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Nov/Dec 2015

Issue 2

Dear Parents / Carers

Celebrating the past How does the oldest school in Newham celebrate 292 years of history? With projects, an

archaeologist, a gallery, presentations, a tea and some much loved faces from the past. In

order to mark the big changes that are coming for the school in the next year we used the

month of November to explore the school’s long history. Denel in Year 6 suggested that

we also invite people to see the school before the building works begin and his idea

became our Historical Day on Wednesday 18th

November. The morning was a wonderful

chance to celebrate the history, the coming of the new building and to reminisce with past

and present friends.

The highlight of the day was when an archaeologist from the British Museum came to

show the children, staff and guests what was found during the archaeological dig on the

field in the summer holiday. The British Museum very rarely finds anything when they

are called out which makes the artefacts discovered on our site even more special. As

well as pottery, they found 17th

and 18th

century metal pins, nails, stonework, and

Victorian blue and white china. They are very good finds which are all being kept

securely at the British Museum for us. We can’t wait to see if the archaeologists will find

anything else next year when they have a lot more time and a much larger area to explore.

One of the guests who came to celebrate with us was Miss English who is very familiar to

many as the Headteacher of the school in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. We were also joined by

the daughter and son-in-law of Mr Candler who was the Headteacher here for many years

before Miss English and who also attended the school. The school means a lot to so

West Ham Church of England Primary School Newsletter

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many people. We are in touch with the families of some of the children who attended

over 80 years ago who send us photos and items from the past when they find them. A

number of our parents attended the school themselves, quite a few staff members also

attended as well as their own children.

Nearly There The new building has gone through nearly all levels of approval. There have been public

consultations and design review panels. The start date has been delayed from January,

but it will hopefully begin after half term. We will keep you informed.

Christmas Service Years 1 and 2 performed their nativity to a very full

church on Wednesday 16th

December. It was great to

see all the parents, family members and friends of the

school who came to support the children. The children

performed some lovely songs and actions and learnt all

their lines brilliantly. Thank you to the KS1 staff and

to the children for this really good performance.

Mrs Rogers’ new thirty two strong choir performed for

the first time during the service. They sang ‘Do You

Hear What I Hear?’ and despite only being together

for a few weeks, they sounded so beautiful it brought

tears to the eyes.

Senior Citizens’ Tea and Early Years’ Nativity Several children visited the sheltered accommodation on Vicars Close to sing carols with

the residents on Tuesday 8th

December. Some of the residents also attended our Senior

Citizens’ Tea the next day where they watched the dress rehearsal of the Early Years’

Nativity, sang carols together and heard the choir sing. The new Lead Helpers (Denis,

Farouq, Juanita and Nafisah) welcomed the guests and made sure they were comfortable.

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The parents were blown away by how well their children did in the Early Years’ Nativity

on Friday 11th

December. In the play a stable girl was shocked to find a baby in a manger

and spent a lot of time trying to get a stubborn mule called Maurice to come over and

look. The children had intricate speaking parts and songs which they learnt perfectly by

heart. As a measure of how wonderful it was, one parent who came to the morning

performance loved it so much that she came back to see it all over again in the afternoon.

The Bazaar Mysteries are irresistible. The big question of the Bazaar wasn’t how to get Mrs

Gyambibi to reveal the secret recipe for her lovely non alcoholic mulled wine or who was

going to win the Bush Tucker Trial, but it was trying to figure out who was the quirky but

strangely realistic Santa hiding under all that beard. The children left with gifts and big

smiles but they also left with something of a puzzle. But the answer, perhaps, was there

if you were willing to ask the right questions. Just how far north did he come from and

where exactly did he park his reindeer...?

It turned out to be a tense Bush Tucker Trial as Mr Forster fought to hang onto his title of

King of the Jungle. There were jellied octopus tentacles and fermented crocodile eggs,

but in the end it came down to a smelly, slimy, green concoction, the ingredients of which

are probably best left unsaid. Mr Forster retained his title (just!), and the organisers will

be thinking hard to come up with even more ideas to repulse and delight (but mostly

repulse) the contestants and their audience next time.

Thank you so much to the parents, staff and friends of the school who ran stalls and those

parents who wrapped presents in school and at home. It was also good to see all the

families who came to the Bazaar on Thursday 3rd

December as well as quite a number of

past pupils. To name a few, there was face painting, bric-a-brac, henna, a lucky dip and

food tasting, and this year Shanie in Year 6 joined the team with a cake stall of her own to

raise money for a charity for the homeless.

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Historical Projects As part of our exploration of the past each class looked at a different aspect of the

school’s history or that of the local area. Some learnt about the history of West Ham Park

while others visited All Saints Church – where the school began – and drew pictures of its

intricate medieval stonework. The older children were fascinated by the school’s records

of children who attended over a hundred years ago and wrote diary entries imagining how

they might have lived. They were particularly interested in children with the same first

name or surname as them or children who lived on the same streets as they do now.

The corridor has been transformed into a gallery charting the school’s history from its

origins in 1723 to 2016 when the new building is to be completed. There are many

photos and artefacts on display, and the children love to peek inside the windows of the

model of the new school building and to try to move about the toy people inside. There

are also a few familiar faces in the timeline including a photo of a young Ms Holyome,

but to see her you’ll have to find her first!

A walk in the park As part of our November history project, nursery visited West Ham Park to learn about its

past. The only problem was that the world is far too new and intriguing for history to

hold much fascination for three year olds, so the tour of the park morphed very quickly

into a nature walk and a chance to show off everything they had learnt. They saw shapes

everywhere and counted everything, including the trees. The park gates were rectangles

and squares. Conkers were circles and there were five tiny chicks sitting inside a circular

nest. And some of the birds they saw were magpies. But best of all was the amount of

fun they had climbing up hills and rolling down hills and playing in the leaves, so much

so that no one wanted to go back to school.

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There is a lot more outdoor exploration being planned for both nursery and reception in

the coming months.

Jane Moon We were pleased to welcome the new Deputy Director of Education for Newham when

she visited us in November. She visited nearly all classes and spoke to a lot of the

children and staff.

Winter Park Testers for Discover When children in Year 1 were invited to be special testers for Discover’s new Percy the

Park Keeper’s Winter Park, they were so excited to be chosen and to go that they were

practically bouncing up and down. Even the walk to Stratford was part of the excitement.

The storytelling event followed Percy as he worked to help his animal friends find a new

tree house to live in after their oak tree home was blown down. The Discover staff

quizzed the children afterwards on what they liked, how it made them feel and what they

would like to see done differently and this was used as part of their fine tuning process

before it opened to the general public. To maintain the surprise for everyone else we

weren’t able to take any photos inside, but the Year 1s gave it a big thumbs up, all their

thumbs up, in fact, and would recommend it to everyone.

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Diocese Inspection We achieved a ‘good’ overall in a recent SIAMS (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and

Methodist Schools) inspection with an ‘outstanding’ for distinctiveness.

Brilliant Club at Sussex University Several children in Year 6 have visited their first university as part of the Brilliant Club.

They learnt what it’s like to be a university student, experienced a lecture in a real lecture

theatre and met the tutor and PhD student who will be working with them to research and

complete their dissertations. The size of the campus was the biggest surprise of the day

especially as such a large campus meant a huge amount of walking to get from place to

place.

Inspired by William Blake

After being given the difficult task of writing animal

poetry in the style of the poet William Blake and his

most famous poem, ‘The Tyger’, in particular, the Year

6 children made their mission a lot less daunting by

visiting London Zoo in October. There they found out

that there really was no better way of inspiring their

own great works of poetry than to spend a day

observing the animals in the flesh.

They learnt about penguins during a public

demonstration and one child dressed up as a rare

rockhopper penguin with wings and the distinctive

black and yellow crest on his head while behind him the

real thing swam in an aquarium only a few metres

away.

Back in school, Mrs Gyambibi’s English group put their poems together in an Animal

Anthology. Inside it Nafisah wrote about sinister serpents with menacing eyes and

deceiving smiles. Amy’s peacocks were a walking, floating cloud and Albert wrote of a

stealthy sharky who was the bully of the ocean with powerful spot-on eyes, shadowing its

prey like a spy. But something deadly was going on with Farouq’s domestic cats that

lurked in the forest of the forgotten west, sharpening their jaws with a long cold claw.

Special Event in Park In the past special events have included visits to the Mile End Climbing Wall, trips to the

cinema or baking cupcakes, but this time the reward for good behaviour and working

hard was visiting West Ham Park to collect fallen twigs, branches, leaves and pine cones

to make art in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian artist. Hot chocolate and

marshmallows were waiting for them back at school which was very welcome after their

search. The children enjoyed their afternoon, but then they couldn’t let nursery have all

the fun in the park, could they?

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Education City Year 6 are experimenting with a new way of doing their homework. Education City is a

popular online program which can be used at home and school and each child’s progress

is tracked through their individual logins. This won’t replace paper homework, but it will

provide essential extra maths practice.

From Rudolph...

Ms Holyome’s Year 5 reading group

had a unique experience on Tuesday

15th

December. During their lesson

they noticed a message pinned on the

whiteboard instructing them to go to

Nurture. The message was from

Rudolph. In Nurture they found

another message, but this time each

child had to use all their knowledge

and all their comprehension to

decipher the instructions themselves

which in the end came together to

make the nicest cupcakes with the

choclatiest toppings and all the sprinkles that they could wish for on top.

Sleigh Bells Ring

I went into the hall during Breakfast Club a week or so ago to find the early morning

reading group children singing away to Winter Wonderland with their heads all moving

in time. I just had to mention it as it was such a lovely sight. Who would have thought

work could be so much fun?

Notices and Reminders

Please remember to encourage your children to keep reading over the holiday.

If you are interested in joining our Parent and Toddler group, please contact the

office in January.

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Dates for your Diary

Event Date

Last day of term Friday 18th

December

First day of Spring Term Tuesday 5th

January

Nursery re-opens Monday 11th

January

Year 1 and 2 flu immunisations Monday 11th

January

Have a safe and happy holiday.

Paulette Bailey

Headteacher

Thoughts for the month

Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can.

In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can.

As long as ever you can.

John Wesley

It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the

strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

Mahatma Gandhi