My usual newsletter drafts begin with a reflection on the week that has just been, but this week I feel compelled to start where we left off. When the clock struck 3.15 last Friday, and the playground hummed with the familiar energy of families heading home for the weekend, a very special message landed in my inbox—one that stopped us in our tracks and filled us with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and pride.

We are overjoyed to share that we received a formal letter from Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, personally congratulating Rockliffe Manor on the "excellent outcomes" achieved by our pupils. Her letter placed our school’s performance among the very best nationally, highlighting the incredible progress of our disadvantaged children. 

This recognition is a testament to the "ambition and commitment" that defines our community. It is a blessing to work alongside such a dedicated staff and to witness the tenacity of our wonderful children every single day. This achievement doesn't belong to the school or the leadership team; it belongs to every one of you. It is the result of every reading session, every word of encouragement at the school gate and the collective belief that every child at Rockliffe Manor deserves the world. We are so incredibly proud of what we have built together and what we continue to nurture, as the Rockliffe Way. 

Over the past few weeks, we have been placing a strong focus on handwriting and presentation across the school. We are thrilled with the effort and determination our children are showing, as well as the pride they take in producing high-quality work. Many pupils are excited to become our new “Presentation Champions” and are embracing this challenge with enthusiasm. We will continue to nurture a strong sense of pride and responsibility in everything our children do. Recently, Miss Lambert, our English Lead, shared a selection of pupils’ books at an external training session, where teachers from other schools were highly complimentary about the impressive standards in our children’s work. It has been wonderful to receive this external recognition of the effort, pride and responsibility shown by our pupils. We will continue to build on this success and further embed excellent outcomes for all children.

On Tuesday, Miss White held a curriculum evaluation day, where children were able to demonstrate their recall and retention from their previous learning in Autumn 2. She gathered six children from each year group and assessed their prior knowledge based on knowledge organisers, taught lessons, and key vocabulary. It was fantastic to see the children retain so much information from the previous term. They engaged in collaborative discussions, building on each other’s ideas, and their books highlighted the effort and dedication put into breaking down their knowledge into clear, concise chunks, including diagrams, a variety of tasks, and beautiful presentation. A learning walk through history lessons further reinforced how the children grappled with comparisons between the past and today, as well as using critical thinking skills to challenge pre-formed concepts. It was a wonderful opportunity at Rockliffe Manor to see the growth in our curriculum and the engagement and excitement our children have for their learning.

This week, we were delighted to welcome the London Fire Brigade into school to deliver engaging and informative workshops for our Year 2 and Year 5 pupils. During the sessions, the children learned what to do in the event of a fire, including how to crawl safely if there is smoke, how to check a door handle to see if it is hot and how to call for help in an emergency. They then put this knowledge into practice by examining a picture of a kitchen and identifying potential hazards, such as lit candles and overloaded extension leads. Workshops like these are invaluable in helping children develop essential life skills and an understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe. We are grateful to the London Fire Brigade for sharing such important and practical knowledge with our children.

Next week, our school will be buzzing with imagination as we celebrate National Storytelling Week. It is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the power of words and the joy of getting lost in a good story. To make the week extra special, we will be hosting a "Teacher Swap," where teachers will move around the school to read their favourite stories to different classes. This is a wonderful way for children to see that the love of reading and storytelling is shared by everyone in our school community, not just their own class teacher. This event also serves as the perfect warm-up for our upcoming Book Week. We are determined to keep the momentum going following our recent Parent Reading Morning, and we will continue to find new and creative ways to involve our wider community in our reading journey. Thank you for your continued support in helping us foster a lifelong love of reading and storytelling in every child!

As we look ahead to February, there is much to be excited about, and we can’t wait to continue this journey of learning and growth together.

Have a lovely weekend! We look forward to seeing you all back on Monday.

With very best wishes, Mrs. Cook and the Rockliffe Manor Team

Let’s take a look at some of the learning that has happened this week…

Nursery have been very busy this week, developing their oracy skills through storytelling. The children explored traditional fairy tales using You Choose, with a focus this week on Little Red Riding Hood. Henry impressed both his peers and adults with a confident and expressive impersonation of the Big Bad Wolf, projecting his voice beautifully during performance. The children also enjoyed creating their own Big Bad Wolves, developing their mark-making, painting and sticking skills. Jerri made a thoughtful connection between the woodland settings in Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, even suggesting a walk in the woods to explore this further.

This week in Reception, the children have been discussing how they can help protect sea animals by keeping our planet clean. In their composition lessons, they explored recycling, with Nancie proudly sharing that recycled objects can be used to make new things, such as robots. In maths, the children investigated capacity, using a range of resources to fill containers and describe them as full, empty or nearly full. Arlia explained that she was making smoothies and poured a cup that was ‘nearly full’, while Willow added that after drinking it, the cup would be ‘empty’.

Year 1 have blown everyone away this week with their descriptive writing. The children focused on using similes and confidently generated sentences about the Giant from their core text. They were so proud of their work that they asked to share it with Mrs Cook and Mrs Aliaj. Tabitha wrote ‘The Giant had a beard as fluffy as a Chihuahua”, Robyn wrote “The Giant had dungarees as thin as paper” and Arthur H wrote “The Giant had a scarf as red as a Coca Cola can”.

Year 2 have had a very busy and exciting week. The children visited a Hindu Temple, where they were given a guided tour and learned about the different gods. Divyanshu and Rayan were particularly enthusiastic and enjoyed sharing what they had learned with their peers. The children asked thoughtful questions such as, “Why do you give oranges to the gods?” and “Why does Ganesh have an elephant head?” Back in school, they have also enjoyed playing ‘number bonds ping pong’, rapidly practising their number bonds to 10 and then 100.

Year 3 enjoyed a fantastic science lesson this week, learning about different forces including push, pull, twist and turn. The children orally rehearsed key vocabulary and explored these forces in action, even experimenting by pushing and pulling their chairs. Working in Kagan fours, they discussed where they had seen these forces in real life, leading to some excellent conversations. Daisy C thoughtfully explored the idea that she twists a glue stick rather than turning it, recognising that it rotates rather than changes direction.

Year 4 have had a fantastic week. In English, the children showed great empathy by exploring Auggie’s inner thoughts and feelings from their class text. They particularly enjoyed hot-seating as Auggie and stepping into his character. In maths, the children demonstrated resilience while practising short division, using place value charts to understand exchanging. As their confidence grew with the bus stop method, they successfully applied their skills to problem-solving activities.

In Year 5, the children have enjoyed learning about D-Day in history and were full of curiosity about this significant military operation and its role in the events of World War II. In English, they used a range of descriptive devices to create suspense, selecting powerful verbs and sensory details to build tension and engage the reader. The children have also been exploring the etymology of words such as cieve, demi and dict. Arthur used the word conceive in his writing, while Emre spotted dictate in his reading book. It has been wonderful to see them consciously applying new vocabulary in context.

Year 6 have begun their new maths topic on area and perimeter, calculating the area of triangles using a given formula. It has been lovely to see how well the children support one another, asking questions and coaching each other during lessons. In English, they have been learning how to use prepositions to convey detailed information in their writing. In science, the children explored the impact of exercise and diet on the body. Zuzia wrote thoughtfully, “Eating poorly can have consequences for your body. It can cause fat to build up in your veins which can lead to a severe heart attack.”