Dear Parents/Carers, 

We’ve had an inspiring and eventful week at Forest Academy, filled with hands-on learning, exciting visitors, and proud moments for our school community.

On Monday, Year 4 visited the Science Museum and explored the Wonderlab. This incredible interactive gallery was the perfect setting for our curious young scientists. Children engaged with over 50 hands-on exhibits, experimenting and exploring the science behind everyday life. They were encouraged to think differently, ask questions, and imagine the world in new ways. We are proud to say that Year 4 were a credit to the school, showcasing exemplary behaviour throughout the day, as we expect from all our pupils. They represented Forest with maturity, enthusiasm, and kindness - well done to all involved.

On Tuesday, we had a touch of Hollywood glamour at Forest Academy! Pupils in Years 4, 5 and 6 took part in a special theatre workshop led by Hollywood actress Ann Cusack. With a rich background in film, television and theatre, Annie brought energy, warmth and expert insight to our school. Children explored voice projection, characterisation and improvisation in a fun and supportive space, learning what it’s like to perform at a professional level. It was a truly unforgettable experience that sparked creativity and boosted confidence - an incredible opportunity to enrich our creative arts curriculum.

On Wednesday, we welcomed our independent school improvement partner for an important visit. She met with school leaders, spoke with pupils, and visited classrooms across the school. She was highly complimentary of our learning environment, the positive behaviour of our pupils, and the high level of engagement in lessons. We are proud that our day-to-day work reflects such high standards and that this was clearly visible during her visit.

On Thursday, we proudly welcomed more school leaders from across London for a DfE Rise Attendance and Behaviour Hub open day. This national programme supporting schools in strengthening their attendance and behaviour systems, and we are honoured to be one of the schools selected to lead this work. 

Our Junior Leadership Team (JLT) did an outstanding job touring our guests around the school. Visitors commented on how articulate, confident, and proud our children were, and praised the calm, purposeful atmosphere in every classroom. We are so proud to share the strong practice happening at Forest and we are grateful for your continued support in making sure children are in school, on time, and ready to learn.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It’s been a week that truly reflects the breadth, ambition, and joy of learning at Forest Academy.

Mrs Lloyd & the Forest Academy Team

Year 1 have had a fantastic week filled with enthusiasm, hard work!

In maths, the class have been focusing on 8 fact families, developing a stronger understanding of how addition and subtraction facts link together and using this knowledge to build confidence in their number work.

In English, they have been discussing  of story settings, using descriptive language to imagine what these places might look, sound, and feel like. Their ideas have been creative and thoughtful, and it has been wonderful to see their vocabulary growing. 

In computing, the children have been exploring the Bee Bots and learning how to give clear, step-by-step instructions to make it move along different routes. They have shown great problem-solving skills, working together to correct mistakes and celebrate their successes. 

Throughout all their learning, Year 1 have continued to demonstrate exemplary behaviour both in the classroom and across the school. They consistently show kindness, respect, and a positive attitude, making them outstanding role models for others. Keep up the brilliant work, Year 1!

This week in year 3, pupils have been writing their reports based on Rosie Revere Engineer. Pupils re-read their writing to think about what to write next.  Pupils edited their pieces of writing to develop spellings and correct punctuation. Pupils used their spellings charts, checklists and class writing models to support them and ensure they had included all the features of a report.

In grammar, pupils answered test style questions and edited sentences in which they had to alter tense or sentence structure to change the sentence type to a command, question, statement or exclamation. Pupils further visited the uses of apostrophes for possession or contraction. 

In maths, pupils learned the vocabulary to describe the position of numbers in multiplication equations and were able to name factors and the product. They made links to find common multiples within the 4 and 8 times tables and were able to use the inverse to explore the relationship between multiplication and division in the 3 x table. 

In science, pupils enjoyed predicting and testing how much paperclips a variety of magnets would hold when testing magnetic strength. Pupils have set up a further investigation to measure the distance a magnet can be pulled from a variety of surfaces. 

Last Thursday, Year 5 enjoyed a fantastic day out at the Globe Theatre in London. They began their day with a tour of the theatre where they were lucky enough to watch a rehearsal of the Globe's Christmas production of Pinocchio. They then moved to a rehearsal studio where they played games, practised role play and learnt lines from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Our tour guide was thoroughly impressed by the children's knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays and their behaviour was impeccable!

In English, the children have been writing a prequel narrative based on their core text 'Boy in the Tower'. The children were able to use 'show not tell' to describe emotions experienced by Ade and his mum as well as parenthesis and relative clauses to add detail. In maths, the children have been learning to compare and order fractions less than and greater than 1. They then moved onto adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator.

In D&T, the children practised a range of stitches including the running stitch and the back stitch. They persevered when they found the stitch tricky and it was lovely to see their smiling faces when they were successful. In computing, the children have been learning how to manipulate objects including rotating and changing colour and borders. In science, the children investigated reversible and irreversible changes using water and solids such as coffee granules and flour. They made predictions and discussed variables they wanted to use such as the same amount of water and solids to keep the test fair.