Food Bank and Harvest Celebrations
Curious and Active- Catholic Pupil Profile
Children have been invited to dress in harvest colours or their favourite dressing up costume to celebrate Harvest. Please support our local community of Port Talbot. Tomorrow we will collect for the Port Talbot Food Bank, we will be walking in Jesus’ footsteps, and living out his message. Help us to role model how we can give back something to those in need and like Pope Francis suggests develop the habit of taking care of ourselves and others. Send in your FOOD BANK DONATIONS tomorrow Friday 23rd October. We will of course leave the items 72 hours during half term before we handle them.
In school we have been helping our children to be curious about everything: active in their engagement with the world, changing what they can for the better.
This advice comes from the Trussell Trust
What’s in a food parcel?
Food banks provide a minimum of three-days’ nutritionally balanced, non-perishable tinned and dried foods that have been donated people in the local community
We’ve worked with nutritionists to develop a food parcel that contains sufficient nutrition for adults and children, for at least three days of healthy, balanced meals for individuals and families.
A typical food parcel includes:
- Cereal
- Soup
- Pasta
- Rice
- Tinned tomatoes/ pasta sauce
- Lentils, beans and pulses
- Tinned meat
- Tinned vegetables
- Tea/coffee
- Tinned fruit
- Biscuits
- UHT milk
- Fruit juice
Many food banks also provide essential non-food items such as toiletries and hygiene products.
If you’re organising a collection for your local food bank, please check with them first to see which items they are currently in need of.
What to do should your child or anyone in your household present with symptoms
Please seek a test, remain at home until the test result. Then share result with school using the generic email address
If negative then your child can return to school. If positive then follow the guidance below.
Symptom Checker
https://111.wales.nhs.uk/selfassessments/
Information for parents and carers
https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/coronavirus-information/#
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Infant School October the month of the Rosary
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are getting there! Children are flourishing and finding a new pattern to school life. Great news in that half term holiday will be for ONE week only!
Thanks for working with us
Rosary Challenge: This half term holiday please teach your child the Hail Mary. Take a look at the Rosary page on our website.
MAKE: A prayer paper chain of people you would like to pray for. Remember to pray for PEACE and an end to COVID. Post your chains on SEE Saw for your classmates to see.
Challenges Ahead
Our main aim is to keep children safe whilst educating them spiritually, academically and particularly this term we will be supporting children’s wellbeing. Thanks for working with us on so many levels. Staggered start and finish is working effectively.
Beakfast Club: We are taking a cautious approach to the reintroduction of Breakfast Club and to using the school Dining hall for lunchtime. No Breakfast Club will run yet. This will allow children to remain in Class bubbles. We will closely monitor developments.
COVID-19 Prevention: Should your child become unwell and have any one of the COVID-19 symptoms:
- High temperature
- New, persistent cough
- Loss of taste and/or smell
They should NOT attend school. They should remain at home and self-isolate and arrange a COVID-19 test.
Half Term Reading Challenge!
Please pick up a book and read daily with your child. It is not surprising children have forgotten phonics and blends. Please work daily on reading with and reading to your Child.
Let’s Get Active! Mrs O’Leary & Mrs B
Can you Walk / ride a kilometre a day?
If you are already at a kilometre try pushing for 2km? Share your photos on See Saw
Positive Covid Test result for child
Text:Teacher2Parent
Please put URGENT as the first word,
‘Please contact me’ in the text should your child have a positive test
Protect Trace and Track:
It is vitally important that should you or any of your household test positive to COVID-19 that you inform school as a matter of urgency.
Fluoride Varnish
Fluoride varnish can be applied by dental teams at your family dental practice and at some nurseries and schools.
Fluoride varnish is a golden gel that is applied to a dried tooth surface. It has a pleasant taste and a fruity smell. It helps to prevent tooth decay by strengthening the teeth, and has shown to be most effective if applied to the teeth at least twice a year.
The varnish hardens on the tooth just after being applied, so the fluoride can be in contact with the outer surface of the teeth for a long period of time. The golden colour can take a few days to fade.
How is the fluoride varnish put onto the tooth?
The process is quick and easy.
In nurseries and schools, the varnish will either be applied within a visiting dental mobile unit or the dental team can bring their special portable equipment into a quiet, private area of school.
Only specially trained dental staff can apply the fluoride varnish. They have strict rules of hygiene and infection control. A clean pair of clinical gloves is worn and a new fluoride application pack is used for each child. The child’s teeth are gently wiped with a cotton wool roll and the correct amount of fluoride varnish is applied using a small disposable soft brush.
Please Note: If your child normally takes fluoride drops or tablets, they should not have fluoride varnish applied.
Aftercare Instructions
Try not to let your child eat hard foods such as apples, carrots or crisps today to avoid the varnish being scraped off the tooth surfaces.
We will arrange to paint your child’s teeth with the fluoride varnish again, at school, in about 6 months time.
If your child has problems or an allergic reaction after today’s application, please inform the school or Designed to Smile team.
Your child has not had a detailed examination. It is important that your child attends a dental practice regularly for check ups and let your own dentist know that your child has had fluoride varnish applied at school.
Is fluoride varnish safe?
Yes when applied at the correct dose, fluoride varnish is safe.
Children can have fluoride varnish applied up to four times per year. Children taking part in Designed to Smile may have fluoride varnish applied twice a year in school or nursery. If your child has had fluoride varnish applied in school, it is a good idea to tell your dentist so that they can space out other applications to increase the benefit.
Children who swallow too much fluoride can develop white spots on their teeth. That’s why it is important not to let your child eat toothpaste. Fluoride varnish is applied at school only twice a year therefore the risk of developing white spots as a result is tiny.
If your child normally takes fluoride drops or tablets, they should not receive fluoride varnish applications at nursery or school.
Can all children have fluoride varnish applied?
Every child joining the programme must have written consent given by their parent or guardian.
The consent form asks questions about past medical history and we particularly want to know if your child has ever had to be hospitalised following a severe asthma attack or has an allergy to colophony or sticking plaster.
It may not be appropriate for some children to have the varnish applied. We will keep you informed before visiting school if this is the case.
If a child has a sore mouth or broken skin around the mouth or an infectious illness on the day of the dental team’s visit, then fluoride varnish will not be applied. We would let you know about this in writing.
Healthy eating
As soon as you start weaning your child, do not encourage a sweet tooth.
- Don’t add sugar to foods and drinks
- Never dip a dummy in anything sweet
- Never put sugary drinks in feeding bottles or infant cups
Every time you eat or drink something containing sugar, plaque bacteria on your teeth make acid which attacks the tooth surface. After a while, a hole or cavity forms. This is called tooth decay. To stop tooth decay:
- Cut down on both the amount of sugar you eat, and how often you eat it.
- Don’t have any sugar between meals as this gives teeth time to recover from the acid attack.
- Don’t have sugary snacks – try healthier options like:
Vegetable Sticks
Cheese and Crackers
Fresh Fruit
Pitta Bread and Hummous
Bread
ToastMilk and water are the only safe drinks for young children.
Fruit juices contain natural sugar (fructose) and should only be offered at mealtimes.
Diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners which do not cause decay but are acidic which dissolve the surface, causing dental erosion.
Always ask for sugar free medicines
For more information on healthy eating for children go to: Every Child
StopSugar in cakes, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, jam, preserves, fizzy drinks, squash, milk shakes
Be Aware
Fruit Juice: the natural sugars can cause tooth decay. Fruit juices are important in providing vitamin C and reaching our 5-a- day, but drink at mealtimes only.
Dried Fruit: can cause tooth decay. The natural sugar has been released from the fruit cell as part of the drying process, so eat at mealtimes only.
Go
Whole fruits and vegetables are a very important part of a healthy diet. They do contain natural sugars but are in a safer form within the fruit cell.
Milk is a very important part of a healthy diet. It contains natural sugar but a safer type.
Some snacks can contain more sugar than you realise. Here are some examples of popular snacks that contain large amounts of sugar which can be harmful to teeth.
Designed to Smile
Smile 
https://www.designedtosmile.org/welcome-croeso/welcome/
Toothbrushing at home
This year, because of COVID-19, we will not be running the Design to Smile scheme in school. Here is some really useful guidance for you to follow with your child.
Fluoride toothpaste helps to keep teeth strong. Children can use a fluoride-containing (1000- 1450ppm F) toothpaste.
Brush your child’s teeth twice a day, especially last thing at night before bed.
For children under 3 years, use only a smear of toothpaste.
For children over 3 years, use a pea-sized amount.
Don’t let them rinse afterwards, just get your child to spit out the toothpaste. SPIT DON’T RINSE is the most effective way to use fluoride toothpaste. This is a good message for adults too!
But, don’t let your child eat toothpaste.
Children under 8 years need help with brushing.
Remember to take your child’s brush and paste with you when you visit family and friends and when you go on holiday.
Even if your child joins in a nursery/school toothbrushing programme, it is still important that they also brush their teeth at home twice a day.
What can I do if my child won’t allow me to brush their teeth?
Brighten Up CAFOD Harvest
During October we celebrate the Harvest, usually with a special Harvest Mass. This year we celebrated with a difference.
Children dressed in bright colours, Ms Beaumont led collective worship assemblies in class bubbles during which we talked about One World – One Family and how we can make a difference.
We also discussed Fairtrade and fair treatment for farmers who produce our food.
Family Challenge: children have been asked to look out for FAIRTRADE products when shopping. Please help us to support FAIRTRADE.
A million children in praying the Rosary
In every class we will be thinking about praying for peace and the end of COVID-19. Please fill in your special intentions on the template that will come home on Friday.
Last Sunday Pope Francis invited children to participate together in a very special initiative. A Catholic charity hopes to bring together a million children worldwide to pray the rosary this Sunday.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is seeking to unite the children in praying for peace and the end of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than a million people around the world.
Please could you take some time with your child the prayers that make up the Rosary. It has been a long Summer so maybe start with the first part of the Hail Mary.
Once you have got to grips with the Hail Mary, be resilient and move on to The Our Father.
Let’s Get back to Learning! Reception Class
With your support we are getting back to the rhythm of school life and moving on with teaching and learning. Many parents and children were able to engage with school during Lockdown and used the wide variety of learning resources such as See Saw App, through Education City, HWB, Twinkl and Oxford Reading Buddies. Thank you for supporting your child’s home learning.
Where are we at?
We are just ending our assessment period for the whole school. The results this year are different than previous years, we are all playing catch- up despite everyone’s best efforts.
Please work with your child to work on whole class targets:
Following on from initial teacher assessments, please work on the Language, literacy and communication targets below:
PHONICS- recognising the sound of a letter
To recognise, write and sound-out the following letter sounds of the alphabet. Remember to use that sound not the name of the letter. This will give your child the building blocks to move on to blending letters together.
In school we are working on revisiting these letter sounds, however, we need your help to play catch up. In normal circumstances we would expect most of Reception children to know most of the sounds of the letters in the alphabet. This year many of the children have forgotten more than half of the letter sounds. Please could you practise letter sounds with your child and link objects to these sounds eg. b, b, b ball.
At home: How to pronounce the letter sound
Quick refresher course! As with Jolly Phonics, we do not teach the letter name, we teach the letter sound. To see and hear this in action please
Visit Oxford Owl
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
World Book Day Visiting Reader Mr Blades, Head of PE Saint Joseph’s Comprehensive.