Coronavirus Update - 6 March 2020

I wanted to update parents and carers as I understand this issue may be causing some concern. As set out in our previous letter the school remains in constant touch with Public Health England, the Director of Public Health in Newham and the Department for Education to make sure we are following the most up to date guidance. At present there are no issues to report. I will of course let you know if things change and please do let the school know if you or your child are worried about anything.

There is, however, a small change in the guidance which suggests that if you have returned from any part of Italy in the last 14 days and have symptoms of the virus, (cough, high temperature or shortness of breath, even if symptoms are mild) you should contact 111 for advice. Please check the details here which includes guidance if you have visited other countries in the last 14 days: 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public#advice-for-travellers 

Please do let us know if that is the case.

We are trying to make sure we can communicate well with all parents so want to understand who has access to the internet at home.  Please click on the link https://forms.gle/nnw7Nyrg46s5qQKx7 and complete the form if you do not have access or call 0208 262 2121 or email info@school21.org.uk  

Overall, the school continues to emphasise the importance of hand washing (at least 20 seconds with hot water and soap) and we are keeping a careful eye on any absences. Please make sure you are letting us know about absences in the normal way (phone 0208 262 2121, choose option 1 and leave a message before 8:30am or email attendance@school21.org.uk) and highlighting if there are any issues.

For additional guidance please see:

Current guidance to educational settings:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19 

Information for returning travellers updated daily:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public#advice-for-travellers 

A useful FAQ blog:

https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/ 

 Key Dates For Your Diary

Monday 16th March - Friday 20th March - History Week
(Please see information below)

Tuesday 17th March -  Artefact Workshop 
(3:15pm - 3:45pm)

Monday 23rd March - Friday 27th March -
Bring a Parent to School Week - Maths Focus
(Letter has been emailed - please email your class teacher to book your day)

Tuesday 24th March - Year 1 Trip to Spitafields City Farm
(More information to follow)

Wednesday 25th March - Newton, Parks and De Coubertin Class Trip to  Greenwich Planetarium and Observatory
(Letter has been emailed)

Thursday 26th March - INSET Day 
(School closed to all Students)

Monday 30th March - Child of the Term Assembly
(Invited Parents Only) 

Tuesday 31st March - Year 4 Spark Speeches at Salesforce Tower
(POSTPONED - More information to follow)

Monday 30th March, Tuesday 31st March & Thursday 2nd April -
Year 3 Tudor Performance
(4:00pm - 5:00pm - Primary Hall)

Thursday 2nd April - 100% Attendance Assembly

Thursday 2nd April - Child of the Term Trip
(More information to follow)

Thursday 2nd April - Year 2 WWII Tea Party
(8:45am - 9:15am - Primary Hall)

Friday 3rd April - 100% Attendance Treat

Friday 3rd April - Last Day of Spring Term - 1pm finish

Monday 6th April - Friday 17th April 
Easter Break 
(School Closed to all Students)

September Start Date - Friday 4th September for a Meet the Teacher Morning

NOTICES:

Important Notices: 

Due to the confidential nature of information shared in the front office we ask that parents wait outside if you are collecting from clubs.  Parents should not be waiting in the Front Office reception area after 5:00pm without a staff member.

Break:

- All Snacks are to be fruit only. All other items will be sent home.

Birthdays:

- Only nut free treats
- All cakes pre-cut and packaged
- Dropped at classrooms before school

Late Collections

Due to the increased amount of late collections after school, and the negative impact this is having on our students and staff, we will be introducing a late fee that will be applied to your Parent Pay account from Monday 19th September. Please see this letter for further details.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m71kAo5MJ9qZb-FEEYXaQ6gvQMOufH3z/view?usp=sharing

*Reception Bikes

Please can parents ensure your children are not riding the Reception bikes before and after school. These bikes are a learning resource specifically designed for Reception aged students to learn coordination and gross motor skills. These are very expensive resources which we would not be able to replace if damage was done to them due to older/heavier children riding them. We thank you in advance for your support in this. 

DO NOT RIDE THE RECEPTION BIKES BEFORE OR AFTER SCHOOL PLEASE

Reminder

Please do not allow your child to bring toys or games to school, as this can lead to items being lost or damaged and students getting upset. 

Mrs Drummond's Challenge

Due to the newsletter going out late last week we will celebrate two week's worth of the challenge on Monday in assembly. 

This week's problem might take some trial and error! Good luck! 

School Security

To help ensure the security of our school site, the main primary gates will be closed and locked promptly at 3:30pm each day. Please make sure you have collected your scooter and made your way off site before this time. 

Absences & Lates

If your child is too unwell to attend school or running late, please inform us as soon as possible by calling the school on 0208 262 2121 and pressing Option 1 before 8:30am or via email: attendance@school21.org.uk 
Please do not use the info@school21.org.uk email address.

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.

History Week 

Tuesday 17th March: History Timeline Day

Each class will explore a different era of history, creating a large piece of art to represent this era and present to the rest of the school at the end of the day. We will turn these into a whole school history timeline to permanently display in the hall. Children are encouraged to dress up in clothes suitable to the era they're exploring!

Tuesday 17th March 3:15pm - 3:45pm : Artefact Workshop

What can we learn about the past through objects? Come and have a hands on experience handling artefacts, thinking about what they might have been used for and what they can tell us about the past. 

Wednesday 18th March: Artefact Workshops

Year 1 - 4 will take part in artefact workshops getting hands on with objects from the past. They will explore what questions you can ask about artefacts to help us discover what the past was like.  

Spare Clothes

If your child has borrowed any clothes from our spare clothes box please bring them back as soon as possible as we have very little left. (eg if they have wet themselves)

If you have any trousers, skirts or tights that you could donate that would be wonderful. 

Also if you would like to donate new children’s underwear that would be amazing. 

Brrrrrr it’s freezing!

This week in Reception, we deepened our understanding of the ice giants, Neptune and Uranus. We have had a lot of opportunities to explore ice and think about its properties and how it changes state. We were fascinated by how quickly we could get the ice to melt using tools or our hands and were asking a lot of questions about temperature and the cold weather.

Telling Stories Through Art

This week in Year 1 we have been looking at how stories were retold before books and computers.  We looked specifically at the Stone Age and how difficult it would’ve been to create art work for a story using rocks. We focused on the shapes, colours and materials that would’ve been used at that time.
 

Wartime Writing 

This week in Year 2 the children have been reading 'The Lion and the Unicorn', a powerful story about a young child's wartime experiences.  To show their understanding of the text, they have been writing a range of exciting sentences, focusing heavily on including  conjunctions in full sentences and using the past tense. 

Dotty Decimals

This week in Year 4 we started our new topic - Decimals. We explored how we can represent tenths: using dienes as concrete manipulatives, drawing pictures, and as digits. We discussed how 0.1 is equivalent to the fraction 1/10. We worked in pairs and individually to immerse ourselves. Next week will start to solve problems using fractions.

Otto Openness Certificate Winners

Well done to everyone who went above and beyond in showing our value of openness this week - Otto is very proud of your reflections and dedication to growing! Congratulations to Navaeh, Dante, Maisy, Bella, Inara, Kairon, Enis, Aishah, Tyra-Kelis, Tiago, Mohamad, Maryam, Rivereligha, Noah and Cali. 

 Next week's value: Excellence.  Can your child tell you how they can show this value and earn a certificate? 

The Lunch Menu After the Half Term is Week 3!