We would like to make all parents and carers aware that there are new line markings in Thornton Car Park and the designated pupil drop off/collection zone in the upper section of Thornton Car Park at the rear of the school site.
There are now clearly designated parking spaces, including a section of ‘reverse park only’ bays and disabled spaces, in addition to traffic directional arrows where necessary to facilitate safe and effective movement of vehicles at the start and end of the school day. Additional double yellow lines and hatched off spaces have been added to prevent vehicles parking in areas that would prevent the free movement of vehicles and contribute to an additional safety hazard. When dropping off or collecting your children it is vital that you do not park in any of the areas that have been marked as out of bounds, as doing so can cause unsafe situations for children trying to access or leave school.
Taxis and minibuses for school pupils now have a designated collection/drop off area in the lower section of Thornton Car Park where parking is reserved for staff vehicles only. It would be greatly appreciated if everyone could please adhere to the new line markings to achieve safer and more organised arrival and departure of all school traffic at peak times. Diolch yn fawr
We know of a teacher who introduced her class to two apples (the children didn’t know this, but before the class the teacher had repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor, you couldn’t tell, both apples looked perfect). They all talked about the apples and the children described how both apples looked the same; both were red, were of similar size and looked juicy enough to eat.
The teacher picked up the apple that had been dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how they disliked this apple, that they thought it was disgusting, it was a horrible colour and the stem was just too short. They told the class that because they didn’t like it, they didn’t want them to like it either, so they should call it names too.
Some children looked at the teacher like they were insane, but they passed the apple around the circle calling it names, ‘you’re a smelly apple’, ‘I don’t even know why you exist’, ‘you’ve probably got worms inside you’ etc. The class really pulled this poor apple apart, some of them actually started to feel sorry for the little guy. They then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it, ‘You’re a lovely apple’, ‘Your skin is beautiful’, ‘What a beautiful colour you are’ etc. The teacher then held up both apples, and again, the class talked about the similarities and differences, there was no change, both apples still looked the same.
Then they cut the apples open. The apple the class had been kind to was clear, fresh and juicy inside.
The apple the class said unkind words to was bruised and all mushy inside.
There was a lightbulb moment for the children immediately. They really got it, what they saw inside that apple, the bruises, the mush and the broken bits is what is happening inside every one of us when someone mistreats us with their words or actions. When people are subject to unkindness, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don’t show or tell others how they are feeling.
The teacher shared her own experience of suffering someone’s unkind words, how on the outside they looked OK, they were still smiling. But, on the inside someone had caused a lot of pain with their words and the teacher was hurting.
Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it’s not ok to say unkind things to each other and we can discuss how it makes others feel. We can teach our children to stand up for each other and to stop any form of unkindness, just as one little girl did in class when she refused to say unkind words to the apple. More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop unkindness, so together let’s create a generation of kind, caring children.
The tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to hurt someone, so be careful with your words and choose kindness.
It has come to our attention that some pupils are wearing a single layer scarf as a face covering. Single layer face coverings do not follow the WG guidance, which states that:
