Summer 2017

Pentland NewsChildren & young people at the core of all we do

Dear Parents and Carers Exciting times past and future

It is hard to believe that we have completed another full academic year at Pentland Field – and it has been an action-packed, fun-filled, learning experience for all! We have grown in number – from 115 pupils on roll in September 2016 to 125 pupils on roll as we finish for the academic year.

We continue to grow in many ways – and the most notable is the amount of pupils on roll. Our pupil admissions number is 140 and we will have 136 pupils on roll in September. Exciting times! We also, as part of our plan, complete the final part of our expansion with two new classes – one in Primary and one in Secondary – and we welcome the following staff to Pentland Field:

Jana Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Steph Noble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Eve Saunders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Niamh Mulkeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PPA Teacher

Lisa Ashford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Teresa Hyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Anna Poon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Joanne Hackett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SMSA

Cathy Johnston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SMSA

Aleksandra Nikratowicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SMSA

Nikkola Simcox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SMSA

Chole Farr . . . . . Administration Assistant

The following staff will be working with us on a full time basis but will be contractually bound to their teaching agency – the majority of staff listed below already work within the school:

Evangelia Giota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Carissa Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Georgia Scherini . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Samantha Swaysland . . . . . .Class Teacher

Kayla Watling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Class Teacher

Chris McDermott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PPA Teacher

Benjamin Norfolk-Whittaker . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Lewis Neville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Tarni Rigby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Gina Sinclair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LSA

Dates for your diary Essential dates for the Autumn term:

Monday 4th September Training Day (no school)

Tuesday 5th September Training Day (no school)

Monday 23rd – Friday 27th October Half Term

Wednesday 20th December Last day of term (1.30pm finish)

We intend to hold an Open Afternoon for parents in September to enable you to meet your child’s class team and to gain an update of what your child will be learning – details will follow when we return to school.

Term dates: Please note there is change in the Spring 2018 terms dates – there is no longer a Training Day on Friday 9th February, this has been moved to Thursday 29th March meaning that the last day of the Spring Term will be Wednesday 28th March (1.30pm finish). Term dates are published on the website and we will distribute paper copies in September.

On behalf of all my staff, we hope that you have a restful, fun-filled and enjoyable summer break. Thank you for your continued support – we value and welcome all your comments and look forward to continuing the partnership of developing your children to ‘be the best that they can be’!

We look forward to seeing all pupils back for the start of the Autumn Term on Wednesday 6th September at 9.00am.

With my very best wishes,

Audrey Pantelis, Head of School

Congratulations to… Congratulations are due to two of our staff who are getting married this Summer: Jo Watts and Emily Drake. We wish them all the very best!

Sad goodbyes to… Sadly, we are saying goodbye to Ben Hagreen, Class Teacher - Dragonfly who is moving to a local mainstream setting. We would like to thank Ben for his enthusiasm and positive contribution to the progress of our football team! We wish him all the very best for the future.

The Eden Academy of Schools

Alexandra School Grangewood School Moorcroft School Pentland Field School RNIB Sunshine House School

Pentland Field School

Pentland Way, Ickenham, Middlesex, UB10 8TS

T. 01895 609120 E. info@pentlandfieldschool.co.uk

Pentland Field School

We are an all-through special school for children and young people with severe to moderate learning difficulties (including those with ASD) between the ages of 4 and 19 years old. Pentland Field School is proud to be part of the Eden Academy.

Audrey Pantelis, Head of School

Lunchtime clubs The Speech and Language Therapy team have been running a variety of lunchtime clubs for all ages and stages throughout primary and secondary school. All the groups were focused on social communication, examples include Lego Therapy, Role Play, Helping Hands, Girls Club, ICT club, Attention and Listening, Messy play and clubs led by the interests of the secondary aged pupils. We have seen lots of progress amongst all these pupils. Every single pupil has been given access to a lunchtime club this academic year!

Educate. Develop. Enrich. Nurture.

Pentland News: Summer 2017

EventsWe have enjoyed lots of events this term…

Windsor CastleBadger Class went to Windsor Castle as part of their ‘Kings and Queens’ topic in Humanities.

Potato competition Each class were given some seeded potatoes and were encouraged to plant them on. Crops were harvested after 2 months, photos were taken before and after, we counted them to see how many had multiplied and the competition began! Winners will be presented with a Golden Potato in the last assembly of the year.

Arts/ScienceWorkshopsPupils that did not take part in the residential trip to Paccar Scout Camp remained at school and took part in a variety of arts and science based workshops. They included:

• African Dance • Circus Skills • Music (Percussion) • Willow Weaving

Science (Wild Science)A ‘Show and Tell’ assembly took place on the following day where we showed each other what we had achieved – and had loads of fun!

Educate. Develop. Enrich. Nurture.

Pentland News: Summer 2017

RHS Schools’ Scarecrow CompetitionHampton Court Palace Flower Show July 2017

As part of our developing horticultural provision through our Gardening Club, we entered, for the first time the Schools Scarecrow competition! It was very exciting and a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to get involved in a regional horticultural competition!

This year’s theme was ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’! Prizes were available for the three most popular scarecrows as voted for by the visitors to the show. We attended the show on Monday 3rd July (Press Day) to see our entry - and then it was up to the public! Sadly we didn’t come in the first three but we very much enjoyed getting ‘Terry the Pentland Fielder’ to the show – and he now has pride of place back at school scaring away pests in our wild garden near the Sports Hall!

Coffee Morning

Ickenham Churches’ Women’s group have very kindly arranged a fundraising coffee morning for Pentland Field School on Thursday 3rd August, all are welcome.

Educate. Develop. Enrich. Nurture.

Pentland News: Summer 2017

Parental SurveyThank you to everyone who completed the recent Parental Survey, results will be communicated at the start of the Autumn Term.

Camping at Paccar Scout Camp June 2017

The children had an amazing time at camp! We played on the adventure playground, went go kart racing and did the night line challenge course where we wore a blindfold and helmets and our friends helped lead us around the camp.

At night we had a big campfire, a singalong and roasted marshmallows by the fire. In the night we enjoyed getting into our sleeping bags in large tepees with our friends.

After a little bit of sleep it was day two of camp and we went to archery and the rabbit run where we explored underground tunnels wearing helmets. In the gladiator challenge some of us were brave and we wore harnesses while we climbed and jumped off a platform. After a fun morning we packed our bags and got on the bus back to school very tired and happy!

PFS Football Team Making fantastic progress

The school football team has taken part in the Middlesex County Football Association SEN Schools League, with fixtures in both January, March and twice in May this year. The team have benefited from support from Ickenham Youth FC and the expert coaching of Ray from 2Touch Rulz on Fridays. The team is making fantastic progress, our record is won 5 and lost 3 so far. In May we recorded wins against Woodfield School, Belvue School and our local rivals Young People’s Academy. Overall the team finished in a fantastic 3rd place across Middlesex and received medals for all their hard work. Well done to all the boys we are very proud of you all!