Friday 14th December 2018 Dear Parents and Carers,

Cake Sale to raise money for Refugees: Friday 7th December after school Last week’s cake sale raised £148.67. We hope you enjoyed the cakes and money raised has gone to The Red Cross’ “Europe Refugee Crisis Appeal.” Unfortunately the crowd became a little bit unsafe when everyone pushed forward and many of the Year 3 children were concerned about this. We have reviewed this, and for the future will ensure:

● Cake sales are not held in winter time when inclement weather may mean we crowd under a shelter

● There are two stalls set out - one for the younger children and one for the older children

● We demarcate queuing areas We ask that parents support future cake sales by modelling safe and respectful behaviour to children, modelling turn taking and intervening should anyone start to push forward.

Christmas Nativity Show: “Not Such a Silent Night” Year 1 and Reception did an absolutely fabulous job on Tuesday and Wednesday with their performance of the Christmas Nativity. Whatever their role, it takes a lot of focus for children so young to know when each thing happens/ the order of the performance and to perform on stage in front of an audience. Thank you also to Miss Newton and all of the Year 1 team for putting so much work into the show and for making it so special and inclusive. As always, huge thanks to our music department also; the children’s ability to learn songs so easily and sing them so beautifully is testament to the great work of the music team.

Theatre Trips for All Children On Thursday, Reception and Year 1 enjoyed a trip to Bloomsbury Theatre to see David Walliams’ Awful Auntie production at Bloomsbury Theatre. Today Years 2 and 3 went to see a Horrible Histories Christmas at Alexandra Palace. The children had a wonderful and memorable experience at each of the performances. Thank you to all of our parent helpers for supporting the trip. If you have not already done so it is not too late to make your £7 contribution via the eezeetrip app.

Christmas Fayre: Monday 17th 3-5pm Children Carol Singing: 3.30pm Raffle Draw: 4pm Our next big event is the Christmas Fayre on Monday afternoon. We still need some additional helpers. If you can offer some time time to help with one of the stalls/activities, please contact Pamela: pamela@ethicalfashionforum.com  Do bring plenty of money! There will be some amazing food to buy and The deadline for returning raffle tickets is 10am on Monday morning; these are not being sold at the Fayre. The live draw will take place at 4pm. Strings Concerts Next Week Tuesday 18th: Rose Lipman Theatre Year 1: 2pm Year 2: 3.15pm Year 3: 4.30pm Next week also sees our end of term Strings Concerts. Years 1-3 will be performing at the times set out above. Doors will be opened 5 minutes before each of the performances. You may collect your child at the end of the performance, but we are also happy to bring them back to school until the end of the school day or for after school care. Year 3 children will finish later that day - we will keep them with us and they can be collected from the Rose Lipman after the performance which will be around 5pm. If they are booked into after school care, we can bring them back to school.

First Steps Parenting First Steps Early Intervention & Psychology Service are running an 11 week course called ‘The Incredible Years”. The programme is aimed at parents/carers of children aged between 5 and 11 years old who may need further support with building positive communication, relationships and reducing difficult behaviours of their children. The attached flier provides details about when the programme is running and how to sign up. Please feel free to speak to Miss Harrington if you would like any further information about the course or with support in accessing the course.

Reception News

What a busy week we have had in Reception! We are so proud of all the children this week as they have shown superb behaviour during a week of many ‘firsts.’ I am sure that you will all agree that the children did a fantastic job of singing in the school nativity play and they should be very proud of their performances.They all belted their songs out with such joy - well done all! Later in the week, the children went on their first school trip to see Awful Auntie at Bloomsbury Theatre. We all really enjoyed the show and the children behaved so well whilst travelling to and from the theatre. During the week the children have been making Rudolph Christmas decorations using the forest school knives. Mrs Perry took each child through training to be able to safely use them - we hope you enjoy decorating your home with them! Polite Notice: We have noticed that our spare uniform supply has dwindled recently (particularly underwear). If you have any at home please could you return them to school in a clean condition.

Year 1 News This week in Year One we have mostly been practicing, performing and recovering from our Nativity shows on Tuesday and Wednesday - and on Thursday, we went to see David Walliams’ Awful Auntie at the Bloomsbury Theatre. We also looked at a Christmas advert from a few years ago, and wrote our own letters to the Man on the Moon character in the advert to make him feel less lonely. Penguin Class also welcomed a new class member - Harry Potter the goldfish! Harry is looking for a family to stay with over the Christmas holidays, so if you feel that you could open your doors to a very small and well-behaved fishy friend, please get in contact with Ms Newton.

Year 2 News In the run up to Christmas, carols, Christmas feasts and a theatre trip have played a huge part of our week. We have been looking at the Christmas story in RE and the Christian meaning of Christmas. In maths, we have been revising the properties of 2D shapes, making congruent patterns and puzzling over similar shapes. In English we have been developing our stories of ‘The Lost Toys’.

Year 3 News This week we have been practising incredibly hard for our upcoming concert, we cannot wait for you to see what we have in store! In maths, we have been learning all about Venn and Carroll diagrams. In English, we have been writing in role as the evil Starjik who would take children from the local villages to punish them for banishing him. In the end, Ivan managed to throw his ‘ice pips’ into the face of Starjik and it warmed his heart. Starjik changed from being mean and selfish into giving presents to the children every winter. This was tricky as we don’t often get to write in role of a mean character. Mr Gaffney also came and did another UNICEF assembly with us and we have been thinking about how we can ensure that all children feel safe and happy in the playground. Sign Ups There are no further sign ups for this term. Sign ups have been circulated with this newsletter for next term for the following:

● Reception’s Forest School for Spring Term ● “A Time and Space to Talk”

School Awards We are delighted to announce this week’s School Award winners. Congratulations to each of them.

School Award

Star of the Week Perfectly Presented

Brilliantly Behaved

Friend of the Week

Lions

Maya For your fantastic writing this week.

You have been trying really hard with segmenting words to use them in your writing. You could confidently retell the story of the Tiger Who Came To Tea

and add some new details.

Jonah

Alexia

Joshua

Tigers Ibrahim For working hard with his choices

around the school. Ibrahim has shown great maturity in recent weeks and is

showing fantastic behaviour when working with his friends during

independent play.

Michael

Kareema

Olivia

Penguins

Charya-Eve For your exceptional behaviour this week. You have consistently made great choices, and been a kind and

helpful influence in the classroom and playground.

Jude

Beau

Maya

Turtles

Asa For your outstanding performance in

the Christmas show. You showed outstanding confidence and worked exceptionally hard to learn all your

lines.

E’Loheka

Isabella

Misha

Elephants

Adaora For such incredible commitment to reading - it is wonderful to see you enjoying so many wonderful books!

You are reading with such clarity and expression.

Landon

Bella-Mae

Olive

Orangutans

Lois Lois has planned an imaginative Toy adventure story. Her writing this week has been enthralling- we can’t wait to

find out what happens next!

James Irmak Tyler

Giant Pandas

Coco For your fantastic wish for the world this Christmas and for your beautiful behaviour everyday. You are a role

model.

Esme

Rafael

Armarn

Polar Bears

Arthur For his amazing enthusiasm when writing. Arthur is always trying to

extend his own learning. We can’t wait to read your published ending next

week!

Max

Sofia

Dai-Shonaye

There are always a busy couple of weeks at school between now and our Christmas break so I have listed the key/non routine things that are coming up below:

Monday 17th December: Christmas Fayre 3-5pm Tuesday 18th December: Year 1 Strings Concert, 2pm Tuesday 18th December: Year 2 Strings Concert, 3.15pm Tuesday 18th December: Year 3 Evening String Concert and Carols, 4.30pm Thursday 20th December: Christmas Lunch, Non-Uniform Day/Christmas

Accessory and Class Parties Friday 21st December: School finishes at 12pm We wish you all a lovely weekend. Yours sincerely,

Siobhan Campbell Headteacher