Issue 1065: 29th November 2024

  • HEADLINES

Headteacher’s Achievement Time

We have recently re-commenced our cycle of Headteacher’s Achievement Time for individual year groups.  This takes place at 8.15 am on a Tuesday morning and provides pupils and students with the opportunity to share they achievements and/or successes with myself and members of the Senior Leadership Team.

These can be related to either work in school or accomplishments achieved outside of school.  It is always wonderful to see the diverse and wide-ranging interests and hobbies of our pupils and students and is a real highlight of the week. 

If you child has anything they would like to share please ask them to speak to their Head of Year Team.  In addition, we always welcome the opportunity to share such stories in the Sweyne Park Times and/or on our Facebook page, and simply ask for a short paragraph with an accompanying photograph, where possible.

Any contributions can be sent directly to Pupil Services at pupilservices@sweynepark.com or to your child’s Head of Year.

 

Scopay

Please note that with effect from 6th December 2024 our Scopay system will automatically notify you, on a Friday, if your child’s account goes into arrears. In such circumstances you will receive an automatically generated email setting out the amount by which the account needs to be credited in order to bring it back into a positive balance.

I hope that you will find this helpful.

Second Hand Devices

One of the most common ways that children get their first mobile phone is by receiving a second hand one, as their parents/carers or older siblings upgrade theirs.  This is good, because mobile phones are very expensive, and would often be otherwise unaffordable.

It is important that these devices are reconfigured for a child rather than an adult user.  Internet Matters have produced a guide to second-hand devices, which can be found here:

Tech guide to second hand phones and devices | Internet Matters

Christmas Dinner

Our Christmas Dinner will be served this year on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th December at a cost of £4.70.  It is always a very popular choice and will, this year, be ticketed.  If your child would like a Christmas Dinner, please pre-order and paid for it via Scopay.

Payment will need to be made by the end of the day on Tuesday 3rd  December 2024.

Pupils will then need to collect their Christmas Dinner Ticket from Pupil Services.  In order to ensure smooth service, pupils must have their ticket in order to get their Christmas Dinner!

 

If you child is eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), they may collect their ticket directly from Pupil Services at no additional cost.  Please note this will use the whole of their FSM allowance for that day so there will be no funds available for other purchases unless their account is topped up in advance.

Roblox

One of the most popular online games among young people is Roblox.  Last week, Roblox announced some significant updates which are available to users, and to parents.

These safety updates include limits to the way that children under 13 can communicate and the ability of parents to exercise remote control – i.e., from their own device, rather than the child’s.

 

Full details are available in the link below, which is an article from the Roblox website.

Major Updates to Our Safety Systems and Parental Controls (roblox.com)

The Internet Matters website also has a full guide to parental controls on Roblox:

Roblox parental controls and privacy settings | Internet Matters

 

And Finally…..

Good luck to our Year 11 pupils who will be starting their mock examinations next week.

Adisa the Verbalizer brings powerful poetry to life

On Wednesday, Year 9 were treated to a lively poetry performance by the wonderfully entertaining poet, Adisa the Verbalizer. Adisa’s visits to Sweyne Park School are always considered as one of the highlights of the Year 9 curriculum. linking in perfectly to their work on multicultural poetry, so it is great to be able to welcome him back in school.

Adisa engaged and entertained all of Year 9 in the Hall, with his powerful, vibrant and energetic performance as he happily demolished stereotypes and peoples’ perceptions of poetry. There were poems that had us laughing out loud and poems that made us really stop and think.

Year 9 should also be commended for their thoughtful questions.

Adisa then expertly led two creative writing workshops in the Library, with a focus on being truthful and personal through the liberation of writing and building confidence in sharing our thoughts and ideas.

These invoked great emotion and produced some powerful poetry written by our Year 9 pupils.

A powerfully productive, poetry-filled day was experienced and we’re already looking forward to, hopefully, seeing Adisa again next year.

What do you do when you're not in school?

We would love to hear about your hobbies, interests and achievements...

If you have any stories and/or photos that you would like to share, please contact us at pupilservices@sweynepark.com

U15 Essex Saracens player development Programme (PDG)

Congratulations to Jack, Barnaby and Alex on being selected for the U15 Essex Saracens player development Programme (PDG). 

All three boys have undertaken numerous selection training sessions over the past few months. They will now follow a rigorous training programme and inter county matches. 

I look forward to watching you all! 

Mrs Herron 

Rochford District Council
Clements Hall Skatepark consultation 2024

Christmas Bazaar

Essex Fire Museum

Create Your Own Fairy Tale - Chelmsford Library

Important e-scooter information for schools and parents

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW)
e-Bug

Hopeworx

 

The Hopeworx Food Hub is a local charity which runs a food bank to provide emergency food parcels to help those who find themselves in a crisis. They also collect daily surplus food from supermarkets and other outlets and coordinate collection by other charities which, in turn, provide support to families in need.

Hopeworx have often helped a number of families within our school community and are always looking for donations, especially at this time of year. In particular, they provide approximately 100 Christmas Hampers to local families, please see the list of items below they would like to collect.

If you would like to make a donation, you can either take items directly to their centre at 33 Brook Road, Rayleigh, SS6 7XJ or Pupil Services, by the 5th of December.
Thank you

WOOL4SCHOOL

Wool4School is an annual student design competition encouraging budding fashion and textile designers to showcase their creativity and innovation using wool. Students create a unique design made from wool, taking inspiration from the Wool4School brief. From fashion design to architecture, visual arts, and beyond – there’s no limits to their area of design.

Join Our Club

East Essex Triathlon Club

Rochford District Youth Council

Rochford Hundred - Girls Rugby

Players Wanted

Contact details and personal preferences:

As you are aware we keep confidential records on our systems with parents/carers contact details, ie. addresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts and email addresses. If you have recently made any changes could you contact Pupil Services on: pupilservices@sweynepark.com so we can update our systems please.
We also hold information re your preference for use of pupils’ biometric data and school photos both inside and outside of school. If your preferences have changed, could you make us aware of the change by also emailing Pupil Services.
Thank you in advance.

Next week, the Caterlink menu will be ‘Lunch Week 3’.

Click here to see the menu.