28 May 2021
Dear parents
Welcome the the final edition of the News Roundup for this half term. And what a busy half term it has been! It was wonderful to see the children connecting with nature during Mental Health Week. Thank you to our Y6 MPs who launched the week by leading an assembly and designing a nature trail which all the children took part in.
I hope you all enjoyed watching the 'Through the Keyhole' videos which showcases how hard all the children have been working as well as having lots of fun at the same time! If you haven't had the chance to watch, these are still available to view on Tapestry or Google Classroom.
Please be reminded that in line with our risk assessment, parents are still strongly advised to wear a face covering at drop off and pick up and should continue to socially distance. Thank you for doing your bit in helping to keep the school community safe.
I hope you all have a lovely half term holiday and hopefully the sun will continue to shine! See you all back on Monday 7 June.
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 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
Dates for Diary
Attendance
Good attendance at school is not just beneficial, it’s essential. The impact of missing just a few days of school each year is particularly indicated in a child’s rate of development. According to a recent report published by the DfE, absence can hinder the chance of attaining a good set of GCSEs. To add to this, the impact of poor attendance has a knock-on effect on life after school. As well as this, going to school helps to develop friendships, social skills, school values, life skills, cultural awareness and career pathways. As a school, we aim for 97% attendance to ensure our children have the best possible chance in education, while still continuing to be safe and cautious due to COVID-19.
Well done Ash class, for having the best attendance for Broomfield family in Summer 1. You have done a sterling job of being at school this half term Broomfield family, your overall attendance is above our whole school target. You have again placed first in our overall family attendance, keep up the good work.
Well done, Puma class (again), for having the best attendance of all the classes in Grovelands family for Summer 1! And well done for a very good family attendance overall. Keep up the good work!
Well done Monet class for having the best attendance in Oakwood family. You have done a great job of nearly all being at school nearly all of the time!
Well done Lowry class for having the best attendance in Trent family - that will really help with your learning!
Keeping Children Safe
Online Safety- Social Media Guides
Cyber Advice & Parental Control Advice
E-Safety Workshop
Thank you to those parents who attended the online safety workshop this week. We hope you found it useful. For those that didn't attend the ECP have sent through a poster with key messages for both you and your child on how to keep them safe 'online'. In our ever changing world, where children are exposed to more and more online content, this information is vital to safeguard, protect and educate your children.
Covid Risk Assessment
We would like to remind you that children should not play on the playground equipment at the beginning or end of the school day. Children need to be supervised by school staff, whilst on the equipment and the equipment is age appropriate, for example the climbing frame in the Y4/6 playground is not suitable for children in KS1. In accordance with our COVID-19 risk assessment, play equipment is only allowed to be used by one year group at a time, as we are trying to reduce the transmission of the virus between year groups and keep the school community safe.
Times Tables RockStars
Here are the results of the battles in Times Tables RockStars. Well done to all of the classes for their efforts in becoming the best class at Grange Park, but Y6 Kandinsky put in a monumental effort to secure the victory - a staggering 6,282 points!
New battles have now been created so get playing/rocking to help your class to victory. Will another class be able to knock Kandinsky off the top spot? Good luck :-)
Winners of the final: Kandinsky
Winners of the 2nd place playoff: Puma
Winners of the 3rd place playoff: Mercury
Winners of the 4th place playoff: Monet
Sports Update
We are delighted to report that our children have finally had the opportunity to participate in competitive sport!
Our Year 5 & 6 boys and girls football teams have played matches against local schools and remain unbeaten so far. The boys entered the Haringey football tournament and returned with the trophy after winning 2-0 in the final. A fantastic effort!
We are planning to organise many more competitive matches and hope our netball, cricket and athletics teams will be able to compete.
PE this term has been dominated by cricket and we will move onto athletics after half term. We are also hoping that we will be able to host a sports day this year. More details will be released as soon as this has been confirmed.
It great to be back!
Spelling Shed
Pupils across the school have been working hard to improve their spelling! Year 6 have consistently been the top performers in the battles which have been set, showing a big improvement in their spelling accuracy!
Grovelands family have proved themselves to be the family who works hard to improve their spelling- coming first more than once in the family battles! The recent battle results below show that Year 4 have worked extremely hard to earn the most points across the school, whilst Year 2 have beaten Year 1 by nearly double the points! A very special mention goes to Luis in Oak and Elijona and Sofia in Lowry for consistently being at the top spellers at the top of the school league.
We are extremely proud of the growth mindset shown at Grange Park to improve our spelling. Let’s keep being super spellers!
Book Reviews
Each edition there will be a book review written by a child in different year groups. Here are 2 book reviews for The Story Zone below:
Review by Layan - Dragonfly class
I like reading Little princess books with my little sister. I can read all of them. I like the books because they are funny. The princess is a little bit bossy to her mum and dad. They are the king and queen.
The Little Princess by Tony Ross
Review by Seraphina - Jupiter class
I loved reading this book so much that I am reading again. I like books about medicine and anatomy. I want to be a doctor when I grow up. This book tells you what is going on in your bodies and answers questions such as - Are bogies safe to eat?
Kay’s Anatomy by Adam Kay
Review by Billy - Neptune class
First in the ground-breaking HUNGER GAMES trilogy. Set in a dark vision of the near future, a reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. I have read all three books. I love them. They remind me a little bit about Theseus and the Minotaur.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Curriculum News
Mental Health Week 2021
The week of the 10 May was Mental Health Awareness Week and Grange Park enjoyed this year’s theme of ‘Nature’ very much.
We wanted to remember how much we started to appreciate nature as a nation when much of the world went into lockdown last year. Suddenly, we were expected to stay indoors to keep ourselves safe and so being outside for exercise became a huge relief for many of us. Research showed that being in green spaces really does improve our wellbeing and mental health, as well as doing us the world of good physically:
“Nature is something we see everyday but don’t fully open our eyes to and I think that by connecting more with nature every day and observing the little things, like the birds chirping or the blue sky and sunshine, we can become more grateful each and every day.” Peer Educator, Peer Education Project, (Mental Health Foundation)
What were the goals for the week?
1 - To inspire more people to connect with nature in new ways, noticing the impact that this connection can have for their mental health.
2 - To convince decision makers at all levels that access to and quality of nature is a mental health and social justice issue as well as an environmental one.
Taking Learning Outside
When the weather permitted, the children left the classroom behind and did their learning outdoors. They used the playground either as a space for learning or as a source of learning itself. This deepened the children’s understanding of relevant topics and provided a change of pace and place for the children to learn in.
THANK YOU!
We would like to say a huge thank you to the MPs who helped to launch the week by presenting the whole school assembly with Karen and Rebecca.
You all did a great job and really made an impression on the children at Grange Park who were clearly noticing the nature around them a lot more after seeing the assembly.
Click here to find links on our website with support for parents.
Here are some photos of the children around the school enjoying a nature hunt that was designed by the MPs
Nature hunt in the playground.
Checking out the pond.
Recording observations on our vast field.
Click the image to view video of Sean showing the transfer of pond life from the old pond to the new pond.
Walk to School Week 2021
Grange park took part in Walk to School Week during the week of 17 May. The children made sure they walked, scooted or cycled to school as much as they possibly could during that week.
The children also created some amazing posters showing the importance of walking on our environment and on our mental and physical health!
They also created colourful and creative posters on the computer.
Other News
Primary Science Award
This month we received some exciting news, Grange Park was awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark - Outreach Award.
Our Science lead, Tracy Murray, made a submission of all the work that Grange Park does as part of the Science curriculum. This submission included logs, reflections and a portfolio of Science happening in our school.
The Primary School Quality Mark programme ensures effective leadership of science, enables schools to work together to share good practice and is supported by professional development led by local experts. It encourages teacher autonomy and innovation while at the same time offering a clear framework for development in science subject leadership, teaching and learning. Schools that achieve PSQM demonstrate commitment and expertise in science leadership, teaching and learning.
"This is an extremely impressive submission and has many strengths. Three that are especially noteworthy are the quality of systematic planning - so that aspects such as scientific enquiry can be embedded across the school, the comprehensive offer made to other schools in the area and the understanding of the construction of the curriculum to ensure a clear entitlement for all pupils.
This is the result of clear thinking, experience reflected upon and dedication to improving the quality of provision. As a result children both within the school and beyond are learning about science more effectively.
I’m recommending the school for a PSQM Outreach award and offer my congratulations to the children, teachers, leaders and, most of all, Tracy. This is well deserved." Reviewer's overall comment.
Well done to Tracy, the children and teachers in the school!
PE Kit
Please remember that children should come into school wearing their PE kit on the days they are doing PE. In line with our uniform policy this should be a white PE T-shirt (with logo) and a grey sweatshirt (with logo) with black shorts or grey joggers (with logo). Leggings and other colour joggers/sweatshirts are not permitted.
Children should also either wear black plimsoles or plain black trainers on this day. It is important that the children at Grange Park continue to look smart on their PE days. School uniform can be purchased at Smiths Schoolwear in Cockfosters.
Smiths Schoolwear will be running a 10% discount through the month of June (Online only).
Wall Displays
Acorn class
The World Around Us
Reception collaboration - Recreation of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings.
Reception children have made a wonderful display of what they have been learning in PE!
Reception children have been reading 'Jaspers Beanstalk by Nick Butterworth' and created a lovely display with their drawings from the book.
Another joint effort from Reception - Under the sea creations.
Ladybird class - How to catch a star. Using their text map to create a story and different characters.
Dragonfly class - Learning about the history of space travel. The children even added their faces to astronaut cut-outs.
Grasshopper class have been learning about Islam and created this marvellous display.
Butterfly class - The children have been looking at the illustrations of Peter Thorpe.
Kingfisher class - fantastic work around their topic, Madagascar.
Puffin class - Did you know? Work relating to their topic on Information Texts.
Woodpecker class - creative work on the children's self portraits.
Willow class - Learning all about Ancient Egypt.
Cedar class - Lovely displays about the children's pizza making.
Oak class - children's work showing what they have learned about maps.
Ash class - Display showing their creations about the Holy Week.
Tiger class - Learning all about the human digestive system.
Puma class - wonderful display with artwork about the Roman Army.
Leopard class - Learning all about different computer programming using 'Scratch'.
Jaguar class - displaying the various sports events in PE at the school.
Neptune class have been learning about David Hockney's work and created this impressive display.
Jupiter class - Superb display of wings from the class.
Saturn class - learning about Sikhism.
Mercury class - the children showing us their science experiments in this creative display.
Lowry class - class experiments growing mould on a window, shelf, cupboard with their findings.
Picasso class - interactive maths display with children writing their answers and posting them in the box.
Monet class - the children show their watercolour skills off with these wonderful paintings.
Kandinsky class - creative display of a volcano and all stages of eruption.
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.
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
The nursery children have been really busy enjoying our topic ‘The world around us’. The children have enjoyed doing some gardening.
They worked as a team to dig, scoop, mix and prepare the soil for planting. We discussed what might happen over time and the children made predictions on whether the seeds we planted will grow.
We have been using natural objects to help us with our counting skills.
Counting conkers and using the die.
Reception
In Reception all the children have been thoroughly involved in our learning quest topic 'Living and Growing'. We have planted our own seeds and beans which are growing wonderfully well and have explored the grounds even further, managing to spot the odd newt and frog in our school pond.
We also focused on our Artist of the term 'Vincent van Gogh' and his famous Sunflower painting. The children were given the opportunity to use a variety of media to recreate the masterpiece and created some beautiful pieces of their own.
Our new Talk 4 Writing book is 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. The children have been completely immersed in the life cycle of a caterpillar and have even received their very own class caterpillars to look after!
We have been carefully observing any changes daily and are looking forward to our caterpillars getting ready to transform into butterflies.
We have also been very experimental and to further our understanding of how plants work, we took part in our very own science experiment where white carnations are placed in coloured water. The children made predictions such as:
“The petals will change colour”. Ranveer, Bluebell class.
“Maybe the leaves will change colour!” Henry, Tulip class.
We also had some wonderful use of language: “The stem is like a straw, it sucks up the water!” Avery, Daffodil class.
We look forward to observing and discussing all of the changes with our plants, caterpillars and flower experiments!
Year 1
Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed getting in touch with their creative side over the last couple of weeks. They have been exploring techniques used by the artists Jackson Pollock and Peter Thorpe.
The children were able to use a variety of tools such as marbles, paintbrushes and straws to explore the techniques of rolling, dripping, splating, flicking, blowing and dabbing. They have been able to experiment with different primary colours to create secondary colours, they have then used these colours to bring their artwork to life.
“My favourite technique is the splat technique with a brush” Josie - Grasshopper class
“I really enjoyed flicking the paint” Eddie - Butterfly class
“I know about primary colours. I know they are red, blue and yellow” Elle - Dragonfly class
Year 2
Year 2 had an amazing experience and opportunity to speak to someone from a Buddhist temple.
He explained to us all about Buddha, Wesak, their traditional clothing and routines. He also explained his life as a Monk at the temple.
We then had the chance to ask him some questions that we had prepared.
After our virtual visit, we reflected on what we learnt.
“I learnt that the Buddhist's wear white clothes and Monks wear orange clothes during Wesak”.
Maya - Woodpecker
Year 3
Year 3 took the opportunity to get out and about this week. We discussed how lucky we are to have such amazing school grounds! We really got to appreciate them while following the nature trail created by the Year 6 children to celebrate Nature Week.
We also researched the importance of the Torah to Jewish people. We turned some of our findings into mini scrolls and had a go at being scribes, using Hebrew lettering.
Year 4
In our Design and Technology sessions we have been looking at food from Europe linked to our Geography focus for Learning Quest. The children have looked at the import and export of different foods across Europe and how they arrive here in the UK. From here we have had the difficult task of creating a new ‘European Sandwich’ for a local business in Enfield.
For this, the children have first explored different bread types, testing their texture, taste and appearance. Following the bread session, we then looked at different ingredients from around Europe such as peppers from Spain, Cheese from Holland and Greece, Kale from England and even some German peppered meat.
The children learnt and developed new cutting skills to prepare food safely and effectively before exploring flavour combinations for their sandwich fillings.
From all this research and testing the children have been able to make some interesting choices in order to complete their sandwich.
In PE this term we have spent many sessions developing our skills for the game of rounders. This has involved throwing and catching, fielding, batting and finally the most important skill of working together to be successful. The children have greatly improved their techniques through coaching each other by observing their techniques and finding ways we can help each other get better.
We are looking forward to further developing these next term when we will be looking at tennis.
In English, we have had a focus on our personal targets in writing to help develop our skills. Each child has been given a target specific to them to focus on during all writing sessions across the curriculum. We will be supporting the children with their targets in our teaching and they have been working really hard at checking through their own learning to see where they have achieved it, ready for a new target to apply in their writing.
Year 5
We have been busy in Science learning about how new plants can be grown from leaf, stem and root cuttings in a process called propagation.
We learned that this is not only a great way to affordably and sustainably have new plants but also you have the self-satisfaction of starting and nurturing plants from their beginnings.
Watering at home.
Cutting the leaf carefully.
As part of our Design and Technology learning, we have also been researching the history of the fairground.
How to create electrical circuits for different purposes in readiness for making our own fairground models with electrical components and features!
Year 6
With the end of year 6 performance drawing closer, we have been preparing by learning about the history of theatre and finding out how Shakespearean theatre has influenced today’s performances.
As part of this topic, we have also been creating our own puppet theatres, carefully considering the key structures of the stage area. We are very excited to begin rehearsals and for you to watch our performance!