Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Drop-in Behaviour Policy Session (Feedback)

  Sun 13 Mar 2022

  Thank you to those parents / carers who attended our Behaviour Policy drop-in session on Friday (or spoke to use during the week if they could not attend the drop-in session). It is really useful for us to have feedback on how the revised policy is working for parents / carers.

   

  We were really pleased with the feedback that we received and it reflects the improved behaviour that we have seen from the vast majority of children this year. And we were not inundated, which suggests that most parents / carers are happy and have no burning issues.

   

  There are three things which we would like to follow up:

  • We do understand that the behaviour of a minority of children in the community is a concern for some parents.  We work hard to embed clear values and “good” behaviour in the children – with the aim that they will show these out of school too; this is most successful where parents / carers support these values and develop “good” behaviour at home too.  
  • As commented by one parent this week, parents / carers have agreed to support the school’s behaviour expectations via the Home / School Agreement! We also agree and feel that it would be a good time to ask all parents / carers to reread, and reconfirm their commitment to, the Home/ School Agreement. We will action this straight away… Keep your eyes open for this!
  • Whilst we do not publicise the information, we have had a very small number of children who have had after-school detentions, internal exclusions or fixed-term exclusions since Christmas.  We also have a small number of children on behaviour plans, which include parental meetings with their child’s phase leader. We will continue to use these sanctions for any child who does not meet the expectations outlined in the Behaviour Policy.

   

  We plan to have another Behaviour Policy drop-in session at the start of next term but, of course, please speak to the school in the meantime if you have a question about the policy.

• Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

  Wed 09 Mar 2022

  You may have heard about Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) but what are they, who are they for and how do those children who need one apply for one? 

   

  Mrs Woods, our SEND Leader, has helpfully put together a short guide 👇

   

  An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a document issued by the local authority outlining a child's special educational, health, and social care needs and the provision to meet each of the needs.

   

  They are designed for children with significant special educational needs, who require support beyond that which a school can provide at SEN support. Not all children with a special educational need will qualify for an EHCP. SENAT (Special Educational Needs Team) Luton believe about 1 in 50 children may be eligible for more intensive and specialist support.

   

  The process of applying for an EHCP involves the school, a medical professional, a social worker or a parent / carer making a written request to the Local Authority to initiate this process.  The application process has to be supported by reports from outside agencies, evidence that the school has implemented strategies and advice from outside professionals and proof (behaviour incident logs or assessment levels) that the child has a significant and severe learning need that can’t be supported using the schools dedicated SEN budget.  

   

  After an assessment, the Local Authority must decide whether to issue the EHCP or not.

   

  The local authority may decide not to give additional support to children for various reasons, of which the most common are:

  • A lack of diagnosis on the special educational needs of the individual
  • No report from an educational psychologist or CAMHs
  • The child is not deemed to be far enough behind
  • The child's needs are deemed not significant enough and can be supported at a school level
  • The child is not making progress with the support in place. If a child is receiving support from a TA and it is not having an impact additional funding for a TA would not be of benefit to them. If this is the case, the local authority would suggest further investigation and information gathering.
  • Outside professionals (Edwin Lobo, Speech and Language, Learning support service or Educational Psychologist) have not indicated within their reports that an EHCP would be appropriate at this time.

   

  A referral may also be declined if relevant social care support has not been put in place. For example, the Family Partnership service have not been involved to support parents and carers. 

   

  As a school, we try to ensure that we have all of the required evidence before applying so that that is not a reason for them being turned down!

   

  Here are a couple of useful links that may be of use to parents / carers:

   

  https://sendiasluton.co.uk/support/support-for-parents-and-carers/ehcp/

   

  https://m.luton.gov.uk/Page/Show/Education_and_learning/Special_educational_needs/SENassessmentandstatement/Pages/Special%20Educational%20Needs%20Assessment.aspx

• School Behaviour Policy

  Mon 07 Mar 2022

  The school has a very clear Behaviour Policy, which is summarised in our Parent Guide and parents/carers agree to support when they sign the Home / School Agreement.  

   

  We prefer to reward children for good behaviour. 

   

  However, sometimes children do fail to meet our high expectations.  Where this happens, it is always investigated fully by staff before any sanction is given.

   

  This is sometimes tricky because, where an incident does occur, there will usually be different perspectives on what happened (often every child involved or witnessing it has a slightly different view of what happened).  However, a great deal of time is spent trying to get to the "truth", although clearly the "truth" might not fit exactly with a child's own perspective. This does not necessarily mean a child is lying - just seeing it from their point of view.  Unfortunately, we are seeing an extreme example of this in the current situation in Ukraine - two sides with very different perspectives and even onlooking other countries with slightly different perspectives and versions of events too. 

   

  And, in line with the policy, where a child does something at a "Level 4" or above, we always speak to the parent / carer. It is really important that parents / carers support the school at this point.  

   

  It is worth remembering that all children occasionally make the wrong choices or misbehave.  This is natural and part of growing up. When a child does do something wrong, it is essential that they reflect on it and learn from it.  If they don't, or if a parent / carer simply takes their child's perspective of the incident as the "truth", the child is much more likely to think that their misdemeanour is acceptable and do it again... or push the boundaries further. 

   

  Unfortunately, this is something we see repeated year-on-year with a small number of children - where parents / carers insist their child's perspective is always the truth and that their child does not ever make the wrong choices or misbehave. Unfortunately, the behaviours then escalate, sometimes with serious outcomes in the secondary school years.  

   

  Please support your child by supporting the school.

   

  Behaviour in the Community

  A small number of parents / carers have also mentioned the behaviour of a minority of our children in the community - after-school and at the weekends. 

   

  Our school rules include "being kind and polite to others" and "treating school and community property with respect" and we spend time in school teaching and embedding these rules.  Almost all of the children adhere to these rules in school 😃 

   

  A huge THANK YOU to those parents / carers who support and enforce these rules out-of-school too.  You are making a real difference to your child. 

   

  However, from what has been said, there are a small number of children who are not "being kind" or "respecting community property outside of school". Again, experience shows that these children - if they "get away with it" - tend to go on to do worse 😞

   

  Whilst we try to support, it is not possible or practical for school to investigate every incident in the community.  If you are worried about an incident that you see in the community we encourage you to report it to the police (111). They are able to deal with it immediately and follow it up with other agencies; however, please also let us know so that we can follow it up too. 

• Year 5/6 Indoor Athletics

  Fri 25 Feb 2022

  Well done to our Year 5/6 Athletics Team who came second 🥈 at the County Finals this afternoon 👏👏👏👏

   

  They have now qualified for the East of England Finals in June! 

• Situation in Ukraine / Russia

  Fri 25 Feb 2022

  Situation in Ukraine / Russia

  Understandably, some of the children have been talking / asking questions about the situation in Ukraine today. 

  It is a very worrying and serious situation so it is not surprising that some of children are anxious about it. 

   

  We recommend that you spend some time talking to your child about it over the weekend.  Nobody has all of the answers, or knows what will happen next, but it is important that all children have a chance to ask questions, share feelings and feel reassured.

   

  The CBBC Newsround webpage is always a useful place to start. This has child-friendly information targeted at Key Stage 2 children. 

   

  Some useful clips are: 

  • The background to the tension between Ukraine and Russia
  • The Russian Invasion of Ukraine 
  • Advice if you are upset by the news

• Tips for talking to children about race and racism

  Thu 24 Feb 2022

  1) It is important to talk to children about race and racism.

   

  2) Some parents / carer might think that the best way to raise a child to not be racist is to not talk about race at all but it is never too early to talk about it and to help them to understand the world around them. Not speaking about race can make it seem like something you are not supposed to talk about.

   

  3) It is also natural to worry that you might get something wrong when talking about race, but take it one step at a time.  Remember that keeping the conversation about race going, rather than a single “talk” will help your child feel confident in asking you questions and telling you how they feel. If your child asks a question that you don’t have the answer to, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know.

   

  4) Saying that you “don’t see race” doesn’t help – race is not the problem, the prejudice and stigma attached to it is. By talking about race, your child will learn more about the issue, think for themselves and be more comfortable about speaking out about racism.

   

  5) It is important for children to be represented in the stories they read and see. Exposing your child to a diverse range of people, stories and characters from a young age can help to develop a positive attitude to widen out a child’s view of the world.

   

  It is also worth noting that children of a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) background are likely to have experienced racism in some manner and are reminded of their race through this. Having the choice to not think about race is a privilege that only some people have.

   

  Full article available here 👉 Barnardo's Blog

   

  The Barnardo's Blog is a great place for parents / carers to visit and has up-to-date articles on topical subjects 👍

• Safer Internet Day 2022

  Wed 23 Feb 2022

  Today children in Y1-Y6 have had a visit from Bedfordshire Police to talk about staying safe online. They may talk to you about what they have learnt or discussed. Many children were shocked about age limits of online gaming platforms, that many of them use.  

   

  Online life and offline life is just life

  For many of us, we see our online lives and offline lives as different, but children are growing up with technology and the internet and for them there isn’t a difference; online life and offline life is just life.

   

  Technology can move at an extraordinarily fast pace and it can be difficult to know how to start talking to your child about what they’re doing online, who they might be speaking to or discussing the potential risks and issues.  

   

  Starting the conversation

  Talking regularly with your child is the greatest tool to help keep them safe online. Talking regularly and making it part of daily conversation, like you would about their day at school, will help your child feel relaxed. It also means when they do have any worries, they’re more likely to come and speak to you.

   

  But it can also be easy to become overwhelmed with the different technology, the language that children use, the huge number of games and apps which are available and the potential risks.  

   

  Actions to take to stay safe online

  • Security settings to ‘FRIENDS ONLY’ (people they know and trust in the real world)
  • Only post photos and content they would be happy to show their granny ·     
  • Use the CEOP icon to report any issues that are not safe online https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/
  • Don’t share personal information online
  • Turn off webcams and don’t use them with people you don’t know
  • Delete people that make you feel uncomfortable and tell an adult

   

  Please remind children that they can always talk to an adult at home or school if they feel unsafe online.

• Omegle - Online Chat Service

  Mon 21 Feb 2022

  We have been made aware that some of our older children are using Omegle. 

   

  Omegle is a free online chat service which pairs random strangers into an online video call or text conversation, without the need to register or create an account. According to Omegle, the service is a great way to meet new friends while staying safe and anonymous, but openly admits that ‘predators have been known to use Omegle’. 

   

  Children under 13 are not allowed to use Omegle.

   

  Please see the attached Parent Guide for more information and some tips on how to keep your child safer online. 

   

  As the guide says, "Some people use Omegle so that they can enjoy sexually explicit conversations and share photographs or images with others in a live video call. There is the danger that some of the random people Omegle pairs your child with may have this intention. As well as the risk of seeing others take part in sexually explicit activities, these individuals may also ask your child to do similar things."

   

  It is illegal to make, possess, download, store and share sexual images, photos and videos of a person under the age of 18.

  

• End of Half Term Message

  Fri 11 Feb 2022

  Thank you for all of your support this half term - it has been much appreciated. 

   

  Coronavirus

  The high number of positive cases in our school community (108 since 6th January) have meant disruption to attendance, learning, school organisation (including clubs) and staffing; however, through the hard work and flexibility of our amazing staff team, and with your support, we have managed to keep all Reception - Year 6 classes open for the whole half term and the children making progress. 

   

  The good news is that, thanks to parents / carers, children and staff using the onsite Mobile Testing Unit last week, we seem to have found almost all of the undetected cases and we have had no new linked cases this week. 😀 

   

  We hope that things will be less challenging next half term! 

   

  Next Half Term

  As well as all of the exciting learning in class, we will be celebrating World Book Day (Friday 4th March) and a number of classes have visitors or visits booked on the calendar.

   

  Our Year 5 & 6 Indoor Athletics Team will also be representing Luton at the County Finals...

   

  And, coronavirus rules and case numbers permitting, we will have our first Mother's Day Afternoon Tea since 2019! 

   

  So lots of exciting things to look forward to! 

   

  Pupil Behaviour 

  Well done to the vast majority of children who have shown good behaviour this half term; we are so proud of you. 👍 

   

  And, if your child got all of their green, "well done" messages this half term, well done! 👏👏👏  

   

  On the odd occasions where a child does not meet our behaviour expectations, the support of parents / carers is crucial.  Thank you to those parents / carers who have supported their child and the school in these instances. 

   

  For a small minority of children who are struggling to meet our basic expectations we will be meeting with parents / carers next half term to devise behaviour plans so that we are all clear on what is expected of the child, the school and the parents / carers. These meetings will not be optional and will be on top of the sanctions that we already use (e.g. loss of lunchtime, after-school detention, internal exclusion, fixed-term exclusions) 

   

  If you need a reminder, our behaviour expectations are available here 👉 Parent Guide to Behaviour 

   

  School Uniform

  Well done to the vast majority of children who have worn the correct uniform (inc. PE kit) every day this half term; we are so proud of you. 👍 

   

  If you need a reminder, our uniform expectations are available here 👉 School Uniform 

   

  Homework

  Well done to the vast majority of children who have completed all of their homework this half term; we are so proud of you. 👍 

   

  For all children, homework includes:

  • Reading at home (and earning a keyring [Early Years / KS1] or Star Reader Bug [KS2])
  • Numbots [Early Years / KS1] or TT Rockstars [KS2]

   

  If you need a reminder, our homework expectations are available here 👉 Homework @ Pirton Hill

   

  Children can still read and play Numbots / TT Rockstars over the half term break! 

• World Book Day 2022

  Thu 10 Feb 2022

  World Book Day is a big event in our school’s calendar – promoting reading for pleasure across the school. 

   

  This year we will be celebrating on Friday 4^th March. We would like the children to dress as their favourite character from their favourite book and be able to share or talk about why they enjoy this book with the rest of their class. Their teachers will be doing the same. 

   

  Here is a link for costume ideas that can be made at home  https://www.madeformums.com/toddler-and-preschool/last-minute-easy-world-book-day-costumes/