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DECEMBER 2021

Welcome to the last newsletter of the year!

Thank you to all of you for your continued support during this very difficult half term. We have worked closely with Public Health (Knowsley) and have appreciated their guidance throughout. Whilst we do not yet have a clear picture of what January will look like, we do not intend to make any changes to our current risk assessment.

This includes:

Our children sitting in rows.

Class bubbles indoors.

LFT testing for visitors.

Expectations that children will not be sent to school if symptomatic/picked up promptly if symptoms are identified.

Recommendation that a child with symptoms goes for a PCR test/stays at home for 10 days.

Staff will wear masks in communal areas.

No large gatherings, including assemblies.

No additional activity clubs.

Good levels of ventilation in rooms, checked with CO2 monitors.

Clear handwashing routines and toilet zones.

Parents/carers to wear masks on site and leave site as soon as possible.

Parents/carers to communicate via phone (0151 432 7100) or email through the main office at admin@prescotprimary.org.uk

 

We will of course be in touch if the situation changes before our return in January. 

Breakfast Club and After School Club

Our BC and ASC teams would like to thank all of the families who use our wrap-around care and wish them a very happy Christmas.

Could we remind parents that the responsibility for booking either of our clubs via Arbor is essential to the efficient management of the clubs.  Please ensure you book within the designated window to secure your child a place. 

The booking window for W/C 3/1/22 is now open.  It will close on 30th December and all bookings need to be made/paid for by then.  

Unfortunately, we may not be able to accommodate late bookings, unless it is an emergency and pre-arranged with us. We must plan ratios carefully and would not want to compromise the safety of our children.

Early Years Update

We cannot believe that our Nursery and Reception children have already completed a full term in school.  We feel like this term has flown by.  Thankfully we have still been able to enjoy celebrating Christmas in our classes and are completely blown away by our EYFS 2021 Christmas Nativity - it is amazing! Nursery have also enjoyed their walk to the magical Christmas post box and we have seen on Twitter that Father Christmas has already replied to them!  

Our afternoon Nursery provision will open once again in January; it will be exciting to welcome new families through the PCP gates. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our EYFS Open Evenings but if you know anyone who is still looking for a Nursery place or a school place for Sept 2022, please ask them to contact our main office on 0151 432 7100 or email admin@prescotprimary.org.uk.

If you have not yet applied for a school place for Sept 2022, please ensure you apply online by 15th January.

We hope that you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas and cannot wait to hear all about it when we return.

Attendance

Knowsley have produced a new attendance strategy. For more information click here:

Knowsley Attendance Strategy 2021-2024

For Prescot Primary's attendance policy, click here:

PCP Attendance Information

Can we remind all families that children must be in school for 8.50am. Gates will be closed and your child will be marked later if they arrive at this time. Children who regularly arrive late can have an unsettled start to the day and feel unprepared for their first lesson. We would urge you to think about the impact that lateness has on learning and minutes lost as a result. 

New year, new start!

Oracy News

During the lockdowns, opportunities for our children to speak and listen were definitely limited to those in the family home. Knowing when to take turns, listen to important instructions, speak in full sentences, add gestures and expressions and many others, are all important life skills that we have prioritised for all children in school in order to develop self-confidence and fluency. 

We have noticed that some children have made incredible progress with their oracy skills, moving from being very quiet and unlikely to contribute to discussion, to being desperate to share a joke over lunch.

In order to keep up this fantastic progress, we have attached some great oracy games for you to play together over the Christmas break. Enjoy!

Word Millionaires and Reading Success

Last Friday saw our first reading celebration of the year. Children who reached their Accelerated Reader target for the half term received a ‘well done’ certificate and chocolate treat. With reading data recorded and easily accessed on the children’s personal profiles, children own their reading progress much more than ever before. Children know what books are on their bookshelf, what genres they have read, how many words they have read, what quizzes they have taken and how well they understood the book. All targets are specific to the child and are within their reach. All children on Accelerated Reader have the opportunity to reach their target - provided they read every day.

For those children who reach their target at the end of every half term, there will be a special reading reward.

 

We now have a total of four Word Millionaires and one Double Word Millionaire. Becoming a word millionaire is an amazing achievement and shows dedication to and enjoyment of the written word. Well done to Ben, Lucas, Tejaswi, Jak and Jessica from Y5 and 6.

PROJECT EXPLORATIONS

Whilst we are still finding it difficult to take children out on visits, it has been great to see our classes exploring their projects in class. 

All children took part in our first ‘Monarch Monday’ way back at the start of November. This whole school project aims to explore the concept of monarchy and focuses on British rulers who have made significant changes or brought about significant events within their lifetimes. Our chosen monarchs are Elizabeth 1, Victoria, Henry VIII, William the Conquerer, John and George VI. All of the children have helped to create a fabulous gallery in the canteen dedicated to their monarchs and enjoy talking about them whilst eating their lunch. The next Monarch Monday will be in February and will focus on family trees - maybe you could start to discuss your family tree with your children. This would help to get us started!

Y2 had a successful Pirate Day, where they explored life on the ocean waves. They completed treasure hunts using different types of maps and listened to sea shanties, amongst other activities.

Y5 raged against the oppressive rule of Richard II as they took on roles as peasants during the peasants’ revolt of 1381. Lots of great oracy came through this project, with heartfelt speeches and emotional debates. Y5 have certainly learned lots of new words during this project and have begun to understand more about how different monarchs have ruled in the past.

Y6 will hopefully be able to enjoy a full World War II experience in school in January. We would appreciate Y6 parents making payment for this through the Arbor app.

Y4 are hoping that their Roman Soldier experience will go ahead in Chester. We will have to risk assess this trip closer to the time.

Science News

In early December, Year Five took part in a workshop themed around the amazing story of the Webb telescope, which is replacing the Hubble Space Telescope as the next awe-inspiring space science observatory. Designed to discover unknown ‘unknowns’ about the Universe, Webb will make breakthrough discoveries in all fields of astronomy. It will also see deeper into our origins than ever before, from the formation of stars and planets to the birth of the first galaxies in the early Universe!

Two scientists based at Daresbury laboratories, who have been involved in building the infrared detector onboard Webb, talked to us about how Webb will work. This added an inspirational context to our Earth and Space topic and proved to be a memorable experience. Webb is a fabulous celebration of the science, technology and engineering that is happening in the UK today, and the perfect project to inspire and encourage our children to consider the huge benefits of studying science, opening doors to a multitude of future careers!

The telescope is hopefully being launched on 24th December. Greg Foot is hosting a live mission briefing this Saturday at 11 which will be well worth a watch….

The YouTube link is here:

https://youtu.be/GYdtoTNqVyI

The Facebook event is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYdtoTNqVyI

Online Safety

At this time of year, many of our children will receive new devices or games in their Christmas stockings. 

Our recent pupil ICT survey showed many encouraging results. Our KS2 children said that they enjoy using technology and know the fundamental rules of staying safe online. They also know who to talk to in school if they feel worried about online activity.

Some questions from the survey showed that we can work a little harder as adults in order to keep our children safer as they work and play online. 

40% of our children in KS2 did not know what a PEGI rating is. This is a game content rating system that should guide adults and children as to what game is appropriate for them to play. You can help your child by discussing this with them and choosing games carefully.

With the above in mind, our survey told us that 21% of our KS2 children regularly play Grand Theft Auto, which is PEGI rated 18+. We can sometimes see the influence of such games on playground behaviour and would urge you to reflect on your child's access to games that are not age appropriate.

It's brilliant to see that 74.5% of our children say that their parents/carers talk to them about how to stay safe online. Carry on the good work - and maybe do this more often as your children get used to new platforms and devices.

 

Rights Respecting School Award

We are currently holders of the Rights Respecting School, bronze award. This recognises the work we have done so far on teaching our children about The United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Convention has 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to. It also explains how adults and governments must work together to make sure all children can enjoy all their rights.

Every child has rights, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status.

https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/

Our next steps are taking us towards our RRSA Silver award. We believe that this work is important in preparing our children for their adult lives where they should be aware of their own rights and of others in society, but also know and understand their responsibilities in supporting other people to access their rights. Equality, fairness and kindness are central to these rights. Our children explore the different articles within PSHE lessons, assemblies and annual PSHE conferences. Most recently, we have explored Human Rights Day and have looked at what this means for us and other children across the world.

Look out for more work shared on Twitter and across Google Classrooms.

Talent Shows and Nativities

We understand the frustration that families have felt as our children have once again taken part in virtual performances. We feel it too. However, your children have had fun acting along to songs and watching their nativities or talent shows come to life on screen. Our virtual performances also gave some of our older children the chance to work behind the scenes, organising props and helping to edit clips - performing in front of the camera isn’t for everyone!

You will receive an email with links to your child’s performance.

Our Talent Show winners for this year are Y6 PCP Unicorns! CONGRATULATIONS! You had the most votes from classes across school.

Nominations for class Oscars came through from teaching teams and, although it was very tough, final decisions were made. This year’s PCP Oscars were awarded to:

Reception: Penny Murtagh and Arlo Scott

Y1: Eric Murphy, Diya Chandranthan, Holly Buxton and Jacob Cooper

Y2: Nancie Rawlinson, Myles Riley, Harry Hindley, Indiana Austin

Y3: Vinnie Pringle, Ore Adulewsi, Grace McDowall, Max O’Brien

Y4: George Walsh, Amelia Rose Bingley, Lewis Jones, Daisy McNabb

Y5: Jessica Jackson, Patrick Davies, James Quirk, Lola-Faith White

Y6: Kayden Bellis, Jack Quirk, Sonny Melling, Lewis Bridle

Well done to everyone involved in this year’s productions. They are special memories of another PCP Christmas.

 

Thank you also to the Mayor of Prescot and the Town Council for gifting each child a Christmas selection box. The children loved their special visit!

From all of us at Prescot Primary  and Nursery School, have a safe and happy Christmas break. We hope to see you all on Wednesday 5th January 2022.