As the echoes of summer fall and the nights draw in, this week’s piece recreates the remarkable imagery of the bumble bee.
Written in 1899 by Rimsky-Korsakov for his Opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ perfectly captures the movement and pace of a bumble bee buzzing in full flight.
Before you share the name of the piece with your family, see if they can listen to it and identify which insect the music describes.
Perhaps you could recreate your own accompaniment to an animal or insect with your own sounds or instruments?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44YyT1IkkL4
I hope you all enjoy the break and take a moment to stop buzzing around and take a well-earned break!
Thanks for listening.
Mr Young |
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Congratulations to this week’s stars and friends of the week! You have all had a wonderful week and we hope you will keep up the hard work!
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Courses for parents
By Mr Eggleton, Deputy Headteacher
A few weeks ago, a letter was sent out to all Parents and Carers to ask you what courses and workshops would be helpful to you, to support you with the challenging and evolving task of bringing up children.
We had a huge response from Parents and Carers which has now been analysed and shown below.
| Maths Strategies |
60 |
| Developing emotional intelligent children |
53 |
| Developing confidence and self esteem in children |
57 |
| Supporting children with home learning |
49 |
| phonics |
30 |
| Supporting children with their reading |
30 |
| Positive behaviour management |
50 |
| E-safety |
40 |
| Boundaries in the home |
26 |
| Healthy eating |
25 |
| Autism |
12 |
| Dyslexia |
12 |
| General parenting advice |
21 |
| Young carers |
5 |
Throughout the year, we aim to run informal events covering all subjects which you have highlighted as important to you.
Our first event will be on Maths Strategies run by our Maths Lead and Assistant Head, Mr Huxley. This will be run on Thursday 10th November at 9am and then repeated again at 5pm. It will take place in the Family Room. Please come along to either time, have a hot drink, see the strategies used and ask any questions.
Please continue to look at the school newsletter for upcoming dates.
Many thanks
Mr Eggleton
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Pastoral Care Support
By Mr Eggleton, Deputy Headteacher
This year we are focusing on developing our pastoral care support for every child. We believe that we have a strong provision already in place which includes our Early Help team ( Mrs Aggie Mesmain and Mr Oliver Hunt). They work with families who are facing difficulties or change. We also offer a range of afternoon groups for children including Lego therapy, social skills and emotional literacy. We have seen the positive impact of these groups and the Early Help Team on children's learning, their attendance and how happy they are.
We want to improve further and this year, every teacher is giving more time and attention to developing the emotional well-being of all children in their class, not just those who might be vulnerable or struggling with their feelings.
We will be using existing strategies such as mindfulness, emotional literacy through stories and enhanced PSHCE (personal social health and citizenship) lessons. We also have some real experts on the staff team and we will be drawing on their skills. Mr Vanson has recently completed a lead teacher qualification in PSHCE at Roehampton and is recognised as a lead teacher in Southwark; Mrs McHale has just completed her Masters at Cambridge University researching the use of mindfulness in schools. Mrs Pesantes is a fully trained 'Emotional Literacy' teacher.
Finally we are introducing 'RULER' across the school. RULER stands for
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It is an evidence based approach devised by Yale University and used by over 10,000 schools in the USA.
It's aim is to embed teaching of emotional intelligence into every classroom every day.
Freddy Vanson and I have been trained by Yale University and are disseminating this training to all staff at school with the hope of being one of the first RULER schools in England.
You can learn more about RULER at: http://ei.yale.edu/ruler/
These are all very exciting times for our school and we hope to provide more information about these strategies in our parent training sessions which will be coming up throughout the year.
Many thanks
Mr Eggleton
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Year Five and Six
By Mr Windle, Head of Year and Six
As most of you knew, Year 6 have been at the farm all week. Sadly, the adventure ends on Friday, but what an adventure it's been! Cows have been milked (and born before our eyes), eggs have been sorted, fear of sheep has been overcome, turkeys have been herded and chickens chased. As well as all these animal antics new foods have been tried, stories heard and relationships forged. All in all - it's been immense! There are loads of photos on the school blog.
Meanwhile back at school, Year 5 have been immersed in their biographies of Dr Barnardo and divisor problems in maths. They've also tackled their DT project - to make a machine with a moving part. On Thursday they had a very interesting time at the What’s Happening for the Young Festival at the Southbank Centre on Thursday. The children participated in workshops about identity, relationships and poetry. Gadiel in Summerson class particularly impressed with his engagement and enthusiasm throughout the day.
And now...relax, it's half term. Woohoo!
Mr Windle
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Year Three and Four
By Mr Huxley, Assistant Headteacher
Division. The dictionary defines it as "difference or disagreement between two or more groups, typically producing tension.” But that is the total opposite of what division means to the children of year 3/4. The children came together in groups to solve division problems. Some learnt something for the first time, others have developed their skills and all were challenged.
In English, the children have continued to study diary writing through the medium of the book ‘Stone Age Boy’. Our super diary writers got into role as Om the Stone Age Girl and recalled an average few days in the life of a hunter gatherer. Caves were explored and animals were hunted.
I have been really impressed by the huge progress being made in guided reading lessons. I had the honour of looking at Ebenezer’s brilliant reading work on Thursday and I was really really impressed! His answers were well thought out and detailed. Thanks for sharing your brilliant work Ebenezer, it really made my day!
Have a great half term everyone! Read, count and have lots of fun!
Mr Huxley, Assistant Headteacher
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Year One and Two
Ms Alcock, Assistant Headteacher (Head of Key Stage 1)
This week, Year One have been giving directions, programming and making the Bee-bots come to life! Mr Oxenham has been very impressed by the way in which the children have applied their logic.
In Bumble class, the children have been practising High Frequency words and writing their own stories, all by themselves! Mrs Jenkins has been particularly impressed by Perez's writing this week as he is trying hard to apply his phonics.
Up in Year Two, the children have been writing acrostic poems. In Nickleby class, the children listened to poetry by Benjamin Zephaniah before writing and performing their own poems - well done!
In Copperfield class, Ms Keer-Keer has been thrilled with the way in which the children have put their Design Technology skills into practice - they've been learning to make sliders, levers and flaps and now they're about to make their finished product!
We hope that you have an enjoyable half term and that the children have a chance to relax and recharge their batteries!
Ms Alcock
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Early Years
By Ms. Henderson, Head of Early Years
In Trotwood this week the children had the opportunity to make dough from scratch. First they felt the different ingredients, describing the different textures. Then they delighted in the mixing of different textures to create a new sticky mixture. The children agreed to carefully add water and oil to create a very sticky mixture. Eventually the perfect consistency was found after adding flour and a bit more water.
In Reception the children have also been combining ingredients, to make their own mathematical pizzas. The children added various ingredients to their individual bases and commented on those pizzas that had more ingredients than others and which pizzas had the fewest ingredients. Shade commented that her pizza would have to have the fewest pieces of cheese, because she was allergic to cheese! The children then enjoyed their pizzas together as an afternoon snack.
All the children have had a fantastic start to the school year and have settled very well into new routines. We hope you all have a fantastic, peaceful half term and we look forward to seeing you all back after the holidays.
Ms. Henderson, Head of Early Years
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Diary Dates
31 October 2016
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Children return to school 8:45am - 8:55am
4 November 2016
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Summerson class trip to the National Portrait Gallery
8 November 2016
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Barkis Class Assembly 10:10am
10 November 2016
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Nickleby Class Assembly 10:10am
Moved from the 1st November.
11 November 2016
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Festival of Sport at City of London Academy
18 November 2016
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Shakespeare Club performance at The Albany Theatre
22 November 2016
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Bumble Class Assembly 10:10am
24 November 2016
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Havisham Class Assembly 10:10am
29 November 2016
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Pickwick Class Assembly 10:10am
6 December 2016
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Barnaby Class Assembly 10:10am
13 December 2016
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Year One and Two Winter Show 10:00am & 2:00pm
15 December 2016
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Year Three and Four Winter Show 2:00pm & 6:00pm
- Unicorn theatre trip
20 December 2016
21 December 2016
- School closes for Christmas holiday 2pm
- School re-opens January 5th 2017
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Term Dates 2017/18
PLEASE DO NOT BOOK HOLIDAY IN TERM TIME
Autumn Term
- Inset Day: Monday 4 September
- Inset Day: Tuesday 5 September
- Children in School: Wednesday 6 September – Friday 20 October
- Half term holiday: Monday 23 October – Friday 27 October
- Children in School: Monday 30 October – Wednesday 20 December
- Christmas holiday: Thursday 21 December – Thursday 4 January 2018
Spring Term
- Inset Day: Tuesday 2 January 2018
- Inset Day: Wednesday 3 January 2018
- Children in School: Thursday 4 January – Friday 9 February
- Half term holiday: Monday 12 February – Friday 16 February
- Children in School: Monday 19 February – Thursday 29 March
- Easter Holiday: Friday 30 March – Friday 13 April
Summer Term
- Children in School: Monday 16 April – Friday 25 May
- (May Bank holiday will be taken on 7 May)
- Half Term holiday: Monday 28 May – Monday 4 June
- Inset Day: Monday 4 June 2018
- Children in School: Tuesday 5 June – Friday 20 July
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