Sometimes, the hourney to school can be a challenging one for many reasons - tiredness, hunger, not feeling like attending, wanting to play at home and many more. To help make it a little easier, and to help those children who may be feeling anxious along the way, it is a good idea to play games to keep them distracted. There are a few games listed on the Halfords website https://blog.halfords.com/10-games-to-turn-the-school-run-into-a-fun-run/ which are worth looking at to make the start of the day a little easier. 

We strongly recommend a 'hunt' to keep children distracted and eager to carry out their journey to find all of the things on their list. There is a hunt template attached to this blog post and there will be a second blog post with some hunt items attached. Basically, you get the child to select 5 items to have on their list that day and you choose one for them to find. Then, on your journey, be as enthusiastic as you can about finding the items. You could even make it into a game between siblings, friends or whoever is taking them to school that day (obviously we aren't suggesting you take your eyes off the road if you're driving!).

If you are unable to print these resources off, let us know and we will do it for you.

Herts Parents Carers Initiative have their annual survey out and are looking for as many families as possible to complete it to get a clear picture of what support is happening across the county and what support is needed. Parent voice is so important and it's a great opportunity to help make changes!

Contact the office if you would like to complete this and are having problems accessing it online.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HPCISurvey2024

We have been notified about a couple of great free information sessions happening. They are being run by Your Way Psychology. The company is a private, trusted clinical and educational support service that is widely used across Hertfordshire and surrounding counties. The team includes Clinical Psychologists, Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Specialist Nurses, SENCOs and teachers. 

They have 2 online sessions which may be of interest:

• How to talk with children about autism or neurodiversity? - Wednesday 6th November 8.00-9.00pm
• So, my child has autism… what next?  - Wednesday 4th December 8.30-9.30pm

To find out more please visit www.yourwaypsychology.co.uk/events

 or their Eventbrite page https://www.eventbrite.com/o/your-way-psychology-education-64217406063

Don't forget that tomorrow we have our first coffee session of the year. It is in the family room on the lower site from 9am-10am. Our new school family worker, Mrs McCullagh, will be there and she is looking forward to meeting lots of you and getting to know you and your families. Looking forward to seeing you there, we need to crack open the posh biscuits to cheer us all up in this dreary weather!

Thank you so much to all of you who came to our information session yesterday evening. It was a fantastic turnout and we hope you found it useful. Here is a copy of the slides as promised. Please remember the following:

• Don't overmention it at home
• Ask questions at open events and showrounds
• Speak to your child's class teacher or Mrs Jeffries if you have any other questions
• Enjoy the open evenings and, most importantly, enjoy Year 6!

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/