School Blog

The summer holidays will finally be here at 215pm tomorrow and hopefully the sun will make an extended appearance too!

There are lots of things available to families throughout the summer and we have displayed this information on the noticeboards in the alleyway between the main gates to both sites. We have listed activities to do, cheap or free places for children to eat and information about courses happening for families supporting children with additional needs. Don't forget to take a photo when you are collecting your child at the end of the day!

We are aware that the holidays are not always easy as normal routine and everyday life is suddenly changed (and that's for children too, not just us adults!). If you are finding it challenging, then please visit our website page which lists the support agencies available https://www.fairlands.herts.sch.uk/info/159-sen-signposts-to-support-home-adults

We hope you all have an enjoyable break and can't wait to see you in September for another exciting year ahead!

It's the final coffee session of this school year - how has that happened? We have representatives from Angels joining us and I am sure they will come armed with a wealth of information about summer holiday support.

It's this Friday (12th July) at 9am in the Family room on the lower site. Look forward to seeing you there!

Family Lives are delivering 4 Online parenting groups and 2 online workshops (via MS Teams), funded by Herts County Council, in the Summer term for targeted parents/carers who live in Hertfordshire or who have a child attending a Hertfordshire school.

All our programmes provide support, information and resources to parents/carers and adult family members so they can help their child reach their full potential.

Bringing Up Confident ADHD/ASD Children (6 weeks)  - New dates to be confirmed.

A programme to help parents gain a comprehensive understanding of ADHD/ASD and learn strategies to improve life at home and at school

Sorting Out Family Arguments (6 weeks) - Thursday 23 May to 4 July from 7pm to 9pm online Via MS Teams

A programme aimed at helping sort out arguments between parents and their children and between brothers and sisters

Less Shouting, More Cooperation (6 weeks) - Monday 3 June to 8 July 9.30am to 11.30am online via MS Teams

A programme to help parents be more effective at getting their children to cooperate and listen to them

Getting on with Your Pre Teen/Teenager (6 weeks) - Tuesday 4 June to 9 July 7pm to 9pm online via MS Teams

A course to help parents understand and get on better with their teenage children, maybe there is an FFA/CIN/CP in place, and need more support.

Anxiety around ADHD Workshop – Friday 28^th June 9.30 – 11.30

Reducing Conflict Workshop – Thursday 11^th July 7pm – 9pm

This week is Mental Health awareness week and the focus is on 'movement for mental health'. There are lots of ways we enjoy movement at Fairland; dancing to music, playing at lunch time and taking on physical challenges. We will be talking this week about how doing more of what we enjoy makes us feel good. 

Why not think of ways you can be active as a family? Even better if you can get active outdoors! 

Here are some links to more information and inspirational stories about movement for your mental health:

https://www.mind.org.uk/get-involved/mental-health-awareness-week/

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/five-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/

https://mentalhealth-uk.org/get-involved/mental-health-awareness-days/mental-health-awareness-week/

The Toolbox from Mindler is a dedicated webpage specifically focussing on ADHD and Autism support for children and young people.  The Toolbox offers inspirational content, workshops, self-help tools, interactive livestreams, anonymous text chat service (to ask any questions they may have about Neurodiversity) and lots of other resources and information.  It also serves as a guide, signposting users to alternative services and accessible interventions within Hertfordshire. 

The toolbox will be hosting a Livestream on 29^th May where the team play popular video games and answer all questions related to Neurodiversity. https://thetoolbox.mindler.co.uk/

On Friday 26th April, we have a counsellor from Nessie coming in to school to talk to parents about supporting anxiety in children. They will be able to answer any questions and will have a specific focus on supporting children who are anxious about coming into school. This is an amazing opportunity to get some valuable advice from an organistaion who specialise in supporting positive mental health in children and young people. As you all know, referrals for agencies like Nessie are difficult to get and waitlists are incredibly long so sessions like these are highly sought after!

It will take place in the family room on the lower site. We will be starting at 850am for our regular coffee session so feel free to come in after you've done the drop off to offload and then the Nessie counsellor will start at around 930am, finishing at 1030am.

We hope to see lots of you there!

Family lives are running a FREE 6 week online group called 'Bringing up confident ADHD/Autistic children.' It runs from Wednesday15th May to 26th June from 7pm until 9pm.

Your child does not need to have a diagnosis for you to attend. You will receive support from other parents and gain a comprehensive understanding of Autism and ADHD and learn strategies to improve life at home and at school.

You can complete an online referral to join https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=_1v8xmMHAkWkdxzUTU-XK840q_kSeSxIkVCyL2Nx05lUMUxBSlY5ODJCQjczVzRCNVE2VURDWVJLRS4u or you can email services@familylives.org or call 0204 522 8700 0r 0204 522 8701.

If you wishing to pursue a diagnosis for either ADHD or Autism, we can help and complete paperwork however referrals are only currently being accepted if there is evidence of parents accessing courses like this one. Please let us know if you need any help.

Families in Focus, a Hertfordshire-based community interest company, which provides training information and therapeutic and emotional support to parents, are running a FREE 6 Week 'Handling anger in the family' (with primary aged children) on-line course for parents living in Hertfordshire.  The course is held via ZOOM (free downloadable app)

This CANparent quality mark course is for parents of primary aged children, and provides practical and proven techniques to reduce angry meltdowns in your family. The very popular, effective and award winning course offers:

• Gain greater understanding of how anger and other emotions live in your family
• Increase your understanding of triggers that cause angry outbursts
• Learn healthy anger management strategies for children & parents to reduce angry outbursts
• Discover creative ways to support children to ‘let go’ of anger safely
• Gain effective empathic communication techniques to reduce angry outbursts
• Meet and share experiences with other parents living in a similar family to your own
• How to raise confident & resilient children
• Helpful handouts each week

The course will run Monday evenings - 6.30-8.30pm - April 15th, 22nd, 29th and May 13th and 20th

Parents need to attend all sessions and live in Hertfordshire

To book your place email: bookings@familiesinfocus.co.uk

https://www.familiesinfocus.co.uk/current-parent-courses/

ADD-vance (The ADHD and Autism Trust) are running some really helpful on-line workshops after the half term break:

26th February - Supporting Emotional Development

4th March - Encouraging Positive Behaviour

13th March - Managing Anxiety 

For more details, and how to book your place, click here and scroll down to FREE On-line Workshops for Parents and Carers and click on the 'spring 2024 workshop poster' hyperlink.