Principal's Welcome

Dear Parents/Carers

As always, there is a great deal to celebrate from Module 3. The pupils are all working so hard and I am pleased that you will have the opportunity to come into the academy to join us for Open Classroom next module to see this for yourselves. You will be able to look at your child’s books, displayed work and any other pieces of work to celebrate. You will also be able to discuss your child’s progress at the next Parent Consultations. Please see the dates section for further information.

I am sure you may have heard that the pupils had the opportunity to meet Jazz, our new school dog, who will be helping Baxter to support the pupils in the academy a few days a week. Jazz is a five month old black labrador and she is keen to learn lots and follow the academy rules! She passed her assessment through The Dog Mentor with flying colours! The children should be able to tell you how they make sure they are ‘Jazz ready’ or ‘Baxter ready’ in the academy. They know the importance of having calm voices in the classroom, having a tidy cloakroom and dining room, (it was amazing how tidy the floor was on Friday because they were keeping it tidy for Jazz!) and working hard. If you see Jazz on the path in the morning she will be pleased to see you but will be working so cannot be crowded. Children will be invited to greet her should they want to but know that no more than two children can be with her at once. 

I am sure like me you are looking forward to everything Module 4 has to offer. We are already seeing the first signs of spring in the academy as the bulbs the Nature Squad planted last year are beginning to show.

I wish you all a wonderful February Break and we will look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday 20th February 2023.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mrs G Stangroom

Ant Class

Ant Class have had another great term. Firstly, we followed some geographical inquiries, looking into the physical features of our local area, before expanding out to the rest of Kent.   We explored what earthquakes are and how they are caused, learning a lot about plate tectonics. We looked in particular at the plates surrounding central America, before the class chose one central American country in particular to research the physical features of. The class have really developed their research skills this term, as they then found out all about the country of their choice. We have written some extremely informative non-chronological reports to compare and contrast the physical features in Kent, with those of our chosen central American country.  Our class text, Rainplayer, has helped introduce our second inquiry, looking into the Ancient Mayan civilization and how they have used the natural features for defence throughout history. The class have enjoyed some Mayan art projects too, including making Mayan masks and sketching a 3D Mayan temple.

We are now excited for Module 4, where we’ll start our inquiries into Space… we’ve already had a brilliant warm-up to this with the fascinating Planetarium visit!

Butterfly Class

Module 3 has been a jam-packed module from the excitement of our class assembly to learning about migration and different cultures around the world. The children began by reflecting on previous learning and focusing in greater depth on life in the Victorian slums. They produced well written diary entries from the perspective of a Victorian child. This progressed to the Industrial revolution and looking at the reasons large amounts of people swarmed to London for work. The children have been studying historic periods linked to migration and why people migrated out of choice of otherwise. Our class text, ‘Four feet, two sandals’ has allowed the children to reflect on the hardships that others face and the importance of moral values. During our maths learning the children participated in a Money Matters workshop, linked to the importance of creating a realistic budget. They learnt about financial hardship and how to cope with a smaller income.  

The children have continued to work hard on their assessment skills and with hard work and dedication, they will continue to flourish. 

Young Voices 2023

You may have heard the buzz around the school, seen photos of this incredible event, been lucky enough to attend in person or perhaps noticed that the children and staff of Cricket class looked exhausted on Wednesday 25th January!  Just in case you have no idea what happened we thought we would share an update in this newsletter.  On Tuesday 24th January . . .

CRICKET CLASS PERFORMED AT THE YOUNG VOICES 2023!!!!!

The day started with us boarding our coach and heading off to the O2 arena where we received VIP treatment.  As we walked through the arena doors and were shown to our seats we felt like true popstars!  We spent the next 3 hours rehearsing for our performance and in this time we learnt some street dance moves, tried our hand at beatboxing and then got to record the backing track of Heather Small’s charity single Proud.  Yes, you read that correctly!  We had the opportunity to sing and perform with Heather Small!  Heather then announced that the recording of our voices will be used in her single which is due to be released later this year.

At 6pm the doors of the O2 arena opened and the place was soon flooded with people, our audience had arrived! It was our time to shine and perform in the Young Voices 2023 choir which was a record breaking 9099 children strong.  The months of rehearsing really paid off and Cricket Class put on the performance of a lifetime (and yes, Mrs Wilson and Mrs Fox did shed a few tears of pride).

The children (and staff) were non stop dancing and singing throughout the whole performance and really did themselves proud.  A memorable experience was had by all.  Well done Team Crickets!   video1       video2 

School Council Charities

Thank you for supporting the recent Superhero Day.  £190 was raised for the Make A Wish Foundation.

Further details to follow for:-

• Dogs Trust (PJ Day and bring a soft cuddly toy animal)

• Team Seas (Come in wearing something blue) 

Ezme and Remi

VIce Chair and Secretary

Parking

You may have noticed the new bollards by the main school entrance on Harrison Drive as well as the newly painted markings asking people not to park in the marked area. This is supporting us to keep our pupils and their families safer as they travel to school. Unfortunately we are contacted at least weekly to inform us of concerns about pupil safety outside school. This is always in relation to parking and dropping off pupils at school. I do not want to be writing to you to inform you that a child or a family member has been injured so I am asking for your support again to help keep everyone safe.

Here are a few messages we have received this term from concerned parents and members of the community:

• A car was racing off out of the car park and could have knocked my toddler over

• I asked someone to move their car from the yellow zig zags so I could enter my property and was not spoken to very nicely

• A car stopped suddenly outside the gates and let several children out which could have been dangerous for them and the pedestrians

• A car bumped up on the pavement just as I was scootering along and I thought it was going to go into me

These are all examples of people rushing which is resulting in an increased risk to our community.  Please allow more time so you do not need to get as close as possible to the school gates, please allow time to park further away and please be courteous to our neighbours. When collecting your child from a club it is important that you walk onto site to pick up your child. We cannot allow cars onto site for our clubs that finish at 4:15/4:30pm and staff will not allow pupils to go to a car that is beeping their horn from a distance.

Thank you for doing all you can to ensure our pupils are as safe as possible when travelling to and from school.

Mrs Stangroom

Attendance

Attendance is currently 94% for the whole school. You will be able to check your child’s individual attendance on the My Child At School app (MCAS). Will we reach our target on 96.5% by the end of the school year?

Thank you for all you do to ensure your child arrives on time and is only absent when unwell. Every minute counts! A good start to the school day sets the children up for a good whole day. Even being five minutes late can really unsettle their start to the day. Pupils have tasks to complete in class from 8:35am when the gates open so please support them to get here on time as the gates shut promptly at 8:45am.

Mrs G Stangroom

Dates for your diary

Open Mornings - 09:00 - 10:15 

Please arrive via the main office.

Ladybird Class: 23rd and 24th February 2023

Spider Class: 1st and 2nd March 2023

Dragonfly Class: 8th and 9th March 2023

Grasshopper Class: 25th and 26th April 2023

Ant Class: 23rd and 24th May 2023

Assemblies - Time: 14:45

Grasshopper Class: 22nd March 2023

Spider Class: 19th May 2023

Dragonfly Class: 24th May 2023

Cricket Class: 23rd June 2023

Open Classroom - Time: 15:15 - 15:45

Friday 17th March 2023

Parent Consultations

Tuesday 21st March Year 3 and 4 3:30-5:30pm

Wednesday 22nd March Year R, 1,2,5,6 3: 30-5:30pm

Thursday 23rd March Year R-6 4:30-7:30pm

Booking details to follow

Please complete this survey about how we conduct parent Consultations by Monday 20th February . Thank you

Term Dates 2023-2024

As advised in the last newsletter, there is a slight change to previously published Module 3 2023/24 term dates:

Tuesday 2nd January 2024 will be a Professional Development Day so pupils will not be in school.  Friday 9th February 2024 will be a normal school day.