The Gordon Children’s Academy

Weekly Newsletter

Friday 08 October 2019

Lost Property

Next week all lost property will be out on the playground on Tuesday evening and will be accessible at the end of the school

day. If your child has lost something please take a look. Even if you miss Tuesday the lost property will still be accessible for the

rest of the week but will be stored in the bottom floor of the large building at the top of the main playground. Any items of

clothing that aren’t claimed by the end of the week will be donated to charity.

Attendance

Please report all sickness and absence on the attendance line to Mrs Groves or the main office if the line is unavailable.

Birds of Prey

On Thursday 28th we have an opportunity for our children in year 3 to have their photos taken with Avian visitors from Eagle

Heights. A letter has been sent home with regards to this, if you’re interested please ensure the consent form and money is

returned to the school office by Tuesday 26 November 2019.

End of day pick up

If someone who is not on your collection sheet is collecting your child from school you must let the class teacher know either

by writing a note in your child’s contact book or by informing the school office so they can pass the information on.

Open Evening

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Open Evening great! It was lovely to see so many parents both familiar and new

in attendance. There were exciting activities available and it was lovely to see the children including the “big children” (adults)

have great fun getting involved in science experiments, leaf rubbing and visiting our mud kitchen. A massive thank you to all

the children who provided their beautiful singing voices and to the school’s ambassadors for their knowledge of the school

on the tours, the dedicated staff and of course the parents; new and old, who came to look around and will be joining the

Gordon family. Please remember to have a look at our school website for upcoming tours.

Online Safety

With more apps coming out and more ways for your children to access the internet it is important to ensure they are safe

while doing so. On the next three pages will be information on how you can help protect your children while they are online

and what apps are suitable. For more information please visit www.nationalonlinesafety.com

Dear Parents/Carers

As we prepare for Remembrance Day, classes have been involved in a range of artistic activities to learn about the bravery and sacrifice of all those involved in the First World War. Our year 4 students have been experiencing what life would have been like in the trenches and how people back home may have been affected; gaining an understanding of how women were deployed to the front lines to work as nurses, the roles of people back home and even going so far as to listen to what an air raid siren would sound like. We’ve had students across all years looking at WW1 poetry and creating Remembrance Day murals. If you happen to be visiting the school please take time to appreciate all of the fantastic displays!

This week we celebrated a successful open evening with a fantastic turnout. We would like to thank all staff, students and parents that made it possible and remind parents who are looking to enrol their children in 2020 that we have school tours up and coming. Please check the website or call into the main office for more information.

With the days getting darker earlier, I would like to remind parents to be extra cautious and vigilant when parking up at the end of the school day. Please also ensure that you leave the zig zags clear as it is illegal to park on them at the beginning and end of the day and children need to be able to cross the road safely! Thank you!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Mrs J Murphy Executive Headteacher

Every Child, Every Day, Every Minute

Every Child, Every Day, Every Minute

EYFS

This week we have continued our study of Pumpkin Soup. As a

class, we made a story map of Pumpkin Soup, the children using

their prediction key to predict what would happen next and then

their white hats to retell the facts. During the week the children

have been writing on the pumpkins, making numbers with leaves

and sticks, creating leaf mazes outside and writing on vegetables.

On Tuesday, the children were excited to talk about Firework

Night, and they learnt about the history behind it. They discussed

what their favourite fireworks are and who was going to see

displays.

Year 2

In year 2 this week, we have been reading The Tunnel. We have used evidence from the text and made inferences to write character descriptions of Jack and Rose. We then went on to write a comparison of the two. This week year 2 used both evidence from the book and inference to write a character description.

Year 1

In Year 1 this week we have been working collaboratively on exploring 3D shapes and discovering their properties. We then used our thinking skills by using a tree map to sort the shapes and discussed everyday objects we would find. In R.E. we looked at the story of Sita and Rama and how light conquered darkness and brought them back together. The town used Diva lamps to help guide Sita and Rama back home. We used our Green Hat to create our own Diva lamps and lanterns. In PSHE, we discussed how we are all different and unique in our own way. We created puzzles pieces to show that we are all unique but still fit together as a year group and friends. We discussed what Autumn meant and what happens at this time of year. We created hedgehogs out of clay and discussed Bonfire night. We have had a really exciting and busy week in Year 1. We look forward to what next week brings.

Mini Youth Games

After a long, tiring day (Thursday 7th November), our team of Year

5's and 6's managed to finish 6th out of 28 schools in this years

Medway Mini Youth Games plate tournament. All the children

that competed demonstrated great habits of mind such as

persistence and team work and they definitely kept their calm in

tricky situations and should be proud of their finishing place. They

even won the first 6 out of their 8 games! We are very pleased

with how well they represented Gordon; their team spirit and

behaviour was impeccable. Well done children!

Every Child, Every Day, Every Minute

Year 4

The children are continuing with their Topic of 'Raiders and Traders'.

This week, during our Literacy lessons, we have been learning about

'persuasive writing' and how to construct a persuasive letter to Grendel

the monster from our Beowulf our Guided Reading book. We have

been finding our more about the Anglo-Saxons and how they

influenced life in Britain. The children have been comparing the

differences between Roman and Saxon coins and have made their own

using salt dough. This was such a fun activity and the coins are looking

great!

Year 6

Another busy week in Year 6 has seen us learn more about

what happened at the start of World War 2 and created some

moving poetry and artwork inspired by the haunting picture

book “Rose Blanche” and the research we undertook about

Remembrance Sunday. We appointed our Year group sport

leaders who model the expectations we have when

representing Gordon Children’s Academy at sporting events.

But the biggest success of our week was at the open evening

event, where a group of amazing children gave up their

evening to give visitors tours of our school and explain how

we use thinking skills at our school. I would like to say a huge

thank you to them, many visitors commented that they would

be choosing Gordon as their first choice school because of

how confident and mature they children they spoke to were;

they are a credit to themselves and their families

Year 5

In Year 5, we have been working hard on our biographies of Henry VIII.

We have now published them ready for display in the upper hall along

with our clay Tudor Roses and Henry VIII portraits. In Maths, we have

been learning how to apply our knowledge of addition and subtraction

into a problem solving context. We have looked at how to solve

different types of word problems and overcome our worries about test

style questions. In Science, we have learned about the gestation period

of different animals and determined that there is a link between the

mass of an animal and its gestation period- did you know that a horse

has a gestation period of 336 days? We used our accuracy skills to

create a scatter graph in order to seek patterns in our investigation.

Year 3

This week in maths, we have been practising and applying our multiplication

and division skills. We have shown great accuracy and bravery when using

division with remainders. In English, we have been retelling what has

happened in our class novel so far and concentrating on using the past tense.

We have also been describing Viking Heroes. In Science, we have been

thinking about predators and prey and looking at whether animals are

carnivores, herbivores or omnivores. Did you know you can identify which one

they are by their teeth?

House Points

1490 Points

1558 Points

1561 Points

1573 Points

Class Awards

Class Golden Tie

Winners

Reason Why Gordon Greats

Readers

Gordon Greats

Writers

Gordon Greats

Mathematician

Tiny Tims Olivia Persistence Logan Coby Aditya

Tiny Tims Yanik Persistence Emily Imogen Salih

Ghost Louie Persistence Faye Ethan Jack

Fezziwig Henry Y Bravery Harriet Phoebe Alfie

Cratchit Areeb Accuracy Leo Jakub Joey

Marley Rocko S Persistence Jacob Jack Callum

Bullseye Chloe Persistence Alex Taranpreet Aiden

Brownlow Phoebe Persistence Harvie Brooklyn Stephanie

Bumble Leah All Habits Yanis Frankie Isabella

Dodger Floyd Creativity Taylor Ruby Lewis

Grimwig Alfie Persistence Jacob Taylor Alfie

Sowerberry LuLu Persistence Alice Leo Harvey

Wickfield George Persistence Ava W Ruben Prabhkirat

Copperfield Christopher Collaboration Riley Zane Daniel

Trotwood Joel All Habits Kai Sophie Rebecca

Peggotty Daijon All Habits Frishta Thomas Skye

Micawber Nathan All Habits Adam Vivi Thomas

Traddles Liam A Accuracy Amelia Tyler Shanya

Diary Dates

Monday 11 November

Remembrance Day

Wednesday 12 November

Year 6 Height and Weight

Thursday 14 November

Year 5/6 TSAT Badminton Competition

Friday 15 November

Children in Need Day

Diary Dates

Thursday 21 November

Mini Youth Games Badminton

Monday 25 November

Flu Vaccination

Thursday 28 November

Eagle Heights Visitors (Year 3)

Year 3/4 TSAT Football Competition

Well done to Travellers House for coming 1st place this week!

Every Child, Every Day, Every Minute

Monday 2nd September 2019 – Staff Inset Day

Term 1 Start Students return on Tuesday 3rd September 2019

Finish Thursday 17th October 2019

Friday 18th October 2019 – Staff Inset Day

Autumn break Monday 21st October – Friday 25th October 2019

Term 2 Start Students return on Monday 28th October 2019

Finish Thursday 19th December 2019

Christmas break Friday 20th December – Friday 3rd January 2020

Monday 6th January 2020 – staff inset day

Term 3 Start Students return on Tuesday 7th January 2020

Finish Friday 14th February 2020

February break Monday 17th February – Friday 21st February 2020

Term 4 Start Monday 24th February 2020

Finish Friday 3rd April 2020

Spring break Monday 6th April – Friday 17th April 2020

Term 5 Start Monday 20th April 2020

Early May Bank Holiday Friday 8th May 2020

Finish Friday 22nd May 2020

May break Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May 2020

Term 6 Start Monday 1st June 2020

Last day at school for children Finish Friday 17th July 2020

Monday 20th July 2020 – Staff Inset Day

Tuesday 21st July 2020 – Staff Inset Day