Newsletters

George Spicer newsletter - Thursday 13th January 2022

• Punctuality – The number of children arriving late in the mornings is high, which is disappointing. Gates close at 9am and learning starts promptly at this time.  If your child is 5 minutes late every day, this equates to nearly 3 whole days of missed learning, plus it’s disruptive for other children. Let's work to improve this please. 
• All absences must be reported by 9am, either by phone or email, with a reason.
•  PE Days - Children are to wear PE kits into school on PE Days.  Please remember; NO JEWELLERY for PE; earrings must be removed or taped (staff WILL NOT tape the earrings back)
• Deadline for Reception 2022 intake is this Saturday 15 January 2022. Please click here to apply. 
• Safer School Streets is now OPERATIONAL.  Please don't park on or in front of resident driveways - use the Park and Stride locations.
• George Spicer vacancies - We are looking for relief Breakfast & After School Cub Playleaders and Lunchtime Playleaders.  Please refer to the school's vacancies page if you are interested.

Attendance week ending 13/01/2022

Overall school = 93.06% Lates = 62

Best attendance: 1st Willow 98.38% 2nd Anubis 97.65% 3rd Owl 97.58%

Punctuality: Well done Apache, Sioux, Ra & Hurricanes with 100% punctuality

PHSE - Dreams & Goals

Our whole school topic this half term in PSHE is ‘Dreams & Goals’.  It aims to help children think about their hopes and dreams, their goals for success, what their personal strengths are and how to overcome challenges. The children will learn about experiencing and managing feelings of pride, ambition, disappointment and success.  They will get to share their aspirations, as well as explore the dreams and goals of others in different cultures/countries around the world.  At the end of the topic, they will work collaboratively to complete an enterprise or fundraising project.  

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

PC Odong and his colleagues came to visit us this week and we had so much fun! We learnt all about what Police Officers do, who they look after and we even got to look at their amazing police car! We also saw that not only boys can be police officers but girls can too. Kayon really enjoyed looking at the police car, he said, "There were so many buttons!."

Later on, Freya in Daffodil was looking at a picture and said "There's something wrong! There's only boys in this picture. Girls can be Police Officers too!" 

We'd also like to say a big thank you to Lee who came to tell us all about being a Special Police Constable. All the children are so inspired by our visitors this week and can't wait to help their communities and friends. 

Year 1

This week, Year 1 were very lucky to have the Police come in to speak to us about the role of a Police Officer. They told us about their job role and how hard they worked at school to achieve their dreams. We were able to see their equipment and were able to ask lots of questions directly to them. The Police said that their main duty is to ensure that the community is safe. It is very important that we make the right choices! They reminded us to call 999 if we are in need of emergency services.  

We also went outside and had a look around a real police car! It was so much fun. Did you know that they have a keyboard in the car to use when completing their paperwork? We had lots of fun and thank the Police for taking the time to visit our school.

Year 2

This week, Year 2 have started their Roman Britain topic! We kicked off this topic by writing a non-chronological report outlining the equipment these professional soldiers would have taken into battle. We have been trying to include as much of the amazing technical vocabulary in our writing to show off all that we have learned already this week!

We have also been thinking about historical questions we could ask to find out more about our topic. We looked at some secondary sources from Roman Britain and thought about what we might want to learn this half term.

Who is this lady? – Dassine

Why is she shouting? – Christian

Why do they look so angry? - Miryam

Using the UNCRC articles, we thought about which of these were not respected by the Romans when they invaded Britain.

Article 9 – Keeping families together

“Article 9 was not met because they had to split apart so they can go to war just like in World War 1 and World War 2.” – Bounty & Owen

Article 38 – Protection in war

“Article 38 protection in war because they have been causing battles which are harmful and tearing our city apart.” – Ezra & Shay

Year 3 

This week, Year 3 have been finishing their learning about the Native Americans. We have been learning about a boy named Chanie who was sent to a residential school and his identity we stripped from him. We spoke about Article 8 which is the children's right to an identity. We then wrote a diary entry as if we were Chanie and used all of our writing skills and historical knowledge to make it as emotional as possible. We have loved learning about the Native Americans and can't wait to see what our next topic has in store!

Year 5 

Computing - The Mars Rover! 

During our Computing lessons this term, we looked at data handling, looking at the Mars Rover Curiosity! We researched and calculated the distance from Earth to Mars, using familiar objects to help us visualise the journey and that information has to travel to be sent and received. We then learnt that due to the vast distance from Earth to Mars (347.26 million km) information collected by Mars Rover has to travel as, ‘data’ and is translated into binary code. Next, we learnt that the more Random Access Memory (RAM) a robot has, the most instructions it can carry out in a row. We played a game that simulating programming the Mars Rover, looking at binary code and how this is used to transmit data. Finally, using the skills from the past two weeks, we learnt that computers use this binary code to carry out calculations. We performed our own additions and subtraction binary calculations. 

Year 5 - Tudor and Stuart Topic Day! 

We started our day off with a Tudor fashion show. We watched a video that showed the type of clothing Tudors wore and then got to do our own fashion show in our classrooms! We began our learning by learning the War of the Roses and the final battle, the Battle of Bosworth! We learnt about the Houses of Lancaster and York, and the differences between their symbols. We talked about how this links to Article 7: Name and Nationality and created our own Tudor rose We then discussed how the creation of the Tudor rose (a rose created that combined the colours of the House of Lancaster and York) helped Henry VII to promote unity in England and how this promotes the qualities of the Global goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong institutions. We then wrote letters as Henry VIII to Pope Clement VII, asking for clemency and to be granted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn and continue the Tudor succession with a male heir. We ended the day with finalising the sewing for our Tudor roses. Take a look at the fantastic pictures of our children! Thank you so much to all of the parents and carers for your support with creating and sourcing such fantastic costumes! 

Year 6 

To conclude their topic of Congo, Year 6 looked at different sources which portray King Leopold II of Belgium. We discussed what "image" of the king these sources are showing and how his image has changed throughout history. When he was colonsing the land, which is today known as Democratic Republic of Congo, Leopold used propaganda techniques to portray himself as an altruistic philanthropist set on helping the Congolese people. Instead, his reign brought about terror and suffering to this nation.  

Scott Vs. Shackleton

Year 6 are very excited to start their new topic: Scott Vs. Shackleton. To begin, we learnt about these two famous figures and how they differed, both in terms of upbringing and personality. We looked at several aspects of their life and "tweeted" as if we were them. We enjoyed channeling their authorial voice and using hashtags. 

As part of our topic on Scott Vs Shackleton, we looked at the Discovery expedition, which brought the two men together initially and started their bitter rivalry. We focused on the part of the expedition which saw Shackleton being sent home by Scott due to 'ill health'. The children acted out a dialogue between the two men, focusing on tone, volume and actions. We then spent the week writing up the dialogue between the men, thinking about how we could paint a vivid picture of the setting with our words. 

This half term in RE, Y6 are learning about Hinduism. This week, we looked at the Hindu story of creation, and learnt about Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma. We then ordered the story in pairs. For our activity, we wrote 'Instagram' posts, retelling the main events of the story in a clear and succinct way.

Netball club - Year 5 & 6

Do you want to improve your speed, skill, agility, balance and tactics?

If you are in Year 5 or 6 and want to join Mrs Tucker's netball club, email the office to register your interest.

Training begins after school on Thursday 20th January.

Here is the link to the  January/February issue of Families North London magazine

6 week Parenting Programme 

Elms February 1/2 term Camp Dates

Family Pantomime 

SMP present Beauty and the Beast, a family pantomime by Warren McWilliams, at the Millfield Theatre. See below for more information. If you book 10 tickets, receive 10% off! Book tickets here