School Newsletter : 10 November 2023

The weather wasn’t kind to us on Friday for our planned outdoor Remembrance Service but luckily St. Stephens Church was available, so it was all hands on deck to move everything inside.

Year 6 helped lead the service admirably, with pupils reading, playing keyboards, singing and laying the poppy wreath. The whole school, including Nursery and Reception, observed a minute’s silence beautifully.

Huge thanks must go, as ever, to Mr Carden, Graham and Helena for planning and delivering such a moving service of remembrance for those who have given their lives in war, especially in current times. Further thanks goes to Matthew Kemball of Westminster School, who returned to Burdett-Coutts to play The Last Post and Reveille on his trumpet.

It was so wonderful to come together in church for this service and it was lovely to welcome parents and carers, and see many of the children wearing the poppies they had made in class.

For Anti-Bullying Week next week, every class will be taking part in activities, class discussions and special PSHE lessons all about bullying; what it is, what to do about it and how to help.

On Monday (13th November), pupils and teachers across the country will be wearing odd socks – two different socks – to kickstart Anti-Bullying Week. This isn’t a fundraiser but is a day for celebrating our differences and standing together against bullying and discrimination.

We look forward to seeing everyone’s crazy sock combinations on Monday!

Our school has been one of only 5 primary schools in London to be successfully accepted by the acclaimed performing arts programme, Disney Musicals in Schools. Starting this month, pupils will benefit from this unique opportunity to strengthen their skills in acting, singing, dancing, prop making, and other backstage theatre skills, as well as develop their confidence and enhance their speaking, listening and collaborative skills.

The rehearsals will take place over 17 weeks and in March 2024,  the children will perform a Disney KIDS production of The Lion King, both in school, as well as a special showcase staging at the Lyceum Theatre, where the actual West End musical The Lion King takes place!

This week, our Year 4 and 5 children have already been busy in rehearsals. Supported by the Disney Teaching Artists, Lauren and Dom, children and staff have started to learn the notes and choreography for ‘The Circle of Life‘. Everyone is enjoying getting to know the many roles in the play and persevering with the challenge of singing and dancing at the same time, which can be quite tricky!

Our three Disney agreements are ‘Give respect to get respect‘, ‘Everybody plays‘ and ‘Have serious… fun!‘ Everyone involved were certainly fulfilling that final agreement!

The theme for this half term’s Science home learning task is Connections. Below are some of the activities which you can chose from, or you may wish to come up with an idea of your own.

• Model Neuron: Make a model neuron, to learn about connections between nerve cells.
• Chain Reactions: Set up a chain reaction with outdoor items or small indoor items like dominoes, thinking carefully about the connections between each part of the chain.
• Life cycle: Create an edible life cycle to discover how each stage is connected.
• Polar habitat: Make a model of a Polar habitat, this is a great way to learn about how animals adapt to their surroundings.
• Ice caps: Another easy investigation for younger children is to model melting polar ice caps.

Entries will be shared in a celebration assembly at the end of this half term. Good luck everyone!

Year 6 Trip to The Cabinet War Rooms:

This week, as part of our work as historians, we were fortunate enough to visit the Cabinet War Rooms. While underground, we listened to an audio guide which informed us all about the ‘nerve centre‘ where the British Government directed the Second World War. Our tour covered what it was like to live and work beneath the streets of London during the Second World War. As we navigated through the secret corridors, we discovered the character and actions of Churchill himself. It was an engaging and thought provoking experience.

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit to school each week.

Pupils who are not wearing their full PE kit will not be able to participate in lessons, and a note will be sent home indicating why they were not able to participate.

The full PE kit for the Autumn/Winter term is as follows:

• Plain navy blue leggings or tracksuit bottoms
• School navy blue PE t-shirt
• School navy blue sweatshirt (all year groups).
• Pupils in KS2 (Years 3 – 6) must wear a school navy sweatshirt for PE and NOT their school jumper.
• Plain black trainers (velcro if your child struggles with shoe laces)
• Please ensure all items of uniform are clearly labelled (with a permanent pen or label)

We have now moved to email updates and notifications, and only using text messaging when reminders are urgently needed.

Please check your Spam folders and if you haven’t seen any emails from us, please contact the school office so that we can check that we have the correct email address for you.

If you would like your child to move from bringing a packed lunch to having a school meal, you must inform the office at least a week in advance of this change being made. Kindly note pupils are not allowed to alternate between having packed lunches and/or school meals on a daily or weekly basis. If you have any questions, please see a member of the school admin staff at the school office.

You can find the current school lunch menu here >

If you require a printed copy, please ask at the school office. Should you have any questions about the menu, kindly make an appointment to speak with Miss Barnett.

Why good school attendance matters: Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children’s learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

• Poor attendance often starts at primary school and children who fall into this pattern are likely to under-achieve at secondary school.
• Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 – 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.
• An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year.
• Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below.
• All pupils are expected to have an attendance rate of 95% or higher.

Attendance class of the week: Each week we will be celebrating the class with the highest attendance levels.