The Dog Mentor
I am delighted to let you know that, thanks to funding from the Parish Council, we are joining The
Dog Mentor Programme this month and introducing our own school dog to Menston Primary School. The Dog Mentor programme has built upon the benefits of the human-animal bond by providing children positive experiences with dogs that can help them educationally, developmentally, emotionally and socially.
Mrs Meakin’s Cavapoo, Bonnie, will be our school dog. Many families will already know Bonnie and we are confident that she has the right temperament to be an excellent school dog. We envisage that The Dog Mentor Programme will have a positive influence on the school environment as a whole and we look forward to the impact the programme will have on our children. Full training will be given to Mrs Meakin and Bonnie, in order to ensure that the welfare of everyone involved is maintained as a top priority.
Online Safety
NSPCC Advice on Children’s Use of WhatsApp:
WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging apps, used by over 2 billion people in 180 countries. Although rated at 13+, all that is required is a phone number to set up an account. This can lead to increased vulnerabilities for child users. The NSPCC has released some useful guidance for parents on reducing risks for children whilst using WhatsApp, which you can read here.
Key Stage 2 Citizenship Award Scheme
Last term we launched our Citizenship Award Scheme for children in Y3, 4, 5 and 6. Children have been set a series of challenges to complete over the year which enable them to demonstrate their commitment to our school motto: ‘Making Our World a Better Place’. Children are already being awarded certificates and badges for achieving these challenges – some children have already achieved both Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. Any child who achieves all of the challenges set for their year group will be awarded a Governor Award in a special assembly that parents will be invited to attend. Some of the challenges are set for outside of school, so we very much hope that families will support children to achieve these.
Attendance
The Department for Education has published updated statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ in August and as a result, we have an updated Moorlands Learning Trust attendance policy. Alongside this policy, we have published our own school procedures for managing attendance. Both the policy and our school procedures can be accessed on the Attendance page of our website.
Car Safety
Bradford Council have provided our school with a child measuring guide which provides important advice for parents and children on road safety, child car seats and in-car safety. The measuring guide is located outside the school office on St Peter’s Way for children and parents to use.
Dogs
Please can we request that families avoid bringing dogs into the school grounds unless the dog is carried by the owner and is under very close control.
If you have anything that you need to ask me about or let me know about, please email the school office, come to see me or give me a call and I will get back to you.
Mrs Marie Wilson
