom.

Each child will then be able to

purchase a gift of their own choice

for £1 which will then be wrapped

at the sale ready for your child to take home.

PAGE 5

100% Attendance, Spring 1 Half Term, 2018/19.

Golden Class

Aydin Barrett

Wilson Cumberbatch

Zoe Davies

Lily Greenham

Elsie Maber

Lorelei Sheehan

Kobi Stahl

Redstreak Class

Cora Brown

Eva Finch

Sophie Gaines

Max Holland

Elsie Holmes

Harriet Lemon

Edward Parcell

Caiden Tanner

Georgina Thompson

Pippin Class

Jessica Banks

Erin Gentle

Charlie Gibson

Laurence Goldsmith

Pearl Guppy

Matilda Lemon

Rosie Marshall

Samuel Sheehan

Charlie Tither

Seren Walke

Codlin Class

Caitlyn Edwards

Ciara Elborn

Elyse Glasson

Nolen Gratton

Monty Harwood-Smith

Tiffany Hurford

Leilani Lamprill

Teegan Marsh

Dylan Shire

Otto Stahl

Sophie Venn

Russet Class

Vincent Brown

Harry Dean

Madeline Eaton

Thomas Gibson

Ellie Lawson

Jack Perry

Autumn Rendall

Alex White

PAGE 7

PAGE 8

Diary Dates Tuesday 12th March: Kilve Court Presentation to Year 4 Parents, 6.00pm at

St Bartholowmews School, Crewkerne

Thursday 14th March: Tempest Photography visiting to photograph Golden & Russet Classes

only

Friday 15th March: RED NOSE DAY—please can children bring in £1.25 to buy a red nose

Tuesday 19th March: Mobile Library Services visiting

Thursday 21st March: Tag Rugby Festival 3.30 –4.30pm at Henhayes, Crewkerne

Monday 25th—Wednesday 27th March: Year 4 Residential at Kilve Court

Friday 29th March: FOMS Mothers Day Sale

Thursday 4th April: FOMS Easter Hat Parade

Thursday 4th April: Easter Service, 2pm at All Saints Church, Merriott

Friday 5th April: end of Spring Term

Tuesday 23rd April: Summer Term begins

Week commencing:

25th February

Week commencing :

4th March

Golden Class Aydin Barrett & Zoe Davies Reggie Martin & Elsie Maber

Redstreak Class Elsie-May Holmes & Joseph Guppy Isabella Aplin & Max Holland

Pippin Class Solomon Rand & Jessica Banks

Codlin Class Amelia Rowe & Maisie Boon Aston Waller & Tiffany Hurford

Russet Class Alex White & Joss Maynard Seth Rand & Finley Blunn

Stars of the week

PAGE 9

Thank you! The World Book Day costumes were fantastic! We had so many characters represented from Gangster Granny to Peter Rabbit. The theme of World Book Day was to share a story. A big thank you to Mrs Jukes who shared one of her own books with the school. Children also shared stories throughout the day. You should all have received the book token. These can be used at the book fair we are hosting later this month.

Mr Caswell

Book Fair Tuesday 26th March until Tuesday 2nd April

PAGE 10

PAGE 11