October2023

What a wonderful week it has been and a great end to the first half term of the school year!  

Parents Evenings

This week, it was lovely to invite parents into school for our first parent’s evening of the year. This was a fantastic opportunity for parents to meet their child’s teacher and discuss how they have settled in their classes, along with the progress they have made so far this year. We had an amazing response to our parent’s voice questionnaire, which was overwhelmingly positive. Many parents commented on the excellent provision that staff provide for their children each and every day here at Lea Forest. Your comments are so important to us, as they help shape the children’s learning opportunities for the future.

Attendance

As you will know, we aim for at least 96% for all of our children and we have made a tremendous start to the school year, achieving 97.2%. This gives the children the best possible opportunity of gaining their entitlement to an education. Children that fall below this are at significant risk of falling behind their peers and this is one of the most detrimental barriers to learning.  As you are aware, I lead on attendance, with support from Ms Wale and Mr Wills. Any children at risk of persistent absence will be identified and parents will be invited into school to discuss attendance in more detail after half term.

Friends of Lea Forest

We are keen to get started with ‘Friends of Lea Forest’ after half term.  Many of you have already shown an interest in being part of this group, but if haven’t yet done so and you would like to take a more active role in school life, please pop along to our meeting on Thursday 9th November at 9:00am for a hot drink and chat with Mrs Wakelam and Mrs Gonzales. 

We are inviting all children and their families to create a carved Pumpkin for Halloween and share it on our Pumpkin Padlet for a chance to win a frightfully fun prize.  Click on the link to view the entries so far or to add your own photographs: https://tinyurl.com/LFPPumpkinPadlet.

Happy half term!  

We look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday 7th November.

Mr. Clarke-Castello

It can be tricky deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they are unwell, particularly in the winter months when there are lots of seasonal illnesses going around. If you do keep your child at home, please remember to call school on the first day of the absence and keep us updated every day after that. Wherever possible children should be in school so that they can receive their education.  The NHS has produced a useful guide relating to the different illness that your child might experience and whether they are able to come to school in each case:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ 

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 96% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

95.23%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

97.1%

Keep up the great work!

On Wednesday, Year 4 visited the Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda in Birmingham city centre. They learned all about the Buddhist religion and saw artefacts including statues of the Buddha Siddhartha, lotus flowers and gongs used for meditation. The children behaved impeccably and were fantastic role-models and ambassadors for our school. 

It has been amazing to see so many of you practising your fluency of your number facts and times tables in school and at home. 

Here are this week’s Numbots stars:

Year 1 - Alaya Siddiqui

Year 2 - Jaiden West

Gruffalos - Lacey Jones Campion

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Neo Montaque

Year 4 - Zoya Hussain

Year 5 - Jaythan Hinds

Year 6 - Afifa Ibrahim

At Lea Forest we aim to develop our pupils’ character through the growth of relationships that define us as human. 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 at in the ‘Character Curriculum’ section of our 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 take part in some of the exciting Halloween events happening around Birmingham. Some of the spooky events include trails, challenges and scarefests at Alton Towers, Touchwood, Drayton Manor, Legoland, West Midland Safari Park, Sea Life Centre, Cadbury World, Warwick Castle and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. So which one will you be doing?

Ahead of Parliament Week in November, we have been considering the ways in which we choose our leaders and how they go about making decisions. In KS1, they have explored this topic within a school setting, whereas KS2 have been asked to consider it on a national scale. The two questions up for debate are: “Is it good to change who is in charge?” (KS1) and “Is it time to call a general election?” (KS2).

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 7333 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 

RCG, 1AC and 5SC.

This week’s free online safety guide, provided by the National Online Safety (NOS) website, focuses on Reddit. Aimed at children 13 plus, this rather unique site blends the idea of a social network with news, discussion forums and various other media. The site is broken down into a variety of categories covering every topic imageable with each being treated as a community where users can submit content for users to see and comment on. This can take the form of links to existing online content, or user-generated text and image-based submissions. Submitted content can not only be commented on by others but also rated. 

Home or Out Alone

As your child gets older, it’s likely they’ll want a bit more independence. Going out without you is a natural step for them to take — when the time is right.

The NSPCC ‘Home or Out Alone’ guide contains practical tips and advice for parents. It covers some of the risks parents should consider before making a decision and suggestions on who children should contact in case of an emergency. 

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/leaflets/home-or-out-alone-guide 

Visit a Sustainable Farm

How about a field trip to a farm? More specifically, a farm that implements sustainable agriculture methods. Your children can learn about the techniques that farmers use to grow crops while protecting the environment. Some farms even let you pick your own fruits and vegetables!

Passport To Success 

As part of our continued drive to provide the children at Lea Forest Primary Academy the 

best possible education, we will be launching 

our latest whole school initiative, the ‘Lea Forest Passport to Success’. All of the children at Lea Forest will be provided with their own academic passport, that will feature weekly rewards for adhering to our school values (Be Big Hearted, Discover What’s Possible, Push The Limits and Be Unusually Brave), rewards for regularly attending our Children’s University Clubs and the ‘Spartacus’ Attendance Emporium’ reward scheme, that was detailed on Issue 5 of the newsletter, all of which will further equip our children with the academic knowledge, skills, and personal attributes needed to enable them to become successful citizens of the future.  Individual ‘Passports To Success’ have been professionally printed for all of the children at Lea Forest and will be available for the children (to keep in school) when they return from the half term break on Tuesday 7th November 2023.

Parents Evening  

Parent Consultations will take place on Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th October 2023. Ten minute slots will be available with your child's class teacher, starting at 3.30pm and finishing at 6:00pm.  We encourage parents to bring their child to the meeting to enable the teachers to meet with both the child and the parent together. We have found that the more children are involved in 

their education, the faster their progress.  Please book a time slot by scanning the QR code or by clicking  on the following link: https://tinyurl.com/LFPParentsEveningBooking.  Any parent who has not booked will be allocated a time by the Class Teacher.  We look forward to seeing you at the Parent Evening's next week.

Next week, we have so many amazing events planned.  I look forward to seeing parents of our Reception children for the pumpkin carving party on Wednesday and I can’t wait 

to see all of the children in fancy dress or non-uniform for our Friday discos.  

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Mr. Clarke-Castello

We have had several requests from parents for holidays in term time this academic year. Please be aware that family holidays in term time are not allowed in law and are highly unlikely to be authorised. Research has shown a clear link between attendance and attainment. Absence from school interrupts teaching and learning and therefore has a negative impact on progress. Any leave in term time applications must be made through the office and a meeting with the headteacher will be arranged to discuss the request. Birmingham City Council strongly discourages pupil leave of absence during term time and you may be issued with a Penalty Notice if there are a sufficient number of days of absence. 

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 96% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

96.11%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

97.24%

Keep up the great work!

At Lea Forest, we recognise the importance of a quality, well -structured phonics approach that gives children the essential skills to becoming a lifelong reader. The teaching of phonics is based on Bug Club (an online learning environment) . Children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 receive daily phonics teaching which involves practising previously taught sounds, learning a new sound, reading and writing using the new sound and then an activity which allows them to apply all their reading and writing skills.

The scheme used for early reading is ‘Oxford Reading Tree’ and ‘Bug Club’ to ensure children have books that are matched to their reading ability and phonic phase. Children have access to online books matched to their phonic phase that they can access in school and at home.  ‘Accelerated Reader’ is an online programme successfully used across all Key Stage 2 classes. AR is an online programme that aims to foster the habit of independent reading. With a vast collection of books available in our library, the children have ample opportunity to select books that are of interest to them and within their reading ability. Pupils take computerised quizzes on the books they have read and earn AR points for their hard work.

It has been amazing to see so many of you practising your fluency of your number facts and times tables in school and at home. 

Here are this week’s Numbots stars:

Year 1 - Luseia Baker

Year 2 - Aaminah Khan

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Zara Alam

Year 4 - Rayyan Ali Khan

Year 5 - Archie Brown

Year 6 - Afifa Ibrahim

Article 17

Every child has the right to reliable information from the media. This should be information that children can understand. Governments must help protect children from materials that could harm them.  

At Lea Forest we aim to develop our pupils’ character through the growth of relationships that define us as human. 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 at in the ‘Character Curriculum’ section of our 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 try to complete a Sudoku puzzle. These can be found (for free) in newspapers and magazine and online. Rules and further information about how to complete Sudoku puzzles can be found at: https://sudoku.com/. Remember to share pictures with your teachers via Class Dojo, Twitter and Facebook.  

Votes for Schools have been fortunate to work with Facing History & Ourselves on this VoteTopic, which has focused on the news, impartiality, and differentiating fact from fiction. By exploring the ways that opinion is expressed in news reporting, 

KS2 voters have reflected on how helpful personal views are in expanding our understanding of the wider world. They have voted on the question: “Should opinions be shared as part of news reporting?” KS1 have had the chance to think about the role feelings have to play in our decision-making and reactions to different situations. They will voted on: “Are feelings more important than facts?” 

This week’s free online safety guide, provided by the National Online Safety (NOS) website, focuses on Tik Tok. The popular video-sharing social media app allows users to create, view and download looping 15-second clips. Typically, these are videos of users lip-syncing and dancing to popular songs enhanced with filters, effects and text. Designed with young people in mind (but carrying an age rating of 13ᐩ), Tik Tok skyrocketed in popularity in 2019 and now boasts approximately a billion users worldwide. Despite the fun nature of Tik Tok, there are numerous hazards which parents should be aware of.

Physical Abuse

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023 categorises four main types of abuse: these are physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Physical abuse is when someone hurts or harms a child or young person on purpose. It can include hitting, shaking, throwing. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent fabricates or induces symptoms of illness in a child. Chastisement can also be classed as physical abuse when excessive force is used. Physical abuse can have long term effects on physical and mental health. For more information see: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/physical-abuse 

Go On A Farm Shopping Trip

Take your children along the next time you grab groceries and teach them about sustainable shopping along the way. Communicate to your children the value of buying local goods to support their local farmers and vendors in the community. This is not always possible as it can be expensive but it is something you can teach your children to aspire to in the future.

We are now fully immersed into the the academic year and I can’t believe that we are already nearly at the end of the first half term.  It has been wonderful to see the progress the children have made and the enthusiasm that they are putting into their learning. I have been particularly impressed by our youngest children in Nursery and Reception who are already demonstrating an excellent aptitude for learning.  

Friends of Lea Forest 

We would like parents to be part of our ‘Friends of Lea Forest’ group.  If you are a parent/carer of a pupil in school and would like to be involved in supporting school events such as: discos, fundraising, family fun days and fayres, please complete the electronic application form. Mrs Gonzales and Mrs Wakelam are eager to get started with this year’s events.

World Mental Health Day

On Tuesday it was World Mental Health Day. Children came to school wearing yellow and donated £1 to Young Minds. The aim of the day was to raise awareness of mental health and to drive positive change for everyone’s well being. The theme for this year’s day was ‘mental health is a universal human right’.

SEND Workshop

We will be hosting our first SEND parent workshop of this academic year on Wednesday 18th October 2023 at 9:00am. All parents are welcome to attend and for those parents who cannot attend we will be sharing copies of the slides via class dojo and our school website. The focus of this session will be Speech, Language and Communication and will provide you with a variety of strategies and techniques to support your child at home. Additionally, Caleb our Speech and Language Therapist will also be providing further information regarding the support they provide. 

The Big Ambition – Have your say!

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has launched The Big Ambition, a national survey of children and young people across England.  The Big Ambition aims to hear from children across England on what they think is important! In the lead up to the next General Election, the Children’s Commissioner wants to take children’s thoughts, opinions and ideas to decision-makers, to make sure that the Government hears young people’s voices on what they think needs to be done to make 

children’s lives better in England.  We are asking all our families to participate in this survey 

via https://tinyurl.com/LFPBigAmbition.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Mr. Clarke-Castello

We believe there is a strong link between attendance and safeguarding. A child's absence from school can often be an early indicator of an increased need within a family and poor attendance can be a sign of a safeguarding concern. A child who is not in school is a child who is not achieving: development, social and emotional wellbeing and safety may all be compromised. 

It is important that parents call in every day that a child is absent from school.

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 96% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

97.1%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

97.4%

Keep up the great work!

This week our remarkable children have been very busy representing #TeamLeaForest in Football, Ultimate Frisbee and Ten Pin Bowling. 

Mr Comrie and Mr Croxon have been very proud of our children's teamwork and ability to learn new skills in all the tournaments we participated in this week.

We had a win and a loss in this week's football matches:

Rosary 0 v Lea Forest 1

SS Peter and Paul 5 vs Lea Forest 0

Our choir are beginning to prepare for a fantastic singing opportunity which we have participated in for the last few years. Young Voices is a concert that is held early in the New Year where children from hundreds of schools come together to perform an amazing concert. Lea Forest will be performing at the Resorts World Arena where we will be singing medleys from Moana and Matilda along with traditional folk songs and pop songs. 

5SC have been really excited to take their science lessons outside these last few weeks with Roots to Fruit, where children learn all about different science topics through gardening and the outdoors.  We have been looking at the life cycles of animals and plants, identifying parts of flowers and learning about reproduction in plants. This week we will be taking cuttings and re-rooting runners to learn how some plants reproduce as clones of themselves.

Article 24

Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must work to provide good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that children can stay healthy.  

Children will discuss their right to the best possible health’ on ‘World Mental Health Day’.

KS1 voters have learnt more about renewable energy and its benefits for the environment, while KS2 voters have explored whether new oil fields should be opening in the UK. The two questions up for discussion were: 

"Do you want more renewable energy?" (KS1) and "Should the UK open new oil fields?" (KS2).

At Lea Forest our Art and Design curriculum has been devised to  give our children the opportunity to be involved in, enjoy, understand and appreciate the visual arts and enable them to build the creative skills needed to reach their full potential using the language of art. 

Within our curriculum, drawing and painting skills are developed and extended each year alongside sculpture, collage, printing and digital media. Appropriate key artists, local artists, movements, styles and specific works are introduced to support children in learning about these techniques and skills at the appropriate level. Chosen artists/movements/works are introduced with our ‘Artist of the Month’ assemblies. All children in Years 1-6 also have the opportunity of working with Andrew Timms, our Artist in Residence, and he also delivers an ‘Art with Andrew’ after school club. We also offer our pupils workshops and visits to galleries to Broaden their artistic learning.

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 4025 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 

Elmers, 1AC and 5SC

This week’s free online safety guide, provided by the National Online Safety (NOS) website, 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 ou 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.

This week’s safeguarding focus is mental health. Mental health is about our moods, feelings and emotions. Recognising the signs that a child may be struggling with their mental health can be really hard and it is important that we talk about mental health with our children. Below are some tips to support you with these conversations:

● Make conversations about mental health a normal part of life

● Give it your full attention - be an active listener 

● Take it seriously and explore the feelings together

● Offer empathy rather than solutions

For more information see: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/mental-health-parenting/ 

Pack a plastic-free lunch

Skip those single-use plastic bags and consider investing in reusable containers. Your kids can decorate their lunch containers to make them more visually appealing. This might even motivate them to help with packing their own lunch!

It’s been another really busy and successful week here at Lea Forest…

Ofsted Visit

Ofsted visited us on on Tuesday of this week to conduct research about the quality of early education for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes. This was not an inspection, but HMI Phil Minns did visit lessons, speak to children, staff and leaders to gather evidence for his case study.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase the excellent education we provide. Phil made the following comments:

- Early Years is expertly led and staff are highly skilled;

- The work done in school to address the disadvantaged gap is outstanding; 

- Any gaps are plugged well and the children are well prepared for KS2;

- We provide lots of ‘soft stuff’ - not gimmicks! Everything we do is deliberate;

- We have constructed a curriculum that is vocabulary rich; 

- The curriculum allows children to develop their knowledge. 

Black History Month

October marks the start of ‘Black History Month’.  During this month, our pupils will be taking part in a wide range of enriching cultural activities.   At Lea Forest, October is not the only time that we talk about and share in the achievements of Black people in history - our curriculum is rich in opportunities to learn about their many wonderful achievements and contributions they have made. We will continue to celebrate successes of all cultures and backgrounds across the curriculum over the course of the coming year such as: authors, artists, scientists, musicians and inventors to name but a few. Over the next month, this will have a particular focus on ‘Black History’. Click on the link for more information about events happening in Birmingham: http://birminghamblackhistorymonth.co.uk. 

School Photographer

On Thursday 12 October the photographer will be in school, during the day all children will have the opportunity to have their individual photograph taken. Unfortunately, due to the logistics and other events taking place in school on this day we will not be able to accommodate sibling photographs this year. If you would like pre-school children to be photographed with their older brothers and sisters (families) you will need to bring them into school between 8.00am and 8.30am through the pastoral entrance.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Mr. Clarke-Castello

We have seen a real increase in children being collected early for various appointments/ reasons during the school day. This can be very disruptive for your child, for staff and for their class as a whole. Can we therefore ask that you make appointments for out of school hours. We will always ask to see a copy of the appoint letter / card for our records. We are mindful that some hospital appointments are difficult to change but these should be the exception. 

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 96% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

97.08%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

97.36%

Keep up the great work!

On our school website you will find our updated policies: 

Special Needs and Disabilities - Local Arrangements 2023/24

SEND Information Report 2023/24

If you have a child who is currently on our SEN register you will be invited to your child’s review in October to provide you with the opportunity to share and review your child’s progress and set new targets with their class teacher.  If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s progress please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.

Please look out for more information regarding our SEND parent workshop that will take place on Wednesday 18th October 2023. 

It has been amazing to see so many of you practising your fluency of your number facts and times tables in school and at home. 

Here are this week’s Numbots stars:

Year 1 - Shanaya Ahmed Hussain

Year 2 - Erin Doody

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Yameen Chowdhury

Year 4 - Iziah Hill

Year 5 - Archie Brown

Year 6 - Naima Abdirahman

This week, with the beginning of Black History Month, voters have been considering the stories they know about Black British women, in keeping with this year’s theme of “Saluting our Sisters”. Children have been discussing: “Are Black British women’s stories told in our history?”

At Lea Forest we aim to develop our pupils’ character through the growth of relationships that define us as human. 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 at in the ‘Character Curriculum’ section of our 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 make the most of the good weather and visit a charity shop…  Charity shops, such as Welcome Change, YMCA or Around Again are a great place to find textiles, books, furniture and household items, which can be reused and given another lease of life. Nearly all of these items are diverted from landfill, resulting in reduced consumption of new goods and reduced carbon emissions.

At Lea Forest Primary Academy we believe that “attendance is everybody’s business” and work together as a team to improve attendance everyday. As part of our strive to be 1% better, we will be launching  he ‘Spartacus’ Attendance Emporium’ reward scheme, which incentivises, good, punctual attendance. For every week that your child achieves 100% attendance, they will collect a reward stamp, which can be redeemed at the ‘Spartacus Attendance Emporium’ (which is currently under construction). Prizes will range from sweet treats to books and curriculum themed activity kits, with the bigger, better prizes available to the best attenders… So will you be a regular visitor to the Spartacus Attendance Emporium or will you be saving for the bigger prizes? 

No child at Lea Forest Primary Academy goes unnoticed… If we know where they are, we know that they are safe! Our target for attendance this year is 96%

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). Red for Holly, Blue for Bramble, Green for Ash and Yellow for Oak.

• Black Shorts

• Black Slip on pumps or trainers for indoor use

• Jogging Bottoms or track suit trousers for outdoor use

• Trainers for outdoor use

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 1056 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 

5SC , 1AC and Gruffalo's

This week’s free online safety guide, provided by the National Online Safety (NOS) website, focuses on the ‘Dangers of Vaping’. Despite helping thousands of people successfully quit smoking and being found to be up to 95% less harmful than cigarettes, data collected for ASH shows an increase in 11-17-year-olds experimenting with vaping. It is now believed that almost 12% of 11-17 are accessing these age restricted products, with the nicotine reported to be detrimental to brain development and cause long term addiction. Raising awareness of the risks among young people could help to reduce the number of young vapers… 

Contextual Safeguarding

This week’s focus is contextual safeguarding. Contextual safeguarding relates to the specific safeguarding issues that our children face when they are out of the family home or school. It is the external factors that are present in the local community. The contextual safeguarding issues that Lea Forest faces are deprivation, gang culture and risk of criminal exploitation. There are also potential issues in the online environment too, for example, gangs using social media to track or groom young people. The main indicators for parents to be aware of are: a change in your child’s behaviour, spending more time out of the house, coming home with gifts or expensive items or seeming to feel scared.

Create a solar oven

Have you ever used the sun to cook a delicious meal? Your kids can build a simple solar oven using a cardboard box and tin foil. They can try baking biscuits or cheese twists in their new DIY device. Watch this video for tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsXhfpE5NCY