Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Dear Parents and Carers,
I would like to start by saying a big thank you to all staff, pupils, parents and carers for all their hard work this half term. You have all kept going amazingly well over the last six weeks and have shown great resilience by coping with many different obstacles along the way. We have been so impressed with the work that we have seen and the determination to continue learning. Like you, we are awaiting news from the Government, the week beginning 22nd February, regarding the road map for wider opening of schools.
Parent and Carer Catch up Meetings with Teachers
We are delighted to be able to offer an opportunity for a catch up with class teachers in a Zoom video call. This will be an opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss learning so far this school year. We would also like to hear your thoughts on recent lockdown progress including strengths and areas that you feel they may need to work on. You will have received further details and the Parents Evening booking system on ParentMail is now live. You will need to book your time slot via the booking system.
The Zoom code for the meeting will be sent out separately via ParentMail on Monday 22nd February (for week 1) and Monday 1st March (for week 2) . Please remember that these catch up sessions are being held on four days over two weeks. If you have more than one child you are likely to have appointments on more than one day.
Book Week 2021 and World Book Day
Book Week 2021
We are pleased to announce that we will still be celebrating our annual Book Week on the 1st - 5th March this year. Books play an integral role in the development of children and our aim is to promote and inspire a love of reading for all. There is no particular theme for this year but pupils will have opportunities to share and complete tasks about their favourite books as well as the books they are studying in lessons.
At the start of the week we have an exciting visitor planned (via Zoom) for all year groups to enjoy (see details below). We will also be holding an optional dress up day on Friday 5th March where pupils can share their book character costume in their live session and take part in the dress up photo competition. Across the afternoons, there will be some creative arts and crafts activities to choose from so hang on to any recycling that could be repurposed as an art project!
Book Week Author Zoom Event - Mon 1st and Tues 2nd March
Gilbert Giggles has joined forces with Tamara Macfarlane, children's author and award-winning bookshop owner, to present energetic, entertaining and engaging author events (via Zoom) ensuring every child gets a chance to celebrate reading for FUN! Early Years and Year 1 will explore the prehistoric wonderland created in Dylan’s Amazing Dinosaur books. Year 2 and 3 will run away with the circus in the Amazing Esme books. Finally, Years 4, 5 and 6 will join Merlin the legendary sorcerer on a quest to save the planet in Dragon World.
More details about the time, day and Zoom code for different year groups will be sent out separately.
World Book Day Vouchers
World Book day is officially on Thursday 4th March. This year we have arranged for World Book Day book vouchers to be available virtually. These vouchers allow all pupils to either purchase one of the special World Book Day books for free or £1 off any book of their choice. A virtual voucher is attached to this Parentmail. We will also have a small amount of printed vouchers available to collect from the office. Please ensure you read the terms and conditions for using the voucher on your device. Further information about these vouchers can be found by following this link https://www.worldbookday.com/books/ .
Book Week Competitions (optional)
You may want to take part in one of our whole school Book Week competitions. We have Amazon book voucher prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in four categories (EYFS; Years 1 & 2; Years 3 & 4; and Years 5 & 6). Please send photo entries or typed/scanned documents to admin@southbenfleet.essex.sch.uk by Sunday 7th March. Please include full name, class and book choice for comp 1 & 3. Competition entries will be judged by Governors and winners will be revealed on Friday 12th March.
Competition Details:
Competition 1: Fancy Dress - dress up as a book character and submit a photo (links with our dress up day on Fri 5th March)
Competition 2: Read in an Unusual Place - take a photo of you reading in a unique situation
Competition 3: Early Years - draw a picture of your favourite character/story and have a go at writing a sentence or word underneath
Years 1 & 2 - Choose one character from your favourite book. Draw a picture of them and write a simple character description (what they look like, what they like to do and the sort of person they are - kind, scary, helpful etc)
Years 3 & 4 - Write a new short chapter for one of your favourite characters e.g. Charlie finds a new room in the chocolate factory, Greg gets into trouble at the supermarket (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Lucy meets a new character in Narnia (150 words max)
Years 5 & 6 - Write an alternative ending for your favourite story (200 words max)
We hope that lots of you will take part and we look forward to seeing your entries. Good luck!
Coop Fair Trade Artwork Showcase
We have been contacted by ‘The Co-op’ to invite all pupils to take part in a local artwork showcase as part of their Fair Trade celebrations. The details that we have been given are as follows:
Calling Little Creatives!
At the Co-op, we are preparing to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight in February (22nd February -07th March.) In response to this local schools and individuals within the Castle Point region have been asked to help raise awareness by contributing to the creation of an art page (for parents and public to view).
The artwork can be in any form - a poem, painting or collage – children can even choose to cook something using Fair Trade Ingredients! All entries need to be sent either back to Anna Wilson at: anna.wilson@ceessex.org.uk or the local Co-op Members Pioneer Jodie Lane at: Jodie.lane@coop.co.uk . The deadline for all entries is 20th February.
The art page platform will be via Instagram and Facebook. To access via Instagram follow or visit: Fairtrade_fortnight_2021. To access via Facebook search: Fairtrade Fortnight 2021: Create and Celebrate or @fairtradefortnight2021. A few entries will be selected and posted in Co-op stores.
If you wish to find out more about Fair Trade to inspire you to take part in this showcase, you can look on the Co-op website where you will find information about Fair Trade including recipes.
Thank you to all parents and carers for their support and perseverance with remote learning this half term, we know the recent weeks have been challenging for everyone, we hope an end is in sight.
Wishing everyone a positive and hopefully refreshing half term.
DJ Carver
Dear Parents and Carers,
We hope that you are all staying well. There are several things to share this week.
Firstly thanks to everyone that despite poor weather took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird watch last week. Over 50 people reported back to us and the results are interesting. We’re amazed and pleased at the variety of birds spotted. Here are some of our findings:
Keep looking out for birds in your garden or from your window. If you can, put some appropriate food out for them and they will keep returning. If you enjoyed bird watching, you can always find out more by visiting https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-kids/ .
Half Term - 15th-19th February 2021
The government revealed the decision in a recent email that all schools would be closed at half term both for online learning and for critical workers. Please see the email extract below
POSTPONED Training Day - Please note that the training day that was scheduled for Monday 22nd February has now been postponed.
Open Evenings
We will be holding virtual Open Evenings spread over the two weeks after half term (weeks beginning 22.2.21 and 1.3.21). We have decided to split the school into two halves with half of the school holding their sessions in one week and the remainder in the following week. We will be asking parents and carers to book via a ParentMail form in the usual way and then we will then send you a meeting code. We will send full details next week. The main focus of these meetings will be to discuss the first term’s learning and more recent remote learning, which you will appreciate is much more challenging to assess.
Safer Internet Day - Tuesday 9th February 2021
Tuesday 9th February 2021 is ‘Safer Internet Day’ with activities and events taking place around the globe. The theme for this year is, ‘Together for a better internet’. You might like to take a look at the websites below for some ideas and advice about how to make the internet a safer and better place for all but especially for children.
https://www.childnet.com/resources/safer-internet-day
https://www.saferinternetday.org/
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2021
How to support online learning at home
We know this is a challenging time for parents, carers and children. Remote education has brought new demands and changed how you engage with school. Many parents and carers are balancing various responsibilities while supporting their children with education at home. Below, in part based on parental feedback, are our tips and suggestions for supporting your child during this continued period of remote learning:
Please note we do recognise that every circumstance is different, but can only ask everyone to continue to do their best. Keep going - you are doing a great job!
Once again thank you for your support, please stay safe.