Principal's Welcome

Dear Parents/Carers

Thank you for supporting your child to get off to such a strong start to the school year. Being prepared for school each day makes such a difference for the pupils. A calm morning, with time for a healthy breakfast, is a great way to start the day.

Our pupils really benefit from the additional support you provide to them outside of school hours. We know lots of our pupils have exciting clubs and events that they attend outside of school so we are grateful that you also value the time to develop reading and maths skills at home too. We expect pupils to have an opportunity to read every day at home. This can be reading to an adult, sharing the reading with an adult and answering questions about the book or reading independently but being able to tell an adult about what has been read. Thank you for using the reading record books to let us know when your child has read as this supports your child to get their '30 reads' rewards which you can find out more about in the newsletter.

Additionally, any support you can give to support your child with their basic maths skills will really help them. Maths Champions is a great way to focus the maths you may be working on so if you haven't accessed the Google Classroom for it please try to do so. Knowledge of number bonds, (e.g.6+4=10, 7+3=10 or 60+40=100, 70+30=100) and times tables recall is so important to almost all areas of maths so please do what you can. Some of our pupils who have received their first maths champions certificates in assembly have shared some top tips about how they have been successful: 

"I practise each day in the car with mum for only five minutes. She asks me times tables after we have said them out loud in order."  "Me and dad wrote out the two times tables and they have been on my fridge and then they have been asking me questions like 2 lots of 2 and 9 times 2."

" I walk up the stairs like this, 3, 6, 9,12... and then we do it like 1 x 3 is 3 then I move to the next step and say 2 times 3 is six and when I know then we practise them in any order. I also like going on the websites like Times Tables Rock Stars."

The time from 8:35am onwards each ore is invaluable for 'early morning work'. Pupils engage in maths and English skills and get supported on any work they have not understood from the day before. Please try to ensure your child arrives at school on time as a calm start really gets the pupils off to a successful start.

There is so much to celebrate from Module 1 in this newsletter so we hope you enjoy reading the latest edition.

Thank you for working in partnership with us. Your support is invaluable.

Mrs G Stangroom

Principal

Spider Class

Wow! We have come back to school with a bang! The class have settled in well to KS2 life and have adapted well to the new routines. They have all really enjoyed the ocarina lessons with Mrs Sharp, learning some Spanish and of course getting to use the Chromebooks daily.

This module, our learning has focused on poverty; we used the book ‘The Great Foodbank Heist’ to help us understand and open our minds to the fact that all types of people might find themselves in poverty or difficult situations. We researched Medway Foodbank and were lucky enough to be visited by Sharon and Sue who work there. The children had some excellent questions to ask. We then learnt about Richard Watts and ‘The Six Poor Travellers House’ which is in Rochester. We wrote diary entries pretending that we were poor travellers from five hundred years ago. We also created sketch maps of High Halstow village so that people could find their way (hypothetically) to our school and eat the healthy pizzas we made! Of course our pizzas were nutritionally balanced to ensure a person going on a long journey would have all the energy they would need. 

This module has felt like an absolute whirlwind and I think we are all ready for the two week break!

Ant Class

Ant Class have had a wonderful first term! They all came back to school looking at acting like Year 5s and eager to learn. They have immersed themselves completely into our inquiries, starting with how the Viking raid on Lindisfarne affected people’s lives. The class have written some fantastic diary entries and some brilliant newspaper articles about this historic event!  Since then, our inquiries led us to thinking about how people and communities experience change over time. We based our learning on how the Vikings changed the British community over time and how this has continued to change to the present day. The class truly excelled in performing scripts between King Alfred and the chief Viking, Guthrum, on the day the peace agreement was signed in Wessex!

The class have also learnt some new D&T skills this term, including safely using a hot glue gun. They showed great maturity and responsibility at all times whilst making their shields. Next week, they will have another D&T project - creating a Viking longship! They will be using saws for part of this too. 

Viking Day was a brilliantly memorable day, consisting of many activities, such as shield wars, weapon displays and numerous games, all whilst embedding their immense knowledge that they’ve gained over the term, and adding to it even more! 

Well done Ants for all your hard work this term, you have earnt yourselves a well-deserved October Break!

Butterfly Class

What an adventure it's been in the first module of the school year! Butterfly Class have been very busy adapting to year 6 and their responsibilities. 

In English the children have been reading, ‘Skellig’. They've journeyed into a world of mystery and magic, creating descriptive writing pieces and instructions. In maths, they have been learning new concepts such as long division and have taken on the challenge wilfully! As part of our lines of inquiry in this module, we have been delving into discussions about charity and responsibility. We learnt about how charities have changed over time, as well as their purpose and function. After exploring vulnerable groups in our local community, as a class we decided to support homeless people. The children have created their own presentations and voted on a cause for a fundraising event. In science, we measured resting heart rate and found out about how the body functions. This is linked with our focus on physical and mental wellbeing. During module one, we have been developing our independence to become critical thinkers and continue to demonstrate autonomy moving forwards. The children have worked hard this module and should be very proud of themselves.

Sports Update

We couldn't have started the sporting year any better! A huge congratulations to our Mini Youth Games hockey team, who came 1st out of 25 schools at the event last week. The team won eight out of eight games! The team played brilliantly all day, working extremely well as a team whilst constantly showing fantastic sportsmanship.   We are very proud of every player, well done!

Nature Squad Update

A new school year welcomes new Nature Squad representatives!  Welcome to Hudson and Ethan in Butterfly Class, Edward and Grace in Ant Class, Ebony and Hallie in Cricket Class and Mia and Hunter in Spider Class.

They have really got stuck in early as the first week back we emptied our first full compost bin and topped up the raised beds!  It was so lovely to see all the school's vegetable waste being made into rich, organic compost!  We also spent a lovely afternoon harvesting poppy seeds from our dead poppies…..we can't wait to sow them!  Our next endeavour will be to plant a herb garden so watch this space!

30 Reads

We have relaunched the '30 Reads' initiative this academic year. Through this incentive, pupils from all year groups are encouraged to increase their effort in relation to reading at home. When a pupil has read 30 times at home (indicated by link books), the pupil will be allowed to choose a scented bookmark to enjoy using while reading.  When a pupil has read 50 times at home, they are invited to read with Jazz or Baxter our school dog mentors.  When a pupil has read 100 times at home, they will be invited to choose a book from our prize selection that they can keep. 

GOLD PASSES - Module 1

Congratulations to the pupils who were awarded a Gold pass in Module 1 for showing exemplary behaviour.

Year 1:   Cady Leigh, Johnny, Evie, Mollie, Hallie, Orla

Year 2:   Charlotte, Arabella, Amelia, Marnie, Theodore, Amelie

Year 3:   Ella, Ophelia, Sienna, Mia, Jensen, Connor

Year 4:   Charlotte, Pearl, Violet, Francesca, Matilda, Mya

Year 5:   Jake, Elena, Miller, Buddy, Lucca, Noah

Year 6:   Finley, Beau, Amy, Callum, Ava, James

House Point Winners - Module 1

1.   831  Herons

2.   727  Lapwings

3.   616  Skylarks

4.   568  Redshanks

As winners of the House Point totals, Herons are invited to come into school on Monday 6th November 2023 wearing their own clothes with the predominant colour being Green.

School Librarians 2023/2024

Pupils in year 6 submitted applications for the positions of librarian. Congratulations to the following successful applicants:

Sophie

Amelia

Samuel

Lois

Jack

Staff are looking forward to working with our librarians to support younger pupils, keep our library ship-shape and share their thoughts on further improvements to our excellent school library. 

School Council Reps

Year R:   Represented by Ashton and James in Year6

Year 1:   Ruby and James

Year 2:   Barkley and George H

Year 3:   Chloe and Louie

Year 4:   Jemima and Mya

Year 5:   Chase and Lucca

Year 6:   Mason and Harmony

Congratulations to the following pupils who were also voted into the following positions:

Chairperson: Mason

Vice Chairperson: Ashton

Secretary: Lucca

Treasurer: Chase

In the latest meeting the reps voted on the following three charities to support this year:

Cancer Research

Dogs Trust

Shooting Star Children's Hospices

School Lunches

Please ensure you are checking your school lunch balances on the MCAS app.  Please settle any outstanding debts as soon as possible or speak to the office staff if any help is needed.

Uniform

Please ensure that pupils have the correct uniform, including a school rucksack or book bag.  Only stud earrings should be worn.

Pupils need a warm coat and we recommend welly boots, gloves, a scarf and a hat.

Please ensure uniform is named so we can get items back to the correct pupils.

Breakfast Club Request

If anyone has any unwanted, good quality board games or activities that the Breakfast Club could make use of they will be very grateful.

Dates for your diary

See Dates for your diary 2023-2024 under important documents in MCAS - some dates may be subject to change so please check announcements.

Term Dates 2023-2024