Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - Friday 10th June 2022

Welcome back to the last half of term for the 2021/22 academic year, which is going to be very busy with lots of exciting activities.

Hot weather - Please keep an eye on the weather and if hot ensure your child brings in a water bottle, also in this hot weather it's advisable to put sun cream on them and possibly a hat/cap.

Lost property/labelling - We have already accumulated a mountain of lost property, please ensure all your child's clothing is labelled especially jumpers/coats as these seem to be left in the playground/classroom. If labelled we can then return to the child.

The lost property box will be in the playground under the canopy every afternoon from Monday next week. 

Parent Pay - Please ensure your Parentpay is topped up and any trips that are on there are paid for.

Attendance week ending 10/06/2022

Overall school =  94.73% Lates = 24

Best attendance: 1st Sioux 96. 28% 2nd Navajo 95.95%   3rd Theseus 95.49% 

Punctuality:  Well done to Elm, Woodpecker, Owl, Heracles, Lancaster, Defiants, Navajo, Sioux, Ra, Daffodil and Primrose with 100% punctuality

Value this half-term - Equality

This half-term’s value is Equality, which dovetails nicely with our Pride month activities throughout June.  In assembly this week we gave the children the understanding that on one level Equality is: understanding that everyone is different but that we are all people; knowing that everyone has the right to be treated fairly; treating others with respect.  The children were given some examples of inequality and unfair treatment and they were very good at identifying what was wrong and how things should have been done.  They were also very good at identifying which UNCRC Rights had been infringed in the scenarios.  The children discussed what makes us the same and what makes us different and were given the final message to ‘Remember, equality is when we make sure that everyone is treated fairly. It doesn’t mean that everyone has to be treated the same.’  We will be exploring this complex topic throughout the rest of the term and using some examples where people have stood up for Equal Rights and the ongoing struggle to ensure they are everyone’s basic right.

Reception Class

What happened to our classrooms?!

We returned to school on Tuesday to find that our classrooms had been invaded by something! We used clues around the classroom to decide what it could've been and we figured out it was a dinosaur. We discussed what we already know about dinosaurs and what we would like to find out as we begin our new topic this term. We were even shown CCTV footage of the dinosaur coming into our classrooms! Deniz from Daffodil said, "Maybe he's coming to do learning!"

Year 1

Year One were super excited this week as they completed a mono print of the Queen for our whole school display.

Below are the steps we took:

Step 1: Tape paper on to the polystyrene tile so it can't move.

Step 2: Use a sharp pencil and draw over every line

applying pressure (to make an indent on the tile).

Step 3: When you've finished tracing the Queen, remove the paper.

Step 4: Apply paint evenly onto your roller (brayer) then paint

directly onto the polystyrene tile over the indent of the Queen.

Step 5: Carefully place a sheet of paper on top of the polystyrene sheet and press.

Step 6: Remove the sheet of paper and admire your artwork.

We used primary colour paints. We had so much fun and our mono prints look great. Congratulations to the Queen on her 70 year reign.

Year 2

Inspired by the famous painter Claude Monet, Year 2 have been exploring and taking photos of where they can see light and shadow in nature. We have practised using our Impressionist techniques to paint our own pictures of nature. We enjoyed sitting in the meadow with our watercolours, closely observing the changes in light as the clouds drift. 

Year 3 

This week in Year 3, we have been making the final touches to our Roman pot paintings and have been evaluating our art work. We thought about what went well and what we would do differently next time.

'I think I mixed my colours well and created accurate tints and shades.'

'I think I could have painted with more precision and used a thinner brush for the smaller details.'

'I could have improved the shape of my Roman pot but my features were all in the correct places.'

Year 5 

PSHE: Body Image and Positive Affirmations!

In PSHE, we began by discussing what is body image and what physical and physical and personal characteristics we have inherited from our adults, such as humour, creativity and sporting skill! We discussed all of the positive personal characteristics we possess and how our body image fits into that. We discussed what makes up our self-image and shared positives about what we thought of one another to discuss about the image we give off to others. We discussed the importance of how our self-image is made up of both physical and personal characteristics.

We created frames that included how we feel about our abilities, appearance, and personality. We decided that our self-image is a picture inside us of how we see ourselves. This is called ‘our self-image’ and only we know about it. ^{Our friends may see some of this but we may keep some of it hidden.} We appreciated that we are unique human beings, who are all unique in our own way!

Deborah said, "We discussed how filters on photographs can be damaging to our self-image. Some of us thought filters should be banned."

Antonia said, "We discussed how people can be unhappy with their image and want to change it/ edit it based on seeing images of 'perfection,' online. We said they need to think positively about all the wonderful personal and physical characteristics they have! Affirmations can help us do this."

Joshua said, "We enjoyed writing our own positive affirmations to help us think positively and have a growth mindset!"

Year 6 

Year 6 started the week by reading about Queen Elizabeth II. We found her passion for the environment fascinating. When we thought about what gift we might give her to mark this momentous occasion, Chloe said “I’d give her seeds to plant more flowers”. We loved how this linked to Global Goal 13: Climate Action and Global Goal 15: Life on Land. 

We also have been sketching photo-realistic portraits of the Queen this week to commemorate her Platinum Jubilee. We will use a range of mediums to add tone and further detail to our work later in the week. Check the Twitter stream for our finished portraits on Friday! 

WIN £1,000/€1,000 to help your school rebuild their library

It's time to get serious about reading for pleasure, and start rebuilding our schools’ libraries. We’re giving five schools £1,000/€1,000 of National Book Tokens each, plus membership to the School Library Association, to help them rebuild their range of books and encourage reading for pleasure now and for generations to come.

Nominate your school using the form below, and if yours is one of the five winning entries, you’ll also win a £100/€120 National Book Token for yourself!

Winners will be drawn at random after Friday 29th July and announced in September 2022.

https://www.nationalbooktokens.com/schools

Active Travel Parent Survey

Enfield Council are collecting information from parents and staff of Enfield schools to help us better understand how people travel to school. We would appreciate your support in helping us collect this information which will help inform us as to how we can better support students, parents and staff to travel by active and sustainable forms of transport such as walking and cycling.

https://tinyurl.com/ActiveTravelParentSurvey

The Elms Summer club

Early Bird Deadline

Please note, the reduced Early Bird Prices expire on Friday, 1st Jul 2022.