March 2022

I am pleased to report that it has been another wonderful week at Lea Forest. It’s been great to see classes making the best of the beautiful weather that we’ve been blessed with and spending some of their learning time outside. We always encourage outdoor learning wherever possible as we know the children really benefit from this and let’s face it, we have to take every opportunity to catch a glimpse of the sun in this country.

Football Success!

What a great first outing it was for our Year 3/4 football team this week when they attended a competition held at Archbishop Ilsley in Acocks Green. They came away with 5 wins and managed to score 17 goals in total. Mr Carlton was really pleased with the performance of the boys on the pitch, but also reported that they represented the school perfectly. The boys were keen to tell me about their successes and I look forward to seeing them build on this in the future. The player of the tournament (and top goal scorer) was Max.

Autism Awareness Week

Next week, we are celebrating Autism awareness with a special assembly on Tuesday and by wearing ‘rainbow colours’ on Friday. We are asking for £1 contributions next Friday which will go to charity.

Have a great weekend (fingers crossed for more sun)

Mr Clarke-Castello

I’m not sure where the last week has gone, but it’s certainly flown by. As always, what a wonderful week it has been at Lea Forest with so many events and activities taking place. We’ve had science workshops, trips, visitors and Year 6 have been away on their residential. I have been busy across both schools this week and also got to spend 3 days at Whitemoor Lakes with our Year 6 which was fun. A huge thanks to my amazing senior leadership team at school for holding the fort.

Year 6 Residential

Our Year 6 team have spent 2 nights and 3 days at Whitemoor Lakes where they have taken part in lots of fun activities including: high ropes, abseiling and canoeing to name a few. They also had a campfire and played lots of fun games too. Residential visits for Year 6 are all about making memories and we are sure that these memories will remain with the children for many years to come.

Silly Science Workshops & Science Week

On Thursday 10 March we commenced our celebration of British Science Week with a range of Silly Science Workshops. British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths that takes place between the 11th and 20th March each year. The Silly Science workshops offered our children an exciting opportunity to experiment, investigate and explore the world around them in a playful, fun and engaging way with the support of a professional practitioner. The British Science Week activities will also continue into next week (W/C 14th March) whereby each class will be completing science themed activities across the curriculum based around a scientific text e.g. The picture book, ‘Pebble in my Pocket’ by Meredith Hooper, which explores the dynamic story of rock formation.

Commonwealth Celebrations Update

There is a very exciting summer of sporting and cultural events being planned for the Commonwealth Games, hosted in Birmingham! Mr. Haw met Perry, the official mascot of the games, this week to find out how Lea Forest can get involved, and there are loads of experiences being planned at school and spreading out across Birmingham and the Midlands, so watch this space! The first is called 'Wondrous Stories' and is on in Centenary Square next week - try and see this if you can, it looks awesome! Also, we are thrilled to announce that one of our ex-pupils - Jason - has been selected to be part of the Queen's Baton Relay. This is a wonderful achievement and we'll be cheering him on in July! Finally, good luck to Mrs Newbold and other community members who are auditioning to be volunteers for the games - let us know if this is you! Get updates straight away by following #B2022

Have a great weekend!

Mr Clarke-Castello

At Lea Forest we had an amazing time celebrating World Book Day.

Teachers and Children dressed up as their favourite book characters and took part in an assembly, where they had the opportunity to show off their amazing costumes.

All classes enjoyed a Book Tasting activity, which enabled them to explore different book genres and new authors. The idea was that the children spent time reading books that challenged their book choices and hopefully inspired them to move away from familiar authors and begin to expand their knowledge of authors and the range of

books available to them.

Following on from this classes shared a story from an author that was new to them and their teacher, again inspiring children and

staff to move away from the familiar and begin to broaden their knowledge and understanding of themselves as a reader. Teachers planned exciting activities around their chosen story so that the children were immersed in the enjoyment of reading for pleasure.

Hopefully the children came home and shared their new found knowledge and were inspired to read for pleasure at every opportunity.

In light of recent headlines, this week voters have been discussing how useful it is to keep up with the news, and how headlines can make us feel.

Conversations have covered the UK's recent storms, changes to COVID-19 restrictions, Team GB's last-minute success in Beijing, and the developing situation in Ukraine.

Key Stage 1 have been discussing: "Should children keep up with the news?"

Key Stage 2 have been discussing: "Is it useful to keep up with the news?"

What is cultural capital?

Cultural capital is the essential knowledge that students gain in order to become education citizens, outside of the confines of the classroom curriculum. That means developing an individual who is knowledgeable about a wide range of cultures, is comfortable discussing its value and merits, and has been given a vast array of experiences with access to skill development.

How do we deliver cultural capital?

Cultural capital can be seen as the ability to talk about legitimate cultural characteristics across a wide range of subjects and topics. In order to ensure our students feel confident in developing their cultural capital, we believe that the curriculum we present to our students should be reflective and representative of their own experiences. This means choosing to celebrate and shine a spotlight on inspirational figures from backgrounds that have typically been underrepresented and those that have faced discrimination. This includes artists, musicians, scientists, athletes, mathematicians and more.

Why is this important to us?

We aim to provide our children with the best start in life. This includes providing them with plenty of opportunities to experience the Arts (music, drama, photography, film, D&T). Experiences like this are crucial to developing children’s understanding of respect within society, culture. Focusing on developing cultural capital will help to close some of these gaps in learning and development that have been caused by the many barriers presented by Covid.

What can you do at home?

One great way of helping your child to expand their cultural capital is to encourage and develop conversations around the Arts. Asking for opinions about music or film and purposefully disagreeing to it can promote discussion and help children to develop their articulation skills and reasoning skills.

Welcome back! I hope that you all had a lovely half term break and made the best of the time spent with loved ones. It’s been a brilliant first week back at Lea Forest and as usual, our feet haven’t touched the ground. This week has also been the start of my role as Executive Principal across Four Dwellings Primary Academy, splitting my time across both schools.

There are lots of events, trips and activities planned in the coming weeks as we run up towards Easter. Please check out the calendar dates and keep-up-to date via ClassDojo, our website and other social media pages.

World Book Day

We celebrated World Book day yesterday and it was wonderful to see staff and children in their costumes, dressed as their favourite book characters. Reading remains a huge focus in school and we every child to be able to read fluently. Check out the photographs and further information about our special day on page 6.

Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is distressing and concerning, and we understand children and young people may have questions or be seeking reassurance. It's likely they have overheard conversations or seen events unfold on television and are curious about the cause and the impacts that this may have both globally and locally At times like these, the crucial role of the teacher and their true value is shown when they face off-the-cuff questions. Please be assured that while we are not teaching children about the war in Ukraine what we are doing is ensuring they have a safe environment to talk about what they see, remember, and are feeling now. The guidance and safety of adults at home and in school enables them to navigate their own emotions and trauma in a healthy, safe, and productive way

Fundamental British Values

Fundamental British values are an integral part of our curriculum, ensuring children become valuable and fully rounded members of society who treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background. Every school must promote the basic British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. This ensures young people understand the importance of respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain. This must be extended beyond the school gates - modelled by our parents and community

Have a great weekend!

Mr Clarke-Castello