Middle School Newsletter

Just like that, the final week of the Autumn half term is upon us. I want to take this opportunity to thank our community for a very strong, positive start to the school year. We appreciate all of the support and openness our parent/carer community provide us with and are very excited to keep building our Middle School with you this year. Read on to hear about what has been happening in Middle School last week, and what is coming up. 

Autumn 1 Key Dates

Monday 14th October: Year 6 Pathways - Moving onto secondary at School 21 Workshop for Year 6 Parents & Students (5:00pm - 6:00pm) 
(Please note earlier start time)
Monday 14th - Thursday 17th October: Year 6 Mock SATs 1
Tuesday 15th October: EVO Games (There is a Plan B if weather is inclement) 
Wednesday 16th October: iPad 1:1 Device Information session (5:00pm - 6:00pm)
Friday 18th October: BHM Headdress session (4:00pm - 5:00pm) 
Friday 18th October: Family Film Night (5:30pm - 7:30pm) - Black Panther (12A)
Throughout October: How have we been shaped by the Windrush Generation?
BHM whole-school project
Monday 21st - Friday 25th October: Half Term Holiday
Thursday 31st October: Year 6 Height and Weight Check (8:45am)
Thursday 31st October: Middle School Quiz Night (English themed!)
(4:30pm - 6:00pm)
Friday 1st November: Above & Beyond Out & About Trip (October Winners)
Monday 4th November: Year 5 trip to Amazon Robotics workshop
(Letter to follow)
Wednesday 6th November: Sadlers Wells Trip (Selected Students)
Monday 11th - Friday 15th November: Anti-bullying Week
Tuesday 12th & Wednesday 13th November:  Parents Evening
(Y5/6 with Class Teachers, Y7/8 with Coaches) 3:30pm - 6:00pm

Year 7 iPads UPDATE:  A letter has been sent home with further details on ordering a 1:1 Device and the upcoming Information session. Key dates are listed below:

- Portal open for orders by the end of this week
- Parents information evening: Wednesday 16 October
- Portal for orders closing: Wednesday 30th October
- Device collection days: Thursday 14th & Friday 15th November 

Middle School Attendance Winners

5 Matterhorn 99.2% MIDDLE WINNERS

6 Kilimanjaro 96.7%

7 Rockies 98.1%

8 Olympus 97.9%

Dropping off Lunches / Equipment during the day

We have had an increase in the number of parents and carers needing to drop off lunches, PE kits, keys, shoes and other items during the school day. Please be advised that the reception staff are unable to deliver these items to students. This is especially true over lunchtimes as the students are out playing and staff are on their lunch break. It is very important that your child has everything they need before they come to school., however we do understand that sometimes issues arise and it becomes necessary to drop items in. Please keep in mind that these items may not be delivered to your child until too late in the day. Thank you for your support and understanding in this matter. 

Collection after Clubs

Please note that parents collecting students after clubs are dismissed, must wait outside the main reception office on the left hand side for their children. The reception area must be kept free and clear for a safe dismissal, so waiting inside is not possible. Thank you for your support and understanding in this matter. 

Please see Middle School After School Clubs Timetable below:

Community choir is back! 

We welcome all parents, students, teachers and friends of our School21 community to join us on Friday 18th October from 4:15pm - 5.:15pm in the Main Hall.

This is a brilliant way to meet new parents, sing together and build connections with all the members of our school community in an informal setting. 

Please arrive via reception by 4.15pm. We look forward to seeing you! 

Rebuilding our Community

As you will have heard, last week a young man from a nearby Newham secondary school was tragically killed outside the Stratford Centre. We started our day today in assemblies with coaches and class teachers, offering students an opportunity to talk and share their worries if needed. Part of these assemblies included writing messages of support which will be collated and sent to St Bonaventure's, the school where the young man attended. The messages we gave around this incident were pitched especially for Year 5/6 and Year 7/8.

If you have any concerns about your child being affected by this incident, please let their class teacher / coach know so we can offer support at school as well. 

Congratulations Student Voice Reps!

Last week coaching groups finalised their representatives after the class elections. We are proud to announce the reps from each class / coaching group. They will receive their official Student Voice badges soon! Well done to Michelle, Surya, Tolga, Kayja, Emile, Zoya, Iliana, Numair, Elona, Solomon, Ariyan and Muheem for taking on this role for our school. Ms McLear will be facilitating the meetings and supporting the group to affect change for our Middle School! 

Green star Milestone recipients!

Each week the names are collated from our recognition board and students and counted. There are special (secret!) milestones that all students are rewarded for reaching. Last week, Natas was the first person in the entire school to read the 'Green Star' milestone, meaning that he has been recognised for exemplifying our Values more often than any other student! This week he was joined by other students as well! Congratulations to Laila E, Daisy, Anashe, Helena and Louis M who also reached this milestone this week. There are five to reach across the year: green, red, blue, silver and gold. For each milestone a student reaches, they will receive a star badge for their lapel. Well done to our first group of recipients! Keep showing openness, community, humanity, responsibility and excellence to reach your next milestone too!

How was Britain shaped by the Windrush Generation?

As you may know, October is Black History Month. This year the Middle School is running a whole school project focusing on how the British community grew from historically significant times such as the Windrush Generation. Students will be exploring this through assemblies and lessons with their coaching groups, and through the creation of a fantastic Middle School display, pieced together from the family histories of our staff and students. If your family has a story to share around their arrival in the UK, and you would be happy to share this with us, please do so via this form. We look forward to hearing about them! Alternatively, if you would prefer to speak to someone directly, please email Ms Silvain on asilvain@school21.org.uk for your story to be included. If you'd rather not write us a story, but would like a quote included, please click here to leave us one about why Black History Month is important to you!

Celebrating our Community

Davi works hard for self defense classes with Master Dayang Uli.  He takes classes twice a week and on August 29 with great pride of parents and Master, he switched to yellow and black.  He is very proud of himself, and of course, his mum is also proud! 

If you have an outside-of-school achievement you'd like us to celebrate from our community please email Ms Kyrk at akyrk@school21.org.uk  with a short explanation and a picture or two and we will include it in an upcoming newsletter!

Debating Ancient Greek Style

This week in Year 6 we began our introduction to democracy with a debate on whether or not the Ancient Greeks should have built The Parthenon. Students are learning about the history element of this project, and will work on creating their own original Greek-style myth. Watch this space for more updates!

Freedom Writing in Year 7

Year 7 have a session in their English classes where students are given the freedom to write about anything they wish, aptly called 'Freedom Writing'. Ahmed has asked to share his work with the community; his piece is particularly moving, focused on what it felt like to leave his primary school and join School 21. Ask your Year 7 child about what their piece was about to find out more! Thank you to Ahmed for his openness in wanting to share this personal piece. 

School Lunches

A reminder that Year 5 and 6 students continue to receive free school lunches as part of the Mayor of Newham's initiative, however, when students start Year 7 they must pay for their school lunches through your Parent Pay account. A letter was sent again last week regarding this, including how to sign up through the Newham website if you feel you are eligible for Free School Meals. 

The letter is available again by clicking here. 

All families can sign up for Free School Meals (if eligible) at any time; it is advisable that current Year 6 parents look into doing so this year to avoid delays when their child starts Year 7. 

If your account runs out of funds, students are to visit Ms Nandra in E1 at lunch time - she will support students to get their lunch that day, and will contact parents to remind them to top up the account. Please note, we are unable to keep providing lunch for your child if the balance is still negative. 

If you have any questions or require any support to sign up for Free School Meals, please contact Ms Nandra through the front reception or via email at rnandra@school21.org.uk. 

Walking Home Alone Permission

All Year 5 and 6 students whose parents give permission for them to travel home alone must complete the online permission form sent home earlier this week. The link for doing so is available again here. 

Please note that students will not be permitted to walk home unless this permission has been received. If you have any problems completing the form, please contact the front reception for support. Thank you for your support in this matter. 

Middle School Homework

This year all of our 12 coaching groups / classrooms have their own Google Classroom set up. All home learning tasks will be set through these online portals. Parents are warmly invited to sign up as guardians on these classrooms; this will give you the opportunity to see all the tasks set for your child so you can keep up to date and support them at home. If you would like to be added to your child's classroom, please follow this link to add your details. 

Please note the classrooms and student logins are being set up over this week so there may be a short delay before you are able to access them. Please bear with us! Year 7 and 8 students must log on at school to be able to access their Google Account. If your child is having issues or cannot remember their password, please direct them to see their coach or Mr Roworth and the IT team at school. Thank you for your support. 

Art Department Holiday Assignment

Over the holiday periods, the Art Department sets all students in middle school a common homework challenge. However, work that goes over and above and demonstrates excellence of our attributes of spark and craft will be exhibited in our Middle School gallery. 

For this autumn half term, we are setting the following 'Spoof Poster' assignment (see poster below). Please encourage your child to try their best and discuss possible ideas with them to ignite their imagination. We recommend that they complete the task in different stages: First, discuss ideas with friends and family and sketch out rough ideas on scrap paper; Secondly, research pictures that can be used as reference; Thirdly, draw out your design / composition lightly in pencil on an A4 sheet of paper; Once confident with the design, add tone (value) and colour in. Refer to the homework poster for more details of what to include. Finally, place your work in a protective sleeve and make sure it is not crushed or folder when handed in. 

It is recommended that they to spend smaller amounts of time working i.e. 40 minute sessions over a few days. It should take a couple of hours to complete, but could take much longer once you get in the zone.

Many thanks for your support,

Mr Hoeben, Head of Art & Design
www.s21art.weebly.com

Recognition Board

Another big week of recognition! Is your name below? Congratulations to everyone included on the boards - you have stepped up to live our values of Openness, Community, Humanity, Excellence and Responsibility! 

The Lunch Menu for This Week is Week 3!