Issue 1072: 31st January 2025

  • HEADLINES

Holocaust Memorial Day

Last Friday Ms Mackintosh and Mrs Mordrick took two of our Year 12 students to the Holocaust Memorial Day in Rayleigh (HMD). HMD honours the memory of those who have suffered and encourages people to stand against prejudice and work towards a more inclusive and compassionate society. I am very proud of how the students conducted themselves with such maturity, sensitivity and respect. They were truly outstanding ambassadors for our school.

Staff Absence

Unfortunately, like many others I am sure, we have been hit with a number of different viruses over the last few weeks, which have made a lot of members of staff unwell.  Our staff attendance rates are generally very high and this has definitely been what I can only class as an exceptional period of time.  Clearly, the impact has been felt on our pupils who have experienced a far higher level of cover lessons than usual.  Thank you for your understanding and, thankfully, Spring should soon be on its way!

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is an extremely popular platform among people of all ages, including children.  Although it does have an age restriction of 16, all you need to join is a phone number.  The NSPCC have produced a useful guide for parents around WhatApp – the most useful part is in a pink coloured box towards the bottom, but all of the article is worth reading:

Is WhatsApp safe for my child? | NSPCC

Doomscrolling

Doomscrolling is where someone gets trapped in looking at negative posts or videos online.  While it can be intentional, it can also be the result of an algorithm which directs increasingly negative material into social media feeds.  This can clearly have a negative effect on a child’s wellbeing.

Internet Matters have published a new guide to doomscrolling for parents, which can be found here:

What is doomscrolling? Guidance for parents | Internet Matters

Year 7 Parents' Evening

Thank you to everyone who attended Year 7 Parents’ Evening last night.  There was a great turnout and a really positive atmosphere around the school.   Following on from my message above, a number of staff who were unwell were unable to attend the event.  Should you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s progress and were unable to speak about this last night, please do email the school to arrange a convenient time.

tootoot

“tootoot” is a safe, secure and diverse web-based safeguarding tool which allows pupils and students to report incidents or issues that may be concerning them in an anonymous, confidential and discrete manner. These individual cases are monitored, managed and resolved by staff/mentors within the school.

From talking to pupils and students as part of our ongoing Pupil Voice work, there would appear to be a concern around “snitching”.  To help address this, every pupil and student has been encouraged to use tootoot to report any incidents and concerns in an anonymous way.  However, please rest assured that, should we feel that it appears a pupil’s or student’s emotional or physical well-being is at serious risk, or in the case of misuse, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mr Bradley, can establish their identify.

If you would like more information about tootoot, please click here or visit their website at www.tootoot.co.uk

And Finally....

Enjoy your weekend

!!ROBLOX EXTRAORDINAIRE!!

William (Y8) has been working hard to learn LUA and Python, reaching an A-level equivalent in Python, and has created his own Roblox game, Void Destroyers, designing, building, and coding everything himself. His skills impressed the CEO and Board of Aventum Group Ltd, who have promised him a future tech team role, and his work has also been recognized by the Enlightened Christmas lights event team on Instagram.

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

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW)
e-Bug

Home Energy Advice

Important e-scooter information for schools and parents

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 ‘Week 1’.

Click here to see the menu.

ESCB Online Safety Campaign

Essex Safeguarding Children Board

Concerns about child exploitation can be reported anonymously via Crimestoppers 0800 555111.

There is also a dedicated Essex Police Child Exploitation hotline – for parents, carers and members of the public to seek advice around concerns they may have about their own or other children with regards to criminal and sexual exploitation: 01245 452058.