Dear Parents 

Here we are, in November and very quickly approaching Christmas.  Our Christmas trees have been ordered and we are getting out the decorations, preparing the Christmas hoops for the halls! Nursery and Reception have been busy practising for their Nativity and Year 2 are excited about their Christmas Performance!  The GPPSA are getting ready for the Fayre which is on Sunday 4 December 11am-2pm - we hope to see you all then!  

It was wonderful to see so many children and members of staff taking part in Children in Need last week. The children had the opportunity to learn about the work of this wonderful charity as well as wearing an item with spots!  Many thanks to you all for entering into the spirit of this annual event and for your very kind donations.

It was great to see so many parents earlier on this month for Come Learn With Me, the children are always excited to learn alongside you! The curriculum has also been enriched this term with so many opportunities including children using virtual reality headsets to immerse themselves in their learning through sound, story and movement!  Year 5 took part in a fantastic Science workshop and Year 6 went to Bletchley Park.  Year 3 had fun at Celtic Harmony and Year 2 enjoyed taking part in their Great Fire of London workshop.  This week reception visited the local post box to post their letters home! The children enjoyed eating a freshly prepared salad at lunchtime using the kale and broccoli grown in our school allotments.  We also had a visit from our MP, which our own School Parliament enjoyed quizzing! 

Please remember the school is closed, tomorrow (Friday 25 November) as it's an inset day. We look forward to seeing the children back on Monday 28 November.  

With my very best wishes

Tijen Hassan

Headteacher 

 Please click to view term dates for 2022 - 2023 

Please click to view term dates for 2023 - 2024 

Get expert support and practical tips to help your child benefit from connected technology and the internet safely and smartly by clicking on this link: https://www.internetmatters.org/

Reception were so excited to see their adults during our come learn with me session.  We read the Rainbow fish and thought about how the Rainbow fish felt when he was playing on his own. The children spoke about their emotions and what makes a good friend. 

Year 1 read a book called Dandylion about a child who started at a new school and was a bit different than his classmates. We then talked about celebrating differences linked to our PSHE topic. We took a saying from the story about being 'delightfully different' and thought of something that was 'delightfully different' about ourselves.  Next, we drew ourselves being delightfully different and with our parents' help, we wrote a sentence about our drawing using the sentence stem ‘I am delightfully different because....’ Finally, the class shared their pictures with each other and to end we made kind comments about each other's work.

Year 2 read the story ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’  The children designed an Act of Kindness calendar on our chromebooks, thinking about ways that they could show kindness. Then they created their own minature kindness bucket, which they have been filling with the ideas from their kindness calendar. 

Year 3 we explored the impact of 'reaching out' as part of Anti-Bullying week. Using our computing skills, we used a site called 'storyboard me' to plan and create our own comics related to bullying and how reaching out to others can be a way of stopping it happening. We created backgrounds and characters before adding speech bubbles, captions and titles to create an effective comic strip.

Year 4 created a ‘Reach Out School’ or outdoor area using a diorama. The children incorporated motivational banners, quiet areas and friendship areas. They showed excellent collaboration skills as they planned their design and then made their 3D models together.

Year 5 children designed a ‘Reach Out’ school, where all pupils are helped to feel happy, safe and able to report bullying or anything they are worried about. We considered what we already do at Grange Park, including our trust box, zones in the playground, trusted adults, assemblies, PSHE and circle time. Working alongside our parents, we planned the different spaces, including considering what the school facilities would look like to make sure they included everyone, activities to encourage kindness and things that encourage pupils to look out for others.

Year 6 children created websites, using Google Sites, to help to raise awareness of the issues around bullying and to provide useful information for anyone that has been affected.  These sites have information about the different types of bullying that occur, useful videos that are embedded and contact information, should someone require further assistance or need to speak to someone. Here are some examples of our Google Sites:

Picasso - Make a Change

Monet - Reach Out website

Kandinsky - Anti-Bullying Slides

Our ever changing weather presents challenges and delights for children at Forest School and, for Year 2 Kingfisher class, their day was packed full of learning about nature and weather conditions in the realest way possible. Forest School activities ensure children are out in the fresh air for the majority of the day and always on the move - it’s the best way to keep warm! Being outside is proven to boost your immune system and improve mental wellbeing.

A day at Forest School starts at base camp by introducing the Forest School ethos and setting expectations. This is usually followed by a series of team games to build initiative, communication, collaboration and resilience. Year 2 also used tools to make their very own Stick Man from the Julia Donaldson book of the same name, went on a photo hunt of the site and got stuck into some den building. Throughout the day, Kingfisher class proved to be risk takers, problem solvers, critical thinkers and supportive friends to their peers.   They'll be opportunities for other classes across the school to experience Forest School throughout the year. 

At the beginning of this half term, the children of Grange Park Primary took part in their first ‘family’ event of the year. The event was the long awaited, much anticipated return of ‘Buddy Reading’, an event instigated by School Parliament. Classes across each family, Broomfield, Groveland, Oakwood and Trent, paired up to share books together. The older children supported the younger ones by helping them to sound out words, asking questions to check their comprehension and giving them positive feedback. They even wrote in each other’s reading diary. 

The feedback from both staff and children about these sessions were extremely positive and Aine in the nursery said “Buddy Reading was a huge success again. It is so lovely to see the oldest children in the school reading with the youngest. Year 6 was so nurturing and supportive and I think that they all got a huge amount out of it.” Jake in Dragonfly class said “I like reading with a partner. It was our book that we got from school.” and Aden in Puffin class said  “I liked that we went to Y5. It was good. My partner helped me.”

We are also planning other ‘Family’ events throughout the year to build our school community.

It was so lovely to see the school full of Spotacular children today as we came together to support Children In Need!  We had special family assemblies which reminded us about how the charity helps people across the UK and also took a closer look at some of the stories of the young people who have been helped recently.

At the beginning of Autumn 2, the children were introduced to our second character trait ‘autonomy’. The children listened to the story ‘The Story of You’ with the key message that in every choice the children make, they are writing the story of themselves.  During the assembly, we discussed the meaning of autonomy. It is about having the freedom to make our own choices, showing independence in our learning and on the playground and taking responsibility when something does not go our way.  Together, we recognised that we may experience some difficulties in showing autonomy. In class, the children discussed moral dilemmas to help them to overcome these difficulties to ensure that they act responsibly, even when no one is watching.

Supporting at home

Model it - When making a choice for yourself, explain to your child your reasons for choosing this, what you hoped to happen and other choices you could have made. This will help when they need to make their own choices, both in school and at home. 

Encourage it - Create opportunities for autonomy at home. When you would like your child to complete a task, give them choices so that they have shown autonomy for the task. 

Praise it - If you see your child showing autonomy, praise their efforts.

Below are some suggested books that you can share with your child at home.

Enrichment clubs are well under way for the autumn term.  With 26 clubs to choose from, there is something for everyone to get involved in outside of the classroom. We offer a range of enrichment clubs that extend our curriculum and provide our children with rich experiences in order to support their personal development.   Ranging from music and sports to visual arts and languages and it is only going to get better next term. Have you joined one yet?

In the spring term there will be some new clubs on offer such as photography and performing arts and as well as this we will be opening our clubs up to the children in Reception. If you are not sure which club is best for you, take a look at our current clubs timetable which is updated each term. Link  We will be having our Enrichment Winter Showcase during the week commencing 5 December 2022. This is  an opportunity for parents to see all the amazing things your child/children have been doing in their enrichment club over the last few weeks. Link 

To introduce UK Parliament week, Grange Park’s MPs had the pleasure of welcoming Feryal Clark;  MP for Enfield North to our very own question time.

Feryal told us what it is like to be an MP and what a typical day looks like. She explained that on Mondays, Parliament starts late. This is so the ministers who travel to London from all over the country are able to get there. Due to this Parliament on a Monday can go on until 1am. Feryal explained that usually the speaker comes into the house, ministers say prayers and then sit down. This is followed by question time, where ministers ask questions. Because the speaker decides who asks the questions, what follows is known as ‘bobbing’. This is where ministers stand up and down showing the speaker that they want to ask a question. Feryal said “This can go on for hours and you still don’t get a chance to ask your question.” Once questions are over, there is a debate which is followed by a vote. Votes start on a Monday at 10pm. Feryal said that “Tuesdays and Wednesdays are Prime Minister questions.” 

On a Friday MPs spend their time in their constituency. This is Feryal’s favourite day. To get the views of her constituency, she carries out a survey every summer to find out what are the top issues and concerns. She also holds surgeries, responds to emails and carries out door to door knocking. Currently the shortage of housing and anti-social behaviour are the main concerns for people in Enfield. 

James then asked Feryal “How did you become an MP?” and was surprised to find out that it was a very similar process to what he had to do to become a school MP. Feryal had to complete an application form to the Labour party, make a speech in front of all the members of the Labour party for Enfield North and then 270 people voted. 

Feryal comes from a science background and believes that “It is Important to be involved and take notice of what is happening in your environment and want to make it better.” She aims to make changes to law and she does this by campaigning, petitioning, speaking to local residents and getting other MPs on board in order to increase the chance of there being a debate.  Feryal is passionate about her job and has been instrumental in bringing safer school streets to Enfield. She would like to be involved in sustainable transport in the future and aspires to be the transport minister one day.

Dylan explained to Feryal that during UK Parliament week every class was going to find out about laws and legislation and have a go at holding their own debate. He asked “Do you have any top tips on how to debate successfully?” Feryal told us that “it is very loud in the House of Commons and even when you are speaking quietly, the microphones make you sound really loud.” Feryal said that she had been debating for almost fourteen years and still gets nervous. So, she said “Prepare beforehand, write your speech in advance and read and read your speech until you have almost learnt it. You have to accept that not everyone thinks the same and you need to be respectful, making sure that you don’t talk over each other.” Dylan thanked her and said that he would think about that when making his own speech. Eda also told Feryal that she “Attends debating club and always prepares beforehand.”

Afterwards Feryal said, “I thought the questions were very good and were articulated so well. You have obviously done a lot of work on Parliament and I hope that I was able to provide you with some real insight.” 

Feryal encouraged Rebecca to bring the children to visit Parliament for the education tour and said if she was available she would come and join them. So watch this space.

Lauren said about the visit -  “Feryal seemed like she had spoken to children before and made it really interesting. I now feel like I know more about the UK Parliament and I’m looking forward to visiting the UK Parliament.”

The GPPSA has been busy planning a number of events for the upcoming months.  We are especially looking forward to the Christmas Fayre on Sunday 4 December 11am-2pm.  Please do come along and and support the school and enjoy all the festive stalls and food that will be on offer.    

In other news, we have had some more wonderful volunteers come forward to join the committee, which is great news, especially in the run up to the Fayre.  Alexia has also decided to stay on as co-chair and will be sharing the role with Sarah Revell who has previously held this role.

We also had some wonderful entries for the Pumpkin Carving competition and the lucky winner was Maya in Daffodil, who has won a £20 Smyths voucher!  The kids also really enjoyed the recent Film nights we had at the school, especially the popcorn! 

 Please also bear in mind the initiatives that are available year round: Amazon Smile  - we would like to encourage parents to use Amazon smile when making online purchases through Amazon.  Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the GPPSA. Search = Grange Park Primary School Association. 

GPPSA - 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 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.

Please also follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Grangeparkprimaryassociation (please add icons and link to our pages).

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM ALL ON THE GPPSA COMMITTEE!

Our little Acorns have been very busy working on their maths skills.   We have been focusing on matching and sorting.   We sorted objects by categories, shape and size and we also matched socks into pairs. 

In Reception we have been looking at positional language in both Maths and P.E.

In Year 2, we are learning about bread as part of our D&T food topic. This week we took part in bread tasting. We evaluated the flavour, texture and appearance of different types of bread.   Rafael said, ”We learned more about what we liked and disliked.”  Afroditi learnt that there are different types of bread and that they’re made in different ways.

We have been having lots of fun in year 3, especially in PE where we have been learning about communication and tactics. Learning how to work as part of a team and discussing ways in which we can beat our opponents. We learnt that to be a good team member we need to listen to each other and show respect. We had fun playing human noughts and crosses and more recently we played a human game of ‘rock, paper, scissors.’ 

Art has also been great fun, as we have been learning to create cave paintings like they did in the Stone Age. We have been looking closely at different cave paintings and recreating figure drawings using natural materials such as charcoal, mud and water and clay and water.   Finally we really enjoyed buddying up with our little family in Reception, where we were able to read them stories and talk about the book together.

This week, Year 4 have been working collaboratively to create a presentation about a European country of their choice. The children included important information like the location of the country, the area, population and the physical features. The children then presented their work to their peers as key information was recorded.

Hands on Science came to Year Six recently to kick off our Body Pump Science unit in dramatic style.  The expert teacher guided the children through the parts of the heart and its importance to the body by guiding the children through the dissection of an actual pig’s heart. Once they got over some initial squeamishness, the children learned about the ventricles, atriums and how the heart pushes oxygenated blood around the body to ensure we stay healthy.  The children loved the session and this will ensure that they continue their learning in this topic with practical, hands on knowledge as a solid platform to build on.