Co-Headteachers: Mr Peter Hyman & Mr Oli de Botton Middle School NewsletterKey Dates Attendance Update 5 Matterhorn 98.8% Cultural Banquet Rescheduled Please note that as per the letter and text sent to parents, the Cultural Banquet has been rescheduled. The new date will be sometime in June - this will allow further organisation as we are aiming for this to be a large-scale annual event from this year on. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by the rescheduling. If you would like to support in organising this event, please contact Ms Paul via email on apaul@school21.org.uk. Thank you for your continued support! Safer Internet Week This week Middle School will have a number of events for students to recognise Safer Internet Day. Coaching groups and classes will have dedicated sessions on safe internet use and on Thursday we will hold a whole school show debate around issues that face young people who access the online world. As well as this, over the half term we will set a 'Coaster Poster' challenge for students to create a coaster-sized art work that links to their learning about staying safe online. Please check Google Classrooms for more information on this! Year 7/8 Reflection After School A reminder to all parents and carers of Year 7 and Year 8 students: At times students may need to stay back to speak to their teachers at the end of the day if a restorative conversation or reflection session needs to be completed. These discussions can take up to 15 minutes so may result in students leaving at 3:30pm. If a student is required to stay longer than this time, this will be clearly communicated with parents beforehand so that the student and their family is very clear on this. We appreciate your support of families on this matter. Reflection at the end of the day is important to both ensure students are ready to start the next day with a clean start and also work as a deterrent for disruption in class. Primary Gate Closing Time Please be advised that the green primary gate will close and be locked at 3:30pm. If you are speaking to a teacher and finish after this time, they will accompany you to the front reception to leave. Similarly, your child will exit through the main reception doors if they are leaving after this time. Please also ensure that your children are not playing on the primary school climbing frame after school. The gate will be locked at this time to ensure the school is safe and secure. Thank you for your support on both of these matters. iPad Reminders - keeping you and your device safe Today in the whole school Monday Meet Up, Year 7 and 8 students were reminded of the iPad agreement everyone signed before they collected their iPads. The user agreement is above for reference. Students were reminded that iPads are learning tools and should only be out and in use at school during lessons - and that they needed to be used as directed by teachers at this time. If students are not using their iPads correctly, they will be confiscated and parents will be contacted. If there is repeated misuse, students will have to store their iPads in the leadership office and collect with a teacher when needed, or, in extreme cases, not be allowed to use their iPad at all. We thank parents in advance for their support on ensuring iPad use is safe and their child is aware of and following expectations. We also reminded students that iPads MUST be away out of sight in bags as they come to and leave from school every morning and afternoon to keep themselves safe. Walking with an iPad out makes students easy targets for muggings. Please reiterate the importance of this message at home as well. Staff on the gates will always ensure iPads are away as students leave. Spectacular handwriting! We were very proud of Frank in Year 5 last week for the spectacular progress he has made in his handwriting this year. Well done Frank! How does your garden grow? On Monday last week Middle School welcomed Hamish from West Ham Park who came to help us prepare our raised beds ready for planting. He talked to a group of our students about the aspect of our garden and showed them how to use a compass to learn the best place for our plants to grow. The students then set to work! Four of our six beds were weeded, dug over and covered with a protective layer of cardboard (to prevent weeds growing back and to keep the soil warmer). Hamish then showed the students how to use bamboo to make a cold frame so that we will be able to use the beds early in the growing season. We are looking forward to planting the beds as spring progresses. If you have any seeds, seedlings or plants that you would be happy to donate to our Middle School garden please speak to Ms McLear - any donations would be gratefully received! Millionaire Reader's Club This week we had Isabel in Year 7 hit her 1 million word milestone! Congratulations! To become a word millionaire too, all you need to do is get reading, then log onto the Accelerated Reader program to answer some questions about what you've read! Ask your class teacher, coach or Ms Druce and Ms McLear if you need help accessing your account. The Bee Brigade Recently, a number of Year 5 students have been busy watching the bees in the playground. To help encourage more of these helpful honey-creators make a home in our school, they worked together last week to build a bee house. They will also plant some wildflower seed bombs to help encourage more pollinating insects to School 21! Little Shop of Horrors Musical Kooth Free Online Counselling A reminder that Kooth Online Counselling is available and promoted at School 21 to all of our young people. It is a portal through which free, anonymous counselling is offered by trained professionals. Click here to visit the website to learn more about and to access this offer. Latest Star Winners - Update! Congratulations to this weeks' additions to the Red Star winners list: Year 5: Davi, Emelia-Rae, Hussain, Jamie, Keon, Louis, Salem, Samir, Tiarn, Tudor We also welcome the newest winners of the prestigious Blues Stars! Congratulations to:Year 6: Recognition Last Week We had another 665 names added last week! All year groups have now had over 3000 names each since the start of the year! Keep demonstrating our values and making our school #middlestrong! Student Safety Advice - Mobile Phones With winter well on its way and hours of darkness lasting for longer each day, it is advisable to speak to your child about staying safe on the journey to and from school, especially in regards to carrying their mobile telephone. This link: https://www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/violence/stay-safe/ gives information on things to consider to help stay safe when out and about with your mobile phone. Please read through this with your child and ensure you are equipping them with the knowledge to stay safe! Dear Parents/Carers, Thank you to those who have registered with the Easy Fundraising platform, the donations have already started to come in! For those who haven’t, this platform allows us to turn everyday online shopping into donations for the school which can then be spent on equipment and facilities. If you haven’t registered yet and are happy to help (at no cost to you!), we ask that you do two things: 1. Sign up to Easy Fundraising and register School 21 as your cause of choice here: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/invite/GO6EW2/. (We get a £5 donation for every person that signs up via that link!). 2. Install the donation reminder on your computer: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/donation-reminder/. This is a totally unobtrusive button that sits on your internet bar, and pops up with a subtle reminder every time you shop with a retailer that donates to us. Finally, please share with any family and friends. All at School 21 First Aid Notice If you son/daughter needs to take medication at school it has to be brought to school by an adult and a form needs to be signed. Please do not send medication in with your son/daughter as this is going against our school policy and the medication may not be administered. Your help and cooperation is greatly appreciated. Important Middle School Links: Information on ParentPay and School Lunches Payments - click here. Email Ms Nandra (rnandra@school21.org.uk) if you need any assistance. Walking Home Alone Permission - to register your permission for your child to walk home alone, please click here. See your child's teacher/coach with any questions or concerns. For access to the online Homework Google Classrooms please fill in your details through this link. See you child's coach/teacher for help if needed. Use this link to see all the homework set for your child. The Lunch Menu for This Week is Week 3! |