Monday 11th February

Welcome to another week at Copthorne. As I write this blog, snow has once again been forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Let's hope the weather men and women have got it wrong this time.

This week at Copthorne looks set to be as busy as ever as we approach the half term holiday next week.

SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning)
As part of our PSHCE (Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship Education) curriculum, each week at Copthorne has a special theme at its centre. This theme forms the basis of each assembly and the PSHCE lesson that all children experience in class. The themes are aimed at developing our children socially and emotionally. This week's theme or 'Ethos Statement' is Revising Goals. The theme aims to encourage us all to think about how, once a goal is achieved or when things become difficult we must not give up but think of a different goal to aim for. It is always very positive when these ideas are also discussed at home so, each week I will publish the description of the planned theme.

The Leadership of Copthorne
I am delighted to inform you that, last week, Copthorne Primary School's Governing Body unanimously ratified the decision of their Recruitment Committee to make the present arrangement for the leadership of the school a permanent one. This means that the present structure: Mr Jacques as Executive Head of both Copthorne and Horton Grange, and myself as Copthorne's Head of School will continue. We are both delighted at the decision and look forward to being able to develop our leadership team and to take the school forward long term. Thank you to all the parents, carers and children who have supported us in our work. We look forward to strengthening the Copthorne Community still further in the future.

The School Prospectus
This Monday, 11th February, I will be meeting with a representative from Words and Pictures - the company producing our new prospectus. During the meeting I will be having a good look at the first proof of the prospectus. This will include the text and a selection from the pictures taken nearly two weeks ago. I will be able to suggest changes, which I will discuss with a number of the staff and children, and then the proofs will be taken away to be made into the final version. This will be delivered to school mid-March at which point a copy will be put on display in the entrance to school. I am sure that we will all be thrilled with the result.

Internet Safety
As you will have been hearing from your children and in the letters that were sent home, last week was Internet Safety Week. All our children took part in special lessons which helped them to understand how to use the Internet safely.
At Copthorne we believe that, used safely, the Internet is a fabulous tool to support teaching and learning.
However we are very concerned about a number of issues raised by parents arising from the use of  Internet chat rooms and, in particular, the website Movie Star Planet. This is one of the many web-sites out there that young children have access to. Unfortunately, unlike our school Moodle, conversations and user identities through such websites are difficult to track. This means that anyone can be on line and chatting to your child. We would strongly recommend that primary school children only chat to each other on secure school websites like ours as the passwords for these are issued only to school members and all conversations between users can be followed and policed by a member of staff with administrator rights - such as myself or the ICT coordinator.
As I parent myself I understand the emotional pressure our children can put us under to let them have complete access to the Internet but I cannot stress enough how important it is that we only let the children have access to safe sites and chat rooms. I would ask, therefore, that everyone check the sites being accessed by our children to make sure that, especially those with chat rooms, are safe and secure.
Thank you for your support in this matter.

Bag to School
Our Bag to School collection took place this week. Thank you to everyone who brought in bags. As soon as I find out how much money has been raised for School Fund I'll let you know.
Keep filling those bags though as we will be having another collection later this year!

Half term holiday
We break up for the half term holiday at the end of school this Friday, 15th February. School will re-open on Monday25th February. I wish everyone a restful break and look forward to seeing you all when we return to school.

Holiday Activities
Exceed are running a number of activities for children during the half term holiday. There are exciting activities suitable for a wide range of age groups and these will take place at Copthorne. Information leaflets about the activities are available in the entrance outside the school office.

Have another lovely week everyone.
Mrs Shepherd