Issue No 401
4th May 2007
Dear Friends of Crescent,
With the lovely sunny weather comes the possibility of sunburn. Please would parents anoint their children with long lasting sun block before they bring them to school in the morning if necessary. Children are allowed to bring a tube of sun block to school with them but we are advised against putting it on for them – they can, however, put it on each other under strict supervision! Children are also advised to wear sun hats that are obtainable from the school shop.
Also on health and safety grounds can I ask all dog owners to refrain from bringing their dogs beyond the green metal gates that lead onto the playing field. I don’t want to go as far as many other schools have and ban dogs from the school estate completely and think that this is a reasonable compromise. Dogs must, of course, be kept on a lead at all times.
Over the past two terms since we started supporting the Bwengu project we have raised over £1500 to buy materials for the refurbishment of the their school buildings. Thank you very much indeed to all who have helped raise this considerable sum. Further news of this project can be found at www.bwenguprojects.co.uk. As you can see from this site, thanks to the very generous response from so many people the scope of this project has widened considerably since we first heard about it.
In the media last week there was coverage of a report about the effects of watching television on children. I attach a copy of a newspaper article I downloaded from the internet. Since I discussed this report with my children they have, quite voluntarily, cut down on their viewing time which previously, at weekends and holidays, often exceeded the one hour per day recommended.
Three children in Class III have, this week, been awarded Pen Licences. This means that they, Stephanie Drew, Emily Cheadle and Akari Kido, can now write consistently at a high enough standard to switch from pencil to pen. Well done to all of them.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
R.H. Marshall
Pre-Prep News
This term children in Reception will be working on the topic of “Castles” and then “Weddings around the World”.
Class I will be investigating “Toys Now and Then” and Class II “Ancient Egyptians”.
Should you have any specialist knowledge or artefacts appropriate to these, please let any of the class teachers know.
Thank you.
A. Webb
Weekly Times
Monday, 7th May
School closed for Bank Holiday
Tuesday, 8th
09.00 depart Classes III & IV to Coventry
12.40 return Cathedral ref. S.L.
12.50 – 13.20 Times-Tables Challenge
13.05 – 13.45 School Council – alternate weeks
13.15 - 13.45 Brass Group
15.45 - 16.45 Girls’ Games – Classes V & VI
15.45 – 16.45 Writers’ Guild
Wednesday, 9th
12.20 – 13.00 Ballet – Class V
12.30 depart Mini athletics and rounders for Class V girls at Kingsley School ref. Mrs Gove
16.15 return
13.05 - 13.45 Reception Art Club
13.05 – 13.45 Ballet – Classes V & VI
15.45 – 16.45 No Junior Girls’ Games—Classes III & IV
15.45 - 16.30 Senior Boys’ Games—Classes V & VI
15.45 – 16.45 Camera Club
Thursday, 10th
12.20 – 13.00 Ballet—Classes III & IV
12.20 – 13.00 Library
13.05 - 13.45 Ballet—Classes II & III
15.45 – 17.00 Art Club
15.50 - 16.50 Tap & Modern Dance
16.00 Staff Meeting
Friday, 11th
09.00 – 10.30 Maths workshop for Classes IV to VI
10.45 – 11.55 Maths workshop for Classes I to III
12.20 - 13.00 Ballet—Class II
12.20 – 13.00 Junior Boys’ Games – Classes III & IV
12.20 – 12.50 String Group
13.05 - 13.45 Ballet– Class I
13.15 – 13.45 Wind Group
15.45 - 16.45 Orchestra
Saturday, 12th May
School and playground in use by Rocheberie Quilters
Nursery News
We have welcomed James, Alex, Billy and Toby into nursery this term and they are settling in well. They are getting to know the other children and our daily routines. We hope they will be very happy with us.
In keeping with our theme “growth” we are talking about babies this week and have asked the children to bring in baby photographs of themselves. We are also talking about naming ceremonies in different cultures to develop respect for their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people. We have two new mums coming to visit with their babies to talk to the children about their progress and development.
The children have been put in three teams of Red, Yellow and Blue in preparation for Sports Day and have already started practising the races. All the children will be involved in Sports Day on Tuesday, 10th July from 2 – 3 pm.
I would be grateful if you would apply sunscreen SFP 15 (minimum) to the children before they come into nursery each day and if anyone has any spare or unwanted sunhats to donate we would be very grateful to receive them.
C. McGrellis
TV poses 15 different health risks to our children
Last updated at 23:28pm on 23rd April 2007
Television is "the greatest unacknowledged health threat of our time" with 15 separate risks to couch potato children, a psychologist claimed. Dr Aric Sigman is demanding daily viewing limits to help curb health problems ranging from obesity and short-sightedness to premature puberty. He believes youngsters under three should watch no television at all and parents should banish all TV sets from bedrooms.
In a report in a science journal, Dr Sigman lists 15 ways that exposure to TV screens can harm youngsters. These include raised risk of obesity and heart disease due to higher cholesterol and hormonal changes that disrupt sleep and even lower immunity. Among other potential hazards are short attention spans and learning problems.
Dr Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, told MPs yesterday that ministers should TV viewing should be rationed with a system of "recommended daily allowances", similar to guidelines for salt intake. Children aged three to seven should be limited to 30 minutes to one hour a day while seven to 12-year-olds should watch an hour a day. This can be upped to one-and-a-half hours for 12 to 15-year-olds and two hours for over-16s.
Dr Sigman, who reviewed 35 academic studies for his report on the health risks of TV viewing, said the findings implicated television in a massive unforeseen health scandal. Speaking at a conference in Westminster yesterday, he urged ministers to do more to protect children from the adverse effects of too many hours planted in front of the box. "Many believe that we shouldn't make parents feel guilty about the amount of time children spend in front of a screen and the early age at which they start" Dr Sigman said. "But we must now make a clear judgment that child health is more important than parental guilt. "At the moment, the British population watches television for more hours per day and reads less than any other nation in Europe. "Our children are Europe's most obese. An increasing number of infants have TV screens in their bedrooms and by the time children reach adolescence they spend an average of 7.5 hours a day in front of a TV screen."
Dr Sigman, who has written a book on the dangers of too much TV, went on: "Screen media must now be considered a major public health issue and reducing television viewing must become the new priority for child health
"While popular phrases such as "striking a balance" or "everything in moderation" may sound reassuringly sensible, one of the main obstacles in encouraging people to reduce their children's screen time is the vagueness of the terms "moderation" and "excessive".
"We haven't been told what excessive actually means. Most of the damage linked to television screen viewing seems to occur beyond watching one to one-and-a-half hours per day, irrespective of the quality of the programme. "Yet the average child watches three to five times this amount."
His report claims that too many hours spent slumped in front of screens hampers brain development since TV viewing, unlike reading, fails to provide growing brains with the stimulation needed to foster analytical thinking. One long-term study, conducted in New Zealand, tracked children from birth and concluded childhood TV viewing was linked with poor educational achievement by the age of 26. Youngsters also had shorter attention spans and a greater risk of developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Meanwhile puberty may be hastened by too much television. Girls are reaching puberty much earlier than in the 1950s, partly because their average weight has increased but possibly also because of lower melatonin levels linked to TV exposure.
THESE are some of the 15 harmful effects of TV on children:
• Obesity. A result of little exercise.
• Disrupted hormones. Light from televisions suppresses production of the key hormone melatonin.
• Lowered immune system.
• Reduced melatonin may increase the chance of mutations in cell DNA, which causes cancer.
• Premature puberty. Also linked to low levels of melatonin.
• Sleep disorders. Over-stimulating the senses causes sleeplessness.
• Autism. Linked to a lack of social interaction.
• Increased body fat. Altered levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin produce fat and boost appetite