Dear Families and Friends,
At the end of our second week, with the vast majority of pupils now back in school, it has been a timely reminder of just how busy St Bart's gets - full of activity and fun. And it's only week 2!
On Friday morning, Upper School voted for this year's House Captains. Some of our brave children from Class 6 stood for election, and we announced the winners at the end of the day. As in any election, not everyone can win, but all of the children did really well and should be applauded for putting themselves forward.
One of the important messages we are exploring together is: failing doesn't make you a failure. We want all of our children to do their best, to flourish and grow in resilience. As we learn, we often get things wrong, but this is part of the process. We want all of our children to "have a go" without fear of failing, taking a risk within our safe environment and knowing that they will still be valued for who they are, no matter what.
To help motivate all of our children, we have introduced a brand-new app and website called MarvellousMe. Everyone should now have received their invitation letters, and it is vital that families sign up and log in to see the positive news that staff will be sharing with you every week. There will be badges of praise and prompting messages, with learning activities arriving like a postcard home. You can even give the teacher a "High 5" to show you have seen it. Then, importantly, you can talk to the children about the good things you have heard, encouraging them to keep going in their positive behaviour and learning.
In school, we will be keeping a record of all of this, and will be looking for other ways to share important news with you. Occasionally, there are more challenging behaviours that we need to deal with. Thankfully, at St Bart's, there are more positives to share than negatives, but we do keep a log of both. We've begun colour-coding those challenging behaviours, so you may begin hearing about Yellow, Amber, Red and Purple sanctions. This is just a way for us to monitor how our children are developing, and further information will go on our new website when it is launched before the end of the month.
If you are ever concerned about something about school, it is important that you get in touch straight away. Don't let things linger; please speak to our Class teachers first. You can also contact either Mrs Lisle or Miss Davison about SEND issues, or myself and Mrs Whitaker about behaviour or safeguarding.
On Tuesday, we had our first meeting of the year run by North Tyneside Parent-Carers Partnership. Debs led a workshop on sleep, and we had a fascinating discussion about how to further support our children. We will be holding regular events like this, so watch out for the email coming soon, inviting your ideas for future sessions.
Thank you to those who have updated their contact details and permissions, using the links that were emailed last week. If you haven't yet completed these short forms, please do so this week so that we can update our systems and begin using photos etc. on our communications.
Staff-led clubs start next week. Most run until 4:30pm. Please be prompt when picking the children up from the Teaching Hall.
PE days, where the children may come to school in their PE kits, are:
- Mondays - Class 6
- Tuesdays - Classes 2 & 3
- Wednesdays - Classes 4 & 6
- Thursdays - Early Years and Class 5 + swimming for Class 4
- Fridays - Class 1
Finally, with all of the information that is shared at the start of a busy year, look out for our PTA notices about our next meeting, a disco and the Christmas Fayer - with Window reveal.
Oops, did we just mention Christmas?
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Restall & The St Bart's Team
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