Weekly Newsletter

Week Ending: 8th January 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to start by saying the biggest thank you for all your support during what has been an eventful week. Your emails have been lovely to read and we have very much used your feedback to look at the different ways we can offer provision in the coming weeks. We must remember that on Monday morning we were planning for two weeks and by the evening the remote learning provision had changed and extended to the February Half Term.

I do hope you have some well-deserved down time over the weekend as I am sure this week has faced many of you with challenges. As always, we really are here to help and advise where ever we can, so, if you are finding everything too much, do pick up the phone and speak to us. We can and have been providing support in a variety of ways.

I hope our critical workers are getting used to our online booking system. This will hopefully make the process a lot quicker and transparent.

Thank you to everyone who joined in with our Celebration Assembly, we have managed to alter our Zoom Account so that we can accept more than 100 next week!

I very much look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Monday at 9am for our weekly Assembly. I will be sharing a beautiful book called Wisp. Please talk to your child before our assembly about what they are hopeful for this year.

Best wishes

Sarah Clayton

Best wishes Sarah Clayton

Luke 6:31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Message from Chestnut Tree House Thank you so much for your email and for adapting this year’s Reindeer Run to make it work for you … what a brilliant effort and a brilliant video! Firstly, I am devastated to hear about Blitzen. I do hope he is ok and recovering well. Congratulations to Rudolph, and I hope Donner has learnt his lesson and Santa allows him off the naughty list soon!

Well-Being Groups

Thank you for all your feedback regarding the well-being groups the teachers have set up via Zoom this week – we’re so glad the children got an opportunity to see and speak to their friends. These groups will be changed every fortnight so the children get an opportunity to see everyone in their class eventually. You will receive a text every 2 weeks to let you know which well-being group they are in and an email weekly with the Zoom link. Please be patient and bear with us with the links being sent.

Resource Packs

Mrs Scott and Mr Robertson have kindly put together some packs for KS2 that contain some key stationary items and lined and squared books. If you haven’t already, please feel free to come into school and collect these. We are in the process of making these packs up for KS1. We will let you know once they are ready to be collected next week.

Exciting New Curriculum Journeys

This term we are starting our new and exciting learning journeys in each of our year groups.

At St Mary’s, we think all of the learning experiences the children have as a journey. We want all children to achieve their

ambitions, so from the moment they arrive in Reception to when they leave us in Year 6, they are on an exciting learning

journey. This journey of discovery takes them to both real and imaginary places, where our children will become

different types of learners such as Scientists, Historians, Mathematicians, Authors and Artists. Our children, will learn and

develop skills whilst exploring and discovering knowledge within each journey they are on.

Although, we have had a bit of a bumpy journey so far in 2021, our Remote Learning will enable all of our children at St

Mary’s to enjoy this ‘Lockdown Journey’ together with high quality engaging activities in all areas of their new learning

journey.

Please do have a look at the Curriculum tab on our St Mary’s website, where you will find further information about our Curriculum Intent and Vision in more detail.

Communication to Teachers

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s learning. We are committed to ensuring that all of our teachers have a good work /life balance so we ask that all communication via email go to the year group email rather than a teacher’s personal email address. As outlined in the Remote Learning letter, our teachers are working extremely hard and Remote Learning videos and resources take time to plan for, so any email replies may not always be immediate but will be responded to as soon as possible. We really appreciate your support with this.

The following email addresses are to be used:

Miss Mulholland receptionclass@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Mr Clarke year1class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Miss Nyss year2class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Mrs Grey/Mrs Parsons year3class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Miss Julian year4class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Mrs Chedgy year5class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Mr Earley year6class@stmarys.brighton-hove.sch.uk

Tips and techniques for avoiding arguments and staying chilled

Being around your family more than usual can be difficult. You may find that you argue more often with your siblings, parents or other adults you live with. We know you want to get along with everyone. So if you feel the pressure is building or have just had an upsetting argument with a loved one, here are some handy techniques to try. 1. Give yourself and others some space

If you can, go outside or into another room to avoid escalating an argument.

2. Count to 10 and breathe

This can help you start to feel better. When you are away from others, take some time to calm down by doing some deep breathing exercises.

3. Find a referee

If things don’t improve or get worse, ask for an unbiased adult to act as a fair 'referee'. That way you and the person can both talk about what’s bothering you. If you try to understand things from their point of view, they are likely to do the same.

4. Write a letter

Try writing a letter to the other person, explaining what has made you upset, and letting them reply in the same way. But remember, be kind and don’t use language that will make the other person upset.

5. Leave it!

Decide that you won't get into an argument now, but that you can both talk about things another time. Then you can get back to doing fun things together. If you still feel strongly later, try one of the other points above once you’ve had some time to cool down.

Remote Learning We are aware that online learning whilst parents are working from home can be tricky with limited devices. We have been informed this week that Seesaw can be accessed on a Playstation and an Xbox. To access Seesaw on these devices, you will need to download the web brower on the console (it may already be on some devices). On playstation the browser is called ‘www’ and on the Xbox it is called either ‘bing’ or ‘edge’

Oxford Owl Reading

In addition to the remote learning your child’s teacher is setting, please do not forget to read with your child daily.

Remember this can be your child reading to you or you reading aloud to them. Reading aloud to your child not

only stimulates their imagination but also helps to expand their understanding of the world.

The link below is free to sign up to and has books for each

age range in an e-library.

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/login?active-tab=parents

Reading with Mrs Ryan

Starting next Friday, Mrs Ryan will be sharing one of her

favourite books with KS1 children. A Zoom link will be

sent out in the morning and your child can come and

listen to a story.

Get Active with Mr Hance It has been great to see so many children accessing Mr Hance’s PE videos this week. It is so important that children remain active for both their physical and mental well-being at this time. If you haven’t a had a chance to access these videos, they are posted on a Monday on Seesaw.

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/login?active-tab=parents