One of our school families very thoughtful and generously brought in lunch and a cake for staff this week.  Thank you very much - it was delicious and much appreciated!

Below is a list of letters sent to you by text and email this week.  If you haven't received them, please click on the links below:

All parents and carers are required to wear a face covering on the school site (both outside and inside).  If you have a specific exemption, please email headteacher@uplandsmanor.sandwell.sch.uk before Monday 8th March. 

You will not be permitted onto the school site without a mask unless we have been told that you are exempt.    

All our lunch staff and our catering team at LTS are looking forward to seeing all the children in school on 8th March!

You now need to pre-book your child's school dinners on the School Gateway app in order to ensure that they receive a school dinner.

To book a meal you need to:

Please note that dinners must be paid for at the point of booking (unless you get free school meals).  

If you have an outstanding dinner debt, you will not be able to book a dinner online until the debt is paid.  You must contact the office to discuss clearing this and send a packed lunch into school with your child.  If your child arrives to school without a packed lunch, you will be contacted to bring one in for them.

Please check that you are able to book meals in advance of returning to school and email any issues regarding logging in or any other dinner related queries to schooldinners@uplandsmanor.sandwell.sch.uk

We send all communication to parents through the School Gateway App.  If you have a smart phone, we encourage you to download the app and set it to receive notifications. 

This will mean that you receive all the important messages and communication from school.

If you need to set up a new account, download the school gateway app on your phone or use the following link online https://login.schoolgateway.com/0/auth/register. You can also reset forgotten passwords from this link if you click on 'existing user'.

4 Community Trust will be providing the breakfast and after school clubs from the 8th March. If you need to book a place, please go to the website below

https://www.4communitytrust.co.uk/

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:

The children who have submitted at least 2 pieces of work every day were entered into a class raffle draw to receive a £5 voucher.  One child from each class was chosen and the winners for the week beginning 22nd February were:

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: 

Next week is British Science Week and we will be celebrating this on Friday 12^th March. The day will involve the children conducting a range of exciting and engaging experiments. Followed by, researching and learning information about a significant scientist. Science helps children develop new and relevant skills, which prepares them for the real word as science is a big part of life. We really want to highlight this during our thematic day. We hope that you get involved with this by sending your children to school on Friday dressed as a superhero of their choice. Lots of photos and videos will be shared on Twitter during the day.   

This year at Uplands Manor we will be raising money for Comic Relief in two different ways:

Wear Something Funny for Money - pay £1 to come in non-uniform or fancy dress (the redder the better!)

Say Something Funny for Money - pay £1 to tell your best joke on camera for a chance to be included in our massive Joke-a-thon compilation video! Children must have social-media permission to take part in this activity.

Comic Relief Red Nose Day will be on Friday 19^th March 2021,    so get your clothes and your jokes ready for the big day!

Adults with school aged children (or you are in a bubble with a household with children) you can now get free rapid Covid-19 tests to use at home.  Sandwell Council ar asking adults with children to test themselves every three or four days from next week.

You can pick up boxes of these tests from testing sites in Smethwick, Tipton and West Bromwich now - no need to book, just collect them between 1.30pm and 7pm any day.

Collect your tests from:

• Car park, St Paul’s Road, Smethwick, B66 1EG
• Car park in Jubilee Park, Powis Avenue, Tipton, DY4 0RL
• Car park, Temple Street, West Bromwich, B70 9AF

More details - www.sandwell.gov.uk/rapidhometests

We asked Lisa McNally, Director of Public Health Sandwell about the accuracy of the tests and concerns about false positive results and unnecessary isolation.  Here's what she said:

'Regular testing is a way that parents can help prevent outbreaks in schools.  A positive result on an LFT will be confirmed by a PCR (full test) test, so unnecessary isolation is unlikely.  LFT can catch infection early and prevent the virus spreading further.'

This would be an excellent extra safety measure for us at school if you were to take these tests. 

Love Productions, the company behind The Great British Bake Off, The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throw Down are delighted to say, that we have recently opened applications for the 7^th series of Junior Bake Off; a Channel 4 programme that celebrates the culinary talent and ambition of the younger generation in Britain.

We are looking for young budding bakers between 9 -15 years old.

Filming would take place from July 2021, but our applications close on Sunday 28^th March 2021.

Interested bakers can apply online at - WWW.APPLYFORJUNIORBAKEOFF.CO.UK.