We are starting Coffee mornings for parents of children with Special Educational Needs. Your child does not need to have a diagnosis to join our informal opportunities to share ideas and have a chance to talk to parents going through similar experiences. Each session will have someone from an external agency joining us. They will have a brief chat about what they do, how they can help and they will be around to answer your questions on an informal basis fuelled by tea, coffee and biscuits. These sessions are for you and we are happy to look at different times if they will work better for you, just let me know for future events.

Our first session is on Thursday 8^th December from 9am until 10am in the Upper Hall but unfortunately, we will not have a crèche facility available. Joining us for our first session will be a member of a local Family Centre who will be focusing on tips for dealing with the holidays and how to get children prepared for back to school routines in January. This will be a great chance for you to be able to meet other parents, enjoy an hour’s peace and share your wisdom. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there!

Anti-bullying week

On Friday, the whole school got together to share all the creative ways they had been considering this year’s Anti-bullying week message of ‘Reach Out’. Each class took the time to discuss what bullying meant and the role we all play in speaking out to a trusted adult if we see, hear or experience anything that makes us feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Pupils shared many thoughtful responses as to why we must stand up for others when we know they have been mistreated and the importance of reporting an incident to an adult straight away.

During our assembly, Emma from the well-being support team joined us and we thought about how we can stand up for ourselves if we are being treated unfairly or there is something that is worrying us. Emma shared some great tips on taking care of ourselves, such as writing worries down if they are too difficult to say and giving it to one of the trusted adults on our ‘helping hands’.

Pupils then took turns performing their art pieces to other year groups. Year 6 performed a drama piece to nursery and year 1 and year 4 shared artwork they had made to remind us of what bullying means. Then, reception showed us how they are collecting 'kindness marbles' for all the kind things they are doing in their classes. Years 2 and 3 performed some poignant poetry and one class even rapped! All the teachers were blown away by pupil’s efforts and we all learnt something new about showing respect to everyone at Fairlands.

Good morning and welcome to the middle of November – where is the year going? When sharing your child’s PLP during parent teacher consultations, some of you may have noticed ‘blanks level questions’ in the speech and language targets. This terminology may have also been used by the NHS Speech and Language service if your child is on their caseload. Click on the link to watch a brief video explaining what the 4 levels of blanks questioning are and then contact us if you have any questions about it.  

The page also has a selection of 1 to 2-minute videos showing how to use blank level questions at home to support your child. 

It is definitely worth a visit as it is important to remember that under the umbrella term of ‘Speech and Language’ even if your child appears to be talking well and making the correct sounds (expressive language), they may be struggling with their understanding (receptive language).  

We hope you find it useful! 

https://www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk/barnsley-childrens-speech-language-therapy-service/how-to-videos/blanks/ 

A big thank-you to all those who joined us for the Sleep workshop led by the Mental Health Support Team.

It was a very informative session with lots of great tools and tips for supporting children in developing good sleep hygiene. 

Our children need 9-12 hours of sleep a night. A good night’s sleep can improve attention, behaviour, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health.

There are many factors that affect sleep, and it can quickly become a negative cycle. The more frustrated a child becomes over falling asleep the more restless they will be which prevents them from sleeping. 

If your child is anxious at night-time, it may be a good idea to let them write down their worries in a diary. If they enjoy using electronics as part of their wind down time it is recommended that this happens at least 45minutes before bedtime. Why not encourage them to read or draw before they go to sleep instead? 

If you have any worries or concerns about your child's sleep routine, ask to speak to the Mental health team at school who can help. 

Mrs Toll 

Has your child found it difficult to get back into a school routine or is finding the seasonal change tricky? 

Try some of these mindfulness techniques at a time they are calm and relaxed.

Then, repeat again at a time when they are feeling tired, overwhelmed or anxious.

1. Mindful breathing: Imagine as you're breathing in your body is changing the breath into your favourite colour. As you breathe out let the colour move around the room like a ribbon. 

2. Butterfly hug (A great one for a child with seperation anxiety): Stretch your arms out wide, like wings, as you breath in. Then hug yourself as you breath out. 

3. Tapping: Use your fingers to 'tap' at each point on the body (30 seconds at each point). Head, eyebrows, top lip, collar bone, the sides of your rib cage and the outside of your wrists. 

If you would like to know more about self-regulation strategies for children (and their families) please see the leaflet attached which provides more detail. 

P.S Don't forget about our parent sleep workshop taking place on Thursday 10th November at 9.15 in the lower hall. 

Welcome back, we hope you had a great half term and getting back into uniforms and school runs this morning hasn’t been too painful! Some of you may be now thinking towards Christmas and present shopping and we have a super idea. SPACE is a Hertfordshire based charity supporting families with children and young people who are on the Autistic Spectrum, those who have ADHD or other neurodiverse conditions. They support families who either have a diagnosis or who are going through the process.

They offer a free lending library of many resources for families to try out before they go out and spend money on something their child may not enjoy or find helpful. Their resources are vast and they can offer advice on what may be best for your child’s specific needs eg peanut balls, trikes, pushchairs, weighted blankets, body socks and much more!

They are based in Stanstead Abbotts and are open from 930-1230 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let us know if there is something you try from there as we are always on the look out for new ideas to support our children while they are at school.

https://spaceherts.org.uk/lending-space/

It has been super to see so many of you at our return to face-to-face parent teacher consultations this week and we hope you found them useful.

Some parents have raised questions about whether their child may or may not have Autism or ADHD and are unsure about what this fully entails. We are aware that an internet search can be an overload of information and time consuming as it’s incredibly easy to get dragged into a myriad of websites when clicking links!

Researching information and support for your child or young person’s neurodiversity doesn’t have to take long, spend 3 minutes watching this animation to find out more. 

www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/autismADHDsupporthertfordshire 

Welcome to the final week of this half term, we can’t believe it has gone so quickly!

This week, I’d like to share information with you about a new service which was started by Hertfordshire’s Community NHS Trust this year to support the wellbeing of children and young people. The Children’s Wellbeing Practitioners (CWPs) are hosted by the Public Health School Nursing Service and can offer advice and support on an extensive range of topics.

Their aim is to make sure that children, young people and their parents/carers have access to preventative and early support for common emotional wellbeing and mental health difficulties. They do this through workshops, groups and 1:1 interventions.

They also deliver virtual workshops for parents/carers to provide advice and next steps for common concerns. They have the following FREE VIRTUAL workshops coming up and can be booked online at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/childrens-wellbeing-practitioners-school-nursing-service-hertfordshire-33494371787

• Supporting your child’s self esteem Tuesday 25^th October 6pm
• Developing your child’s emotional literacy Wednesday 9^th November 6pm
• General emotional wellbeing and regulation tips for parents Wednesday 23^rd November 6pm
• Supporting your child’s self esteem Thursday 24th November 6pm
• Developing your child’s emotional literacy Wednesday 7^th December 6pm
• Supporting your child with sleep difficulties Thursday 8^th December 6pm
• General emotional wellbeing and regulation tips for parents Thursday 15^th December 6pm

Feel free to let me know if you attend any and learn any valuable tips which we can share with other parents.

Have a lovely week!

We are looking forward to seeing those booked onto the mindfulness and movement session next week (Thursday 20th 9.20am). 

Please remember to return slips or email the office to let us now you're attending. 

The session will include some of the mindfulness strategies we are using in school, some gentle movement and yoga following a story to make it fun for little ones. As well as a lovely bonding experience you and your child will learn well-being tools that they can use anytime, anywhere! 

The session is open to adults and their children. It is perfect for walking toddlers, pre schoolers and those in nursery. 

Hope to see you there. 

Mrs Toll 

Good morning and welcome to a new week! 

Some parents have discussed concerns with class teachers about their children finding it difficult to self-regulate at the end of the school day, displaying ‘explosive‘ behaviours when being collected or arriving home. These behaviours can often be caused by sensory issues and educational psychologists recommend trying the following: 

• Give your child a chewy or crunchy snack as soon as you see them. Both of these types of foods give sensory input that can help aid emotional regulation. 
• Give your child a drink in a sports bottle – the sucking action also aids regulation. 
• Do something unexpected on the way home. Maybe see if you can all hop to the car or part of the walk home?  The unexpected action can help to trick the brain and the movement gives sensory input. 

We hope that this helps and look forward to seeing lots of children hopping to the gates snacking on crunchy carrots with beaming smiles on their faces! 

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you.