Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - Thursday 3rd February 2022

Are your children up to date with their MMR vaccination? - You may have seen in the news recently that there has been “a significant drop” in the number of children getting MMR jabs and other childhood vaccines. Measles can be a serious illness, so if your child has missed a vaccination, please contact your GP practice to book an appointment as soon as you can to make sure they have maximum protection against disease.

Donations - please may we have donations of wipes for Welfare, plus the regular request for good quality used books and games for classrooms. Thank you!

ParentPay accounts - please make sure that Breakfast & After School and School dinners accounts are topped up. We will be following up on outstanding payments in the coming weeks, so that our year end accounts are up to date.

Half term Free School Meals vouchers - these will be sent to those eligible via email next week. Please ensure that we have the correct email address for you. These must be redeemed by 28th February or they will be cancelled.

School donations this year         

We’re delighted to tell you that the school has made the following recent donations:

Save the Children - £306.33 – Christmas Jumper day

Great Ormond Street Hospital - £207.90 – Reception nativity collections

Macmillan Cancer support - £145.29 – staff coffee morning

Thank you all for supporting these important charities. Letters of thanks have been received.

We're hiring at George Spicer!

We have vacancies! Please click on the links below and/or share if you know of anyone who may be interested:

School Business Manager

Site Manager

Welfare Administrative Assistant

Attendance week ending 3rd February 2022

Overall school =  92.87% Lates = 62

Best attendance: 1st Ash 99.03% 2nd Navajo 97.89% 3rd Elm 96.87%

Punctuality: Well done Willow and Daffodil with 100% for punctuality

Wellbeing and Mental Health week task       

Next week at George Spicer, we will be celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week.  This year’s theme is Growing Together.  Throughout the week, each year group will work collaboratively to complete their PSHE Dreams & Goals end of topic enterprise or fundraising project. The children will focus on the key skills of working collaboratively and overcoming challenges when working together to achieve a shared goal. Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt and trying new things can help us to move beyond our comfort zone into a new realm of possibility and potential.  These challenges will be supported by using Smiling Mind focus lessons to develop the pupil’s mind set and the skills required for completing their group challenges. Mindfulness teaches children to focus on the present. Being mindful can help children build self-awareness and self-esteem, as well as helping them to self-soothe. Remember to check out next week’s newsletter to see how each year group got on.  We know they will not disappoint!

Reception

Reception Phonics Workshops

This week, our phonics workshops took place to show off our new reading skills. We showed our mummies and daddies how to segment and blend CVC words, how to use our reading fingers and also that phonics can be fun! We had a carousel of activities around the hall which involved floor writing on our tummies, messy play in the dusty flour and making phonics necklaces. We'd like to say a big thank you to the parents and carers that attended and for your thoughtful and constructive feedback. 

Year 1

This week, Year 1 have been working super hard completing their assessments. They have shown to be resilient and determined. We are very proud of them! In English, children watched a clip called ‘Bubbles’. They then acted out the different scenes of the clip.

Blake said that the story is about a girl who was lonely. “As she was walking along the beach, she saw some bubbles in the sand. She blew some bubbles and she started to float. The bubbles took her on an adventure. The girl went under the sea and into space.” Anna-Maria stated “After, she saw a girl who looked lonely and sad and she gave the girl the bubbles and hid behind a rock”. She wanted the girl to be as happy as her. We then went outside to blow some bubbles! Eliz said: “It was very exciting”.

Tomorrow the children will write their diary entry in the first person. They cannot wait to tell their teachers about their adventure!

Year 2

This week Year 2 were finally able to use our Roman shields in battle! We recreated the Battle of Watling street in our meadow. Our Celtic army was made up of 3 classes, as Boudicca’s united army was far greater than the Roman’s. The Romans remained confident due to their professional legionaries, who had perfected their testudo formation. They pushed the Celt forces back, who were trapped because they had brought their carts and families to witness what they thought would be the reclaiming of their lands! The Romans were victorious and added Britain to their ever expanding empire.

We also made Roman clay pots this week. We used a coil technique to create layers to build up the sides of the pot. Lastly, we used some water and a tool to smooth the outside of our pot ready to decorate. Many of the pots from this time had simple designs such as dots and lines. There were many clay pots of this kind at this time due to the readily available clay in Britain.

Year 3 

Year 3 have continued their learning about light with a focus on shadows this week. We investigated when shadows form by shining a light on an opaque, translucent and transparent object and discovered that shadows form when the light is blocked by an opaque object. 

We also began our art project focused on Anglo-Saxon coins. We looked at Anglo-Saxon coins and compared them to coins today. We noticed that there were similar themes - both coins have famous leaders, writing and religious symbols.

Theo - 'I think this cross is a religious symbol because we know that the Anglo-Saxons were Christians'.

In RE, we looked at the Islamic month of Ramadan. We learnt why Muslims fast and the message behind it. Muslims fast during Ramadan to understand how people who are less fortunate than them feel and to focus on their faith. We thought about what we could give up and how that would feel to us.. We then looked at the celebration after Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr. During this celebration, Muslims decorate their homes and have a special meal with their friends and family. We made some paper chain decorations that could be put up as part of this celebration.

Article 14 - Freedom of thought and religion

Year 5 

PSHE: What is your dream job? 

This week, Year 5 spoke about their Hopes, Dreams and Goals! During our PSHE lesson, we identified careers and jobs that we would like to do when we grew up. We discussed what motivated us and what we needed to do to achieve our dream! In our groups, we understood and appreciated the opportunities that learning and education give us (Article 29 - Aims of Education) and understood how this will help me to build my future. (Global Goal 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing). 

Dillan T (Ra) - "I hope to be an archaeologist when I am older.'

Amena-Santi (Ra) -  "When I am older, I hope to be a marine biologist and explore the oceans for new species!"

History: The Spanish Armada! 

In History this week, we started looking at The Spanish Armada. We explored the reasons why the Spanish initially wanted to invade England. The fact that England was Protestant angered Phillip II because he was Catholic and wanted England to revert back to Catholicism. He aimed to achieve this by proposing to Mary Queen of Scots, however, she was executed before they could marry. The English also supported the Dutch in their revolution against the Spanish, and stole treasure from Spain. All of these events angered Phillip II and consequently led to The Spanish Armada. We discussed how this links to Article 19 (Protection from Violence) because Phillip believed that the only way to seek revenge on England was through the use of violence. It also links to Global Goal 5 (Gender Equality) because Phillip II believed that he would marry Mary Queen of Scots and therefore have more influence and control over England. Whereas Queen Elizabeth I refused to marry a man, as she believed he would be more valued in Tudor society than herself just because he was male. 

Antonia (Thoth) - "I learnt that Spain did not get on with England because the English stole their valuable treasures. Also, Spain tried to get revenge by sneaking up on England and trying to invade in order to start a war." 

James (Thoth) - "The Spanish Armada failed because their ships could not handle the weather conditions in England, they were not as prepared as the English navy or ships." 

Mitko (Osiris) - "The Spanish Armada could have had a very different journey!"

Well done to Ra class on a fantastic assembly on Mary Queen of Scots last week. We look forward to Anubis, Thoth and Osiris's assemblies in the coming weeks!

Year 6 

This week, Year 6 undertook some Geography fieldwork. They were given a special, secret mission by Mr Combe that had them looking at the Human Geography in Enfield Town. We learnt that Human Geography is the branch of geography dealing with how human activity affects or is influenced by the earth's surface.
Each Y6 class had a special task to complete which will then be collated and fed back to Mr Combe next week. Stay tuned for next week, where we will reveal our project and what we discovered. 

In our Science lesson, last Friday, we looked at the Smilodon. This animal was one of the most iconic predators to have ever roamed our planet.  

We focused particularly on its distinctive features such as its elongated canines that made it so fearsome. We discussed how this predator's teeth (most important features) gave it the title of the deadliest creature. 

Later, we discovered the reason behind the extinction of this animal. We were amazed to find out that overtime the strength of the animal became its biggest weakness. Below are some images of our work, that show how the Smilodon used its canines and other features. 

❤️🍩Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and what better way to spread the love, than by buying some end of term donuts to help year 6 fundraise for their leavers books!!

Donut sale at both sites on FRIDAY 11th FEBRUARY, to start 1/2 term! 🍩❤️

#showyear6somelove