Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a lovely couple of weeks in school. One of the highlights was the Year 5 and 6 visit to The Rep in Birmingham to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The show was amazing with the costumes, puppetry and special effects enthralling us all. We were incredibly proud of our pupils who were a model audience and enjoyed the whole experience.

Pupils in Reception and Key Stage 1 have been learning about keeping themselves safe. Laura Deveraux, our school nurse, visited Reception and Year 1 and led lessons about hand washing and taught Year 2 about medicine safety. In addition, children in Kindergarten and Reception had a special workshop focussed on road safety with the Dudley Road Safety team. It was lovely that each of the visitors commented on how well all of the children took part and how well they listened.

Thank you to those of you who have responded to the recent letter from myself and the Chair of Governors about school finances. Your ideas of how we can raise further funds and suggestions of where we might be able to get some grants are much appreciated. This issue is not going away soon, but with your help and support, hopefully we can minimise the impact on our pupils.

Kind regards

Mrs D Hudson

Headteacher

Many of you have already bought your tickets for the RFA disco on Thursday 8^th February.  If you have not requested them yet, tickets are available form the school office: please post your child’s money in an envelope, marked with their name, class and the amount included, in the secure posting box. Tickets will then be issued via the children.

• Key Stage 1 - 5.45 to 6.45p.m. (Tickets cost £3.00 and include a drink and a biscuit)
• Key Stage 2 - 7.00 to 8.00p.m. (Tickets cost £2.00, with refreshments available to buy).

Reception – Discos are very noisy and some children can get overwhelmed, therefore we ask that parents remain on site during the disco so that they are available should their child become upset. Thank you.

This Weeks attendance 

Whole School - 94.93%

Reception - 95.33%

Year 1 – 92.41%

Year 2 – 95.67%

Year 3 – 97.33%

Year 4 – 95.56%

Year 5 – 94.83%

Year 6 – 93.33%

Well done Year 3!

Every child should have a water bottle in school every day. Please note that only plain water is allowed in drinks bottles. The drink ‘Prime’ is not allowed in school and to avoid any confusion, please do not send in ‘Prime’ bottles, even if filled with water. Thank you.

The sporting calendar has been keeping our teams and Mr Lamb busy!

• Our girl’s football team took part in a tournament at Summerhill School, where they enjoyed a series of four games. They won one, drew one and lost two. Mr Lamb was very pleased with the commitment and team work of everyone who took part, especially as the weather was so awful! Well done girls!
• Today a team of pupils from Years 5 and 6 have represented us at a cross country competition. With 1566 points they came an incredible 14th out of 34 schools, despite being a boys team member short.  Well done everyone, Mr Lamb and Mrs Plant are so proud of you all!
• We want to wish good luck to all those taking part in the forthcoming Gymnastics Festival, and Football and Sports Hall Athletic tournaments. Special thanks to parents and carers whose support is so important to allow us to take part in these events, and thanks too, to Mr Lamb for preparing the teams.

Next week, OSCAR Club will be running a “Guess the Number of Sweets in the Jar” competition. Year 6 children will be on the playground at break time taking names/classes and recording the numbers guessed by the children – for 50p per guess.

We are very grateful to Henry's dad, Mr Smith for his generous donation of an Xbox and we have some beautiful new board games thanks to the kindness of Mr and Mrs Taylor – parents of Seth in Year 3 and Sofia in Reception.

To complement our Xbox, we would ideally like to buy a Nintendo Switch. The children love to take turns on a console, and the Switch is quite versatile. We are almost there! The Christmas Fayre was very successful for us and I have sold out of worry worms thanks to Mr Evans and his sales skills at Ellowes Hall!

The competition will run all week, with the jar of sweets as the prize. I will present the winner with their prize before the end of school next Friday.

Many thanks to all who support us, the children benefit a great deal.

Jane Evans and the OSCAR team.

We cannot emphasise enough, the level of concern caused by the rise in cases of measles in the West Midlands. Dudley Council Health protection Team have asked that we circulate the following message.

You may have seen recent media reports of rising measles cases across the West Midlands and the Black Country. The most effective way to prevent measles infection, and the possible serious complications it can cause, is by having 2 doses of MMR vaccine. 2 doses of MMR provide 99% protection against measles that is lifelong. It also protects against mumps and rubella. It is safe and effective, and a porcine gelatine free vaccine is available, if this is preferred.

The rise in measles cases is due to declining childhood immunisation rates, including the MMR, nationally over the past 10 years. The higher the immunisation rates, the less opportunity there is for measles infection to circulate, which helps to protect those who are vulnerable due to being unable to receive MMR vaccination (including babies under 1 year old, pregnant women if unvaccinated, and the severely immunocompromised).

It is not too late for children and adults to catch up on the MMR vaccine if they haven’t received 2 doses at the recommended ages of 1 year (1st dose) and 3 years and 4 months (2nd dose). Your GP surgery can be contacted to arrange an appointment. If you are unsure whether your child is immunised with 2 doses of MMR vaccine, you can check their ‘red book’, which is their personal health record. Children who have not had any MMR vaccines may have to stay away from school for up to 21 days if they are identified as a close contact of a confirmed measles case.

Please see the NHS webpages on measles and MMR vaccine for more information, and the below link or the attached flyer for local pop-up vaccination clinics for MMR:

 https://blackcountry.icb.nhs.uk/your-health/health-advice/measles#clinic

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Mrs Hudson is the Designated Safeguarding Lead and any concerns should be shared with her or the Deputy Safeguarding Leads – Mrs Hadley, Miss Beddoes and Mrs Gledhill.  Where child protection concerns are raised, the school has a statutory duty to refer these concerns to children’s social care.

Children’s Mental Health Week will take place from 5 -11 February 2024. The theme this year is ‘My Voice Matters’.

My Voice Matters is about empowering children and young people by providing them with the tools they need to express themselves. When we feel empowered, there’s a positive impact on our wellbeing. Children who feel that their voices are heard and can make a difference have a greater sense of community and self-esteem. This year, we want children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be empowered to work together to create a positive change for their mental health and wellbeing.

During Children’s Mental Health Week, we want all children and young people to be able to say – and believe - “My Voice Matters.” We will be focusing on this theme in assemblies and lessons but as parents and carers, you play an important role in your child’s mental health. Place2Be have created some useful resources to support parents to take part in Children’s mental Health Week at home. Further information can be found on the link below.

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/#resources

Full calendar dates for the academic year can be found here........  https://theridge.sch.life/page/detail/parent-dates-2023-2024

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