E-Safety

With E-safety week starting my thoughts turn to how technology continues to change the world, not just since my time as a child/teenager/young adult, but during my time as an E-Safety Officer in this school.

Technology is ever more prevalent in society and has many wonderful advantages to enhance the education of our children.

It does however come with its risks and concerns and these were discussed in the most recent E-Safety parents briefing held last Thursday.  For those unable to make this, the presentation can be found online under the E-SAFETY tab in FROG.

The focus of this years' E-safety week is Conversation and the key message to parents and carers is to talk to your children about the apps they are using.  A recent in school survey showed that our children in Key Stage 2 specifically, are using a large number of applications that enable them to communicate with each other and potentially the outside world.  The number of apps increases regularly and there were certainly some mentioned that I have never heard of. 

As a parent this concerns me and my instant reaction might be to ban the use of such applications and technologies, however, if we make it 'wrong' and they use such devices but find a way to be part of these online conversations anyway, who do our children go to if they get worried and need advice?    

As parents we need more than ever to understand this technical world, whatever our own opinions of social media sites.  We need to embrace their culture and not deny or ban access to it but to teach our children how to navigate it safely;  giving them full knowledge of what to do if something happens that concerns them.

Take swimming for example. We wouldn't take our children to a body of water (pool, lake, sea) and put up signs and barriers so that they can never fall in.  No, we teach our children to swim.  First we may dip their toes, go for a paddle, next we swim with them or provide swimming aids for support until finally they are swimming lengths in a stroke of their choosing.  E-safety is the same.  Like it or not, this technology is the culture of their age and we must help them navigate the waters with support until we can be sure they are safe to go it alone.

So during the next week, please talk to your children about their online activities, allow them to teach you something about 'their online world' and ensure that they know where to go if they ever need help.  Please ensure that they are using internet accessible devices in family spaces so that you can easily monitor what they are doing and who they are speaking with.  

For more advice on E-safety and conversation starters, please see the E-safety presentation and links to E-safety information on FROG.  Additionally if you are interested in how much screen time is suitable for your child, please read the article linked here  

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/digital-home/how-much-screen-time-is-healthy-for-children-benefits-3520917/

Welcome back and a (slightly belated) Happy New Year to you all!

It is great to be back in the swing of things again and we are sure this next half term will bring huge fun and inspired learning opportunities for all children.

It isn’t very often that you welcome a plethora of alien life into a school on the first day back, but that is exactly what happened here! Cleverly coinciding with the launch of the new Disney Star Wars film, Year 5 has decided to explore space. Even the teachers were somewhat altered on that first day. I can happily report that they have returned to their usual selves….for now at least!

Our super Year 6’s are already beavering away in their studying and we are pleased to be able to invite some of them to additional booster sessions after school. These will continue to be run by Mrs Simpson and myself from 3.15-4.15pm on a Monday afternoon. Don’t be surprised if your child starts to come home with additional workbooks or revision over the next few months. This is all usual practice and if you have any questions about the build up to SATs then please do get in touch.

It’s all quite dramatic in Year 2 at the moment, with a drama focus and two ‘guest’ teachers joining us earlier in the week. There was a very theatrical air around the two classes and we are looking forward to finding out even more soon.

 

Brrrr…It’s cold in here.

 

Year 4 were delighted to welcome an Arctic Explorer into the fold yesterday.  The children were enchanted by her stories and her experiences of the Arctic, and had so many questions to ask her about what it was like.

Some of the children know a surprising amount about Arctic animals! Even the teachers learnt things they didn't know!

Our favourite part was by far the science experiments in the afternoon, where we made some blubber gloves and submerged our hands into ice-cold water to see which was colder, the one with the blubber glove or the one without. 

We also made mountain glaciers with clay and cornflour. It was a hugely worthwhile experience and we loved every minute. 

 

Video Games - The Research

The information below is based upon information from the Byron review, which was conducted for the government in 2008 by Dr Tanya Byron. The final version was produced after consultation with parents and has been rewritten for the Saint Jude’s blog on 19/11/15.

Children's use of Internet and video games is seen by some researchers as linked to violence and destructive behaviour. It seems that a child’s individual characteristics such as their age, personality and ability to learn, affects the level of risk. As the brain develops children become better at identifying and managing risks- most recent research conducted by the University of Bonn has shown that heavy use of ‘shooting type’ games (more than two hours a day) has an impact on the brain.

 

The research goes on to say that this affects the young person's ability to understand feelings and to control their emotions. Most research has been carried out on older children so we don't know the full effect the playing violent games may have on younger children, but we do know that when the repeat patterns of behaviour they build up pathways of learning in the brain therefore we can assume that excessive play of violent video games is likely to have a detrimental effect on the development of their values, ideas and behaviours.

 

This is why age rating codes are very important, as younger children are less likely to be able to recognise risk and manage this appropriately, it is important to keep this in mind with children who may be functioning at a level lower than their actual age in terms of social skills and learning. What may be okay for the peers may not be suitable for them due to differences in their developmental stage. Young children's perception and expectations of the real world can be affected, as they are developing the ability to identify between fact and fiction.

As printed in – Information for Parents-The effects of playing video games on children and young people.

CAMHS - Falcon House

 

Time to dig out your Pudsey Ears and spotty t-shirts - It's Children in Need!

Hi All

Just a short note to let you know that we will be raising money on Friday 13th November for Children in Need.

This year we are asking children to come to school in non uniform and to donate £1 to the cause or to bring in some cakes. We are sure that some of you will do both.

Cakes will be on sale during the day with any extras on sale at the end of the day.

More information to follow. ​

Thank you

Good Morning.

Welcome back to another exciting half term at St Jude's. As always there will be many exciting things happening to inspire learning this term.

Some year groups were given a bit of a teaser at the end of last half term.

Brrr! It's cold in year 4.

Year 2 will disappear.

It will be Grimm for year 3.

We look forward to sharing more with you as the term progresses.

Can I just take this opportunity to remind you of the extra things happening during parents evening tomorrow and Wednesday.

The scholastic book fair- in the hall- a great opportunity to support the school and pick up some Christmas presents.

Pre-loved uniform for sale.

Tea and Coffee

Home support books on sale at 2 for £10. "Give your child a head start with a years worth of ready to go activities" inline with the 2014 curriculum.

Pastoral drop in.

We all look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

After receiving Miss Leslie's personal experiences of being an NQT it is our pleasure to bring to you one of our newest teachers, Miss Barnard's journey from University to Steinbeck class. 

More to follow in the new half term. 

 

Did you always want to become a teacher Miss?

One of the regular questions I get asked is “Did you always want to be a teacher?” Before answering the question, especially if it is a child who asks me, I always question myself as to whether I should just say “Yes” and that be the end of it, or, to answer truthfully and say “No”. This latter answer follows with a ream of other questions such as: What did you want to be? Why aren’t you that? How did you become a teacher? And because it is the truth, I do answer “No I didn’t always want to be a teacher”.

In truth, teaching had never really entered my mind until about four and a half years ago when I found myself unemployed for a period of about four months. Straight out of Uni, achieving a Law and Business degree from the University of Portsmouth, I was fortunate enough to be offered a job in London. A 21 year old with no other commitments in life apart from organising her social life at the weekends, I jumped at the chance and couldn’t really believe my luck at the opportunity that this would provide me with.

I started my five times a week commute from Fratton to London Waterloo and then a two stop tube journey from Waterloo to Green Park……believe me, that was an eye opener in itself! I worked for an Agency Brokers in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, writing all of the legal contracts for the Capital Restructuring Team. A very little fish in a very large pond, every day was a steep learning mountain as opposed to a learning curve but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time. I worked alongside some incredible people such as international law firm Allen and Overy and banks such as the Lehman Brothers (let’s not talk about them! The only thing to say is that I wasn’t to blame for the recession I promise!). I even experienced my first business trips away travelling to Eindhoven and other parts of the Netherlands. However, nine months into my contract, the firm became victim to the recession and had no other choice but to cease trading in March 2011. This left me, now aged 22, unemployed.

Numerous unsuccessful applications and interviews later, I was at the end of my tether and would have given anything to work anywhere. With my self-confidence at an all-time low, a random discussion with an old college friend saw me apply for a TA job at Stamshaw Junior School. On the day of my interview, I was certain that this would be another job pass me by due to my lack of any experience in education. However, to my surprise, whilst I was still being shown around the school by two pupils who would later be in my very first class, they offered me the job there and then!

So, in September 2011, I began my first step towards the career I have now and the rest, to coin a famous phrase, as they say is history. A month in, I had decided that this was what I wanted to pursue and I had secured a place on the Graduate Teacher Programme (an apprenticeship for teachers) with Chichester University which would see me train on the job starting in September 2012 after my year of TA experience. After a year of gruelling training, two essays, fortnightly observations and two skills tests, I gained my Qualified Teacher Status and was ready to be promoted to NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher or, as my mentor called it, Not Quite a Teacher as you still have the ability to fail the year and not progress) in September 2013. With the year passing by in a whirl of Year 6 SATS, transition to secondary schools and end of Junior school celebrations, I was ready for my second year of teaching already which saw me move from Year 6 to Year 5 in September 2014. A chance, and very fortunate, meeting with both Miss Waeland and Miss Lewis, presented me with one of the most difficult decisions I had to make to date; to stay at Stamshaw or to move and push myself out of my comfort zone after only ever working at Stamshaw and join the St Jude’s family? You obviously know the decision that I made and now have the pleasure of working with the incredible members of Steinbeck class who have astounded me every single day since September 2015.

So now, when anyone asks me “Did you always want to become a teacher?” I always answer “No……but I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life now.”

Miss Barnard