Issue 3 • February 2023
...................... A message from Mr Copeland .................... We have been delighted with the way the children have started the new calendar year and it has been a pleasure to hear about the progress that is being made across all age groups. It was lovely to welcome five new pupils into the school on our first assembly of 2023 and, as ever, they have been warmly welcomed by the children who continue to put the CARE code at the heart of everything they do. This is another packed edition of the newsletter and I am sure that you will enjoy reading about all of the exciting activities and topics that the children have been exploring.
This half term I have had the pleasure of taking the Year 1 pupils across to Hymers for their weekly swimming lessons. They have thoroughly enjoyed these sessions and they will continue until the end of the academic year and throughout Year 2. Mr Mills, Mrs Farr and Mr Bailey have been impressed with the children’s swimming skills and water confidence and Miss Chapman and I are blown away by the progress in their personal skills such as: speed of changing, organisation and how they have got to grips with sensibly travelling between the two sites. I am sure you will agree that this is a fantastic opportunity
for our Year 1 pupils and continues to build the links that will support the future transition between the two Hymers sites. Mental health has played a key role in this half term. The staff promote positive mental health in all of the pupils at Hymers Hessle Mount and this half term we have encouraged the children to be more aware of their own mental health and the feelings and emotions that they will experience. We have also spoken to the children about empathy and imagining that they are in someone else’s shoes. This has allowed them to understand that other people have mental health too and that we can support positive mental health for others. As part of this initiative the children made care packs that were sent home on Parents’ Mental Health Day. I hope you managed to find time to enjoy these and I would also like to thank Mrs Hill for organising this. Mental health has also been a theme of the assembly programme this half term and in one assembly I read the book ‘In My Heart’ to the children. The idea of this story was to help support the understanding of mental health and emotions and encourage children to talk about their feelings with others. On the last Friday of half term, all of the children came off timetable to take part in a number of activities designed to support their own mental health as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. The staff put on a carousel of activities including: making clay tree spirits in our woodland area,
a calm and mindful yoga session, an art and craft workshop and a sensory experience. The children explored each of these activities in their Houses as
this helped support this year’s theme of Let’s Connect. The vertical house groupings allowed everyone to take part in activities with children in different year groups and encouraged support, collaboration and friendships with pupils that they may not normally get to spend a lot of time with in school. It was also a nice opportunity for children in the same family to work and play together regardless of year group. During the afternoon, I was very proud of how the older pupils supported the younger year groups and displayed lots of kindness. We hope that the children enjoyed the experience and that it helps to support them in understanding that there are many things we can do to promote positive mental health.
Next half term looks equally busy and in the Key Dates section you will be able to find important information for your diary. I hope you and your children enjoy a restful and relaxing half term break and I look forward to more exciting school days as we head into Spring!