The theme for Safer Internet Day this year is "Together for a better internet" and St. Stephen's Junior will once again be using the opportunity to reinforce the importance of staying safe online. Mr. Ball and our Year 5 Digital Leaders are working on a campaign of Digital Awareness and lunchtime drop-in sessions for pupils to play eSafety games and complete questionnaire at The Cedars.

There will be displays and information for parents both in reception and in the dining room. We are focussing on encouraging pupils to protect their own privacy online and having an online identity that is fun and creative without over-sharing. Read more HERE

St. Stephen’s Junior School is proud to announce that we have been awarded a Quality Mark for efforts in developing a whole school approach to Resilience and Emotional Wellbeing. The award was presented to the whole school by David Weiss from Kent County Council.

For over a year we have developed a number of initiatives to develop pupil and staff wellbeing and resilience. Staff took part in Mindfulness training and World Mental Health day and pupils across the whole school experienced a week in May focussed on Art and Wellbeing. Read the FULL ARTICLE

Children and staff at St. Stephen's Junior heartily congratulated a very special group of children in assembly on their progress toward becoming fully-fledged Digital Leaders. Their training is due to complete this term, however, to celebrate their hard work and in preparation for Safer Internet Day on the 11th February, they were presented with unique polo shirts to make them easily identifiable to other children in the school.

Their important role includes providing advice on how to safely navigate the ever-growing digital world. We look forward to their many contributions over the course of the year. Should any parent wish to know more about the programme, please contact us via the school main office.

Happy New Year to all our parents, families, friends and children. We have an exciting year ahead with our school ski trip taking place at the end of this month and hopefully our Spanish exchange school visiting us in March. We are planning to hold our Spring concert on the 2nd of April. We also hope to be able to make a return visit to Madrid in June.

At the start of the New Year we remind children about our school values of Creativity, Independence, Respect, and Care and Consideration. This month our core value is courage and being courageous and making courageous decisions. We believe that focusing on these core values encourages our children to grow into caring, creative, respectful and responsible citizens and developing a mindset and skills that will enable them to be successful in their future lives. We wish you every good fortune for 2020. Stuart Pywell (Executive Headteacher)