Middle School Newsletter

Dates For Your Diary

Monday 7th May - May Day (Bank Holiday)
(School closed to all Students)

Thursday 10th May - Year 5 SRE Workshop 3:15 - 4:00pm
(A creche will be provided)

Monday 21st May 9:00 - 10:00am - Effective Job Search and CV Workshop for Parents

Monday 28th May - Friday 1st June Half Term
(School closed to all Students)

Monday 14th May - Prevent Parent Workshop
​(All Parents Invited)

Wednesday 11th July - Inset Day 

Important Notices:

It is important for the safety of our students and local residents that all parents who drive to school in the mornings and afternoons are adhering to the road rules. 

We ask you all to consider the following: 

- Do not speed on our surrounding roads as many families walk to and from school and this compromises their safety.
- Do not park on the zig zag lines at the front of the school as this impacts on our students safely crossing the road. 
- Do not park across the driveways of our neighbours, as this will disrupt access to their private property.

As a school we suggest walking or catching public transport to school to where possible. If you have to drive, there is often ample parking spaces a little further away from the school, which may also alleviate the congestion and stress of the morning. 

We thank you for your cooperation on this matter and your consideration of our local community.  

Late arrival to school results in interruptions to the learning process. Parents are encouraged to have students to school on time. Parents who come to drop their child to school after 8:30am start must come in to the office to sign-in.  All children need to be signed in using our new electronic system, which will change the class register to show that they are on school premises.  
*Excessive tardiness to school may be referred to the Local Authority for action and possible court referral.

*School Uniform - Children must always come into school with correct full school uniform which includes tie and black shoes (black trainers are not acceptable). If your child comes to school in the incorrect uniform parents will be notified.  Please ensure that your child has the correct School21 PE Kit on PE days.

*Equipment - Parents please ensure your child comes into school with all the equipment and food they will need for the day.  The front office will not be responsible for taking things to classroom as this is disruptive to children's learning.

Plans for next year….an exciting moment for School 21

The beginning of next year marks six years since our launch and the first time we will be full as a school. We will be catering for around 1200 students and nearly 200 staff. We have come a long way since the portacabins in the playground!

As the school has grown, our ‘small school model’ is beginning to take shape. A Primary School of Reception to Year 4 which secures the basics of reading, writing, speaking and counting and places huge value on our six attributes: craft, grit, professionalism, expertise, eloquence and spark. A Middle School of Years 5 - 8 that challenges students with exciting projects and rich experiences. A Secondary School of Years 9 - 11 which gives students placements in the real world and prepares them for GCSE. And Six 21 which gives children access to top universities and careers.

Meg Drummond (Primary) and Karenann Spencer (Six 21) will continue to lead their schools with their usual dedication and high expectations. The Middle School will be led by Anna Kyrk who has been a Senior Leader in Primary this year and who brings huge expertise to the role. Anna is keen to start working with parents and families this term and will be in touch soon. Rachael Futo will lead the Secondary School. She was a founding teacher and has led the maths department to great results as well as taking on a senior role this year.

Sadly at the end of the year we are saying goodbye to three brilliant members of our senior team. Stuart Brooks, who has worked at School 21 for many years is moving to a Headship at Sanders School. Stuart has built superb relationships with all members of the school community over the years and was crucial in securing great GCSE results last year.  We wish him all the best and congratulate him on his appointment. Ahmet Ahmet who has led the Middle School this year and the drama department makes a return to the world of theatre. Ahmet has been a creative force and been at the centre of some of our most exciting projects. He has also been the driving force behind getting teachers to work together in new ways. James Heale who has been a vital member of the primary team, working with families to offer after school clubs and working with staff to raise standards, has recently become a father and accepted a role closer to home. We wish him all the best and future success with his new role and new family. We very much hope they will all continue their association with the school in the future.

There will be more appointments to report on nearer September but in advance of them please contact me or any of the Heads of School above with any questions or concerns.

Oli de Botton
Headteacher

Bots and debate and app testing, oh my!

This week saw the Year 5 project groups take part in the last of their exploratory sessions in the robotics project ‘How can we make our robot rule?’ 

The groups explored more coding apps including Lightbot, Tynker and Python. They took part in another debate session on robots taking over jobs and used BlueBots in a hands on team challenge, coding to navigate a ‘mega course’ in the primary hall. The bots had to descend the ‘stairs of doom’ and navigate the ‘fiery loop of death’ (masking tape on the carpet!) to program the most accurate algorithm. 

Next week we will start learning about the different builds and functions possible when using the WeDo 2.0 kit which will help when teams start designing their own robots! 

Effective Job Search and CV Workshop for Parents 

Monday 21st May 9:00 - 10:00am

Applying for a job is a skill everyone needs to develop which also includes preparing and adapting your CV in meeting the employer’s job advertisement, and understanding the many different routes to successful job hunting.

This 1- hour workshop will provide you with a full overview and steps on:

·      Effective job search methods

·      Understanding the purpose and process of creating a winning CV

·      What to include and what to leave out in your CV

·      Tailoring your CV to the employer’s needs

Prevent Parent Workshop

We would like to invite you to a free workshop run by Newham’s Community Resilience Team, aimed at parents and carers of children across the school.

The workshop will be held on Friday 14th May at 3:30pm. It will focus on developing an understanding of extremism, online safety and building resilience, as well as the work that the Community Resilience team carry out in the local community. We will also discuss ways of protecting young people from interacting with potentially harmful material (such as propaganda), individuals and groups. There will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions about issues raised or concerns you may have.

We hope that you can attend the session and look forward to seeing you there.