The Ambler Chronicle
Edition 4. published 3rd April 2024
MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Dear Ambler families,
We have reached the end of the Spring term and now it's time to have a rest and celebrate the success of this half term:
Ambler's Got Talent! - there was no denying that as we watched and voted on this year's semi-finalists for years 3 & 4 and years 5 & 6. We had musicians, comedians, magicians, poets, singers, a coding expert, Irish dancers to name but a few!! It was such a difficult task as all contestants demonstrated their DREAMS qualities. Congratulations to Stephen in year 6 and Lena in year 4 for coming first place - stars in the making!!
I was delighted to introduce year 3's Noah as Headteacher for the morning - the winner of the silent auction prize! He did the 'meet and greet' on the school gate, helped to introduce a music concert, did a drop-in to each classroom, handed out DREAMS stickers and was even a special guest judge for the Yr 5/6 talent show! It was such a busy day and I couldn't have done in with out him! He's a headteacher in the making!!
A huge thank you to Friends of Ambler for organising the Movie Nights for all children from Reception to year 6. The children loved being in their PJs with popcorn in hand to watch a movie in the bottom hall. Always a winner!
We saw a huge impact from Poetry week with children being truly inspired by the workshops and guest poet Paul Lyalls. Children wrote poems in class but we saw entries of poetry in Ambler's Got Talent and the Show Racism The Red Card competition.
World Book Day was as wonderful as ever with staff and children (and even some parents!) making an effort to dress up for the occasion! We loved the opportunity to 'Drop Everything And Read' and the children
Children have been out and about as part of curriculum enrichment:
Year 1 visited Cape Adventure Playground
Year 2 visited Kew Gardens
Year 3 visited the local mosque in Finsbury Park
Year 4 did a 10km walk along the Parkland Walk
Year 5 visited the Planetarium
Year 6 visited Shri Swaminaryan Mandir/temple
I'm already looking forward to a jam packed summer term with so much more learning, trips and experiences to come.
Thank you to parents and carers for attending parents evening to discuss the progress made by your child/ren. I also appreciate parents and carers taking the time to fill in the online survey. I will reflect on the feedback given and share with staff and the school community.
I wish all our school community a great Spring break. To our Muslim community, I wish you Eid Mubarak for the end of Ramadan. I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 16th April 2024. Have a happy, healthy break from all the Ambler staff.
Best wishes,
Sandy McNicholl
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Mon 15 Apr - INSET day - School and Children's Centre closed
Tue 16 Apr - First day of Summer term
Wed 17 Apr - Y3/4 Cricket Festival, Beacon High
Tue 23 Apr - Y1/2 Literacy and Numeracy Family Learning - first session (9-11am, Lodge)
Tue 23 Apr - Y3/4 Tennis , Islington Tennis Centre
Wed 24 Apr - Team GB gymnast Saffron Severn visiting (Sports for Schools)
Thu 25 Apr - Y5 Parent/carer workshop - "What to expect in year 6" (9-10am, Lodge)
Sun 28 Apr - FOA Car Boot + Jumble Sale (raising funds for year 6 leavers)
Wed 1- Fri 3 May - Y4 Cardfields residential trip
Thu 2 May - Y6 Parent/Carer Workshop - "Preparing for Year 7" (9-10am, Lodge)
Mon 6 May - Early May bank holiday- School and Children's Centre closed
Wed 8 May - Y3/4 Gymnastics, Sobell Leisure Centre
Fri 17 May - FOA 80s Night! 🥳💃🕺
Fri 24 May - Last day of Summer term 1
Mon 3 Jun - INSET day - School and Children's Centre closed
Tue 4 Jun - First day of Summer term 2
Sat 6 Jul - SUMMER FAIR
Wed 24 Jul - Last day of Term
Thu 15 Aug - Children's Centre Summer Closure - last day for all-year round children
COFFEE MORNINGS
MULTI FAMILY GROUP - Tuesday 23 April, 2.45pm - 3.30pm, in the Lodge
Does your child struggle with there self esteem? Do they find it hard making relationships in school? Please come along and find out some more information regarding the mutli-family group we run at Ambler to support your child in class and at school.
AN INTRODUCTION TO MINDFULNESS FOR PARENTS/CARERS - Thursday 13 June, 9-10am Delivered by our Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead, Sophie Smith-Tong.
STAFF UPDATE
Congratulations to Ruby Uddin, Nursery teacher, who welcomed baby Amaira into the world in January. Mum and baby are both doing very well, and visited Ambler on the last day of term!
We are delighted to announce that Monica Marcou, 2G class teacher, and Chloe Casey, family support worker are expecting! Congratulations! Both Monica and Chloe will be at Ambler for the whole of summer term, before going on maternity leave.
We are also delighted to announce that Aimee Leeds will be returning to Ambler after the birth of her baby daughter. She will be back in school in July 2024.
WORKSHOPS
Thursday 25th April 9.00am - 10.00am - What to expect in Year 6 – Applying for secondary schools, KS2 SATS exams, important dates and information (Year 5 parents).
Thursday 2nd May 9.00am - 10.00am Preparing for Year 7 – Supporting your child as they transition into Secondary School. (Year 6 parents)
FREE HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
Islington Council's spring holiday programme offers a wide range of activities across Islington which are free for eligible young people to attend.
If you are not eligible, there are some activities free to all and some that require a small payment. Anyone attending will be offered a free lunch. For further details about eligibility and booking click here
Hackney Council will once again be teaming up with a number of schools, sports activity providers and community services to offer a wide range of exciting activities and a daily healthy free meal during the Easter/Spring school holidays. Further details can be found here
Haringey Council are running a holiday camp for children receiving Free School Meals. All these activities are free to book and include a free meal for your child/children if you are eligible for Free School Meals. You need a code to book, which should be sent to you by your child's school. Please contact the school if you have not received your booking code. Book here.
MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF CHILDREN'S CENTRE
And just like that another term is over! There has been lots of fabulous learning taking place this term, you only have to look at all the wonderful displays across the centre to see!
After the successful implementation of our school sensory room, we are delighted to have secured funding to create a similar space for nursery. The project is funded with Community Infrastructure Levy funding allocated by Finsbury Park, Arsenal and Highbury ward councillors. The work will take place over the Easter holidays and we cannot wait to see the finished results!
We are thrilled to be hosting the Bright Start Conference in April, all about the importance of fathers and male carers in a child’s life. In preparation for the conference, some of the children have been painting portraits of their dads. These paintings will be displayed as part of the conference. You can see some of them below -aren’t they fabulous!
I would like to invite parents and carers to come into the centre and read with the children or take part in an activity. If you have some spare time and would like to get involved, please let me know.
I had such a fun time delivering an Irish dancing class as my silent auction donation. Sylvie, Nina, Lori and Ciara in Year 3 picked up the routine very quickly and executed it with style and grace, even bagging themselves a spot in the final of Ambler’s Got Talent… move over Riverdance, there is a new troupe in town!
I wish you all a happy break and look forward to seeing all the term-time only children back, rested and ready to learn, on Tuesday 16th April.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Cíara Rush
PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY
Thank you to everyone who has completed the parent satisfaction survey. The link will remain open until Friday 12th April. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to complete it and help us improve our service. Link to Early Years Satisfaction Survey
CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT
Thank you to parents and staff for their input on the redevelopment of the children's centre.
As previously mentioned, Phase 1 will see many of the baby room's internal walls knocked through to create one large multi-use space and sleep room. This phase is due to be completed by 12th April,
Phase 2, will create a fully-equipped sensory room in the current garden house/toddler sleep room. This will provide support and tailored learning opportunities for children who have emerging or identified special educational needs.
Further details and dates for phase 2 of the redevelopment will be shared with families in due course.
MAXIE'S MURAL
It’s been one year since we lost our beautiful Maxine Cooke. With the help Maxie’s parents, her big sister Nina, Friends of Ambler and our premises team, SOS, our garden memorial in Toddler garden is finished and we have a place to remember and honour Maxie every day. Sorrel, a parent and member of Friends of Ambler, painted the most stunning mural with some of Maxie’s favourite things to go alongside the fig tree we planted last year.
Maxie, you are in our thoughts and our hearts always xx
MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING
Sophie Smith-Tong
What another busy yet fulfilling half term, supporting the wellbeing of our Ambler school community - here is our Mental Health and Wellbeing summary for Spring 2:
We invited all classes R-Y6 to complete our child wellbeing survey with the data to be analysed and a report written up next half term. From this, we will develop next steps to improve the daily experiences of our children.
Myself and Chloe delivered the first ‘Responding to Behaviour’ coffee morning - helping parents/carers to support their children at home.
We completed the 8 week staff mindfulness course with positive results and feedback.
The Children’s Centre held their second "Tea and Talk" session for parents/carers.
Myself and Monica Marcou (PSHE Lead) gathered together all of the reasons that Ambler deserve Healthy Schools Status. We look forward to the results soon.
We began the application process for Healthy Early Years status for the Children’s Centre too.
Thank you once again for your continued support and have a restful break.
Following on from Ms Smith-Tong's successful coffee morning, we want to highlight Islington's School Wellbeing Service (SWS) in-school and online support for parents.
SWS supports children, young people, and their families experiencing mild to moderate mental health difficulties and promotes emotional wellbeing and resilience at school.
Their YouTube channel includes webinars for parents to support children's anxiety, stress and sleep.
🫘 RECEPTION 🎭
This term the children have immersed themselves in the world of storytelling. The children were hooked by the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and asked to create their own versions and put on performances for each class. We saw lots of dedication from writing the script, making the props and rehearsing their lines.
There was a real buzz around the classrooms whilst each class secretly prepared their performance . Each performance received a 5 star review from their audience! A big well done to the children for being so committed, confident and creative.
To end our busy term we went on an outing to Gillespie Park. The children began by exploring the park and describing what they could see and hear. We then had a special task of collecting natural materials to make fanoos lamps as part of our celebration for Ramadan. The children were mesmerised by the pond and spent a long time watching for any signs of movement under the water! We hope all our families have a wonderful break!
LONDON YOUTH GAMES FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
Congratulations to our Year 3 & 4 Girls who, after winning the PESSPA Islington football competition, had the honour of representing Islington at the London Youth Games. We are very proud of you all!
It's been another brilliant term for learning our times tables! Every day KS2 have been chanting their times table of the week as we line up to come in from break and lunch, and the children have been working hard on TT Rockstars to score points for their class.
This term, a big congratulations goes to 3G! They have been at the top of the leader board every week and won by more than 9,000 points! Well done 3G!
Thanks to everyone who took part in The Big Plastic Count, the UK’s biggest household plastic waste investigation! Children collected and record every piece of plastic packaging their household threw away for one week.
This citizen science investigation will build even more evidence about what’s really happening to our plastic and help make a positive change to our planet's future.
🎨 NURSERY 🖌️
This has been another very busy but enjoyable term! The children have immersed themselves in printing - practising different techniques such as holding and pressing, ensuring their block or stencil does not move resulting in a clear defined image! The children have worked hard to achieve this – even Jennie joined us, and cheered the children on! Can said: “It’s cool… I am pushing it down and now I’m printing..”
The children have enjoyed the forest and after reading ‘Stanley’s Stick’ were very keen to collect sticks to “make everything…” as Cassian told us.
The children are experimenting with movement and challenging themselves to move in different ways and climbing trees is always enjoyable. The children work together to climb and Ayana told us: “I’m climbing up to the sky... watch me.”
The children are very interested in noticing and understanding what makes each of them unique, but also similar to their friends. This term we enjoyed many conversations around hair; the colour, how it looks, feels, smells, and the different hair styles the children have. Amaya said: “Amelia’s hair is so beautiful and smooth and I love it…” Mahla explained: “My hair has got plaits and Daphne has a fringe…”
As the end of term approached the children wanted to make costumes and crowns. They spent time designing their costumes and took great pleasure dressing up in them. This resulted in a parade through the Children’s Centre – the children loved it and after enjoyed jam sandwiches and popcorn!
We look forward to welcoming the children back after a well-deserved break; see you on Tuesday 16th April.
MULTI-FAMILY GROUP
Well done to our Spring Term Multi Family Group! All the children and parents have been amazing and its been such a pleasure to see how much the children have blossomed over the 8 week course.
We will be running our Summer group next term and if you would be interested in joining with your child please come along to our Coffee Afternoon on Tuesday 23rd April 2.45pm to find out some more information and to sign up!
WORLD BOOK DAY
Ambler celebrated World Book Day on 7th March. Pupils and staff looked amazing in their costumes, really adding to the celebratory atmosphere. Each year group gave a fabulous costume parade.
This year’s theme was Graphic Novels. Each year group was allocated a graphic novel to read and children studied the different techniques that authors and illustrators use to tell graphic novels stories.
Visiting author Dave Shelton gave workshops on the theme. He explained the process of creating characters and exciting graphic novels so children could try themselves.
Popular favourites, such as 'Drop Everything and Read' - where children stop what they are doing to read when a bell rings - and cross-phase reading took place.
New this year was the Book Swap, which closed the day's festivities. Every child from year 1 to year 6 could take two books home for free! All books were generously donated by our own Ambler community.
DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY DAY
What a fantastic Design & Technology day we had! Our pupils were overflowing with creativity and imagination.
Each year group designed and made products, from moving stories in year 1, to cross-stitch cushions in year 3 and slingshot cars in year 5. Impressive!
RED NOSE DAY
Ambler raised £456 for Comic Relief this Red Nose Day! Thank you to everyone who donated and showed their support by wearing red.
✏️ BABY ROOM 📚
This half term we have been exploring a range of sensory materials, such as cornflour, paint, pencils and cotton wool. The children have loved the new climbing structure, their confidence and ability in moving their bodies in different ways has been incredible, they have also been learning about turn taking.
We know that books are one of the best ways to support young children with learning to talk. We have been utilising the book home scheme and really value your support with this, we have developed a rich and diverse range of core texts that we want children to know and be familiar with before they leave the baby room and we have also recently introduced individual family books.
We hope you have a happy and restful Easter break and look forward to welcoming you back to our newly renovated room!
TODDLER ROOM
This half term in Toddler Room, we were excited to meet the author and illustrator Ken Wilson-Max who read us one of his stories that we had been learning about, 'Where's Lenny'.
We have also been exploring the forest. We found a very big stick and decided to stick different materials onto it to create 'Stickman'. We read the story and created their very own mini 'Stick Men'.
Some of the children had been role playing shopping so went to one of the local supermarkets to buy the ingredients to make bread and to buy some fruit and vegetables for a picnic in the garden.
SCHOOL TRIPS
We have had some amazing school trips this half term. Thank you to all the parent/carer volunteers who joined us and to Friends of Ambler for funding many of our trips and activities.
It may have rained all day, but it didn't dampen year 2's fun at Kew Gardens! As Oscar said "at least now, it feels like we are in a real rainforest!" In their workshops, children learnt all about different plants, how important they are to everyday life and different biomes.
As part of their geography unit, Year 4 went on an exciting adventure to Parkland Walk. Using the information gathered on the trip, they wrote a non-chronological report.
Year 5 visited the Royal Observatory in Greenwich as part of their science learning. Children learnt about the different planets in our solar system and about the astronomers who lived at the observatory.
YEAR 4 CARDFIELDS TRIP
We are delighted that the majority of year 4 children have signed up to the Cardfields residential trip from 1-3 May.
Many thanks to parents who have paid a deposit or the full cost. Please continue to add funds to the account to cover the cost of the trip. If your child is eligible for free school meals, a subsidised rate has been applied.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs McNicholl via the school office
SCHOOL UNIFORM
A polite reminder that all school children are expected to wear full school uniform. Visit the Ambler website for further detail.
Please send children to school in suitable warm and/or waterproof coat for the weather forecast for the day.
Lost property is now kept by the school office. Please remember to label clothing in case it does get lost.
🥕 GARDENING DAY 🍓
Thank you to all the families who joined Grow Ambler's Gardening Day on Sunday 24th March. It was a lovely community event and so much was accomplished - weeding, composting, seed-sowing, propagating strawberries and planting new fruit, veg and herbs.
Naomi from Blackstock Triangle Gardeners delivered brilliant workshops for children and parents. We learnt a lot!
FRIENDS OF AMBLER
An enormous THANK YOU to the many parents/carers who helped with the four Movie Nights at the end of February. We could not have done it without you!
A reminder that we have the upcoming Car Boot + Jumble Sale and 80's Night, and the Summer Fair on 6th July. See the flyers above for more info.
PARENT/CARER HANDBOOK
We shared with parents/carers earlier this term the Ambler Primary School Parent/Carer Handbook. We hope that it is useful. If you have any feedback for improving it, please do let us know
REPORTING ABSENCE AND REQUESTING LEAVE
Below is a reminder of the procedures for reporting absence and requesting term-time leave for all school pupils:
You must inform the office if your child is absent from school, for any reason, by 8:30am
You can leave a message (020 7226 4708, opt. 1), email office@ambler.islington.sch.uk, tell the office or send an in-app message via Arbor
Give your child’s name, class and reason for absence. Please give details of any sickness – rather than just ‘unwell’ or ‘sick’
If your child is absent for more than one day, please call each day
Term-time leave and holidays are discouraged - in most instances will not be authorised. To request leave, complete the relevant form available from the office.
MINOR ILLNESS GUIDANCE
A reminder that we do not expect children to be off school due to minor illnesses. Below is an extract from Islington Council and NHS Whittington Health's Improving pupil attendance guide for parents/carers
COST OF LIVING SUPPORT
The price of energy, food and bills are all rising and many of us may be feeling worried about our finances. There are services and advice that can help, some of which depend on your circumstances. Find more information on this page.
Help on Your Doorstep aims to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Islington, especially those who are vulnerable and isolated.
Working with residents we seek to find solutions to the issues which make life difficult, strengthen communities to do more for themselves and enable people to improve their life chances. Find out more about how they may be able to help you.
FREE GIRL'S PHYSICAL ACTIVITY CLUB
Access2Sport are running a free physical activity club for girls aged 8-11 years old, where they can play volleyball, basketball, and tennis, amongst other activities.
The sessions are on Sundays, 11-1pm at London Met University, 166-220 Holloway Rd, N7 8DB. To book your place follow this link
ISLINGTON LEISURE CENTRE HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
FREE SWIMMING LESSONS
Throughout the holidays Islington will be working with Better to offer free swimming lessons to children aged 4-16.
The Lessons are specially tailored to improve swimming skills and confidence in the water for young people through fun yet instructive lessons. The next lessons will take place over the Easter holidays at Highbury Leisure Centre, Ironmonger Row Baths, Cally Pool & Gym and Archway Leisure Centre.
Call 0203 915 7060 or visit their webpage to find out more.