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www.arundelchurchofenglandschool.org.uk, 01903 883149, [email protected]
Dear Parents and Guardians I hope your children had a good first few days back. It is always hard coming back after a break. Hope and belief always helps that. The belief that we can together keep testing those learning boundaries and the opportunities we give our children. I believe in hope and believe everybody in our school community has the potential to be a force for good. It is too easy to be negative and blame others when things go wrong – if we fall in a race, what is important is to get up and learn from it. That is what we try and teach our children and sometimes it is also we adults who could learn from that.
Positivity and being happy (and even smiling) rubs off on others. Why be sad when we consider what our lives are like compared to those in more challenging countries than ours? The children are really good about thinking like this and this often comes up in school when we compare our lives with those of our brothers and sisters in Mano Dasse, in Sierra Leone.
In an exhaustive study, the English language was found to contain 558 words that describe emotions; 62 per cent of them are negative versus 28 per cent that refer to positive feelings. It seems fairly obvious to suggest that humans are programmed to focus on failure and disappointment far more than on success and achievement. Usually, it is so automatic that we don’t even notice it or the effect it has on our moods and feelings.
Volume 1, Issue 1
www.arundelchurchofenglandschool.org.uk, 01903 883149, [email protected]
Volume 3, Issue 6
There is a famous story about Pablo Picasso, which illustrates how to think positively. One day Picasso welcomed a stranger into his studio. On the floor in the middle of the studio sat a large lump of rock. The visitor asked Picasso what he intended to do with it. ‘From that rock, I will sculpt a lion,’ he replied. The visitor was taken aback. It was hard to imagine how anyone could create anything from such a rock. In obvious awe of Picasso, he asked the master nervously what, how, where one might start the process of creating a lion from such an unpromising block of stone. ‘Oh, it’s very simple,’ Picasso replied. ‘I just take my chisel and knock off all the bits that don’t look like a lion.’ This story illustrates my belief that when we need to feel confident in ourselves, it is not a process of having to invent something from nothing.
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Year 1 and 2 Mat Ball winners
Well done to the children who represented the school recently at a locality Mat Ball competition. We won overall and performed extremely well. The children’s performance and general behaviour including sportsmanship was praised by sports leaders, including Miss Fell, who was overwhelmed by the fact our children went up to say thank you without being prompted.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Please do try and come to our Summer Fayre on Saturday 15th June between 12 and 3pm. Lots of fun for the whole family and the best thing is that all the money raised will go to your school. Please do encourage the whole school community to come. We want one of our best ever years and remember we are going to allow those who come to have an opportunity to vote on the next development at ACE. With the help of some very special people, we are getting there - but this final push could make all the difference. So, I am saying, if you want even better things for your child, help us make this dream become a reality and do tell others to come! We need everyone!!!
SUMMER FAYRE Saturday 15th June 2019
Some Key Dates for the future
10th June Phonics Screening Week
13th June Non-school uniform day for tombola prizes
15th June Summer Fair. Bring the whole family
24th June Year 5 Chichester Planetarium
25th June Year 1 Marwell Zoo
21st June 9:00 - 12:00 Sports Day
1st July ACE SCHOOL SWIMMING GALA at the Lido.
2nd July Year 6 Leavers Service AM at Chi Cathedral
5th July FACES Summer Disco
6th July Goblin Car @ River Beach
9th July KS 2 Production
10th July KS 2 Production
11th July Key Stage 2 Production (x2)
21st July Goblin Car at Goodwood Motor Circuit.
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For a long time, chess didn’t have the best image. It was considered to be a game played by old men with big thick glasses, having cigarettes in their mouths and sitting in small dark chambers. Today, however, this picture has changed. More and more young people with various hobbies like to play chess.
Chess is awesome! It promotes skills that can be applied to a huge variety of real-life situations. Moreover, the rules are easy to learn and chess can be played nearly everywhere. Not only can chess be great fun but it can also be extremely beneficial to children. When they are young and see adults playing chess, they are curious to learn more about the game of kings and queens.
1) Chess Pumps up Brain Power
Just as a football player has to train the leg muscles to become faster and to be in good shape, a chess player needs to train their most important “tool” which enables them to achieve great results – the brain. We can think of our brain as a muscle. If we don’t use our biceps that often, they won’t be too strong. Similarly, if you don’t regularly use your brain to solve challenging tasks, you won’t be mentally fit. Top chess grandmasters recognize the need to keep their brain in peak condition. We see the first reason why your child should play chess is that it’s a mental workout. Chess improves the ability to memorize things. Children have to remember how the pieces move, which strategies are good, which opening moves make sense, which don’t, and so on.
2) Chess Improves Social Skills
The chess rules dictate that chess players ought to shake hands before the game, treat their opponent respectfully by not overtly distracting them.
3) Chess Improves Strategic Thinking
In order to fulfil larger tasks in life, it is always a good idea to have a plan outlining how to achieve your goal step by step. It’s important to take a deep breath and look for a sensible strategy. Chess helps a lot in that respect. Playing chess makes it easier to calm down in challenging situations.
Chess, Chess and Chess
I would like to remind everyone that we have our very own chess club on Wednesdays and new players are always welcome to join. Joe Riley runs the sessions and he is happy to encourage more players to join.
One of the great benefits of chess is that it improves brain power, helping your children to perform well in the classroom at school. If your child plays chess, they will be used to sitting for a longer period of time and think about a problem, skills that can prove very beneficial at school.
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Gold, silver and bronze housepoints winners
Well done to all the boys and girls who achieved their housepoints badges this week. It is always good to see children determined to achieve their next target and I would urge all parents to encourage children to reach for the stars! We now even have some children going for double gold and, if your child achieves that, a special treat is in store for them…
Wind in the Willows Production at ACE for KS 2
The last week before half term we auditioned children for parts in our play and we were very grateful we got so many children who wanted a part. You can see from the photo just some of the children who will be taking part in this spectacular play this summer with Mrs Meyer and Mrs Simpson.
I would strongly recommend that when we release tickets for this you get them as soon as possible.
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INSET DAYS at ACE 2019/20
Autumn 2019
INSET DAY 1 – September 2nd 2019
INSET DAY 2 and 3 – October 24th and 25th 2019
Spring 2020
INSET DAY 4 – January 6th 2020
Summer 2020
INSET DAY 5 – June 1st 2020
Chicks, Chicks and Chicks
Just before half term, Rainbow Class had some new visitors and it was lovely seeing our children being so caring and gentle with them. The children all enjoyed seeing them and I believe by the end of the week nearly all classes had seen these newborns enter our beautiful world. Sadly, by the time you are reading this HT blog the chicks will have left us for their new home!
Year 5, Goblin car and Rick and Tim
We are very lucky to have such fine chaps as Tim and Rick who support the school so well. If you read the HT blog regularly you will be aware that the car has now been taken apart and currently is in the process of being put back together again. As you can see from the photos, the boys and girls in Year 5 have really been getting stuck into putting it back in one piece.
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Ascension by Pastor Steve
Question: "What is the meaning and importance of the ascension of Jesus Christ?" Answer: After Jesus rose from the dead, He "presented Himself alive" (Acts 1:3) to the women near the tomb (Matthew 28:9-10), to His disciples (Luke 24:36-43), and to more than 500 others (1 Corinthians 15:6). In the days following His resurrection, Jesus taught His disciples about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
Attendance
Every week we publish weekly attendance data for each of the classes. The class that has the best attendance will be awarded the Attendance Cup during Sharing. Please do join us to celebrate the children’s achievement!
Rainbow 99.97% Phoenix 98.18% Butterfly 98.00% Eagle 97.33% Dove 93.33% Unicorn 92.50% Ichthus 90.67%
Superb things in Dove class
I wanted to say well done to Jacob who achieved a number of his Beavers badges a few weeks ago, Amelia for producing a lovely piece of writing and Millie for doing some superb maths.
The Ascension of Jesus Christ is meaningful for several reasons including: 1) It signaled the end of His earthly ministry. God the Father had lovingly sent His Son into the world at Bethlehem, and now the Son was returning to the Father. The period of human limitation was at an end. 2) It signified success in His earthly work. All that He had come to do, He had accomplished.
Pastor Steve talked to the children about this and even got some of the children to act out some of these events in front of the whole school during worship a few weeks ago.
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Mr Dear comes into ACE to celebrate the beauty of art
We were very lucky to have a fabulous local artist (Mr Dear) come into school this week and teach some of the children in Year 3 ways in which you can make pencil drawings. He taught them about the importance of appreciating the world around them through drawing the images in front of their eyes.
Volunteering is one way we can bring older adults and young people at ACE together. The key is for us all to change social norms, so we can encourage relationship building between generations.
When older adults contribute to the well-being of youth, it cultivates a sense of purpose and extends benefits both ways, according to research. Such relationships are important for society. They can help ensure that children and teens receive the kind of attention and mentoring they often lack and I would urge all our school families to try and encourage more people to try and come into school.
Finally, thank you to Mr Dear for making such a fabulous difference to our children and helping them to develop their drawing skills through drawing images of trees.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Steadman and Mrs Dear who continue to help us to ensure our lovely outside looks nice. Thank you.
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Staffing Matters
Mrs Willavise has now returned from maternity leave. She will be teaching a number of classes, focusing on such curriculum areas as Modern Foreign Languages. It will be lovely for our children to have the opportunity to have further experiences of learning languages such as French, during a time of national uncertainty with the “B” word.
At this time, I would like to inform you that she has also subsequently decided to spend more time with her new baby and so will be leaving us at the end of this term. Mrs Willavise has given five years to our children and we thank her for her hard work and commitment.
We would like to wish her, baby James and her husband Grant the best for the future.
A THINKING PAGE
Psychology researchers have flipped their focus away from narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism to explore what characteristics are present in people who are the everyday saints around us. Maybe you're one of them?
Key points
• The "dark triad" of personality consists of three negative traits: the tendency to manipulate others (Machiavellianism); seek admiration and special treatment (narcissism); and to be callous and insensitive (psychopathy).
• In contrast, researchers have recently defined the "light triad" — the traits of a loving person with a focus on others
• The researchers say naming these traits gives some much-needed focus on our light side
Most of us strive to be a good person.
What traits make up a truly good person?
According to Dr Kaufman and colleagues, the light triad consists of the traits of Kantianism, humanism and a faith in humanity.
• Kantianism is when we treat people as means to themselves, as opposed to a means to an end. Basically, we're not out to use them. It's pretty much the opposite of Machiavellianism, and is based on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
• Humanism is valuing the dignity and worth of each individual person. • Faith in humanity is when we believe that people are fundamentally good.
These traits are not so much about the self, but about our attitude to others. And the light triad theory says that people high in all three of these traits are the "everyday saints in our midst".
"I think this light triad captures love as an attitude, not as an emotion," Dr Kaufman said.
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Using Mobile Phones
Most of us check our phone 85 times a day.
We’re constantly checking: on the bus, at the gym, during meetings, watching TV, at the beach, out at dinner, in bed. It’s even common to check while speaking to someone. A constant flow of updates and notifications vie for our limited attention.
And so we’re increasingly … distracted. It’s harder to concentrate on a single task from beginning to end. Not multitasking makes us feel uneasy. Nomophobia is a thing.
It wasn’t meant to be like this.
Smartphones were designed to make our lives simpler. Surveying their impact on contemporary life, one can argue they’ve done the opposite.
A Contribution from a Friend in Education
I met up with a friend over the weekend to discuss the different ways we can support children and in particular boys in their primary years. Here are just some of the suggestions –
Importance of what parents do
Joining the library.
Older males reading to them.
51% of children are read to at night in primary ages. The majority of the readers are women.
Older male role models are essential for boys.
Spending time talking around the table.
Getting children to do activities that help improve their self esteem - not that help the parent re-live their own childhood.
Computer games only Friday and over weekends. Only a night for an hour if a child earns it.
Masters of technology, not servants of it.
Barriers to boys
1. Women and others do things for them all the time. This will lead to problems and disable them for life. Top tip: a 9 year old cooking for the whole family.
2. Programmes like Pepper Pig which encourage lazy male role models who dominate everyone and everything. How do you as a parent ensure that we do not promote that?
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Times tables tests – really?
Some parents will be aware that next year the government are planning to introduce a times table test for children but I would argue that times tables and multiplication facts are being tested already! Just one of the reasons we may not need a nationally assessed times tables test...The multiplication questions present in the Arithmetic Paper in Year 6 this year were not too dissimilar from last year. There was a need to be confident with times tables as pupils were required to use these facts to multiply one, two and three digit numbers by one digit numbers. The paper then progressed to testing whether pupils could handle multiplying four digit numbers by two digit numbers.
Pupils also needed to be familiar with multiplying numbers by 1,000 and using facts to multiply mentally. So if parents can help in any way with this at home then that would be great. Please do ask your child’s class teacher for further clarification if needed.
Children using social networks underage 'exposes them to danger'
I have been asked by a few parents to write a short article about the dangers of using the Internet and social media sites. Around 59 per cent of children have already used a social network by the time they are 10, and 43 per cent have messaged strangers online by the age of 12, a new study finds Facebook is the social network most likely to have underage members breaching its minimum age of 13, with 52 per cent of 8 - 16-year-olds admitting they had ignored the official age limit.
Mobile messaging app WhatsApp requires members to be at least 16 years of age, yet 40 per cent of those questioned using it. BBM's minimal age of 13 was also ignored by 24 per cent, and photo messaging service SnapChat was used by 11 per cent.
SnapChat has a minimum age policy of 13, but does not require an age on signup, so younger children would need to be reported to the app.
Around 43 per cent of the 1,004 children questioned by The Social Age study by knowthenet.org.uk said they had messaged strangers online, starting from an average age of 12.
According to the survey, a child’s social media development begins aged nine and over the next four year period, their internet activity evolves from simply viewing content online to being active on social media.
At nine, children first access YouTube and will use a mobile or laptop. Aged 10, they start using Internet slang (e.g. “BRB”, “YOLO”) and instant messaging.
The greatest proportion of internet activity takes place when children reach 11 years of age; this is when they are likely to first post an image or video of themselves, post a nasty comment online and set up a fake social media profile.
A year later (aged 12), children will first try Twitter and Whatsapp and message someone online they haven’t met in real life. When children reach 13 – their social maturity – they first try services like SnapChat and Ask FM and will try sexting for the first time.
One mother at ACE said: “You need a basic understanding of what your child is doing to guide them on what’s appropriate and safe. I recently spoke to my 10 year old son after I found out he was chatting to people he didn’t know while playing on Xbox Live. Kids might not realise the risks about giving personal information to strangers.”
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Child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson believes social media has removed the barriers between a young person's public and private self, leaving them vulnerable and exposed to danger by compulsive sharing online.
"Children are gaining access to social media sites at a younger age, which could expose them to content, people or situations that are out of their depth and which they're not emotionally prepared for," he said. "Parents need to maintain an open dialogue and encourage children to share both good and bad online experiences, and make sure they keep up with the latest social media crazes and work with their children rather than trying to control them."
Parenting and Using Social Media
Parenting is one of the most challenging, yet meaningful life tasks. Unfortunately, popular wisdom and misconceptions about how to raise responsible kids can lead to ineffective communication and power struggles. Some parents use authoritarian parenting strategies that do not allow the child an independent voice or sense of efficacy. Other parents overcompensate with overly permissive parenting that doesn’t teach kids about limits and self-control. Research shows both extremes can interfere with kids’ ability to regulate emotions and form healthy relationships as adults. The best type of parenting is fair, flexible, respectful, and has learning, rather than submission as its goal. Hearing and respecting feelings, allowing choice, yet setting fair and clear limits on unacceptable behaviour is the healthy balance that we should all strive for. Parenting is one of the most challenging, yet meaningful life tasks. Unfortunately, popular wisdom and misconceptions about how to raise responsible kids can lead to ineffective communication and power struggles.
(1) Talking Too Much
When parents go on and on, kids tune them out. Researchers have shown that the human brain can keep only four “chunks” of information or unique ideas in short-term (active) memory at once. This amounts to about 30 seconds or one or two sentences of speaking.
(2) Nagging and Giving Multiple Warnings
Most parents are familiar with the early morning rush to get everybody out the door on time, along with their lunches, gym clothes, musical instruments, signed homework, and so on. The child who gets distracted and seems unmotivated to get ready on time is the greatest challenge to a busy parent. Many parents feel out of control and try desperately to control the situation by nagging or criticizing. The problem with nagging is that you are actually training kids to ignore you because they know there will be more reminders down the road. While very young kids, may need more assistance and instruction, effective parents allow the kids to take increasing responsibility as they grow older.
3) Using Guilt and Shame to Get Compliance
One of the biggest lessons one learns as a parent is that young kids don’t naturally have empathy and consideration for your needs. They develop empathy slowly as they mature, by experiencing your empathy for them. That’s why the expectation that young kids walk in your shoes and see things from your point of view may not be reasonable. The failure to do so does not mean they are a bad or uncaring kid. They are just being a kid — focused on having fun in the moment, and testing their limits to learn about what is acceptable. Most parents are stressed multi-taskers who often forget to take care of themselves. This can lead to resentment when kids don’t seem to be cooperating. It is important to take some time to connect with your own feelings and calm down using deep breathing or self-talk before letting these emotions leak and derail your communication with your kid.
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Finally a poem
Taking a chance, hun
The chances that we take, equal the choices that we make, we do what we must just to survive, and we try everything just to stay alive. Every day is a brand new day, a fresh path to show us the way. We should learn from our mistakes, change things around , mix and shake. Nothing is written in stone, our lives are our own.
Yours sincerely,
ASimpson Andrew Simpson Headteacher
Champions at ACE
I wanted to take this opportunity to say well done to all the children recently who won prizes at the end of their teams’ football season. Many of these children won significant end-of-season awards; sadly I do not have the pictures of all of these children (so I cannot highlight everyone) but wanted to say well done to all who won a prize. Well done to Jack and Jenson for winning fabulous player of the season awards and you can see them in the photos opposite. A special well done to Isaac, Jacob (who I do have a photo of), Caleb and Liam for winning awards too.
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Notices
£100 for your school when you sell or rent with usAt Sims Williams estate agents, we are committed to supporting local schools and young people.
As the area’s leading independent estate agents, many of our fantastic team of prop-erty consultants went to school locally, as do many of their children!
That’s why we want to use our success to help raise funds for your school.
Instruct Sims Williams to sell or rent your property and we’ll give your school £100 to spend on sports and educational equipment.
www.SimsWilliams.co.uk
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childrens’activities
ACE Summer Sports Camp 2 weeks of activity, sports included - Football, Basketball, Cricket, Athletics and much more! Bring a packed lunch, water bottle and appropriate clothing for the weather. Where: Arundel CofE Primary School When: Monday 29th July – Friday 2nd August (5 days) & Monday 5th August – Friday 9th August (5 days)
Time: 9am – 3pm Ages: School years R to year 6 Cost: £15 per individual day or £60 for the full 5 days To book please email [email protected] With child’s name, age, postcode, a contact telephone number and which dates you would like. We will email confirmation of the booking along with payment options. Regards, Lee Tillyer
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MENTAL HEALTH WORKSHOPS FOR PARENTS AND CARERS of children and young people ‘It was very informative & very well presented.’ ‘Well worth going.’ ‘I'd definitely recommend this’! ‘It was brilliant.’ Coastal West Sussex Mind are coordinating a new programme of workshops for parents and carers open to any family member who is concerned about a young person facing a mental health challenge. Workshops are delivered by experienced trainers and will give practical advice and strategies to make a difference.
Workshops across West Sussex
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Build your family’s resilience
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Meet other parents and carers
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Understand what your child is feeling
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Build your confidence in talking about mental health
COASTAL WEST SUSSEX MIND
8-10 The Gateway, Durrington Lane,
Worthing 01903 277010
www.coastalwestsussexmind.org
All workshops are open to anyone over 16, cost £5 per ticket and can be booked via Eventbrite: www.coastalwestsussexmind.eventbrite.com Any questions, do contact us on 01903 277010 or [email protected]
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Play Cricket At Arundel Cricket Club
Arundel Cricket Club is friendly, family orientated cricket club with superb facilities, located just
outside of Arundel’s Town Centre on the A27. We cater for a large range of abilities and age
ranges – the early Colts section includes U8-12s for both boys and girls; with a separate session
for U13-15s. Along with a colts’ orientated 3s team to help the transition to adult cricket.
Indoor nets start on Thursday 28th February and run for 5 weeks; from 18:00 onwards.
Outdoor coaching sessions are in the summer term - on Mondays for U8-12s and Thursdays for U13-15s. Starting at 6:15pm. We also run a full age-range of teams in the local leagues,
culminating in week-long Sussex Festival matches in the summer, across the age groups.
The club has six experienced ECB Level 2 coaches, plus an ECB Club Coach and several dedicated
and friendly team mangers. As we have 2 pitches, there is plenty of opportunity to play
matches, along with family match evenings and a chance to spark up our brand-new ECB
funded BBQ!
Bring your child to give it a go. Free first session to see if your child enjoys it. We know they will!
For more details please contact the
club colt’s secretary
Samantha Stowell; email:
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