Following the recent government announcement, we can confirm that school will be closed to all children, including those of key workers during the half term week Monday 15th - Friday 19th February.

If your child is entitled to Free School Meals, we will continue to provide FSM vouchers over the half term break.  If you have any queries, please email freeschoolmeals@uplandsmanor.sandwell.sch.uk

Boris Johnson announced this week that schools will remain physically closed until at least 8th March. Remote learning provision will remain in place until then, as will our vulnerable and key worker provision in school. We will provide further information once we receive it.

At Uplands, we hold themed days and events during the school year to mark national events, celebrate festivals and support charities. Next week is Children's Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 which shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. To mark this event, we have planned 'Well Being Wednesday'. It will be a no screen day filled with creative, active and imaginative activities for your family to enjoy together with no reliance on timetables and sitting in front of a device all day.  The activities are included in the letter we have sent out and are based around this year's theme- express yourself.

We are sure that the children are missing their teachers and friends - staff are certainly missing the children!

This week all classes enjoyed their first Google Meetbsession these will be carrying on every week .  The session is a chance for teachers to check how children are, what they have been doing during the week, check how learning has gone and to try and talk about the learning that is coming up next week.  It is also an opportunity for the children to be with their friends as part of their class community during lockdown.

We would love your children to take part, so here are links to a letter explaining more about the sessions, a 'How to' guide for joining a Google Meet and the protocols so everyone knows how to keep themselves safe online and behave in an appropriate way.

Letter: https://bit.ly/2XXie9R 

How to: https://bit.ly/39LD8hO 

Protocols: https://bit.ly/3p606Xd 

Each week, we will be posting a new story to our school sites. A different member of staff will be reading a variety of stories and setting you a challenge at the end of the story. This is a fun challenge for you to do as a family. If you have a go at the task, please tweet us pictures/videos or send them to your child(ren)'s teacher over Google Classroom - we'd love to see them! 

This week's story is 'The Dot' by Peter H Reynolds and is read by Miss James. 

Go and have a look to see what the weekly family challenge is. Enjoy! 

We believe that it is important to celebrate achievements.  Each week, children may be given a gold letter from a member of staff or a certificate from Mr Dickinson, Miss Copestake or Miss James.

If your child has done something special outside school - maybe they have helped someone or done something special.  Tell us so that the Uplands community can share in their celebration. Email headteacher@uplandsmanor.sandwell.sch.uk 

Some children are sent to the Headteacher or Deputy Headteacher for a special award.  Congratulations to:

Each week, the Year 4, 5 and 6 teachers will be choosing one pupil that has impressed them on Reading Plus. This could be because of the amount of time they've spent on Reading Plus, the amount of combos they have earnt, achieving 80% or more or gaining a new level. Each week a certificate will be posted to those children. 

This week the awards have been given to: 

These pupils have worked extremely hard this week to improve their reading skills. Well done! 

Could it be you next week? 

Thank you for your continued support with remote learning.  It is so important that children are engaging in their learning and we are offering daily recorded lessons on Google Classrooms which reflect the learning and curriculum that children would have been working on in school.

Here are some examples of a suggested daily timetables.  You know your child best so you can choose whether to follow the timetable set for their year group or to create your own.  Please do as much as you can and remember to read every day with your child. 

Teachers have been calling all families to see how you are and to see how the children are getting on with learning at home and what help and support you need.  It is important that the children are given as much encouragement and support to continue their learning at home.  If your child is struggling with the online learning, please speak to the member of staff who calls you, so that we can offer you the help you need.  

Don't struggle alone.  If you need help, please ring the school office on 0121 558 1602 or email your child's year group email address and ask for someone to call.  

We have several factsheets on the school website to help you understand Google Classrooms.  Click on this link to find them http://bit.ly/39rFrHJ 

We are based at Dorothy Parkes Centre and St Albans Community Centre.

 Our role is to support and help you to manage any problems or concerns you may have about benefits, the need for food parcel’s, reducing utility bills, general household issues to helping with money/debt problems, volunteering opportunities and much more.

For more informations, contact Pam at school on 01215581602, Fionnuala on 07503 504 064 or pop in to the Dorothy Parkes Centre.

Olio is a mobile app for food-sharing, aimed at reducing food waste that otherwise would have been thrown out by local shops and supermarket chains. There are people who volunteer as a 'Food Waste Hero' and their role is to collect food which has a short 'use by/best before' date on them from the shops and supermarkets. They will then upload the food items on the Olio app where local people in the community can request the food for collection. The best part about it is that it is absolutely FREE. It does this by connecting those with surplus food to those who need or wish to consume such food. 

It is easy to use. Simply download the OLIO app from the app store, register with your details then you are good to go.