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The Link Newsletter #47

Friday 28th April 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

The last term of this academic year has commenced and for our Year 6 children, their final term at St John's. Where has the time gone?

Many year groups are gearing up towards several National assessments, Year 1 Phonics Check in June, Year 2 SATs (spread across several weeks in May), Year 4 Multiplication Check in June and the Year 6 SATs starting Tuesday 9th May. I know my team wishes to thank parents for the support they have provided to the children, not just in practicing and revision that has taken place, but also in the words you have used to allay any anxiety that your child may be facing. It is sometimes misunderstood that the school applies pressure to children to do well. We of course would like children to do the best that they can, because we want them to feel success and reap the immense satisfaction of working hard towards something and enjoy the sense of achievement. At St John's, children's outcomes are not about league tables or providing narrow curriculum diet of Reading, Writing and Mathematics. We have children at St John's who have a range of talents and skills and these are to be celebrated on an equal footing to English and Mathematics.

Part of the preparation ahead of tests will involve ensuring that the children are in the best frame of mind, and using a growth mind-set approach often allows children to feel supported. In school we remind children that's it's okay not to know an answer to a question and not to let this defeat them and move on. We ask them to try to do their best and use the strategies they have learnt such as highlighting key words, phrases or numbers to distinguish between the important question words and in the case of a reading comprehension, the possible answers within a paragraph. It will also be important to ensure the children are fully rested and prepared. This will be slightly more challenging after a long weekend celebrating King Charles III Coronation or whatever you may be doing. However we recommend earlier bedtimes and refraining from game consoles late into the evening. Of course downtime is important especially after a busy and exhausting day. 

EASTER STORY

On Tuesday 21st March, eight pupils from Year Three travelled to St John's Church in Epping. This was a wonderful opportunity to work with Year 3 pupils from other church schools within our Trust and church schools in Epping Forest. Members of clergy from Epping Forest led the children through an interactive session where they were taken through the story of Easter. Thank you to Mrs Griffiths and Mrs Hare who helped transport the children to the church and supported them through the activities.

NETBALL LEAGUE

Congratulations to our Netball team who finished the season as league winners!  They have had some impressive match results against other teams in the Epping Forest district.

The team also competed in a Netball Rally. The children achieved 3rd place in the tournament. A strong result.

Thank you to Mrs Watkins for her guidance, weekly coaching and organisation of matches and competitions.

 

 

 

ANZAC DAY MEMORIAL DAY

Rory in Year 6 joined Mr Ian, The British Legion and members of the Buckhurst Hill community to mark ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) day. Rory played The Last Post on his trumpet.

 

 

 

 

KING CHARLES III CORONATION EVENT - FRIDAY 5TH MAY

Next weekend, the country will be celebrating the King's Coronation. On Friday 5th May, we would like children to come dressed in red, white and blue to mark this historic occasion.

In addition, we would like to host a picnic lunch on the field for all children on this day. Children who normally eat a packed lunch will bring these as normal. Children who usually have a school meal will instead be provided with a picnic lunch provided by the kitchen team at Alderton Junior school.

We very much hope the weather will be kind to us and allow us to enjoy being together as one community. 

The Parish Council have organised a Coronation event, please see the flyer below with details of the activities on offer.

TRAUMA PERCEPTIVE PRACTICE (TPP)

In the last newsletter I explained how TPP is being deployed at St John's and the three different responses children and adults typically display when facing a difficult situation.

Can you remember the three responses?

That's right, Fight, Flight or Freeze. These responses are ones that we are much more attuned to using our TPP awareness training. We recognise that these are natural responses and cannot be avoided as our brains are naturally wired to send the body into self-preservation mode.

The responses may differ depending on the situation. If a large Grizzly bear approaches you, our natural instinct is to run away. However, advice from a Canadian park ranger would be to stand still. This means that we have to train our brains to give a different response because most people would listen to the research to increase their chances of survival.

Interestingly, 70% of our brain is developed in the first year of a child's life. These first 12 months are critical and by age three, 90% of the brain has been developed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This video explains how the brain responds when a child is under stress. It emphasises the importance of ensuring that as adults we manage our own window of tolerance so that we are well placed to manage a child who is in distress.

//player.vimeo.com/video/822314828?title=0&byline=0&loop=1#t=0.5

 

In school we aim to help children recognise their emotional response to a situation. We reassure children that it is okay to feel sadness, worry, anger, frustration as these are very natural responses. We use something called the Zones of Regulation to help children identify these emotions and we attribute these to a colour as this can be helpful for young children to communicate how they are feeling. I am in the RED zone.

Supporting children to return to the green zone is our aim. We give children a range of strategies to help them return to within their window of tolerance. The strategies vary depending on the child and through building a relation or connection with them, helps staff to know what works best for them.

Strategies include:

  • Distraction techiques, such as playing a game.
  • Time out away from the point of trigger.
  • Regulate breathing and often movement can help with this. Going for a walk can regulate breathing very successfully.
  • Beginning a conversation, asking questions about what happened
  • Inviting children to draw or describe how they are feeling

What we do know is that if we are not regulated ourselves, this does not help a child regulate. Staff know not to shout because this has the adverse effect, often resulting in the child shouting back. Calm and soft voices usually results in the child matching our voice and they reach a state of regulation much faster. This is called co-regulation.

BOUNDARY FENCING

During the Easter holiday, fencing contractors replaced old chainlink fencing with 8ft fencing along the length of the field. This means that the boundary of the field is much more secure which should give additional reassurance to parents and children. We hope that this will also prevent teenage children from accessing the school site from Ardmore Lane who have, during weekends and holiday periods caused extensive damage to property and equipment.

You will may have also noticed repairs and redecoration to much of the external areas of the school. Our Site Manager, Mr Shaw, has worked exceptionally hard over the last 6 months to improve the aesthetics and function of the school building and grounds. Thank you Mr Shaw.

FOODBANK DONATIONS

Mrs Radley would like to thank all parents for their kindness and generosity in donating food before the Easter break for our Foodbank appeal. We know that the food that has been collected will have helped families through the Easter period. Thank you all so much.

SCITT (SCHOOL CENTRED INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING)

Are you considering a teaching career?

St John's is the lead school for the (Ofsted Outstanding) West Essex SCITT programme. As you may know we usually have four or five trainees working with experienced class teachers and leaders at St John's. It is an excellent model of on-the-job training, working four days in the classroom and a fifth day learning pedagogical theory and practice. 

If you are interested in teaching, please see the flyer and visit the West Essex SCITT website.

If you would like further details, please email vsmullen@efspt.org

 

 ...AND FINALLY...

Our school priorities are available on our website. Please take a note of what we are doing to improve the outcomes of all children at St John's. 

 


Jonathan Furness
Head Teacher