St Andrew’s CE Primary School Grandale Tel: 01482 825659Sutton Park Fax: 01482 879540Hull Email: admin@standrews.hull.sch.ukHU7 4BL

NEWS/GH/JMC17th December 2019

We Are Hull -City of Culture 2017 – 2020

Merry Christmas Parents!

With this newsletter I attach my annual Christmas card for your family. I have – as in previous years – signed the card ‘Mr H’ which is a bit shorter than writing my full name 650 times!! (You may have to explain to your kiddie what ‘Mr H’ means!!!).

Christmas Page on Website: Great comments from parents who have accessed this page.

Christmas Jumper Day (last Friday): Very Christmassy all round. Well done.

This Friday (20th) will be another non-uniform day - kids can wear their chill out Christmas outfit for parties.

Also this week we have our Phase III Productions – all performances ‘sold out’ within a couple of days.

On Friday we have our traditional Christmas class parties. PLEASE be careful and considerate of our concern regarding those kiddies with allergies. When checking if food is nut allergy safe (or other allergies), ingredients are listed in bold (NB: nuts and peanuts are listed separately). In addition to this an item may have a statement underneath the list of ingredients that reads, ‘may contain traces of nuts and/or peanuts’. ‘Traces of nuts’ still means the product is dangerous to a child with allergies. The problem is a growing concern so we need to keep reminding parents to please do your best and be careful when sending items of consumption at Christmas parties etc. Also some kiddies may be given ‘prizes’ or little gifts of sweets etc as part of the Christmas fun but these must be taken home so parents can double check to make sure all is okay.

We close this Friday (20th) at 3.30 and reopen on the traditional 12th Day of Christmas – Monday 6th January 2020.

Reminder: Our next Open Day/Consultations are on 15th and 16th January 2020.

Congratulations to Alfie Ruddock – for his honesty and care. He found an umbrella on a local bus….brought it into school thinking it belonged to one of our staff and indeed he was right!! Well done Alfie.

Your family designed Christmas Cards: You have again made a great impact with those who have already received their lovely cards. I provide for you examples of how thankful people are who have received your cards. We are helping the needy to have a lovely Christmas – thank you and well done St Andrew’s – I shall send you more examples in the New Year.

TWITTER – we are hoping to start our own TWITTER account shortly. Rainbow St Andrew to help celebrate our school and especially the wrap around care we have developed –from age 2-11 with our partners Just4Totz and Just4kids.

PTO

Thank You: Charity work this Christmas – on behalf of the various charities we have supported – Kaleb’s Wish, Make a Dream, Dove House we thank you for your care and contributions. Also our school photographer, Braiswicks, have donated £136 on our behalf to Cancer Research.

Water Update – Part 2: As promised here is the second part of our end of term report on measures we are taking as part of our Healthy Living Crusade.

1. As stated in Part I (sent out last week) we are working very closely with organisations such as: British Heart Foundation/Oral Health/Diabetes UK/Youth Cancer/Obesity is raising the profile of the harm we can expose children to if they have too much sugar/poor diet/lack of sleep/little exercise etc. In line with this our keep fit programme at St Andrew’s, PE Curriculum, and dietary education continues to develop.

2. We will never make any apologies for putting measures in place to guide children in good habits towards developing Health Living. The knock on effects regarding Mental Health Issues are immense.

3. Water Only in Classrooms/Packed Lunches: as you know – raised the profile of our work to new heights – BRILLIANT! Parent/pupil understanding of ALLERGIES was also raised to new heights of care and consideration.

We have, staff and parents together, moved mountains in developing this Health Living Crusade. Despite any negative, exaggerated and, in at least three cases, total lies put on Facebook earlier this term - for what real reason no one really knows!! Our fantastic army of positive parents have shown again that the good name of St Andrew’s, of our vast majority of caring, supporting parents remains recognised by many in and around the entire region.

As we spoke about this at Governing Body level there has been an incredible outpouring of love and support for our fantastic school.

What inspired me to write this two part report came from a lovely but sad message from a family member - a grandad . In mid-November he saw me on the playground and mentioned his disgust at the awful (his words) comments on Facebook (he also mentioned a couple of names he was particularly upset with). He then said that early in November a very young member of his family had been diagnosed unexpectedly as now having severe allergies. He went on to describe how the family (especially the kiddies mum and dad) had been totally taken off guard and how the family’s life style had changed – dramatically. How every event, every visit into town, every party etc had become a source of real anxiety. He then simply said – ‘I don’t wish what my family is going through on anyone. If any of the Facebook ‘people’ was effected in the same way they would realise how shameful their comments were’.

I agree wholeheartedly with every word he passed on to me.

Remember this is Father Bear talking! Our ‘Crusade’ means we will not let matters drop BECAUSE the benefits to our children’s long term health are far more important.

Obesity is at the worst level ever – so is Oral Health caused by too much sugar, fatty foods, little exercise. Diabetes is at high levels so is heart conditions/cancers etc.

Good habits taught to our young children – developing healthy bodies/healthy minds could have long lasting benefits. We – staff and parents – owe this to our children. Drinking enough water is a crucial aspect in developing good, healthy habits.

The grandad’s comments has inspired me to move our Crusade even further in order to raise our Health Bodies/Healthy Minds agenda to new heights AND, hopefully, to encourage all parents to please examine their kids’ dietary situation and the role parents take to promote healthy bodies/keep fit/balanced diet.

PTO

So sometime in the Spring or Sumer Term I am embarking on a 1000 mile bicycle challenge to raise funds for all those organisations we have links with – Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation etc as well as ‘Water Aid’ – to help those unfortunate millions of kids in our world who don’t have access to clean water. This challenge I am calling ‘A THOUSAND MILES for the THIRSTY’.

Further details to follow but – to show the extent of our great army of positive parents – I am doing this charity ride WITH PUPILS – already I have had 50 kids in Y5/Y6 who want to join me in this great charity adventure. (The kids will do 10 mile stretches). Also, staff are volunteering to raise pennies for the same charities by running either a 10k run or a half marathon.

We use the word CRUSADE very carefully. Our Crusade will benefit our children and our families here at St Andrew’s.

I invite you all to be good CRUSADERS – our lovely kids deserve the best of care, love and guidance.

Thank you for the outpouring of affection and understanding. We will never fail families in safeguarding the welfare of our kids and helping them to develop good habits to hopefully help them through life.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas. God Bless.

Regards

G Huckstep BAHeadteacher

Proud To Be Hull -City of Culture 2017 -2020

PTO