Middle School Newsletter

To our Middle School Community,

Three weeks to go before the Christmas holidays are upon us, and already the festive season has kicked off at School 21!  Two of the four incredible Festival of Light performances happened last week with our Year 5s, the Middle School Choir and the Hip Hop Motown band helping to raise the roof alongside the primary years in the concerts. Get ready for the Year 6 - 8 and Secondary performances later in December!

This week Middle School are having a big push on Choosing Kind and Stepping Up focusing specifically on looking after equipment and property around us. This includes the play time resources (footballs, basketballs, 'Champ' balls, table tennis bats and balls) as well as people's personal items. Please relay this message to your child at home as well.

In assembly this week we will be reminding everyone about how to look after equipment and property.  This means returning resources and handing in personal items they might find around the school. If any orange 'Mitre' brand footballs, black and red basketballs or small red or blue Champ balls have accidentally made it home to your house, please ensure your child returns these to school as soon as possible! Thank you for your support with this. 

Dates For Your Diary 

Monday 3rd December - Thursday 6th December: Year 6 Mock SATs tests

Tuesday 4th December:  iPad collection sessions (3:30pm - 4:00pm & 5:30pm - 6:00pm)

Tuesday 4th - Friday 7th December: Book Fair 3:00pm - 4:00pm (in Room B7 off Primary Courtyard)

Friday 7th December - Last day of Clubs

Thursday 13th December: Festival of Light Concert 2 (Year 6 to Year 8) from 6:00pm

Friday 14th December: Christmas Jumper Day & School Christmas Dinner

Tuesday 18th December: Best Class Attendance Reward Trip to Zap Space (TBC)

Tuesday 18th December: Year 7 Abbey Gardens Project Event 11:30 - 3:15pm / 3:15pm - 5:00pm

Wednesday 19th December: Exhibition of Beautiful Work 4:30pm - 6:30pm

Thursday 20th December: December Above and Beyond Out and About trip

Friday 21st December: Last day of term (school finishes at 1:00pm)

Monday 7th January: INSET Day (School Closed for Students)

Tuesday 8th January to Friday 15th February - Spring Term 1

Chewing Gum: 

Chewing gum at school is not allowed as it often ends up in unfortunate places and leaves a big mess. Please support the school by reminding your child about this rule. Students caught chewing gum at school will have to complete a break or lunch time service act helping to clean up around the school. Parents will be contacted if students repeatedly break this rule. Thank you for your support with this matter. 

Uniform reminders:

Please ensure your child is leaving for school each morning in the correct uniform:

• On PE days School 21 polo shirt, black tracksuits and black trainers only

• Winter coats instead of hoodies. Water proof/resistant coats with a hood are best as we still go out to play in light drizzle.  This is important as the weather gets colder! Students wearing hoodies will be asked to remove these. 

• It’s very important that uniform items are clearly labelled. Looking after pieces of uniform is the responsibility of the students. Labelling items helps us if they are misplaced.

We appreciate your support with this matter.

Conduct outside of school

We ask families to support the school in ensuring your children are representing School 21 appropriately, sensibly and safely before and after school. We have had reports of students outside of the school gates using inappropriate language before school, and also for not demonstrating appropriate conduct at local shops on the high street after school. We will follow up these reports with calls home to parents. Please be aware that the school advises local residents and business owners to contact the Police if they feel students are not conducting themselves appropriately. Please ensure you take responsibility for your child and speak to them about expectations when they are travelling to and from school. This will be addressed as well during assemblies at school.  

Middle School Class Attendance Winners (wc 26/11/2018)

Year 5 - Snowdon - 98.6%
Year 6 - Everest - 95.5%
Year 7 - Rockies - 99.9% OVERALL WINNERS!
Year 8 - Fuji - 95.9%

The class with the highest attendance all term will be treated to a Zap Space visit! 

November Above and Beyond Out and About

Congratulations to this month's representatives for the Above and Beyond Out and About trip! Each month, the coaches nominate a student in their group who has been a consistent model of kindness, stepping up and working in the zone. The students accompany Ms Kyrk to have a hot chocolate at Cafe XVII on Stratford High Street to celebrate their achievement. 

Students who have been nominated in September, October or November have also receive a lapel badge! December's trip will be happening in the final week of term. 

Festival of Light Kicks Off!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the first Festival of Lights Concerts. Middle School represented with pride as the Y5 Wind, Strings and Big Bands playing a number of songs. This was followed up by the Motown Band, the Middle School Choir and a number of wonderful primary performances. A HUGE thank you to Ms Crowhurst, Ms Wall, Mr Start and Mr Bush for their amazing work on the concerts so far, to all the teachers who have supported the music team and, of course, to the parents and families for their support as well! 

Student Voice Representatives

This week Ms Mclear will be finishing up the assemblies for all Middle School year groups this week, giving information on how students can self-nominate to be considered as representatives for their coaching group / class. If your child is keen to run for this position, talking to them at home about what attributes and skills they have that make them a good choice will help! Watch this space for more information about the selection process. 

Y7 iPad Update

If you have ordered an iPad through the school these will (finally!) be ready for collection on Tuesday this week (4th December). You will need to sign for your child's iPad on collection. Staff will be available from 3:30pm - 4:00pm and again from 5:30pm - 6:00pm. 

All iPads should be brought into school ready to use from Wednesday 5th December. If your child is bringing in a device not purchased through the school, please ensure they visit the IT Department to set up their device with the school security profile. If you have any technical questions or questions regarding your payments, please email Mr Roworth in the IT Department at sroworth@school21.org.uk. 

Protesting Diesel! 

One of our Year 5 students has been standing up for our environment by participating in a protest. Below is her article and some photographs of the event!

I am an activist and on Tuesday last week I worked with Greenpeace on staging an intervention at a Posh dinner for Volkswagen in a fancy hotel in Hyde Park. My friends and I crashed the event pretending to be doctors. We approached the guests and ask them to have a health check. When they had the health check we showed how black their lungs were. Another group were doing heart checks and breathing tests. We were trying to show how bad diesel Is for people's health. Diesel is bad because it carries very fine particles which can pass not just into the lungs, but also the bloodstream. People's health is severely damaged by diesel. Please join me in trying to get diesel banned. Also, please join Greenpeace as they are helping save the planet. 
                                                                                                                                                                       - Kayja, Year 5

Recognition

Last week was full of incredible above and beyond examples from across the school. Check this week's recognition boards for your name.

Being Share Aware: supporting your child to be safe online

During the Middle School years many children become active on social media. It can be hard to keep track of what your child is doing on social networks, apps and games. Or know how best to keep them safe. 

The NSPCC provides guidance for parents to help untangle the web and on how to teach your child to be Share Aware.  Follow this link to explore popular social networks, games and apps and to learn more about these to help support your child. Click on the image below to access the site. 

Perform and Sing club!

If you would like to come and watch what your child has been doing in club, please join them at 3:45pm on the day of their club.
(Perform - Wednesday & Sing - Monday)

Ms Coles

Overdue Library Books

Please return your overdue library books! We currently have over 500 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

This Week's Lunch Menu is Week 1!

School 21 Oracy Teach Meet

This years oracy teach meet is happening on Wednesday 5th December at School 21 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. Light refreshments will be provided.

This event would suit anyone interested to find out more about how oracy skills are implemented across the curriculum or what is happening in the classrooms of school 21. Unfortunately this event is not suitable for children and we will not be able to accommodate buggies. 

If you would like to come and hear how teachers across the school are using oracy to craft rich and innovative classroom practice empowering students to find their voice, please register for a ticket on the eventbrite page here:  bit.ly/2PLOpGN. 

Dear Parent/Carer,

FREE ‘Magic Breakfast’ for ALL Children!

We have been given a grant to support us with our new Breakfast provision which will start on Monday 26th November 2018. This grant runs for 18 months but we hope to continue after that time.

Our Breakfast Club will be open from 7:45am every day. No children from 8:10am will be able to go through the School Reception Office. All children must enter via the School Reception Office to be registered. The children can tuck in to a healthy breakfast, enjoy a variety of fun activities including arts and crafts, books and reading, sports and exercise, and then go on to their classroom, ready to learn by 8:30am.

There is no cost for this fantastic morning session, we only ask for your kind volunteer donation. There will be a donation box in the School Reception Office every morning. To make it easier for us, please register your child by emailing Miss Dilger but you can just turn up on the day!

But that’s not all, every morning, we will have bagel station open. One outside the Primary entrance at 8:15am and one outside the Secondary entrance from 7:45am where pupils can take a fresh plain bagel. This will be available to all children in the school free of charge.

Our bagels are specifically made to be “child friendly” and are low in sugar and low in salt.

Research has shown that children who have a healthy breakfast achieve more at school – make sure your child doesn’t miss out!

We look forward to seeing you at breakfast!

Miss Charlie DIlger
Primary Deputy Head

Christmas Jumper Day Is Coming!!

The nights are drawing darker, the lights are slowly appearing in shop windows, cups in our favourite places are becoming more festive which can only mean one thing... There's two weeks until 2018's Christmas Jumper Day! As always we will be donning our christmas jumpers all in aid of Save The Children. You can make it, decorate it or use an old jumper you've worn before for a suggested donation of £1 and spread the seasonal joy whilst raising money for a great cause!