St Giles’ C of E (A) Infant School Newsletter

“Loving God and loving our neighbour”

This half term’s Christian value is ‘Forgiveness’

Our British value for this week is

“Individual Liberty‘’ Friday 6th March, 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been wonderful to see all the children in their fantastic outfits today for World Book Day!

Rabbits class assembly

Well done to the children in Year 2 for their amazing assembly on Wednesday. You showcased your

learning really well! Here are some pictures from the assembly.

Owls class Assembly

We look forward to seeing EYFS parents next Wednesday (11th March) at 9.15am for their class

assembly!

Coronavirus – Government latest

Please see the links below for some useful guidance published by the Government:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Surrey Young Carers

This week we had a visit from Surrey Young Carers, part of charity Action for Carers Surrey, who held

an assembly talking about young carers. Surrey Young Carers support young people (under 18) who

help look after family members. They give free, impartial information and support to young carers

and their families on minimising the impact of their caring role. They run workshops, forums,

activities and groups. And they give young carers time out from caring, and help them reach their

full potential.

They also offer training and advice to health, social care and educational professionals.

To find out more, please get in touch. Call us on 01483 568269 or email us at

SYC@actionforcarers.org.uk or take a look at our website www.actionforcarers.org.uk

Parents to watch Year 1 swimming on Thursday 12th March

Parents are invited to watch the swimming session with the Year 1 children next Thursday, 12th

March. Please email Mrs Peachey directly at info@stgiles.surrey.sch.uk if you would like to attend

this session and to obtain details of timings etc. Please note that parents will be walking to and from

Freemen’s school accompanied by our staff members and the children will travel on the minibus as

usual. If you do not sign up, you will not be able to watch your child swim. This is for safeguarding

and health and safety reasons. Thank you for your cooperation.

Friday 13th March – Sports mufti

Children are welcome to attend school on Friday 13th March in a sports kit/clothes of their choice in

aid of Sports Relief. If your child attends any sporting/activity club and wears a special outfit for it,

we would love to see it! The children could come in a football kit, cricket whites, dance/yoga outfit,

karate gi, etc. Trainers only please – no studs, heels or opened toes shoes. We kindly ask for £1

donation. Thank you.

The children will be taking part in some special sports-related activities during the school day.

St Giles’ Stars

Well done to all of our certificate children for this week – you have been amazing role models for

behaviour for learning!

Mathematician of the week

Star of the week Values certificate

Owls Patrick Jessica Nancy

Squirrels Leonardo Noah Jude

Rabbits Drew Maisey Zivanna

Cambridge half Marathon – go Mrs Pirt!

On Sunday Mrs Pirt will be completing her half marathon for St Giles’ and we wish her lots of luck

and send our good wishes! It is still not too late to sponsor Mrs Pirt and you can

donate by following this link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/justinepirt

or by bringing in any sponsorship money to the office.

Thank you in advance and THANK YOU Mrs Pirt for being a Superhero!

Bullying myths and facts

There are many myths surrounding bullying issues and some of these myths can often trivialise

bullying and suggest the bullied individual is making a big deal out of nothing when actually that is

not the case. This can undermine how a person feels if they are being bullied. Bullying should not

be tolerated in any form. We believe it is important to address bullying whether it is in a workplace,

school or in a neighbourhood so that the message is clear that bullying is unacceptable.

The myths and facts below can be a great discussion point to raise awareness of bullying with

children and young people.

Myth: Bullying is a normal part of childhood and you should just ignore it

Fact: Bullying is not "normal" or acceptable in any form and ignoring might not always make it stop.

If you can, please confide in someone you trust such as a parent or teacher to help you get it

stopped. Bullying can knock your self-esteem and confidence.

Myth: It is ok to hit someone who is bullying you, it will stop it

Fact: It’s understandable that you may be angry but if you were to get violent or aggressive it may

make matters much worse as you may get into trouble too.

Myth: Bullies are born this way, it’s in their genes

Fact: Bullies often adopt this behaviour from their environment or sometimes, it’s a reaction from

them being bullied by others. Whatever the case, it is not right.

Myth: Bullying only happens in schools

Fact: This is not the case at all, bullying can happen to anyone at any place. It may be out of school,

at university or even college. It can happen when you are out with mates or on the way to or from

school.

Myth: You can spot a bully from the way they look and act

Fact: There is no such thing as a way a bully looks or acts. There is no specific dress code or

behaviour code.

Myth: Online bullying is just banter and harmless

Fact: People being bullied online is a very serious issue, the bullying can go viral very quickly and

make the problem escalate quickly. It is important to take a screenshot of any conversations,

messages or posts that you feel are bullying so that you have a record.

Myth: Cyberbullying doesn't involve physical harm so what's the harm?

Fact: Actually, some people have committed suicide as a result of not seeing any way out of the non-

stop harassment, threats and abuses. The emotional scarring stays for a lot longer and sometimes a

person will never get over this. Some websites allow people to post anonymously which can mean it

is very hard to stop this abuse.

Myth: Cyberbullying can only affect someone if they are online and have an account too

Fact: This is not true, we often hear of pages and fake accounts being created without person’s

permission or knowledge. This sort of cyberbullying is on the increase and just as serious as any

other form of bullying.

Myth: It is not bullying if someone deletes the comment or post

Fact: Regardless of hitting delete, once something is posted online is gets its own unique URL which

means that it can stay on cyberspace even if you hit delete.

Myth: If bullying was so bad, why don’t they have a law about it?

Fact: Some forms of bullying are illegal and should be reported to the police including violence or

assault, theft, repeated harassment or intimidation, e.g. threats and abusive phone calls, emails or

text messages and hate crimes.

Myth: Reporting a bully will make things worse

Fact: You may worry that reporting a bully might make the bullying escalate or they feel they are not

believed. It is important to confide in someone you trust so that you can have some help in getting

the necessary support to get this stopped.

Myth: It is easy to spot the signs of bullying

Fact: It is not always easy to spot the signs of bullying as it is not always physical and obvious.

Emotional, verbal and online bullying can often leave scars that people don’t see.

Myth: Children grow out of bullying

Fact: Quite often children who bully may grow up to be adults who bully or use negative behaviour

to get what they want, unless there has been intervention and their behaviour challenged by the

relevant authorities, whether it be school or parents, etc.

Using these myths as a conversation starter can help manage difficult and awkward discussions.

(Information taken from https://www.bullying.co.uk/general-advice/bullying-myths-and-facts/)

PTA News

Mothers Day Event is on Friday 20th March 8.50-10am. Letters have now gone home in bookbags.

Thursday 12th March, 8pm - Very Important PTA Meeting to discuss a large scale event for the

Summer Term such as a Summer Fair, along with the future plans of the PTA going into September

2020, as Lisa-Marie & Athena leaving at the end of this Academic year. Venue to be confirmed.

Please confirm your attendance to Lisa-Marie or Athena asap. This meeting is for ALL St Giles

Parents to attend.

Thursday 2nd April - Easter PTA Event - Details to be confirmed.

Also we raised £420 from the Quiz. We have now raised £3,200 since September 2019! Thank you

everyone for your continued support.

Attendance Heroes!

Well done to Rabbits class, who were the winning class to receive Alfie the Attendance Bear for last

week with 96.6% – well done to all our Year 2! Attendance for this last week:

Owls – 94%

Squirrels – 94.3%

Rabbits – 96.6%

Our overall school attendance is 94.9% which is slightly below

Government expectations.

H - Here

E - Everyday

R - Ready

O - On time

The Government recommend yearly attendance for any pupil is 95% or above for the academic year.

I am unable to authorise any leave of absence during term time unless the request meets our

exceptional circumstances criteria (please see our Attendance Policy on our website). Just to remind

parents/carers that if they take their children out of school without authority, they will be liable to

receive a penalty notice. Currently the amount payable under a penalty notice is £60.00 per

parent/carer per child if paid within 21 days. Thereafter the amount increases to £120.00 and if the

penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, the Local Authority will consider a prosecution in the

Magistrates Court.

Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per child so a family of two parents and

two children will receive 4 penalty notices. Please do ensure that you always let the office team

know via email or telephone, if your child is not going to be in school. If we are unable to contact

you by 9.15am, then this does raise the issue to a safeguarding matter and as such, we will need to

make a referral to the Educational Welfare Team if we do not know where your child is. Please

also note that if we cannot contact parents directly by telephone, we will automatically contact

the named person(s) on your child’s school admission form.

SOUTH EAST SURREY DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION

Affiliated to the British Dyslexia Association SESDA Reg. Charity no. 281076

Meetings for Spring 2020

Parents and Carers

Tuesday 24th March at 8pm

How to Navigate your Dyslexic Child through the School System

Speaker: Julie Reeves

Informal evening with SESDA Committee members.

A chance for everyone to ask questions about dyslexia and talk about their concerns.

Teachers, Support Staff, Parents and Carers

Tuesday 28th April at 8pm

Speech and Language

Speaker: Becky Clark

Head Speech and Language Adviser to schools and colleges. Title of talk and details

to be confirmed.

Talks at Holy Trinity Centre, Carlton Road, Redhill RH1 2BX

SESDA Helpline: 01737 556 173 E-mail: sesdadyslexia@hotmail.com

Forthcoming INSET Days for rest of this academic year:

Friday 22nd May 2020

Wednesday 22nd July 2020

INSET days for September 2020

Tuesday 1st September

Wednesday 2nd September

Children in Years 1 and 2 will return to school on Thursday 3rd September 2020.

Wishing all of our families a lovely week end – see you next week!

Best wishes,

Mrs Nicky Angus

Headteacher

Spring Term 2020

March 2020

Tuesday 10th March – Reception to visit Guildford Cathedral for Lent Workshop

Wednesday 11th March at 9.15am – Owls class assembly

Friday 13th March – Sports Relief – sports mufti

Wednesday 18th March at 9.15am – Squirrels class assembly

Friday 20th March - PTA Mother’s Day Event

Tuesday 24th March – Easter Pause day with Jaynie Kendall from St Giles’ church (Easter activities

in school)

Wednesday 25th March – Easter end of term service at St Giles’ church

April 2020

Wednesday 1st April – Year 2 to Ashtead Schools’ Music Festival (details to follow)

Friday 3rd April – end of term at 1.45pm

Monday 20th April – Start of Summer term

Summer term 2020

We return to school on Monday 20th April

Week of Monday 27th April – come and learn with your child! Details to follow nearer the time,

but parents will be able to sign up to come in and participate in a lesson with your child

Thursday 30th April – ‘The Great Read’ for selected Year 2 pupils at St Christopher’s School in

Epsom – details nearer the time

Friday 15th May – PTA Colour Run in the afternoon

May 2020 – Key Stage 1 SATS

Week beginning 8th June- Year 1 Phonics screening check

Advance notice – Sports Day will be on Friday 12th June at 1pm

Week beginning Monday 13th July – after last year’s success, we will be holding another

International week!

Tuesday 21st July – End of term at 1.45pm

Wednesday 22nd July – INSET day