Latest News | Regents Park Community Primary School

Free sun cream for every child - Thank you @Escentual #sunpoverty

Wed 22 Jun 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

We are very pleased to let you know that a company called Escentual have been kind enough to donate a small bottle of sun cream to every child at Regents Park! This is part of a campaign they are running to help children to understand the risks of exposure to the sun and encourage them to take measures to protect themselves by using sun cream.

On the Escentual website, the sun cream they have donated normally retails for £8.95 so it is exceptionally kind of them to donate a bottle to each child at Regents Park.

https://www.escentual.com/escentual/sun-poverty

Here is a quote from Hannah from Escentual explaining the #sunpoverty campaign they are running:

I am Hannah from beauty retailer Escentual.com and I would love to involve your school in Escentual's #SunPoverty campaign, working to ensure all children have access to suncream and are educated about the importance of suncare.

Malignant melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the UK, with numbers nearly tripling in the past 30 years. In 2018, there were 17,852 new cases and 2,764 deaths, yet 86% of these cases could have been preventable by using a high factor sun lotion which is why we are so passionate about raising awareness.

Although melanoma is something which mostly affects adults, it is often casued by a build up of skin damage over a long period of time starting from sunburn at an early age. Even one blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles the chances of developing melanoma later in life.

This is why it is important to teach children now of the risks from overexposure to the sun and get them into the routine of covering up with sun hats and applying sun cream to exposed skin.

We hope to see the children in school using the sun cream they have been given. It would be good if they keep it in school and get into the habit of applying it before breaktimes and lunchtimes.

Thank you again to Escentual for their generosity in donating the sun cream and helping to keep the children of Regents Park safe from harmful sun damage.

Mr Beale

Information for parents on coping with weather and extreme heat this term

Wed 15 Jun 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Obviously it is great that we are in a period of good weather at the moment, however, we are aware that lots of sunshine and extreme heat can cause problems!

Today the temperature has already been about 22 degrees but over the next couple of days it is likely to get hotter and possibly reach as high as 30 degrees on Friday. There may well be other very hot, sunny days during this half term.

It is important to take precautions against such extreme temperatures and the dangers that can be caused by overexposure to the sun. For some, there is also the issue that can caused by a very high pollen count if suffering from hayfever.

Please make sure that children are suitably dressed for such extreme weather, e.g. removing vests and jumpers and wearing short sleeved shirts instead of long sleeved shirts. It would also be beneficial for children to come to school in a sun hat that they can wear outside in the playground. Children can wear sunglasses to protect themselves from UV, however, these are the children's responsibility and we can't take responsibility for them if they get lost or broken.

It is important for children to wear sun cream to protect exposed skin, e.g. face, arms, neck, etc. Please make sure this applied before school.

Because of the extreme heat, children should eat and drink to keep sugar levels up and make sure they are hydrated. Please make sure they have had a proper breakfast and a good drink before school. We will make sure that they have access to plenty of water during the school day.

Children who suffer from hayfever and pollen allergies should take medication before coming to school and this should protect them for the duration of the school day. Make sure you contact school if you have queries about this.

Finally, please make sure that your contact details are kept up to date in the office and that someone is always available if they need to be contacted. Should a child need medical attention we will contact you as soon as we can.

Many thanks,

Mr Beale

Newsletter June 2022 - Dates & events for Summer 2022

Fri 10 Jun 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

We are now in the final half term of this academic year 2021-2022 but there are lots of things still to do in school and lots happening before we finish for the summer holidays so I want to update you on some dates so that you have them in your diaries (see the end of this newsletter) and send out some general reminders.

Change to the last day of this term – School will now CLOSE for the Summer holiday to all pupils on Wednesday 20^th July 2022 at 3.00pm. There will be a staff training day on Thursday 21^st July and all schools are closed on Friday 22^nd July to make up for the additional bank holiday for the Queen’s Jubilee which was in half term.

Start of term in September 2022 – School will REOPEN to pupils after the Summer holiday on Wednesday 7^th September 2022 at 8.40am.

Parents’ Afternoon and Pupil Reports – We will be holding a Parents’ Afternoon on Wednesday 13^th July 2022 from 1.00pm to 4.00pm when parents will be invited to come into school, visit their children’s classrooms, chat with their teachers and collect their children’s reports. Between 1.00pm and 3.00pm, we will be staggering entry into school so that we don’t have too many visitors into school at a time – we will send out a link at a later date for you to sign up for an entry time. Once parents have visited their children’s classes, they will be welcome to sign out and take their children home. Parents who can’t come to school before 3.00pm are welcome to sign up and visit the children’s class teachers after school up until 4.00pm.

Just a reminder that pupil reports will be handed out to parents during the Parents’ Afternoon. Reports that are not collected will be kept in the school office for parents to pick up at a later date.

Commonwealth Games 2022 – Arts & Sport Fortnight – During the summer, the Commonwealth Games will be taking place in Birmingham. To celebrate this occasion, we will be holding an Arts & Sport Fortnight in school with a Commonwealth Games theme starting on Monday 27^th June until Friday 8^th July. As well as our usual sports week activities, there will be other arts & sport activities taking place in school that we would like to invite parents to. More information will be sent out but we hope to see as many of you as possible and I’m sure your children will enjoy you supporting them in school.

Summer Fayre – For the first time since the pandemic, we are hoping to organise a Summer Fayre for children and families in school on the afternoon of Friday 15^th July from 1.00pm. We have done something similar in the past and it has worked really well with lots of positive feedback. We are hoping to use this as a way of raising money for our School Fund which pays for children’s parties and other treats and rewards in school to benefit children.

Mrs Hazelwood is planning the event but if any parents would like to be involved in helping to organise or run stalls, then we’d like to hear from you. You can let Mrs Hazelwood or Mrs Khan know or contact the school office and someone will get back to you. Thank you.

More information about the Fayre will be sent out at a later date.

Holidays and trips abroad in term time – We are receiving a number of requests from parents requesting to take children out of school for holidays and trips abroad this term. I know that it has been hard for families to visit relatives abroad in the last two years and that, now restrictions on travel have been lifted, there is a rush to go and see family that are in other countries. However, children’s learning has also been disrupted and it is unacceptable to take children out of school for long periods again during school term time.

I have to remind all parents that holidays and trips abroad will be marked as unauthorised absence unless there is an immediate emergency. Both parents of children who have a lot of unauthorised absence will receive penalty notices from the local authority – so far this year, parents of 13 children from Regents Park have received penalty notices and more are likely to be issued.

Please remember that children are learning in lessons right through to the last week of this term and will miss out if they are absent from school. This also applies to the beginning of next term so please make sure children are ready to return on Wednesday 7^th September.

Uniform and PE kit – All parents are aware of what our expectations are regarding children’s uniform and PE kit. However, there are children coming into school on non-PE days in trainers and tracksuits. On PE days, children should still be wearing their school sweatshirts or cardigans. All school jumpers, sweatshirts and cardigans should have a school logo on them (these can be bought from the office). Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform every day and make sure that anything they take off (such as coats and jumpers/ sweatshirts/ cardigans) have their names in them.

Book amnesty – Please make sure that all children’s library, reading practice and reading passport books have been returned to school by Wednesday 13^th July.

Parking and traffic – During the Spring term, we had a big push on encouraging parents to park away from school and walk with children in order to reduce the dangers of traffic on Camelot Way, Dixon Road and Arthur Street. We also tried to encourage children to walk, scoot or cycle to school. These were very successful and we had lots of positive feedback from parents and the local community about it.

However, even though generally the weather is better now, we are still seeing cars travelling down these roads as close as they can to get to the school entrances to drop off and pick up children. We are also seeing parents in cars continuing to park on zigzag lines, double parking, parking on pavements, dropping children off in the middle of the road, blocking school entrances and entrances to other people’s properties, etc. All of this is dangerous and puts children at risk.

Although some parents are dropping off other children to other locations or dropping off on the way to work, I don’t believe that everyone who drives their children to school lives that far away that they need to travel by car. There are often traffic jams on Camelot Way so the time saved by driving up to the school gates is wasted by sitting in traffic either waiting to get in or out of the road.

Please have consideration for your children and those of other people and park safely away from school and walk to the school gates. Thank you.

Dates for your diaries/ calendars:

Wednesday 22^nd June – Friday 24^th June	Year 6 Residential
Monday 27^th June – Friday 8^th July	Commonwealth Games – Arts & Sport Fortnight
Wednesday 29^th June	Year 2 Trip to the Beach
Wednesday 6^th July	Transition Day – Children meet their new teachers for September 2022
Wednesday 13^th July 1.00pm – 4.00pm	Parents Afternoon and Reports
Friday 15^th July from 1.00pm	Summer Fayre
Monday 18^th July	Celebration Assemblies: 9.00am – EYFS/ KS1; 10.30am – KS2
Tuesday 19^th July	Y6 Leavers Assemblies 2 performances – one in the morning and one in the afternoon; timings to be confirmed
Wednesday 20^th July	Y6 Graduation Assembly followed by dinner and party
Wednesday 20^th July	School CLOSES for summer holidays at 3.00pm
Wednesday 7^th September	School reopens for the new school year

Mr A Beale

Head Teacher

Platinum Jubilee Celebrations - Friday 27th May 2022

Mon 23 May 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This Friday 23rd May, we will be celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in school!

We will be asking children to come to school in Union Jack colours of red, white and blue (or dressed in Union Jacks themselves!).

There will be activities taking place in school to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee - children will be finding out and writing about the Queen's life, making artwork about the Queen including making a contribution to a Jubilee wall hanging.

At lunchtime we will be having a special "street party" taking place where all children and staff will have a Jubilee picnic outside for lunch. A letter has already gone out to parents about this - children who don't normally have school dinners can also have a Jubilee picnic lunch.

All the children will also receive a book about the Queen to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee.

We are hoping for good weather and it will be a lovely way to finish this half term.

Don't forget that the following week is half term holiday and school will be CLOSED from Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd June. We REOPEN on Monday 6th June at 8.40am.

Thank you,

Mr Beale

Celebrating Eid in school next week

Fri 29 Apr 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

On behalf of everyone at Regents Park Community Primary School, I’d like to wish all of our children, parents and families a very happy Eid this weekend – Eid Mubarak to you all.

I know that Eid is a very special celebration for many of our children, families and staff. As I write this letter, we are still not exactly sure which day Eid will fall on for our families and staff. It may be that for some it is on Sunday 1^st or Monday 2^nd, Monday 2^nd or Tuesday 3^rd or just on Monday 2^nd May for everyone. Staff that are celebrating are going to let me know over the weekend.

School will be closed anyway on Monday for the Bank Holiday but will reopen on Tuesday 3^rd May as normal at 8.40am.

If Eid has fallen on Sunday and/ or Monday, we will expect all children to return to school on Tuesday morning. If that is the case, we will allow all children to come to school wearing their Eid clothes or in non-uniform on that day and to bring a small quantity of party food to share in the afternoon when classes will organise Eid celebrations in class. We would ask that party food is packaged rather than cooked at home so that staff can check on potential allergies for other children in the class. Also we would like to ask parents and children to make a £1 non-uniform donation to the children’s school fund- this can be sent in as cash or donated on sQuid.

If Eid falls on Tuesday 3^rd May for some families and staff, then we anticipate that there will be some absences on that day which we will authorise as Religious Observation. If this is the case, we will move the Eid clothes/ non-uniform day and class parties to Wednesday 4^th May instead – we will send messages via text to parents and update the school website as soon as we know over the weekend.

Obviously we will expect all children to be in school as normal on Wednesday 4^th May no matter which day Eid falls on.

Please note, however, that school will also be closed to all pupils (except Year 6) on Thursday 5^th May due to the Local Elections. Only Year 6 will be in school on Thursday morning preparing for their SATs tests which begin the following week on Monday 9^th May. They will be in school at 8.40am as normal but will be leaving at 12.00pm – parents must make sure that they are either allowed to walk home alone at this time or are picked up from Camelot Way at 12.00pm.

We hope that all our children, families and staff that are celebrating Eid have a wonderful weekend and that everyone enjoys the Bank Holiday on Monday!

Mr A Beale

Head Teacher

Dates for next half term - Summer 1

Fri 08 Apr 2022 Mr Beale

Have a good holiday everyone!

Dear Parents/ Carers,

As you know, we finish for the Easter holiday today – I’m sure you’re all looking forward to some good weather and a relaxing break!

Just a reminder that school is closed for two weeks and reopens on Monday 25^th April at 8.40am. Here are some other dates to be aware of for next half term and a few beyond:

Friday 8^th April	School closes for two weeks for Easter holidays
Tuesday 19^th April to Friday 22^nd April	Easter School for ALL YEAR 6 pupils
Monday 25^th April	School reopens for ALL pupils at 8.40am
Monday 2^nd May	Bank Holiday Monday – school is CLOSED to ALL pupils
Wednesday 4^th May to Friday 6^th May	Year 5 Residential
Thursday 5^th May	Local Elections – school is CLOSED to ALL pupils except YEAR 6
Monday 9^th May to Thursday 12^th	Year 6 SATs week
Friday 27^th May	Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in school Schools CLOSES for Half Term holiday
Monday 6^th June	School reopens for ALL pupils at 8.40am
Thursday 21^st July	School CLOSES for Summer holidays at 1.00pm
Wednesday 7^th September	School reopens for new school year

Don’t forget that most of our messages go out to parents via text message and the school website in order to save on paper.

Please make sure that you check out the Latest News on the school website and keep your mobile phone number up to date with the school office.

Have a good holiday everyone!

Mr Beale

Head Teacher

Competition - Last day of the Big walk & Wheel 2022

Thu 31 Mar 2022 Mr Beale

Tomorrow (Friday 1^st April) is the last day of the Big Walk & Wheel!

We have done brilliantly over the last two weeks with over 71% of all journeys to school being taken by scooter, walking or bike.

Currently we are 188^th out of 758 large primary schools taking part in the UK, 36^th in the Midlands and in 1^st place for large primary schools in Birmingham!

As tomorrow is the last day, we will be giving out prizes for all those children who walk, scoot or cycle to school on Friday. When children collect a token tomorrow, they will need to write their name and class on the back and hand it to theirteacher (make sure you cross out any names already on the token). We will then draw winners in celebration assemblies next week. There will be winners in each class so even if you haven’t walked, scooted or cycled so far you could win if you do so tomorrow!

If you scoot or cycle tomorrow you will have double chances of winning a prize as we will pick two of each!

Don’t forget, once the Big Walk & Wheel has ended we would like you to continue to walk, scoot and cycle to school as often as you can!

Fasting during Ramadan 2022

Wed 30 Mar 2022 Mr Beale

Dear Parents/ Carers,

This weekend sees the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a time in the Islamic year which we know is important to many of our families. We appreciate the observance of fasting for many during the month of Ramadan and recognise that some of our older children may wish to fast whilst at school. However, it is important that parents understand the school’s responsibilities to those children who may wish to consider fasting during this time.

The school is happy to provide support for Year 5/6 pupils who wish to fast but needs to make clear its responsibilities, together with those of the parents/carers. Primary age children become very tired when they do not have regular meals and are sometimes unable to safely perform the activities expected of them during the course of a school day.

As such, we want to explain the procedures that will be followed to ensure the well-being of your child or children:

‘Request to Fast’ Form – Y5 & Y6 parents who wish to give permission for their child to fast during Ramadan whilst at school, will need to complete, sign and return a 'Request to Fast' to school before fasting begins. Children will not be allowed to fast unless this form has been returned. This form is only available to parents of children in Y5 & Y6 and is being sent home today – pupils in other year groups should not fast during the school day
Curriculum – Children who are fasting are expected to take part in all areas of the curriculum as normal during Ramadan, including PE
Requests for Food – As the school is required to take care of all pupils and cannot ignore the needs of a hungry or thirsty child, the staff will comply with requests for food or drink received from a child, even if a completed form has been provided. Contact will be made with parents/ carers as soon as possible afterwards
Illness – If a child appears to be experiencing adverse physical or emotional effects due to fasting, e.g. dizziness, nausea, distress, etc., staff will offer that child food or drink, even if a completed form has been provided. Staff will call the child’s parents or carers, and may call the emergency services, if they believe that it is necessary.

I hope that the above is clear, but please do not hesitate to contact a member of the school leadership or the school office if you have any questions.

Thank you

The Big Walk & Wheel 2022 - Monday March 21st - Friday April 1st 2022

Sun 20 Mar 2022 Mr Beale

Last week's car-free afternoons on Dixon Road and Camelot Way were very successful and it was wonderful, particularly on Camelot Way, to see the road free from traffic and children able to move safely outside school.

We would like to continue to encourage parents to leave their cars at home or at least park away from school and walk the last 5-10 minutes to the gates. This encourages children to be healthier, makes it safer around school and reduces the effects of air pollution.

As such, from this week we are taking part in the Big Walk & Wheel (previously known as The Big Pedal). We'd like to encourage children to either walk, cycle or scoot to school between Monday 21st March and Friday 1st April. Trips that children make on foot or by bike or scooter will be counted and we will be finding out which class has made the most - the class with the most trips will win The Golden Pedal.

When children arrive at school, they will be given a ticket by a member of staff at the gate to show they have either walked, cycled or scooted to school. Children who come by car and then park and walk/ scoot/ cycle must have travelled at least 5 minutes by foot/ bike/ scooter, i.e. they must not have parked on Arthur Street/ Camelot Way/ Dixon Road.

Bikes and scooters can be left in the scooter/ bike stands by the Nursery, in the playground or outside the office.

The Big Walk & Wheel is a national competition being run by Sustrans to encourage children to use alternative, healthier methods of transport to get to school. The total number of trips will be recorded nationally and the school may win local and national prizes.

We hope everyone will try and take part every day; if not, even one or two non-car days will help per week. Please support your children, keep everyone safe, help encourage children to be healthy and leave your cars at home if possible.

Thank you.

Red Nose Day for Comic Relief - Friday 18th March 2022

Wed 16 Mar 2022 Mr Beale

This Friday it is Red Nose Day for Comic Relief! We are looking forward to all the children doing something silly to celebrate and raising money for Comic Relief.

To raise money we will be asking children to make a donation of £1 and to dress up in "Something Silly"!

They could wear something silly (a wig, a silly hat, their pyjamas, as many t-shirts/ jumpers as they can, someone else's clothes) or could wear their clothes in a silly way (e.g. back to front, inside out, updside down).

This time you can either make a donation of £1 on sQuid (a link will be sent out) or bring in £1 and give it to the class teacher. All the money raised will go to Comic Relief.

Remember your red noses if you have one and let's see what silly clothes children wear and have fun on Friday!