Dear Parents and Carers,

This week has been another busy and productive one at Forest Academy. On Tuesday, we held a Year 6 Secondary School Application Workshop to support families with the application process. Thank you to all the parents who attended. On Thursday, we were delighted to welcome prospective families to our Reception Open Day. Visitors were highly complimentary of Forest Academy’s vibrant and nurturing learning environment, and we were proud to showcase the excellent work of our pupils and staff.

Next Friday, 17th October 2025, we will be marking Show Racism the Red Card Day (SRtRC). This national initiative is led by the UK’s leading anti-racism education charity. To show our support, we are inviting all children to come to school wearing something red—this could be a t-shirt, scarf, socks, hairband, or any red item they already have. This is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness and reinforce our school’s commitment to equality, respect, and inclusion.

Parents Evening

A polite reminder to book your appointment for our upcoming Parents’ Evenings: 

Tuesday 14th October 2025

• KS2 -14:30-18:00 

• EYFS - 15:10-18:00

• KS1 - 15:30-18:00

Thursday 16th October 2025

• EYFS & KS1- 14:30-18:00

• KS2 - 15:30-18:00

These meetings are a great opportunity to discuss how your child has settled into the new academic year, celebrate their successes, and work together to support their continued progress. Appointments can be booked via the Arbor app. If you need assistance with booking, please visit the school office with your device and a member of staff will be happy to help.

Thank you for your continued support in making our school a wonderful place for our children to learn and grow.

Mrs Lloyd & the Forest Academy Team

Our Year 1 children have settled beautifully into their new class and routines, and it has been such a joy to see their smiling faces and positive attitudes each day. Learning is now in full swing and the children are already showing great enthusiasm and curiosity in all areas of the curriculum.

In Maths, they have been exploring exciting new concepts such as greater than and smaller than, confidently comparing numbers and using mathematical language to explain their thinking. In English, the children have begun building their own sentences using sentence starters, and it's wonderful to see their growing independence and creativity in writing.

In RE, we’ve had some really thoughtful and interesting discussions. The children spoke about their favourite ways to show gratitude and how they can be helpful to others and the wider community. The whole class came to an agreement that looking after the environment and feeding the poor are wonderful and meaningful ways to show thankfulness and care for the world around us.

Their kindness, thoughtfulness, and eagerness to learn shine through each day. We are incredibly proud of their efforts and can’t wait to see all the fantastic learning to come!

This week, we kicked off our second core text 'Our Rights' by Jake Hope. This new unit uses poetry to explore the fundamental rights of children around the world. The class has enjoyed discussing important concepts such as 'The right to be heard' and 'The right to an education'. It's a powerful way for them to understand their place in the world and develop empathy for others. Ask your child to tell you which right they think is the most important and why!

Our artistic exploration continued as we delved deeper into the vibrant, expressive style of contemporary American artist Corey Barksdale. The children demonstrated fantastic control and blending skills as they used pastels to recreate half of one of his pieces. We focused on capturing his use of bold colours and dynamic lines. Keep an eye out for these striking artworks that will be coming home soon!

In RE, we continued our unit on Judaism. The class explored the deep significance of God to Jewish people and learned about the incredible story of Moses. We discussed his pivotal role as a prophet and the lasting impact his story has on the Jewish faith. It was a wonderful opportunity to foster respect and understanding for different religious traditions.

This week in Year 5, the children have been learning about the purpose and features of an informal letter. They explored a range of letters and discussed the times they have sent or received a letter. They then wrote a letter recounting a day in school. In maths, the children have been learning how to use the formal written method using column addition and subtraction. They also learnt about fact families, how to use the inverse or rounding to check answers and began to read and answer multi-step problems.

In history, children learned more about Mary I and Elizabeth I and their roles in shaping religion in Tudor society. They explored why the monarchs practised different branches of Christianity and the impact it had on their subjects. 

In RE, the children learnt how Hindus and Christians care for the world around them. In art, the children practised sketching a portrait of William Shakespeare and annotating colours they would like to use, which are in the same style as pop art. In French, the children practised reading, speaking and writing the date and their birthday. 

In science, the children learnt about the life cycles of different animal groups and put their similarities and differences into a Venn diagram. In computing, the children have continued to learn about cyberbullying and how to report inappropriate behaviour online.

• Medication and Paperwork: Any medication or completed paperwork should be handed in directly to the school office. Please do not give these items to class staff.

• Club Spaces Still Available: There are still a few spaces available in some of our extra-curricular clubs. If you’re interested, please speak to a member of staff in the school office.

• Trip and Club Consent: Please ensure that all consent for trips and clubs is submitted via the Arbor app. Messages or emails do not count as formal consent and will not be accepted.

• Parents’ Evening Appointments: Parents' Evening appointments are available to book via the Arbor app. Please double-check the times, as they may vary across the two days. If you need help with the booking process, feel free to pop into the school office with your device and we’ll be happy to assist you.

• Arbor App Support: If you are having any issues accessing the Arbor app, please bring your device to the school office and we will do our best to support you.

• Term Dates: Don’t forget – all term dates are included in each newsletter and are also available on our school website for easy reference.

• Water Bottles: To help reduce the number of reminders sent, please ensure your child brings a named water bottle to school every day.

If you have concerns about a child (or their families) welfare, contact Croydon Council’s Single Point of Contact (SPOC) 

Telephone: 020 8726 6400 

Out of hours: 020 8726 6400 (ask for out of hours team) 

Email: childreferrals@croydon.gov.uk 

Office Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00 – 16:00 

If you think a child is at risk of immediate harm telephone 999