November Newsletter

Farmers Forever Moments

It is our aim to fill the children's time at school with as many memorable moments and experiences that will stick with them as possible, so that they leave us after 4 years with hearts and minds full of learning and joy - that's where our motto LEARNERS FOR LIFE, FARMERS FOREVER comes from! Here are a few of the Farmers Forever moments the children have experienced in the past few weeks...

Whole school author visit

Earlier this month, the children enjoyed a visit from children's author Jenny McLachlan, who writes the 'Land of Roar' books. She held an assembly where she shared some of her stories and where the inspiration came from for the books with the children. Then the children that had bought a copy of her book were lucky enough to meet her and get their books specially signed!

Year 5 RAF STEM day

Year 5 had a fabulous virtual visit from the RAF last week for their flight-themed STEM day linked to the science unit of forces and also to their DT design units because of the design, make and review cycles they went through on the day to try and make their own gliders.

The AFJS choir

It was a pleasure to see so many of the choir perform at the Rugby Baptist Church this weekend - they sounded brilliant and there were lots of lovely comments from the audience! They are certainly sounding ready for the Young Voices concert after Christmas.

Governors needed

We are looking for Governors to join our fabulous team and would appreciate if you could spread the word among friends, family, work colleagues and whoever else you can think of! Please note, this is NOT a parent Governor role, but parents can still apply!

Sport and HEALTHY BODY & MIND activities at AFJS

Sport and physical activity is an integral part of every school day here at AFJS and we are taking this even further this year with our PLAYTIME REVOLUTION and 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE CHALLENGE, to prioritise one of our school values: HEALTHY BODY AND MIND. We provide as many different opportunities as possible for children to get active throughout the school day, as well as opportunities to understand positive mental health and healthy habits, find ways to seek help when needed and much, much more. This is another way of us filling the curriculum with FARMERS FOREVER moments too! Here are a few of the HEALTHY BODY AND MIND opportunities that have been happening this month:

• Our year 5/6 football team
• Speed stacking
• Y5 dodgeball
• G&T PE day
• Y4 and Y6 Sportshall Athletics

A special mention to our Speed Stacking team who were brilliant at the level 2 games and, as runners up, they have now qualified for the level 3 round! This will see them compete against schools from Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull.

Supporting Charities

Pawprints

On the first day back after half term, the children were visited by Natalie from Pawprints who was very pleased to accept our donation of over £500 from the beach disco last term. The children were very excited to see photos of some of the puppies that their money had supported to get back to health and hopefully find their happy new forever homes!

MIND

A representative from the charity MIND, that we supported through our 'Hats on for Mental Health' day, also came in to visit us the other week in assembly. The House Captains presented them with the funds we had raised and they shared with us in return just what the fundraising means to the charity and what they can provide with the money.

Children in Need

We raised a huge £372 from non-uniform donations and cake sales this year, but even more amazingly, we then raised nearly £1,000 through our Danceathon! The children had a great time keeping the dancing going from Kidzone through to the final bell, with volunteers even taking to the stage during lunch time. This promoted our school value of HEALTHY BODY & MIND while also supporting children in understanding how they can have a positive impact on the wider world! Thank you to all family and friends that supported these efforts!

Healthy Body and Mind for children

This week's 'Tips for Wellness' from MHST are based around sleep, which we know is a key concern for many parents and children at many different points in a child's life. Here are some great tips to get you started but please do not hesitate to get in touch if you feel you would benefit from some further support or guidance from our MHST worker or our school nurse service around this tricky area.

Healthy Body and Mind for parents

This service, providing counselling support for parents, has been brought to our attention so I wanted to share it with you in case it would be of any use to any of you. The Parenting Project is a well-trusted organisation that can support parents in many ways so their website is worth a look!

Online Safety

Does your child play Roblox? Then you need to take a look at the information below...

We have also been made aware of further concerns regarding Roblox from the Warwickshire Safeguarding team! They have had reports of 'pop ups' on ROBLOX where children can receive unwanted communications, sometimes suggestions to download an app or webpage. This can suggest dangerous ideas including sexual abuse and self harm.

How to disable the notification to stop the “pop up” while children are on the platform

Go to your Roblox Settings. Select Notifications. Find the notification category you want to stop (e.g., "Followers," "Chat," "Experiences"). Toggle the specific notification off. Manage notifications from specific experiences Navigate to the experience's details page. Find the "Notify" bell icon. Click the bell icon to see a list of notifications and toggle individual ones off.

Is there anything else you might like to see in this section of the newsletter? Drop us an email at admin2421@welearn365.com to let us know.

Keeping your child off school

In July 2025, Warwickshire County Council (WCC) set out new guidance for schools about non-school attendance and fixed penalty notices. The aim is to ensure that penalties are applied consistently and fairly, and in accordance with the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. You can read the guidance issued and find further support and information by clicking the button below.

In summary, this is what it means for schools and parents... The national threshold set out in the statutory guidance states that a penalty notice must be considered for 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. This is something that school are now expected to report to WCC on a monthly basis and then these pupils will be discussed at meetings with our allocated officer and the decision to issue a penalty notice will be made by WCC. This does not mean that there will not be support and advice offered to families facing difficulties - this was always be the foundations of how we do things here at AFJS - but it does mean that significant numbers of unauthorised attendances could mean that a penalty notice will be issued. In the next week or so, we will be sending letters out to all parents of pupils whose absence is below 90% to offer support and guidance if needed but also to make you aware of whether your child's absence is meeting the limits at which further action might be taken.

Injuries such as pulled muscles, sprains, cuts and bruises etc are not authorised reasons for children taking time off from school. As long as they are able to listen and join in, they should be in school. If they need anything special to help them throughout the day, you just need to speak to the office and they will help to ensure they are still able to come in to school for their learning.

Parking Safety

Thank you so much to all of the parents that park sensibly and take the safety of our pupils into consideration at pick up and drop off times. Things on the whole are really calm outside school at these times now and that is huge thanks to all of you! However, if you are not parking correctly, please do not then get angry at parents or our staff for taking actions to stop you parking like this, including asking you to move or taking photos of your vehicle to report it to WCC. This is for the safety of our pupils and we will never make apologies for asking you to move or reporting your numberplate to WCC. Members of staff have been subject to some quite unpleasant personal comments made towards them in recent weeks and this is not fair and certainly not setting a good example to our pupils for how to behave.

Protective Behaviours - pupil safety

When undertaking training this term about our Protective Behaviours curriculum, there were a few things that came up that were worth sharing with parents to support us all in our efforts to keep pupils safe and build their independent skills to help keep themselves safe... Have you ever checked with your children... Do they know their full name and address? Do they know how to call the emergency services? Do they know the rules of getting lost? (Always tell them to stay put and ask for help from someone nearby) If they leave school site on their own at the end of the day, do they know what to do if the adult they are meeting is not at the agreed point?

Please take 5 minutes to talk to your child about these things to ensure they know how to keep themselves safe in an emergency situation.

SEN news and updates

Parental requests for EHC needs assessments

We have seen an increase recently in parental requests for EHC needs assessments and wanted to just share some key information with you all around this to ensure that you understand the role school will still play in this and how we will best be able to support you. Parents have the right to request an EHC needs assessment under Section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which is guided by the SEND Code of Practice 2015. To do this, parents must submit a written request to the local authority, explaining why they believe their child has a learning difficulty or disability and may need special educational provision. However, children do not need an EHC to be able to access SEN support in school - schools must provide SEN support for any pupil that needs it, under the guidance of the SENCO. So what is the difference? SEN support is for children with special educational needs who need extra help that is different from the usual, while an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is a legal document for those with more complex needs that may require support across education, health, and social care. Essentially, a child would usually have SEN support first, and if that is insufficient, they might then need an EHC plan, which has legal backing and includes provision for their health and social care needs as well as their education. If as a family, you get to a point where you feel that an EHC may be needed for your child then we urge you to come and discuss it with us in school first. When a parental application is put in for an EHC, we must respond within 2 weeks and often, we do not have enough information at this point to be able to provide adequate supporting documentation whereas, if you liaise with school to submit an EHC application, we can discuss timescales with you and build a plan for collating sufficient evidence to support the application to ensure the best chance of success. You can get in touch to request a discussion about an EHC application at any time by emailing SENCO2421@welearn365.com or calling the school office and asking to speak to someone about an EHC application. You could also discuss this with your child's class teacher at IEP review meetings - if you haven't yet made an appointment, make sure you log on to your Arbor account to get something booked in.

Support services and information for parents of children with special educational needs

Another great resource for families of neurodivergent children is this article from internetmatters.org about supporting your child with playing safely online. If you click the button below this image, it will take you straight to the article, which is full of great tips for getting a good screen time balance for your neurodivergent child.

Is there anything else you might like to see in this section of the newsletter? Drop us an email at SENCO2421@welearn365.com to let us know.

Diary Dates

UPCOMING EVENTS - more information will be shared closer to the time but keep these dates in your diary

• Wb 8th December - IEP meeting for parents of pupils on SEND register - appointments to be booked through the Arbor app
• Wednesday 10th December - year 3/4 Christmas Play performances (2pm and 6pm) - the office will be sending out ticket information shortly
• Friday 12th December - PTA Christmas Fair after school
• Wednesday 17th December - AFJS Christmas jumper and lunch day
• Wednesday 17th December - year 5/6 Christmas Carol evening (6pm) - no tickets needed, just turn up and enjoy :)
• Thursday 18th December - whole school theatre visit to Albany Theatre - Beauty and the Beast
• Friday 19th December - break up for Christmas
• Monday 5th January - training day - SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS
• Tuesday 6th January - all pupils back to school
• Wednesday 7th January - Young Voices

Messages from the PTFA

CHRISTMAS CARD FUNDRAISER

Children have been busy in school creating their own Christmas cards, and an example of your child's artwork will be sent home over the next week. We are producing these in-house this year to raise as much money as possible for our school PTFA. Once you have received your example card, if you would like to support us, please visit the Shop on Arbor to purchase cards. We must ask for orders ASAP, and no later than Friday 5th December to ensure printing before Christmas holidays. Cards will be sent home with children as soon as possible once your purchase is complete. Prices are as follows: 12 cards - £4 24 cards - £7.50 36 cards - £11

Others ways you can help us to fundraise...

If you shop at Asda, please make sure you sign up to their 'Cashpot for Schools' initiative - they will donate much needed funds to us every time you shop with them. Literally money for nothing! :)

You can also sign up to EasyFundraising and elect to allocate funds to our school - again, this is literally money for nothing! You just need to log in via EasyFundraising to do your online shopping at any of their many retailers they work with and they will donate much needed funds to us every time you shop. If you have joined us from another school that uses this initiative, please log in and swap the cause you are supporting to ABBOTS FARM JUNIOR SCHOOL :)

And finally...you can also play the Rugby Lotto and raise money for our PTA at the same time - we had several wins within our school community last term so it is worth a go! You can just log on and opt for it to automatically charge you to play each month.

Here are details of some local activities we have had shared with us recently that may be of interest to you.

Please remember that we cannot vouch for any of these providers, we are just sharing information that might be of use or interest to our families that has been sent to us.