12 March 2021

Dear parents

It has been absolutely wonderful having all the children back at school. It is so lovely to hear the children's voices and laughter fill the school again and their efforts and resilience have been admirable. I think we are all hoping that this will be the final lockdown and I know we are all looking forward to some kind of normality again!

Can I take this opportunity to remind you of the drop off and pick up reminders. Remember to keep socially distanced at all times and the use of a face covering is strongly advisable. Please continue to support us in keeping our school community safe.

As always these past few weeks have been busy. Children's enthusiasm and dedication to World Book Week has been a joy to see and the children have also been enjoying all the Science Week activities! Scroll further down to see what the children have been learning!

Best wishes to you and your families.

Tijen Hassan

Headteacher

Term Dates, Holidays and School Closures

Please click link to view term dates for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

Dates for diary 2021

Dates for diary 2021

Keeping Children Safe

Drop off and pick up reminders

  • Please ensure children arrive on time.

  • Only one adult per family should drop off.

  • Socially distance at all times.

  • It is strongly advisable to wear a face covering when dropping off and picking up your child.

  • Keep to the one way routes on the paths.

  • Wait in the designated space when dropping off/picking up and ensure you keep off any paths

  • Please do not allow children to play on the fixed play equipment at the beginning and end of the day.

  • Please ensure that children in different classes do not mix at the beginning and end of the day.

Personal Safety Workshop

Year 3 children had the opportunity to attend an online workshop about personal safety with the Met Police.


The police officer gave the children advice about how to keep themselves safe online. This has been even more important with children spending more time online during lockdown.


The children were very knowledgeable about how to respond to messages online that they don’t want to see. They can use the three steps:


Report, Block, Tell an adult.


Year 3 were also reminded about the importance of choosing kind words online and in real life. Cyber bullying is just as bad as bullying face to face and all children agreed that they would report it straight away if they were being bullied online.


Advice about how to stay safe in real life was also offered by the police officer. They watched videos of unsafe scenarios and discussed strategies of how to keep themselves safe.


E.g. What would you do if a car pulled up next to you and offered you a lift home?


“You should run away because they are a stranger.” Helin - Cedar class.


A more complicated example was given - Would you get in the car if it was a parent of one of your friends or someone in your class?


Children answered that they wouldn’t get in the car unless they had permission from their parents or carers.


All children are reminded to please report any face-to face, online bullying or messages you are not comfortable with to a trusted adult. This could be a parent, carer, teacher or any member of staff at school that you know and are comfortable speaking to.


Well done for participating in this workshop.

E-Safety

At Grange Park Primary School our vision is to transform the way Digital Learning is used to support Learning and Teaching, and we are committed to keeping our children safe when using the internet as part of this. This includes embedding E-Safety elements throughout our computing curriculum and promoting online safety to empower children in order to keep themselves safe. With our return to school, the focus to provide strong, relevant and up-to-date E-Safety teaching to help keep our children safe has never been more important.


The use of digital technology has been completely normalised in the past year. It has been fully integrated into our children’s daily lives through the remote learning provided on Google Classroom.


We are going to be continuing to support the development of their confidence and skills in using this technology, with the 1:1 pupil chromebooks whilst in school. Empowering the children to become ‘Digital Citizens’ with knowledge and awareness of the risks and dangers to keep themselves safe in a digital age.


However, we can only be completely successful in this ongoing and ever-changing world of technologies if we all work together: pupils, parents and teachers. On our Online Safety page, you can find a range of links, information and guidance aimed at supporting parents develop their own understanding of E-Safety issues, and further support teaching your child about technology.

Rapid Flow Testing

Here are the rapid flow testing options in Enfield which explains how households and bubbles of all school pupils and staff can get a twice weekly test. To order home test kits online, click here.

POS004 A guide to regular testing for parents with children at nurseries, schools and colleges (1).pdf

Here you will see a guide to regular testing for parents.

Support during lockdown

Click the image to view the booklet about support during lockdown with babies and toddlers.

Please see the leaflet, from Schools and Early Years Improvement Services.

Times Tables RockStars

The winner of the whole school competition is Year 4 Tiger...again!!! Well done to all of the children in Tiger for working so hard to retain your title as the best class at TTRS in Grange Park. Also, congratulations to all the Year 4 classes, who made it a clean sweep, winning all of their respective battles.

Broomfield have won the family competition again! Who will stop their winning run?


From Friday 12 March to Thursday 18 March we will be taking part in Rock Down Relief UK as part of Comic Relief. This is a competition between all classes in the school and the winning class will have the highest average score per child. Scores achieved between 09:30 and 15:00 each day will count and a prize will be awarded to the winners. Good luck!

Spelling Shed

The results are in from the most recent battles!


Well done to Year 2 Puffin Class for achieving 8,854,898 points with Year 5 in second place on 7,118,280 points.


Well done also to the whole of the Broomfield family for getting the most points in the family battle!



The challenge is now on to see if another class can knock Puffin off the top spot or prevent the Broomfield family from being the top spellers?


New battles have already begun with battles between all classes in Year 2, Year 3 vs Year 4, Year 5 vs Year 6 and our family battle between Broomfield, Oakwood, Trent and Grovelands.


Keep spelling and help your class or family to victory!

Talents and Interests

A few children from Mercury class are due to star in an episode of CBeebies' ‘My World Kitchen’ show due to air on Friday 19 March. Keep an eye out!

If your child has a particular talent or interest - please do email in a photograph with a short caption so we can post it here.

Curriculum News

Relationships & Sex Education (RSE) Workshop

We are offering the opportunity to view the resources and content used for Relationships and Sex Education through a virtual workshop on Monday 15 March 2021. We strongly encourage all parents to attend these sessions in order to be well informed of your child’s Relationships and Sex Education. Please find more information here.

World Book Day (Week)

What a wonderful, virtual World Book Day Week we have had at Grange Park Primary! The children have all been fabulous and it has been so lovely to see their work, competition entries and enthusiasm during the author sessions.


The children received virtual visits, workshops and Q&As from a wide range of award-winning authors.


Angela Brookes (a local author) shared her debut novel with EYFS and Year 1 - with many children scoring really high on the quiz she had made too! See more authors below.


The love of reading did not stop there! Each day, Grange Park pupil’s continued to amaze us with their potato design skills, book reviews, performances, costumes and extreme reading both at home and at school. So many KS1 and KS2 children managed to guess the identities of our mysterious masked readers (however, we managed to fool a few of you!)


We want to thank every parent, carer, teacher and pupil for their enthusiasm and dedication to World Book Day (or Week). We cannot wait to continue this love of reading, authors and book talk. Do check our school twitter for more images and information.

Oscar - Acorn class.

A wonderful recreation of Spiderman!

Selim - Snowdrop class.

A colourful and creative fish.

Adam - Grasshopper class.

It's Elmer the Elephant!

Cesare - Kingfisher class.

His interpretation of the BFG.

Marika - Neptune class.


Fantastic illustration of the book cover 'SF Said' by Varjak Paw.

Chris Smith.


Greg James and Chris Smith joined Year 4 for a Q&A on their best-selling series ‘Kid Normal’ and were blown away by the creativity and questioning skills.

Greg James.


The author duo showed us that collaboration is one of the most important skills we can possess.

Fay Evans was greeted by a screen full of Year 2s wearing beards (after crafting them based on Bob’s Beard). The children listened and joined in with her stories and were full of interesting questions.

Speaking to the Year 5 and Year 6s: “You should call yourself a writer and have confidence in yourself.” said Kiran Millwood Hargrave. She even let us know that her best-selling book (Girl of Ink and Stars) was rejected 19 times before it was published.

Steve Smallman taught Year 3 how to draw a dragon using his 40 years of illustration skills and read us a few stories about POO! We all laughed and joined in too. Did you know he has written over 100 books?

Lissa Evans inspired Year 4 by reading an exclusive of her latest novel and told them: “An idea can come from anywhere or anything - you just need to write.”

Other News

Baby news!

Many congratulations to Olivia Penfold who had a baby boy last month.

Congratulations to Aran Tebbutt who is a father again to a baby boy and to Ian Gregory who welcomed a new addition to his family (another baby boy) this morning!

Babies and parents are doing well and we all wish them well.

Birthday Books

Just a reminder that you are welcome to donate a book to the class rather than sending sweets on your child’s birthday. The children across the school really enjoy reading these books. Teachers also put a sticker in the book to show who it's from. Thank you!

Children in Need Update

We are really pleased to inform you that we raised an impressive £825.38 for Children in Need last term!


Many thanks to you all for your continued support. These funds will undoubtedly make a difference for this important charity and its vital work within the community.


Thank you!

Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 2021

As usual, this year we will be supporting Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day Campaign. The theme is ‘Funny is Power’ and the children will take part in activities to raise awareness and promote acts of kindness towards themselves as well as others.


All pupils can come to school on Friday 19 March dressed as a superhero and also take part in a pay to play class quiz among other activities.


Families will be asked for a suggested donation of £1. Donations can be a cash payment sent in with your child on the day or alternatively, you may wish to use our cashless donations page. Please use the following link to access our donation page.


To find out more about Red Nose day this year, you can visit: https://www.comicrelief.com/rednoseday/


We are really looking forward to recognising and supporting this important cause with you!

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.

Please also follow up on Facebook and Instagram @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

Our little Acorns have been keeping very busy learning both inside and outside of the nursery.

They have been busy developing their physical skills. We have been learning new skills and different ways to use our bodies to move around. Jumping, skipping, hopping, running and balancing.

The nursery children had a great time learning about Chinese New Year. They listened to the Chinese New Year Story, made and tasted their own noodles and crackers, made their own Chinese dragons and practised using chopsticks.

Reception

Sami - Tulip class.



He drew a picture of him sharing his football with his sister.


In Reception, the children have come back this half term ready and raring to go with their learning. We are proud of how they have taken on so many different challenges and always put in lots of effort with their learning activities. The children have shown us what determined, resilient and happy learners we have in Reception.


We have all been very excited to start our new Talk 4 Writing book ‘Rainbow Fish’ by Marcus Pfister.


In the story Rainbow Fish learns what it feels like to share with his friends. The children discussed how important it is to share and thought about a time they have shared something with a friend or family member and how it made them feel.

Jasmine - Snowdrop class.


Jasmine drew a picture of herself sharing her key ring with her friends. "It made me feel happy, great and excited."

One child wrote a sentence about sharing his toys with his cousin.

"It makes me feel happy." Leo - Tulip.

Georgie - Daffodil class.

She went on a 3D shape hunt around her home. Here is what she found!

The children have become 3D shape experts and have enjoyed going on shape hunts in their live sessions, around school and during their daily walks.

Looking at all the 3D shapes the children found in our outside area at school.

They also took on the challenge of creating a 3D shape picture. Exploring different ways they can fold and bend paper to make it pop off the page.

Hollie - Bluebell class.

Hollie made a 3D play park and told us all about it.

"It has tunnels to play hide and seek. And a slide you can climb up." Hollie.

Jude - Bluebell class.


Jude completed a sea puzzle and told us that grey seals live in the Atlantic Ocean and they like to eat fish and shrimp. In our Learning Quest ‘Under the Sea’ we have been finding out about different sea creatures.

The children have been researching facts all about them.

They have also used a range of materials to design and create sea creatures. This child made her creation at home.

The children in school celebrated the sunshine by taking part in some parachute games. They used their speaking and listening skills to follow instructions and worked as a team to create a musical mushroom.

Year 1

Year 1 has started a new unit of work that takes a close look at what maps are and the different information they can give us. We are learning how some maps can even tell us information on the weather.

Ledio - Dragonfly class.

Writing his findings he noticed about this map.

After studying this map closely the Year 1’s are able to talk about weather patterns in the United Kingdom. This is important for lots of different reasons; we will look carefully at the land, whether there are mountains in certain areas and how this affects the weather, where we are situated (especially the distance from the equator and other countries) and how this affects the weather too.

Enjoying learning all about the weather with her Grandad over zoom.

Wc 22.2.21 - Tuesday Geography (3 Mar 2021 15_22_34).mp4

Alfie - Ladybird class.

Watch this video sharing his understanding.

Year 2

In Year 2 for geography we have been using Google Earth, an atlas and a globe to locate the United Kingdom. We have learnt that the UK is one country and that is it made up of 4 individual nations.

Zahra - Puffin class.

We identified the 4 nations, the surrounding seas and described how to recognise the sea and land on a map.


"In the UK there are lots of places called nations and you can travel there. The UK is one country." Xzavier - Woodpecker class.


"We used an atlas to look at some oceans and name the seas." Christian - Woodpecker class.

Aanshi - Puffin class.


This week Year 2 have become apprentice gardeners and have been exploring lots of different types of seeds.

Livvie - Puffin class.

They identified many different types of seeds and discussed the variety of shapes and sizes. They also thought about and researched what each seed eventually grows into.

Jamaine - Puffin class.

Some children had a go at sketching the seeds they identified and wrote a small description on each. These are some examples of their great work!

Year 3

Year 3 have been immersing themselves in the tale of 'Gangsta Granny' in preparation for our narrative writing. We have been carefully analysing the language of description, especially around the characters in the book.

We have been analysing the way David Walliams extends his sentences with various openers and conjunctions.

We have been using the text to ask and answer questions about the plot, predicting the end of the story using evidence and using clues from the text to answer more tricky inferential questions.

These children are showing their understanding of character emotions by freeze framing these different moods.

Year 4

Skills Passport, Eliz - Leopard class.


This half term we have started a new science unit exploring our digestive system. We have started to learn the parts of our bodies which form our digestive system as well as the important roles they play in allowing us to not only digest our food but absorb the nutrients.


"I learnt that the digestive system is made up of 6 parts. These are the mouth which is used to make the food small. Once it is passed through the mouth, it goes through the oesophagus. That lets the food safely get to the stomach. Once in the stomach it is broken down by many acids. It also kills bacteria. Some of the particles go into the small intestine and then go in our blood. The particles that do not go into our blood go to our large intestine. That sends them out of your body."

Luke - Leopard class.

Skills Passport, James - Leopard class.


We have also been developing our computing skills through HowDoU assignments. These are helping us not only further our understanding of G-Suite but also our efficiency in using the various functions.


"I have really enjoyed these activities. It makes me more confident when I'm using my chrome book. If I get it wrong it's fine because it helps you and you can try again to get a better score."

Kaya - Leopard class


"I absolutely love these activities because they have helped me to improve my computing skills.The tasks are easy to follow and very straight forward making it a fun thing to do!"

Eliz - Leopard class.

Year 5

Lara and Stefanos - Jupiter class.


In Year 5 we have been super busy across the whole curriculum.


Here are some snapshots to show what we have been up to...

Gokce - Mercury class.

Gokce showed exceptional drawing skills in recreating a portrait of King Henry with a focus on accurate proportions.

As part of our Learning Quest ‘Monarchy Mayhem’, we developed and combined a range of techniques.

Will and Seraphina - Jupiter class.


These include drawing, painting, and collage to create multimedia portraits of King Henry VIII.

Here are some Multimedia portraits from across the year.


This was no mean feat, considering the fact that we had to get creative and make use of what was available when learning remotely!

Leo and Ralph - Mercury class.

The first examples illustrate some of the practise tasks that we carried out to develop our` drawing skills before creating the final portraits. We hope you like them!

In Maths, we recently completed a budgeting challenge where we were tasked with planning an entire camping trip for Year 5 pupils!


Look at these fantastic plans from Isabel, Yuxi, Siena and Sean from Saturn class!


We were given a budget limit for each student and had to ensure that what we planned included suitable choices of location, a variety of activities and food choices. This not only put our maths skills and understanding to the test, but also challenged us to apply our maths to a real life context!

Rocco - Saturn class.


We also carried out a research task based on Queen Victoria.

Eisa , Xhorxhia and Marika - Neptune class.


Here are some great examples from across the year group!

Jed and Diana - Mercury class.

Mercury class.


Here are some lovely examples from some of our Year 5 AOK superheroes!

Amelie - Neptune class.


We have been making a concerted effort to remember and show acts of kindness.

Charlie - Neptune class.


Another one of our recent challenges involved sharing our own examples of acts of kindness that we had carried out across a week.

Muhaydin - Neptune class.

Year 6

Jacob - Kandinsky class.



In our PSHE lessons, Year 6 have been exploring what it means to be different and unique. Our aim was to understand that there are different perceptions of ‘normal’ and that it does not necessarily mean that we always have to be the same. During this task, the children celebrated their individuality by illustrating what makes them unique.

Arabella - Picasso class.


The pupils used a variety of ways to express themselves including videos, blogs, comic strips and posters.

Amelia Khan, Lowry Class.


We realised that we are all different but all special in our own little ways!