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to Chloe Heathcote, who is taking part in the finals of Future Chef on Monday in London – well done Chloe,

we are extremely proud of you.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

As you will all be aware the government is issuing lots of useful advice about Coronavirus. Please see the poster

included in L’hebdo which has got useful tips to keep you and your family safe and advice about what to do if

you are concerned you may be at risk.

As of yesterday, the government announced that anyone with a new continuous cough or a high temperature

must stay at home for 7 days and not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. You do not need to contact NHS

111 to tell them you’re staying at home, but you do need to inform us if your child will not be attending school.

Travel overseas

One other thing we ask from you is that if you are planning or returning from a holiday or a weekend break

from overseas, please get in touch with the school. We will consider each situation on a case-by-case basis

adhering to the latest government guidelines. We thank you for your patience.

You will have also seen that the government advises against international trips. As all schools in Penk Valley

Academy Trust are following all of the latest government guidelines we therefore will be cancelling any trips

abroad this academic year. We will be in touch with individually affected parents.

What we are doing?

We are also taking several steps to ensure that we are well prepared if the situation develops. Some of the

things we are doing include:

Focussing the cleaning of our schools to keep them as healthy as possible

Making sure we have sufficient stock of hygiene and sanitation products

Giving the children updates about hand washing and personal hygiene

Ensuring we have plans in place to help ensure services like transport, catering and cleaning can continue as normal

Evaluating and risk-assessing any educational visits or visitors to the school that we have planned

Developing and testing systems to ensure that, if schools had to shut, we would be able to provide valuable learning resources for children to use at home including revision packs for students sitting

summer term examinations.

Ensuring the health and wellbeing of all of our employees

STOP BEING AFRAID OF WHAT COULD GO WRONG START BEING EXCITED

ABOUT WHAT COULD GO RIGHT

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Whilst we do have plenty of hand wash available in school if your child would like to bring in a travel size sanitiser or

hankies they are welcome to do so.

On Monday 16/3/20 pupils in Year 5 and 7 will have a production company called Loudmouth come into school to

perform an informative and educational piece about Youth Violence and ensuring pupils know about it and how to

manage themselves appropriately.

Year 5 will have this at 11.30am and Year 7 at 2pm. The production is only 30mins long.

If there are any questions, then please get in touch with Mr Grocutt.

Reminder to Y6 parents that payment for Condover Hall should be made in full by 6th April.

for week 2nd – 6th March 2020

RUBY RAINSBURY 5CWK CHARLIES McALEENAN 6AG MAGGIE TRUMPER 7JWD HARRY BOULTON 8DH

DOMINIC BROOKES 5JB EVAN SMITH 6AP ISOBEL SAUNDERS 7KM HANNAH BAKER 8HE

CONNIE RICHARDS 5LK JOSH THORNSBY 6CA LEXIE WALKER 7RCT PHOEBE HARRIMAN 8JW

FINLEY LLOYD-WHITE 5RK LUKA MARINKOVIC 6TG KIAN MURRAY 7LW ROMAN MAXFIELD 7LW

EMMA BINNS 8SH

ISABELLE DEVEY 5SE CHARLEY WOOD 8SS

Denis Angelov (6CA) Hannah Baker (8HE) Ruby Baker (7RCT)

Faith Clay (8JW) James Clay (6CA) George Custer (5CWK)

Grace Ellam (8JW) Todd Frost (7RCT) Phoebe Harriman (8JW)

Mya Haynes (8JW) Tobias Hussey (6CA) William Jones (7RCT)

William King (6CA) Harriet McDonald (7RCT) Holly Milner (8SH)

Joe Milner (8SS) Lucy Nield (8JW) Benjamin Simpson (5CWK)

Ella Taylor (5CWK) Samuel Thursfield (6AG) Jayden Watson (7LW)

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Harriet Ball (6AG) Aimee Bramwell (8HE)

Maggie Trumper (7JWD) Alex Walker (5SE)

An Evening of Spoken Word & Poetry

On Wednesday evening, several of our Year 7 students attended ‘An Evening of Spoken Word and

Poetry’ in Stafford library as part of the Staffordshire Pocket Film Festival. This intimate event was

hosted by Staffordshire Poet Laureate Mel Wardle Woodend, and featured special performances by

former Young Poet Laureate Lily Massey, hilarious performance poet Nick Degg, and former PMS

student and now local film maker, photographer and musician, Jonathon Watkiss: ‘The blind

photographer.’

Not only did these students get to enjoy live poetry and see their own work on public display, they

also performed their self-penned poetry to the live audience!

There were nerves beforehand but all 14 students did an incredible job and they presented their

work beautifully. To read to a live audience in such a setting is a huge accomplishment and our

students did themselves proud.

Yet again, our students were fantastic ambassadors for the school, and it was a pleasure to see them

represent Penkridge Middle in such a mature manner.

Congratulations to our Super-Star Poets:

Coral Bailey Ruby Baker Jasmine Batley

Mia Capewell Ruby Flannery Alesha Fletcher

Millie Jones Olivia Jones Lacey Keenan-James

Harrison McDonald-Love Isaac Morris Kieran Sanders-Cook

Kacey Walker James Murphy Cameron Gough

Emily Dillon Scarlett Robinson

Celebration of Ella Taylor from

Stafford Youth Theatre

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…

All future dates are subject to change following any health guidance

16th March Loudmouth

16-17th March Y5 Bikeability

18th March Y7 visit to Wolseley Centre - 7LW and 7RCT

19th March Y7 visit to Wolseley Centre - 7JWD and 7KM

25th March World Cinema Day 3.30pm

27th March PTFA Family Quiz Night

2nd April PTFA KS2/3 Disco

3rd April School closes for Easter Break

20th April School opens for Summer Term

25th April Garden Clean Up Day

6th May Y8 Coventry Cathedral Visit

8th May Bank Holiday

23rd June Y8 Wolgarston High Transition at Wolgarston

25th June Sports Day

15-17th July Y6 Condover Hall Residential

Reading Café – We have taken the decision to postpone the Reading Café, new dates will be arranged.

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Health and Wellbeing:

The health and wellbeing of the children at our school is of the highest importance. We are

currently endeavouring to find a whole school initiative to help them to think and learn about

different ways to keep themselves healthy- both emotionally and mentally.

However, we already promote health and wellbeing in school with a variety of provisions and we would

like to share some of these:

PSHE to help the children build on life skills and their awareness of mental health, sex and

relationships and physical wellbeing;

Daily sports clubs at lunchtime and after school;

Regular wellbeing assemblies covering topics such as coping with stress;

Growth Mindset Thought for the week;

Class meditation;

Specialist support in school that is provided on a 1:1 basis:

Celebrating UK initiatives such as ‘Empathy Week’.

Additionally, we would like to offer strategies that children can apply in and out of school and also

provide support for parents and carers that they can use in the home. Therefore, parents and carers

may find the resource below useful. This can be used as a strategy if your child is finding their

emotions overwhelming. It is a free resource and one of many available on the ‘Youngminds’ site- see

link below.

Other free resources are available: https://youngminds.org.uk/resources/school-resources

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Penkridge Middle School Marsh Lane Penkridge ST19 5BW www.penkridge.staffs.sch.uk 01785 413400

Headteacher: Natalie Frost BSc(Hons) NPQH NPQEL

Visit to Wolseley Centre 2020

February 2020 Dear Parent/Guardian As you are aware, we have arranged for the children in Year 7 to visit the Wolseley Centre as part of their studies in Geography. The team at Wolseley will provide students with the opportunity to complete a one-day fieldwork investigation. 7LW and 7RCT will visit on Wednesday 18th March 2020 7JWD and 7KM will visit on Thursday 19th March 2020 Thank you for all of the donations received so far and please be aware this trip is still open on ParentPay for any outstanding payments. We have requested a donation of £15 for each child which covers all costs associated with the visit. As always, please also note that if we do not have enough donations to cover the cost of the trip, the visit will not be able to go ahead and we will incur charges from the bus company and visit provider for cancellation. The students will leave for the Wolseley Centre at 9.15am prompt and return by the end of the normal school day. The students will need to bring a packed lunch for the day (which should not include fizzy brinks or glass bottles). Students will not be expected to wear full school uniform; they should wear comfortable clothing such as tracksuit bottoms/ joggers. Students will also need to bring suitable outdoor clothing for the time of year, including a waterproof jacket, as a significant part of the day will be outside, with suitable footwear such as walking boots or wellies, as they are likely to get muddy. I would also suggest children bring a plastic bag containing a spare pair of shoes to change out of any muddy footwear. Students should be aware that we are visiting a place open to the public and they will need to be attentive and at all times respectful. Cooperation and good behaviour is paramount, not only for the reputation of the school, but also for the health and safety of the students. Before and during the visit all students are expected to follow the school rules at all times and any failure to do so will result in them forfeiting their place on the trip. Please complete the attached parental consent form including medical details, free school meals and home arrangements. The deadline for completing and returning parental consent forms to reception is Monday 16th March 2020. Thank you in advance for all donations that make it possible for this visit to run. Yours faithfully, Mr R Cole Head of Geography, History, RE & KS3 Part of Penk Valley Academy Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, number 11124272 Registered office: Wolgarston High School, Cannock Road, Penkridge, ST19 5RX www.penkvalley.co.uk

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Failure to complete and return this form will result in your child being unable to attend the trip.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….......................................

PARENTAL CONSENT FOR A SCHOOL VISIT

Please complete this form and return it to the school reception.

EDUCATIONAL VISIT TO: Wolseley Centre leaving school at 09:15am. The predicted time of return is 03:00pm.

7LW and 7RCT will visit on Wednesday 18th March 2020

7JWD and 7KM will visit on Thursday 19th March 2020

Medical Details: My son/daughter has the following medical/special needs.

............................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................................................................

If your child receives a free school meal, please tick the box on the reply slip if you would like a packed lunch to be

prepared for the visit.

Students will be travelling by coach and your child will be expected to be responsible enough to wear any seatbelt

provided until informed it may be released.

I understand this visit includes:

• Walking, therefore appropriate footwear, outdoor clothing should be worn.

I agree to my son/daughter attending the visit detailed above and I acknowledge that to be included he/she will

need to maintain responsible behaviour before and during the visit. Failure to do so will result in my son/daughter

not attending.

Normal home time arrangements apply for this trip. Children will make their way back into school on return to

PMS to be dismissed at the end of the school day as normal. In the event of a delayed return resulting in the trip

arriving back after 3:30pm please indicate your returning home arrangements:

o If the visit is late returning, I will collect my son/daughter following the visit. o If the visit is late returning, my son/daughter may walk or bike home after the visit.

Name of son/daughter.................................................... Class......................................................

Signed.............................................................................. Date...................

Parent with Parental Responsibility

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PTFA

Family Quiz Night

Wake up those little grey cells and put them to the test on Friday 27th March at 7pm.

Put together a team of no more than 6 then come up with your winning teams name.

The cost of the evening will be £25 for 2 adults & 2 children. Extra person will be £4, this

includes a Fish and Chip supper.

If you are up for the competition, then please fill in the form below and return to school no

later than Friday 20th March (as we need to get the food order in-very important!). Please

send in the cash with your child in a sealed envelope to be handed in either to their class

teacher or the main office.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Yes I/we would like to enter a team for the Family Quiz Night on Friday 27th March.

I/We would like ………… adult tickets and …………child tickets.

Choice of food

…………..Fish & chips ………….. Sausage & chips

Thank you

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Penkridge Cricket Club is launching Dynamo’s Cricket for 8-11 year olds this Summer!

Dynamo’s Cricket is an 8 week cricket programme starting Friday 15th May 2020 from 5-6pm.Each week, players will develop new cricketing skills including batting, bowling and fielding. They will also have the chance to play a fast-paced and exciting game of countdown cricket – a new format that mirrors The Hundred. Booking Link: https://dynamoscricket.co.uk/penkridge

https://dynamoscricket.co.uk/penkridge

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