End of term
As Christmas draws near, as it often tends to at this time of year, it’s a good time to look back over the school term.
As ever at Southill, a lot happened. In particular, Ofsted chose this term to make an appearance. With everyone’s teamwork, we came through this with flying colours and have been reassured that the work of the school is good and that it is valued by our children and their parents. Onwards and upwards!
The term in brief:
Year 3 enjoyed an excellent residential trip to Leeson House last week, during a very cold period, and were enormous fun to be with. We had a great time.
We’ve finally been able to perform a Rec/KS1 Nativity play for the parents – after three years of waiting it was great to perform on the stage to an audience. The children rose brilliantly to the challenge and put on a very enjoyable show.
We’ve experienced some brilliant learning enrichment activities:
- Year 1 were visited by some toys from Poole Museum
- Year 5 had a fun stargazing evening after school
- our Year 6 scientists showed careful surgery skills when dissecting a heart
- Reception visited Pizza Express and Emmanuel Church
- Year 2 went to the RSPB reserve at Radipole Lake
- Year 3 travelled to Stonehenge
- and our Viking Year 4s raided the New Barn Field Centre
Year 4 have also spent the term learning the ukulele!
There were a number of sporting fixtures too, as well as a basketball training session and more Sports Leader training for our older children.
It was great to have the FOSS Disco and the Christmas Fayre back – these events were enjoyed by many. Thank you, FOSS!
Phew! What a term!
Winter water and ice safety
Following the tragic events in Solihull at the weekend, all classes have discussed winter water and safety. If you want to follow this up at home, we recommend this resource from the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service: Winter Water Safety.
Essentially: stay off any ice and if someone is in trouble call 999 and ask for the Fire and Rescue Service.
Strep A and scarlet fever
In addition to the usual end-of-term winter virus collection, we have seen a small number of scarlet fever cases in school over the past couple of weeks. We have notified Public Health, as we are required to do, and have followed all cleaning and infection control advice. As numbers are very low, that’s all they require us to do for now.
To help you over the holidays, this is the (slightly amended) advice I sent home last week:
Scarlet fever is very contagious for people who are in close contact with one another through infected droplets in coughs, sneezes, mucus and saliva. Typically, it causes a mild illness for most people, however treatment with antibiotics is important to avoid complications.
Some symptoms of scarlet fever include:
- sore throat
- headache
- fever
- a fine, pinkish or red body rash that feels like sandpaper.
You can read more about the symptoms of scarlet fever on the gov.uk website and see clinical photographs on the NHS website. We would encourage parents to keep their children away from other children if poorly and to contact their GP or NHS 111. Children with scarlet fever should stay home for at least 24 hours after starting antibiotics to avoid spreading infection to others.
Happy Christmas
All in all, it’s been a very interesting and enjoyable term! I hope all our families have a peaceful and happy holiday. We are looking forward to seeing everyone back at school on Wednesday 4th January 2023 at 8.45am
Other messages for parents and carers
From Ryan Bissett, sports coach
We are going to be running a Christmas holiday sports camp in December. A perfect opportunity for your child to participate in a range of Sports and multi-skills whilst you do some last minute shopping.
The camps will involve a mix of tennis, multi-skills and some other sports. There will be coaching, individual and team skills and lots of games!
Date – Wednesday 21st December indoors at the Wey Valley Tennis Centre at Wey Valley School.
The camp will run from 9-12pm and the cost is £15 for the session.
The camp is aimed for children from aged 5 up to 12.
If you would like to book your son or daughter in, please email me or send me a text which includes:
- Child’s name
- Age
- Contact number
- Any medical conditions we need to be aware of.
We will have a break during the session, so please bring drinks and snacks. Payments can be made via Bacs or cash.
We would also like to offer your Son/Daughter the chance to have a free tennis lesson! To find out more please contact me on the details below.
metennis@outlook.com
07540625887
From Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
This time of year it is important to remember how to stay safe whilst enjoying the festivities and the wintery days and nights.
We have some resources for parents to use.
There are three opportunities for the children to enter a prize draw to win a VIP trip to a fire station.
Resources can be found on the website here Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Seasonal Safety: Winter Wonderland (dwfire.org.uk)
