Marden Update

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful break. We have a very busy half term ahead in the run up to Christmas. Our library visits start this half term and we are very excited about this. Staff are starting clubs over the next few weeks and information will be sent home about these very soon. We are also finalising a few plans for our Christmas celebrations this year and we will be in touch with further information. Parent's evening is coming up too and staff are looking forward to sharing the progress of the children with you.

We will continue to put updates for parents on Dojo and ParentMail so please keep checking there for information.

Have a great week.

Denise Coady

Head of School

Star Value of the month

Each month, we will be focusing on one of the values and the value of the month for October was being Respectful. All our Star Value certificate winners in October demonstrated being respectful. Winning names were published on Dojo in the school story. For November, we are focusing on being Fair.

Marden's Marvellous Learner Behaviour of the month

Each month, we will also be focusing on one of our learning behaviours. Last half term, we focused on one learning behaviour a week. Now that we have experienced them all, we will focus on one a month. All our Marden's Marvellous Learners for October were published on Dojo in the school story. For November, we are focusing on Concentration.

Some activities to practice concentration skills at home:

1. Building Activities

One of the popular concentration activities for children include building. For example, use playing cards to build a high house of cards before it falls. Younger children can use blocks of different shapes and colours to build towers. You can even work as a family to build models of skyscrapers using junk materials, glue, paint, and felt pens.

2. Memory Games

Memory games are some of the most popular concentration activities for children.

The Tray Game: Find a selection of interesting small objects and arrange them on a tray, which you should keep covered with a tea-towel until you are ready to play the game. Vary the number of objects according to the ages of your children. Give each child a pencil and paper and ask them to write their name at the top.

Play:

Uncover the tray and place it where all children can see it. Give the children a certain amount of time to memorize the contents of the tray, then cover it up again.

Variation 1:

Ask the children to write down all of the objects that they can remember.

Variation 2:

Take the tray away and remove one or two objects. Replace it and ask the children to write down the objects which are missing.

Parent Forum

Tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd November, we will be having our first Parent Forum of the year. This is a chance for parents across the school to meet with Senior Leaders to discuss aspects of school improvement. This first meeting will be about the use of social media by our children and the impact it is having on their wellbeing and how school and parents can work in partnership around this.

If you would like to attend, please follow the link below and submit the google form .

https://forms.gle/5zHZyGbhtiLMW8kS8

Online version Marden Lodge Virtual Library.pdf

Marden's Virtual Library

Visit our new Marden Lodge Virtual Library and enjoy reading or listening to a story from the selection of children’s books. There’s something for everyone from Nursery through to Year 6. We've also included some favourite books recommended by members of staff and the books that Mrs Coady and Mrs Young share with the children in assemblies. The library will be updated each half term so there will always be something new to read or listen to. Enjoy!

Parent Consultations

Parent consultations will be taking place on:

Wednesday 10th November
Thursday 11th November

If you haven't already booked an appointment to see your child's class teacher, please contact the school office.

Anti-Bullying Update

As part of our ongoing anti-bullying work, in every newsletter we will provide you with useful information about bullying, online safety and friendships.

Anti-Bullying Week 2021: One Kind Word

Anti-Bullying Week is coordinated In England by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and takes place from 15 to 19 November 2021 and it has the theme One Kind Word. The week will begin with Odd Socks Day supported by CBBC and CBeebies star Andy Day and his band Andy and the Odd Socks.

On Monday 15th November, we are taking part in Odd Socks Day for the start of Anti-Bullying Week. Children are welcome to come to school wearing odd socks for the day to celebrate what makes us all unique in Anti-Bullying Week. We look forward to seeing all the odd socks on the day!

Throughout the week the children will be taking part in a number of activities linked to kindness. One activity involves making a rock garden with painted messages of kindness. If you didn't find a rock over the 1/2 term break, try to find one before the start of next week and send it in to school, ready for painting.

streamsafe_netflix.pdf

Squid Game

Due to the popularity of Netflix’s most recent viral show, Squid Game, online safety experts from INEQE received several questions about it from concerned parents, carers, and teachers. They decided to release a Safeguarding Update that highlights the main risks and concerns our experts found when researching the show.

Read the update here.

See also their useful guide to Netflix for how to set safety settings etc.

Caterham Foodbank newsletter Oct 2021.pdf

Please see the latest newsletter from Caterham Foodbank.

Thrive activity for the month- Relaxing Music

Have you ever tried using calming music in your home as an attempt to play with atmosphere? It can be really effective. Try playing it as children work on creative activities, play, whilst eating meals etc.

Discuss the soundtrack with the children. Talk about what they think of the music; do they like it? How does it make their body feel?

We've found a YouTube video for you to try:

Christmas is coming to Marden!

We are really pleased that our PTA is up and running once again. Both the PTA and staff at Marden have lots of plans for the children to have a fantastic Christmas celebration this year. Keep your eye on Dojo and ParentMail for further information about what we have planned!

New Star Value Ambassadors

I am pleased to announce that we have a new pupil leadership group- Star Value Ambassadors made up of Y6 children. Our new group of children applied for the role and were interviewed by Mrs Coady and Mrs Young. They were very impressed with the high quality applications and how the children conducted themselves at interview.

We now have Lead Star Value Ambassadors, one for each value, who will be leading a small team to help demonstrate the values across the school. They will also be taking part in various jobs to help our school run smoothly. We can't wait for them to start!

A few reminders...

Breaktime Snacks

A reminder that breaktime snacks must be fruit or fruit based snacks. Crisps, chocolate, sausage rolls, sandwiches etc. are not allowed for a breaktime snack and should be saved for lunch boxes or after school please. This applies to all year groups.

Parking

The safety of our children, staff and family is so important and we need everyone to play their part. Please be considerate when parking your vehicle during school drop off and collection times. Please DO NOT use the private car parks of local residences, block any residential driveways or park on yellow lines or school markings.

If you see an example of inconsiderate or dangerous parking, please follow this link to report the incident:

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/roadworks-and-maintenance/report-a-highway-problem

Scooters and Bikes

Lots of parents and children come to school on scooters or bikes which we fully support. For safety reasons, everyone (children/parents/carers) must dismount upon entering school. All cycles and scooters must be walked with on the school grounds. Thank you.

Morning Drop Off

Our gate opens and 8:40am and closes at 8:50am. Lots of children are being dropped off late to school which then prevents the gate from closing at the correct time. Please can you make sure that your child arrives by 8:50am so that they can be in class ready to start learning as quickly as possible.

Reception Primary School Applications

Primary school admissions applications open today, Monday 1st November 2021 for parents to apply for a primary school (Year Reception) place for September 2022.

The statutory national closing date for applications is 15 January 2022. If you do not apply by this date then your application will be considered as late and will not be processed until after all on-time applications. This means your child will be less likely to receive a place in your preferred school.

We have already been leading tours of our school for parents with children who will be starting school in September 2022. Please see our website for information if you would like to book a tour.

The easiest way to apply is online, by visiting https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/admissions/primary-junior-and-infant/apply

Attendance Update

Marden Lodge Primary School and Nursery firmly believes that all children benefit from regular school attendance. A full and interrupted presence gives children the opportunity to fulfil their academic and social potential but also contributes significantly to establishing a positive leaning and work ethic.

Thank you for your support with making sure your child attends school. Here are our attendance winners from the last few weeks.

Week 5: Year 1 Elmer

Week 6: Year 4 Fantastic Foxes

Week 7: Year 1 Elmer

Congratulations!

Being late to school can have a considerable impact over the whole school year. The table below shows you just how much time can be missed over a year just by being 5 minutes late to school every day:

5 minutes late every day = 3 days of school lost a year

10 minutes late every day = 6.5 days of school lost a year

15 minutes late every day = 10 days of school lost a year

20 minutes late every day = 13 days of school lost a year

30 minutes late every day = 19 days of school lost a year

We understand that the school mornings can be hectic, but when your child is late for school they are missing out on vital parts of their education.

Our gate to the playground closes at 8:50am so please make sure your child arrives before this time. If you don't, you will need to take your child to the school office to enter the school.

If you have any queries or would like to talk to anyone about attendance and punctuality, please do not hesitate to contact our Senior Office Administrator on 01883 343014

Letters that have been sent home over the last month...

01/10 - Friends of Marden Lodge need your help flyer

05/10 – Face to face parents evening are fully booked

15/10 – Caterham Rotary Club Quiz Night

22/10 – Letter from Jon Chaloner

Safeguarding

If you are concerned about the safety of a child, please use the contact below:

dsl@marden-lodge.surrey.sch.uk

The safeguarding leads at Marden Lodge Primary School & Nursery are Mr Williams, Mrs Coady, Mrs Young, Miss Cushman, Mrs Bell, Mrs Kirkpatrick and Mrs Jelly.