This is a thank you from me to all of you.  I have received lots of emails and communications from parents thanking staff for their help and hard work with lessons.  We all really appreciate all your thanks.  I would now like to thank all of you for your help home schooling.  We know it is really tough.  You are all doing a fantastic job jugging working, looking after siblings and home schooling.  Thank you for helping your son/daughter getting their education.  We are all very grateful for what you are doing. 

 

• Shape of the Day  - In response to the Remote Learning survey (BLUE TAB AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE) we will be altering the timing of the day from Monday 1^st February. Full details can be found in the letter.  Throughout lockdown, we are altering the times of the day so that students can have break and lunch together.  This will also help if you have a son/daughter in different year groups so that you can all have break and lunch together. 

        Thank you for taking part in the survey.  We had a huge response.  There is still time to take part.              The majority of results are confirming that you are happy with what the school is doing. 

 

• Enrichment Day  - Friday the 5^th February will be ‘Away from the Computer’ day. Students will need to log on first thing in the morning and join their tutor group classroom to register. (timings will be confirmed next week). They will then need to join  their House classroom. (you have been invited but have accepted the invitation yet?)There will be three tasks assigned to complete during the day. Some of the tasks may have a product, such as a recording/ photo or if you want to – a cake to bake. Others such as PE may just need to answer a google form at the end of the day.

 

• Year 11 Enrichment Day  -  Please note you may be asked by your teacher to continue with some key assessment work for part of the day as GCSE/BTEC time is precious and we still have deadlines. It will only be for part of the day and your teacher will let you know what work you need to complete and when.

 

• Mental Health Week 2021 (Monday 1st - Friday 5th February)

         This year's theme is to ‘Express yourself’

• Time to Talk Day 2021 is on Thursday 4 February. This year’s theme is ‘Express yourself’. There are Free resources for primary and secondary schools. Graffiti and art pack available from Priority 1-54.

Plus a Graffiti art pack from Priority 1-54.

Place2Be are also offering free, online MH awareness training for school-based staff.

We are encouraging our students to explore the different ways they can express themselves and the creative ways that they can share their feelings, thoughts and ideas. Here are some ideas which will be explained during Monday’s Tutor time:

• Make a photomontage or short video that expresses who you are as a person. This could include your current likes & dislikes, strengths, interests, dreams & passions.
• 5 Day photo challenge - take one photo a day that captures some aspect of yourself, either literally or in an abstract form.
• Get creative - with whatever comes into your mind. You could include mind maps, vision boards, poetry, any from of art work about your future dreams & aspirations
• Create a dance - develop a motif which expresses your feelings around lockdown  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISxmYT4fbBQ
• Create a song & sing or play it, using your favourite musical instrument (or choose your favourite song)
• Baking - create a masterpiece or just your favorite cake
• Try something new - learn a new skill                                                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uiz7fw7JK8
• Or anything else which is unique to you

We would then like students to share their ideas with us so that we can create a video with all the amazing & unique work produced throughout the week.

Please send this work to jamie.peacock@kingsacademies.uk If files are large you can use https://wetransfer.com/, https://www.mailbigfile.com/ or https://www.dropbox.com/en_GB/?landing=dbv2 , you can send 2gb free.

On Friday, we shall be holding a “Dress to Express'' day whereby students attending school can wear non-school uniform & students working from home will be encouraged, during tutor time, to show off their unique style. You could wear your favourite colour or choose a range of colours that express how you’re feeling. Colour can be very personal & mean different things to different people, so this is a great opportunity to encourage self-expression & celebrate a diverse range of emotions. This will be a fundraising event with proceeds going to Place2Be. The idea is simple, use colour to express yourself on Friday 5 February and donate £1 via ParentPay. 

 

Place2Be is the UK’s leading provider of school-based children’s mental health services, they provide support and expert training to improve the emotional wellbeing of children, young people, parents and teachers.

 

To find out more about Place2Be, click on the link below

https://www.place2be.org.uk/

For parents & carers please click on the link below for additional wellbeing resources & ideas on how to get more involved.

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/parents-and-carers/

Let’s make this a fun & creative week.

 

• Get Ready For the Winter Games

The Specsavers 'Virtual' Sussex School Games is back! Get ready for some incredible sports from the Winter Olympics. 

At 9.30am on Monday 1 February, Specsavers will be kicking off a month of sporting challenges giving children across Sussex the chance to represent their schools alongside their friends and classmates, and compete to be Sussex champions.

Anybody can take part, and whilst there is no ‘official’ sign-up required, we would encourage you to sign-up to the mailing list to get updates, challenges and results sent to you directly, and also to follow on social media to help spread the word.

Twitter: @SussexSchGames

Facebook: Specsavers Sussex School Games

Instagram: @SussexSchGames

This information is being shared with you all to help keep young people active and involved in competition during the national lockdown.

Please see YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFKGn_IRBRg&feature=youtu.be

 

• Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing resources

For information

 

Holding Space has limited places on 2 new projects for families across East Sussex. Both projects are funded by Sussex Learning Network and Uni Connect.

Referral: Parents/carers direct, or organisations can refer families using the online referral form.

Anxiety Toolkit for Parents This project offers support to parents of 7-13-year olds to develop skills to manage their and their children’s anxiety. This is a 6 week funded project working directly with parents.

          Low Cost Counselling Low-cost confidential counselling for 7-16-year olds, as well as one-to-one             telephone support.

Bereavement resources for children and young people

• Nurture UK are offering free bereavement boxes to schools.
• Child Bereavement UK have produced a new film for pupils, ‘Carrying your invisible suitcase through life’ to explore how to live with grief

 Pan-Sussex self-harm webinars

Dr Pooky Knightsmith appears as part of a FREE webinar open to staff in educational settings, support services and the voluntary sector on February 1 and 25 and March 11 (4.00-5.30pm)

Book your place on the Learning Portal - search ‘self-harm’.

For more MHEW training and events, see czone

 

• February Distance Challenge for Students, Staff, Parents, Siblings Grandparents.

           We have set up a February challenge to see how far we can travel as a community.  At the end of             each week in February all you have to do is input your distance in Miles.  

You can complete the distance in any physical way, walk, cycle, swim, skip, horse ride.  Nothing motorised.

At the end of the Month how far do you think you can go individually and how far do you think we could go as a community?  I wonder what sunny destination we could virtually find ourselves in.

Destinations:

Spain:           1058 Miles

America:       4511 Miles

South Africa:  8061 Miles

Brazil             5475 Miles

Tokyo             5970 Miles and the next Olympics

https://forms.gle/hQ2ngn7iRVWNsiM77

Thank you, The PE team.

 

• Lockdown lunches and meal plans

         Change4Life have created recipes and shopping lists for families which can be used to create                   lunches for around £15 each week. Please see link:                                      https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/lunch/cheap-lockdown-lunch-ideas

 

• And finally 

        Please look out for our ex-student Holly Parkinson who appeared in the quarter-finals of University          Challenge on BBC2 on Monday 25th January.  She is captain of the Durham University team who              won their heat and are now in the semi-finals, date TBC. A very exciting watch

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rqxg

       Have a great weekend

 

Kind regards

Sian Williams

Principal