We were delighted to join with schools across the country by all doing the Daily Mile together on Friday. Time spent outside exercising is good for all of us, both physically and for our mental health and well-being. Classes take part in the Daily Mile regularly in Rasharkin Primary School and today was a great chance to highlight this.
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Congratulations to all the children pictured below who have been working really hard to improve their speed of recall for multiplication tables. The class records for the fastest time for 100 tables were set by Lucy C (2.13 min) and Sam (2.25 min). Well done!
All playground supervisors have recently completed ‘Positive Playgrounds’ training. They were very enthused with many of the good ideas the training provided. Some of these ideas were shared with the School Council who agreed to run ‘Craze of the Week’, ‘Golden Tickets’ and ‘Lunchtime Targets’ on a trial basis until the end of Term. The school council members will meet again to discuss how these have gone and then agree what to take forward for September.
In preparation for ‘Craze of the Week’ the School Council agreed four crazes and sorted out toys and resources. Thank you to all the School Council members for their hard work.
Action Mental Health have organised a Healthy Me session for parents/carers on 9th June. Please see attached flyer.
Lots of our children have been working hard on their Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress programmes. They have got lots of certificates for their hard work.
Congratulations to Noah P4, who was the winner of the Accelerated Reading Cup for this half term. Noah was 400% over his target. Well done Noah!
Congratulations once again to everyone who received Accelerated Reading Certificates. The children have put in a lot of effort since Easter, to achieve their targets.
Congratulations to all the children who received certificates for May 2021.
Certificates were awarded for:-
Super STEM Skills
Being Kind and Caring
Excellent ICT Skills
Great Art Work
Miss Craig is a 2nd Year student at Stranmillis College Belfast. Over the past few weeks she has been on teaching practice, working in the P6 and P7 classroom. The children all worked really well with Miss Craig and had many enjoyable lessons with her. Best wishes to Miss Craig for her final two years at Stranmillis.
Miss Galloway is a 1st year student at Stranmillis University College in Belfast. She has been with us for the past eight weeks on teaching practice, working alongside Mrs Henry with P4 and P5. The children have all enjoyed her lessons and we wish her all the best for her studies, over the next four years.
There was great excitement in school today when we noticed that a thrush has made her nest on top of the entrance to our sensory garden. When she was off her nest, we took a quick look and she is sitting on four eggs. We are hoping that she will be able to hatch her eggs, even with all the noise of the children in the playground. P4 and P5 have been learning about the ‘Lifecycle of Animals', so this is very exciting for them.
We are delighted to have a new outdoor classroom. This was purchased with earmarked funding from Education Authority, Health and Well Being Fund. Our children love outdoor lessons, so this will be a well used space. P4 and P5 had their World Around Us lesson in it today.
The Annual Report from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) highlights the growing risk of children falling victim to internet predators, with young girls (11-13 years old) currently standing as the most vulnerable group. The criminals are known to groom, bully and coerce children into filming their own sexual abuse via internet-enabled devices, often from within the child’s own bedroom in the family home. The images and videos can then be shared widely online. In response to their findings, the IWF has launched a campaign, backed both by Microsoft and the Home Office, to empower girls through social channels such as Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube; as well as to arm parents against the risks posed by internet predators, preparing them with knowledge and information on how they can protect their child(ren) online. As part of the Home Truths campaign aimed at parents, a televised advert will depict a queue of adult sexual predators lining up outside a house before making their way upstairs and into a child’s bedroom, with the child’s parents remaining oblivious to the ‘open door’ to abuse in their home.
The campaign urges parents to T.A.L.K to their children about online threats:
Talk to your child about online sexual abuse. Start the conversation – and listen to their concerns.
Agree ground rules about the way your family uses technology.
Learn about the platforms and apps your child loves. Take an interest in their online life.
Know how to use tools, apps and settings that can help keep your child safe online.
Discuss and agree on privacy settings for the platforms and apps your child uses, and on more general settings for the family.
