Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - Thursday 16 December 2021

Last Day of term - Friday 17 December at 3.15pm Sketty Road and 3.30pm Kimberley Gardens.  Please collect your child/ren promptly at the end of the day as there is no After School Club. 

We wish you all a safe and relaxing Christmas holiday and look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Tuesday 4 January 2022.

Covid updates - please follow the latest guidance here during the holidays.

Safer School Streets - We want to make you aware that the Safer School Streets scheme will be fully operational from Tuesday 4 January 2022.  If you drive on Sketty Road between the two school sites from 8.30am-9.15am and 2.45pm-3.45pm you will receive a penalty notice.  Please make sure you use all the Park and Stride car park spaces in the local area and enjoy the short walk to school.

Uniform/PE kit expectations

Long hair should be tied back and earrings removed or taped.   Hoodies are NOT permitted for PE, nor are branded tracksuits, or jumpers with large logos.

There are quite a few hoop earrings and necklaces/bracelets being worn.  These are not school uniform and should not be worn in school at any time.  These types of jewellery could be a health and safety risk.  Thank you for your support.   

Attendance week ending 15/12/2021

Overall school =  91.83% 

Best attendance: 1^st Sioux 96.79%  2^nd Theseus 96.22%   3^rd Woodpecker 95.89%

Punctuality: No class had 100% for punctuality, but well done to Theseus with 99.71%

Reception

Reception have been working very hard. We made Christmas Trees for Enterprise Week! Firstly, we looked at Christmas trees and talked about the shapes. Next, we discussed how to use tools and how to keep safe around them. We then chopped up lolly sticks into different lengths using saws. We were super sensible! We glued the wood together and decorated them, just in time for Christmas. We loved Enterprise Week.

"You hold the saw on the handle, " said Harry 

Myah-Amerie said, "I am good at sawing! I’m really good at it. "

Year 1

Year one have been busy making their calendars for 2022. They had to decorate trees to represent each of the four seasons.

Joy: 'In Winter, some trees have no leaves, this is called deciduous. Other trees still have leaves, they are called evergreen trees.'

Nathaniel: ‘In Spring, flowers grow and rain pours down. Trees have berries.’

Blake: ‘In Summer, the days are longer and the weather is warmer.’

Melissa: In Autumn, the leaves are orange, yellow and red. They fall off some trees.’

Year one would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Year 2

Year 2

We finally finished our Wind in the Willows puppets last week, after showing lots of resilience and perseverance! Take a look at our finished product. We are really proud of how independently we worked, despite the fact this was the first time many of us had sewed.

In Year 2 this week, we have been looking forward to 2022 by creating our own calendars. We discussed what a calendar is and what it is used for.

Naeem – “It can show us the day, month and year that we are on.”

Alice – “We can use a calendar to remind us of important dates, likes birthdays or Christmas.”

Our theme for the calendar was the seasons and we selected and mixed our colours carefully to reflect each of them. We then used our fingers to paint and create the leaves on each of the four trees.

Year 3 

This week Year 3 have learned all about volcanoes and tectonic plates! We began by looking at the layers of the Earth and we learned that we live on the crust. We then discovered how volcanoes form and the way the magma bursts out of the volcano and turns to lava. 

We used our brilliant knowledge of the continents to understand that the Earth's surface is broken up into large pieces that sometimes move and this can cause volcanoes and earthquakes. 

We then were given all these pieces of the world in an envelope and had to sort them and piece them together to create the Earth's surface! Once we had done this, we then drew on where volcanoes would go and discussed as a group how we know this.

Year 5 

Islamic Art! 

This week, Year 5 leant about Islamic art and created their own vegetal and geometric patterns. We really enjoyed discussing and sharing our ideas freely (Article 13). The children created incredible patterns, showing a range of contrast and colour! During this lesson, we discussed many of our UNCRC articles and how important it is to learn about other culturues, religions and freedom of thought (Article 14). 

Enterprise Week - Finished projects! 

During Enterprise Week, Year 5 created sustainable wooden photograph frames that could be sold for profit. Before we started, we discussed that we wanted to ensure we were responsible citizens and that we wanted to use ethically sourced/ sustainable materials, such as recycled card, carboard and wood (Global Goal 13 - Climate in Action and Global Goal 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production). Next, we made a success criteria to ensure our frames were sturdy and strong whilst being able to be propped or hung, measured accurately, assembled with precision and finished to a high level of quality. Next, we calculated the cost of the materials to see how much we would need to sell each frame for to make a profit. We then designed our wooden photograph frames, ensuring we calculated the measurements accurately and ensured that we included a cross-sectional plan to understand how we would create the frame. During the construction, we regularly checked our measuring before sawing, making amendments to our plans if needed. Finally, we evaluated our frames, deciding on how to improve the project and also, what areas moving forward would we need to develop. In particular, we thought that next time we would need to take more care with our accuracy of sawing the wood with a hack saw and check we assembled our frames with more care and attention. 

On Tuesday 14th December, Year 5 welcomed a visit from poet and writer Cheryl Moskowitz, who was invited to George Spicer to discuss Year 5s topic of the term, The Realm of The Khan. During the morning, Cheryl worked collaboratively with each class as they discussed the influence and impact of Genghis Khan and in particular, four of his legacies that have both impacted and influenced world history and our society today! Anubis class discussed the positive influence Khan had towards his empire, in showing tolerance for all faiths and religions, linking to Article 14 - Freedom of Thought and Religion. Thoth class discussed the written language that Khan developed for the Mongols, based upon the Uyghur script, debating its impact that encouraged learning and education throughout the Mongolian empire (Article 29 - Aims of Education). Osiris class discussed the trade and the silk road that Khan implemented, making his empire very financially lucrative and paved the way for other empires to follow in the Mongol's footsteps! (Global Goal 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). Finally, Ra class ended the legacy poem with discussion about the legal code and laws Khan created to ensure his empire were disciplined, whilst respecting and following law, showing order, encouraging mutual respect and understanding the importance of individual liberty - (Global Goal 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). Cheryl and the Year 5 team were astounded at the contributions from the children and the high-level of vocabulary, enthusiasm and collaborative ideas shared were incredible! Thank you so much to Cheryl for joining us for our poetry morning and we hope to welcome her back next term! 

Year 6 

This week, on Monday, Year 6 visited Kingsmead Secondary School to watch the dress rehearsal for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat show, that was performed by the students.  

The children watched the story paying particular attention to all the wonderful acting skills displayed by the students. They then discussed all the hard work put together by the actors, musicians and backstage that helped put the show together.  

It was amazing to see the acting; the children absolutely loved it! 

As part of Enterprise week, Year 6 have been designing and making winter decorations. Last week, we looked at winter decorations and thought about what they needed to be successful and sellable. We estimated the cost of each decoration based on its appearance and finish. Next, we designed our own decoration. We then practised our sewing skills on binka, learning and refining a range of stitches. Once we had completed this step, we refined our original designs, thinking about which stitches we would use for different parts of our decorations and how we could keep the cost as low as possible to maximise our profit margin. This week, we created templates of our designs before transferring them onto material. We then sewed our designs together using a range of stitches before stuffing them and decorating them. We were really proud of how they came out and felt as though they could be sold for a tidy profit!

Continuing our topic of Congo this week, Year 6 had the opportunity to listen to an historian, who is an expert in this area. Adam Hochschild, whose book has been the inspiration for the topic, recorded a special message for the children. This was an amazing opportunity for the children and enriched their knowledge. This recording allowed us to learn more about why the railway was built and the human experiences of construction. Building on from this, we looked at a range of secondary and primary sources to further our understanding and question the reliability of some evidence. We were shocked to hear how the people were treated during this endeavour.  

Continuing on from Enterprise week, we have been solving problems and puzzles that involve money this week in Maths. The children enjoyed puzzling through the problems together and used their reasoning skills to explain their work to their partners. They even learnt a little bit about tax and how in the USA, tax is added to items at the till compared to the UK where tax is included in the price tag already. 

A great big thank you to Dunelm

Thanks to Dunelm and all their customers for their generous gifts for the families of George Spicer. Here are two of our Learning Mentors taking in the gifts!

Donation to Great Ormond Street Hospital -  thanks

Reception class nativity raised £214.19 for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

It was a fantastic show! Thanks to all parents and carers for all your support!  We're delighted that we were able to go ahead with these performances.

With your donations for Christmas jumper day, we raised £290 for Save the Children. The children looked lovely in all their jumpers and colourful clothes. A huge thanks to our Catering team under the guidance of Sarah Wade who cooked up 24 turkeys to serve over 520 lunches on Tuesday. It was delicious!

Christmas Reading Challenge 

We would like children to get a photo of themselves reading their books in unusual and out-of-the-ordinary places. An example could be up a climbing frame or on a trampoline (be mindful of being safe and to check with an adult first).  The more creative – the better! We would love for families to get involved as well so please feel free to join in. You can email your photographs to ash@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk All of the pictures of children reading in a whole host of weird and wonderful places will be added to our Reading displays on both sites. Thank you for your support.