Blog Post
Wynstream News & Events
Letter from Executive Headteacher
Apr 22, 2020
Dear Parents,
We hope you are all well and managing with all the challenges that we are all facing at the moment. We are striving to keep in touch with you and your children through this time, to make sure that as a community, we get through this together.
As a Federation we are doing our best to provide childcare for vulnerable children and the children of key workers as well as providing educational activity ideas for the children who are staying at home. We are also making phone calls to all families to maintain personal contact.
As well as support with educational activities we thought it might also be useful to offer guidance on support for your well-being and the well-being of the children. There is so much information available which in itself can be overwhelming, so we have tried to collate the various websites providing support and present them together so you know where to find advice should you need it.
The first document is the Government guidance for parents to support the mental health of their children:
Childline has up to date information and is a good source of information for children:
The NSPCC is consistently a reliable source of information
They have created an online Hub providing support for parents and carers during the coronavirus outbreak. Its content includes information on keeping children safe from abuse, tips and advice to help parents working from home and ways to talk to a child who is feeling anxious about coronavirus.
Online Safety
We have already sent advice about online safety but we can’t stress enough how important this always is, but particularly at the moment with everyone being online more. Thinkuknow has useful online safety advice for parents and activity packs for children which they are updating every couple of weeks:
Domestic Abuse
The Government have also published advice on domestic abuse and we can also help signpost parents to local services if this is something they are experiencing:
Fake News
We have included an article on how to deal with the issue of fake news and misinformation which some might find useful:
Separated Parents
This article provides advice for separated parents which could also be useful to some:
The Children’s Society
Have useful advice and activities to support around the issues of stress, relaxation, anxiety and sleep:
Information about the closure of education settings
We have included the government link for parents with:
I hope this information is useful. If you would like help with accessing support our Inclusion Teams are working from home and would be happy to talk about the support available locally and how to access support. We always regard it as a positive step to ask for help when you need it, so don’t be worried about approaching us.
Kind regards
Martyn Boxall
Executive Headteacher
As you are aware there is currently an amber weather warning in place as storm Ciaran moves towards Devon. An amber warning presents a risk to life, but there is also a large amount of uncertainty about this weather front which means it could increase to a red warning overnight. The combination of wind, rain, and the storm moving over warm sea waters increases risk of very high wind speeds, flooding and trees falling. An emergency strategy meeting has taken place today and it was agreed that we need to ensure school leaders fully appreciate that the current weather warning presents a risk to life and could worsen. Based on the information we have, Devon County Council have taken the decision today to ask all staff where possible to work from home. We are asking all schools to consider the high level of risk presented by this storm and make a decision today about their operations tomorrow. This potential risk to life means that we have taken the regrettable decision to close schools tomorrow. We do not do this lightly. The school will be shut to all pupils and staff. Information on work provided will be sent out later this afternoon Schools will be open as normal on Friday 3rd November. Thank you for your understanding.
On Wednesday 19th April our children began to think about ‘rights’ and what being a ‘Rights Respecting School’ means. We will be looking for parents, carers, staff, governors, and children to help us on this journey. Please speak to Ms Redman or Miss Humphreys if you are interested in helping. Please look at the following for more information: What is a Rights Respecting School? - UNICEF UK
A message from our Chair of Governors. Hello. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all back to the school after the Easter holidays. As you are aware Wynstream is now part of Education South West Academy Trust. The school has already been working with the Trust for the past year. Together we are continuing to deliver support, exciting opportunities and high quality of teaching and learning across the school and the community. I hope you will all join me in embracing this new journey of Wynstream's future. Your sincerely Michaela Young Chair
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Do you know anybody who would make a great Community (Co-opted) Governor for our school? There is a vacancy on Wynstream's Local Governing Body and we are inviting nominations. Governors are welcomed as valued members of the governor team and play an important role. Life as a governor is interesting and varied. Meetings are at least once every half term. Training and support will be available. Please do let friends and family know, and ask anybody who is interested to pop into school for more information, or call 01392 284990. More information as well as the nomination form can be found by clicking here. Thankyou.
#LetGirlsPlay—Following on from the success of our #Letgirlsplay Girls football event last Wednesday, we have compiled a list of local girl’s football teams. We have also provided a list of other local football teams as a lot of teams will train girls and boys in mixed teams. Most Girls only football teams start at U12 (Year 7). Exeter City Girls development centre https://exetercct.org/courses-events/girls-development-centre-2/ Central FC Wildcats - Wednesdays Contact - jendixon@centralfc.co.uk https://find.englandfootball.com/provider/2311p1204304 Whipton Youth - Thursdays Contact - davidsherriff81@gmail.com https://find.englandfootball.com/provider/409p30007915 Weetabix wildcats https://www.devonfa.com/players/youth/weetabix-wildcats Other local teams Exeter Panthers – https://www.exeterpanthers.co.uk/ Heavitree Youth – https://www.heavitreeyfc.co.uk/ Central - https://www.centralfc.co.uk/Home Stoke Hill – https://www.stokehilljuniorsafc.co.uk/ Whipton – https://www.whiptonyouthfc.co.uk/ Alphinton – https://www.alphingtonafc.com/ West Exe – http://www.westexeyouthfootball.org.uk Broadclyst – http://www.broadclystfootballclub.com/ Cranbrook – https://cranbrookunitedyouth.co.uk/
We will shortly be recruiting for Co-opted Governors (non-parent, non-staff but members of the wider community.) Please speak to Ms Redman, our Headteacher if you know someone interested in this role and we can direct them to our Chair, Vice Chair or Clerk who can provide more information. Full information will be provided when nominations open.
Published by the National Online Safety Team.
Tuesday 7th February is Safer Internet Day 2023. We will be taking some time in the afternoon of Tuesday to watch this very informative video https://youtu.be/RmFxemdPCtM and discuss the question points within our classes. Do take a look at the video at home too. Thankyou!
Do you know what your child is watching on Youtube? National Online Safety have sent out some useful information for parents whose children have access to Youtube.
