ð Newsletter 08.12.2023
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Hope, Peace, Joy and Love
I received another lovely message from Heathfield Church this week telling me how well-behaved, well-mannered and polite Year 3 and 4 were when they visited.
In assembly this week, we learned more about advent, and reflected on the meaning of the Sundays that lead up to Christmas Day in the Christian calendar.
Each candle lit on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day symbolise Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
As well as decorating trees and our rooms, we want to reflect on these hugely important values.
With the chocolates and toys in modern advent calendars, it is very easy to forget the Christmas story itself. A story of courage, hope, generosity and celebration.
It is the values behind religious stories that are so important to us in school, how we can all reflect upon them and what lessons we can learn in how we live our own lives.
NEWS AND UPDATES
Take a look at Year 6âs amazing Van Gosh inspired artwork. The work is amazing!
Parent Portal
Use this for updating contact details, child medical information, permissions, payments and seeing your childâs reports.
Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform for P.E. days
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Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform for P.E. days ðĻ ðĻ ðĻ ðĻ ðĻ
Good Attendance Draw!!
Donât forget, for every week that your child has an attendance of 96%+, they are allocated a digital ticket for a draw that will take place every half term. The more weeks with an attendance of 96%+, the more chances to win!
Services and Events
Parish Sung Eucharist Sundays 10am - 11am
Sermon, music and Holy Communion
Place of Welcome Thursdays 10am - 12pm
Time for a brew and a chat
More information from Father Andrew can be found here
Messy Church
It typically includes a welcome, a long creative time to explore the biblical theme through getting messy; a short celebration time involving story, prayer, song, games and similar; and a sit-down meal together at tables.
Community News and Support
Scroll through the items below
Keeping our Hands Clean
As we go into winter, common illnesses can keep children and teenagers away from their classmates and studies. One of the best things we can all do to avoid illness is to practice good hand hygiene.
Good hand hygiene helps stop infections from spreading, which means less disrupted learning time.
Teach your child to wash hands properly for 20 seconds and stay away from others when sick. The e-bug resources for all ages can help you to explain and discuss hygiene habits â and why they are important - to your child or teenager.
To avoid catching bugs or passing it on to others wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and warm water. This is most important following an episode of diarrhoea or vomiting, after using the toilet, before eating or preparing food, after changing nappies, as well as cleaning up vomit or diarrhoea. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers are not effective against some infections.
Anyone who has diarrhoea and/or vomiting should stay at home. Do not return to work or send children to school until 48 hours after the symptoms have stopped and do not visit your GP or hospital while symptomatic. If you are concerned about your symptoms, talk to your GP by phone, contact NHS 111 or visit the NHS web pages. For useful handwashing tips please have a look at the following NHS video
World Festivals and Celebrations
Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights, which celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it was recaptured from the Syrian Greeks by the Maccabee brothers in about 162 BCE. For the eight evenings of the festival, candles are lit from right to left in a hanukkiah, a nine-branched menorah â one candle for each evening. The ninth candle is the shamash (the servant candle) from which the other candles are lit.
Foods cooked with oil â such as doughnuts and latkes (potato cakes) â are traditional to remember the miracle with oil that kept the Temple lights burning so many years ago. A game of dreidel, a special, small, spinning top, is popular with children to commemorate âthe great miracle that happened there/hereâ.
Like many Jewish festivals this is a time for celebrating freedom and independence. The positioning of the lighted candles in the window is an expression of liberty, and the giving of small presents to children each day underlines the role of the family in planning for the future they might not have had.
Article 13: Sharing Thoughts Freely
Everyone has the human right to express themselves, and Article 13 of the UNCRC makes it clear that this includes children and young people. Part of this right of freedom of expression involves being able to find out information for yourselfâ so youâre able to share it in the way you want.
People can express themselves in all kinds of different ways, and the right to freedom of expression covers them all. These ways include things like:
talking out loud,
posting things on the internet, and
writing things for a book or newspaper.
As other articles of the UNCRC make clear, a child or young person should be able to express themselves regardless of their religion or culture.
People should take special care to make sure that children and young people with disabilities can express themselves. One way they can do this is through making sure information is easy for people with disabilities to read, access and respond to.
Farewell to Mrs Knight
Mrs Knight, our Business Manager, is leaving us this week after working with us over the past year. She is moving on to a new role and we wish her all the best for the future.
I would also like to thank her for all the support and work she has provided with the building, grounds, finances and administration.
Thank you Mrs Knight
Iâm really not surprised to hear praise about our children, but it is always lovely to receive it. Both Khizra Mosque and Heathfield Church have been very complimentary about how polite and well-behaved our children have been. I feel very proud of the children, and thankful that they show such respect and care for others.
We will have had our second class assembly in two weeks today, and I am very much looking forward to seeing Year 5âs later. Year 6 put on an excellent showcase of their learning last week, and I really would encourage everyone to watch the video earlier in the newsletter showing their artwork. Incredible standard.
We also had a visit today from the Local Authority as they are very concerned about the attendance levels of some children. Sadly, our school has some of the lowest attendance figures in the city. We will be working closely with Manchester City Council on bringing up attendance levels, particularly for children who are around 90% and lower.
Only two weeks left before we finish for the Christmas holidays at 1.30pm on Friday 22nd December. There is still lots to do before the end of term, and we are now around 1/3 of the way through the whole school year.
Enjoy the weekend everyone.
