Cashes Green Primary School and Children's Centre

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Sport and Wellbeing

Wednesday 20th May

I wanted to start by saying a massive thank you for all your support for our challenges we have been completing over the last few weeks. We will be doing the last few this week and we have raised over £1200 so thank you very much for your support and thank you to all the teachers that agreed to take part (I think they secretly enjoyed doing it)! 

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and I think this year more than any it is really important for us to be aware of our mental health. Obviously everybody has been, rightly, focusing on their physical health recently with the virus but not being able to do the things we enjoy doing due to lockdown will have had a real impact on our mental health. I know for me this is the longest I have ever gone (since I was 5) without playing sport! There will be people who have lost jobs because of the virus. There are people who still can't go outside and haven't been able to for over 2 months now. People can't see their family still. There will be people worried about family and friends and many other things that will have affected our mental health. 

The theme for this week is 'Kindness'. I have included a couple of YouTube clips below that I would like you to watch.

On the mental health wellbeing site there are some other stories as well if you would like to look at them https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/kindness-stories

As Kindness is the theme this week, I would like you to think of some acts of kindness that you could do to help others around you and to help you feel good about yourself. 

I am going to give you a few ideas based on things that we have done at home but I am sure you will all have some fantastic ideas of your own.

So far we have:

• Cut the grass for our elderly neighbours
• Made biscuits for our cousins
• Made cakes and delivered them to our family
• Drew a chalk picture for another of our elderly neighbours
• Sorted out Bella's old clothes to give to Mr Tanner for his younger daughter
• Sent lots of pictures of ourselves to friends and family 

Anything you do will be greatly appreciated I am sure.

If you can do an act of kindness I would love to hear what you have done.

You could send me a picture of what you have been up to or write about it to let me know.  

Physical Activity 

I know we are allowed out for exercise more now but still the safest place to be is at home so if you are looking for some ways to keep active at home this website https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/activities/indoor-activities gives some great ideas of activities you can do. 

Wednsday 13th May

Wow, thank you so much to all of you! We have now raised over £1000! The challenges you have sent in have be great. The teachers have enjoyed doing them and it has given us a good laugh watching each other doing them. Although I'm not sure I will keep my new hairstyle! I will give a brief update on this page each week but from now on you can see all the challenges on our #Casheslockdownchallenge page. Please keep sending in challenges to me. This week I am running a marathon as one of my challenges and lots of teachers are completing other challenges, keep checking the lock down page and facebook for more updates. 

Last week, I set you a challenge of learning a new skill and I am pleased to say I have had a great update from Logan (year 4) and Blake (reception) showing me how they have been getting on with their bike riding. 

This week the government announced that from today, as long as we continue to social distance, we can go out more than once a day for exercise. As a family we have absolutely loved going out and enjoying our daily exercise so this was an exciting piece of information for us. In Gloucestershire we are very lucky to live where we do as we have some amazing countryside around us. I hope the sun stays out and over the next couple of weeks hopefully you can get outside and enjoy the countryside around you a bit more. Not only is getting outside and being active really important to improve our physical health it is also really important for our mental health. If you can try and visit somewhere that you haven't been before in Stroud. Randwick woods and Haresfield beacon have some fantastic views and wildlife there is also the canal that has some lovely walks. 

My children and wife went out yesterday for a walk and discovered a new field that we hadn't seen before. I have some pictures of them below. 

If you manage to find somewhere new, or you just go somewhere you haven't been able to go for a while I would love to hear about it. Remember to stay safe where ever you go and look after yourselves but try your best to enjoy more of the outside now we can! Like I have said previously this is a really good time to do things together as a family so take this time to do some fun activities inside and out for the next few weeks. I have attached below a bird watching checklist and a flower spotting checklist see what you can find whilst you are out and about!

Wednesday 6th May

I want to start by saying a massive thank you to everyone that has donated to our fundraising page - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dom-barnard1 We have already raised over £500 now which was our initial target. There are clips of the teachers doing all their challenges on our #Casheslockdownchallenge page and on Facebook - www.facebook.com/cashesgreenprimary So far I have ran to school, Miss Grace and Mrs Folley have sung and danced to Frozen music, Mr Atkinson has shaved his head, Mrs Eeley and Mrs Hall have jumped 26 times on a trampoline every day for a week, Mrs Dawson has done a Tik Tok dance and Mrs Marsh has done the Ice Bucket challenge. There are more coming up this week so keep your eyes on our website for updates!

As well as completing challenges I have also been busy helping my children ride their bikes. Below is a video of Archie and Bella riding their bikes.

I would like you to try and learn a new skill over the next few weeks. If you have a bike it could be to learn to ride that. It could be running (after my challenge I am now going to run to school every Tuesday we are closed). It could be juggling, doing a forward roll, catching, tennis  or hula hooping (Annabelle in year 5 is doing a hula hoop challenge https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JoLeach2/1?utm_source=messenger&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=fundraiser&utm_term=socialshare&utm_content=fundriasingpage )

Or it could be something not sporty - drawing something different, your times tables (see the maths page), making something or cooking something (see the DT page). What ever you choose it has to be something that you haven't tried before or something you have found hard to do. Remember to learn a new skill takes perseverance so don't just give up if you find it hard. I would love to hear what you have decided to get better at it, send me your ideas and/or your pictures of you trying. 

Wellbeing Challenge

I would like you to think of a family member or close friend that you haven't been able to see during the lockdown period. Can you write them a letter or a postcard or draw a picture (younger ones) to cheer show them how much you are missing them. You could tell them what you would like to do when you can see them again. I know my children are missing going away in the campervan with their Grandma so would write about that. Once you have completed your work if you can take a picture and send it to that person or deliver it on your daily walk if it is safe to do so or if you have done it on computer you could email it. If you want to send it to me as well I will put it up on this page next week so if it is for your friends they might be able to see it here! 

Activities 

Hope you are all managing to keep active. There is a fantastic website set up by the Youth Sport Trust - https://www.youthsporttrust.org/free-home-learning-resources-0 

They give some fantastic ideas of things to do to keep active at home. There is an Early years section and a Primary Section (and a secondary one for those of you with older children). Please log in and have a look at all the wonderful ideas on there and have a go. 

Wednesday 29th April

I hope you are all managing to keep your spirits up and are all ok during lockdown. If you are feeling down or upset about things (parents and children) please remember we are all still here for you. You can email any of the teachers during the week and Mrs Dawson and Mrs Eeley are in the office in school Monday to Friday so you can always ring and speak to them. I like to think of myself as a positive person (although Year 6 might disagree) and try to make sure everyone is happy at playtimes etc at school so if you are finding things tricky at home please email me (dbarnard@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk) and I will try and give you some ideas - both physical and mental to cheer you up! Also if you have something that you have been doing that you would like to share with others let me know. Maybe play a board game, read a new book or have a go at one of the creative ideas on the art page - I'd love to know what you are doing to help with your mental wellbeing. 

Challenge update - I completed my run yesterday. I made it to school in 1 hour 20 minutes. It was hard work especially with the rain!

I have received a couple of other challenges for the teachers this week. Maya in Year 3 challenged Miss Grace and Mrs Folley to dress up and dance to some Frozen music. See Miss Grace's effort below (Mrs Folley will be doing hers this week). Great work Miss Grace!

We also had a great challenge sent in from Tia in reception. Tia is taking part in the 2.6 challenge  (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tia-s-2-6-challenge2021?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=tia-s-2-6-challenge2021&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=d149d7b417e94e3ca8c0d8a7ef4781bd)

which is a nationwide challenge that people have taken up as the London Marathon was cancelled. Tia is doing 26 bounces on her trampoline everyday for a week and she has challenged any teachers that have a trampoline to join her. So far Mrs Eeley has taken up the challenge - check out the clip below of bouncing in the rain. Mrs Hall is also going to take the challenge on. I will upload all their efforts next week. 

Please email in as many challenges as you can (dbarnard@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk) the teachers are looking forward to having a go and don't forget to sponsor us if you can https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dom-barnard1

Wednesday 22nd April

I have been absolutely amazed at the work that Captain Tom Moore has been doing - raising money for the NHS by walking 100 lengths of his garden for his 100th birthday!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs

It has got me thinking of doing a challenge myself to try and raise some money for the NHS as well. I am going to start of by running to school next Tuesday (about 8 miles mainly uphill). Then after that I would like you to email me challenges that you would like me to complete! The really exciting bit is that I have managed to convince lots of other teachers to join in as well! If you have an idea of a challenge that you would like to set for us please email me. The teachers that are happy to be challenged are: Mr Barnard, Mrs Dawson, Mrs Eeley, Miss Jordan, Mr Atkinson, Miss Grace Miss Bliss, Mrs Marsh, Mrs Hall, Mrs Mosses and Mrs Folley. Each week we are not in school each teacher will pick one of the challenges that have been emailed to complete so get your ideas sent to dbarnard@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk The challenges could be anything - maybe you will want to see Mrs Dawson sing a song or Mr Atkinson dance to your favourite song. The challenges could be mean - making Mrs Hall go a week without eating chocolate or kind challenge Miss Jordan to read a book everyday of the week. You could ask Mrs Eeley to make a cake or Mrs Folley to run a mile. Get your thinking caps on and send your challenges in! If you would like to support us we have set up a Go Fund Me Page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dom-barnard1

Thanks and I will post a picture or clip of the challenges each week. 

I hope you have all been keeping active over Easter. I have been in school most days over the holiday and the 7 or 8 children who have been in have been doing the Joe Wicks daily workouts with me:

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ 

I have really enjoyed doing it and it has definitely helped me get fitter, if you haven't tried it yet give it a go! Ryley in year 5 sent me a great clip of him keeping fit doing boxing training so well done Ryley. I would love to see more clips of you exercising and improving your skills. My new challenge is below. Send me your efforts. It is a keepy uppy challenge. I managed 100. If you haven't got a football you could use a rolled up pair of socks, or a tennis ball or anything you can find!

Looking after your Health and Mental Wellbeing are incredibly important in these worrying times (both parents and children). Over the next few weeks I will be giving you some ideas that can help you keep physically fit (and ones that can be done as a whole family) as well as a weekly sports challenge. I will also upload some videos of me doing some of these activities with my family at home, it would be great if you can share yours with me by email dbarnard@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk or share them on our facebook page.   

I will also give you some ideas to help you stay positive and look after your mental wellbeing whilst staying at home, hopefully they will help you connect as a family and help you enjoy your time together at home - hopefully one of the benefits of this terrible situation will be the chance for families and communities to come closer together. I know I have enjoyed the chance to spend some extra time with my family at home and have also spent time helping out our neighbours who are self isolating with jobs like cutting the grass etc. 

Your first weeks challenge is throwing and catching - see clip below.

https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/harolds-daily-diary 

Each day (prompt at 9am) Harold chats and gives you ideas of how you can look after your Mental Health at this difficult time. Scroll right down to the bottom to catch the start of his diary.

.Websites 

https://www.youthsporttrust.org/free-home-learning-resources-0 - this is a fantastic website that gives you some fantastic ideas to keep active at home, please log in and have a go at some of the challenges. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers sneak some other curriculum areas while children take part in 'Go Noodle' style dance/aerobic/movement sessions

https://www.childline.org.uk/ advice to support children and families 

Information for Parents on Online Safety - this is extra important at this time.

As always, please supervise children using these links - a site may also contain links to other sites or clips so whilst these direct links are suitable there might be content a few clicks away that isn't.

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