Newsletters

George Spicer Newsletter - 11th October 2024


T: 020 8363 1406 
E: office@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk 
W: www.georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk 
X @GeorgeSpicerSch 


George Spicer Newsletter - 11th October 2024

Black History Month

As part of our work on Black History Month our assembly focused on this year’s theme of ‘Reclaiming Narratives.’  This was chosen to ensure a significant shift towards recognising and correcting the narratives of Black history and culture.  Alongside this it is hoped to shine a brighter light on stories, and histories that correct historical inaccuracies and showcase the untold success stories and the full complexity of Black heritage.  ‘Reclaiming Narratives is not just about telling our stories; it’s about taking control of the narrative itself. It’s about ensuring that black history is told with the respect, dignity, and accuracy it deserves’ – taken from the BHM website.  Mr  Spong shared the poem ‘Britons’ by Benjamin Zephaniah, someone who has done so much to share the Black British narrative with the mainstream.  Ask your children which other people he talked about in assembly. 

Congratulations:

Huge congratulations to the boys' football team who played their final two games of the season this week. It was a difficult campaign against some strong opposition. We managed to finish a respectable third in the league and look forward to competing in tournaments further on in the season.

School Information:

  • Year 6 Secondary School Transition - Secondary School 2025 – children going to secondary school in 2025 please click link below for your guide to secondary school in Enfield https://www.intuitive-design.co.uk/clients/Enfield_Council/Admissions_Booklet/2024/index.html Please find the video link here for the podcast on primary to secondary transition process: https://youtu.be/uIAldGQU_KA?si=Oo6Gl52t8NdKdYcv - Make sure you have applied online before 31st October.  Mr Spong is holding an online Q&A on Monday at 6.15pm - see separate email for details.
  • Communication with school - a reminder that the main contact with the school is via the Offices: email:  office@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk Telephone: 020 8363 1406
  • Communication with Breakfast and After School club - Please email basc@georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk 
  • Contact details - please ensure your contact phone numbers, addresses and email are up-to-date. Changes can be made using your Arbor parent portal or email the school office.
  • Foodbank & Felix Project – Available to all our families struggling to make ends meet. Please come to the Sketty Road site every Wednesday from 2.30pm to 3pm.
  • Flu immunisation - Enfield Immunisation Team will be visiting both sites Sketty Road & Kimberly Gardens on Tuesday 19th November 2024 to deliver the Annual Flu Vaccine.  Please note that you can consent for either the Flu nasal spray, OR the non-gelatine IM Flu vaccine. Please make sure you complete the form online as soon as you can. The portal will close 48 hours ahead of the Flu session. If the consent link on the form isn't working, please click here:  https://ncl.schoolvaccination.uk/flu/2024/enfield
  • Children’s Individual Photographs - Wednesday 23rd October 2024 during the school day. Please send your child in full school uniform. If your child has PE on the day you can send them in wearing white polo shirt/shirt and school jumper/cardigan with PE kit for the rest of the uniform. There’s an opportunity for siblings & family photographs after school at the Sketty Road site and session will start at 3.30 pm. Please collect your child as usual and queue by the chalet.
  • Finance and Business Officer vacancy -  We have a vacancy for a Finance and Business Officer. Please click the link for more information and to apply.  Vacancy 

Important Dates for Diary

Monday 14th October-Friday 18th October - Year 6 Residential

Thursday 17th October - Arctic class assembly 2:45pm

Thursday 24th October - Mediterranean class assembly 2:45pm

Friday 25th October - INSET DAY no school

Monday 28th - 1st November - HALF TERM

Monday 4th November - First day of term

Upcoming Workshops:

Monday 14th October - Robin Reading Workshop 9:15am

Tuesday 15th October - Owl Reading Workshop 9:15am

Thursday 17th October - Sparrow Reading Workshop 9:15am

Friday 18th October - Woodpecker Reading Workshop 9:15am


Quote of the week

"People feel that their history is being undermined by my history. But my history isn’t a threat to your history. My history is part of your history.” David Olusoga

Attendance week ending 11/10/2024

Overall school = 97.02%  Lates = 86

Best attendance: 1st Everest 100%  2nd  Rhine 99.65% 3rd Robin 99.09%

Punctuality: Well done to Primrose class with 100% for punctuality.



Reception

This week, Reception have enjoyed reading the story 'In Every House, On Every Street' by Jess Hitchman. We learned about what the characters in the story like to do in their homes, which led us to think about what we like to do in our homes too. We role played with the items you  might find in each room of a home and discussed what we did that was the same and what was different. L in Daffodil class explained, "In my house we are playing, but not just playing, we are drawing."

Lots of children said that they enjoy snuggling on the sofa with their family and many enjoyed baking with their parents in the kitchen similar to the children in the book. We then explored building different types of homes using the construction equipment in and outside the classroom. We also drew and wrote about what we like to do in the different rooms in our homes.

 

 


Year 1

This week, as part of the RW curriculum, the children in Year 1 had an exciting opportunity to visit St Andrew’s Church in Enfield Town.  They learnt that Harvest is a time when Christians thank God for his beautiful creation and for all the food they have.  The children said "harvest is about food",  and W said he is thankful for his "roast dinner!"

  


Year 2

The children were totally thrilled to find abandoned mysterious rucksacks in their classrooms on Monday. The rucksack belongs to a global explorer, the children are in the process of becoming global explorers themselves. This is all linked to our wonderful new book for writing called Dear Earth by Isabel Otter. They have also been researching endangered animals that are in the story such as blue whales and rhinos.

 


Year 3

Continuing with our Ancient Egypt learning, this week Year 3 learnt about what Egyptians believed about death.  They learnt that the ancient Egyptians believed in a soul called The Ba. The Ba left the body but returned every night. The Ba needed a body to return to and so the Egyptians thought about how they could preserve the body. 

We then learnt about the process of embalming or mummification. One member of Snowdon class was even selected to show how we would be mummified.  Did you know? The Egyptians would remove the brain from the nose with a long hook.  Luckily, our brave Snowdon child didn't have their brain removed in the demonstration. 

Once we had learnt about the process, we wrote about it in our books.

   


Year 4 

In Geography this week, Year 4 explored how rivers shape the land. We learnt that when the river and the rain wear down the land, we say that they are eroding the land. We explored how a V shape valley is formed:

  1. The fast-flowing river carrying boulders cuts down (erodes) the rock.
  2. Hillsides become unstable and soil and rocks move down towards the river.
  3. The stone and rock gets washed away.
  4. Over time, a V-shaped valley is formed.
  5. The river winds round interlocking spurs.

As it flows, a river carries bits of rock, stones, gravel and tiny particles to other places. This is called the river’s load.

We also learnt that when a river slows down, it doesn’t have the energy to carry its load anymore, so it drops it. 

The proper word for this dropping is ‘deposits’.  When a river deposits its load, we call it deposition.

With modelling clay, our task was to make our own model of the upper course of a river.  We really enjoyed this task.

Did you know that when the river is winding around the feet of the mountains we call it spurs?  The spurs make a zigzag shape.

   


Year 5

Year 5 have been busy sculpting their own gargoyles this week. We looked at specific gargoyle examples and practised the skills of slip, score and blend to give their unique gargoyle an authentic appearance. The children will now build on their knowledge by planning their final design, followed by their final clay model of a gargoyle. We now see the importance of blending so that cracks don't appear! The children thoroughly enjoyed the process, and we look forward to sharing some of the final sculptures with you next week. 

 


Year 6 

Our budding Year 6 artists are moving forward with their artwork project. They are creating a piece of work inspired by Frida Kahlo's The Dream (The Bed). Last week the children thought about themes they could use to link the concepts of life and death. This week the children investigated the kinds of medium they might use to produce their artwork. They practised with, and analysed, water colours, charcoal, pastels and sketching pencils. Initially, they focussed on just a small part of their overall piece. They critiqued each medium and said whether they thought it worked well with their design. This week the children will be working on their final pieces of artwork. Watch this space to see the finished products. 

   

  


Oxford Reading Buddy is a digital reading service to help your child to develop important skills in reading and to encourage them to read more. It contains hundreds of digital books from Oxford University Press’s well-known reading series including Project X and the Biff, Chip and Kipper stories from Oxford Reading Tree – all matched to your child’s reading level. It offers special Coaching eBooks to develop comprehension.

 

Your child will have received their login from their teacher, please notify your child's class teacher if they do not have it. This app works on all platforms but unfortunately not on a kindle. For further information, please visit the website via the link below;

https://www.georgespicer.enfield.sch.uk/search/default.asp?pid=0



 


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