Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 1

Dear Parents/Carers & Pupils,

This week, we sent out our staff lockdown video https://www.minterne.org/news/

detail/staff-lockdown-video/ via parent hub and on the website.

We have received so many touching emails from our families to thank the staff for

making this - several of us were quite tearful when watching it.

It just goes to show what a fantastic community we have at Minterne and we

would all like to thank Mrs Smiley for thinking of the idea and putting it all together

for us.

We have also welcomed back some of our year 6 pupils this week. Although

school is very different for them, they have risen to some of the challenges and

seem to have settled in to our new routines. It is a wonderful feeling to hear the

sound of children in the corridors at Minterne again. Well done to all the staff and

the pupils who have been in school this week.

Warm wishes,

Mrs Hurst and Mrs Hadfield

Headteacher / Deputy Headteacher

Mr Whitehead has

recorded

a new video message for

our families. It is available on

Our Lives

News Plus:

http://www.ourlivestv.co.uk/pieat

Year 6 Parents In the next few weeks,

we will be sending

another survey to all

year six parents who

answered, ‘No’ or

‘Unsure’ to our first

returning to school

survey.

This will enable you to

include your child in

the next ‘wave’ of Y6

returners towards the

middle of term six, if

you feel this is right for

your family.

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 2

Are you a home-Artist? Mrs Gray set up a Padlet page at the start of term 5 for children in Year 3 to share photos

of their home art projects. She would to share this with the whole school now, so that all

children have the opportunity to share any art work that they have undertaken at home,

even if it is not part of a Home Learning project.

It’s called Mrs Gray’s Minterne Art Gallery

and can be found at https://padlet.com/

rachelgray/b5dk2esbym5yz6em

By pressing the pink add sign, parents can

add photos of any pieces of art work that

their children have created at home and

view the artwork that our students have cre-

ated.

For safeguarding reasons, please do not

add a photograph of your child.

Mrs Sargeant found this useful link for families

who are experiencing difficulties and need

support:

Ema (Farah) and her family made this

piece of art from last week’s newsletter to

commemorate this time in their lives

What is going on at Minterne?

There is a small group of pupils from Minterne who continue to attend school each day because

their parents are critical workers. Each day, a selection of teachers and Teaching Assistants take

it in turns to provide care for these children so that their parents can continue to work on the front

line.

Across this week, Mrs Gray, Mrs Brown and Mrs Attwood have been helping the

children in this group to learn about the Normans this week

as part of Miss Basson’s History Home Learning Project.

They have found out about the Norman invasion of 1066,

linked to Rochester Castle. After finding out about how

and why Motte and Bailey castles were built, they made

their own models. The children really enjoyed this and

when showing me their models, their explanations showed

that they had a deep understanding of their design.

The children have followed written instructions to make

their own Norman helmets and written their own fact books about weapons

used in the time. Even PE has been linked to this learning, with honing their javelin

-throwing techniques on the field.

They have crafted their own Norman ships and even tested their seaworthiness

on the school pond!

The week finished with sewing when the group made their own versions of the

Bayeaux Tapestry.

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 3

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 4

.

Home Learning Heroes (and that’s just the parents!)

Important Message: On behalf of all the staff, we are truly impressed with

all the learning that our families are completing together at home. In order to

keep cross-contamination between home and school low, we ask that parents

do not to bring in or drop off their child’s work.

Instead, please photograph the work and send to office@minterne.kent.sch.uk

and your child’s teacher will take a look and provide feedback via email or

Marvellous Me. This is also the quickest way to receive a response, as our

teachers are in on a rota and not in the school building on a regular basis.

We trust that all parents are sympathetic in understanding that we are following

government guidelines in order to keep everyone safe. As a school we are

extremely interested and proud of what our pupils are doing at home. We really

do appreciate the many messages that parents have sent to us to thanks us for

our communication and of course, want to keep in touch with our pupils’ home

learning as best as we are able in the circumstance.

Please take care and enjoy celebrating this week’s Home Learning Heroes with

us. Year three were set a cookery project this term and have made a great

start:

Sophie’s

rainbow pizza

Daisy has

been feeding

her whole

family with

pitta pizza!

Fenn & Isaac have found out

where their food comes from.

Chef Max has

prepared

spaghetti &

meatballs—

yum!

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 5

Home Learning Heroes (and that’s just the parents!)

Ruby (Adele)

made these

colourful posters to

show her tanks to

the NHS.

Daniella (McKellen) and Alex

(Mirren) have worked

together on this awesome

local history project. What

great teamwork!

George (Beckham) has been

inspired by Picasso in his

painting.

Cali (Elgar) has been taking

part in a virtual camp with

Beavers - what a cosy tent!

Harley (McKellen) has designed

this huge theme-park—WOW!

Daisy (Glennie)

decorated her

window as part of

her Captain Tom

Project - beautiful!

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 6

Keep your child safe when spending time online?

Naturally, children will be spending more time online during the lockdown

period. This makes it even more important for us to try and ensure that they are

safe. Each week, we will share tips and information so that you and your child

can reap the benefits of the online world whilst supporting their safety.

Each week, we have tips for both

parents and for children from National

Online Safety on how to stay safe

whilst learning remotely. These posters

are attached to the newsletter and can also be viewed on our website.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Users

can upload and edit photos and videos which they can share with their followers

via their feed or through the ‘Stories’ feature. It’s widely used by celebrities and is

famous for its ‘influencer culture’, with many companies paying the most popular

accounts to help promote and sell their products and services. That’s why we’ve

included this useful guide (see page 7)to help parents and carers understand

exactly what Instagram is all about.

Minecraft is still as popular today as it was when it

was first released. The highly addictive block building

game has developed a huge following and has millions

of monthly active users playing it worldwide across PC,

console and mobile platforms. Minecraft is relatively

safe generally speaking, however, as per any game, it

pays to be mindful about the main features that

children may encounter. That’s why we’ve included this

useful guide on page 8 to help parents and carers

understand exactly what Minecraft is all about.

“I’m bored”

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 9

Mrs Sugden has found some exciting things

for you to make and do:

Both Miss Dawes and Mrs Betts think that many

children at Minterne could easily earn a Blue Peter

badge—I have always wanted one! They can be

earned for all sorts of skills and talents, including

sports and music. Use this link to find out more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/about-blue-

peter-badges

“I’m bored”

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 7 12.6.20 Page 10

Use this link to check your

answers https://

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“I’m still bored” If you have said this to your parents, why not try out some of these

ideas...

Minterne Messenger Minterne Avenue, Sittingbourne Tel: 01795 472323 www.minterne.org Special Issue No. 5 22.5.20 Page 11

Mrs Webb and her children have made this recipe

at home and would like to recommend it to you:

Mr Whitehead would like to remind you to take a look at Our Lives News Plus. New additions

this week include: Making Fudge, Make a Salad, Gardening, Virtual Sports - Petham, Swallows

Assembly - Petham, A visit to the Vet.

Stories and Poems-: Wonder pts 4 & 5, 2 parts Harry Potter 1 conclusion, First Part Harry Potter 2

& Snake Boy