March2024

It’s been a wonderful end to the term.  I was amazed with the Easter bonnets in Early Years and Key Stage 1 and the egg-cellent egg designs in Key Stage 2 - they seem to get better and better every year, making my job as the judge impossible!  It was lovely to see our musicians perform in the Rocksteady Concert this week too. Thank you to everyone that came into school to support these events.  We also had lots of leaders visiting from other schools this week, all of which were blown away by firstly, how we have ambition for all - not putting a ceiling on learning, and secondly, the relentless rigour - sweating the small stuff. One visitor commented: “What a wonderful school you have! The calm, purposeful learning environment was a pleasure to walk around. The pupils are a delight and their behaviour for learning (no matter what class or age) was an absolute credit to the teachers. Consistency is key to all that happens in the school and you can see the leaders are so passionate about working there.” Comments like this remind me of what a special place Lea Forest is.

Attendance

Congratulations to everyone this week! You may have noticed that attendance has been a whole school focus with daily messages and reminders from leaders and class teachers. I am so pleased with the effort you’ve all made and what a difference - we’ve managed to achieve 97.2% for the whole week and 96.7% for the year to date -  just short of our 97% attendance target. I truly believe that with these continued efforts, we can improve on this further in the summer term.

Eid al-Fitr

We hope that all of our families who will be celebrating Eid after the holiday are looking forward to their celebrations and wish all of our pupils and their parents and carers a happy and blessed Eid al-Fitr.  School will be open to pupils as normal during the Eid period and all pupils not celebrating Eid are expected to attend every day as usual. Part-day absence - If your child is celebrating Eid they can be marked as attending school if they arrive at the academy after morning prayers (this can be a little later than the start of the usual day) - they can then be signed out and leave at 12 to join their families. The benefit of this is that they will not miss as much of their learning and in addition their attendance percentage is not affected. Full day absence - If you are celebrating Eid, your child will be allowed one day of authorised absence (R code - Religious observation). The absence will be authorised but will affect the attendance percentage. They will be able to collect a stamp for their attendance passports if there is only one day of absence.  Absence will only be authorised for one day.  Any child who is expected to be in school but who is absent will be marked as unauthorised unless parents provide evidence of illness or medical appointments. 

Year 6 SATS Booster Classes

As part of our exceptional educational offering, we have arranged a Maths and Reading focused Booster Club for our Year 6 pupils, which will run over the Easter holiday, from Tuesday 2nd April to Thursday 4th April. Each session will last 4 hours from 10-2pm. This Booster Club will be a great opportunity for the children to work through a range of maths and reading activities tailored to help support them, addressing any gaps they still have, as well as build their confidence before their SATs tests. Spaces are still available and you can sign up your child using the following link:

https://forms.gle/cGF6aoS8E7FZ4RmY9. 

Wishing you all a happy Easter and Ramadan! See you all again on Monday 8th April 2024.

Mr Clarke-Castello

This week has been a much more positive week in terms of attendance. We are pleased that overall attendance is exceeding our 97% target for this week so far and we have been able to welcome back some of our pupils who were absent through illness. After the holiday, the new half term is a really important one for our pupils with lots of assessments taking place. Please ensure that all children attend school regularly. If children are not in school they will miss vital lessons leaving gaps in their learning that will be very hard to catch up on.

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 97% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

97.2%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

96.7%

Keep up the great work!

This half-term SEND  eviews have taken place and new targets have been set. It has been wonderful to see the progres children are making towards their individual, personalised targets.   

Please remember to look on Birmingham’s SEND Local Offer Website where you will find help, advice and information about the services available for your child or young person from birth to 25 years with a Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND). 

Mental Health Support

 For young people aged 11-25 there are forums, guides and counselling available completely free at Kooth. If your child 0-25 needs support, get in touch with Pause by calling 0207 841 4470 or email. Adults can get support from MIND by calling 0121 262 3555. Or for urgent help call Forward Thinking Birmingham on 0300 300 0099. 

We've recorded 3255 journeys so far in the Big Walk and Wheel, Lea Forest is the number 1 school in Birmingham and managed to finish in the top 20 nationally. Now the weather is improving we really want everyone to make a real effort to leave the car at home and walk, cycle or scoot in the summer term.

What a busy term for Early Years! Nursery have enjoyed reading Rosie’s Walk which lead to so many learning opportunities.They enjoyed baking bread, using positional language and making their own farm animals using different materials.

Reception went on their very own Bear Hunt! We also made story maps and painted pictures of bears. The children celebrated Chinese New Year and made  delicious pancakes for Pancake Day. Finally, we have had our art work published in a book called ‘Me and My Family’.

Mrs Gonzales

What a term it's been for Year 1 & Year 2! From engaging trips to insightful parent workshops, it's been a whirlwind of enriching experiences. Our children have explored, learned, and grown outside the classroom while on their visits to Hatton Country World and the Botanical Gardens. Our parent workshops have provided valuable support and resources to help with Phonics at home. A big thank you to all the parents who attended the Year 2 DT workshop last Friday. As we look forward, let's continue this journey of learning and partnership. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Miss Evans

This half term, Year 3 has been busy exploring a variety of exciting topics! In English, they've written letters inspired by the book "Cloud Bursting" and investigated healthy eating. History lessons have taken them on a journey through time, learning about changes between the Stone Age and Iron Age.  They've also used technology creatively in "Painting Pictures with Sound" while continuing to develop responsible online behavior as digital citizens.  In Maths, fractions have been a focus, helping them understand equivalence and reasoning. Finally, Science has brought the world of plants to life, where they've explored different parts and what plants need to thrive.

This half term, Year 4 has been on an adventure! They've continued their journey in reading with 'The Explorer', while also diving into the world of coding and understanding simple programming. History lessons have explored the exciting eras of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, learning about their settlements in Britain.  Staying safe online is a priority, so the children have been developing appropriate behavior for online collaboration.  Music continues with ukulele and keyboard lessons, while Science explores the fascinating world of habitats – learning about natural dynamics, human influence, local changes, endangered species, and how we can conserve our environment. It's been a busy and informative term!

Year 5 have a jam-packed half term! In English, they have been reading a non-fiction book, "The Girl Who Stole an Elephant," and putting their learning into action by designing and creating healthy snacks. History has taken a fascinating turn as they have explored the English Renaissance and life in Victorian Britain. Music has continued to flourish with solo and ensemble performances, while Maths has dived deeper into fractions, conversions (decimals and percentages), and solidifying times tables with regular practice. Finally, Science has delved into the properties and uses of different materials!

Mr White

Year 6 have been working incredibly hard this half term across all subject areas! In English, they have studied the text ‘Letters From the Lighthouse’ and have produced two extended writes: a World War 2 narrative and a letter, which combined to create an epistolary narrative. The improvements seen in their writing ability, descriptive ideas and sentence structure has been mind-blowing. In Maths, they have focused on improving their fluency by continuing their daily arithmetic lessons and focusing in on percentages, fractions and decimals. It has been great to see the children’s confidence grow. When studying History, the children have been learning about the second global conflict (WW2) between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, exploring  propaganda, censorship and the persecution of the Jewish community. The articulation of their knowledge and outcomes in books have been nothing short of stunning. Lastly, in Science the children have been learning about electricity and have enjoyed getting stuck in with various investigations.  

Miss Francois

Please see term dates for the remainder of the school year listed below. Ensure any holidays are booked during the period of times highlighted in red:

Spring 2

19/02/24

22/03/24

Easter Holiday

23/03/24

07/04/24

Summer 1

08/04/24

24/05/24

Summer Half Term

27/05/24

31/05/24

Summer 2

03/06/24

19/07/24

INSET Days - 

School will be closed to pupils on 17/06/2024 for a teacher training day.

02/05/2024 - Election Day: 

School open to Year 6 pupils (am) only

Term dates for the next academic year can be found here 

This week, voters are focused on how to stand up for others when they face discrimination, and reflected on the ways in which they might be able to do this themselves. KS1 have discussed: 

“Do you know what an ally is?” 

KS2 have discussed: 

“Do you know how to be an ally?”

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 7128 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 

RFH, 1ED and 6CH.

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… 

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 - Rhianne Allen-Duberry

Year 2 - Leo Mulholland

Gruffalos - Aleem Yousaf

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Sophia Vaitkute

Year 4 - Chrissania Smith

Year 5 - Layton Taylor-Crosby

Year 6 - Niall Kelly

Gruffalos - Abdullah Hussain

Young Carers

This week our safeguarding focus is on young carers. The term young carer is used to describe someone aged under 18, who helps look after a relative who has a disability, illness, mental health condition or a drug or alcohol problem. Most young carers look after one of their parents or care for a brother or sister. They do extra jobs around the house such as cooking, cleaning or helping someone to get dressed or move around. The pressure of looking after a family member can affect the young carer academically and socially, as they know they have extra responsibilities. If you feel that your child is a young carer or you know of another child who may be one, please make us aware so that we can help and support.  There are many organisations locally and nationally that can also provide support, for example Spurgeons in Birmingham.        https://spurgeonsyc.org/birmingham/ 

With Mr. Clarke-Castello feeling under the weather this week, it was over to the rest of the leadership team to ensure that our children and staff continued to thrive. The week has simply whizzed by, as Lea Forest was a whirlwind of activity! Alongside their outstanding curriculum work, our students enjoyed engaging drama workshops, a delightful Year 2 field trip to Hatton Country World, and an enriching visit from a history expert in Year 4. 

Easter Activities

As we approach the Easter festivities, we wanted to remind you all about our upcoming Easter Crafternoons happening next week. These events are always a highlight for the children and a great opportunity for us to come together as a community. Here are the details:

• Monday, March 18th - KS2 Crafternoon Egg Making Competition

• Tuesday, March 19th - EYFS and KS1 Bonnet Making at 3:30pm

• Thursday, March 21st - Easter Bonnet Parade 9.30-11.30 (depending on Year group)

• Friday, March 22nd - Easter Disco (non uniform day for £1)

We encourage you to mark these dates on your calendars and join us for these special events. Your participation and support are invaluable in making these activities memorable for our children.

Reach 100 Foundation Visit

On Thursday, we had the pleasure of hosting another 12 primary school leaders from the Reach 100 Foundation. They were deeply impressed by Lea Forest Primary Academy's outstanding curriculum and our remarkable students.  Their positive feedback highlights the incredible work happening at our school.

Big Walk and Wheel

We're taking part in the big walk and wheel from the 11th - 22nd March. We are challenging all of our children, parents and family members to leave their cars at home for one week and walk, scoot, cycle or use public transport to get to school.  Don't forget to share images of your journey's via ClassDojo from Monday.

Comic Relief

Today, we went all out for Comic Relief and spreading laughter in order to raise serious money for a fantastic cause! This year, was all about Doing Something Funny for Money and raising awareness of the devastating impacts of poverty, conflict and climate change on people around the world. A huge thank you to everyone who donated, participated, and made today such a success!   

Attendance has hit an all time low this week with chicken pox and sickness bugs.  This can’t be helped and we wish everyone who has been poorly a speedy recovery.  

Have a great weekend! We can’t wait to see you all again on Monday for another remarkable week!

Miss Francois & Mr White

It can be difficult deciding whether or not to keep your child off school when they are unwell, particularly in the colder 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 illnesses 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 97% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

94.67%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

96.68%

Keep up the great work!

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 take advantage of the improving weather and prepare your garden for summer by planting some seeds (using this YouTube clip to help you). Remember to send pictures of you enjoying the start of the good weather 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! 

4NN recently visited the Roots 2 Fruits nursery for their science unit - Habitats. They had an amazing time learning about designing a garden to encourage wildlife, building homes for hedgehogs and creating wormeries. This half term they are putting that learning into practise to improve the positive environmental impact that we can have in our school grounds. 

Please see term dates for the remainder of the school year listed below. Ensure any holidays are booked during the period of times highlighted in red:

Spring 2

19/02/24

22/03/24

Easter Holiday

23/03/24

07/04/24

Summer 1

08/04/24

24/05/24

Summer Half Term

27/05/24

31/05/24

Summer 2

03/06/24

19/07/24

INSET Days - 

School will be closed to pupils on 17/06/2024 for a teacher training day.

02/05/2024 - Election Day: 

School open to Year 6 pupils (am) only

Term dates for the next academic year can be found here 

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 4670 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 1ED, 6CH and 3KR.

VotesforSchools have been exploring the world of AI-generated images in celebration of British Science Week. Based on this, voters have been exploring the increased sophistication of images created using artificial intelligence tools, and how easy it is to tell when something is not genuine. They have voted on 

“Can you tell when photos are real?” in KS1, while KS2 voters have decided on: 

“Are AI-generated images too believable?”

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 the video-sharing app: TikTok. TikTok is a free social media platform that lets users create, share and watch short videos ranging anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes in duration. The app gained notoriety for its viral dances, trends and celebrity cameos and can be a creative, fun platform for anyone 13ᐩ (although some features are restricted to over-18s only). However, like all social networking platforms, TikTok can be addictive: figures show that children spend an average of 102 minutes per day on the app.

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 - Rhianne Allen-Duberry

Year 2 - Madiha Hanan

Gruffalos - Bokoli Kalaki

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Jakks Smith

Year 4 - Maisey Tighe

Year 5 - Mohamed Mohamud 

Year 6 - Avram Mazarache

Gruffalos - Connor Hopkins

Self Harm

This week’s focus is self harm. For some young people, self harm can be a way of releasing tension and or coping with difficult feelings. The physical pain of hurting themselves can be a distraction from the emotional pain they are struggling with. Some difficult experiences or emotions can make self-harm more likely in children: for example, having low self-esteem or feeling like they’re not good enough, or grieving or having problems with family relationships. Signs that children are self harming can include; covering up, unexplained bruises, becoming withdrawn and spending a lot of time alone in their room. Supporting a child that self harms includes helping a child to manage their emotions and looking at the root of the self harming.For more information on self harm visit https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/childrens-mental-health/self-harm/  

Utilize Solar Energy

Solar panels aren't just a smart financial move; they also help the planet.  Reduce your carbon footprint while saving money – the average UK home could save a substantial £130 a month on energy costs!

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 4 have been away on their residential. I was lucky enough to spend 3 days at Whitemoor Lakes with our Year 4 children which was fun. 

Year 4 Residential

Our Year 4 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 are all about making memories and we are sure that these memories will remain with the children 

for many years to come. 

Big Walk and Wheel

We're taking part in the big walk and wheel from the 11th - 22nd March. We are challenging all of our children, parents and family members to leave their cars at home for one week and walk, scoot, cycle or use public transport to 

get to school.  Don't forget to share images of your journey's via ClassDojo from Monday.

Sublime Science Workshops & Science Week

We have had the pleasure of having a member of the Sublime Science team in school this week to help us celebrate Science Week 2024. The children have absolutely loved taking part in a range of activities including a liquid ‘tornado race’ and slime making! Children will continue their activities with extended Science lessons where they will carry out a whole host of practical science experiments helping them to understand the world around them and showing their scientific enquiry skills. 

Comic Relief

This year, it’s all about Doing Something Funny for Money, because poverty, conflict and climate change are having devastating impacts on people around the world.  This will take part on Friday 15th March 2024.

School Dinners

Due to increasing costs, we are unfortunately having to increase the price of a school dinners. Dinners will increase by 10p per day.  This is not a decision we have taken lightly and whilst we appreciate the challenges that many families face we are unable to sustain the current costs and in comparison to other local schools, we are still charging significantly less.  From Monday 8 April 2024 prices for meals will be: £2.45 per day (£12.25 per week).  Please can we remind you that dinner money neaeds to be paid in advance on Parent Pay.

Mrs Newbold

Myself and Miss Francois went to visit Mrs Newbold this week. We were delighted to hear that her treatment was a success and she’s on the road to recovery. She really misses being in school and teaching her class and can’t wait to be back in the classroom as soon as she’s well enough to be. 

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

Mr. Clarke-Castello

Regular attendance is crucial for academic and social success. Missing school can disrupt learning and make it difficult to catch up. At Lea Forest, we encourage all pupils to strive for excellent attendance. Parents and carers, please support your child by ensuring they arrive at school on time and prepared each day. If your child is unable to attend, please notify the school office as soon as possible. Let's work together to create a learning environment where every student thrives.

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 97% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

95.19%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

96.78%

Keep up the great work!

To celebrate International Women’s Day voters have been discussing role models. In KS1, they have had the opportunity to investigate the kinds of qualities that make someone inspiring, and considered if they have any similar figures in their lives. They voted on: 

“Do you have any role models?”

In KS2, voters have discussed the people they look up to, and reflected on whether similarity is always important when choosing a role model. They have voted on: 

“Should your role models be like you?”

We've been busy recording our trips to school this week and have recorded 2331 active journeys to school so far this month.  Our most active classes this week are: 

3KR, 2BS and 6SR.

Please see term dates for the remainder of the school year listed below. Ensure any holidays are booked during the period of times highlighted in red:

Spring 2

19/02/24

22/03/24

Easter Holiday

23/03/24

07/04/24

Summer 1

08/04/24

24/05/24

Summer Half Term

27/05/24

31/05/24

Summer 2

03/06/24

19/07/24

INSET Days - 

School will be closed to pupils on 17/06/2024 for a teacher training day.

02/05/2024 - Election Day: 

School open to Year 6 pupils (am) only

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 free messaging app, ‘Whatsapp’. Whatsapp is the world’s most popular messaging service, with around two billion users exchanging texts, photos, videos and documents, as well as making voice and video calls. Its end-to-end encryption means that messages can only be viewed by the sender and any recipients: not even Whatsapp can read them. In the UK, the minimum age of use for WhatsApp is 16 years old. It had previously dropped to 13 years old but in April 2018 returned to 16, as a response to data-protection legislation. 

This week our focus is on Operation Encompass. This is a police and education early information sharing partnership enabling schools to offer immediate support for children experiencing the impact of domestic abuse. Information is shared by the police with a school's trained Key Adult (DSL) prior to the start of the next school day when officers have attended a domestic abuse incident. Children experiencing domestic abuse are negatively impacted by this exposure; with domestic abuse  identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). Operation Encompass aims to mitigate this harm by enabling immediate support and thus making the child's day better.

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 - Abigail Adhanom

Year 2 - Yassine Ali Mohammadi

Gruffalos - Tommy Hope

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Lacie Betty Ann Butler

Year 4 - Rebecca Bishop

Year 5 - Laila Peace

Year 6 - Niall Kelly

Gruffalos - Adil Rahim

Shop Online Where Possible

A traditional shopper has almost twice the carbon emissions as an online shopper. While ethical online shopping can cut carbon emissions, rushed delivery can break the benefit of shopping online due to more delivery trucks and packaging.

In a democracy, people have a say in the decisions that affect them. They usually vote, where everyone gets a chance to choose their favourite option.

It's not just about voting though! Democracy is also about listening to different ideas, respecting others' opinions, and working together to find solutions that benefit everyone. Even in our classrooms, we practice these important skills by listening to each other's ideas and working together to make our class a fun and fair place for everyone!

Our feet haven’t touched the ground this week with so much happening around school.  I would like to start this week’s newsletter by thanking all of our children and staff that represented our school at the Young Voices concert last Friday evening.  This is always such a memorable event. I have spent time in classes this week and I am always so proud of what I observe. I am biased, but at Lea Forest we have the BEST pupils and the BEST teaching staff. I am in such a privileged position to witness learning at its very best. 

This week, I was delighted to receive a letter from the Minister for Schools, Damian Hinds,. In his letter he wrote: ‘I would like to congratulate you, your staff and your pupils on the very high level of progress that pupils in your school demonstrated in the reading, writing and mathematics Key Stage 2 assessments last year. Your school's results, as published on 14 December, show progress scores of 10, 5.5 and 7.1 in reading, writing and mathematics respectively. This means that in terms of the progress your pupils make between Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2, your school is amongst the top 5% of primary schools in the country. The government wants to ensure that every child has the fluency in reading, writing and mathematics necessary to prepare them for a successful secondary education and beyond, which is why I was delighted to see your results. Thank you for your work in continuing the drive towards higher academic standards, and congratulations again to you and your staff for your commitment and success.’ 

World Book Day

Lea Forest will be celebrating World Book Day on Monday 4th March. We are inviting children to dress up for World Book Day as their favorite literary character - it's a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the joy of reading and spark their imagination. Dressing up not only adds fun to the event but also promotes a deeper connection with books and encourages a lifelong love for literature. Children will engage in activities centered around a book and characters. There will also be visits to The Portal and a whole school scavenger hunt challenge throughout the day. We will be adding challenges to complete at home too! Keep your eyes peeled. The book fair will be returning on Friday 8th March and children will be able to spend their £1 book tokens. 

Comic Relief

This year, it’s all about Doing Something Funny for Money, because poverty, conflict and climate change are having devastating impacts on people around the world.  This will take part on Friday 15th March 2024.

Please check out the key dates and familiarise yourself with some of the upcoming events, trips and visits. Next week, Year 4 are off to Whitemoor Lakes for their residential experience and we have lots of exciting plans for Easter. 

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your commitment to ensuring your children's excellent attendance this week. Your dedication helps create a positive and productive learning environment for all our pupils. Regular attendance is crucial for academic success, and your 

support in this area is invaluable.Thank you again for your partnership in fostering a culture of consistent attendance.I can’t wait to see everyone’s World Book Day costumes on Monday. If you are struggling with a costume 

choice, pyjamas are fine. 

Have a great weekend!  See you all next week.

Mr. Clarke-Castello

Regular attendance is crucial for academic and social success. Missing school can disrupt learning and make it difficult to catch up. At Lea Forest, we encourage all pupils to strive for excellent attendance. Parents and carers, please support your child by ensuring they arrive at school on time and prepared each day. If your child is unable to attend, please notify the school office as soon as possible. Let's work together to create a learning environment where every student thrives.

It’s great to see everyone working so hard to achieve our 97% target.  

We can only do this if we all work together!

Our attendance for 

the week is

96.8%

Our attendance for 

the year to date

96.8%

Keep up the great work!

This week, voters have been exploring the rise in instances of abuse against shop workers across the UK in recent months. Key Stage 1 have investigated the ins and outs of good shopping etiquette, deciding where they stand on: “Do you know how to act in a shop?” Meanwhile, Key Stage 2 have been considering whether making this particular type of abuse a criminal offence is the best course of action or if there are better alternatives. They have discussed: “Could more be done to keep shop workers safe?” 

Please see term dates for the remainder of the school year listed below. Ensure any holidays are booked during the period of times highlighted in red:

Spring 2

19/02/24

22/03/24

Easter Holiday

23/03/24

07/04/24

Summer 1

08/04/24

24/05/24

Summer Half Term

27/05/24

31/05/24

Summer 2

03/06/24

19/07/24

INSET Days - 

School will be closed to pupils on 17/06/2024 for a teacher training day.

02/05/2024 - Election Day: 

School open to Year 6 pupils (am) only

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 - Carter King

Year 2 - Kenzee Tomczak-Lynch

Gruffalos - Aadam Nawaz

This week’s Rock Legends are:

Year 3 - Aayan Rehman

Year 4 - Tyler Bulman

Year 5 - Koi O’Neill

Year 6 - Yakub Chowdhury

Gruffalos - Bokoli

Kalaki

Child on child abuse

This week’s safeguarding focus is child on child abuse. Child-on-child abuse is most likely to include, but may not be limited to: bullying (including cyberbullying), abuse in intimate personal relationships between children, physical abuse such as hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling, or otherwise causing physical harm, or sexual violence. The signs of child on child abuse can include the imbalance of power within a relationship, sexual behaviour that is inappropriate and children or young people isolating themselves from family and friends. Child on child abuse can result in significant, long-lasting trauma, isolation, physical harm, poor mental health, a child missing education, and poor outcomes.

This week, we will be exploring one of Britain’s most important values: the rule of law! But what does that mean exactly? Imagine a world without rules… This rule of law helps keep things fair and safe for everyone. 

But how does the rule of law apply to us at school?

• We have school rules that help us learn and play together nicely, like respecting others and listening to our teachers.

• We follow playground rules to keep everyone safe and make sure everyone gets a chance to play. ‍

• We even have class rules that we create together to make sure everyone feels included and happy.

  Be a champion of the rule of law. 

• Follow the rules, even when it's tricky!

• Stand up for what's right and help others understand the importance of rules.

• If you see someone struggling to follow the rules, offer help and understanding.

Remember, we're all in this together! By following the rule of law, we can make our school, our community, and even the whole world a fairer and happier place for everyone!