What's happening in school?

• Sportsability Success!

  Mon 27 Nov 2023

  Some of our Year 5 and 6 children had a fantastic afternoon at the 'Sportsability' event in Sunderland. The children had the opportunity to improve their ball skills, football and tennis, alongside playing boccia. They all had a fantastic time and were a credit to the school. 

   

  Following the event, 4 children have been selected to represent Sunderland in the Boccia competition which will take place in the next few weeks!

  

• Rickleton Choir

  Mon 27 Nov 2023

  Well done to our amazing choir who sang their hearts out at a fantastic performance at the Washington Arts Centre on Saturday 25th November 2023.
  
  Thanks to all who came to support and especially Mrs Holt for organising this event.

  

• Artwork Success

  Sun 26 Nov 2023

  On Friday, we received a very exciting visit to school from Cllr Sharon Hodgson, MP for Sunderland.

  Several weeks ago, many of our children entered a competition to design her Christmas card which is sent out each year to many important people, including Prime Minister RIshi Sunak.

   

  A panel of important judges work with Cllr Hodgson to select a winning design from the many schools who enter and we were delighted to find out that from all of these entries, Jack W in Reception won the Nursey/Reception category and Joshua H in Y2 won the Y1/2/3 category.

   

  Both boys received a prize of Amazon vouchers and art resources. Joshua was also chosen as overall winner and has received a trip to London to meet Cllr Hodgson at the Houses of Parliament. What an incredible achievement! Well done to all who entered. 

  

• EYFS Outdoor Provision

  Thu 23 Nov 2023

  We are thrilled that our renovated EYFS outdoor provision, which was funded by BAE, was officially opened yesterday!
  We are so grateful for their support and the difference this is already making to our youngest children!
  
  The opening was featured in today’s Sunderland Echo and the article and video can be found here:
  
  https://www.sunderlandecho.com/education/bae-make-vision-come-true-with-construction-of-new-outdoor-play-area-for-children-4418608

• Sunderland Mental Health Charter Mark Success!

  Thu 16 Nov 2023

  We are delighted that Rickleton has successfully gained the 'Sunderland Mental Health Charter Mark'!

   

  This award recognises all of the work the school does to promote healthy minds and support our children, staff and parents with any mental health concerns.  The award also acknowledges the huge range of strategies and activities we have in school to help, such as the sensory room, 5 Ways to Wellbeing, Mini Medics and access to mental health professionals.  It also recognises how the curriculum the children learn through is underpinned by the understanding children need to be ready to learn before they can.  

   

  A huge thank you to the whole staff for all they do to support our children to have healthy minds and especially Mrs K O'Connor who is our fantastic mental health and PSHCE lead.

  

• Reception 2023

  Thu 16 Nov 2023

  Our wonderful 2023 Reception children were in the Sunderland Echo in the ‘first class’ special article!

  

• Odd Socks Day!

  Mon 13 Nov 2023

  Odd socks day has been brilliant! We have celebrated how we are all different and special in our own way. We have made links to the British Value of tolerance and respect. The children have spent the afternoon focusing on the 5 ways to well-being. Be active was the focus in PE sessions and taking notice was the focus in the music and mindfulness sessions.

  

• Mental Health Mini Medics!

  Fri 10 Nov 2023

  At Rickleton we value the mental health of all of our children, staff and parents. We are delighted to have had Liliana and Kate from CATS therapy into school to train a group of children to become Mental Health Mini Medics.
  
  The children furthered their understanding about mental health; how it can change throughout the day; what we can do ourselves to improve our mental health; signs when mental health isn’t good; and how we could support others.
  
  The children took part in a range of activities to develop their understanding. They were able to make the links to the '5 ways to wellbeing'. They developed a toolkit of ideas to take notice of others then support them. The children will be supporting other children, guided by our Mental Health Lead Mrs. K. O’Connor.

  

• We love reading!

  Tue 07 Nov 2023

  After the success of our Roald Dahl Collaborative reading week last week, we have been very excited to welcome local author, Jenny Pearson, in to school to start this week. On Monday, she led assembly for the whole school, talking about her books and how she came up with the ideas. She asked some incredible facts and quizzes which made us all laugh!

   

  She then worked with Y3, 4, 5 and 6 children in class to develop skills of story planning and idea generation. We learned lots of tips to take in to our story writing in future.

   

  We also asked Jenny to open our 'Rickleton Reading Retreat', our new community borrowing library so that children and parents can borrow books and donate some they recommend so that our whole community can find new authors and enjoy new books together.

   

  Finally, Jenny signed and personalised books for older pupils - we know that lots of children will have found a new favourite author and will hopefully be hooked on reading.

  

• Measles Awareness

  Tue 07 Nov 2023

  Measles awareness and the importance of children having two doses of MMR vaccine
  Measles is an infection that spreads very easily and can cause serious problems in some people. Having the MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent it. Two doses are needed to be fully protected. The uptake of MMR in Sunderland at age 5 years has reduced recently, putting some children at risk. Please can you help by promoting the importance of children being up to date with all their vaccinations. If parents/carers aren’t sure if their child has had two doses of MMR they can contact their GP to check. To help raise awareness please can you share these useful resources with parents/carers and with staff:
  
  Information for parents:
  - Complete routine schedule for UK Complete routine immunisation schedule - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-complete-routine-immunisation-schedule
  
  - Measles: Don’t let your child catch it leaflet MEASLES - Don’t let your child catch it - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b93d4ed915d4147621489/DoH_8412_Measles_A5_07_GP_accessible.pdf
  
  - What do I need to know about the MMR vaccine? What do I need to know about the MMR vaccine? - https://ukhsa.blog.gov.uk/2022/02/01/what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-mmr-vaccine/