December 2022
Keeping Your Child Safe
As the darker nights are drawing in, I wanted to take the opportunity to write about road safetyoutside of school. We recently held school assemblies around the theme of road safety, and Iwanted to share the same message with parents and carers. Students were told of the importance of being more vigilant and alert when crossing all busy roads and to be mindful of them not being as a visible now the mornings and evenings are dark. Also, for those students who cycle, please remind them to have working bike lights and to always wear a helmet. For those who come on public buses to take care when getting on and off buses and to be especially careful when crossing Kingsbury Road outside School. With the wide use of mobile devices there are increasing reports of people being seriously injured as they are using their phone and not being aware of the road around them as they walk to school. Please reinforce the message with your child that they need to be always alert around the busy roads on their walking journey into school
The Kingsbury Road area outside the front of school is a particular danger spot that can be made even worse when vehicles pull up outside school to drop off students. We are keen to encourage a school policy of sustainable travel that includes the following key points.
Driving your children right to the school gates can be the cause of many problems.
Cars around the school entrance can create a dangerous environment for your children.
Children can easily be hidden behind parked cars from the view of passing vehicles.
Many cars around school also causes congestion which results in high levels of air pollution.
Please try and encourage your child to walk, cycle or use public transport to reach school. It will make your children healthier and reduce congestion around the school gates.
Birmingham over the past 18 months has introduced an electric scooter scheme as part of its drive for a greener environment. The Voi e Scooter scheme is important, but I wanted to alert parents to the following key point about the scheme. Voi e-scooter riders must be over 18 years old and have a provisional or full driving licence to ride an e-scooter. Please could I ask all parents/ carers to stress this point with children. It has been reported that potentially some of our students might cover part of their journey to school using the Voi e Scooter. Students put themselves at real risk of being seriously injured using a scooter on the road and at the same time are breaking the law.
During the run up to Christmas it can be a difficult time for some families. If you need any support, there are some agencies below that are there to offer guidance and support.
If you have any concerns around safety of your child, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kooth is a free, safe and anonymous online Mental Wellbeing Community for young people. It is available through smart phone, tablet or computer and features activities, self-help articles, discussion boards and a team of accredited counsellors and emotional wellbeing practitioners who provide guided and outcome-focused support for each individual.
This is a fun session for young people where we will be exploring lots of interesting and safe ways to look after our wellbeing during the winter and how Kooth can help. Come along for this 1 and chase away those winter blues!
Winter Wellbeing for young people
The next session is on: Monday 12th December, 9:30am – 10:30am. Please click on the following link: Kooth Winter Wellbeing.
Introduction to Kooth for parents
The next parents/carers information session is on: Tuesday 6th December 2022, 6pm-7pm Introduction to Kooth for Parents and Carers.
What’s on in December
Please click on the link for further information Kooth in December.
J Halstead
Assistant PrincipaL
