Dear parents and carers,
Thank you for continuing to read our BWI Newsletter each month. We are enjoying the opportunity to share further information with you about our approaches to behaviour, pastoral support and special educational needs. In this month's newsletter, we have shared information about our whole-school learning around behaviour and our upcoming learning on Equality and Equity. Further links, videos and webinars have also been added and we hope you continue to find these useful.
Please remember that we are always available for any concerns you may have. Class teachers can be reached via the school office. Our Children and Families Team can be contacted anytime via email at pastoral2421@welearn365.com or by calling the school office. Mrs Smythe and Miss Ingle can offer support with any concerns affecting your child and family (not just school-related) and will usually offer a tea or coffee. For any queries or concerns relating to behaviour, welfare or inclusion, emails can be sent to senco2421@welearn365.com
We hope you continue to find this newsletter helpful and would welcome any suggestions about the content to ensure our community are receiving the information they find most useful. You can share your ideas by clicking on the link below.
https://forms.office.com/e/ePJr7ckbde
from Mrs Watson-Tate :)
Behaviour Assembly
During assembly on Monday, the children were asked to reflect on the statement above and to consider their responsibility to continue to make this a reality for everyone.
It has also been a pleasure to share the continued positive feedback we receive about the children’s behaviour in school. We were able to celebrate our learning partner, Mr Watt’s comments on how excellent the learning behaviour is, as well as the children’s thoughtful and empathetic responses when discussing British values and our No Outsiders curriculum with him.
The pupils now have the opportunity to celebrate others who are showing our school rules by being safe, respectful and always trying their best. We look forward to further recognising those that are put forward.
In addition to this, the children also reflected on some of the reasons why it can be tricky for all of our pupils to show all of our rules all of the time. We were blown away by the children’s understanding and care for those who, at times, experience difficulties at school for a wide variety of reasons.
Equality and Equity
You may have noticed our new No Outsiders sign at the front of the school. One of the key messages of No Outsiders is 'No one is the same but everyone is equal.' We will be exploring this further with the children during assemblies and learning in the classrooms and developing the pupils' understanding of equality and equity. Please find further information about this below so that you are able to discuss this with your children if you wish to.
We strive to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to succeed and reach their potential. Equality is about ensuring that every child receives the same opportunities, regardless of their background or abilities. However, we understand that not all students require the same level of support to thrive. This is where equity comes into play.
Equity is about recognising and addressing the unique needs of each child and tailoring our support to meet those needs. We understand that children with additional needs and children that may be disadvantaged require adjustments to teaching strategies, access to additional resources or personalised behavioural responses and support to ensure they can fully participate and make progress.
We hope that through class discussions, the children will develop their understanding of why different support and strategies are used across the school.
Videos, Webinars and Workshops
Thank you for your feedback on our BWI newsletter. We have been asked to provide signposting to videos, webinars and workshops so we will continue to add to this section. If you have any requests for topics, please let us know.
Barnados Online Safety Webinar for parents is based on current research and best practice to promote online safety for children. Barnados objective is that parents leave the webinar feeling empowered and have practical tips that will help their family stay safer and be happier on the internet.
Family Lives offers a selection of online courses filled with advice and techniques. topics include: Bringing up confident children, Siblings and Coping with Teens and more.
Childhood Trauma and the Brain. This video gives a general introduction to what happens in the brain after children face traumatic experiences in childhood, like abuse and neglect. We have undertaken further training to ensure all of staff are aware of the effect of trauma on children's development.
Our work with the Mental Health in Schools Team (MHST)
We are very proud of the strong relationship we have built up with our dedicated NHS MHST educational mental health practitioner Sue Kelly over the past two terms. She has already helped to provide the Creating Calm workshops for all pupils and has other whole class and small group sessions planned in right up to the end of the academic year. Sue is also able to work 1:1 with pupils and their families.
We offer short term support to children and young people who are experiencing symptoms of mild to moderate mental health difficulties. This might include anxiety (for example; separation anxiety, panic, some lower impact obsessions and compulsions, generalised anxiety (worry and social worries) and low mood. We are also able to offer some support for difficulties that might require a more intensive approach and will signpost to other services if we aren’t the right people to help.
If you think your child might benefit from a referral to this service, please email pastoral2421@welearn365.com and the Children and Families team will support you with this.
In addition to the direct work with pupils, the MHST also share weekly Tips For Wellness with us, each week based around a different theme. Here are the most recent 2 for you:
Healthy Body and Mind - Support for all of our Farmers Families
This newsletter is the new place to find links and signposting to a range of support that families can access. This will include ongoing services – such as the Family Information Service – as well as those that are most relevant to the time of year or newly released.
Warwickshire's Children and Families Team are hosting a number of workshops for parents about a range of topics such as sleep and understanding behaviour, all free of charge - click here to see if there is anything may be useful for you https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/warwickshire-children-and-families-17595309993
SearchOut Warwickshire is here to help you find and access organisations, services and events that are local to you - things that will help you stay active, healthy, happy, and well. They also provide further information about services and support available from local organisations and groups for families with children and young people aged 0 to 25, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
The Community Autism Support Service offer free bite-sized, one-hour sessions for parents and carers covering topics such as routines, meltdowns and communication. Find out more about Toolboxes here.
Place2Be Parenting Support Parenting advice from child mental health experts. This includes practical tips to support children’s wellbeing and behaviour and covers a range of topics in articles and video format. Topics include: anxiety, building resilience, friendships, shyness, co-parenting and many more.
If you or your child are experiencing a mental health crisis, you can contact the Rise Crisis Team by calling 08081 966796 and selecting 'option 2' at any time of the day or night. Please note that it is an advice-only service overnight from 8pm to 8am. In an emergency call 999.
The Family Information Service phone line is a freephone number to enable anyone to contact them for support. You can call them on 0800 408 1558 with anything - even if they can't help, they may be able to point you in the direction of someone who can!