Micklem Newsletter

Learning in Classrooms

The last fortnight has been full of memorable activities across the school! The children enjoyed celebrating Bonfire Night, took part in thoughtful activities for Anti-Bullying Week, joined in the fun for Children in Need today, and reflected respectfully for Remembrance Day this week. It has been wonderful to see the pupils learning, creating, and showing kindness in so many ways.

In Science, Year 4 have been exploring electrical circuits using snap circuits and a variety of components. Rex and Poppi said, “We used crocodile clips, bulbs, fans, motors and switches. Miss Courtnell challenged us to light up as many bulbs as possible. We lit 9 bulbs, but we needed more batteries to make sure it had enough energy!” The class showed fantastic teamwork and curiosity while investigating how electricity flows through a circuit.

To conclude their French food unit from last half-term, Year 5 took inspiration from the artist Cézanne in their French lesson. The children created beautiful still-life pieces using hessian for the basket, cut-out fruit from coloured paper, and watercolours for the background. Their artwork looked vibrant and full of texture—just like a real Cézanne masterpiece!

Year 2 have been enjoying the story The Disgusting Sandwich this week. The children wrote about their favourite part of the story and created their own wonderfully “disgusting” sandwiches, complete with imaginative labels full of descriptive adjectives! Everyone loved using their creativity (and a bit of yuckiness!) to bring the story to life. Take a look at Edward, Yevin and Ayla's disgusting creations.

This week in the Sunshine LC, the children took a pencil for a walk in their sketchbooks, exploring creativity and letting their imaginations lead the way! They have also been focusing on the power of good as part of Anti-Bullying Week, thinking about how small acts of kindness can make a big difference to others. Take a look at Aaliyah-Mai, Jayden, SJ and Isla's amazing artwork.

Year 3 were very excited to open their History Box this week and explore a range of fascinating artefacts from the Stone Age. The children enjoyed examining the objects closely and making predictions about what they might have been used for. It was a fantastic hands-on start to their new history topic!

Year 6 had a special visit from Hemel Hempstead Specsavers this week. The children learned all about how our eyes work and the importance of looking after their eyesight. They enjoyed discovering how lenses help us see clearly, found out about the opticians' roles and received a gift bag to take home. It was a fascinating and informative session!

Year 1 has been learning how to give and follow instructions. They made Gruffalo Crumble from their book Gruffalo Crumble and Other Recipes. In Maths, they have been exploring parts and wholes and are beginning to write number sentences. Some of the children took this learning into their ‘explore and learn time’ and wrote their own sentences. In History, they have begun to look at toys from the past and present. They explored what the toys were made of, which also linked to their Science topic, ‘Everyday Materials’. They recognised Remembrance Day by learning about the meanings of the different coloured poppies and by making their own poppies, which they turned into a poppy garden outside.

This fortnight, the children in Nursery and Reception enjoyed bonfire-themed activities. They began by role-playing around a pretend bonfire, roasting imaginary marshmallows and making shapes with pretend sparklers. Later, they experienced a real bonfire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying the warmth and glow. It was a delightful mix of imagination and real-life fun!

Reception has also been learning how to follow step-by-step instructions. The children enjoyed making imaginative “biscuits” using orange sand mixed with ground ginger spices, adding foam for icing, and decorating them with acorns and conkers. They had a wonderful time exploring, creating, and practising their sequencing skills!

Experiences and Opportunities

Forest School

It has been another fun-packed fortnight at Forest School! The children have made their own fireworks and edible sparklers, and Nursery and Reception joined together for a special bonfire to celebrate Bonfire Night.

This week, they created poppy windmills for Remembrance Day. The highlight for the Sunshine room was using an old pumpkin to play hockey and football — great fun all round!

Performing Arts Club

Written by Eliza, Penny and Emily (Year 5).

When performing Arts Club went to JFK secondary school, we saw some girls doing cool tricks and we heard some songs such as Living on a Prayer, Heaven is a Place on Earth and I want to Dance with Somebody. We saw a girl called Robin. She was an international gymnast and she was in Year 8. There were tap dancers, Irish dancers and ballet dancers. We also saw lots of flips and big lifts. We had a great time!

Art Club

The Art Club has been continuing its exciting journey into the world of Picasso’s artwork. Recently, the children have been exploring Picasso’s unusual ceramic pots and taking inspiration from his creative designs to make their own!

KS1 children have been busy working with clay to shape their unique pieces, while KS2 pupils have enjoyed decorating terracotta pots. Everyone has been learning the beautiful technique of decoupage to add vibrant colours and patterns to their creations.

The finished pots will be coming home in December — we can’t wait for you to see them!

Remembrance Day

This week, our school came together to mark Remembrance Day with reflection and creativity. Reception children made their own beautiful poppies, while Year 1 created a striking poppy display to honour those who served.

At lunchtime, many pupils chose to write messages and draw thoughtful pictures about what remembrance means to them. We then joined as a whole school for a special assembly, followed by a two-minute silence to remember and give thanks. The children showed great respect and maturity throughout, and we are very proud of how sensibly they marked the occasion.

Anti-Bullying Week

The theme for this year's anti-bullying week was “Power for Good”. Throughout it, we have enjoyed thought provoking activities, assemblies and classroom discussions about recognising bullying in all its forms, and promoting kindness, respect and inclusion.

This started with 'Odd Socks' day and sharing our inner super powers (what we are already good at) and action super powers (how we can help others). We focussed on what makes us unique, to demonstrate that differences are to be valued.

We finished the week with our ‘spotacular’ fundraising effort for children in need - an opportunity to use our 'Power for Good'.

Should your child ever raise concerns about bullying, or if you have any worries, please do contact us so we can work together to address them. The Anti-Bullying Alliance website also has useful advice and resources regarding this: Advice for parents and carers

Breakfast Club

To celebrate Bonfire Night, the children at Breakfast Club made their own edible sparklers using breadsticks, melted chocolate, and colourful sprinkles. It was a fun—and delicious—way to mark the occasion and get into the Bonfire Night spirit.

Alongside this, the children have been enjoying a variety of activities to start the day with energy and laughter, including music and musical chairs on Fridays, fast-paced dodgeball games, and plenty of time playing on the ropes and gymnastics equipment. Breakfast Club has been full of fun, movement, and creativity!

Celebrating Success

Class Dojo

This year, we have introduced Class Dojo. A way of celebrating individuals and classes that are following our school rules of:

Be Kind. Show Respect. Aim High.

Children will be able to receive one or two points for these core values from any member of staff. We will keep an eye on which individuals, classes and house groups are being the kindest, most respectful and ambitious over the year.

Blue House

144

Green House

164

Red House

179

Yellow House

162

BIGGEST INCREASE IN CORRECT

ANSWERS:

1st) Abigail- Year 2

2nd) Theo A- Year 2

3rd) Chloe- Year 2

BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT IN STUDIO SPEED:

1st) Penelope- Year 5

2nd) LJ- Year 5

3rd) Pwamori- Year 5

Attendance

Nursery

80.7%

Reception

93.5%

Year 1

95.2%

Year 2

92%

Year 3

88.6%

Year 4

89.2%

Year 5

96.5%

Year 6

95%

Congratulations to Year 5 for aiming high with their attendance this week. The class will receive bonus Class Dojo points for Aiming High!

Learning of the Week

Every week, we celebrate extraordinary learning that has taken place in classes. It may be that they have pushed passed an obstacle in their learning; worked on their presentation; thought about how to help others amongst other things.

Our Learning of the Week for the last fortnight goes to:

Reception

Oliver - For trying hard in phonics.
Seren - For trying hard in phonics.
Darcy - For great participation in phonics.
Willow - For always being polite and sharing beautifully with others this week.

Year 1

Natalia - Natalia made a fantastic clay model toy for us to put in our toy shop role play. She added a lot of detail and carefully painted it.
Leia - Leia made a fantastic clay model to go in our toy shop role play. She made a mobile phone and spent a long time rolling and pressing individual buttons on and painting her chosen colours.
Alice - Alice has been working really hard to apply her learning in Maths and Phonics. She has used her phonic knowledge to write the daily sentence and in Maths, she could apply the use of the ‘plus’ and ‘is equal to’ symbols to write some number sentences.
Riley - Riley used his learning from Maths to write his own independent number sentences applying the use of the ‘plus ‘ and ‘is equal to’ symbols.

Year 2

Margot - For always trying her best with her handwriting and letter formation when writing her name.
Mohammed - For doing so brilliantly in maths this week. He has been trying extremely hard with his subtractions and has used manipulatives to help him.
Ayla - This week Ayla has been doing some lovely maths work on 2D shapes. Ayla took her time drawing the 2D shapes neatly with a ruler.
Edward - For creating an amazing and imaginative disgusting sandwich. Keep up the hard work Edward we are all very proud of you!

Year 3

Paloma - Paloma has been fantastic during Maths this week. She has been using her resources to help support her learning when adding two numbers together, which equal more than 10.
Cody - Cody got the majority of his spellings right this week, which is fantastic. Amazing work Cody, keep it up!!
Henley - Henley’s attitude towards learning this week has been fantastic. He has tried his best with every challenge faced and asked adults for help when he has needed it.
Stefan P - During English this week, Stefan was able to use his five different senses to help him describe the setting from our new book ‘The Worst Witch’. He included powerful adjectives and was also able to include alliteration.

Year 4

Imani - Imani has made a huge effort to join in with class discussion. She is really thinking about how her ideas can add to our learning and is raising her hand more and more!
Harleigh - Harleigh has been putting in huge efforts with her times tables. Her TTRS grid shows she is getting all 12 X tables in under 6 seconds.
Jason - Jason has been trying hard in French over the last few weeks. Mrs Lopez and us have been very impressed with his attitude and determination!
Archie - Archie’s attitude towards all of his learning has been incredible. He is trying so hard to put the effort in to every area of learning. Archie had some great ideas for our guided reading discussion and even scored full marks in our recent maths check!

Year 5

Iosif - Iosif did really well in our recent maths assessment about multiplication and division. Keep up the good work.
Ellis - Ellis’s engagement and contributions during guided reading this week have been so impressive. He has had his hand up lots and has been able to use evidence from the text to justify his answer.
Eliza - Eliza made a fantastic start to her newspaper report this week. She used a formal tone, high level vocabulary and took lots of care with her punctuation and handwriting.
Saule - Saule has been making a fantastic effort to put her hand up and make contributions to class discussions this week. She has been really engaged and focused in our Maths lessons. Well done and keep it up!

Year 6

Liam - Liam has been aiming high this week. He has come back from half term with a mature attitude to learning. His hand has been up a lot more than usual and he’s really been engaged. Keep up the hard work Liam!
Antonia - Antonia always tries hard at school. She takes on board all of what she is taught to improve her writing.
Elsa - This week we have been reading a book for anti-bullying week ‘Ella on the outside’. As part of this we have been thinking about our inside and outside characteristics. Elsa wrote a really lovely poem about her inside and outside self. Well done Elsa - Keep working hard!
Laney - Laney has been aiming high this week in maths. She has been able to find equivalent fractions on a numberline and has been extremely confident with sharing her answers. Well done Laney - you always work so hard.

Sunshine Learning Community

Jayden - For making great progress in your swimming lessons! You love the water and enjoy splashing others!
Riley - For making such progress in swimming, you kept trying even though it was challenging! We are very proud of your achievements!
Aaliyah-Mai - For creating a beautiful art piece, taking her time to take the line for a walk, choosing her colours and adding patterns to make the shapes pop out - Well done Aaliyah-Mai!
James - For showing a keen interest in Maths this week, independently completing learning tasks and asking for more to consolidate his understanding!

Well done to everyone who worked so hard this fortnight, it is fantastic to see so many positive learning experiences!

Pupil Leadership

School Council

Each class has now chosen two school councillors to represent them on the School Council. These pupils will share their classmates’ ideas, help make decisions, and take part in projects to improve our school. We’re proud of everyone who put themselves forward and look forward to seeing the great work our new councillors will do this year!

Reception - Rayn and Jules

Year 1 - Maya and Johnny

Year 2 - Finlay and Alessya

Year 3 - Bella and Scarlett

Year 4 - Harleigh and Poppi

Year 5 - Harry and Char

Year 6 - Liam and Archie

Letters

Please find all of our latest letters here: https://www.micklem.herts.sch.uk/letters/

If you have any questions regarding anything coming up, do not hesitate to ask.

Upcoming Dates

Tuesday 18th November - Individual school photos

Friday 21st November - Year 2 Multi Skills trip

Friday 28th November - INSET Day

Monday 15th December 15:15-16:00 - Elfridges Christmas Market

Tuesday 16th December 9:15-10:15 - Nursery and Reception Christmas Performance

Wednesday 17th December 9:15-10:15 - KS1 Christmas Performance

Wednesday 17th December 17:00-18:00 - KS1 Christmas Performance

Friday 19th December - Christmas Jumper and Christmas Lunch Day

Friday 19th December 9:00-10:00 - Carols around the tree and PTA Christmas raffle

PTA

To secure your child's place at the Elfridges Christmas Market please go to Arbor - School Shop - Elfridges Christmas Market. The cost is £3 per child and they may also bring spending money to buy gifts from the pop up market stalls.

Christmas Squares are on sale now in classrooms at a cost of £1 per square.

School Car Park & Morning Drop off

We would like to remind parents and carers that the school car park is not for dropping off or picking up children at any time. Also, please can we ask that families use the main gate, which is open from 8:45 – 8:55 am to drop off their child. We’ve noticed more children being brought through the car park gate, even when they arrive on time, which can create delays as our office staff need to respond to the bell each time. Thank you for helping us keep arrival times smooth and safe by using the main gate.

May we please also remind parents and carers that you are not permitted to use the car park of the flats by the school at any time

SEND and Family Support

The Hertfordshire SEND Local Offer

The Hertfordshire SEND Local Offer lets parents and young people know what special educational needs and disabilities services are available in Hertfordshire, and who can access them.

Over the next few newsletters we will be highlighting some of their different support pages.

This week we are focusing on their Neurodiversity support. This includes:

the Neurodiversity support hub advice line
Courses, workshops and apps for children and young people
Practical strategies and resources for supporting neurodivergent young people
Support groups and networks
Courses and workshops for parents and carers, and activities for young people
Neurodiversity handbook and neurodiversity directory
Recorded webinars on Neurodiversity
Organisations that can help

<--- Click on the link to find out more about neurodiversity support in Hervtfordshire.

Page updated

Report abuse