Middle School Newsletter

To our Middle School Community,

Welcome back for another exciting week. With the festive season well on its way and many celebratory end of the calendar year events coming up, please check the following list of dates to keep yourself in the loop!

Uniform reminders:

Please ensure your child is leaving for school 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.  

• 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.  

Dates For Your Diary

Monday 19th November: Last date to place iPad order through the school (Year 7 only)

Tuesday 20th November: Year 6 Transport for London Presentation 1:30pm - 2:30pm

Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st November: Parents’ Evenings 3:30pm - 6:00pm

Friday 23rd November: iPads delivered to the school and configured

Monday 26th November: iPad collection sessions (3:30 - 4:00pm & 5:30 - 6:00pm)

Tuesday 27th November: Year 6 Parents workshops - Year 7 and Beyond Pathways presentations with Mr de Botton 8:45am - 9:45am & 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Friday 30th November: Above and Beyond Out and About Trip for November

Friday 30th November: Festival of Light Concert 1 (Year 3 - Year 5) 4:00pm - 5:15pm (Year 5 students can be supervised at school from 3:15pm - 4:00pm)

Friday 30th November: Family Film Night 5:30pm - 7:15pm The Greatest Showman (£1 entry, includes popcorn and squash drink)

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are no clubs Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st November due to Parents Evening.  Monday, Thursday and Friday clubs are running as normal. 

Feedback from Coffee Morning

Thank you to the parents from Primary and Middle who attended the coffee morning, the discussion was very helpful. We appreciate your continued support of the school and your voices are important to help shape the school as it continues to grow. Below is a summary of the points raised and any actions that will be taking place.

Communication from the school:

• We will slim down newsletters so they are clear and more succinct.

• Text messages will be sent the day before an event as a reminder that they are happening. Parents and carers please check that your email and mobile numbers kept at the front reception are correct as these are our main forms of communication.

• We will update the latest newsletter on the website in a more timely fashion, ensuring the newest copy is published when it is emailed out.  

• More regular coffee mornings are being planned and will be published on the calendar, so do keep an eye out for these!

• There was clarification that our system will only allow the contact who is priority 1 on the list receive text messages.

The Curriculum:

• Curriculum overviews will be sent home half-termly and will update on the website accordingly.

• Primary curriculum is not planned yearly due to PBL (project based learning) being driven by student interest and responding to real world problems.

Parental Engagement:

• We are planning more coffee mornings, so please do keep an eye on the dates in the newsletters.

• Primary are continuing ‘Bring a parent to school week’.

• Primary workshops will now be filmed and added to a ‘Google classroom’ which parents will be able to access, to allow working parents who cannot attend access to the content covered.

• The cost of events is part of funding hire of external venues and to pay for specialist musical lessons. We are looking at offering ‘Family tickets’ to address having to pay for multiple tickets.

Homework:

• Primary is looking into the options of extending IXL to support the younger years.

Middle School Class Attendance Winners wc 12/11/18

Yr 5 - Snowdon 99.2% Overall Middle School Winners!

Yr 6 - Kilimanjaro 97.2%

Yr 7 - Himalayas 97.86%

Yr 8 - Fuji 96%

Parents’ Evenings

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week there is an opportunity to book a time to speak to your child’s teacher or coaches. The booking system is online and accessible through this link: https://thesource.school21.org.uk/Parents/Booking/code. You will need a personal code to book your appointment. These were sent home on letters last week. If you did not receive this or have misplaced it, please contact your child’s teacher or coach, or email Ms Kyrk (akyrk@school21.org.uk) for assistance. Please arrive through the Middle School doors (via the primary playground) rather than the front entrance of the school.

Anti-bullying Week & Assemblies

On Monday we had an Odd Socks Day to kick of Anti-Bullying Week. This year’s theme is ‘Choose Respect’ and Year 5 and Year 7 had special assemblies last week with Year 6 and Year 8 happening this week. In these assemblies we explored the definition of bullying, created freeze frames around a case study on bullying, discussed why bullies hurt people and, very importantly, what to do if we feel worried for ourselves or others regarding the issue of bullying. Advice for parents is available here.

Y7 iPad Update

Letters were sent home regarding the revised dates for the Year 7 iPad orders and collection. The portal for orders closes this evening - orders will not be able to be placed after this deadline. Important dates are as follows:

Portal for orders closes: Monday 19th November
iPads delivered: Friday 23rd November
iPad collection date: Monday 26th November (3:30pm - 4:00pm and 5:30pm - 6:00pm)

If you are providing a device that is not through the school scheme, this needs to be brought to the IT department before Monday 26th November to be configured with the secure profile to use when at school. All students are expected to bring iPads into school, ready to use in lessons from Tuesday 27th November.

Year 8 Cinema Trip

As part of the Into Film Festival, the Year 8s attended a screening of An Inconvenient Truth 2, the documentary about the impacts of climate change on our world. Thank you to Ms Silvain and Ms Graham for taking the group. ‘The film was very educational, yet still fun. It persuaded me to be more aware of Global Warming and ways to help the planet.’                                                                                                                                                                                                   - Elshadai Y8

The Riot Act - Road Safety Performance

On Monday last week a theatre company, known as The Riot Act, visited to put on a Road Safety performance for our Year 7s. The show was relevant and pitched well to appeal to the students who were engaged with the mix of acting, interesting story lines and characters and a visually pleasing set.
 

November Family Film Night

This month's family film night will be held straight after the Years 3 - 5 Festival of Light concert on Friday, 30th November. We will be showing The Greatest Showman from 5:30pm to 7:15pm. A £1 donation is requested to attend which includes a bag of popcorn and drinks of squash throughout the film. We hope to see lots of our Middle School Community there! Donations of cakes, sweets and other snacks are welcomed (please ensure these are nut free). 

Recognition

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

 Staying Safe on the Way Home

As some of our community walk home alone, it is important to ensure that safety is considered, especially as the days are getting darker earlier. Follow this link for further information and tips from the NSPCC on helping your child to be safe when walking home alone. https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/media/1103/out-alone-keeping-child-safe.pdf   

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 2!

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.