Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - 13th January 2023

Welcome back - Happy New Year to all families in our George Spicer community.  It was so nice to welcome all the children back last week and hear stories of what they had been doing over the festive period.  

Communication with school - A reminder that the main contact with the School Offices are:

Email:  office@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk Telephone: 020 8363 1406

Breakfast and After School club - any queries in regard to breakfast and after school club should be emailed to basc@georgespicer.sch.uk

Attendance - As a school we do not authorise absence for family holidays during the school term, Parents / Carers who choose to take their child out of school for holidays should be aware that their child’s absence will be recorded as ‘unauthorised’ and a penalty notice will be issued.  A Penalty Notice costs £60 per parent and per child, if payment is made within 21 days. £120 if paid after the 21 days but within 28 days.

Punctuality - The school gates open at 8.45am for a soft start to support a calm arrival to school. All our pupils are expected to be in class for registration by 09:00 am. The school gates are then locked at this point.  Pupils need to be in school by 09:00 am for registration. If your child arrives after 09:00 am, they will receive a late mark (L). If your child arrives after 09:10 am, they will receive a 'U' code (missed session) on their registration certificate which will impact on their overall attendance percentage.

Absences - must be reported in writing by email or by phone by 9am daily. Please leave a brief message with your child's name, class and the reason for their absence.  It will be recorded as unauthorised if you do not leave a reason or say your child is 'unwell'. 

Appointments - You must provide an appointment card / letter for your child’s absence to be classed as medical, otherwise it will be marked as an unauthorised absence.  Please note we expect your child to attend school either side of their appointment where possible.

Deadline for Reception 2022 intake is the 15 January 2022.

Free School Meals - No Recourse to Public Funds Is a condition placed on someone because of their immigration status, which stops them accessing mainstream benefits such as Universal Credit, Housing Assistance and Child Benefit.  If this is you, then there has been a change for schools and we encourage you to get in touch by emailing office@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk  or telephone 02083631406 where we will help you apply for Free School Meals for your child(ren.)

For more information watch this video or click the link no recourse to public funds

Residential Trips payment reminder - Please note the dates below for payment of the final instalments for the residential trips. 

• Year 4 - Cuffley Camp June 2023 final payment due 3^rd February 2023 £80.00
• Year 6 - Borreattan Park May 2023 final payment due 10^th February 2023 £95.00

Donations needed - Please can we have donations of boys and girls blue jogging bottoms or leggings and girls underwear for emergency use for children at Kimberley Gardens.  Thank you.

Important dates for your diary

17th January - Ra Maths Workshop - 9.15am - 9.40am

18th January - Anubis Maths Workshop - 9.15am - 9.40am

19th January - Thoth - Maths Workshop - 9.15am - 9.40am

20th January - Osisris - Maths Workshop - 9.15am - 9.40am

W/C 23rd January - Year 5 Bikeability

25th January - Navajo class assembly - 2.45pm - 3pm

Educational visits/workshops 

Please visit ParentPay  to consent and make payments

• Year 3 - Whipsnade Zoo 13^th June 2023 £25.50
• Year 3 - Anglo Saxon Workshop 14^th March 2023 - £7.50
• Year 5 - Egyptian Artefact Workshop 2^nd May 2023 £7.50
• Year 6 - Dharma Mandir Temple 27^th Jan 2023 Hurricanes & Lancaster and February 3^rd 2023 Defiants & Spitfires £1
• Year 6 - Battle of the Atlantic and Codebreaking 13^th March 2023 £7.50
• Year 6 - WW2 Trip to RAF Duxford 20^th March 2023 £13.75
• Year 6 - WW2 Cheryl Moskowitz Summer 2023 - £3.50

Our value - Determination 

This week we continued to explore our value of Determination by linking it to having targets, goals and dreams.  Once you have these, you have something to focus on or work towards and to try to achieve – this is where determination originates from.  I spoke to the children about dreams/goals being longer term and targets being quicker to achieve and may be steps towards a dream or goal.  The children shared - some of their own dreams for their futures which ranged from being journalists, to teachers, to nurses, to footballers and even to being a billionaire!  Maybe ask your children what their dreams and targets are and also share what yours were when you were younger or for the coming year; try to remember that a dream without a plan or the determination to make it happen is just a wish.

Attendance week ending 13/01/2023

Overall school =  94.83% Lates = 104

Best attendance: 1st Odysseus 99.44% 2nd Theseus 98.56% 3rd Elm 98.18%

Punctuality: Well done to Thoth class with 100% for punctuality

'Essential Letters and Sounds'

We have been very excited with the delivery of our new phonics books that align with our new scheme 'Essential Letters and Sounds'. 

Freya said, "These books have the same sounds that we have learnt in phonics this week!" Lola said, "I like the partner books because then we can have a good conversation about all the new words in the book too!" 

PSHE Dreams & Goals 

Our whole school topic this half-term in PSHE is ‘Dreams & Goals’.  It aims to help children think about their hopes and dreams, their goals for success, what their personal strengths are and how to overcome challenges. The children will learn about experiencing and managing feelings of pride, ambition, disappointment and success.  They will get to share their aspirations, as well as explore the dreams and goals of others in different cultures/countries around the world.  At the end of the topic, they will work collaboratively to plan an enterprise or fundraising project.  

An overview of what the children will be learning in their year group specific PSHE lessons will be sent out via email . Once you have read all the information, any questions/queries that you may have will need to be directed to your child's class teacher via email. 

Rainbow Class

This week in Rainbow Class we have been working on improving listening skills, we understand this is a very important skill to have to support our Learning. To help us to do this, we have been playing a game called 'Matching the Sounds'. This activity proved to be tricky, as some of the sounds were very similar to each other.  Some of us thought that if we picked two of the same colours, that the sound in each container would be the same but that was not the case. We soon discovered, that we needed to use our listening skills as well as our eyes together to make the right choice. This game provided opportunities for us to take turns, improve our thinking skills, concerntrate on a given task for a set time and gave us a chance to try new things, without the fear of failure.

Reception Class

“That’s a mans job!”

This week in Reception we have been challenging stereotypes by sharing our thoughts on females in the workforce. We discussed our ideas on what we thought was “a mans job” and if there were jobs that only a man can do. This prompted a lively discussion amongst the children! Oscar said “Girls can actually do anything they want to do, they definitely are smart enough to be doctors.” Others said “Woman can’t be builders, because they are not strong enough to use the tools”. The children listened to each others views respectfully and they were encouraged to challenge each other if they didn’t agree with someone else’s opinion.

We spoke about gender equality and cordoned off an area of the classroom where “No boys were allowed!” some children were shocked when equal opportunity was not given to them. This sparked the children to create signs of their own. We all agreed we should be treated equally regardless of our gender.

We later learnt about the fascinating pioneering women Mae Jemison and Amelia Earhart. We discovered that we all can achieve great things, like these women, with perseverance and self belief.

Stickman, Oh Stickman, Where Can He Be?

On Tuesday the children and staff in Reception had a huge surprise when they entered the classroom, as something suspicious had happened! The tables and chairs were muddled and upside down! There was snow covering the tables and blue paint splattered all over the floor! The children worked hard to find and read three clues to conclude who had made all the mess. Eden said, "I think it's Stickman because he lives in a family tree!" Aidan spotted Stickman hiding in the blue paint and paper, "Look, there he is!". "He has cheeky eyes!" remarked Ava.  Can you spot the outline of Stickman in the snow? 

The children wrote a letter to Mrs Mangiapane to tell her all about what had happened in the classroom. Rex wrote, "Stickman made a mess in the classroom!"

We hope Stickman finds his way back to the family tree before tomorrow!

Year 1

Year 1 were very lucky to have John from 'Historical Interpretations Hands On History Workshops' visit them to share some exciting artefacts from the Stone Age and the Iron Age. Jakob said, "I can't believe they had to make a fire by striking stones together". Year 1 will be learning more about the Stone Age and Iron Age over the next few weeks. Next week, they will be looking at the story 'Stone Age Boy'. 

For Challenging Stereotypes Week, we have been looking at the question, "Does being rich make you happy?". We have looked closely at the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch. We discussed that even though he had all the gold in the world, his greediness made him unhappy. He soon learnt that actually he did not need money to make him happy, he had his family and friends around him and that was all he needed. Elif said, "If I was rich, I would share my money with people living in poverty so that they can have shelter and food too, and maybe even a school”. 

Year 2

This week year two have conducted a litter survey as part of our Geography Fieldwork sessions. We counted the amount of litter in three different locations near to the school in order to decide where the best place to put a bin would be. We then turned these results into a bar chart. Can you see where the most litter was found?

Year 3 

In Science this week, Year 3 were learning about the importance of light. We discussed how light can come from several sources, for example the Sun, stars, torches, lamps and candles. Next, we investigated how important light is in allowing us to see. Year 3 put objects in cardboard boxes and made holes in the boxes with pencils. They discovered that they were unable to see any objects when looking through the holes. The children were then given a source of light, a torch. They shone the torch through a hole whilst looking through another and described what they could now see and why?

Year 5 

We have had a busy and engaging return to learning after Christmas in Year 5. As part of 'Challenging Stereotypes Week' we have been looking at how women are sometimes portrayed in society and how that has changed over the years. The children were shocked and appalled at how Disney used to depict their female characters as weak and innocent, with their primary quality being their appearance. In response, we have written letters to Disney, and also wrote an alternate version of 'Sleeping Beauty' where courageous and determined Princess Aurora, battles Maleficent to rescue the hapless, yet fair, Prince Phillip.

In Science, we have been learning how scatter graphs work and using them to investigate the gestation period of different mammals.   

Year 6 

Challenging Beauty Stereotypes

As part of Challenging Stereotypes Week, Year 6 asked the question: Who defines beauty?

We began by looking at how the media and films present the idea of beauty/appearance. Linking to the stereotype the children explored last year (based on gender roles) we looked at figures from Disney movies such as the princesses and Gaston and how they portray beauty standards to children at a young age. We also discussed how often a villain is portrayed as ugly - lending notion to the idea that you have to be handsome/beautiful to be a hero/heroine. 

From this, we looked at images in the media and discussed whether they conformed to or challenged beauty standards. 

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We also looked at how filters can differ people's appearance and the dangers social media can pose to our mental health. 

"Personality shines brighter than make up ever will #beyourownyou" - Carolyn

To see what else we have done, in relation to our stereotype, visit the school's twitter page @GeorgeSpicerSch

Online Safety 

Over Christmas we are sure that some children have received gaming devices, stations/ platforms for Christmas where they can be online. Below are some parents guides to help you understand the risks and how to ensure your children are safe online.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/news-opinion/2022/christmas-vr-safety-advice-for-parents-metaverse/

https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/guidance/fortnite-battle-royal-parents-guide-keep-kids-safe-gaming

Elms - Legends of Football Competition (Now Live)

We are now pleased to announce that our ‘Legends of Football’ competition is now live: https://www.theelms.co.uk/competition/.  

Please note, this competition is only open to pupils in Years 3-6 (KS2) only. Your Child/ren have a chance of winning a training session with Gareth Southgate himself this coming Summer 2023 at a London Premier League Ground.