21 January 2022

Creating foundations for bright futures

Dear parents

Welcome to our first news roundup edition of 2022! The children have been engaged with a range of exciting events since the start of the term including a dino workshop for reception and Florence Nightingale workshop for the year two children which the children thoroughly enjoyed! Our enrichment clubs also started again last week which includes forestry, board games, netball and Ukulele club. Extend will be running a holiday club during the half term holidays, so do look out for more details!

The school value we focusing on this half term is resilience and the children enjoyed listening to the story 'After the Fall- How Humpty Dumpty got back up again.' We discussed what we learnt from 'After the fall' and how Humpty showed resilience. The children reflected on how they showed resilience and what they can do to become more resilient.

The teachers are very much looking forward to sharing your child's progress during the learning conversations which are on Thursday 10 February. This day is also an inset day, so the children are not in school. Slots will be available to book via parentmail via 6pm today.

The children are back in school on Friday 11 February which is the last day of this half term.

Do look below for the dates for the diary. There are lots of parent workshops scheduled which we hope parents will attend and find very beneficial.

With my very best wishes to you and your families

Tijen Hassan

Headteacher

Term Dates, Holidays and School Closures

Please click link to view term dates for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

Dates for Diary

Class Assemblies and Concerts

Keeping Children Safe

Online Safety

Horror video games come in a such a variety that the genre can hard to define. The overlapping element is that these games are designed to scare or unsettle the player through gameplay, atmosphere, story, music, setting and 'jump scares'.

The most common sub-genres are survival horror, action horror, psychological horror, jump-scare horror and reverse horror. These games originate from a range of developers, including smaller indie studios which release download-only titles (that is, they aren’t physically sold in shops) and therefore aren’t subject to age ratings. Click here for more guidance.

Family Lives

The Family Lives charity aims to offer all parents somewhere to turn before they reach crisis point. Crisis support, provided for over 40 years through their helpline, has always been at the heart of what they do.

Family Lives also have an excellent website to help parents with the ups and downs of family life. The website can be found here.

One useful infographic is this one about building resilience in children and teens. You can download it here.

The Family Lives parents' helpline is available Monday to Friday, 1.30 - 9pm on 0808 800 2222.

NSPCC - Speak Out Stay Safe

Last week the whole school participated in virtual assemblies hosted by NSPCC. The theme was Speak out Stay safe. This is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. The children were taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or Childline - a phone line that children can call confidentially if they are worried about something and need someone to talk to.

In the online assembly, the Speak out Stay safe messages were delivered in a fun and interactive way with the help of their mascot Buddy as well as special guest appearances from Ant and Dec. The children learnt a mnemonic for remembering the Childline phone number and used their hands to show 0800 1111. See if they can show you.

If you would like to know more about the Speak out Stay safe programme you can find information on the NSPCC website.

Adapted assembly for home use- The NSPCC has also developed an adapted version of their assembly for parents/carers to use at home with their children. This can be found here. With the help of celebrities, the film focuses on how a child can get support if they have any worries or concerns. To complement the assembly, there are some resources that can be used to enable further discussion whilst doing activities with your children. These are hosted on the NSPCC website here.

Childline Under 12’s website- Childline also have a website with age appropriate advice for primary school children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools. Your child can visit it here. If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website here.

Talking PANTS with your children- Talk PANTS is a simple conversation to help keep your child safe from sexual abuse. From P through to S, each letter of PANTS provides a simple but valuable rule that can help keep your child safe. You can find out more and download the free resources here.

Penguin and Ladybird have partnered with the NSPCC to create a brand new Pantosaurus book aimed at children ages 4 - 8. You can find copies of the new book on sale, either in Matalan’s selected stores and online, selected SPAR stores or visit here. All profits from the sale of this book will support the NSPCC.

CHILDLINE NUMBER: 0800 1111. (Remember, in an emergency, always call 999)

Curriculum News

Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset for Parents Wednesday 19th January 9am

Elena Yiapanis, one of our Assistant Headteachers, led a virtual workshop for parents on Growth Mindset. The aims of this workshop were to explore the theory of growth mindset, highlight what we do at Grange Park to encourage a growth mindset among our pupils, how parents can support their children at home to exercise a growth mindset and how all of this can positively impact on pupil's learning and self esteem so that they can reach their full potential. Please visit our school website where you can view the presentation here.

Other News

Meet the Achievement Leader

The class teacher is always the first port of call if you wanted to have a discussion about your child or had any questions regarding your child's learning. They are more than happy to arrange a meeting to meet with you or give you a call. You can also arrange a meeting with the achievement leader for the year group if you have any further questions.

Olivia Penfold

EYFS

Amanda Ashun

Year 1

Ernest Pawlowski

Year 2

Lloyd Newey

Year 3

Elena Yiapanis

Year 4

Tracy Murray

Year 5

Ian Gregory

Year 6

Lost Property

We already have a vast amount of lost property building up. Please note that these items are held in the Round Hall. Any clothing that is named will be returned to the child's classroom - this also applies to PE kits and water bottles. Please ensure that you name all your child's belongings. Thank you for keeping our school clean, tidy and safe!

Twitter

@grangeparkelt

Don't forget to follow us on twitter to keep up to date with all the news and events happening at Grange Park Primary!

GRANGE PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

News and Updates

We are the official fundraising arm of Grange Park Primary and look to bring parents, families, friends, staff and local communities together socially to support our school.

Looking to Help?

The GPPSA would like to remind all that without your support none of the fundraising is possible. If you would like to get more involved in anyway please let us know at gppsa@hotmail.co.uk or speak to any of the committee directly.

We have a WhatsApp helpers group where information is shared and everyone is welcome to join! Please contact us to find out more.

Click to go to our Facebook page.

Go to instagram and follow us @Grangeparkprimaryassociation

Easy Ways to Help the GPPSA Raise Funds

At this difficult time face to face, group fundraisers are not allowed so again we have set up a fund page for anyone that would like to donate, any donation of any size will be gratefully received and help fund the items for the children that the school has prioritised for this year.

Signing up to easyfundraising which turns your everyday online shopping into FREE donations. Please click on the image.

Using the Amazon Smile link when buying items by pressing the logo and search for Grange Park Primary School Association. If you are buying anything from AMAZON please use the AMAZON SMILE app on your phone. Just go into your settings and convert your original app to the smile version and pick Grange Park Primary School as your charity.

A percentage of the sale comes directly to the school so it’s a very easy way for us to make ££ at this time. Click on the image to find out more.

Entering our school lottery - tickets are only £1 per week. There is a guaranteed winner each week and a chance to win £25,000! Click on the image to find out more.

Looking to get some new name stickers to personalise all your child’s uniform, shoes, books etc? Simply log onto the website as normal, shop and at the end add in our unique code 65741 before you check out. 24% from each order will be donated to our school. See the flyer on our website page for more information. Click on the image to find out more.

Stamptastic is the fastest way to name all your belongings. A personalised stamp made in the UK, usable on fabric, metal, wood and some plastics. No more sewing or ironing in labels! Please note that 20% commission from each order will be donated to our school. Click on the image to place your order.

One of the easiest ways for us to make money on our two Fayre/Festival days is through stall matching. If you work for any of these corporates or another company, please ask your HR department about Stall Matching and let the committee know.

Offers and discounts

Looking for a fun and crafty activity your kids will love? Try a Free ToucanBox (Click this link), P&P only and our school will receive £5. You can cancel the subscription at any time.

Year Group News

Nursery

As part of their new topic ‘Let’s go outside’, Nursery have been busy creating their own binoculars at home to use in school to retell the story ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’.

‘Tiptoe, tiptoe, it’s the bear...'

"Deep dark forest, stumble trip, stumble trip."

They have enjoyed learning the key phrases from the story and using actions and silly voices to retell the story as a whole class.

The children also created a giant sensory story map using different materials to show mud, grass, water, trees and bricks.

The Acorns have been discovering different ways to construct collaboratively with bricks. Through trial and error they have learnt new ways to build taller towers together.

The children have been developing their fine motor skills using different hand tools to pick up pasta at speed.

Reception

Reception has had an excellent start to the new year. They have shown resilience, perseverance and maturity. We are so proud of them!

This half term our new topic is ‘People who changed History’. The children will be learning about the lives of people around them and their roles in society. To start our topic we had a very exciting day and the children had the chance to become fossil hunters just like the famous Mary Anning.

The class met a dinosaur scientist, which we learnt is called a Paleontologist, who taught us all about what a fossil is, the three types of dinosaurs and how they became extinct.

All the children became fossil hunters and discovered fossils from carnivores and herbivores. They used paint brushes to carefully brush the sand away to reveal the fossil. They then used information books to discover the name of their fossil including a Megalosaurus footprint, a Gar Pike Fish and an Ichthyosaurus tooth!

"I found a dinosaur head."

Ivy - Tulip class

"I found a dinosaur tail." -

Roel - Tulip class

"My favourite part was seeing the huge claw."

James - Tulip class

Looking for fossils...

What else can we find here...

The children got to meet 3 dinosaurs! A triceratops, velociraptor and a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Year 1

Year 1 have been exploring moving books in D&T. We have been looking for different mechanisms such as sliders and levers. We discussed the purpose of these mechanisms and how they worked.

"Sliders move something from side to side." Ebrah - Butterfly class

"Sliders and levers make books more interesting." Christian - Dragonfly class

"I was able to find a slider."

Wynter -Grasshopper class

"I really enjoy reading books with sliders and levers." Jasmine - Ladybird class

Year 2

Leo - Robin class.

In this lesson we explored who Florence Nightingale was and what her life was like.

Year 2 children have had a fantastic start to the new year! We have been learning about Florence Nightingale in History as part of our current Learning Quest, ‘Look After Me.’ The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Florence Nightingale and how she helped soldiers during the Crimean War as a nurse.

They have used their history lessons to research about her life and the impact she had made during that time. They know that because of Florence’s work as a nurse, it has helped improve nursing over the years.

We then looked at a variety of sources to find out answers to specific questions. E.g. How were the hospitals different from today?

Year 3

Over the past week, we have begun our exciting D&T project linked to our history of the bronze age. For this we looked at how hunter-gatherers crafted their own equipment when scavenging for food and materials.

In our sessions we are going to be stitching our own gathering bags, made from Hessian and wool. For this the pupils will be learning how to use a needle and thread to make a running, over and back stitch in order to join our materials. As you can see this is a tricky task and we will need to develop our patience and resilience. Great skills to help with problem solving in other subjects.

Year 4

As part of our Design and Technology learning in Year 4 this half term, we have been learning about traditional European foods.

We researched different European ingredients, learnt about how foods are grown, caught or processed, evaluated different bread types and sandwich filling ingredient combinations, designed our European sandwich and finally we will be making and evaluating our final product.

Here are some photographs of us tasting different ingredient combinations, which involved us using different chopping techniques and identifying the dominant and subtle flavours!

Year 5

Ella - Neptune class

As part of our History topic on ‘How the role of the monarchy adapted from 1600 to the present day’, we have been immersing ourselves in the work of the German artist Hans Holbein The Younger.

Lauren - Neptune class

Before the invention of photography, a painted, sculpted or drawn portrait was the only way to record the appearance of someone.

Ella - Neptune class

The children have been thinking about why portraits might have been created and have looked in detail at the different elements: line, shape, colour, value, form, texture and space. They then created their own mood boards based on Holbein's paintings.

Isabella - Neptune class

Following on from this, we spent time looking at the structure of our own faces and the children were then able to use proportion and symmetry to complete four attempts of a portrait of Henry VIII.

Lauren - Neptune class

Each time they evaluated their previous attempt and improving on this.

Betty - Neptune class

We are now looking forward to experimenting with colour and texture and sharing with you our finished portraits. Watch this space…

Year 6

This week, we have created collaborative slides that demonstrate an understanding of the Hajj, which is a pilgrimage that Muslims try to complete once in their life. The children had to answer questions in their groups, then create the slides.

This allowed the children to combine their knowledge of computing and R.E while working with other children.

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