Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in St Colmcille's PS

• "Sounds Write" information night for parents

  Thu 23 Feb 2023

  A special thanks to the large number of parents who attended the very informative talk tonight by Louise McMullan on the "Sounds Write" Linguistic Phonics programme which is being implemented in Foundation Stage & KS1. 10 teachers have been trained in the "Sounds Write" teaching strategies.

  

• STRIKE ACTION: Tuesday 21st February - 9.00am to 12.00 noon

  Mon 20 Feb 2023

  Dear parents 

  After receiving a strong mandate for industrial action in furtherance of the current pay dispute, teachers have been instructed to take strike action on the morning of Tuesday 21^st February 2023. 

   

  As a result of this industrial action:

  • Teaching staff will only be available for work from 12pm onwards.
  • Children should not attend school until 12.00 noon.                        (A specific code will be used to record children's absence due to the strike without affecting their overall attendance.)
  • School buses won't be available to transport children to school on Tuesday but will resume the homeward journeys in the afternoon.
  • School meals will be provided for children who have booked a dinner on the Schoolmoney app. 
  • We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this industrial action.

   

  Kind regards

  Peter Cush

  Principal

  

• How does social media and excessive screen time affect children?

  Mon 06 Feb 2023

  Dear parents

  A meeting has been arranged for KS2 parents regarding Internet safety in the school on Tuesday 8th February at 7.00pm delivered by Cons> Rachel Harkness.  This is increasingly a relevant topic for children and parents and we encourage you to attend. In addition to the problems associated with Internet Safety, please see the information below about the effects of Social Media and excessive screen time on children's development.

   

  Kind regards

  Peter Cush

   

  How does social media affects children?

  Most social media apps require users to be at least 13 years old. But in a recent poll, parents shared that 50% of children 10 to 12 years old and 33% of children 7 to 9 years old use social media apps.

   

  If your child is currently on social media or if they’ve been asking to join, it’s important to talk to them about what social media is, what rules you have for it and how it doesn’t always show an accurate picture of someone’s life.

   

  Impact on children

  While experts are just beginning to understand social media’s impact on children, one study shows that children younger than 11 years old who use Instagram and Snapchat are more likely to have problematic digital behaviours like having online-only friends and visiting sites parents would disapprove of, as well as a greater chance of taking part in online harassment.

   

  That same study says limiting how much time a child spends on social media may reduce some of the negative effects of using social media at such an age.

   

  In addition to problematic digital behaviours, there may be changes in children’s daily behaviour at home like:

  • Increased irritability.
  • Increased anxiety.
  • Lack of self-esteem.

  If children are being asked to get off social media and do their homework, then parents might see increased periods of irritability or frustration directed towards parents, they’re being asked to do something they don’t want to do and stop doing something they enjoy.”

   

  Screen time and children

  "Screen time" is a term used for activities done in front of a screen, such as watching TV, working on a computer, or playing video games. Screen time is sedentary activity, meaning you are being physically inactive while sitting down. Very little energy is used during screen time.

   

  Many children spend about 3 hours a day watching TV. Added together, all types of screen time can total 5 to 7 hours a day. Too much screen time can:

  • Make it hard for your child to sleep at night
  • Raise your child's risk for attention problems, anxiety, and depression
  • Raise your child's risk for gaining too much weight

   

  Screen time increases your child's risk for becoming overweight because:

  • Sitting and watching a screen is time that is not spent being physically active.
  • TV commercials and other screen ads can lead to unhealthy food choices. Most of the time, the foods in ads that are aimed at kids are high in sugar, salt, or fats.
  • Children eat more when they are watching TV, especially if they see ads for food.

  Computers can help kids with their schoolwork. But surfing the internet, spending too much time on Facebook, or watching YouTube videos is considered unhealthy screen time.

   

  What is all this screen time doing to kids’ brains?

  Early data from a landmark National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that began in 2018 indicates that children who spent more than two hours a day on screen-time activities scored lower on language and thinking tests, and some children with more than seven hours a day of screen time experienced thinning of the brain’s cortex, the area of the brain related to critical thinking and reasoning.

   

  “We’re not sure what this data means yet, but what we can hypothesize is that screens could inhibit certain aspects of a child’s development by narrowing their focus of interest and limiting their other means of exploration and learning,”

   

  “If young children spend most of their time engaging with an iPad, smartphone, or the television, all of which are highly entertaining, it can be hard to get them engaged in non-electronic activities, such as playing with toys to foster imagination and creativity, exploring outdoors, and playing with other children to develop appropriate social skills. Interacting almost exclusively with screens would be like working out only your arm muscles and nothing else. You would have really strong arm muscles, but at the expense of overall fitness.”

   

  We know that children have easy access to screens, now more than ever. But how do screens affect early childhood development?
  For young children, especially those under the age of 3, development is happening rapidly. Young children learn by exploring their environment and watching the adults in their lives and then imitating them. Excessive screen time may inhibit a child’s ability to observe and experience the typical everyday activities they need to engage with in order to learn about the world, leading to a kind of “tunnel vision,” which can be detrimental to overall development.

   

  When children are walking with a parent or being pushed in a stroller, they are often playing on a smartphone or a tablet and not paying attention to anything else around them. They will not learn about the world around them if all they’re doing is looking at a smartphone. This will not just affect their ability to learn new things, but also how they interact with others and how language develops.

   

  How does screen time impact a child’s ability to learn?
  Studies have shown that children under 2 learn less from a video than when learning from another person, and it appears that although children will watch the TV screen by 6 months, understanding the content does not generally occur until after age 2. It’s not that they won’t be captivated by what’s on the screen, but they’re not learning from it.

   

  Language development expands rapidly between 1½ to 3 years of age, and studies have shown that children learn language best when engaging and interacting with adults who are talking and playing with them. There is also some evidence that children who watch a lot of television during the early elementary school years perform less well on reading tests and may show deficits in attention.

   

  “There is also some evidence that children who watch a lot of television during the early school years perform less well on reading tests and may show deficits in attention.”

  — Dr. Jennifer Cross

  How does screen time affects language and communication?
  Research shows that talking with children in a reciprocal dialogue is extremely important for language development and social interaction. It’s that back-and-forth “conversation,” sharing facial expressions and reacting to the other person — in real life, rather than “passive” listening or one-way interaction with a screen — that improves language and communication skills in young children.

  

• St Brigid's Day

  Wed 01 Feb 2023

  It was lovely to have grandparents of children in R6 & P6 in the school on St Brigid's Day to assist with Cross making. The pupils presented a short history of St Brigid and sang a beautiful song in her honour. The grandparents enjoyed the tea, coffee and scones and the chat with the children.