Dear Parents,
It’s been 50 years since this wonderful and very special school was set up and I know the founders would be exceptionally proud of their legacy. At last night’s auction, the stunning decorations, a collaborative effort by pupils, teachers and parents, along with the warmth and convivial atmosphere, evidenced how much we all value being part of The Children’s House.
Thank you to all of the teachers, parents and members of the governing body who were able to join at this event; I hope your heads are not too heavy today! We will announce the proceeds of the auction this week, but I will tell you that we raised a substantial sum for our charities and for the school, so many thanks as well to those generous bidders.
This edition of the newsletter is packed full. This past few weeks we’ve had a multitude of extracurricular events and initiatives. The bike workshop- what an enlivening way to begin the day, was a huge success, made even more enjoyable by the chocolate croissants and coffee (many a chocolate moustache that morning!). Dan, an ex parent who owns Abouthebike Bicycle Repairs | Builds | Coffee | About The Bike manged to service many of your bikes and was happy to see the school again after many years. He’s also been brainstorming our bike storage conundrum. This is definitely an event to repeat.
We’ve had a Recycling Week and a Maths Day, both of which you will read about below, prepared for two Arts and a Story Writing Competition and have celebrated both Red Nose and Mother's Day with red clothing and daffodils. All of these events have been skilfully woven into lessons by our talented teaching staff.
Amidst all of that, the office has been a flurry of activity. To give you a taste: Taiba and I have been interviewing Teaching Assistants to cover Izzy’s maternity leave (Year 2). I hope to update you soon. We’ve been touring lots of prospective parents, mostly for Reception, but some for occasional places further up the school as well. On the administrative side, Senior Leadership together with Maria and Ainsley have been working conscientiously to update the Single Central Register and our Action Plan for the DFE. Ainsley attended a highly informative Regulatory Compliance course on Wednesday, so has been briefed on the most up to date guidance. Nearly all of you were able to attend parents’ evening – thank you. The feedback has given us much to celebrate and reflect on.
Resilience was the key theme in Friday’s Celebration Assembly, with pupils in all year groups commended on this, particularly when facing open-ended Maths problems like the construction tasks on Maths Day, or tricky times tables and spellings. Bouncing back from difficulty, however small, is the key to growth and strength, so we’re rewarding and praising this wherever we can.
Have a wonderful Easter break,
Ellie
World Maths Day.
On Thursday 23rd March, the whole of The Children's House Upper School took part in World Maths Day. The event was a huge success, with children engaging with Maths in a range of different and exciting ways. The day is designed to promote resilience and problem solving and it gives me great delight to say that this was the case in all of our classrooms.
Across the school, the children looked at geometric and repeating patterns, using these to create Easter Eggs, as well as playing a range of games involving addition, doubling and time. They also created 3D shapes using construction techniques, put their design and teamwork skills to the test when making geometric-jelly-bean domes and spaghetti-marshmallow towers and showed off their ability to use number when cracking codes, solving sequences, mastering matchstick equations and tackling some difficult KenKen puzzles.
I'm exceptionally hopeful that the day has set off a spark and created some future mathemeticians and I am looking forward to next year's events already.
Kate (Head of Maths)
RA Young Artist’s Summer show competition
We are very excited to announce that we will be entering our children into this year’s Young Artist’s Summer show competition, run by the Royal Academy. Our Upper School children have been hard at work producing some fantastic pieces of art this year. Artwork by each child will be viewed by a panel of judges, as part of our very own internal competition. Shortlisted pieces will be submitted to the RA next week.
Our judges panel includes:
- Haidee Becker – artist and painter, with works previously exhibited in the RA; permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery.
- Liam Casey - Children's House parent and designer.
- Florrie Thomas - Local London artist and illustrator.
- Ruth Lie – Senior Creative Producer at Somerset House Studios
Aisha