Newsletters

Newsletter - 10th June 2022

Dear Parents,

It was wonderful to see everyone in the playground this morning. Quite apart from Dan’s energetic bicycle checks, parents enjoyed catching up with one-another and the children were thrilled to begin the day with croissants.  After two quiet years, the return of these once regular events feels doubly enjoyable.  Many of our families have no experience of the many whole-school events that took place pre-covid.  The summer fair was always the highlight of the school calendar for children. Apart from the Year 2 outreach stall, making a profit has never been the aim.  We want the children to have fun, and for activities and purchases to be affordable with pocket money.  Despite the lack of space, next week I will be happy to see the office flooded with your contributions, from second-hand toys and books to home baking. Despite my imminent departure, I am enjoying planning for the school’s future. Specialist sports and music lessons will begin next year at the Nursery. At the Upper School, the new upstairs classrooms are looking stunning and we have music teachers in place for one-to-one lessons with Year 3 children. Year 3 swimming lessons are already booked at the new Britannia pool from September.  With the generous support of a Year 1 parent, we hope to initiate an inspiring practical maths club.  These details make the expanded school an exciting reality. We are still searching for a French teacher, so any recommendations will be gratefully received.  The children have only been back at school for one week but they have been extremely busy over the past five days.  Enjoy the reports and photographs that follow.

Have an enjoyable family weekend.

Warm wishes,

Kate

 

Upcoming Dates - the school calendar can be found here (no login required)

Nursery Dates

Wednesday 15th June Sports Day - Upstairs Nursery Children only

Wednesday 15th June Parent’s Evening – Peny’s class and Jane’s class

Friday 17th June Sports Day - Downstairs Nursery Children only

Saturday 18th June Summer Fair @ Upper School 2.00pm – 4.00pm Details to follow

Tuesday 21stJune and Thursday 23rd June Parent’s Evening for Jess’ and Mihaela’s class 

 

Upper School Dates

Tuesday 14th June Sports Day, During School time, no special arrangements.

Thursday 16th June Parent's Evening.

Saturday 18th June Summer Fair Upper School 2.00pm – 4.00pm 

Wednesday 22th June Parent's Evening

Thursday 30th June Year 2 Tap Dancing Concert

Monday 4th July Violin Concerts

Online Safety News 

-Parental control and monitoring tools including Google Family Link, Apple ScreenTime and Microsoft Family Safety https://parentsafe.lgfl.net 
-Apple Introduce new Safety features Children  Managing Screen Time, article for families from Internet Matters 
-Information on Bitlife App which has been raised  as a concern  primary schools in the area.

Eco-Schools

Dear all,

I hope you all had a restful holiday!

Recycling week has seen a renewed focus on eco-friendly activities. Hopefully you have all received a new ink cartridge recycling bag, and please also remember that batteries can be sent in to us for recycling at any time. Don’t forget that the Book Exchange is continually available in the entrance to Year 1 for swapping books from home for something different.

Today’s bike workshop and coffee morning was a great success – it’s lovely to be able to get together again. Huge thanks again to Dan from Big Fun Cycles for getting through an impressive 30 bikes in an hour!

Please find below a map showing a rough idea of where can be walked in 10 minutes from school. If you use the car to drop your children at school we would encourage you to park somewhere within this zone and walk the last 5-10 minutes. This is great for reducing air pollution around the school and gives the children a great morning warm up before class!

I am happy to report that we have achieved our Bronze Award with TFL Stars, in recognition of all the activities we have been doing as a school to encourage healthier ways to travel. Many thanks for your support in all such activities, such as Wheelies and our bike workshop morning, which have contributed to this award. Next year we will work towards Silver!

Best

Rick

Year 2 News 

Year 2 have enjoyed a fun-packed week after their half term holiday.

On Monday we visited King Henry’s Walk Gardens and saw lots of minibeasts and flowers. We were particularly interested in looking at the flowers that attracted the butterflies and when we came back to school we sketched them and painted them using watercolours.

On Wednesday we were thrilled to be able to visit The Horniman Museum and Gardens. We had an amazing time exploring the butterfly house and encountering some of the species we had studied in class. Next, we visited the petting zoo and got to see some of Al’s alpaca relatives before having lunch among the rose gardens. Finally, we were awe inspired by the Horniman’s vast collection of animals and fossils. For the first time, Year 2 travelled by public transport and were very mature and sensible throughout the journey.

Keep up your brilliant effort, Year 2!

Sinead

Year 1 News 

Year 1 have continued their learning all about plants and seasons by thinking about the earth in space, and how the way the earth turns affects our weather. The children looked at how the earth is actually tilted, and when it moves around the sun some parts of the earth are closer or further away from the sun, giving us Summer and Winter. They looked at the equator and discovered that countries closer to it are much hotter! We then looked at how plants located in the rainforests differ from our UK plants. We created a collage of rainforest leaves and are excited to begin making rainforest habitat dioramas next week. In Maths the children have become fractions experts and have been working on finding halves and quarters. We are looking forward to a very busy final term in Year 1.

Reception News 

It has been wonderful to hear the children discuss and share their experiences from half term. This term Receptions topic is ‘Growth’, this week the class have been exploring  how they have grown and changed, not just physically but mentally too. The children looked closely at the stories ‘The Lion Inside’ and ‘The Koala Who Could’, they used their phonic knowledge to retell the story and to write about an accomplishment that they have achieved this year, discussing how they felt before and after reaching their goal. The children also discussed how regardless of our size, we all have the power to make an impact, the children applied paint to rubber bands and made small movements to create a piece of artwork, encapsulating that something small can still leave a beautiful mark.

 As part of ‘Recycling Week’ Reception used cardboard to create mixed media lions and bottles to create sensory bottles. The children explored aboriginal artwork, they used dots to create their own interpretations. The children also visited the school allotment, they hunted for shapes within the natural world and recorded their finding through pictures and tallies.

 The class also had a wonderful trip to the ‘Discover Children’s Centre’, the children loved experimenting with different formats of storytelling, hunting for clues to help solve an anagram and creating soundscapes.

Nursery 

Both the Upstairs and Downstairs nursery groups loved their first visit to Rosemary Gardens this week. The children were full of excitement about the playground equipment on offer and could not wait to climb, swing, slide and spin. It was great seeing them practising their gross motor skills and challenging themselves with adult's nearby to guide and help.  The merry go round about was particularly popular. We look forward to seeing the children continue to grow in skill and confidence. 

Wishing you a pleasant weekend. 

Salima

Upstairs Nursery News

We have started the week writing letters inviting caterpillars into our nursery. This sparked lots of inquiries about where we should send the invitations and the children have decided that the best place would be Clissold Park. We are all eagerly waiting for a reply or their arrival!

In Maths, we have focused on symmetry and looked at Andy Goldsworthy’s work. The children raised to various challenges and worked with 2D shapes, paints and natural materials to extend their learning. Their floor sculptures have been astounding!