Online Safety - Settng Up Parental Controls
At this time of year, it’s highly possible that you have a new phone, games console or other digital device stashed somewhere at home, ready to be unwrapped. Many parents also prefer to place some protective measures on those gifts – to keep their child shielded from potential #OnlineSafety risks – while others would like to, but aren’t sure where to begin. Our guide shepherds you through the process of establishing parental controls on new internet-enabled devices, from smartphones to laptops to consoles. Simply find the device in question and read on to find out what options you have and how to enable them – letting children enjoy their shiny new gadget, without so much of the worry over where it might lead them.
Online Safety - Tech Free Christmas
With Christmas right around the corner, millions of families are excitedly anticipating the chance to spend some quality time with each other over the festive season. When everyone’s engrossed in their phones or glued to their games consoles, however, genuinely meaningful moments with loved ones can often be difficult to orchestrate. Our Christmas #WakeUpWednesday guide will lend a hand: providing some advice on helping young people to set aside their devices for a while and live in the moment. Even if going full tech cold turkey feels unrealistic, implementing just a few of these tips could still decrease the amount of screen time in your home this festive season – enabling everyone to make the most of it.
Reception - Playdough Christmas Trees
This morning we have been creating some christmas trees at our playdough table. The children have moulded their playdough into tree shapes and used lots of materials to decorate them, including gems, beads, pompoms and pipe cleaners. They did a great job and have created some Fabulous trees!
Nursery Nativity
A huge well done to our Nursery superstars who have worked so hard on their nativity. They acted out the Nativity story and sang sone Christmas songs.
Pre School - North and South Pole
This week in Understanding the world, we learnt about the North and South pole and what we would find there. We discovered lots of ice and different animals to what we would see in Darwen. We put the polar bears and reindeer in the North pole and whales and penguins in the south pole. The children then explored ice and what happens to the ice when it starts to get warm.
Online Safety - Disney +
‘Tis the season for family movie nights Many parents will be turning to Disney+ for exactly that reason – but how free from #OnlineSafety risks is the House of Mouse’s streaming service? Our #WakeUpWednesday guide delves into Disney+
Year 5 French - Snakes and Ladders
Year 5 enjoyed playing Snakes and Ladders in French today. When they landed on certain squares they had to make up french sentences connected to our topic on musical instruments. It was wonderful to hear such lovely French accents around the room!
Reception - RE - Diwali
In R.E this week we have been looking at Diwali, the Hindu festival of light! We spoke about the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. Even the smallest light cannot be dimmed by the darkness. We used glow sticks and torches to test this theory, the result was beautiful and the children thoroughly enjoyed our own mini festival of light.
Nursery - Decorating the Tree
We have had so much fun today decorating our Christmas trees! We decorated one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The children learnt lots of skills including turn taking and teamwork. They developed their fine motor skills hanging up the baubles. I think you will agree that they both look amazing!
Reception - Scavenger Sort
Yesterday we went on a scavenger hunt around the school grounds to see what we could find in nature! The children found an array of items including leaves, berries and ice. The children sorted all of the objects into groups before we took a look at our haul! We spoke about why the leaves were on the ground instead of in the trees. What animals may need the berries as a food source. How the ice was formed. Why it is important to put our rubbish in the bin. Reception class did a great job working scientifically and they had lots of ideas and comments about what we had found.
Online Safety - The Online Safety Act
After a lengthy gestation period, the UK Government’s wide-ranging changes to the legislation around digital safeguarding have become enshrined in law as the Online Safety Act. The first of its kind in Britain, the act aims to improve protection for children online and clamp down on illegal material. Regulated by Ofcom, it will primarily impact social media platforms and companies which host user-generated content. The new legislation, however, also carries implications for schools and their staff. Although further developments are expected, our #WakeUpWednesday guide summarises the main points of the act that schools need to be aware of so far – outlining some specific areas that the new laws address and what effect, in practical terms, this will have on education providers.
2’s Room - Dinosaur Art
We have been very creative today making big dinosaurs together, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We used natural materials to create our dinosaurs.
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