School Newsletter : 17 November 2023

Year 4 and 5 have been brimming with excitement during our Disney rehearsals this week. The highly anticipated casting has been revealed! Each child received an actor’s script and delved into the entire narrative to understand how each of their roles contribute to the overall production.

The week’s rehearsals presented an additional challenge, with both teachers and students immersing themselves in learning the Zulu language for the song ‘One by One‘. The lyrics ‘Ibambeni njalo, bakithi, ningadinwa! Ningaphelewa ngamandla! Siya babona ngeke balunge! Sizo nqoba! Ngeke balunge!‘ translate to ‘Hold on tight, my people, don’t grow weary! Don’t lose your strength! We can see they will not succeed! We will triumph! They will not succeed!‘

In addition, the children dedicated time to perfecting the notes and choreography for both ‘The Circle of Life’ and the ‘Hakuna Matata’ chorus.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for participating in our Children In Need Fundraising Event. It was wonderful to see all the creative and inspirational ways children (and parents) used spots to bring attention to this important fundraising event, which supports so many UK based charities and families, of which we raised £200.00!

Congratulations to the following pupils who successfully won our competitions on the day:

Pin the Eye on Pudsey

• Nursery: Jessie
• Reception: Elijah
• Year 1: Hussein
• Year 2: Ezra
• Year 3: Joe
• Year 4: Safwan
• Year 5: Taha
• Year 6: Fahad

This week we have joined millions of children and teachers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to mark Anti-Bullying Week 2023. The week began with a very colourful Odd Socks Day on Monday and we saw some very weird and wonderful sock combinations! A big thank you to all our pupils and staff who made such an effort on Monday to raise awareness and celebrate our differences.

Throughout the week all classes have been talking about bullying and participating in PSHE lessons about what bullying is. The theme of this year’s campaign is “Make a Noise about Bullying” and this is what the Anti-Bullying Alliance has to say about it:

Of course, we won’t like everyone and we don’t always agree, but we can choose respect and unity.

This Anti-Bullying Week let’s come together to have discussions about what bullying means to us, how banter can turn into something more hurtful, and what we can do to stop bullying. Together, we can make a difference and take a stand against bullying.

From the playground to Parliament, and from our phones to our homes, let’s make a noise about bullying.

We’ve like to introduce our new school librarians: Taha, Fenet, Indi & Grace in Year 5 and Sara, Daniel, Eeeman & Sofia in Year 6. Our librarians can be identified in school by the blue badges they are wearing.

The library will be open during lunchtime for Years 1 – 6 on a Tuesday and Wednesday. The librarians will be in the library to read with younger children and will also recommend books.

The librarians have enjoyed their lunchtime opening of the library this week, Daniel said “I enjoyed being surrounded by the children and helping them to read; I love reading books.” and Sara explained “I enjoyed engaging with the children that decided to come to the library.”

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 2 Trip to The Tower of London:
Year 2 had a fantastic opportunity to visit the Tower of London, and it really helped to bring the story of the Great Fire alive. They crossed the drawbridge into the Tower and were immediately struck by the enormity of the gates, chains, and the moat.

During their visit, the children had a session with Penny, a silk merchant from 1666. She introduced the children to many facts, but she was particularly impressed with all the information about the Great Fire that Year 2 children were able to share with her. They learned more about Samuel Pepys and how he spread the events of the Great Fire through his diaries, demonstrating why this was more effective than simply ‘telling’ his tales.

The students explored the White Tower, and Penny led a drama session where children learned about the safe places that Londoners escaped during 1666. As well as learning about the Great Fire of London, they made the most of their time in the Tower of London by speaking to a Yeoman Guard and visiting spectacular exhibitions, such as the Crown Jewels. The children had a wonderful day but left disappointed that they couldn’t take a crown home!

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.