Newsletter
10th March 2023
Embedded Files
Attendance
Attendance
Oliver Jeffers - 94%
Julia Donaldson - 96.2%
Steve Irwin - 96.1%
Walt Disney - 95%
Marcus Rashford - 90%
Lewis Hamilton - 96%
Helen Sharman - 97%
Benjamin Zephaniah - 93%
Peninsula East Primary Academy - 95%
Well done to Julia Donaldson class for having the best attendance this week in KS1, they have been regularly winning this over the course of the year. In KS2 this week, Helen Sharman class achieved the best attendance so well done to them too. We still have good overall attendance this week which is great to see.
Thinker Award
Oliver Jeffers Class - Macie
Julia Donaldson Class - Helin
Steve Irwin Class - Freya T
Walt Disney Class - Frankie
Marcus Rashford Class - Gracie
Lewis Hamilton Class - Cooper
Helen Sharman Class - Joshua
Benjamin Zephaniah Class - Sophie
WOW Writer Awards
WOW Writer Awards
Congratulations to these children for fantastic writing this week...
Julia Donaldson Class - LaRosa
Steve Irwin Class - Edward
Walt Disney Class - Izzy H
Marcus Rashford Class - Ellis
Lewis Hamilton Class - Aurora
Helen Sharman Class - Charlie
Benjamin Zephaniah Class - Blayke
Communicator Award
Oliver Jeffers Class - Samuel
Julia Donaldson Class - Hollie
Steve Irwin Class - Paisley
Walt Disney Class - Brayden
Marcus Rashford Class - Daisy
Lewis Hamilton Class -Daniel
Helen Sharman Class - Grace
Benjamin Zephaniah Class - Ryan
Our Wonderful Inquiry Work
Our Wonderful Inquiry Work
Oliver Jeffers
In Oliver Jeffers class this week, we have been learning about People Who Help Us as part of our inquiry. We have a doctor's surgery role play set up in our classroom and we have been naming organs in the human body, looking at bones on x-rays as well as being very kind and caring, making each other better. We have taken on the roles of doctor, nurse and patient, listening to each other's heartbeat, wrapping bandages around injuries and choosing medicine to make one another better.
We also had two very exciting visitors on Monday, linked both to our inquiry and the Careers Day. We were visited by Rachael, an archaeologist, who showed us some interesting artefacts as well as teaching us about cave painting. We were also visited by Kent Police, who showed us their vehicles which we were allowed to sit inside!
Marcus Rashford & Walt Disney
As we are three weeks into the term year 3 have settled in well and have all been keen to learn about Ancient Egypt. The children have been exploring their life as well as learning about the importance of their day to day life. The children were all keen to understand the importance of the River Nile.
Year 3, Marcus Rashford were lucky enough to visit Slough fort, this was a great experience for them as they explored the fort and learnt about the history. The children asked questions and were happy to be able to explore part of the history in Allhallows.
In Walt Disney class, we have been busy preparing for our class assembly. We have been spending some time thinking about what we have learnt so far in Year 3 and what we have enjoyed. It has been lots of fun thinking about all of the learning we have done this year and all of the things we are looking forward to. We cannot wait to have the opportunity to show this to you at the end of this module!
We were also lucky that we had Chef Aidan in who taught the children how to make Chelsea buns. Throughout the activity they were smiling and were keen to knead their buns. Once they were cooked the children enjoyed their hot Chelsea buns in class and were able to take a few home.
School information
School information
Talent show winners
As you will know, we held our Talent show a few weeks back now and we handed it over to all of the children across the school to vote for their favourite acts, taking into account our IB learner attributes and the confidence that the children conveyed in the show.
We are pleased to announce that all of the children that took part in the show have now received a medal and further prizes were awarded to the winners and runners up, including some Creams vouchers for them to enjoy;
1st - Year 6 Dance group
Joint 2nd - Charlie Year 2 - playing the drums and Lilly F-G Year 4 - Horse-riding
3rd - Year 1 Jaynee and Freya T for singing
Inconsiderate Parking
We are still experiencing very inconsiderate parking at the school with parents driving and reversing out of the gates and parking on the zig zag lines. Parents are also still driving into the school and parking at collection times which is unsafe for the parents and children being collected.
Unless there is an agreement for a medical reason or you hold a disabled badge, the car park is only available for staff use. This is to safeguard the children as they enter the school in the morning and it should only be the minibus that is travelling through the school grounds at this time.
Careers Fair
To celebrate our Careers Week here at Peninsula East, we held our very first Careers Fair! The children had a fantastic time being able to work around the hall whilst each company, organisation and representative had a stall showcasing their jobs and roles within a vast range of job sectors. We were also very fortunate to have local businesses in, so that the children could also develop an understanding of the local economy and the needs of our community.
We would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all of the companies and individuals that gave up their time to support with this, it was a fantastic experience for all children involved and will no doubt support their understanding of career paths and vocations as they progress through our school but also in their next stage of education.
We would like to thank:
Jack Rumble from Ewe Move Estate Agents
Stacey Acres from JH Commercial Catering Services
Scott Cleland from Paragon Drones
Sam Crawford from Geotechnical
T.Inspector Impett, S.C. Collyer, S.C. Burt and T.S.C. French from Kent Police
Robyn Offord from Bella Creative Designs
Lauren Chesmer
A representative from the Formula 1 Racing Team
Rachael Hills from Archaeology South East
Sam Smith from The National Fruit Show
Sharnette Ashiru from Anglia DNA
We would also like to thank A.C. Goathams who kindly sponsor The National Fruit Show, allowing them to visit schools and take part in events and workshops like ours to help develop educational opportunities for our children. They were also kind enough to donate a tree that we will be planting on our school grounds in the near future!
Careers Talks
To ensure that all of our children had access to some form of careers education this week. We had arranged for them to have some career talks within their classrooms. They were visited by the team from Kent Police, Sharnette Ashiru (a Forensic Scientist) and Rachael Hills (an Archaeologist).
The children were able to take part in a range of activities that included science experiments, looking at historical artefacts and exploring Police cars.
We would once again like to thank everyone that kindly gave up their time to help support us and our commitment to careers education, the children had a fantastic day.
Parent survey feedback
Thank you to all of our parents who answered the Trust parent survey that was sent out before half term, it ensures that we know our next steps and it is vital to receive parental feedback about the school. We have responded to individual comments from parents either by email or with a phone call to discuss further.
Some of the fantastic comments we received from parents included;
'Great communication with parents and the ability to showcase what the children are learning.'
'They communicate well, offer a wide range of co-curricular clubs and have a fantastic staff.'
'The opportunities available to children are wider than they were in recent years. My daughter this year so far has enjoyed trying out for the talent show. '
'My son only started last January and absolutely loves attending his school. Prefer this school to his old one and us as parents are being listened to when we brought our concerns about our son being on the ASD spectrum and the SENCO has been brilliant with helping us get the help we need for our son. '
'Communication has greatly improved. Each child is made to feel special and valued.'
Great school with a fantastic staff team.
Celebrates achievements.
It is an all round friendly school within a close knit community.
Organises events in the local and wider community increasing awareness of the area they live in.
I will also detail some of the constructive feedback received about what parents feel we need to work on as a school and what we plan to do for those;
'Face to face parents evenings again' - We plan to have a hybrid approach to parents evenings offering both virtual and face to face as parents and carers have expressed the ease of accessing from home but some also like to come into school.
'Offering a better variety of clubs that are open to all year groups as sometimes my children only have a choice of one club.' - We offer a variety of co-curricular clubs each term and always try to facilitate choices for all year groups. Where we have a small teaching staff and it is outside of their directed time in school, we have to ask staff to do this on a voluntary basis that doesn't impact on their workload. We are happy to organise outside agencies to provide clubs but this does come at an additional cost to parents and carers.
'More school trips' - As well as offering local trips, we will organise at least one school trip per class per year. We think it is wonderful to offer these experiences but we will need to ask for contributions towards costings due to our location and charges from using coaches for travel.
'Reminding parents of upcoming events as sometimes the parent app don’t work.' - If parents or carers are experiencing any difficulties in accessing My Child at School on their mobile phones or laptops, then we would encourage you to let the academy office know so that we can support you with this. We do also post regularly on our Facebook page too as we know many of our parents access this.
'More updates on what the children are learning and educating parents as school is a lot different to most of us when we went to school.' - We hold coffee mornings with our class teachers at the beginning of the school year and teachers will give out the key information about what children will need to know by the end of their year group in writing, reading and maths. We also have regular opportunities for parents to come in to join in with a maths lesson or PYP open afternoons. We also hold 2 parents evenings across the course of the year and will send out a mid-year and end of year report. You can also find out more about what the children are learning each term and throughout the curriculum on our website: www.pepa.org.uk
Information
St George's Day at All Saints Church
The church are holding a St. George's Day event on Saturday 22nd April, 2-4pm. They would like to invite the pupils to be involved and design their own shield, using our activity sheet (see below).
If you require a paper copy, please ask in the office.
Any completed shields returned to school will be collected either before the end of this term (Mon 27th March). Could we ask that the pupils put their name/ age/ class on any submissions, either front at top/bottom or on the back then we can ensure that any winners get their rewards and we can return their entries after the event in April. The designs would be displayed in the church on the event day so the pupils can then visit and see if their design is a winner! There are prizes available and we look forward to seeing what you create.
Maidstone Mind - Mental Health Training
Maidstone Mind have two upcoming dates for Everyday Mental Health Training - a free, one-hour course which provides an opportunity for people to learn more about mental health, how they can practice self-care, and also how they can support others who may be struggling.
This is a great course for families and parents/carers who may benefit from learning more about how they can have conversations about mental health. It’s also a great opportunity to give them advice around how they can cope with their mental health – something which is important given the challenges many of us face currently as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.
The next dates are on the 14th of March and the 20th of March – linked below.
https://www.maidstonemind.org/everyday-mental-health-training-14th-march/
https://www.maidstonemind.org/everyday-mental-health-training-20th-march/
We are also currently exploring offering more training sessions in a face-to-face capacity – and are keen to explore offering these sessions to schools who would like to enable their parents and carers to access a session. There would be no cost to you for the delivery of these sessions. For more details, please e-mail training@midkentmind.org.uk.
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