Headteacher: Mr Oli de Botton
Head of Middle School : Ms Anna Kyrk
To our Middle School Community, Our final weeks of the Spring Term have gone off with a bang! There have been many incredible events over the last fortnight; please read through this final Spring term newsletter to hear all about what's been happening. Monitoring your children before and after school
Please ensure you are vigilant in knowing your child's whereabouts before and after school. There have been a number of incidents at the shops on Stratford High Street where students from School 21 have been present or involved. Ensure your child is not loitering after school as this behaviour can put them in unsafe situations. The school will contact families of students we have concerns for specifically, and shop owners are advised to contact the police if their businesses are disrupted by students. Thank you for your support in keeping your child and our school community safe. Attendance reminder
A reminder that if you are applying for an authorised absence for your child (for any reason), the procedure is to contact the Attendance Team by emailing attendance@school21.org.uk. There is an application for leave form that parents / carers need to complete before the planned absence. This can be collected from the office or provided via email from the attendance team. Evidence (travel tickets, itineraries, proof of appointments etc) will be required as well to accompany your request. Absences that are taken without following this protocol will be marked as unauthorised and the borough may issue a fine. Please contact the attendance team if you have any questions or concerns regarding this. Dates For Your Diary Return Date for Academic Year 2019/2020 - Monday 9th September 6th April - 22nd April EASTER HOLIDAYS Tuesday 23rd April: First day of Summer Term 1 Thursday 24th April: Matterhorn Zap Space trip
(please send grip socks or bring £2 if your child needs to purchase a pair). Tuesday 30th April: Above and Beyond Out and About trip for April Monday 13th - Thursday 16th May: Year 6 SATs Exams Tuesday 7th May: Year 8 Dissection Project group - Body Worlds trip Friday 17th May: Year 6 Celebration in the Park day!
(More information to come) Friday 17th May: Year 8 Salesforce Project group
- Salesforce Maker Faire trip 1 - 10:00 - 16:00 Thursday 23rd May: Year 8 Salesforce Project group
- Salesforce Maker Faire trip 2 - 10:00 - 16:00
Attendance Winners - Week Beginning 25/03/2019 Year 5 - Matterhorn 98.5%Year 6 - Everest 99%Year 7 - Rockies 98.6%Year 8 - Mont Blanc 93.9%
Overall Attendance Winners - Spring Term Year 5 Matterhorn 97.4%Year 6 Kosciuszko 96.6%Year 7 Himalayas 96.1%Year 8 Olympus 96.3%
Congratulations to Matterhorn for winning the Spring Zap Space Celebration. This will happen during the first week back after the holidays!
Spring Term 2019 - 100% Attendance and Punctuality
Well done Year 6! Year 6 did a terrific job last week working so hard on doing their best on their Mock SATs. This time, the tests were held in very similar conditions to how the real tests will be administered in May. The Year 6 crew really Stepped Up and the progress they have made has been phenomenal so far. As part of our wider project on 'How can we perform at our best?', we held a special well being day on Friday last week were the Year 6s went to visit Stratford Picturehouse and the Olympic Park for the day. Keep up the phenomenal effort everyone! Remember to do some practice over the holidays, as well as enjoying the break and spending time with your family
and friends!
Farewell Ms Graham! Sadly, Ms Graham who teaches maths in Year 7 and Year 8 and is the much loved coach in Mont Blanc is leaving us after the Easter holidays to take on a role back in her home town of Leeds. We wish her all the best in her move and at her new school. Joining the Middle School team after the break is Mr Dundon who will coach Mont Blanc with Ms Freed as well as teaching maths and projects in Year 7 and 8.
Year 5 WWI Poetry This term, Year 5 have been learning all about World War One, looking specifically at cowardice and bravery throughout the war. In English, they looked at WW1 poetry and learnt to use some high level poetic techniques, such as enjambment and caesura, for effect. They applied their knowledge of WW1 and poetry to write and perform their own poems which were then shown at the Great Oracy Exhibition to many very impressed teachers from other schools, including GCSE teachers who said they were better than their Year 10 and 11s! Below are a selection of some of their excellent poems.
Debate Mate Team Success! On Tuesday this week our Year 5 & 6 Debate Mate teams competed in the Debate Mate Cup, a standalone competition that ends the year of debating. The teams did very well with School 21 Team 2 comprised of Jeneil, IK, Iliana, Aaishah, Sameeksha, Adil and Dreu from Year 6 did exceptionally well, scoring the highest amount of points out of all the teams competing. This put them in the final debate with the motion 'This House believes that YouTube celebrities have a responsibility to be good role models' and drew arguing the opposition side. Very disappointingly, they
were pipped at the post by Ravenscroft, however their debate and style was brimming with confidence and style. All debaters should be very proud of what they achieved.
Year 8 Dance Crew sign off! The Year 8 leg of the Dance Project finished this week - we are very proud of the fantastic culture that has been created by the students with Ms Hansen and Ms Jenkins over the past term. The Year 8s have been true leaders in this sense as the sign up from Year 7 to take part in the project next term has been hugely enthusiastic! Watch this space!
Autism Awareness Week at School 21 Autism Awareness Week has been celebrated this week in Middle School with students fully participating in a series of themed events to raise awareness of autism, and to celebrate members of our school community with autism. In the Middle School, students attended an assembly, where they heard first-hand stories from four incredibly brave students in Primary and Secondary. Well done to Nikola (Y9), Ethan (Y9), Tahjib (Y11), and Brandon (Y4) for talking so eloquently to their peers about their experience living with autism. On Wednesday Shelvon (Y9) and Keith (Y9) kindly sacrificed their lunch period to run a fundraising bake sale, along
with several more students after school on Tuesday. Students took part in a hugely popular puzzle-piece treasure hunt on Thursday in which they could win chocolate in exchange for correctly identifying “true” or “false” statements about autism. Finally, on Friday, a “spectrum” own-clothes day was an occasion for students to come to school dressed in colours representing the “spectrum” of autism. Thank you to the inclusion team for arranging such a great week!
Year 7 at Young Vic Last week the Royal Court drama / play writing project in Year 7 also came to an end with a fitting visit for the students involved to see a performance of 'Jesus Hopped the A Train' at Young Vic Theatre. Thank you to Mr Thomas for organising the project and trip and the drama team for supporting. The students really enjoyed the authentic experience of seeing a production after working in this role as playwrights over the term.
Year 5 Mathematicians This week, Arjun, Samiha and Helena put their maths skills to the test by competing against other primary schools across London in the Primary Maths Challenge. They did a fantastic job of cracking complex codes, solving pentomino puzzles and making pictures with tangrams, whilst also showing off their speedy mental maths skills in the 24 game. We still have our fingers crossed to find out if we performed well enough to make it through to the next round!
Bringing light to those who need it...Over the Spring term the Year 6 students, joined by Year 8 and Year 7 project groups all worked on ways to raise funds to donate for 'Lantern Projects' (www.lanternprojects.org) who help find funds for small projects around the world in less developed countries. Our Lantern Walk in Y6 (with Y8 helpers) and our 'Go Glow' non-uniform day this week all helped us to raise £378 towards the different causes! Special mention to Ella, Eleanor and Freya in Y6 for their incredible fundraising - they were the top 3
individual sponsorship amounts with Ella taking out the top position raising an incredible £128! Watch this space for an update on the specific projects our donations will support.
Recognition last week Our recognition boards with filled with names again this week (and a bit!). Congratulations and thank you to all who demonstrated working in the zone, choosing kind and stepping up - you make our Middle School community #middlestrong!
Apply to be on Junior Bake Off!Recently we were contacted by the television company Love Productions, who make programmes such as The Great British Bake Off and The Great British Sewing Bee. They were delighted to announce that JUNIOR BAKE OFF is coming back for a 5th Series on Channel 4 and applications are now open! They are looking for talented young bakers between 9 -15 years old. Filming would take place from late July 2019, but our applications close on Monday 6th May 2019,
so we are helping them spread the word to any aspiring bakers we may have in Middle School. Budding young bakers are encouraged to visit the website for more information on how to apply: WWW.APPLYFORJUNIORBAKEOFF.CO.UK
The Week we Return After the Holidays The Lunch Menu is Week 1!
Receiving Emails from School Those with Yahoo email accounts need to add: 3164001@capita-intouch.co.uk as a safe contact so that they can receive emails
from the school.
Dear Parent/Carer,The Family Fun Day returns to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on the 17th April 2019 at the Timber Lodge Café between
11:00am-3:00pm.The event will take place in the beautiful north of the Park and will feature a selection of indoor and outdoor activities, including:Outdoor Vintage Games‘Come & have a go’
African drumming workshop – free African drumming experienceNursery rhymes yoga classes – Song and rhyme yoga class for the little onesFriendly animals farm - including Donkey, Sheep, Lambs, Goats, Chickens, Rabbits and DucksArts & Crafts – Easter bunny mask-making, basket making, colouring and messy playFace-Painting – Free face paint for all children‘Perfectly Norman’ interactive story-telling sessions – Performed by the Discover CentreEggy Willy Wonka Egg Hunt – Free Easter egg hunt for all local families.
For full info, please click here. Kind Regards,The Go! Schools Team
Cricket Giveaway for Newham Residents
Newham residents have another fantastic opportunity to watch first class cricket thanks to their prestigious partnership with Essex Cricket. As part of the partnership agreement the council has up to 100 tickets to give away for each day of the Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup games taking place at The Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford. For more details and to book your ticket, visit www.newham.gov.uk/cricket
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