We are reminding parents of the curriculum open evening on Wednesday 16th November at 5.30pm. 

Parents and carers are invited into school at 5.30pm when Mrs. Astell is looking forward to sharing details of how our curriculum will be updated in January 2023. At the meeting Mrs. Astell will be informing parents of how we will still be using resources published by Cornerstones, but that some of the projects that we teach will be changing and the way that we teach a few subjects will be changing as well. 

We introduced our Cornerstones curriculum in September 2015 and on Wednesday will be showing parents how we are going to update it in January 2023, what projects will be changing, what difference it will make to the children, how you can help your children with their learning and what the benefits will be of these new curriculum plans. 

To help us support this worthwhile cause next week we are running three events on Friday 18th November. 

• Non uniform day - wear something spotty if you can - you are invited to bring a 50p donation
• Cake sale - please bring any cake donations into school on the day - these will be sold at morning playtime for 10p or 20p. Your children are invited to bring some pocket money into school to buy their playtime snack. 
• Bring and buy sale - You are invited to bring any pre-loved toys and games to school next week. These will be on sale in the afternoon for children that have brought some money to school. 

As always it is important for children to understand that they are helping others, less fortunate than themselves on this day. Please do not just 'give' them any pocket money to bring on the day. It is important that children that want to take part 'do their bit'. We encourage them to do some pocket money jobs around the house to earn their cake money or bring and buy money. We thank you for your support in this. 

We are pleased to share that the PTFA loose change challenge on Thursday 20th October was a success. 

In total your generosity helped raise £356.18 for the PTFA. 

In celebration worship on Friday we gave awards out for the class that made the longest lines of coins. To make it fair we worked out how long each line was per class. The top three classes were

Findern - Year 1 - 117cm per child

Kedleston - Year 3 - 150cm per child

Ladybower - year 3 - 180cm per child

Well done Ladybower, thank you for your support. 

We have published a letter about our annual Odd Socks Day that will take place on Monday 14th November. CLICK HERE

Children wear odd socks on this day to help us think about how we can celebrate our differences as part of our work during anti bullying week. 

Tonight's PTFA meeting at the Greyhound Inn at 7pm has been postponed. It will take place on Tuesday 8th November at 7pm instead. 

Sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

We look forward to seeing you next week instead. 

Public Health Derbyshire have asked us to share the following information about vaccinations for pre school children and for pregnant women. 

Flu vaccines to help keep you and your family well this winter

Information for parents and carers

Having a flu vaccine if you are eligible and able to have it, is an important way to help protect yourself, your family and those you have contact with from flu infection. It is expected there will be high levels of flu germs circulating this year so, it is particularly important to take up the offer of a vaccine. This will help reduce the risk of illness within your family.

GP’s will again be inviting all 2- and 3-year-old children to have a flu vaccination. This vaccination, like all other routine childhood vaccinations is free, so you do not need to pay.

To help parents/carers make an informed decision and understand the facts about why having their child vaccinated against flu is important, it would be helpful to display the following poster Flu: 5 reasons to get your child vaccinated (publishing.service.gov.uk)

If a parent/carer would like more information the following resource may be helpful to share Protecting your child against flu; Information for parents and carers (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Information is also available in different formats and languages are available here Flu vaccination for children: leaflets and posters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For more general information about which adults and children are eligible for the flu vaccine and why the following resource may be helpful

The flu vaccination. Who should have it and why. Winter 2022 to 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Information for Pregnant women

For any parents/carers and staff that are pregnant, please encourage them to look at https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/vaccinations/

Vaccines are available to help to protect both mother and baby. Complications from infection are more likely in pregnancy, as those who are pregnant are not able to fight off infection easily. More information is available in The flu vaccination. Who should have it and why. Winter 2022 to 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

If there are any queries about the information above please speak to your GP or other healthcare professionals who support you.

Public Health Derbyshire – Health Protection team

Due to the very heavy rain showers this morning we have made the difficult choice not to have our harvest festival at church today.  

Parents and friends that were going to go to church to watch our service are invited to come to school instead and watch the service at 10am. 

Thank you for your support. 

Mr. Averis

A considerable amount of unnamed lost property has been put out in the

hall for you to take a look through during parent's' evenings this week.

Due to limited space in school at the moment we will not be able to keep

this so advise you to take a look if you are missing anything before it is

donated to the PTFA for them to sell in the future.

Thank you

Mrs Carvell

Many thanks to all the families that came to the phonics and reading evening this week on Tuesday 11th October. Mrs. Richardson has shared all the information and resources on our website to help parents carry on supporting their children at home. CLICK HERE. 
If you would like any print outs of the information please let Mrs. Richardson or Miss Bridges know and we'll try to send information home. 

Children have brought home a letter this week with information about their new google classroom log on names. The new log on will go live over the weekend and should all be in place by 9am on Monday morning. 

We have made the names much shorter to help the children log on more easily. The new log on now finishes with 

@stjbelper.uk

instead of

@st-johnscofe.derbyshire.sch.uk

We're sure that you agree that this will help all our children, especially the younger ones. Everything else stays the same, the name before the @ and their password. Your individual personal letter has all the details. If you have any questions please speak to the class teacher in the first instance who will be able to help.