Principal's Message:

Our final term of the year is off to a great start already! We said "Bon Voyage" to Year 6 as they embarked on the annual PGL trip. I'm sure that if you follow us on Facebook you will have seen all of the exciting things that they have been up to. The residential trip is a right of passage for our children when they reach Year 6 so we are so pleased that we are able to provide this opportunity to the children; they gain so much from it.

Mr Smith is retiring!

Mr Smith, arguably the best caretaker there is, is retiring on Friday 28th June. He has been an instrumental part of LPPA so we want to show him how special he is to us. As his last day coincides with our KS1 and KS2 Sports Day and the whole school Family Picnic, we are going to be doing lots of things in his honour which we are pleased to be able to involve our whole community in!

The LPPA family is growing!

While the journey of one member of our community is ending, another is beginning. Miss J Gibbs, Empire Teacher (Year 2), is expecting her first child. She isn't due until November time but we are so excited for her. I am sure you will join me in congratulating her on her happy news.

Mr Monaco, Braeburn Teacher (Year 6), is also expecting his second child any day soon! We are all waiting with baited breath. He will be taking paternity leave and we have made necessary arrangements to cover this.

Parking in local area

Thank you to you all for your cooperation in the car park. It is becoming a much more pleasant place in the mornings with safer routes for pedestrians. We are still seeing parents parking on zebra crossings and designated walkways which is a really dangerous thing to do as it not only narrows the main thoroughfare for vehicles, but impedes the safe travel of our children and parents who have parked responsibly and walked through the car park. Luckily, this is only a minority of parents who I am sure will make every effort to address this. Further to this, we have had a local resident draw our attention to, again, a very small minority of parents parking in the allocated spaces for parents. They have shown us CCTV of this and while we do not monitor parking outside of school, I am duty bound to ask our community to respect the parking of the residents. They have also unfortunately shared that they have received abuse when asking parents to move from these spaces. This is really disappointing to hear when they are well within their rights to do this. We talk often to our children about how they are representing our school and its community when outside the school gates and expect them to behave in a way that does not reflect badly on their community. I now respectfully ask that parents do the same. We should be role models to our children and therefore should be mindful that they are observing and taking in every interaction we have in front of them, so let's ensure that they are always positive and respectful. Many thanks for your efforts with this.

Please take notes of the Key Date section within this newsletter so that you can keep up to date on all the upcoming exciting events this term and there is a lot!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss S Brading

National Online Safety Guide

We can all now access new music and movies in a matter of seconds; we can get products delivered to our door the very next day; we can chat or play games with people on the other side of the world. For all of the remarkable benefits the digital age has brought us, it has also presented us with a whole new raft of pressures and anxieties that, in truth, we are all still learning to cope with.

From continuous notifications inflaming a fear of missing out to the risk of public embarrassment or slanging matches on social media, today's children and young people have stresses to manage that previous generations simply never encountered. 

The below guide examines these uniquely modern worries, highlighting ways to reduce the anxiety that digital devices can bring. You will also find tips on reducing push notifications from apps, avoiding social media arguments and spotting when a child has been upset by something online.

A reminder that all of our parent/carer community are invited to create an account with National Online Safety, which provides a wide range of resources such as the guides we include in our newsletters, courses and video resources. If you have not already done so, please create your account by visiting the link below. 

https://nationalcollege.com/enrol/langley-park-primary-academy 

You can also download the National Online Safety app on any device or smartphone by searching for it in the App Store/Google Play Store.