Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - 22nd April 2022


T: 020 8363 1406 
E: office@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk 
W: www.georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk 
Twitter: @GeorgespicerP 


George Spicer newsletter - Friday 22nd April 2022

Welcome back! We hope you've all had a restful Easter break. It's been lovely to see everyone in school this week, ready to start the Summer term.

Reporting absences - If your child is unwell or will be absent from school please leave a short message on the answer machine clearly stating your child's name, class and nature of the illness.  Please advise exactly what is wrong rather than 'feeling unwell'.  Absences must be reported by 9am, either by phone or email. Any absence reported without a reason or 'unwell' will be registered as an unauthorised absence. 

Lateness/Punctuality - Poor punctuality leads to a poor start to the school day. School starts at 8.45, gates close at 9am. 

Registers are taken electronically twice a day; in the morning at 9am and again directly after lunch. Any pupil arriving after the close of the register must report to the school office and be signed in on the electronic system giving clear reasons for lateness. 


Quote of the week

Treat people the way you want to be treated. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to.  Respect is earned, not given - Jenny Garrett

‘You are never too small to make a difference.’ Greta Thunberg #EarthDay2022

Attendance week ending 22nd April 2022

Overall school = 93.96%  Lates = 37

Best attendance: 1st Theseus 99.54% 2nd Odysseus 99.05%  3rd Heracles 99.01%

Punctuality: Well done to  Oak, Primrose, Theseus, Lancasters and Hurricanes with 100% for punctuality 


PSHE topic - Relationships 

This half term our PSHE topic is all about ‘Relationships’. It aims to help children build respectful relationships with their self and with others including families, friends, pets and animals. It helps them to identify their own strengths, as well as sharing strategies for building their self-esteem and resilience. It also supports children in learning how to deal with conflict and in building their assertiveness. Another vital part of this topic is about safeguarding and keeping children safe.  For some year groups there will also be links to online safety and social networking, whilst others will explore roles and responsibilities in families and friendship groups, considering stereotypes, love and loss.   

A year group specific overview of what your child will be learning in their PSHE lessons will be emailed to you directly. 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.  


Reception Class

Reception have been working on their dancing skills. We have been exploring different styles of dancing from around the world. We have learnt the Viennese Waltz, the Haka, Morris dancing and traditional Thai dancing. The children had a wonderful time developing their gross motor skills, dancing around the classroom and playground with their friends. We were then able to describe different dances from around the world and use this in our writing.  

  


Year 1

Year One began their new topic ‘I love Enfield’. They have enjoyed talking about Enfield and things that you can do in Enfield. Children have learnt that Enfield is a town in London.  They have learnt lots of facts. Did you know that Enfield has a golden post box? Also, Enfield had the first ever cash point installed at Barclays bank. How amazing is that! We are proud to be living and studying in Enfield. Children have began writing their leaflets today. Here is an example of one.

We look forward to continuing our topic and finding out more about Enfield and its history!


Year 2

This week in Year 2 we have started our brand new topic – Australia! We began by looking at Captain James Cook and comparing what his journey across the pacific ocean would have been like In 1768, compared to a luxury cruise in 2022.

We discussed the oil painting below, thinking about whether Captain Cook actually discovered Australia when the aboriginal people lived there long before and whether it was right that he placed his flag on this land.

The Founding of Australia (1788) – Algernon Talmage

We used the UNCRC articles to think about which of the rights had been met and which had not after Cook’s arrival in Australia.

     


Year 3 

Science

Year 3 have been focussing on the skill of drawing bar charts to represent data. This week, we had our first attempt at drawing a bar chart independently. We made sure that we used our ruler accurately and labelled all of our axes. 


Year 4 

This week in year 4 we have started a new topic all about Ancient Greece. In English we started looking at Heracles the son of Zeus and his 12 labours. Heracles had great strength which his step mother Hera was envious about. Hera cast an evil spell on Heracles and he committed an unforgivable crime. As the story progressed, we discovered that Heracles was ordered to defeat the Neamean Lion. We watched a video about the battle between Heracles and the Neamean Lion, after this we then worked with a partner reading about the story, extracting key information about the setting from the text.

Later this week we will be writing a third person narrative about Heracles first labour defeating the Nemean Lion! We are thoroughly excited to learn more about Ancient Greece.

     

In Science we have started a new topic about food chains. We learnt about the process of a food chain, looking at the meanings of producers, prey and predators. In the lesson we learnt about the importance of the producer in a food chain and how energy is transferred between the different animals. We then created our own food chains labelling the producers, prey and predators including arrows to show the transfer of energy.


Year 5 

Year 5 Ancient Egyptian topic day! 

Year 5 were back with a bang this week, as they started their new topic, The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt with a WOW topic day! Year 5 were visited by the fantastic Hobgoblin Theatre Company and enjoyed an Egyptian Curse of the Mummy performance! We learnt about the famous monuments, Egyptian gods and goddesses, religion and their way of life. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to take part in a drama workshop and learnt how to create freeze frames of life in the underworld, linking to our prior knowledge of the gods Anubis and Osiris! We also took part in cartouche printing. Before we began our printing activity, we found out that a cartouche is an oval frame which surrounds the hieroglyphs that make up the name of an Egyptian God or royal person. We needed to make sure that our names were inside of the looped rope. This is because Egyptians believed that the rope has the magical power to protect the name that is written inside it and protect against evil spirits both in this life and the afterlife. We began to make links between our prior topic, Tudors and Stuarts, and consider the differences in society, for example, women and men in Egyptian society were treated more equally than during Tudor Times - Global Goal 5 - Gender Equality. A fantastic day was had by all and it was wonderful to start back with such an immersive day! 

 


Year 6 

This week, Year 6 are learning about the Blitz as part of our WW2 topic. We learnt about Hitler's motives behind the attacks and looked at some of the devastation caused during the bombings. We looked at a selection of primary sources, including photos and quotes  and analysed them to find out more about life during the Blitz. We discussed whether each source showed if Britain was struggling or coping during this time, as well as looking at bias and how sources can be interpreted in different ways. 

As a greater depth task, we thought about which source Hitler may use to make it seem as though Britain were struggling during the Blitz as a means of decreasing the morale of the nation. 

We will be using all of the information we acquired to write third person narratives from the perspective of a child during the Blitz. 

 

 


Parent Workshops to Support your Children’s Wellbeing 

Summer Term 2022  

 

Date 

Time 

Location 

Led by 

Focus Group: Parents of Y4,5 & 6 Self Esteem & Worrybusters sessions 

NEW DATE: Tuesday 26th  April 

10am-12pm 

Online Microsoft TEAMs 

Please book your place here:  

https://forms.office.com/r/M5CU9cAb1i  

GSPS Wellbeing Practitioners 

Clare & Anoushka 

All Parents: 

Supporting your children around friendships 

Tuesday 3rd May 

10am-12pm 

Online Microsoft TEAMs 

Please book your place here:  

https://forms.office.com/r/0FjXDLwXL1   

GSPS Wellbeing Practitioners 

Clare & Victoria 

Y6 Parents: Supporting your child’s transition to secondary school 

Tuesday 28th June 

10am-12pm 

Online Microsoft TEAMs 

Please book your place here:  

https://forms.office.com/r/jL8in9AYEj  

GSPS Wellbeing Practitioners 

Clare & Victoria


EMS Lessons 

EMS music lessons start next week 25th April

Monday - Guitar/Violin/Viola

Tuesday - Cello

Wednesday - Clarinet/Violin/Viola

Thursday - Piano/Keyboard

Friday - Piano/Keyboard


Parent Group Leader training opportunity 


FoGs News   

 

Ready, Set, Read in partnership with Usborne.

Reminder to pay in any sponsorship or donations for Ready, Set, Read! directly into the FoGS bank account please, by 22nd April.

Any fundraising or donations will add towards our already impressive £1,104 of FREE BOOKS we have already earned from Usborne from the Book Sale on parent consultation day.

The Friends of George Spicer

Account Number: 21521969

Sort Code: 40-20-23

Or cheques payable to Friends of George Spicer or cash to classrooms, thank you!

Return any reading hours logged to class teachers.  Winning class with most hours logged will receive age appropriate books for their classroom!

FoGS Amazing Reception and Year 1 and 2 Discos - Saturday 30th April, Kimberley Gardens

Reception - 10am-11.30am

Year 1 and 2 - 12pm-1.30pm

Price includes entry to the disco, a glow bracelet as well as refreshments:

Crisps

Chocolate biscuit 

Unlimited drinks

Please let us know of ANY RELEVANT ALLERGIES when booking the ticket.

There will be an additional glow stick sale before each disco, reusable glow bracelets £2.50.  We will be accepting cash only on the day please.

Please note: Tickets can be purchased on the door in cash for £7 if there are any left, numbers are limited.   

https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/ticket/3KSyi3wYpI

FoGs AGM

8pm Tuesday 26th April - FoGS AGM, Sketty Road and Zoom 

I am giving notice of the AGM of the Friends of George Spicer School (FoGS) Parent & Teacher Association (PTA), to be held on Tuesday 26th April 2022 at 8pm.  This will take place in the Downstairs Hall, Sketty Road.  We will also be broadcasting remotely. Please use the following details to join the meeting:

Join Web Meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86205204899?pwd=YUhnMUk0ZVdtQ1V5eWN2bnBTcHRvUT09

Meeting ID: 862 0520 4899 

Passcode: 206122


Term Dates

Usborne Book Fair
All Day
25
April
FOGs AGM 8pm
8:00pm – 9:00pm
26
April
Year 3 Museum of London trip
All Day
27
April
National Childhood Measurement Programme (NHS Height & Weight) Reception & Year 6
All Day
27
April
Reception Visit to the library
1:30pm – 2:00pm
27
April
FoGs and Captain Fantastic Disco Rec, Yr/2
All Day
30
April