Gray's Farm Primary Academy

Lock down Weekly Newsletter


5th March 2021

http://www.graysfarm-tkat.org/ admin@graysfarm-tkat.org


BELIEVE, ACHIEVE, SUCCEED

Gray's Farm Primary Academy has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This responsibility necessitates a child protection policy and procedures which are available to view on the website as are all our policies, or a copy can be requested from the School Office. Our designated Child Protection Officers are Mrs Morley and Mrs Marsh. Information may need to be shared with other agencies when there are concerns about a child’s welfare.

Gray's Farm Primary Academy is committed to gender, racial, religion and disability equality in every part of school life.

A message from Miss Groom

Dear Parents/Carers

We are so looking forward to welcoming all of our children back on Monday and cannot wait to see all their smiley faces as we are finally reunited back together!

In order to support children back into school life we will be following a recovery curriculum (this can be found on our website) where we will be planning in opportunities for children to share their lock down experiences and talk about our 'new normal'. We will also be completing assessments of the children to identify and gaps that children have in their learning due to lockdown.

We are very proud of the remote learning offer that we were able to offer the children this time round and have really seen the benefit that online learning has made for a lot of our children. Parents and carers - thank you for all that you did to support your child to continue learning over the last 8 weeks; you have done an amazing job!

As always, please let us know if you have a concern or worry about your child returning to school and we will work together to find a positive to solution.

See you on Monday!

Miss Groom

Returning to School Reminders

  • Attendance is mandatory as of the 8th March 2021

  • Full school uniform to be worn each day

  • Please follow the staggered start and end times to drop off and collect children

  • Please only use the entrance or exit allocated to you to support social distancing

  • Only 1 adult per family on the school grounds at a time

  • Please leave the school grounds as quickly as you can.

  • All adults to wear a face mask on the school grounds unless they are exempt

  • No bikes or scooters to be brought to school - there is nowhere to store them currently

  • Bring a full water bottle to school each day

  • Only bring things that you need into school in a school bag.

  • Don't forget to bring your PE kit into school

COVID and Non-COVID absence reporting to the school

What should I do if my child is ill but it is not COVID related?

Please remember that if your child is unwell for any reason and won't be able to attend school then please call the office and leave a message on the absence line as you usually would. Please state the reason why your child is not attending school. For example: vomiting, diarrhoea etc.


What should I do if my child or a family member has a COVID related symptom?

Please remember that if your child is unwell with any of the following symptoms

  • a high temperature

  • a new, continuous cough

  • a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste


Please call the office and leave a message on the absence line as you usually would. Please state the Covid related symptom that your child or a family member has.


If you child or a family member has one of these symptoms, you should self isolate and take a test. If you have a negative result you may stop isolating.


When do we need to take a COVID test?


You only need to isolate and take a Covid test if your child or a family member has one of the Covid related symptoms.


Your child does not need a test if they:

  • Have a runny nose, are sneezing or feeling unwell, but do not have a temperature, cough or loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste


  • Are advised to self-isolate because they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), for example, another pupil in their class, but are not showing symptoms themselves


BIG Art Attack Challenge and World Book Day

BIG Art Attack Challenge

We were absolutely amazed at how many of you accepted our BIG Art Attack challenge and were totally blown away with how creative your designs were. The effort, creativity and patience that has gone into your designs is something to be proud of. It was by no means an easy task but you guys have managed to make it look easy and utilised items that you had at home. Well done to all of you and your families for creating BIG Art Attacks that Neil Buchanan [the original Art Attack presenter] would be proud of.

World Book Day

Well, what a fun day we had yesterday for World Book Day! It was great to see so many of you dressed up as some rather quirky looking 'mixed up' book characters! The outfits that you all managed to create from things you already had at home were amazing! Not only that, but you all took on the challenges in true Gray's Farm style; It was brilliant to see so many families having fun and taking part together. Watch this space as the winning family for each challenge will be announced next week during our Reading Assembly.

What are we learning next week? - W/B 08.03.21

NURSERY
We are so excited to have you back as we are joined by our new nursery children.

We are also excited to have Mrs Quilter join the nursery team as Mrs Bellenie is moving on to support our children in EYFS/KS1 phonics.

Our week will consist of coming together and exploring our feelings through play and talk.

Routines will be revisited as we begin to build new friendship groups.

Please ensure you regularly check the board outside the nursery for daily updates as well as our website.

RECEPTION

The reception team are very excited to welcome all of our children back next week. We will be focusing on settling the children back in to routines, whilst using the book ‘The Colour Monster’ to explore emotions and how we are feeling. We will also focus on how we can be kind to ourselves and others. In Phonics and Maths we will be revisiting lots of the topics we have done remotely and the children will be showing off to us how much they have learnt!


YEAR 1

Welcome back!! This week in Literacy we are concluding our work on The Lonely Beast by writing and answering questions, and predicting the ending.

In Maths we will be finding half of shapes and amounts. We will then be learning to read and draw times on clock faces for o'clock and half past.

Thank you for your incredible support during the last few, very challenging weeks. We cannot wait to see you all again!


YEAR 2

In maths, we are revisiting multiplication and division and we are using the bar model to count in multiples of different times tables to find the answer we need. For example: 4 x 5 = 20 5, 10, 15, 20.


In Writing, we are starting a new book! Our focus is on adding ed correctly to write verbs in the past tense.


Our afternoon lessons are focused on Personal and Social Education, where we will be discussing any worries that children might have about returning to school and spending time as a class doing activities which will support our needs.

YEAR 3

In year 3, we will be learning about place value and time in Maths. We will be continuing to work on using inverted commas in our English lessons whilst looking at the story, 'Wisp' by Zana Fraillon.

We are going to be doing lots of PSHE sessions in the afternoons to focus on our wellbeing as we return to school. We cannot wait to see everyone very soon!

YEAR 4

This week in English we will be practising our skills on tenses and linking our writing to our history topic about the Romans. In maths, we will be working on fractions as well as practising the four calculations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be continuing our investigations into sound in science.

YEAR 5

This week in Year 5, we are excited to finally be back in the classroom sharing our lockdown experiences. In English, we are starting a new, mixed-up Fairy tale and will be practising the skills we have been learning. In maths, we are comparing decimals, fractions and percentages.



YEAR 6

In English, year 6 will be basing their writing around a short clip called 'Lighthouse'.

We will also be continuing learning about World War 2 and the types of jobs women carried out.

P4C PONDER QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Take some time to talk to your child about returning to school on Monday. Please try to make this a positive conversation where you can work together to alleviate any concerns or worries they may have .

We are going back to school on Monday.

Sam says everyone must feel excited about it. What do you think?

PE @ HOME during the School closure

There are lots of fun activities that Mr Morris has put together to keep us all active during the School Closure.

Have a look on our school website for more information.

Don't forget to do the daily challenges - you can find them all here!

Don't forget to take photos and send them into us so we can see all the fabulous active learning you are doing whilst you are at home.

Remote Learning Celebration

Nursery

Freya

Who enjoyed sensory play, finding and ordering letters in her name. Well done Freya.




Reception

Dean

Dean is such a happy little boy and his thirst for learning is beginning to shine through. He has made such great progress in his writing and his phonic knowledge is really developing. His Art Attack piece was amazing and made his very own Art Attack Robot! We love it! Well done Dean! Keep it up!

Year 1

Henry

Henry Day for such enthusiasm in all he did this week! And a colourful, thankful Hindu Holi hand as part of our RE learning.



Year 2

Oliver

For his life size Olly which describes the different parts of his personality. As part of our RE learning, the children had to explore what made them who they are and the different qualities that they have. Olly chose to present his in a very creative way which made us smile.

Year 3

Nusaybah

For getting creative at home just for fun after being inspired by our new history and science topics. Nusaybah created a jungle with different plants in as well as a cave setting to represent the Stone Age. She told us lots of facts about it all too.

Year 4

Omer

For the Roman Timeline that he has started for our history topic, detailing the invasions carried out on Britain in chronological order.

Year 5

Ela

For using her ICT skills to display her Science research in this amazing bar graph. Maths, science and Computing all in one activity - well done Ela!

Year 6

Ethan

For his mixed up fairy tale including Puss in Boots An enjoyable read.

School Life

For our final week in school, before the rest of Gray's Farm return, we have had a busy time...



This week wanted to share:


Just like everyone at home we had a day full of art fun on Tuesday. We investigated different art techniques and used different materials all day. You can see that we had so much fun with our group 'Art Attack' image as well!


While we are sad to be saying goodbye to our little group here, we are very excited for the rest of the children to be back next week.


Staying Safe and Well

With the return to school imminent, we are very mindful of those of you who have been having challenging times during this lockdown and school closure. We aware of the significant impact that bereavements, job losses, etc can have on a family and if there is anything that school can do to support you and your family in these difficult times, please do not hesitate to contact us.

As well as in school support, we can also support in signposting to outside agencies which may be helpful.


Ella Morley (SENCO) and Kelly Marsh (Family Worker)

SEND SUPPORT FOR PARENTS

We are really looking forward to seeing you all back in school on Monday but we also know that reintegration may be a challenge for some, especially children with special educational needs.

If you feel that your child may need some extra support in settling in and we have not already been in touch on this issue, please contact me via the school office or your child's teacher and we can work together on the best plan for your child.

Ella Morley (SENCO)

EASY FUNDRAISING - Supporting Gray's Farm Primary Academy

Easy Fundraising

“Did you know that whenever you buy anything online - from your weekly shop to your annual holiday - you could be collecting free donations for Gray's Farm? There are over 3,000 shops and sites on board ready to make a donation, including Amazon, John Lewis, Aviva, thetrainline and Sainsbury's – it doesn't cost you a penny extra!


It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...


1. Head to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/graysfarmps/ and join for free. We get a bonus donation just for you signing up!

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, that retailer will make a donation to us for no extra cost whatsoever!


There are no catches or hidden charges and the children will be really grateful for your donations.”