This week at Cliftonville Primary & Pre-School we have been celebrating harvest. The children have been learning about how food is scarce in some countries, but abundant in others, and also how this is true in our own local community, with some people finding it hard to provide food for themselves and their families. With this in mind we decided to support the work of Thanet Open Christmas with our harvest donations. The amazing work this charity does in providing meals over the seasonal period, and especially a  Christmas dinner, to some of our local people is inspirational and a real support for families at what can be a very difficult time of year. The overwhelming generosity of our families will provide "goody bags" full of food for people who attend this event and who will find providing food after the Christmas period difficult. The amount of food provided was huge, with tins of fruit, packets of pasta and jars of sauces overfilling the tables. From the word "harvest" we made the word "heart" and the children and teachers all agree that Cliftonville Primary & Pre-School has a "big heart" reaching out into the community sharing our resources and bringing support and help where it is needed. Next week children from our school will be singing our harvest songs to the people attending the lunches at Holy Trinity Resource Centre.  Thank you, as ever, to our amazing families for such a generous response.

The Margate Baptist Church is running a half term holiday club.  If you would like more information, please collect a letter at the school office.  Please note that parents are responsible for ensuring all of the usual safeguarding checks and procedures are in place as this provision is not managed through  Cliftonville School's policies. 

As all of the year group induction meetings have taken place, you are reminded that the presentation materials are now available for reference.  Thank you to everyone who came along.

http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/year-group-induction-information/

The whole school is visiting the mobile planetarium this week as part of World Space Week.  Work across the curriculum will reflect this themed week, including literacy texts.  Please ask your child what they learned in the planetarium!

Together we raised £91 from the recent 'Phil the Bag' event.  Thank you to everyone who brought in items.

We are aware of pupil taking part in Pokémon Go.  Please have a look at the information from the link below on the game and the risks

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/pokemon-go-parents-guide/

The risks

There are loads of good things about the game, and there's a reason it's become so popular. But it's important to learn the risks involved:

• Meeting people they don't know face-to-face 
  The game is designed to bring people together. Usually strangers. So you never know who they might meet.
• There's a physical risk 
  It's easy to forget to look where you're going with this game, but they need to be careful of where they end up. There are already stories of people being lured to places that aren't safe for children.
• It can cost a lot of money 
  There are in-app purchases and other incentives which can cost up to £79.99 (14,500 Pokécoins). Make sure the app's set up without payment options.
• Access to personal data 
  Pokémon Go asks for personal information like your child's birth date and email address, which they're asked to enter or receive through social media accounts. Parents have the right to contact the creators to stop them from using their personal information.

Hopefully your child will have brought home the whole school newsletter.  If not, or you mislay the paper copy, please click on the link below:

http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/stream/newsletters/full/1/-//

You will know from our induction meetings that we use the Letters and Sounds programme to teach phonics.  It is sometimes hard to know how to say the sounds correctly, so we have added a useful link below.  The link is also on the English section from the Curriculum page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE

Please speak to your child's teacher or year group leader if you would like any further information.

You should have received, in the post, a letter from the Kent Community Health team inviting you to sign up for your child to receive the flu immunisation at school.

If you need any further information please speak to the school office.

The consent form should be done online using the following link

https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/service/immunisation-team/

Ethos workshops 2016

Cliftonville pupils have been learning all about our school values. For each of the values they took part in an activity that it represented.

Independence

In this activity KS1 children learned how to tie their own laces and then tackle more complicated knots whilst KS2 children had to research a variety of general knowledge questions on the internet using iPads.  Independence is about being able to work something out on your own, to problem solve and not be dependent on others.

Safe and Settled

Here the children needed to come up with their own top 5 rules for keeping each other safe in school.

Resilience

Being resilient is sometimes hard and we need reminders and encouragement about what can do. In this activity children were given a paper plate which they then stuck on their backs and they had to write a positive comment about each other.

Respect

In this activity the children were asked to discuss all the differences that existed between us all. They talked about how exciting it is to have all these differences – that we should respect each other.

Aspiration

The children were asked to think of a target that they were going to aim for throughout the year - they wrote on their paper rockets which will now go on display in their classrooms.

Enjoying learning

Learning doesn’t only happen in the classroom or at school, it happens everywhere. In this activity the children were asked to share with others something new that they had done over the summer. We heard some exciting tales and experiences.

Community Unity

Finally in this activity, rather than focus on our global communities, the children thought about their class and year group communities whilst playing a variety of 'getting to know you games'. We heard about favourite foods, colours and animals to name but a few!