Dates For Your Diary
 

Return Date for Academic Year 2019/2020 - Monday 9th September 

Monday 27th May - Friday 31st May 
Half Term Holidays

Monday 3rd - Friday 7th June - Maths and Science Week 

Tuesday 4th June - Tate Museum in to work with Year 3

Thursday 6th June - Sharing Memories Together Reception Workshop (8:40am)

Thursday 6th June - Maths & Science Week Family & Friends Evening  (3:00pm - 4:15pm)

Thursday 6th June - Year 2 Parents are invited to watch the Living and Growing video that will be shown as part of the Year 2 SRE Unit.

Monday 10th - Friday 14th June - Year 1 Phonics Screening Check 

Wednesday 12th June - Create a Display Family Workshop 
(3:00pm - 4:00pm)

Monday 17th - Friday 21st June - Bring a Parent to School Week
(More information to follow) 

Tuesday 18th June -  De Coubertin Trip to Newham City Farm
(9:00am - 2:00pm)  

Tuesday 25th June - Parks Trip to Newham City Farm
(9:00am - 2:00pm) 
 

Wednesday 26th June - Storytelling Session - Listen to stories by Judith Kerr (Tiger came to Tea, Mog and Mare) Read to you
(3:00pm - 4:00pm)
 

Thursday 27th June - Coffee & Cake Morning 
(8:30am - 9:30am)

Friday 28th June - Primary Sports Day
(Letter to follow with more information)

Monday 1st July - Child of the Term Assembly 

Tuesday 2nd July - Newton trip to Newham City Farm
(9:00am - 2:00pm)

Wednesday 3rd July - Family Cooking Session - Pot Luck Session
(3:00pm - 4:15pm)

Tuesday 9th July - INSET day
(School Closed for all Students)

NOTICES:

Important Notices: 

From Monday 12th November, the Primary gates will not be opened until 2:55pm ready for a 3:00pm collection. This is due to the fact that many lessons are still taking place at this time and children may be working in the playground. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding.

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 4:30pm without a staff member.  

Reminder: Football shoes are not to be worn to school, they are dangerous as they do not allow the students to have a good grip when running on hard surfaces and could lead to an accident. Any student who wears them to school will not be allowed to participate in PE lessons or use the playground at break and lunch times. 

Break Time Snacks: All children can bring a snack from home to have at break time. This snack MUST be fruit. If any child brings a snack that is not fruit, they will be asked to put it back in their bags to eat after school. 

Birthdays - If you wish to celebrate your child's birthday by sharing a cake with the class, can we please ask that it is brought to the classroom the morning of the celebration and that it is already cut up and packaged. Our teachers do not have the time or equipment to be able to cut up sheet cakes and distribute to the children. We ask that you do not drop birthday cakes or party bags to the front office during the day as they are not always guaranteed to have the time to take them to the classroom, and this can lead to disappointment for your child. 

Lost Property -  We currently have an abundance of lost property in the front office, including winter coats. Can all parents please come and check if any of the items belong to your children. We will be donating all remaining goods to a local charity before half term due to space restrictions.

Parking and Crossing the Road - Can all adults please be careful when crossing the road with their children as vehicles are often reversing!

It is important that parents model good behaviour for children. Please do not swear or use insulting language in the playground. If a member of staff hears this you will be asked to leave the premises and may be banned.

Please also remember that our staff are always working for the best interests of the children. If you would like to discuss anything regarding your child please speak to the class teacher, Mrs Drummond or Miss Dilger. Please do not shout or be rude to a member of staff as this makes the situation very difficult.

Slow Down Around Schools

There have been a number of incidents around the school of parents parking unsafely during pick up and drop off times. There have also been a number of occasions when parents have been speeding and driving without care. Please can we remind you that Pitchford Street gets very congested during these times so please watch your speed.

We are speaking to both the Police and Newham Council to support us in making sure that all our pupils are safe when entering and leaving the school.

School Attendance - EVERY DAY MATTERS!

The school target for attendance is 97% or better.  As a guide the Education Welfare Service advises that if a parent would go to work with the same condition then the student should be in school.  We ask that students returning to school following sickness observe good hygiene rules as an adult would in the workplace.

We are keen to support all our students to achieve their best and this must include ensuring that they attend school as often as possible.  We will do the following to support students’ attendance:

• Write to you if attendance falls below 95% or is we are concerned about a pattern of absences.

• Invite you into school to discuss any concerns/worries with the Attendance Officer, your child’s Coach/ Class Teacher, Key Stage Leader/Head of Year, or Head or Deputy Head of School if attendance continues to fall.

• Where sickness absence occurs on 3 consecutive days or 3 different occasions within a half term, the school will seek medical evidence, such as a letter from GP, an NHS appointment letter, a prescription from GP, prescribed medication labels etc, so that we are able to support your child in school.  Additional days of absences may no longer be authorised.

• Refer the student to our Education Welfare Officer if attendance falls to 90%.

• Please contact the Attendance Officer or Head of School if you feel your child is well enough to be in school, but not well enough to go to all their lessons.  We may be able to make special arrangements

• If you believe your child is well enough to be in school, but is refusing, it is essential that you talk to the Attendance Officer, or the Safeguarding Leads.  We can offer a variety of options to support you in getting your child back to school.

• If required, prescribed medicines can be brought to school – including those needing refrigeration, and stored in the Medical Room.  A form should accompany any medication, stating that the school has permission to administer it, along with the times that this should happen. This should also be signed off at the front office.

What you can do to support your child:

• Never grant days off for birthdays, shopping trips or any other reason other than illness.

• Lessons begin at 8.30am prompt.  We ask that all students arrive at 8.25am to avoid them starting their first lesson late.  Students who are ‘dropped off’ at 8.30am on a daily basis will be late to their lessons and therefore late for the start of the day.

• Please leave a message on each day of absence by 8.30am at the latest - please email attendance@school21.org.uk leaving the name of your child, their Coach or Class Teacher and the reason for absence.  It is for school to decide if an absence is authorised or unauthorised.  Stating ‘Unwell’ or ‘Poorly’ gives insufficient information for us to make that decision, and the absence could be unauthorised.

• Please phone or email daily unless you have made alternative arrangements with school.  We do not know if you have sent your child to school and need to know this in order to keep them safe.  If we do not hear from you we will endeavour to contact you, but we must have at least two up-to-date emergency contact numbers on record to be able to do this.

• Last/First Day of Term, Non-Uniform Days or ‘Off-Timetable’ days are full curriculum days with content that is required by the national curriculum.  It is unacceptable, and against the law, to keep students off on such days for any reason other than illness that renders a student too ill to attend.  Any absence on days such as these could be unauthorised unless medical evidence is received, or prior agreement has been reached with school.

• We have adopted a pragmatic approach towards the authorisation of Leave of Absence for Exceptional Circumstances where other schools have imposed blanket bans.  Each Head of School considers every case personally and may ask for additional information.  Taking leave of Absence in Term Time without authorisation is against the law, and phoning-in daily stating a student is unwell causes a breakdown in trust between home and school.

• We approve up to two days of religious observance over the course of the academic year that fall during term time.

We understand that the majority of parents and carers support us fully in terms of ensuring their children attend school regularly and that you may have received this message on more than one occasion. However, we share this letter with all as it is important that we all understand the responsibilities school has to uphold to avoid any misunderstanding.

Attendance Team

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. We have had an influx of pokemon cards which students have been told not to bring in. If they are brought into school, they will be taken by the class teacher/adult on duty. 

Mrs Drummond's Challenge 

Well done to everyone who took part last week! Because it's Half Term this week's challenge is "Magical"

The witch needs a 24-leg potion to turn Mrs Drummond into a frog. She's got Spiders (8 legs) Lizards (4 legs) and Bats (2 legs)

Try to find all the possible spells to turn Mrs Drummond into a frog! e.g. 2 spiders, 1 lizard and 2 bats would do the trick.

Be systematic and draw up and ordered list. Make a table of your results. Look for a pattern.

Challenges!

1) The witch needs a weaker potion (16-leg) to turn Ms Dilger into a frog.
2) The witch needs a strong potion (32-leg) to turn Mr de Botton into a frog!

Primary Attendance Winners
W.C 10/05/19 - 16/05/19

Reception - De Coubertin - 98.8%

Year 1 - Pankhurst - 100&

Year 2 - Coleman - 99.6%

Year 3 - Einstein - 97% 

Year 4 - Seacole - 96.8%

First Aid Update

All First Aid Incidents will now be reported online using Medical Tracker. Parents will be notified by email automatically when a First Aid Incident occurs. Phone calls will only be made for more serious incidents. Please ensure that the School is notified immediately of any change of Personal Details.

If your child comes home wearing a white wrist band this means they have had first aid related to a head bump. You would have been emailed with the information, but this will be a visual reminder for you to check your email. If the incident needed your immediate attention you would have had a call. The wrist band and email process will only be used for non-emergent incidents.

Calling Parents in STEM!

Are you a parent working in Maths and science (for example a doctor, engineer, accountant, software engineer or research scientist)? On the 7th June, as part of our Maths and science week, we are running a STEM jobs fair to inspire and educate children about careers in this area. In the fair, the volunteers will remain at a stand whilst groups of children visit each person for around 5-10 minutes at a time, asking questions to find out more about their job. Additionally, if you have primary school-appropriate pictures or props relating to your work that you could bring and explain, that would greatly enrich the experience for the children. We are hoping to run two sessions during the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Volunteers are welcome to sign up to one or both sessions. If you are interested and would like to sign up or find out more, please email Ms Cross at jcross@school21.org.uk Thank you!

Maths and Science Week Family and Friends Evening

On Thursday 6th June 2019, you are invited to join in with School 21 Primary's Maths and Science week, for an evening of puzzles and experiments. Whether you're a budding scientist, a keen mathematician or someone who enjoys a challenge, you can create chemical reactions, solve mysteries and explore forces from 3 to 4:15pm. Bring family and friends and prepare to have lots of fun. 

Summer School Fair

Coming up on Friday 5th July is our Annual Summer Fair, organised collaboratively with Primary. We would really love to have as many parents involved as possible in preparing, running and tidying up after the event. If you would like to be involved (even if it is just to donate an hour or two of your time!), please email Miss Dilger at cdilger@school21.org.uk 

We will need help throughout the event which will run from 3:30pm to 6:00pm, and also in the weeks leading up to the event. Some of our wonderful parental community have already kicked off booking rides and stalls, so please get in touch if you would like to join them!

Some of the areas we would love some help with are:

- Planning the event

- Setting up for the event (throughout the day on the 5th July)

- Selling tickets running up to the event

- Packing away and tidying at the end of the event

- Preparing food and drinks

- Visiting / canvassing businesses to collect prizes for the raffles

- Supporting on stalls

- Running games / activities

Walk to School Week - Monday 20th May

Our Beautiful Mosaics Begin...

This week in Reception, we began the first drafts of our mosaics in preparation for our final artwork, which will end our project in  July. We have been exploring shape and colour, and learning how to critique our own work and give helpful and supportive feedback to others.

Sharing Memories Together

We are excited to announce the next workshop date for Reception parents to spend time with their children, sharing their memories and talking to each other about their childhood. Please see the poster below for more information and email Miss Ingram if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible!

Story Stepping

This week year 1 learnt a new story from the Aboriginal Dreamtime called 'How the Kangaroo got its pouch'. We listened to the story, made a story map, re-told the story in groups and then created actions for each part of the story in pairs to help us remember it. The picture shows the part of the story when the terrified kangaroo hops away from a hunter holding a boomerang.

Victorian Schools

This week in Year 2 for PBL we have been looking at Victorian schools. We looked at all the different rules that they had in schools. We thought most of the rules were really harsh and that it was unfair to have to wear a dunce hat if you answered a question incorrectly. We love school in the present time and think it is great we also get rewards! Did you know that sometimes, five children had to squeeze onto a bench made for two? We tried this out and it was very tight! 

Engineering Experts

Year 3 have extended their engineering expertise this week, by discovering more ways in which levers can be used. They then designed a lever system to save Sunny from A Series of Unfortunate Events from a tricky situation. The children needed to use spark to solve the problem and professionalism to carry out their plans with a team. In other news, the children have been working hard on writing this week, drafting persuasive letters to nasty Count Olaf from our class novel. After a fantastic and busy half term the children have earned a holiday!

MASSive Measurements 

Our Maths learning this week has extended our knowledge of measure. We have been selecting the most appropriate equipment to measure length, capacity and mass. We have used our knowledge of multiplying by 10, 100 and 100 (from our last unit on multiplication and decimals) to convert between different units of measure. Once we were confident in how to convert measurements we were able to to solve problems around ordering and comparing measurements. 

Ask us to help around the house if you need help with any measuring!

Expertise Celebrations Assembly 

Well done to Tate, Helena, Azlan, Hanna, Luca, Kareeca, Kayden, Taheem, William, Leila, Tanzim, Avi and Ahmad.

Overdue Library Books

Please return your overdue library books! We currently have over 700 books overdue. This means that students are unable to borrow popular books. 

Students are allowed to borrow up to three books for a loan period of one month and can be renewed after this period should the need arise.

Any books that are lost or damaged must be replaced. 

Mrs Fisher
Librarian

The Lunch Menu has changed - please see the changes above.

The Lunch Menu after the Half Term is Week 3!

Please see below Primary After School Club Timetable

Camp Horizons - Kids summer camp in the Olympic Park

Camp Horizons is an Ofsted-registered kids (ages 6-14) summer activity camp provider, who will be running their 4th summer camp programme at Mossbourne Riverside Academy between 22 July - 09 August 2019.

Camp Horizons offers kids an action-packed summer filled with sports, drama, arts & crafts, dance, inter-camp competition and theme days! All staff are qualified childcare professionals (coaches/teachers), and are all have enhanced DBS checked. Camp Horizons can accept childcare vouchers and weekly rates start from £95.00.

For more information about the summer camp programme, please visit www.camphorizons.co.uk or get into touch via enquiries@camphorizons.co.uk.