Middle School Newsletter

Welcome back for another great half term! 

What a way to welcome everyone back than with three spectacular nights of this year's school production Hairspray. It was an overwhelmingly proud moment each night watching the incredible cast and crew put on such incredible performances. Lots of middle school students were part of this as were many of the members of our parent community. It truly was a goose bump inducing moment when everyone stood together to sing 'I Know Where I've Been'. 

This week the students have had assemblies reminding them about out commitments at School 21 of Stepping Up, Choosing Kind and working In the Zone. We have discussed how upholding these commitments helps our school to be an exceptional place to be and to learn in where all of our community feel safe and inspired to do their best in learning. Some reminders on how parents and families can support on this are as follows:

Uniform
Please ensure your child is in full uniform each day including black shoes and a tie. PE kit must be the School 21 polo shirt, black tracksuits and black trainers. Students missing or with incorrect uniform will report to Ms McLear in the mornings to get a uniform slip. We will contact home to discuss how we can support students who are consistently not in correct uniform. 

Lateness
We have started an improved 3 Minute Ready to Learn system to help students to be In the Zone and ready to go at the start of each lesson. We talked in assembly how each 'few minutes' late add up and can leave big holes in our learning. Please support this message at home and help your child by ensuring they are well rested and arriving at school on time each day. 

Equipment
Finally, we reminded Year 7 and 8 to be ready to learn by Stepping Up and ensuring they have all of the necessary equipment for the day with them in their lessons. This includes pens, rulers and fully charged iPads. 

Your support on all of these standards is very much appreciated!

Dates For Your Diary 

Tuesday 5th February: Above and Beyond Out and About trip for February (rescheduled) 

Tuesday 5th March: World Book Day - Radical Role Models dress up theme

Friday 8th March: Y8 Lantern Project team & Y6 'Night Walk' fundraiser - Olympic Park 5:30pm - meet at School 21

Tuesday 12th March & Wednesday 13th March: Parent's Evenings 15:30 - 18:30

W/B/ Monday 18th March: Middle School Bring a Parent to School week (TBC)

Friday 22nd March: Family Film Night - 'Wonderwoman' 17:30 - 19:30

Thursday 28th March: Great Oracy Exhibition (school closed)

Friday 29th March: Above and Beyond Out and About trip for March 

Friday 5th April: Last day of term - school finishes at 13:00

Attendance Winners - week beginning 25/02/2019

Machu Picchu - 97.2%

Kosciuszko - 98.8% - Overall winners!

Himalayas - 98.6%

Olympus - 95.2%

Parents' Evening Update  

On March 12th and 13th the Middle School will hold Spring Term parents' evenings. There are slightly different systems depending on which year group/s your child/ren are in. 

Year 5 - bookings can be made online as was the case last term. Follow this link to do so: https://thesource.school21.org.uk/Parents/Booking/Code?Length=7 You will be able to meet with your child's class teacher to discuss their progress. You will need the code supplied previously (and included on the new letters) to access the booking system. 

Year 6 - bookings can be made on the slip being sent home this week. You will have the opportunity to meet with the teachers helping your child prepare for SATs, specifically in Reading / English and Maths. (Two appointment slots will be given). 

Year 7/8 - you will have the opportunity to meet with the different subject teachers who teach your child throughout the week. The evenings will be held in the New Hall and will operate as a drop in system. Please look out for your child's teachers and drop in to see them when they are free. 

Please note, Year 5 and 6 parents are also warmly welcomed along to the New Hall to meet with the subject teachers for Drama, Music, Spanish, Art/DT and PE before or after your meetings with class teachers. 

If you need any further support or clarification, please contact your child's coach. 

Year 6 gets Cross... fit!  

At the end of last half term, a group of Year 6 students had the opportunity to go to a Crossfit gym with Mr Travis for some training. This was a culmination of their fitness focused topic in PE last half term. Check out those muscles! 

The Lantern Project

At the end of this week on Friday,  Year 6 and the Year 8 project team who worked on last half term's lantern project are invited to walk with us around the Olympic Park for our charity fundraiser. The students have picked a variety of causes from www.lanternprojects.org to support. Year 6 and 8 have had sponsorship sheets and letters sent home - please support us! We look forward to seeing students and families there - meeting point is at School 21 at 5:30pm.

Next Family Film Night

The next family film night is coming up on Friday, 22nd March - we will be screening Wonder Woman! International Womens' Day happens this month, so what better way to celebrate than to bring your family along to see this fab film full of strong female leads!  We ask for a £1 donation which includes snacks and squash. We hope to see lots of people there!

Hairspray Hits School 21!

The long awaited production of Hairspray took off last week, with shows on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday nights. The dancing, acting and singing was exceptional every night with the production tackling challenging issues but also getting the whole audience bopping along in their seats. Huge recognition to all of the staff and parents who supported the production all along the way and of course to the incredible cast and crew for pulling off another West End worthy School 21 production. We wonder what next year's will be...? 

World Book Day celebrations at School 21

 A final reminder that tomorrow is School 21's day to celebrate World Book Day. The theme this year is Radical Role Models. We look forward to seeing everyone's costumes based on fictional or real life characters from books whom we look up to! If you have PE tomorrow, please bring your kit with you to change into for your lesson. 

Recognition last week 

Here are the 'Big Names' that filled our recognition board last week. Congratulations and thank you to all who demonstrated working in the zone, choosing kind and stepping up - you make our Middle School community #middlestrong! 

We are running a very successful club every morning from 7:45 to 8:25  (last entry 8:10).

I would like to remind everyone of the Breakfast Club Code of Conduct so that parents can share this with their children.

• All pupils are expected to pack away resources and tidy the area.

• No pupils to leave the club area without the permission of an adult.

• Middle School pupils to stay in the club until 8:20. Pupils are not allowed into Middle School until this time.

• Pupils should help each other and be supportive of each other.

• Pupils will be warned about inappropriate behaviour twice then parents will be informed.

• If the behaviour continues pupils will not be able to attend for a week.

• If conduct does not improve they will not be allowed to attend the club for the rest of that half term.

• Extreme behaviour will result in a ban.

The club is for everyone to enjoy themselves in a friendly and safe environment. Thank you for your support.

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.