Next week is Autism Acceptance week (27 March – 2 April). Have a look at the NAS website for a range of helpful information, and watch this video which explains more about Autism. You can also scan the QR codes to see additional videos talking about Autism from a child’s perspective.
In addition, 25th March is Epilepsy Awareness Day. There are 2 new videos on the SEND page of our website about epilepsy that you may find useful.
We are delighted to be officially recognised with the Dyslexia Quality Mark, awarded by the British Dyslexia Association. This is the culmination of much hard work by our SENDCo Laura Philips and all the staff who support children both in and out of the classroom.
Unfortunately the school will be closed today. We have just heard that the secondary school is closed. This creates so many knock-on childcare problems that we will not be able to get enough staff into school to run it safely.
Other factors are, of course, the weather and difficulties with the site. We were hoping to overcome these, but we cannot do this without our full complement of staff.
My apologies for the inconvenience and the late notice, but the situation has only just become clear.
Steve Heal, Head Teacher
The 202
2 Dyslexia information leaflet from Wiltshire Council is now available to view on our website, on our dedicated Dyslexia page.
The leaflet gives information from Wiltshire Specialist SEN Service (SSENS), covering diagnosis, support and other resources available in Wiltshire.
The British Dyslexia Association will be hosting a webinar next week, with lots of helpful tips on how to support your child’s learning. The event is online next Wednesday evening (5th October at 6.30pm), and free to all. If you are interested in viewing the webinar, futher details can be found on the British Dyslexia Associations website.
And, as part of Dyslexia Awareness week, we have uploaded some new resources from the BDA on the Dyslexia page of our school website too.
The Autism Information session run by our SENDCo Laura Phillips recently was recorded. You can catch the session HERE
We are super excited to announce that we will be holding our Mothers Day gift shop for the first time in two years on Thursday 24th March!
For all of you new parents out there, and some old ones, we usually run three gift shops a year (Christmas, Mothers day and Fathers day). These give the children an opportunity to bring in some money and choose a gift for the special adult(s) in their lives, completely independently. We have a range of gifts that the children love choosing from which we sell at £1 or £2.
If you would like your child to take part, please send them in with no more than £5 on Thursday 24th (for EYFS and KS1, it may be best to hand this to a teacher in a named envelope).
If you find that you have some free time on Thursday 24th and would like to watch the children spend their money, then please email Nicky at friendsofmalmesburyprimary@gmail.com,
volunteers to help set up, sell stock and clear away are much needed.
We hope that you will support our first big fundraising event in two years.
Best wishes
The Friends of Malmesbury Primary School
One in every 100 UK school children is autistic and, without the right support, school can be a confusing and difficult place. Autism Awareness Week aims to help improve understanding of autism, so that everyone can help make the school environment great for all pupils.
Some short videos for you to watch are HERE and HERE.
Further information is available on the National Autistic Society website, and on our SEND page too.
Our SENDCo Laura Phillips will be running an information session for parents via Zoom at 10am on 29th March. We will be sending out further information about the session towards the end of next week.
In July 2020, the government announced a one-off universal £650 million catch-up premium for the 2020 to 2021 academic year to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time. The coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium funding is available for all state-funded mainstream and special schools, and alternative provision.
Details of our policy, and how we are planning to deliver the catch up initiative is now available on the Policies and Statements page of the website
Malmesbury CE Primary School is taking precautionary measures after two members of staff tested positive for COVID-19.
While all preventative and proper bubble measures have been followed, the school has, with advice from Wiltshire Council’s Public Health Team, asked a total of forty pupils and four members of staff to isolate for 14 days, with the last day of isolation being 29th October. This period will fall within the half term holiday. The self-isolation is precautionary, to minimise any risk to others.
Steve Heal, Head Teacher at Malmesbury Primary School, said: “This situation has developed over the past few days, following the end of term last Friday. All parents have been informed of the situation at the school, and we are very grateful for their understanding. It is most unfortunate that this will affect the holiday plans of a number of families over the coming two weeks. However, the safety of our school community is our top priority. We will continue to work with Wiltshire Council’s Public Health Team so this situation is managed closely and look forward to welcoming pupils back to school on the 2nd November.”
Kate Blackburn, Director of Public Health for Wiltshire, said: “This precautionary action is very important so we can keep the risk of any transmission within the school community as low as possible. We will continue to support the school so their high standard of COVID-19 measures are maintained.
“It is a legal requirement that anyone asked to self-isolate should follow the government information on this and stay at home. If they don’t have symptoms they do not need to get a test. However, if a member of their household has symptoms and takes a test then they should self-isolate.
“We ask that people regularly wash hands, maintain social distancing and wear face coverings where appropriate – this is the best way to keep you and everyone safe as much as possible.”
The Department for Education has produced information for parents which includes advice following a case of Covid-19 in their school
More information on self-isolation is available here.
