Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - 28th April 2023

School Photographs - Class photographs will be taking place on Wednesday 3rd May. If your child has PE on this day please send them in, in their PE kit with a white polo shirt.

Reception Admissions September 2023 - If you have applied for a place in Reception at George Spicer for September, you have a child born between 1^st September 2018-31^st August 2019, please remember that you have to accept the place on the e-portal then click submit to secure the offer. Some parents are advising us that the website is not very easy to navigate. This needs to be completed by Tuesday 2nd May. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

If you require a Reception place for your child for September 2023, or know someone who does, but haven’t yet applied, we still have limited number of places available.  Please apply online https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/ or contact the School Office if you need assistance.

Welfare Donations - Please could we have any donations of jogging bottoms or leggings for both of our sites. We also need tissues, wipes and plasters if you are able to donate. Many thanks.

Important Dates for Diary

Monday 1st May - BANK HOLIDAY (no school)

Tuesday 2nd May - Strike Day

Tuesday 2nd May - Year 5 Egypt Workshop

Wednesday 3rd May - Class Photographs

Wednesday 3rd May - Year 4 Ancient Greek Day 

Wednesday 3rd May - Snowdrop Class Parent's Consultations

Thursday 4th May - Snowdrop Class Maths Workshop - 9am 

Friday 5th May - World Meditation Day

Friday 5th May - Celebrating King's Coronation Day 

Monday 8th May - BANK HOLIDAY (no school)

Attendance week ending 28/04/2023

Overall school = 92.88% Lates = 44

Best attendance: 1st Odysseus 97.79%, 2nd Robin 97.17%, 3rd Thoth 96.97%

Punctuality: Well Done to Elm, Odysseus, Lancasters and Thoth with 100% for punctuality.

King's Coronation

Next Friday we will be celebrating the King’s Coronation by allowing the children to come to school, appropriately dressed in red, white and blue.  In the afternoon we will be coming together as a whole school and your children will be allowed to bring in a sweet treat (No Nuts) to eat as part of the afternoon fun.

Safer School Streets

Please see the linked article giving some information about PCNs issued for driving through the safer school streets zone around school.  As you will see our school has the second highest number – please make sure our parents are not contributing to this by using the Park and Stride Scheme or walking.

https://enfielddispatch.co.uk/hundreds-of-pcns-issued-to-drivers-flouting-school-street-traffic-restrictions-every-month/

Stephen Lawrence Day

Our Sketty Road Assembly this week looked at Stephen Lawrence Day which happened last weekend.  Stephen Lawrence was born and grew up in South East London, where he lived with his parents Neville and Doreen, his brother Stuart and his sister Georgina.  Like most young people, he juggled an active social life, schoolwork, family commitments, and part-time employment. However, he also had ambitions to use his talent for maths, art, and design to become an architect, and wanted to have a positive impact on his community.

Tragically, his dream of becoming an architect was never realised. On 22 April 1993, at the age of just 18, Stephen was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack. Stephen’s death led to profound cultural changes in attitudes to racism, to the law and police practice. It also paved the way for a greater understanding of discrimination of all forms and new equalities legislation.

Stephen’s story is both challenging and inspirational. He was a normal young person who made the most of everyday opportunities. Young people today may not yet have heard the name Stephen Lawrence, but as a positive role model for a life well-lived, Stephen’s story is as relevant today as it has ever been. Through the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, Stephen’s legacy will continue to inspire change in classrooms, communities and careers around the world, for generations to come.

Stephen Lawrence Day is an opportunity for people, communities, and organisations to come together and honour Stephen's life and legacy, stand up against discrimination in our daily lives, and work towards a more hopeful tomorrow. Through reflection, learning, and action, we can inspire change and create a better future for the next generation.

This year on 22nd April 2023, the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s death, the Stephen Lawrence Foundation’s goal is to ensure that the next 30 years look different from the last. They believe that meaningful change starts with tangible actions. If we each commit to taking action that will positively impact the lives of young people from marginalised backgrounds, together we can honour Stephen's life and legacy, and build a fairer, kinder and more equitable society in his name.

Stephen’s mother, the Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon OBE, said, “I want Stephen Lawrence Day to be a reflective learning experience, and a celebration and a journey toward greater equality and inclusion for all.”

Rainbow Class

In Rainbow Class we have been looking at ways to help our world to be a better place not only for us but for the animals we share it with. We all have a responsibility to do our bit no matter how small that might seem.

As part of our activities this week we have been sorting recyclable materials into paper or plastic piles. To help us with this activity we had to use big tweezers (at the same time developing our fine motor skills)  to pick up the items from the big tray and place them into the correct smaller trays. We also had toy fish in the tray and pupils were able to make connections that the fish needed our help to swim safely by not putting rubbish in the sea. It also taught the pupils that if the fish die then humans would not have any fish to eat.

This week we have also been involved in sowing a variety of seeds in compost and learning about what a plant needs to grow. Hopefully, we will soon see some little plants growing into flowers and vegetables. We will keep you updated on their progress. We learnt whilst doing this activity, that plants are very important, as they provide us with food, they also absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen from their leaves and they make our environment a nicer place to be in.

Reception Class

We have had lots of fun in our Maths workshops this week in Reception. The children and teachers wanted to say a big 'thank you' to all the parents and carers who took time out of their day to come and learn alongside their children . We sang songs, played turn taking, track games and even fished numbers out of gloop! The adults were very impressed with the children's ability to subitise numbers without counting and enjoyed exploring maths through play both in and outside the classroom. We learned that maths can be found everywhere in our everyday lives and we were pleased to hear that lots of parents will try and incorporate some of the activities they saw and the maths language used into their own play and games at home.

Year 1

This week Year 1 have been learning about fractions. A half is created by dividing a whole into two equal parts. We practised identifying halves by completing lots of practical activities. 

We then looked at identifying halves of numbers. We folded pieces of paper in half and practised sharing amounts between two. We then linked this to our division learning. We noticed that 12 divided by 2 is the same as half of 12. Next week we will be looking at quarters. 

Year 2

As part of our topic ‘Down Under’, Year 2 have been writing a lovely travel brochure to persuade the reader to visit the wonderful city of Sydney, Australia.  They have explained the Human and Physical Features (making links to our work in Geography) and used noun phrases to make their writing more persuasive.  In addition, we have also learned about the beautiful Aboriginal Dreamtime artwork.  The pupils all enjoyed learning how to use dots, circles and other shapes to recreate a colourful sunrise in the same style.

Year 3 

In History this week, Year 3 learnt about why the Romans had gladiators and their role in society. 

First, we discussed the different types of gladiators and the weapons they used to defeat their opponents.

Next, we learnt why gladiators fought in the arenas and the reasons why they had fights in the first place (money, a distraction, punishment, power, fame and for entertainment).

The children then researched and took notes on each category to further their understanding, before we shared our findings.

Year 5 

This week in Year 5, we focused on online communities in our PSHE lesson. We discussed how belonging to an online community can have positive and negative consequences. In pairs, the children read a variety of statements and worked together to discuss whether the different scenarios were safe or unsafe. For example, we suggested texting a happy emoji to your friend was safe, whereas posting your phone number online was unsafe and could have serious repercussions. 

The lesson also allowed us to talk about values of respect and responsibility, as we discussed how it is our right to have Access to Information (Article 13) and we must also be responsible when being online. We also discussed the positive and negatives about online communities: that they can support our learning about a range of topics but can also lead to cyber-bullying. In pairs, we took turns to answer quiz questions and discussed the positive and negative impacts that our online behaviour can have on others. As always, the children's maturity during these sessions makes them a pleasure to teach.  

In English, the children were so excited to begin our Ancient Egyptian topic. This week, the children travelled back in time to the Valley of the Kings, creating some fantastic diary entries that recount Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Well done all.     

Year 6 

PSHE/ Art - Wellbeing 

In PSHE, the Year 6 pupils studied The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy. The story is full of examples of overcoming adversities, and developing a growth mindset. The characters in the story gave advice to each other about staying positive and managing negativity. The Year 6 pupils embraced this concept and developed their own page to the story. They observed the style of the illustrations in the book and attempted drawing the characters in this style. They thought about their own quotes based on what they studied from the story and incorporated that into their work. Some of the words really boosted the morale and mood of the Year 6s during this lesson and throughout the week. Have a look at some of the pictures of their fantastic work. 

Family Support in Enfield

Enfield are setting up a new support group for families with children in a special guardianship or with a child arrangement order. Please see attached flyer.

Community Hubs in Enfield

Spanish Club

After school club for all year groups.

This week is world immunisation week and the theme is ‘The Big Catch Up’.  The NHS have teamed with the British Society of Immunologists to produce an animation describing what to do to make sure your children are all fully up to date and protected. 

https://youtu.be/hjTQN2b-fuoimmunology.org/how-vaccines-work-nhse