Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - Thursday 11 November 2021

Illness - a reminder if your child has a temperature/cough/sore throat, please do a lateral flow/PCR test and keep your child at home. 

Cameras are live in Sketty Road - the times when you cannot drive on Sketty Road are 8.15-9.15am and 2.45-3.45pm. If you do drive during these times, unless exempt (you will need to contact School Streets at Enfield council to register your vehicle), you will incur a fine. Please aim to walk, cycle or scooter to school or make use of our Park and Stride car parks.

PE kit - This term the PE focus for years 1-6 will be gymnastics.  Bare feet are required for these lessons, so please ensure your child is wearing socks rather than tights and are able to tie laces if their trainers have them.  If they are unable to tie laces then please provide them with trainers secured with elastic laces or velcro.  Thank you for your support.

How does your garden grow? Our edible garden is looking good still and has a lot of potential for future harvests.  The small raspberry bushes planted in the troughs next to Sketty Road fence are starting to yield their first fruit.  Today the Community Council lovingly weeded and tidied these up and were able to take home a fresh sprig of herbs as payment.

When you next visit Sketty Road site, do take 5 minutes to take a look.  You are welcome to take a sprig of herbs for your dinner - but please share and leave enough for other families.

Values Reminder 

Our current focused value in school is kindness, we would ask that parents reinforce this and keep this in mind when both dropping off and collecting their children.  We expect parents, carers and visitors to respect and model the caring ethos of our school whenever on or around school premises or when communicating directly with the school.  Understand that the whole school community need to work together for the benefit of all.  Finally, to demonstrate that all members of the school community should be treated with tolerance and respect and therefore set a good example in their own speech, conduct and behaviour.

Remembrance Activities

As part of our commemorations for Remembrance this week the children have taken part in today’s minutes silence.  To fit in with the theme of ‘We will remember them’, Year 6 children were all given the profile of some active service people who gave their lives for their country.  Building on from our BHM in October our Remembrance Assembly focused on the little known contribution of soldiers from the Caribbean especially in the 2^nd World War. 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.            For the Fallen, by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Parents’ Consultation evening meetings 22/11 & 24/11

Don't forget that bookings close on Sunday 14 November at 6pm. The link to book is https://georgespicer.schoolcloud.co.uk/

Here is a short guide on how to book appointments Guidance on booking appointments. If you have any issues with booking an appointment, please contact the school office.

Attendance week ending 11/11/2021

Overall school = 95.44% Lates = 103

Best attendance: 1st Owl 98.89% 2nd Ra 98.39% 3rd 98.28%

Punctuality: Well done Hurricanes with 100% for punctuality

Mental Health Week: 15^th – 19^th November

Next week is our ‘One Kind Word’ Mental Health Week.  Please remember to make an extra special effort to join us and support your children by spreading kindness to others.

Things you can do as a family:

• Choose to use one kind word each day to make a difference to someone else’s day J
• Talk about the importance of kindness, respect and equality
• Try a Smiling Mind mindfulness session as a family https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
• Wear odd socks all week to raise awareness & celebrate differences
• You can even play the Odd Socks song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpZ3u5Z6pOg

For more information https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/anti-bullying-week

Reception

In PSHE this week, we spoke about what makes us different. We chanted some affirmations like; “I am special. I am me!”. We all had wonderful smiles on our faces. We then drew pictures to show things we are good at. Lyra is good at riding her bike without stabilizers, Grayson is good at sports and Leo can run super fast! Reception want to know what you are good at? What makes you special? 

Year 1

The children in Year 1 have been exploring and learning about British birds and mammals. Oak class have been getting creative by colouring beautiful artwork and collecting leaves for their Enchanted Woodland area. They have been using their imagination to role-play what it could be like living in a woodland as British birds and mammals.

Year 2

In year 2 we commemorated Remembrance Day by recreating the poppy fields using pastels for the background and paper to create 3D poppies. We looked at perspective and understood that the poppies in the background were smaller, while the poppies in the foreground were bigger. The children really enjoyed this activity and the outcomes were fantastic!

Year 3 

Year 3 had a fabulous WOW day on Tuesday where we got fully immersed in our new topic: The First Nations. We looked at totem poles and researched the different tribes that the Year 3 classes are named after. 

Most excitingly, we had a Native American dance workshop where we learned a rain dance. We worked as a team to create shapes and movement and it was amazing when we got to put all the moves together and practice the routine. 

We can't wait to learn even more about our topic as the term goes on!

Year 5 

In History last week, we discussed how Genghis Khan expanded and formed his Empire. We looked at the three phrases Khan incorporated to build his Empire. We used the hall to enact the expansion of the Mongol Empire. For each of the three phases, each class acted out each phase to help our understanding of how expansion of an Empire can occur.

Phase 1: Genghis Khan united Mongolian village tribes within the areas he was living. 

He was building strength in numbers. 

Phase 2: Genghis Khan's tribes moved around (they were nomads). They were sent to other areas in Mongolia to raid, attack and defeat. Once defeated, he left one man behind to rule the new land. 

Phase 3: In order for Genghis Khan to become the almighty leader he aspired to be, he had to conquer areas other than Mongolia. He crossed the borders into China and defeated the Jin Dynasty and the Western-Xia Dynasty. Once Genghis Khan died in 1227, his third son, Ögedei Khan, took over the Empire and continued to conquer Eastern Europe by invading Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary. Well done to Year 5 for showing excellent listening skills and for being so eager to take part in a very complex and challenging lesson on Genghis Khan! 

PC Odong Workshop on Internet Safety 

On Monday, we had a wonderful visit from PC Odong who spoke to us about the importance of Internet Safety and what we can do to stay safe online. PC Odong shared his advice and words of wisdom on stranger danger and what we can do if we feel safe online. Thank you to PC Odong for taking the time to visit us and our school! 

Year 6 

This week, in geography, we have been learning about the topographical features of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We then drew our own maps of the country which showed where these features are located. We also learnt how the equator affects the climate as it runs through this country.

Also this week, the children in Year 6 have been learning about the Circulatory System as a part of their Science topic. The children discussed the main parts of the Circulatory System and how important the heart, veins and arteries are in this organ system. They then created their own diagrams using red arrows (oxygenated blood) and blue arrows (deoxygenated blood) and labelled each part using the keywords. 

Thank you from The Felix Project

Thank you to the staff who raised £264 for this chosen charity with the 100 Club that they’re running again.  If families would also like to support, please click here https://thefelixproject.org/fight-hunger-london

Families North London Magazine 

Here is the LINK to the November/December issue of Families North London magazine. 

Family Early Help Hub