Weekly Bulletin 7th February 2025
Headteacher’s Message
Our Parents’ evening booking system will go live on Monday 10th February and we will again be offering both face to face appointments and a night set aside for online video-call appointments for pupils in Y1 to Y6 (See below for information for Reception children). It is hoped this will allow greater flexibility for parents/carers and the opportunity for as many as possible to attend and learn about their child’s progress so far this term. Monday 17th and Tuesday 18th (3:40-5:40pm) will be held in school with the class teacher and Wednesday 19th (3:40-5pm) will be held online. There will be an online booking form for you to choose either an in-person appointment or a video-call. The link for this will be sent out on Monday morning so please ensure your contact details are up-to-date with the School office. If you have any problems securing an appointment please contact the School office. Progress reports will be sent home on Friday 14th February.
The Reception Class Parents Evening will be on a drop-in basis, between 3.00 – 4.30pm on each evening from Monday 17th to Thursday 20th February. Mrs Short and Mrs Silvester/Mrs Dietz will be available for the sessions, allowing Reception parents/carers to speak to them alongside looking through their children’s work. The drop-in sessions have been allocated to a house/colour group for each night (please see below) and we shall be splitting each session into 3x half-hour slots this time. A form has been sent with your child to indicate which time slot best suits.
Monday 17th February – Yellow Aidan Parents
Tuesday 18th February – Blue Bede Parents
Wednesday 19th February – Red Cuthbert Parents
Thursday 20th February – Green Godric Parents
Each week I want to include a ‘snapshot’ of some of the things going on in school. For example, news from our ECO team, Worship group, V.I.P. (Very International People) and SNAG (School Nutrition Action Group). This week our focus is on Online Safety and Mrs Crook and Miss Smithson have shared an update on this below.
Best wishes
Mr Rumbles
Safer Internet Day and Online Safety
Next Tuesday, 11th February, is the annual Safer Internet Day. As a school we will be marking the day with information and awareness-raising class-based activities for the children. Staying safe online is everyone’s responsibility. It might be helpful to think about:
- Where you keep devices – Keep them in public areas of the house!
- What is being shared- checking the settings carefully.
- Who are your child’s online friends?
Further information to support parents:
The school will help children to learn about staying safe online, but recognises that the primary responsibility for online safety at home lies with parents and carers. Your help is needed to help your children adopt safe use of the digital technologies at home.
It is important that we are all vigilant when children are using devices and act to ensure they are protected from people who may pose a risk to them. Children can accidently or deliberately be exposed to illegal, unwanted or unpleasant content, comments or activity online and there are steps you can take at home to minimise this risk.
We know that new apps and sites appear daily online and it would be unrealistic to ask parents and carers to understand all of them. The sites and services that your child likes to use may change regularly, but the messages they need to keep themselves safe will remain the same – think before you post, be kind online and ask for help if something makes you feel worried, upset or uncomfortable.
If your child wishes to download a new app then we would recommend considering some of the following points:
Listen
- Take an active interest in your child’s online life and talk with them about how they use technology.
- Ask your child why they want to use the app? How did they hear about it?
- Discuss with them how they will keep themselves safe and make sure they know:
- How to block and report other users and content
- To speak to a trusted adult if they see anything or something happens online that makes them feel worried, upset or uncomfortable.
- About websites such as Child Line and CEOP? www.childline.org.uk and www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Functionality
- Make sure that you understand how the app works so you can decide if you are happy for your child to use it. You may even wish to set up an account yourself first.
- Consider:
- Does it allow video chat or the sharing of images?
- Does it allow user to communicate with ‘random’ strangers?
- Does it allow anonymous chat?
- Does it allow in-app purchases?
- Can you restrict access to the content that your child shares?
- How will your child’s personal data be used by the app?
Reviews
- What do other people (i.e. other parents and carers) have to say about the app?
- Ask your friends and family members or take a look online. You may be able to find reviews via search engines or using tools such as www.net-aware.org.uk and www.commonsensemedia.org
Age Restrictions
- You can usually find age restrictions within the app’s terms and conditions. This is not the same as the app/google store rating.
- The age limit for many popular social networking sites is thirteen. This is due to American Legislation called COPPA. The age limit is not based on suitability of content and instead applies to any website, app or online service which collects, stores or uses children’s personal information. Some apps will have age limits of 18+ as they are exclusively designed for use by adults.
- If children use apps that are aimed at an older age group then this may leave them vulnerable to being exposed to unsuitable content (including advertising), as well as being contacted by strangers.
Safety
- Many popular apps will have ‘help’ and ‘safety’ sections, either within the app itself or via its website. Some apps will even have content specifically designed for parents and carers.
- www.saferinternet.org.uk has some useful parent guides which highlight safety tools on popular devices, and signpost to report mechanisms.
- Does the app have any privacy settings? If so then help your child to apply them appropriately – for example is it possible to set the app so that only trusted friends can see information they post?
- Explore the block and report features. Can your child block or report concerning users or inappropriate behaviour?
- If the app doesn’t have safety or help sections, or doesn’t provide the ability to report and block, then you may wish to consider if it is safe for your child to use.
Boundaries
- Talk to your child about safe and appropriate online behaviour.
- Consider setting up a family agreement regarding how their internet use will be supervised and how long they can spend online. Resources to help can be found at www.childnet.com and www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/share-aware/
- Apply appropriate parental controls to all devices: www.saferinternet.org.uk and www.internetmatters.org
- Discuss your expectations about the types of content and information they should share online, rules relating to adding friends and meeting people in real life.
- Do they understand:
- That content posted online should never be considered to be private and may be copied and shared?
- That they should behave online the same as they would in “the real world” and be kind?
- How to be secure online such as by using safe and strong passwords. You can visit www.getsafeonline.org.uk for more advice
If you are worried that your child is at risk of harm or criminal offence has been committed then you can report your concerns to the Police or First Contact (Durham County Council). Please do not notify suspicious profiles of your actions, as this could enable them to delete material which might be required for any Police investigations. You can contact the Police via 101 or via 999 if there is an immediate risk to a child’s safety or First Contact (Durham County Council) on 03000 26 79 79. You can also report online sexual abuse to CEOP by visiting www.ceop.police.uk and using the “Click CEOP” reporting button.
If the school can be of any further assistance, then please contact Mr Rumbles and Mrs Richardson via the School Office. Additional information and resources are available via the school website.
Wild Church – SPRING TERM 2025 (All welcome, All age, Ecumenical)
Sun 2nd March, Sun 6th April Parish Communion with children’s activity.
Sat 15Th February: Wild Church Celidh: 4.00 p.m. Meet at St. Mary’s Church Hall: Refreshments, coffee/tea – pizza snack and fruit. £5 per adult to cover costs. Children Free.
Sat 8th March – Wild Church: International Seagrass Celebration: 4.00 p.m. Meet outside Church Activities: refreshments – the ecology of sea grass ,creating an undersea fishes display, undersea prayers, modelling sand seeding, engineering : safe sea-bed mooring , making codfish bottles,– short service with music and firepit and mallows. Young Leaders arr. 3.30 p.m.
Sun 30th March 9.30 am. Mothering Sunday Holy Communion with Children’s activity
Sat 5th April: Wild Church: SHINCLIFFE SPRING WATCH (NATURE in Lent) 4.00 p.m. Snowdrops, frogs, blackthorn, bees ….. Meet outside church. Activities: refreshments, (lent pancakes), making a toad house and bee bombs to take home, bulb and blossom identification, habitat prayer book, fire pit and mallows followed by a short service.
Sun 4th May 9.30 am Holy Communion with Children’s Activity
Young leaders arrive 3.30 p.m.
Diary Dates
For a full list of school holiday dates please see the school website.
Monday 3rd-9th February – Children’s Mental Health Week
Saturday 1st-9th February – National Storytelling Week
Friday 7th February – NSPCC Number Day and NSPCC Times Table Rocks
Tuesday 11th February – Safer Internet Day
Monday 17th & Tuesday 18th February – In Person Parents’ Consultation Evenings
Wednesday 19th February – Online Parents’ Consultation Evenings
Monday 17th – Thursday 20th February Reception Parents’ Consultation Evenings
Friday 21st February – School closes for half-term holiday
Monday 3rd March – School re-opens
Tuesday 4th March – Y5 Murton Park Trip
Friday 7th March – FOSS Disco
Thursday 3rd April – Y3 and Y4 assembly – 9.05am
Thursday 3rd April – FOSS Easter Fair
Monday 7th April – Easter Eucharist – 9.05am – All welcome
Monday 7th April – Reception Zoolab Visit
Friday 11th April – School closes for Easter holidays
Monday 28th April – School re-opens
Thursday 1st May – School Closure – Polling Station
Monday 5th May – School closed for May bank holiday
WC Monday 12th May – Y6 SATS week
Monday 23rd June – Sports Day – 1.15pm onwards
Christian Values
We are exploring the value of hope this half term and worship will be led by Mr Rumbles, Fr. Bill, Mrs Matthews, Fr. Peter and our Key Stage Two pupils.
Some further information about this half term’s value:
This half term we are focussing on hope as our whole school Christian Value.
The Christian understanding of hope is much deeper than our everyday use of the word can be. We hope that it will not rain for the picnic, or that the car will start or that the plumber will come tomorrow.
Hope is a universal human phenomenon. People hope for peace in time of war; food in time of famine; justice in time of oppression. Where hope is lost there is despair and disintegration.
Hope generates energy and sustains people through difficult times.
If you would like to receive a copy of the Weekly Bulletin by e-mail please e-mail the school. Shincliffece@durhamlearning.net The Weekly Bulletins from previous weeks can be found in the parents’ section of the website.