September 2018
Head Teacher's Message
posted 28 Sep , 13:48 by J Croxon
It has been great getting back into the swing of things since the summer break! All of our children have settled back well, with lots of happy faces around school and fantastic work already being produced. I have been particularly impressed with our new Nursery and Reception children and how well they have instantly become immersed with their learning. I am over the moon with the children’s smart appearance – children are wearing the correct school uniform. Reminder: Children should be wearing shoes NOT trainers.
I carried out learning walks with Miss Ward last week, focusing on maths. The standard of teaching and learning across the whole school was fantastic. We continue to have high aspirations and drive standards constantly by providing valuable learning experiences. Last week, Reception and Year 5 had visitors into school and had a fabulous day, adding so much value to their learning. Payments from parents are needed for such experiences to take place, so please continue to support us with these.
Last week, we were also joined by our new Chair of Governance Board, Tim Bassett, who is a former AET secondary school Head teacher and a current Ofsted Inspector. He was very complimentary on so many levels and thoroughly enjoyed his day at Lea Forest. He was impressed by the ‘positive buzz’ and the love for learning throughout school. He is looking forward to working with us more throughout the academic year and I’m sure he will provide appropriate levels of challenge as well as expert support.
We have already held parent workshops for Years 1 and 2, focusing on the importance of reading. Within these workshops, teachers have shared teaching methods and resources to help parents support children with reading at home. These workshops have been attended well and we hope that parents found them useful. We still have parent workshops for the remaining year groups throughout the rest of this term. Look out for further information. We also held our first coffee morning for parents this week, which was well attended. It was great to welcome some familiar faces and new parent volunteers. There were some really good discussions and great ideas looking ahead. Thank you to those involved - your contributions are really valued.
Finally, I am going to end on the note of attendance. I have been really pleased with attendance overall and thank you all for making a special effort to ensure we meet our school target of 96%. A MASSIVE WELL DONE to those classes consistently achieving 96%+.
There will be prizes awarded later on in the term to congratulate outstanding attendance of individuals.
Mr Clarke
Sporting Success
posted 28 Sep , 13:48 by J Croxon
Congratulations to Mikiel from 5BP who won his Thai Boxing match on Sunday and added another trophy to his growing collection!
We are very proud of our children’s achievements inside and outside of school. Please share any successes.
Erdington and Saltley FA
posted 28 Sep , 13:48 by J Croxon
Congratulations to Millie, Keeley and their teammates from the Erdington and Saltley District Team. Last weekend they won the Birmingham Primary Schools' FA 7-a-side Championship. The girls won all of their games without conceding a single goal!
We can’t wait for our first match of the season later in the term!
Attendance Matters
posted 28 Sep , 13:48 by J Croxon
This year we will be working with ‘abc teachers’ as part of their attendance heroes scheme. There will be termly prizes throughout the year with chances to win vouchers for Smyths toys and even the chance to win an i-pad mini!
Look out for more information about this on Class Dojo and Twitter.
Please remember that our Academy considers pupils’ continuous attendance to be so essential for their academic achievement that it is not our policy to authorise an allocation of term time holiday days to families unless there are exceptional circumstances.
In the case of unauthorised absences for leave in term time, we use the Local Authority penalty notice process.
Each parent receives a penalty notice for each child who has unauthorised absence. The penalty is £60 or £120 depending on how soon payment is made. So, if there are two parents and two children the total penalties could be up to £480. Failure to pay may result in prosecution.
We are currently processing penalty notices for four Lea Forest families.
Yr5 had a visit from Professor McGinty
posted 28 Sep , 13:48 by J Croxon
Written by Nadira 5MW
On Thursday 20th September, we were visited by the amazing hilarious Professor McGinty and his travelling museum. We were all super excited to learn more about the ancient Egyptians.
Firstly, he introduced himself to us and then told us about his trip to ancient Egypt in his time machine. Then he made some funny jokes and introduced his pet owl Doctor Hoot.
After that he told us that Doctor Hoot loved watching Eastenders. Professor McGinty showed us a big suitcase full of artefacts from Ancient Egyptians.
Next we talked about the types of food they ate. He showed us a bowl that contained the bread the ancient Egyptians ate and he told us that a lot of their food was made from wheat and grain.
Overall, I had a great time. My favourite part was when the professor invited two children to dress up as a Pharaoh.
An Exciting Journey
posted 17 Sep , 16:18 by J Croxon
We are now starting our journey to become a Unicef UK Rights Respecting School!
Lea Forest Academy aims to be a school where children’s rights are at the heart of our ethos and culture. We are extremely excited about working with Unicef and we really hope that you will be able to support our school on our journey towards becoming a Unicef UK Rights Respecting School.
Please speak to Miss Hadfield if you would like to know more.
Attendance Update
posted 17 Sep , 16:18 by J Croxon
This year we will be working closely with the Warwickshire Attendance, Compliance and Enforcement service (ACE). Our case worker Claire Bailey will support us in improving attendance by working with key families with attendance concerns.
We will continue to reward good attendance with Friday ‘Golden time’, Attendance focus fortnights, termly attendance prizes and much more!
Coming to school every day is very important for your child.
Research has shown that children with poor attendance:
- Find it harder to make and keep friends
- Are less likely to gain good qualifications
- Earn lower wages
- Have a higher chance of being unemployed
- Have low self-esteem
Attendance is related to achievement:
The better the attendance, the better the achievement
3JG’s Cadbury Adventure
posted 17 Sep , 16:18 by J Croxon
3JG went to Cadbury World and this is what happened. First we got on the coach. It took a while but it was worth it.
Next we went into a room to learn about how chocolate was made. It was fun! After that we lined up for the tickets and what are the tickets for? A film!
After the film we went to a car ride. It was funny. My favourite part was that we were in a cave and I saw pictures.
After the car ride we all ate chocolate and marshmallows mmmmm. That was my favourite part..—
Written By Ayesha B.
Meet Our Peer Mentors
posted 17 Sep , 16:18 by J Croxon
Meet our new peer mentor team. Always on hand to help at play time and lunch time.
Head Teacher's Message
posted 17 Sep , 16:18 by J Croxon
Welcome back!
I hope you all had a happy and healthy summer - it already feels like a distant memory now. It’s been superb seeing everyone return to school over the last two weeks, with our new recruits in Nursery and Reception also joining the Lea Forest team. It is always so refreshing to see so many happy faces returning to school after 6 weeks away. Not everyone at school gets a holiday and over the summer period there has been lots of work carried out in order to make further improvements to the school site, providing the children with better experiences.
Our children have returned to school looking very smart in their uniforms and ready to learn. Please remember appropriate black shoes are required….not trainers! For PE lessons, children must wear the full Lea Forest PE kit (see website for details).
Attendance will remain a major focus for everyone this year. It is vital that children attend school everyday! Please help support us in raising attendance and reaching our target of 96%. There is more information regarding attendance on page 2.
Finally, I am really proud of our most recent achievements and how Lea Forest has grown over the last 3 years. This is all down to the fantastic children, staff and engagement from parents. I have been delighted to receive so many positive comments from parents before and after school during the last two weeks. These comments have really helped me settle into my new role.
This year is set to be the BEST EVER at Lea Forest and I look forward to the journey that lies ahead.
Mr Clarke
