The Ambler Chronicle

Edition 8. published 23rd December 2024

Visit: www.ambler.islington.sch.uk

Follow: amblern4

Donate: Ambler Community Fund

MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER

A scene from this year's nativity - available in full on Google Classroom for years 1 & 2.

Dear Ambler families,

What a wonderful half term we have had! The children have shown themselves to be great ‘ambassadors of Ambler’ when out on trips and visits. There have been trips to the Royal Albert Hall, cinema visits, children representing the school at sporting events, visits to the local library, a new trip to the Cartoon Museum, Year 5's two-week intensive swimming programme, and we ended this term with visits to the theatre for all children at Ambler!! I was extremely proud of our children for demonstrating amazing behaviour when out and about. A HUGE thank you to Friends of Ambler, who paid for the panto trips to the Hackney Empire, and to all the volunteers who supported staff to on visits.

Friends of Ambler have been hard at work organising events and fundraising. The Silent Auction was another great success, raising over £10,000 towards the cost of creating our own science and technology lab in the attic. We are busy planning the design to make this exciting space.

During this term we also had a visit from Ofsted - it was a privilege to share our strengths in teaching and learning, alongside what we believe to be important, such as inclusion and mental health and wellbeing. Thank you to parents/carers who completed the questionnaire. The report will be published in January.

I end 2024 feeling immensely proud of the children, staff and community I am part of. It certainly feels like we all work hard together with the shared vision to make Ambler the best place for the children. We are ONE AMBLER!

Now relax and enjoy the festive season. I look forward to welcoming families back in the new year.

Happy holidays and good health from all the staff at Ambler.

Best wishes,

Sandy McNicholl

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Thu 2 Jan - Children's Centre reopens to All Year Round children

Mon 6 Jan - INSET day - School and Children's Centre closed

Tue 7 Jan - First day of Spring term

Tue 7 Jan - Y6 Windrush workshop

Wed 15 Jan - Reception 2025 application deadline

Wed 15 Jan - Y3 & Y4 Sports Hall Athletics Beacon High

Thu 16 Jan - Y6 Junior Citizen trip - Sobell Centre

Wed 22 & Thu 23 Jan - Y6 trip to Physics Institute

Fri 24 Jan - Y5 & Y6 Mixed Dodgeball Arsenal Hub

Mon 27 Jan - Thu 30 Jan - Open mornings for Y1-Y6 parents/carers

Mon 3 Feb - Children's Mental Health Week

Thu 6 Feb - 4B Neasden Temple trip

Fri 7 Feb - 4B Neasden Temple trip

Fri 7 Feb - Y2 Working Together Festival Arsenal Hub

Fri 14 Feb - Y5 Royal Greenwich Observatory

Fri 14 Feb - Last day of Spring 1 half term

17-23 Feb - Half term holidays

Mon 24 Feb - First day of Spring 2 half term

Mon 3 Mar - Secondary National Offer Day

Thu 6 Mar - WORLD BOOK DAY

Tue 25 Mar - Parents' Evening

Thu 27 Mar - Parents' Evening

Fri 4 Apr - Last day of Spring term

Mon 21 Apr - Easter Monday bank holiday

Tue 22 Apr - First day of Summer term

WE'RE STILL HERE

Please don't feel that you need to wait until we reopen in January to raise safeguarding concerns.

Email us at: dsl@ambler.islington.sch.uk

We are more than happy to support in any way we can.

DIGITAL @MBLER

Thank you to parents/carers for their feedback on children's smartphone use and our proposal to introduce a pledge not to buy children smartphones while at Ambler. There was a great response to the survey sent in summer term, with 93% of respondents supporting the idea of the pledge. Our advice remains that primary school-aged children do not need smartphones.

In Spring term, we will be asking parents and carers to sign the pledge to not buy their child a smartphone whilst at primary school. Before this is shared, there will be a coffee morning about the pledge and the potential risks and harms linked to use of smartphones. Children in key stage 2 have had an assembly to introduce the idea of the pledge.

In the assembly, we discussed some of the risks of having a smartphone (e.g. impact on sleep, mental and physical health, and inappropriate content) and what alternatives might look like. For example, a non-smart 'brick' phone is less likely to be a target for thieves, or provide unmonitored access to the internet, while still being useful for children to contact their parents or carers.

Children shared their understanding of online safety from lessons learnt at school, including our Digital Charter, and that adults sometimes seem not to practice what they preach.

We explained that adults often do normal, grown-up tasks or activities on their phones, that would have looked very different in the past. For example, reading a book, reading the news, doing a puzzle, checking the weather - all perfectly reasonable activities, but - through a child's eyes - could look like an adult being glued to their screen. We understand the challenge that our generation of parents/carers are facing in trying to model responsible device use in an increasingly digital world.

Given all of the above, please think carefully before gifting a child a device for Christmas - something put across quite plainly by this Christmas advert.

If you do, make sure you check their use of it, put in place controls if necessary and, most importantly, make clear boundaries for its use - nicely summed up in the video below:

For constructive, creative screen time, try Hour of code and Santa Tracker.

For guidance on keeping children safe online over Christmas, please visit Parentsafe.

Wishing you all a happy break and online safety for all!

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Year 3 went to the Natural History Museum as part of their geography topic 'Extreme Earth', and science topic of rocks and soil. In addition to looking at the exhibitions, we participated in the Emergency! Volcanoes and Earthquake workshop. Our children definitely impressed the workshop leader with the knowledge that they had!

Back at school, children had made papier-mâché volcanoes. There were cries of excitement as the volcanoes were made to erupt and 'lava' cascaded out!

ROYAL ALBERT HALL

Year 5 had an amazing adventure, when they visited the historic Royal Albert Hall. They attended the 'Future Makers' awards ceremony, which celebrates the amazing diversity of young musical talent we have in the UK. It was a fun day full of energy and good vibes - a great experience for the children.

CARTOON MUSEUM

In November, year 6 had a thought-provoking trip to the Cartoon Museum. There, they attended a workshop about how propaganda was used during World War II and then tried drawing their own cartoons and caricatures.

FRIENDS OF AMBLER EVENTS

Thanks again to Friends of Ambler for organising some amazing events for our children and continuing to work hard to fundraise for special events, activities and equipment.

Early this half term, children enjoyed afterschool discos - this year's theme was Autumn Colours. Thank you to all our parent volunteers who decorated the halls, served refreshments, DJ'd and ensured that children had a blast!

New for this year was a panto visit to The Hackney Empire. This was entirely funded by FoA. Children thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Dick Whittington and his Cat, particularly interacting with the on-stage cast and shouting out loud!

Rounding out a very festive week - which included three panto trips, two nativity performances, the early years sing-a-long, Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas lunch - was the Winter Day of Fun!

Children loved the off-curriculum day that included a visit to our own winter wonderland, with games, treats, face-painting and music.

There was also this year's record-breaking Silent Auction. Thank you to everyone who placed bids and to staff for offering items up for auction.

Thanks again to all of our families for organising, volunteering, contributing to and participating in Friends of Ambler activities. We appreciate all that you for the Ambler community.

DREAMS HERO PROJECT

Congratulations to Ezechiel in 5B and Raj in 2G for winning the Poppy Maskill DREAMS Hero Project Competition. As always, we were hugely impressed with quality and sheer quantity of entries, which made making a decision especially challenging.

Poppy Maskill in a world champion para-swimmer, who won three gold medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games! Our winners received Team GB wearable towel and goggles.

🐝 SPELLING BEE 🐝

This term, we had our first Spelling Bee of the year. The competitors worked fantastically hard to learn their spellings and it was an incredibly exciting competition! Our Year 3 and 4 winner was Otis in 3B and our Year 5 and 6 winner was Thomas in 6G. We also celebrated our most improved spellers. Well done to everyone who took part. We can't wait for the next Spelling Bee at the end of Spring term!

🔧 STEM CLUB ⚙️

Ambler were very lucky to have a local scientist, Meg Begley, offer to run a STEM afterschool club. The children really enjoyed being scientists and engineers!

SUPPORTING WELLBEING

This half term we have been analysing feedback from staff wellbeing surveys to consider what more can be done to improve the wellbeing of staff.

Looking ahead, we are excited to mark Place2Be's Children's Mental Health Week (3–7 February) with engaging activities designed to empower our children. This year the theme is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself'.

For staff, our mindfulness course continues in January, offering practical strategies to manage stress and foster resilience.

To enhance our school’s mindfulness initiatives, our school captains have been gathering pupil voices on what mindfulness means to them and how we can improve. Their input has been invaluable, and we are excited to refine our breathing and mindfulness offerings based on their feedback.

Family Food and Eating Coffee Morning: Thursday 9th January 2025 in the Lodge - An opportunity to explore the connections between food, mental health, and family wellbeing.

Place2Be Children’s Mental Health Week: Monday 3rd February – Friday, 7th February 2025

Place2Be Dress to Express Day: Friday 7th February. Whole school and Children’s Centre.

MULTI FAMILY GROUP

We have come to the end of yet another successful Multi-Family Group, run by Katy Singer, school Educational Psychotherapist, and Latoya Maynard, Child & Family Support Worker.

The families made clay memories together, built Spaghetti & Marshmallow towers in groups and got creative with Lego, to name but a few activities designed to support children's social and emotional development. Please look out for our Spring Term Group flyer. We will hold a coffee afternoon early in the new year to explain more about the group.

HISTORY OF TOYS WORKSHOP

Year 1 were delighted to have a full day workshop all about the History of Toys. Children investigated different types of toys from different eras, sorted and classified them and then had a turn at making their very own toy! Thanks to Friends of Ambler who funded this workshop for all our children and to the parents volunteers who helped on the day.

PARENT VISITORS

Thank you to Malu and Cadu's mum for arranging for Capoeira Angola to visit. The children loved learning about Brazilian culture and the history of the martial art, capoeira.

Year 2 found their assembly about Chile and Chilean culture equally fascinating. Thank you to Lara's mum.

STAFF UPDATE

As Mrs Brent prepares to go on maternity leave, we welcome James Lucas as 1G's new class teacher. The year 1 team will work closely to ensure the smoothest transition for the children.

SPORTS NEWS

A huge well done to all the children who took part in a diverse range of different sporting events this half term. We are hugely proud of all your efforts!

A huge well done to all the children who took part in a diverse range of different sporting events this half term. We are hugely proud of all your efforts! Look out for more events and competitions in the new year, including:

Year 2 Working Together Festival
Year 3 & 4 Sports Hall Athletics, New Age Kurling
Year 5 & 6 Mixed Dodgeball, Year 4-6 Swimming Gala
and much more...

WEAR RED DAY 2024

A huge thank you to everyone for showing their support. The school community raised a massive £525.40 for the Show Racism the Red Card charity, who will use the money raised to fund anti-racism education across the UK.

ANTI-BULLYING WORKSHOP

A wonderful morning provided by the Arsenal Hub to help children understand the efforts on anti-bullying outside of school. Year 3 had the best time touring the Emirates Stadium and asking questions to their hearts' content about their favourite football club!

This year's Reading Road Map (RRM) challenge started at the beginning of Autumn 2 and the children have been excitedly reading all the books on offer! They have also been eagerly sharing what they have read with their peers and recommending titles they have enjoyed.

A huge congratulations is in order for our 2 short story competition winners that have had their stories published in one of the UKS2 RRM books this year: Mansoora and Kiah (both in Year 6 last year who have since graduated).

Well done as well to the golden ticket winners and the children who have received bronze, silver and gold certificates for exceptional reading!

Finally, thank you once again to FoA for funding this wonderful challenge!

It's been another exciting term for times tables and KS2 have been working hard to score points for their class on TT Rockstars. Congratulations to 6 Blue for their amazing win with over 16,000 points!

We also saw the return of our termly times table competition. Each class champion showed amazing self-belief to get up in assembly and show off their quick re-call. Well done to Diego, Phanuel, Zion, Ibad, Fatimah, Samora, Jesse and Nick and a special congratulations to our reigning champion, Dan in 6G!

If you feel it is unavoidable to request term-time leave:

You must apply for leave in advance (forms available from school office)
Submit your application at least 4 weeks in advance of the proposed leave dates
Apply before booking your travel.

If you withdraw your child during term time and the absence has not been agreed by the Headteacher, it is unauthorised leave, which may lead to a fine of up to £120 per parent, per child and/or court proceedings.

NEWS FROM EARLY YEARS

This half term, our little ones have been exploring all things winter! Through engaging activities, the children have been learning about winter weather and seasonal change, singing winter-themed songs and learning new vocabulary related to the season, and celebrating different cultural traditions, including Fireworks Night, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year.

Each class had had the opportunity to visit a theatre to watch a production. The Under Threes watched Winter Tales at The Chicken Shed, Nursery visited Little Angel’s Theatre for Rosie Robin and The Christmas Post, and Reception went to The Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue to see Room on the Broom!

We also had a successful and very well attended Winter Sing Along, I just loved the children’s rendition of Last Christmas!

Lastly, this term we also said a fond farewell to Baby Room staff member Zahra, who celebrated her retirement after an incredible 18 years at Ambler!

The babies wishing Zahra all the best on her well deserved retirement

From all of us in the EYFS team, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all have a restful and enjoyable break with family and friends.

As always, thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes,

Cíara

REMINDER: CHILDCARE FEES

If you pay childcare fees, please remember that Islington Council has a 'no arrears policy'. All payments for autumn term's charges should have been made by Friday 20th December.

🌲❄️🍁🌷🌳⛅🌿

OUTDOOR PLAY

Outdoor play is as important as indoor play. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage benefit from spending a lot of time learning through playing outside, whatever the weather. Space, fresh air, freedom and time are essential for children's emotional, social and personal well-being.

As the temperatures drop, please remember to dress your child in warm layers. It’s essential that they have:

A warm coat
Gloves
A hat
Boots for outdoor play

We will be going outside as much as possible, so it's important that children are prepared for the cold weather.

NURSERY

Nursery class has enjoyed another exciting and fun-filled week to end a very busy half term. The children have shown us their incredible baking skills. The children learned to tip flour carefully into a mixing bowl, crack eggs – ensuring the shell did not fall into the mixing bowl – mix and combine ingredients; noticing how during cooking ingredients change. Anais noticed the gingerbread dough was hard and warm after we took it out of the oven. But before it was cooked she said it was: “sticky and gooey…” The children enjoyed decorating their gingerbread using icing sugar, raisins, sultanas, and jelly tots to finish them off.

Some of our children enjoyed their final session at Forest School, where they had a wonderful time toasting marshmallows; remembering how to stay safe in the fire square, and discussing their favourite sweet treat and if they could toast it or not! As the children began to make their winter cards and envelopes we visited the Little Angel Theatre. The children were enchanted by the performance of Roise Robin and the Christmas Post. It prompted lots of conversations about sending letters, cards, and presents in time for Christmas.

As we finish another busy half term, and our children have a well deserved break, we want to thank parents and carers for their care and support - and we look forward to seeing you again in 2025!

RECEPTION

As we come to the end of another busy half term, we’ve had a fantastic time linking our learning to the story How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. The children have been exploring the theme of stars and the night sky. Since we don’t have many stars in London, we got creative and made our very own night sky. Using negative printing, the children created beautiful constellations and learned about the stars that light up the skies.

In maths, the children have enjoyed learning how numbers can be made up of parts. They've been using 5 frames, objects, Numicon, and number songs to help them understand. They've even started writing their own number sentences, showing how much progress they've made!

To wrap up the term, we had a special Christmas treat – a trip to the West End to watch Room on the Broom. The children absolutely loved the show, and it was a wonderful way to end the year with lots of festive fun.

We hope everyone has a restful holiday and look forward to another exciting term in the new year!

TODDLERS

In Toddler Room this half term we have been exploring winter. It started snowing, so we read the story 'The Snowman' and created our own snow using shaving foam and cornflour. We were talking about how the texture changes.

We have been practicing our mark making by writing winter cards for our friends and families and making big marks using chalk and paints in the garden.

We had lots of fun making snowmen using salt dough, decorating biscuits and decorating baubles during our Winter Day of Fun.

This week we will be going on a winter theatre trip to Chickenshed Theatre to see Winter Tales. We are all very excited.

BABY ROOM

In baby room this half term there has been a real fascination on darkness. The children began to notice that it was dark when they looked out the window after tea and were sharing this discovery with adults by pointing and cooing. We extended this by creating our own dark and cosy places indoors which supported their communication and language and also social development. The children enjoyed exploring a range of lights and the snowflake projector seemed to be a particular favourite! The children enjoyed chasing and ‘catching’ the snowflakes, moving their bodies in different ways to get to them.

We have participated in lots of collaborative art pieces this half term, using different techniques, media and body positioning.

As always, the children have loved dancing and often go to Alexa to request music!

We finished off the term with an amazing trip to Chickenshed Theatre to watch Winter Tales show; an interactive theatrical performance including lights, dancing, action and puppets. The children were mesmerised and really enjoyed the show.

We hope you have a lovely break with your children, do post some photos on Learning Journals- the children get very excited when we share things from home.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Baby Room Team!

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