Dear Parents and Carers,
The first few weeks have been a wonderful start to the year. It has been great to see the new classes in action and the children making new friends. Friendship is such a big part of Primary School and later in the year we are intending to introduce a few Friendship Fridays where we will practise our friendship skills, look at what being a good friend means and learn new games to play with each other. We will keep you updated.
We started the year with a Back to School photo competition. Students could enter either individually, as a group or as a class. The winner this year was Class 4 with their ‘Think outside the box’ compilation, but we had some fantastic entries. Please see a few below.
We have carried out the Primary Student voice elections in classes 1 to 5 and this week Ms Saachi and I have been interviewing the potential candidates. This is a very important role in our school and we want to give as many students as possible the opportunity to represent their class in our meetings. Ms Saachi is the Primary Student Voice liaison teacher and she has written an article for the newsletter today. We hope to announce the final selections next week.
On Wednesday we had some visitors come into school to help our students understand about Internet Safety. A young musician Jack Child performed a few numbers for our class 4,5 and 6 students and led them through the minefield of using the internet in a safe and sensible way. Jack finished with a bouncy number that had many of the students dancing. We were delighted that many of our students demonstrated good internet awareness and were able to answer some tricky questions. Jack did hand out some autographs and key rings, which made the students’ day.
Today Class 4 helped us celebrate Dot Day. All of the classes were invited to create their own dot picture and wear dotty or spotty clothes. The day is inspired by a book and it emphasises how things can develop and grow, which is perfectly in line with the growth mindset that we promote in school. Class 4 led the Friday assembly where we admired each other’s artwork and finished off with the Dot Day song. Thank you to Ms Mac and Class 4 for leading the day.
We also had a sensory room experience in class 5. They have been looking closely at mindfulness and thought we all deserved a sensory break so they set one up in their classroom. Each class booked a slot and had the opportunity to feel peaceful and relaxed part way through the school day. Thank you Ms G and Class 5.
Next week on Friday the school is competing in the Aartselaar cross country race, as we do each year, so we are holding our assembly on Thursday 21st September which is Peace Day. All of the students are invited to wear white as a symbol of peace. I don’t expect the clothes will stay white for long but we hope the students understand the thoughts behind it.
Every Year we practise fire drills and lockdown drills (time to hide) each term so that in the unlikely event of an incident we are confident that we can all respond appropriately and effectively. All of our responses are completely planned but flexible so we can adapt to the unexpected and add to the safety of our school.
Please make sure you have read our Procedures and Policies guide for parents, link below https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kOyG2BLSwuyW6IJOkbxcUfYHcvKfv5qY/view?usp=sharing. I have seen some children wearing Crocs or other unsuitable footwear in school. Please make sure shoes fit properly and are not too big ( this causes children to trip and fall) or too small (this hurts the children’s feet.) We understand the need to allow a little growth room but some children’s shoes are like boats and impair their ability to walk or cause them to fall over.
Have a great weekend everyone and we will see the students on Monday
Very best wishes,
Sharon Short
Head of Primary
Safeguarding Leader
primaryhead@isbedu.be
+32 (0)3 271 09 43
www.isbedu.be