June 2023

As we end another week, this leaves us just 3 weeks until the end of term and the end of another school year! I really don’t know where the time goes. Please make sure that you’ve looked at our published key dates as we have a lot of events and celebrations planned over the last 15 days! 

Year 4 MTC Results

The Year 4 MTC (multiplication Tables Check) results were released this week and I am delighted to report that 69% of our children scored full marks (25 out of 25), compared to a National predicted standard of 33%.  A huge congratulations to our pupils in Year 4.

Forest school makeover!

We are very thankful to JLR Solihull for allowing their Logistics Engineering team, who took two days away from their busy jobs at JLR to help Lea Forest give our Forest School a makeover. JLR embrace helping the local community and encourage all of their staff to participate in a worthy project every year.  Mrs Freeman was the designer behind the new areas in our Forest school area. She worked with JLR to create a new wood store, a stunning mud kitchen and a bigger and better base camp. All the grass has been cut, paths created and trees pruned. The children will be able to enjoy our updated Forest school area from September 2023.

I look forward to seeing as many of you at sports day next Friday!

Have a great weekend and Eid Mubarak to all of our families at beyond that have been celebrating. We’d like to wish you and your loved ones a blessed Eid al Adha.

Mr Clarke-Castello

Year 1 had a remarkable time at Twycross Zoo on Tuesday this week. During the morning we explored the zoo and enjoyed looking at the animals and their habitats. We were able to get within an arm's length of the penguins which the children thoroughly enjoyed. Later on in the day, we went to a classroom to learn all about different animal environments and how we can look after our planet to protect these. The children were full of ideas about what they could do such as picking up rubbish and reusing plastic. Finally, we explored the Gruffalo trail and the butterfly farm, which left the children with beaming smiles on their faces. We were very proud of how articulate they were with their questioning throughout the day. As always the children behaved remarkably well and demonstrated our school values. 

What a wonderful day!

Year 4 enjoyed a ‘Hands On Science’ workshop on adaptation and camouflage.We explored how animals and humans adapt to Survive.

We looked at animals we were familiar with their habitats and compared them to animals that were unfamiliar to us. We found out some amazing facts and our teachers were impressed at the thoughtful and interesting questions we asked the scientist. 

Our challenge was to decorate a cardboard butterfly (applying our knowledge of symmetrical patterns) and then design a pattern to show its habitat and how the creature adapts to the colours, textures and patterns around it.

 Thank you to all the families who joined us for our last Crafternoon. We Spent time on activities that reflected on our progress this year. We enjoyed completing our ‘All About Me’ booklet as we looked at how we have grown and changed during our time in Reception.

.We want to say a BIG thank you to everybody who has attended our Crafternoons this year. Your support makes a big difference to everybody involved in your child’s learning.

Mrs Gonzales and the Early Years Team 

This week our safeguarding focus is on vaping amongst young children. Vaping is the use of an electronic device to inhale vapour derived from a heated liquid and the supply of disposable vapes has increased dramatically in the last 18 months. Although vaping is not considered as harmful as smoking, short term effects include: coughing; headaches; dizziness and sore throats. It is illegal to sell vapes or vaping products  to under 18s, and for adults to buy them on their behalf.

The child appealing design of the vape packaging and the fruity flavours have made vaping more appealing to children and there is a concern that perpetrators of Child Criminal Exploitation are giving vapes to children as part of their grooming tactics. If you know of anyone who does sell vapes or tobacco illegally, you can report them to trading standards through the Citizens Advice online portal: citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer 

Welcome to our ‘Online Safety Tip of The Week’. On each newsletter, we will provide you with some useful hints, tips, guides and fact sheets from the National Online Safety (NOS) website that you as parents and carers will be able to use to help keep your child safe whilst online.

This week's free online safety guide focuses on Horror Games. Horror video games come in such a variety that the genre can be hard to define. The overlapping element is that these games are designed to scare or unsettle the player through gameplay, atmosphere, story, music, setting and ‘jump scares’. The most common sub-genres are survival horror, action horror, psychological horror, jump-scare horror and reverse horror. These games originate from a range of developers which release download-only titles and therefore aren’t subject to age ratings.

Read books about the Earth

How can we help the Earth if we don’t know what the problem is?

There are plenty of books aimed at children that can help them to understand the issues that are affecting the planet.

Here are some super books that might help: -

• ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss

• ‘One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the recycling women of The Gambia’ by Miranda Paul

• ‘Look after your planet’ by Lauren Child

• ‘Zero Waste’ by Megan Anderson

• ‘Our world out of balance: Understanding climate change and what we can do’ by Andrea Minoglio

WOW! What a week! We have had success after success and had so many achievements to celebrate.  I shared with you that we had completed the Phonics assessments in Year 1 the previous week and I am delighted to share that 96% of the children in Year 1 managed to pass. You will see from the photographs in the banner above just some of the other celebrations this week. We had another great piece of news on Thursday when it was announced that Lea Forest had been awarded The Modeshift Stars National Primary School of 2022/23 - this is in recognition of all the hard work we have done on active travel. 

Mr Croxon

A huge congratulations to Mr Croxon who won a National Teaching Award this week. I was joined by our Regional Director, Mrs Murad, along with the whole school in a special assembly to present Mr Croxon with the ‘Digital Innovator of the Year Award’.    were delighted. This recognises the hard work that Mr Croxon has put into developing the use of digital technology across school.    

Earthshot

Congratulations to the Lea Forest Eco Team team for their incredible efforts in the Hodge Hill Earthshot competition on Monday. We are delighted to announce that they came 1st place in the prestigious competition organised by Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP. They won a whopping £2,500 for our academy and we are incredibly proud of their achievement. 

Friends of Lea Forest

On Monday this week, Mr White met with some of the ‘Friends of Lea Forest’ members to discuss the successes from this academic year and find out what else we can do at Lea Forest to enrich the experiences of our children and families. High on the agenda were Sports Day (which will take place on Friday 7 July) and the Summer Fair (which will take place on Friday 14 July). Lots of fabulous plans were put in place to ensure that these events are memorable for both you and the children, so please make sure that you add these dates to your diary (and check out the posters for further details about timings). Also be sure to look out for the ‘Friends of Lea Forest’ stall at our Summer Fair in order to join our fantastic community and get your voice heard!

RSE Curriculum

Next week, your child will receive a unit of lessons on Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). The purpose of the lessons is to provide knowledge and understanding of safe and healthy relationships based on love and respect. This is to encourage the eventual development of safe and healthy relationships in later life. The unit will develop understanding and attitudes, which will help pupils to form relationships in a responsible and healthy manner and to appreciate the value of stable family life, including the responsibilities of parenthood and marriage.If you would like to find out more, you can view our RSHE policy on our website or you can view the slides for our parent workshop here.   

Have a great weekend - See you all on Monday for another remarkable week!

Mr Clarke-Castello

Operation Encompass

This week our safeguarding focus is on Operation Encompass which is a safeguarding initiative designed to support collaboration between schools and the police to support children who have experienced domestic abuse. Operation Encompass was launched in Birmingham in September 2021 and is the process used to inform schools when the police have attended an incident of domestic violence or abuse in the homes of their pupils. This ensures sensitive and child-focused in-school support to mitigate the impact of domestic abuse on the affected child’s learning, wellbeing and development.

The purpose of informing schools means that school can help to support and talk to the child if they disclose an incident or if there are changes in their behaviour.  For more information visit: https://www.operationencompass.org/ 

Welcome to our ‘Online Safety Tip of The Week’. On each newsletter, we will provide you with some useful hints, tips, guides and fact sheets from the National Online Safety (NOS) website that you as parents and carers will be able to use to help keep your child safe whilst online.

This week's free online safety guide focuses on NGL (Not Gonna Lie). NGL, which is aimed at children 13 plus,  is an app through which users share a link to their Instagram story or Twitter account, inviting their followers to give anonymous feedback. The app includes some prewritten questions (such as ‘if you could change anything about me, what would it be?’), plus an option to ask followers to simply ‘send me anonymous messages’. All replies go into the user’s NGL inbox, with the sender remaining anonymous, although subscribers can receive hints… 

To celebrate Refugee Week and this year's theme of "Compassion in Action", voters have been exploring the ways in which we can make refugees travelling to the UK feel more welcome. 

Key Stage 2 voters have considered whether various plans in place make refugees feel embraced by the UK, as well as hearing direct insights about refugees' experiences to answer: "Does the UK make refugees feel welcome?" Key Stage 1 have been deciding on: "Do we know how to make refugees feel welcome?"

We are having some very hot weather at the moment and this means that water will be evaporating very quickly from the ground and reservoirs which hold the water that we use every day.

We can help to preserve our water supply and prevent water shortages by: not using hose-pipes to water the garden; not running the tap when we don’t need to - like when we brush our teeth; washing cars or having baths (showers use much less water).

Instead we can use old washing up water to water any plants we might have or for flushing the toilet. A lawn can be left without watering for a long time so don’t panic if it looks dead, it will some come back to life in the autumn when it starts to rain more again.

Well, our feet haven’t touched the ground this week as there has been so many events and activities taking place…But, we wouldn’t have it any other way at Lea Forest!  Attendance has been really poor over the last few weeks as families have been taking unapproved holidays.  Attendance will remain a huge focus until the end of term - please make sure children are in school on time, every day!

Last weekend, we invited along our new Reception pupils and parents, starting with us in September, for a picnic.  The weather was really kind to us and it was a brilliant opportunity to meet some familiar, but also lots of new faces.  Some of the children were really nervous at the start, but didn’t want to leave us by the end. We can’t wait for our new children to start with us in September.  Staffing in Early Years for September 2023 is as follows: NSM - Mrs Moughal (with Mrs Byrne); RCG - Mrs Gonzales (with Miss Freeman); RFH - Mrs Hartwell (with Mrs Hopkins). I know this is an exciting time of the year for the children (and for parents), but the rest of the school will get to find out new teachers and classes on Tuesday 11 July - when we have our transition morning.

As we move closer to the summer holidays and the weather improves, we request that children come to school with sun cream already applied and with a suitable hat with their name in.  There is more information on the website for parents here.  

Year 1 Phonics

This week, Year 1 have been tested to track their progress in Phonics.  Mrs Gonzales has carried out the Phonics screening tests with every single child and we have been blown away by the amount of progress made.  I will share our results as soon as I am able to do so.  

Year 4 Multiplication Tables Checks

A huge well done to our Year 4 children who have completed their multiplication checks this week.  The purpose of these checks is to determine whether your child can fluently recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. All children have worked extremely hard to improve their fluency and rapid recall of facts and have done themselves, their teachers and you proud. Well done and thank you for your supporting your child with this work this year. 

Thank a Teacher Day

The UK-wide celebration of all teaching and support staff is back, National Thank a Teacher Day will be celebrated on Wednesday 21 June!  This year is all about gratitude, recognising the long-lasting impact that education has on individuals and throughout society. Recently supported by celebrities such as Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Joanna Lumley, and Stephen Fry, don't miss your chance to join them in saying thank you to a member of staff - let them know how grateful you are by submitting a thank a teacher Google form.

To ensure that young people are able to lead remarkable lives. Our remarkable futures careers provision exposes all young people to a range of meaningful encounters and experiences that will empower them and appropriately prepare them for their next stage of development. Our approach ensures that every young person is given the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge, qualities and character needed to make fully informed decisions about their future, manage their career and thrive in the world of work."

At Lea Forest, we are developing our curriculum to focus on careers, which will raise aspirations of children. Research shows that children have their first aspirations aged 3-4 years. By the age of 7 children are beginning to think about what they can and cannot do in the future. For these reasons and many more, we are currently developing a programme that will increase pupils exposure to information, encounters, opportunities and experiences that will raise aspirations; inspire young people about their futures; and ensure pupils are not held back from pursuing their passions or achieving their goals.  Children have already had many opportunities with learning about various careers through their trips and visitors. Children have been able to ask questions which are career related and gain an understanding of different job roles. These experiences are shared on the school’s website under the Career Pathways section. 

This year, our Career’s Day was a huge success. We had a large number of volunteers who came to Lea Forest to speak to Years 4, 5 and 6 about their career journeys. The speakers had mostly taken different paths, and had individual journeys to gain experience, knowledge and a true feeling of what they really wanted to do as a career. Children were exposed to a whole range of career paths including: banking, insurance, Ministry of Justice, immigration law, fire fighter, football coach, teacher, head of robotics, electronics engineer, medical students and many more. The children were able to engage in an informative discussion with each adult, enquiring about their current job roles as well as their previous ones. Children were able to understand the different skills and subjects required for different careers. The impact this day has had on the children has been a very positive one. These meaningful encounters have encouraged children with aspirations for their future careers. We have had some wonderful feedback from both volunteers and children. I can confidently say that all children were remarkable ambassadors for Lea Forest. 

At Lea Forest we aim to develop our pupils’ character through the growth of relationships that define us as humans. Through our curriculum, we develop a set of competencies (behaviours) which enable each and every one of our pupils to lead a remarkable life. These competencies can be found on the Character Curriculum Page of the LFP Website. In addition to the tasks provided by individual class teachers, a ‘Character Curriculum Challenge’ will be set fortnightly on the newsletter. 

On this occasion, we would like you to attempt to hunt for some minibeasts and make your own bug pooter (using the BBC Bitesize guide to help you). Remember to send pictures of you hunting for minibeasts or making your own bug pooter to Mr Croxon or your class teacher (either on Class Dojo or Twitter) and the best ones will be evidenced in the ‘Character Curriculum (evidence) Book’ for your class! 

Keeping Children Safe in Education

When considering safeguarding, all schools and colleges are bound by guidance created by the Department for Education (DFE).  A document called Keeping Children Safe in Education is what we use to ensure that our safeguarding policies and procedures mirror those set by the guidance. The guidance is updated annually and all staff read the document and have a good knowledge of the processes needed to ensure that all children are safe. Keeping Children Safe in Education highlights the importance of multi agency working and the different signs or triggers for all school staff to be aware of. If you would like more information about this, please click on

the link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1101454/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2022.pdf 

Welcome to our ‘Online Safety Tip of The Week’. On each newsletter, we will provide you with some useful hints, tips, guides and fact sheets from the National Online Safety (NOS) website that you as parents and carers will be able to use to help keep your child safe whilst online. This week's free online safety guide focuses on YouTube Kids. YouTube Kids is a kid-targeted version of YouTube that features curated, ad-supported TV shows, music, educational videos, and user-created content. It's designed for kids preschool age to age 12 and is available as an app and a website. YouTube Kids allows you to create individual user profiles for each of your kids, so they can each log in and watch videos geared toward their age. One of the best features of YouTube Kids is the timer, which lets you set a limit (up to an hour) for your kids to play on the app.

We have launched the use of Numbots for the children in Reception, Year 1, 2 and the Gruffalos. This is a motivational game for children based on their recall and fluency of mental addition and subtraction. Please encourage your children to practise at home. 

TTRS is an engaging platform used by children in Year 2 and KS2 to practise their multiplication facts. The rockstar of the week for each class and year group will be celebrated in our Friday assemblies.

The Gardening Club had an amazing day out on Thursday 15th June when we visited the Gardeners World show at the NEC. 

Gardening Club had entered the wheelbarrow competition which is held for schools every year and we went to see our wheelbarrow on display with all the other entries.

Whilst we were there, we saw some famous faces from the TV show - Gardeners World - and even managed to get a photo with Adam Frost who was thrilled to hear that our school had such enthusiastic budding gardeners.

There were so many exhibits that we didn’t manage to see them all but we did have a brilliant time learning all about bees at the National Beekeepers display. The children learnt all about the importance of bees: how a hive works; why honey is produced; what the different types of bees do within the hive and lots of other fascinating facts.

The children also managed to get lots of inspiration for our school environment and hope to start creating our own award-winning garden very soon.

Welcome back after what I hope was a wonderful half term break!  I cannot believe that we are moving into the last half term of the year! It’s been a really busy week back and we’ve hit the ground running in true Lea Forest style.  The children have been engaged in their learning and it has been great to see our classes making the best of the lovely weather and tending to their allotment plots.  We have a lot planned for the remaining weeks of the school year, so be sure to check out the key dates on our website.   

Parent Workshop

On Tuesday we held a workshop for parents on dealing with challenging behaviour at home.  We discussed ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ and how this links to children's rights. We also talked about the importance of children recognising emotions in themselves and in others and how this links to Emotion Coaching and Restorative Justice.  Restorative Justice scripts were shared, so our families can use these at home.  It was wonderful to meet and see so many parents at the workshop.  Thank you for your contributions and your time.  We look forward to holding more events like this.

Early Years Induction meetings

We held induction meetings for parents of children joining us in Nursery and Reception in September 2023. It was a great opportunity for parents to find out more about Early Years and general life at at Lea Forest. We also went through our induction process which makes starting school easier for both parents and children.

Year 1 Phonics Screening

We will be starting our Phonics Screening on Monday 12th June. The screening is an opportunity for children to show their ability to decode words using their phonics knowledge. Year 1 pupils have been well prepared throughout Reception and Year 1 for the screening and it will follow the normal routine the children are used to with Mrs Gonzales. Wish them luck!

Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check

We will be starting our Multiplication Tables Check on Monday 12th June. The children have had the opportunity to access the try it out area this week and we have been really impressed with the children’s scores and the determination they have shown to continue to improve. Please encourage your child to continue to log onto timetable rockstars over the weekend to continue to practise and further embed their skills. I’m sure the children will do brilliantly - wish them luck!

Early Years Picnic

Tomorrow (Saturday 10th June) we are holding a picnic for children starting school in September who are welcome to join us between 11:30 am -1:00pm. This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to visit their new classroom and meet the Reception team.  If you are coming along, feel free to bring along snacks to enjoy!

Mr Clarke-Castello

Upcoming Competitions:

Wednesday 14th June - Tennis -

 West Warwick Tennis Club

Thursday 15th June - Girls Football Tournament -

    Archbishop Ilsley School

PE Kit Reminder

It is essential for children’s safety that no jewellery is worn during PE lessons.  It is important that the P.E kit is seen as an extension of our school uniform, therefore our high standards should be kept. All children require the following items for P.E:

• House Colour Plain T Shirt or Lea Forest Branded T Shirt from the uniform shop (patterned designs and football shirts are not permitted)

• Black Shorts / Jogging Bottoms or track suit trousers for outdoor use

• Black Slip on pumps or trainers

Wed 7th July - Secondary Transition (for most schools) - Please check with your child's secondary school as times and events may vary.

Thurs 13th July - Year 6 Graduation

Mon 17th July - Trip to Drayton Manor

Wed 19th July - Year 6 Production

We are setting our students a top ten challenge for June! Can Lea Forest stay in the top 10 of the Birmingham and UK League tables for the whole month?

We'll need everyone's help to maintain our fantastic start as we have finished this week on the top of the Birmingham and UK league tables with 1063 active journey's recorded.

Make sure you make the most of the sunny weather and walk, cycle or scoot to school if you can.

This week, our safeguarding focus is on ‘talking PANTS’. Talk PANTS helps children understand that their body belongs to them, and that they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried.

Talk PANTS is a resource from the NSPCC that can support parents with having a discussion on this subject.

What are the PANTS rules?

P = Privates are private

 A = Always remember your body belongs to you.

 N = No means ‘no’

 T = Talk about secrets that upset you

 S = Speak up, someone can help

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/

Welcome to our ‘Online Safety Tip of The Week’. On each newsletter, we will provide you with some useful hints, tips, guides and fact sheets from the National Online Safety (NOS) website that you as parents and carers will be able to use to help keep your child safe whilst online. 

This week's free online safety guide focuses on World of Warcraft. Originally launched in 2004, the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), , encourages players to work together to complete quests, enter dungeons and engage in player versus player (PvP) combat in the realm of Azeroth. Due to the online nature of the game, players are required to pay a monthly subscription fee of £9.99 to play. As well as this the game includes mild violence and offensive language resulting in a suggested age rating of PEGI 12, thus being unsuitable for children in the primary phase.

Who is Banksy? The simple answer is: no one really knows.

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist. That means he keeps his identity hidden. He will not do media interviews, he won’t release his real name, and he will not allow photos or copies of his artwork to be made and sold. Banksy is originally from Bristol, England. He was part of the Bristol underground art scene, and he was inspired by the graffiti artist called ‘3D’. 

Bansky first started working as a freehand graffiti artist in 1990 and continued until 1994. He met a photographer called Steve Lazarides, who began selling his art for him. Steve then became Banksy’s agent, which means he arranged Exhibitions. Banksy uses his art to give his opinion on events that are happening in the world. He is known as a political activist.

The graffiti he paints shows what  he thinks. The most common themes are his views on greed, poverty, despair, the obsession with celebrities, the government and War. Banksy uses stencils to create his artwork. He draws an outline onto card or acetate sheets and then cuts the shapes out by hand. He then uses spray paint on the stencil to create the graffiti.

Lea Forest Book Fair

The Book Fair is back this week!

We'll be selling books from each entry door at the start and end of the day from 

Monday 12th June 2023 until 

Friday 16th June 2023.

Each Phase will have their own book shop located by their entrance gate children and parents can pay in cash on the day. 

This week, voters have been considering all things tests, following the outcry over the difficulty of recent Year 6 SATs tests in England. Children have thought about how tests make them and their peers feel.  They will then voted on: 

“Should Primary school pupils take tests?”