Newsletters

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have reached December and the weather has definitely changed! I am now having to wear my big winter coat and all the extras to keep warm when I’m standing at the gate but welcoming in all the smiley, happy children each morning makes it worthwhile!

The Orton Wistow Primary School Christmas Story Advent has begun and the first few stories have had lots of views. A new one will go live each day throughout December, all the way up to Christmas Eve. There is definitely a Christmassy feeling starting to spread across the school and we are all looking forward to some of the other events lined up over the next couple of weeks.

My assembly this week was an online safety assembly as all the children this week have been taking part in online safety lessons in class. My focus was on age ratings attached to apps and games. I shared some popular social media app images with the children, asking them to spot the odd one out. The answer was WhatsApp as it has an age rating of sixteen compared to all the others (TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, House Party) that have an age rating of thirteen. We also looked at PEGI ratings and the symbols that can be found on the back of games, letting the user know why it has been given a 3, 7, 12, 16 or 18 rating.

I wanted the children to understand that there are reasons for these ratings such as (for apps):

• Private conversations can happen on many of these sites.
• Some App versions of these sites use the location of your phone.
• Information shared can easily be copied and spread.
• Chatrooms and forums are a way for strangers to talk to children as they are often unmoderated.
• Chatrooms and forums can contain a lot of inappropriate language and content, such as pictures or videos.

And for games, there may be included:

• Violence and fighting
• Opportunities to connect with other players (including strangers)
• Inappropriate language
• Monsters/creatures/scary characters or scenes
• Discrimination

We watched a short cartoon about how age ratings are applied to games because I also wanted the children to see that it is a process that all new games and apps go through and it isn’t just a killjoy wanting to stop everyone’s fun! The main reason for age ratings is recognising that younger children don’t always have the right experience and tools to use these apps safely and may not necessarily know how to handle a situation that worries them.

I always talk very positively about the Internet and the great things that being online can provide for children, including; it is a way to play games with friends, keep in touch with family and help with their education. I finished my assembly by looking at ‘Think!’ This is an acronym for how to keep posts online safe and friendly:

T – Is it True?

H – Is it Helpful?

I – Is it Inspiring?

N – Is it Necessary?

K – Is it Kind?

If children are going to use games and apps that allow them to connect with others, we would all want them to THINK about these things before they post.

It would be great if you could talk to your children about this over the weekend, reinforcing the same messages as we are giving them at school.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Colin Marks

Deputy Head Teacher

Each week we publish the latest achievements of the children at Orton Wistow Primary School. 

You can find out the weekly results for Attendance, Class Dojo, Dojo Masters, Golden Mile, House Points, Reading Champions, Shining Stars and Times Table Rock Stars.

Bike Rack Fundraising Event

On Friday 11th December 2020, we will be selling special Christmas biscuits to raise money for covered bike racks for the children.

Two parents have been in touch to tell us that the company that they work for, BGL, is happy to DOUBLE match fund any money we can generate from an event before the end of this term.

We know that parents and carers have already supported us so generously with our Sponsored Event, but we felt this was too good an opportunity for us to miss.  Every pound that we raise will be worth three! The company will match fund up to £2000 so if we raised £1000 it would be worth £3000.

For a while, we have been thinking about installing covered bike racks so that more children can become all-weather cyclists rather than fair-weather cyclists. The cost of racks is more than we can afford as a school but the generosity of BGL means that we can start saving for this project and then investigate what other Eco grants are out there that we can tap into.

Although your child may never cycle to school and you may think that they wouldn't benefit from this, the more children we can encourage to cycle, the less likely it is that cars are parked all around the school. It's a win, win.

Parents and Carers are asked to please donate in advance on Parentmail if you wish to support this fundraising event. 

The minimum donation for a biscuit will be £1 and we will give you the option of choosing other amounts up to £10. I know that this is much more than even a Wistow biscuit is worth, even if it does have glitter on (!), but I know that some of you would be happy to donate more if you knew that your donation was going to be tripled. Obviously, you can donate as little or as much as you want.

Please donate in advance on Parentmail if you would like your child to receive a biscuit. 

If you would prefer to send in a donation of your own choosing, please send this into school in an envelope labelled with your child's name, class and 'Christmas Biscuit Donation' by Wednesday 9 December.

As we will be making the biscuits to order, please do not send in money on the day.

Thank you in anticipation of your support. Again, apologies for asking for donations again and so close to Christmas but the BGL double matching offer runs out at the end of this month. If you do not feel able to support this event, we would understand completely.

Photo by Wayne Bishop on Unsplash

This week, we are proud to publish a piece of work by children in the Penguins, Elephants, Macaws and Armadillos.

RNIB Stamp Collection

This year, Orton Wistow Primary School is supporting the RNIB's Save Your Stamps Appeal.

We would be grateful if you could support this appeal by collecting used stamps and dropping them off at the school office.

RNIB will turn the stamps into funds for their work supporting blind and partially sighted people, such as their Letter from Santa in accessible formats for children with vision impairment to help them feel included at Christmas.

RNIB accepts all stamps: new or used, first or second class, foreign, first-day covers, presentation packs or albums. Stamps are sold by weight and they raise £20 per kilogram of stamps, so it's a brilliant way to raise money.

If you would like to read more about RNIB's appeal, you can visit their website.

E-Newsletter Feedback Results

Thank you to everyone who responded to our e-newsletter feedback form.  We were delighted to discover that 95% of you read it every week and that 100% of you consider it to be a valuable source of information.

47.6% of parents and carers said that there were no improvements to make on the current format.  Equally, another 47.6% of parents and carers felt that they preferred the old format with fewer clicks to access news.

At OWPS we are always keen to respond to your feedback.  We have already reduced the Achievements section to one page.  We have also decided to input School News directly onto the newsletter as well as posting it on the website. We hope this addresses the concerns raised whilst also maintaining the things that people said they liked.