Our playtime buddies, the 'Be Friends Group' (BFGs) help everyone to have happy playtimes and lunchtimes. They wear reflective jackets so that they are easily identifiable to any children who need their help. They also check the friendship bench regularly to ensure that no-one on the playground is feels lonely or has no-one to play with.

We recently held a school anti-bullying week. We talked to the children about bullying, and these are some of the things that they thought were bullying behaviours: 

• Hurting someone's body or feelings
• Making fun of someone
• Leaving someone out
• Pulling faces
• Telling lies about someone

We know that these things are bullying if they happen Several Times on Purpose. 

These are our ideas about how we can beat bullying:

• Tell an adult if you are worried about yourself or someone else
• Tell the bully to stop
• Look out for other people 
• Make sure that we are treating others how we like to be treated ourselves. 

'If you spot it, stop it!'

For further information or support about bullying, use the links below:

http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/bullying/

http://www.bullying.co.uk/

https://www.kidscape.org.uk/

http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-you-can-do/parents/

If you sometimes struggle with getting your child to school on time, or do they often complain feeling unwell often, but you are unsure if they are?  If so, please come and speak to Mrs Fowle, Family Support Worker, who can offer some practical advice and support.

Our days always start with a phonics lesson. If your child is even just 5 minutes late to school, they will have missed the new sound their group is learning.  If your child is 5 minutes later every day, they will have missed vital knowledge and may find it hard to pick it up. If they are 10 minutes late they will have missed their sounds practice for the day.

School is open from 8.50am. Please ensure your child is in school by 9.00am

For example, 1 days absence a week in a seven week term would mean an attendance rate of 86%.

90% attendance in a year means over 70 lessons have been missed.

Absent from school means absent from learning

We know some illness is unavoidable, but please ensure your child has the minimal amount of time off school.  If your child does have to be absent, please remember to call the school to inform us by 9.30am at the very latest with a reason for absence. If we have not heard from parents/carers by 9.30am we will ring all contacts we have until contact is made.

To prevent the spread of vomiting and diarrhoea, children should not return to school until at least 48 hours/two whole days after any occurrence of vomiting and/or diarrhoea.

Golden Time

Pupils have Golden time on the last Friday of the term for demonstrating the three Golden Rules and celebrating the term's successes, Golden time is a whole afternoon of different activities that the children can choose to do in any of the classrooms.

Other rewards for following the three Golden Rules are:

• 100 ticks class awards
• Class toy to take home for visit
• Values tokens for showing Avenue Values
• Whole school value rewards
• Termly year group values winners - certificate
• Special Awards - in Celebration Assembly
• Year group awards: 
  • Reception - stickers and individual certificates home
  • Year 1 - Star charts
  • Year 2 - Avenue pounds to spend in the Avenue shop

Some children started a creative writing club today! We watched some autumn leaves and described their colour and how they moved and how they made us feel.

Cooking Club the children had a brilliant time making potato owls! The children worked very hard to make their owls, we hope they enjoyed eating them too!

We had a lovely last session of story explorers. We read the story ‘Supertato’ and created our own Supertato characters. 

School staff are only able to administer prescribed medicines in school. The medication must be prescribed for the named child, in the original packaging with the prescribing label and in date.  You must complete a Request to Administer Medication form which you can get from the school office.  

We are unable to administer unprescribed medicines such as calpol etc.However, parents/carers are welcome to come into school to administer medication to their child during the school day, except between 12 and 1pm.

The staff at The Avenue Infant School are committed to providing pupils with a high quality education whatever their health need, disability or individual circumstances. We believe that all pupils should have access to as much education as their particular medical condition allows, so that they maintain the momentum of their learning whether they are attending school or going through periods of treatment and recuperation. We promote inclusion and will make all reasonable adjustments to ensure that children and young people with a disability, health need or SEN are not discriminated against or treated less favourably than other pupils.

Our policy for Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions has been developed in line with the Department of Education's statutory guidance released in 2014 - 'Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions' - under a statutory duty from section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014.  The statutory duty came into force on 1st September 2014

Our policy can be found in the Policies section.

Our first aid policy, procedures and guidelines is designed to promote the health, safety and welfare of our pupils and staff of The Avenue Infant School through the provision of first aid equipment and trained personnel in accordance with the requirements of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations, 1981

Our policy can be found in the Policies section.

This is a creative, interactive, and imaginative way of storytelling involving simple massage strokes.  The children are taught ten simple massage strokes and they are matched to the story being told.  The teacher leads the session by telling the story and demonstrating the strokes on another adult, a cuddly toy or their own hand.  Adults will NEVER deliver the massage to pupils. 

The idea is this is peer massage and part of the approach is that each session each child asks their partner for consent to do the massage. 

All pupils have the right to refuse a massage and their permission must be gained before a massage can take place.  The pupil’s response is always respected and they may opt out at any time if desired.

The gentle non-intrusive massage strokes can focus on the child’s shoulders, arms, hands, feet, back and head. The child remains fully clothed and there is no use of oils.

Children of all ages and abilities benefit immensely from this activity with improved calmness, concentration, and social skills, along with increased self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Story

Massage also encourages children to contribute to their peer’s wellbeing. The sharing of positive touch through storytelling offers endless possibilities, including a reduction in stress and anxiety, positive effects on learning and supporting self-regulation and communication skills.

The daily sessions will follow lunchtime and are anticipated to last no longer than five minutes, helping the children calm and regulate themselves ready for the afternoon’s learning. Previously, we found the sessions had a significant and positive impact on the children’s readiness to learn for the afternoon.

The Sharing Shed will be open every morning before school and after school, the shed is located in our front playground. If you cannot access the shed during the open hours above, we can arrange a time for you to come into school during the day before 5pm or we can make up a parcel for you to collect if you prefer. Please contact the school office on 01933 276366 or email admin@theavenue-inf.northants.sch.uk

If any families of our children who need a larger amount than is available in the shed to get in touch with the school office. We will sensitively judge their needs and make up parcels of essentials for them, as well as maybe helping them to access further support.

We are always grateful for any donations of non-perishable items to help stock our food bank. Donations can be handed in at the school office during the working day.

If you are able to support, the items we most need are:

• Tinned soup, tinned tomatoes, tinned vegetables, tinned meat                       
• Dried pasta/noodles/rice
• Tinned beans/spaghetti
• Tea/coffee/sugar
• Tinned fruit/tinned desserts/jam
• UHT milk Cereal
• Crisps
• Fruit cordial/squash
• Shower gel/shampoo/soap/toothpaste
• Baby wipes/baby food
• Toilet roll
• Cleaning products - washing up liquid, washing powder

We can only accept items that the use by date has not expired, best before dated items can be donated.

Please note we cannot provide perishable items due to storage