Primary News - 11. okt 2021

Dear Parents and Students,

The first week back has commenced with primary students getting excited about the new topics they will be exploring across subjects. With the focus on humanities this block, various activities have also been organised for students to engage in during their lessons to further promote these subject areas.

On Wednesday and Thursday, presentations on Phonics were organised for parents by Ms Gillespie in Early Years and Ms Miklavec in Year 1. These highlighted the importance of Phonics in early language acquisition and provided parents with strategies to support their children in developing literacy skills, through promoting success and increased confidence in their reading and writing and applying these to real-life situations. See Jolly Phonics and the Letters and Sounds programme for more resources and information.

We concluded the first week with the Teacher Appreciation Day celebrations on Friday. The day started off with a wonderful breakfast organised by the PTA for staff and parents to enjoy. Notes, cards and pictures from students across the school were displayed for staff, expressing their appreciation and gratitude. Thank you to all the parents for organising and joining the event together with the teachers.

You will have noticed some spooky decorations around the school, which have made everyone very excited about the upcoming Halloween. A huge thank you to all parents for putting up these fantastic decorations!

Please continue to read our News and Events section, with the latest Update from the Principal for current and up-to-date information. For students that attend the after-school activities, please see the section below on After-School Provision for the updated pick-up procedures in effect next week.

With best wishes for the weekend,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

Our first week in the new block was all about different modes of transportation and the journeys they take us on. Children were most excited to explore a variety of tools in the new Mechanic role-play area whilst fixing a tractor.

To kick-start the topic “Transportation” we went on a bus journey with the help of a story called “The Big Red Bus”.

The story inspired us to make one large-scale bus used for role-playing, to simulate a usual bus experience. Children had an opportunity to talk about colours while painting the Big Bus and getting familiar with the features of a bus. Alongside experimenting with colours, children have continued to learn about shapes through making transport-shaped pictures.

Ms Gillespie

Year 1

We have had the most exciting start of the Block! We started off our new topic about Toys by getting secret messages from the Toymaker through the Magic Mailbox! He gives us different challenges to do during our Topic lessons, such as making our own toys out of recycled materials.

In English lessons, we have been comparing stories with familiar settings and in Maths we have practised our number bonds to 10!

Ms Miklavec

Year 2

This week in Year 2 we have started our new topic 'Learning to learn', where we have begun exploring ways we can learn best.

We really enjoyed this first week back at school and of the new block. This block will be filled with lots of fun activities and we will be thinking about how we keep our brains and bodies healthy. In Literacy this week, we have started a new class text 'Cotton Wool Colin'.

We loved learning about this new character and we are looking forward to exploring the text in the coming weeks.

Ms Harris & Mrs Bradley

Year 3

This week during Topic, students have been conducting experiments with chocolate to understand what features make us want to eat it, or not eat it.

Would you want to eat chocolate that smells like an onion? What about blue Chocolate with red peppers? Would you prefer savoury food to Chocolate?

Ms Blundell & Mr Kokalj

Year 4

YEAR 4 STEM CHALLENGE

Every morning before regular lessons begin, Year 4 have some tasks to do, such as Silent Reading with reading record questions, Times Tables Rockstars, completing Math quizzes and re-working incorrect

answers. On Tuesdays they have STEM challenges - this week's challenge was:

Create the longest paper chain from a single piece of A4 paper.

Students worked in pairs, showing wonderful teamwork. Tudor and Luka were the winners, they followed their theory of how to make the longest paper chain and were successful - "Use the thinnest lines to make the biggest circles."

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 5

This week, the children had a very exciting Topic entry point. They dressed up to look like world leaders and took part in a debate. Each child was given a country to represent and everyone gave their opinions on world issues. This was great fun and the children enjoyed themselves very much. In English, the students started their poetry themed block by reading their favourite poems in the library. These were great to listen to and the children worked very hard to learn them off by heart.

Ms Thomas

Year 6

To start off our new block about Ancient Cultures, students brought in Lego blocks and recreated ancient Mayan cities. We looked at the architecture of temples, palaces and houses and students recreated them in group models.

This block in English, we are looking at poetry, and we started off by drawing images that came to mind when closing our eyes and listening to the words of three poems being read aloud. In Maths, we are starting our unit on algebra, so don't be disturbed if your children start enouncing letters instead of numbers when asked how many slices of toast they want in the morning!

Mr Bishop

PE

During PE lessons this week, we focused on developing our understanding of bound ball in competitive scenarios. Students were tasked with organising, refereeing and scoring their own games, working on developing their cooperation and communication skills. We also introduced a variety of speed-based challenges, encouraging students to develop their reaction times in a sporting environment.

PE Department

Slovene

Our Years 1 and 2 have been very enthusiastic this week. They followed diverse instructions in Slovene (as odpri vrata, prižgi luč, napiši, nariši, pomahaj, zapleši, pokaži okno, sedi na stol ...) through a wide range of games. In Particular, they enjoyed solving a puzzle with commands and obeying them.

Zelo dobro!

Ms Košec

Year 3 and 4 students at Slovene Advanced lessons had an interesting week full of various activities. They've recapped letters and practised handwriting by transcribing different texts. Some of the students encountered the dictation for the first time. Odličen začetek in le tako naprej!

Ms Drofenik

After School Provision

Pick Up Procedures for After-School Activities

Please note that the pick-up arrangements for primary aged children have been revised in order to maximise safety. We ask that students are picked up by their parents/guardians from the drop-off area (blue square) at the end of their activity at 15:40 (or at the time previously agreed by the activity teacher) not from the Reception area. Please follow the normal pick up procedures:

● if by car, please wait in your car

● if by foot, please wait outside near the drop-off/pick-up area

● if parking, please use the public car park.

If you need to pick up your child before the end of activity time, please inform the activity teacher via email in advance to let them know. In case of delayed pick-up or emergency, reception should be notified as soon as possible.

For Supervision pick-up, EY/Y1 and Y2-Y6 on Tues and Wed only Pick up arrangements stay the same. Pick up is via reception.

Martial Arts Club presentation

Come along and learn about this fantastic new club and take part in some Martial Arts!

There will be two presentation events:

● Tuesday 12th October from 15:10 until 15:40 for primary students and parents.

● Wednesday 13th October from 15:10 until 15:40 for secondary students.

Clubs will run on Tuesdays for Primary and Wednesdays for Secondary.

Please come along to the presentations on the dates above to find out more.

Ms Kenealy

MEPI News

The first day of the block saw our MEPI participants embark on their expedition training.

They needed to ensure that they had a few basic map skills ready for our 'orienteering style' event in Tivoli Park this coming Sunday. 6-figure grid references were the order of the day, along with a brief look at map symbols, and the basic functions of a 'baseplate' compass.

Mr Irving, MEPI Coordinator

Dear Parents,

I hope you enjoyed your block break and welcome to Block 2, where we will be celebrating Humanities as our theme across the school this month.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! Today we take the opportunity to celebrate the work of our wonderful teachers, their effort and dedication to ensuring that all students have wonderful learning experiences and exciting lessons at school. Thank you to all teachers.

I wanted to thank parents for your help with our Teacher Appreciation Day, your support with the after school clubs, the positive emails we have received and those who have volunteered to help with decorations around the school. As you can see from the pictures below, it looks amazing! I really appreciate this and it is a wonderful way to bring the community together, celebrate Halloween and create a great atmosphere around the school for the students to enjoy.

Some of the bats and skeletons 'surprised' me yesterday when I arrived, thank you to the parents for positioning them around the school, it looks fantastic!

For Remembrance Day, we will have a ceremony and an opportunity to share our respect planned for Friday 5th November. Poppies are available for students, staff and parents at reception from Monday 11th October.

During the next block break, from Monday 8th - Wednesday 10th November, we have arranged extra days for IGCSE/A Level students, more details will be sent out to students as this is a great opportunity for:

• Extra 1 to 1 help from subject teachers

• Booster sessions on Topics

• To sit past papers (and to have them marked by staff)

• Revision and support

More information will be sent out regarding this in the next week from our Secondary team. With 65% of grades at IGCSE A/A* and 75% of grades at A Level A/A*, we look to continue our exceptional examination success over the past 3 years.

From the week beginning Monday 4th October, we have welcomed Mr Fordham (Head of English) and Mrs Fordham (Assistant Teacher) to join our community. They join us from the UK.

Also, today, we welcomed Mr Stanic (Physics) to join us as a specialist qualified teacher in the Secondary School.

On Monday 11th October, we will welcome Ms Strmčnik (Biology) to join us as a specialist qualified teacher in the Secondary School.

If students need further support to catch up, complete work or extra lessons, these are going to be planned and arranged at a convenient time for students from extra work set, after school, block break etc.

Today is also Coffee Morning day and my updates are included in the full Update from the Principal here.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

All upcoming events and details are available on our website.