Latest News

January 27th 

Pupils Survey - School Lunches

We are always striving to maintain quality and make improvements in all aspects of school life. Last year we reviewed and improved the school menus. It is now time to review how well everything is going and to understand what we could do to further improve.

94 pupils were asked to complete a short survey and the results are as follows:-

I would like to thank all the children who completed the survey.

Findings: That the portion size of meals needs to be improved. We need to further improve ways in which we can ensure the food remains hot. We need to continue to allow pupils to choose freely between packed lunch and school lunch. This ensures children don't have to have a school lunch if there is nothing that day that they really enjoy.

Actions: Mrs Lemin will take a lead role in ensuring improvements are made. She will liaise with the Catering company and evaluate the improvements with the children and senior lunchtime staff.

Protect children from harm - Listen up, Speak up free 10 min training from the NSPCC

Half a million children suffer abuse and neglect a year in the UK. But there's something we can all do to change that. The NSPCC are encouraging every adult in the UK to take our 10-minute digital training. Listen up and learn a little with their Connect the DOTS training. They will show you where to go if you need support, and how to speak up for children who need it. Because a little bit of knowledge can help keep a lot of children safe. Sign up and take the training

Supporting with Mental Health

Recognising the signs that your child may be struggling with their mental health can be really hard. This Link to the NSPCC support for parents may be helpful

Children's Mental Health - Support information for parents

We are committed to supporting Children's Mental Health at Burnside and have the following in place;

• Nurture Groups
• ELSA sessions
• Dedicated
• Well Being Room Drop in Sessions
• Designated areas within classrooms to allow children to share with their teacher their feelings or ask to speak to them
• Mental Well Being Lead Teacher - Mrs Akram

If you would like any further information about what is going on in school please contact Mrs Akram.

Latest News

20th January

Check your child's hair regularly for head lice

To prevent the spread of head lice the NHS has produced these guidelines.

Please could you regularly check your child's hair and ensure long hair is tied back. Head lice and nits Head lice and nits are very common in young children and their families. They don't have anything to do with dirty hair and are picked up by head-to-head contact.

How to get rid of head lice

You can treat head lice without seeing a GP. Treat head lice as soon as you spot them. You should check everyone in the house and start treating anyone who has head lice on the same day. There's no need to keep your child off school if they have head lice. Wet combing Lice and nits can be removed by wet combing. You should try this method first. You can buy a special fine-toothed comb (detection comb) online or from pharmacies to remove head lice and nits. There may be instructions on the pack, but usually you: wash hair with ordinary shampoo apply lots of conditioner (any conditioner will do) comb the whole head of hair, from the roots to the ends It usually takes about 10 minutes to comb short hair, and 20 to 30 minutes for long, frizzy or curly hair. Do wet combing on days 1, 5, 9 and 13 to catch any newly hatched head lice. Check again that everyone's hair is free of lice on day 17.

For more information about wet combing, see the healthychildren.org website.

Medicated lotions and sprays

Ask your pharmacist for advice if you have tried wet combing for 17 days, but your child still has live head lice. They may recommend using medicated lotions and sprays. These kill head lice in all types of hair, and you can buy them from pharmacies, supermarkets or online. Head lice should die within a day. Some lotions and sprays come with a comb to remove dead lice and eggs. Some treatments need to be repeated after a week to kill any newly hatched lice. Check the pack to see if they're OK for you or your child and how to use them. If lotions or sprays don't work, speak to your pharmacist about other treatments. Some treatments aren't recommended because they're unlikely to work. For example: products containing permethrin head lice "repellents" electric combs for head lice tree and plant oil treatments, such as tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and lavender oil herbal remedies

You can't prevent head lice -  There's nothing you can do to prevent head lice. You can help stop them spreading by wet or dry combing regularly to catch them early. Do not use medicated lotions and sprays to prevent head lice. They can irritate the scalp. There's no need for children to stay off school or to wash laundry on a hot wash.

Risk of closure: industrial action

Yesterday, the NEU (National Education Union) announced that its ballot of teacher members in England has met the thresholds required to start industrial action: The NEU is the UK's largest education union, and says the strike will affect 23,400 schools in England and Wales. Our staff are members of a variety of different unions including the NEU. However, our staff are also members of NAHT ( National Association of Headteachers) and NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers ). These unions will not strike because ballots staff did not reach the % turnout required by law for industrial action. The NEU has announced national and regional action in England.

There is a risk that school (or parts of the school) will close to pupils (or some pupils). Please note: Head teachers are expected to take "all reasonable steps" to keep schools open for as many pupils as possible during a strike, according to Department of Education guidance. I will be consulting with both the union and the local authority over the coming days. We will publish more information if the NEU decides to proceed with industrial action. We will be given at least 2 weeks' notice. Teacher strikes will happen both nationally and regionally, in schools as well as sixth-form colleges.

Action will take place on the following days:

1 February: All schools in England and Wales

14 February: All schools in Wales

28 February: North and north-west England, Yorkshire and Humber

15 and 16 March: Two-day strike of all schools in England and Wales

I will write to you again if and/or when any industrial action is formally confirmed.

Job Vacancies

We currently have some adverts running on North East Jobs for support staff to work in our Out of School Provision and within school. Mrs. Lemin will also be adding these vacancies to the Vacancy tab on the Burnside Website

Share your views with us

During the year we ask your opinion on a variety of subjects and issues and invite you in to meet with staff on the 1st Monday of every month to enable us to address concerns quickly. This allows us to know the thought and views of parents. We take on board comments, an example of this is the changes we made to the nativity plays at Christmas.

A parent emailed us to point out they had missed the opportunity to see their child dress up in a Christmas Play due to COVID. In response we asked the Year 2 pupils to join the Reception and Year 1 pupils in the nativity play this year.

Another wonderful suggestion which was made by a parent was the "Book Swap" last term which was a great success. We would like to find out a little more information from you and have put together a short survey in the hopes that you will complete it.

The Senior Leaders and I will add your views to our own evaluation enabling us to identify our strengths and areas for improvement. The survey should take around 5 minutes to complete, please complete one per child.

Art, Music and French Thrive

We have been working hard on our curriculum plans and our quality assurance shows that our curriculum is even better and stronger.

Highlights for Art, Music and French include: Art Key Stage 2 pupils receive specialist art lessons with our Specialist Art teacher. Music, Key Stage 2 pupils receive specialist music lessons with our Specialist Music teacher. 89 pupils receive instrumental tuition/choir.

French, all our Key Stage 2 pupils now receive specialist French lessons every week from our Specialist teacher.

Leaders check the quality of our work in school by scrutinising teachers' plans, talking to teachers about their work, visiting lessons, and asking pupils what they know, remember and can do in each subject.

Martin Luther King Day

We started the week with a whole school assembly about Martin Luther King. During collective worship time in classes this week the children will continue to learn more about this important man and celebrate his many achievements. I would like to mention three star pupils for their valuable contributions in assembly today: Kvitka ( Year 6 ), Alfie ( Year 6 ) and Arlo ( Year 4 )

Bookings For Child Care

As many of you already know Mrs Donaldson, one of the managers left us at Christmas. We are currently seeking to find a suitable replacement and will share the news of this as soon as we have it. In the interim period we have 1 less staff member on our staffing rota but the existing team are kindly covering any additional shifts.

Since opening the service in 2018 the demand has grown and grown which is simply amazing. Initially, we were able to accommodate last minute bookings but as the number of children using the service continues to increase Mrs Williams and I need to ensure we have adequate staffing in place for the number of children booked in.

We do this by referring to the booking system and then updating our staff with numbers of children and shifts they will be working. This means that to ensure the quality of care within the provision we now can not accept children at the door or via a telephone call on the day. Thank you for your continued support

Online Safety - WhatsApp

It has been brought to our attention that some children are using group chats on WhatsApp. The age restriction for WhatsApp is 16. Today we have held class discussions about online safety and the appropriate use of messaging services.

Latest News

13th January

Out of School Club

As many of you already know Mrs Donaldson, one of the managers left us at Christmas. We are currently seeking to find a suitable replacement and will share the news of this as soon as we have it. In the interim period we have 1 less staff member on our staffing rota but the existing team are kindly covering any additional shifts.

Since opening the service in 2018 the demand has grown and grown which is simply amazing.  Initially, we were able to accommodate last minute bookings but as the number of children using the service continues to increased Mrs Williams and I need to ensure we have adequate staffing in place for the number of children booked in. We do this by referring to the booking system and then updating our staff with numbers of children and shifts they will be working. 

This means that to ensure the quality of care within the provision we now can not accept children at the door or via a telephone call on the day. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Arts Week

I think the children and the staff have all thoroughly enjoyed Arts Week.  As I walked round school today is was wonderful to see the amazing work the children have produced. Well done everyone and a special thank you to Mrs Tweddle, our Art Specialist teacher who has supported all the teachers with their planning to ensure Arts Week has once again been a wonderful success.