Montalbo Nursery and Primary School

Fairfield Road, Barnard Castle, DL12 8TN

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Year 6s busy fortnight!

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Next week Year 6s will be sitting their SATs and we wish them well. After that, there are many great activities planned. I will accompany them on some.

On Friday, Year 6s will visit The Hub for kayaking and high ropes. Then, the following week, they are going on their residential to Ford Castle with Miss Richardson, Mrs Daniels and me. That should be a great experience. Please can parents ensure that any outstanding forms such as medical forms or consents are returned to the School Office. Thank you. Mr Minikin.

Summer Term Clubs

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Please find attached the Summer Term After School Club list. As we have now switched to ParentPay and want children to commit to clubs for a half term, you will be charged for a full half term rather than individual sessions. If the session is canceled by us, then you will receive a refund for that session. If you have any questions about this, please call the School Office. Summer First Half Term

Online Safety – Think before you scare

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Our children’s safety is best ensured by having an ongoing discussion between parents and children about their use of technology. Before children use a new app parents should:

Listen

Take an active interest in your child’s online life and talk with them about how they use technology.

Ask your child why they want to use the app? How did they hear about it?

Discuss with them how they will keep themselves safe and make sure they know:

How to block and report other users and content
To speak to a trusted adult if they see anything or something happens online that makes them feel worried, upset or uncomfortable.
About websites such as ChildLine and CEOP? www.childline.org.uk and www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Functionality

Make sure that you understand how the app works so you can decide if you are happy for your child to use it. You may even wish to set up an account yourself first.

Consider:

Does it allow video chat or the sharing of images?
Does it allow user to communicate with ‘random’ strangers?
Does it allow anonymous chat?
Does it allow in-app purchases?
Can you restrict access to the content that your child shares?
How will your child’s personal data be used by the app?
Reviews

What do other people (i.e. other parents and carers) have to say about the app?

Ask your friends and family members or take a look online. You may be able to find reviews via search engines or using tools such as www.net-aware.org.uk and www.commonsensemedia.org

Age Restrictions

You can usually find age restrictions within the apps terms and conditions. This is not the same as the app/google store rating.

The age limit for many popular social networking sites is thirteen. This is due to American Legislation called COPPA. The age limit is not based on suitability of content and instead applies to any website, app or online service which collects, stores or uses children’s personal information. Some apps will have age limits of 18+ as they are exclusively designed for use by adults.

If children use apps that are aimed at an older age group then this may leave them vulnerable to being exposed to unsuitable content (including advertising), as well as being contacted by strangers.

Safety

Many popular apps will have ‘help’ and ‘safety’ sections, either within the app itself or via its website. Some apps will even have content specifically designed for parents and carers.

www.saferinternet.org.uk has some useful parent guides which highlight safety tools on popular devices, and signpost to report mechanisms.

Does the app have any privacy settings? If so then help your child to apply them appropriately – for example is it possible to set the app so that only trusted friends can see information they post?

Explore the block and report features. Can your child block or report concerning users or inappropriate behaviour?

If the app doesn’t have safety or help sections or doesn’t provide the ability to report and block then you may wish to consider if it is safe for your child to use.

Boundaries

Talk to your child about safe and appropriate online behaviour.

Consider setting up a family agreement regarding how their internet use will be supervised and how long they can spend online. Resources to help can be found at www.childnet.com and www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/share-aware/

Apply appropriate parental controls to all devices: www.saferinternet.org.uk and www.internetmatters.org

Discuss your expectations about the types of content and information they should share online, rules relating to adding friends and meeting people in real life.

Do they understand:

That content posted online should never be considered to be private and may be copied and shared?
That they should behave online the same as they would in “the real world” and be kind?
How to be secure online such as by using safe and strong passwords. You can visit www.getsafeonline.org.uk for more advice

Space Activities and Space Camp

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This week saw the culmination of a lot of planning and preparation with the whole school taking place
in many space related activities. Nursery and Reception did much space themed work in their
classes, and the other classes carouselled around the school working with all of our teachers. Mrs
Bartoli and Miss Scott taught Art, Miss Richardson taught PE, Miss Lauder Computing, Miss
Blackburn Maths, Dr Greenwell and Miss Bean Science and all of the subjects had a space theme.
There is always an amazing atmosphere in school but the buzz in the classrooms over the last two
days has been on another level! Thank you to all the staff for making these activities so memorable –
the quotes from the children make all the effort worthwhile.
On Thursday evening, the Year 3 and 4 children had an extra treat as they camped in pop up tents in
the school hall. They were visited by the Durham Astronomical Society who showed them how to use
our new telescope effectively, as well as pointing out many stars in the night sky. We were lucky
enough to see a satellite and the International Space Station pass by. After that, they did some more
space themed activities and snuggled down in their tents for the night.
On Friday morning, the whole school carried on with more space themed work and presented some of
their learning to the parents of Year 3 and 4 children. The children were so well behaved and despite
about a twenty trips from each one to the toilet they did so well! They were a real credit to the school and their families and I know for some children it was their first experience of staying away from families.
Thank you very much to Dr Greenwell for organising this –it took a lot of time and effort and for also
stopping over with the children. Thank you also to Miss Scott, Mrs Daniels, Mrs Dupuy and Miss
Smith (trainee teacher) who also stayed with me and the children and also to Mrs Bartoli, Mrs Bowron
and Mrs Miller who helped out before bedtime.