Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Swimming pool

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  We mentioned last week that the swimming pool was going to be getting a new lease of life, well it started this week!

  The pool has been limping on for a couple of years and as a school we were unable to afford to rip it out and start again.  It possibly had this year left in it and then we would have to take it out of operation completely.  First Strokes Swim school have been using our pool for lessons and our set up works well for them, over the last 5 months they have been working on a plan and engaging pool contractors to find the best solution for our school and to give the school pool  new lease of life.  This has now started and First Strokes will be funding this venture for us.  This will have a really lovely impact on the children and their PE lessons, when we and start swimming again and give the school rental opportunity in the years to come.

• Thank you to staff – gifts and funding donated

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  I wanted to find a way to say thank you to our whole staff team this term as they really have gone above and beyond to make sure that all of the children at home and in school are learning and are ok and the support they are showing all of our families has been incredible.  As you’ll know school budgets are limited and as we have over 50 staff members I needed some help.  I am so grateful to our families who have helped me with this as some of you have managed to gather items for us to give to staff and you also passed this letter on to other groups.  The Co-op in Downend also very kindly donated chocolates and wine. Special thanks to Cheryl Rudman and Anna Clifford for the lovely pens, sweets and toiletries.

  Grace Church then got in touch with us after the lovely Sarah O’Driscoll shared my plea with the Pastor, Peter Bowley.  They have donated a staggering £500 which meant I could buy enough items to put together a gorgeous gift bag for all of our staff.  Peter wrote to me saying ‘We as a community are grateful for all in the teaching profession who are having to work sacrificially during the pandemic to teach and care for our children. In becoming aware of your splendid idea of treating your teaching staff, we as a church would like to contribute £500 to your fund. Once again thank you all for what you are doing for our children, and we pray that you would all stay safe in the process.’ This gesture and generosity will make a huge difference to my team and so thankful to peter and the Grace Church community.

• NSPCC - Helping adults protect children

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  The NSPCC helpline is staffed by trained professionals who can provide expert advice and support. We’re here if you’re concerned about a child, if you’re a parent or carer looking for advice, or if you’re a professional in need of information and guidance.  Whatever your worry – call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, email us, or submit our online form – we can help. We also have advice about spotting the signs of abuse. We are temporarily operating a reduced telephone service. You can call Monday to Friday 8am – 10pm or 9am – 6pm at the weekends, or email us at any time. It’s free and you don’t have to say who you are.  If you are emailing to report a concern about abuse, please include the child or children's names and address if possible. We need this information to take steps to keep the child or children safe.

• CCI Admissions

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  Wow, just Wow!  As a school we have been completely blown away by the amount of applications we had to our school for Reception 2021.  Virtual tours and presentations were tricky for us as a school but more so for the families to make such a serious decision about their child’s schooling future.  We had 169 on time applications, this is South Gloucestershire and Bristol City Council combined. (please remember South Gloucestershire residents, in the local area, take priority) out of the applications 104 were first place choices!  It does look like we have a large sibling cohort, so we look forward to welcoming families back, if they have left us to go to CCJ.  

• New Systems at CCI

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  CCI and CCJ will be moving to a new Management Information System (MIS- currently called SIMS) during the next couple of months.  For the children they will know it as taking the register.  But for the grown-ups it will be loads more!   As the two schools are moving to the system, it will mean that messages (via the new Arbor App) for all your children will be in the same place, you will be able to book parents meetings, change your child’s details (ie dietary, address, your details) all through your app.  Our new reception parents will be able to add details of their children rather than lots of pieces of paper.  You will be able to see your child’s attendance and hopefully much more.  The infants move on the 1^st March, whilst the junior school will move on the 1^st April, so a few changes to our comms systems over the next couple of months, watch this space!

• Online Safety - from Miss Essex

  Mon 22 Feb 2021

  This week we have celebrated Safer Internet Day in school and in assemblies.  Now more than ever we are using technology to support our learning at home and to play games online. Technology is a wonderful tool but we must remember to use it responsibly and safely. There are 5 SMART rules to have in mind when using any type of technology at home or school. These are:

  Safe - Keep your personal information safe, don't share your name, address or number.

  Meet - Meeting up with someone online can be dangerous. If someone asks to see you or for a photo always tell an adult.

  Accepting - Think carefully before clicking on something or opening something up online.

  Reliable - Remember not everything you see or read on the Internet can be trusted.

  Tell - Always tell a trusted adult if something makes you feel scared, upset or worried.

• February half-term

  Tue 09 Feb 2021
  Schools will close as usual over February half-term and we are not expected to remain open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers during that week. Vouchers have been issued this week to our ‘Free School Meals’ families. These are the same as the Christmas vouchers. As a school we have also applied for the Covid Winter Grant Scheme, the maximum we can apply for is £1000, if successful we will be contacting families to collect the vouchers, we may be issued with £50 shopping vouchers for Tesco. Your child does not have to be eligible for Free school meals, you could be working and finding it really tough, please speak to us if you are finding it tricky and we can see what we can do to support you.

• Swimming Pool – Can you help?

  Tue 09 Feb 2021
  During a 'normal' year our children would have the opportunity to have one of their PE sessions as a swimming session. Our regular hirer, First Stroke Swimming pool is looking to support us in making improvements to our pool so it can continue for years to come. A new pool liner, fix the leaks, insulation, cladding is going to be fitted as stage one of the improvements, which our hirer will pay for, with a reduced rental fee from us, for the course of the next year. We cannot afford to do the pool ourselves, so we are delighted that our hirer has given this opportunity. This is in itself is simply amazing, but there is something that we are on the look-out for, we need some stainless steel steps to get in and out of the pool (two sets ideally, but one set would be perfect). Do you or know anyone, who could engineer/whittle/craft/make a set of steps? If you do, then please get in touch: christchurchinfants@sgmail.org.uk

• Well-being for staff and children

  Tue 09 Feb 2021
  We shared lots of different ideas, activities and stories with you this week so that you could celebrate and promote your children’s well-being at home and in school. This week we have also focused on our staff well-being and linked this directly to the school vision as CCI is ‘A Caring community, Courageously learning, Inspired to live life to the full’. We have been encouraging the staff to look after their own well-being and each other’s this week as it has been a challenging term in many ways. I planned 3 activities that encouraged them to show care for each other, be courageous in sharing what they are good at and to feel inspired about what they will do first when lockdown is over.

• Well-being and self belief stories and mindfulness activities with our school team!

  Mon 01 Feb 2021

  Mrs Martin reading 'Beautiful Oops!' - This is about turning mistakes into something beautiful - https://youtu.be/j1VUiImv1wo

   

  Mrs Gardner reading 'Izzy Gismo' - This story is about a girl who wants to invent things but she gets cross when they go wrong and has to work out how to manage her frustrations - https://youtu.be/GgT3rR1dq6I

   

  Mrs Rylands doing a mindfulness activity for you to try - https://youtu.be/-uIa_KilipE

   

  Mrs Poole teaching you how to draw a rocket - https://youtu.be/PnSSEYMLp0E

   

  Miss Fricker reading 'Mabel and the Mountain'- This story about believing in yourself and how this can help you to achieve anything - https://youtu.be/yz5sYtG6S4U