Racing towards Christmas at a rate of knots! As usual, lots of Christmas activities and events going on. It’s great to see the excitement in our children! See more below. Have a great weekend.
Attendance
Lots of children off ill this week…you can see how that’s affected attendance below! Hope everyone who is ill gets better soon.
Whole School – 89.42%
Year 5 – 94.61%
Year 3 – 93.64%
Year 6 – 93.64%
Year 1 – 92.58%
Reception – 86.62%
Year 4 – 83.94%
Year 2 – 79.26%
Well done year 5!
Christmas Event Dates
Tuesday 9 December – Christmas dinner day
Friday 12 December – Year 1/2 Nativity – Year 2 parents am/Year 1 parents pm
Monday 15 December – children to bring an orange to school to make Christingle (only oranges needed this year. No mince pie trays needed)
Tuesday 16 December – Year 5 coffee and carols @ 9:00am – school hall (Year 5 parents invited)
Tuesday 16 December – Year 6 coffee and carols @ 10:00am – school hall (Year 6 parents invited)
Thursday 18 December – Christingle service in school am (parents unfortunately not invited)
Thursday 18 December – Year 3 & 4 Carol Service – St Peter’s Church pm (Year 3 & 4 parents invited)
Friday 19 December – Last day of term
Christmas Fayre
Thank you all so very much for supporting our Christmas Fayre last Friday. It was a lovely event and really started Christmas off! We will let you know how much we raised for school as soon as the numbers have been crunched.
Hagley Library Christmas Activities
Please see the poster here for all the activities taking place at Hagley Library in December.
Advent in School
Andrew, the Vicar from St Thomas’ Church in Stourbridge, came into school today to share with the children all about Advent. The first Sunday of advent was last week. We lit our first advent candle this week – the first candle represents Hope.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:2-6
Happy News
The latest edition of Happy News can be found here. In this one there is news of a man who has been walking around the world – it’s taken him 27 years!
Charity Support
At this time of year, we always choose a charity, or charities, to support. We ask for donations from our Christmas carol services, nativities, etc and donate all of the proceeds to our chosen charities. This year, school council have chose 3 charities to support: Multiple Sclerosis Society; Mary Stevens Hospice; and Cancer Research. If you would like to donate, please bring some coins to any event you attend. Thank you.
Reception Christmas Singing and Stay and Play
Reception children were fantastic on Thursday of this week when they sang lots of Christmas songs to tell the Christmas story to their grown ups. The singing was the best it had been! Thank you for all your help and support with costumes and we hope you enjoyed your morning.
Safeguarding – Roblox Security Changes
The introduction of the Online Safety Bill earlier this year has brought welcome controls over what we and our children can access online. As internet speeds have increased and the digital world has expanded, the ability for anyone of any age to reach almost any content has grown at a pace far beyond our capacity to safeguard against it. The risks have become unmistakable. Adults now face increasingly sophisticated attacks from hackers and scammers, while children remain acutely vulnerable to online predators.
Although some internet services initially resisted tighter regulation, the government’s commitment to reducing online harms has ultimately prevailed. For children, one of the most persistent avenues for predatory behaviour has been online video games. These are spaces where young users gather, communicate, and interact, often with limited verification or oversight.
Roblox, a platform widely associated with younger players, is now beginning to address this by introducing facial analysis age checks and optional ID verification for users over 13. These real-world verification measures are designed to confirm a user’s age more accurately and to restrict interactions that could place children at risk. In practice, they signal an important shift in how major platforms are starting to manage online safety and respond to the expectations set out in the Bill.
You can read more about these checks on the SWGfL website:
https://swgfl.org.uk/magazine/roblox-announces-facial-age-checks-for-chat-features
Forest School
It’s been a busy few chilly weeks in the woods with both Year 5 and reception.
We have welcomed the parents and carers of reception to join us for a session.
It was lovely for the children to share their favourite activities with their adults and to enjoy a hot chocolate and a story around the fire.
Year 5 enjoyed some whittling, making spears and wands. They found it really therapeutic and were so safe using the knives.
The children have got on and lit the fire and last week we enjoyed pizzas and this week popped our own corn!
I believe it is so important to give children these opportunities to learn new skills and develop their confidence in managing risk for themselves.
It’s such a privilege to lead these sessions with the children and see how they flourish.
Ruth Hill
Take Care & Stay Safe
Mr Dunn
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