Grazebrook Primary School Bulletin
Monday 11th October 2021
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Message from Mrs Beecroft
Message from Mrs Beecroft
Dear Grazebrook families
We have been very busy at Grazebrook over the last few weeks with children engaged in their learning across the curriculum. Children have been building their knowledge of place value and calculation in maths, deepening their understanding through using concrete manipulatives and pictorial representations, explaining their thinking and developing their reasoning with their talk partners. In geography lessons, children have been exploring maps, digital maps, globes and atlases and beginning to use fieldwork to gather data, create maps of their own and draw comparisons between locations. Using scientific enquiry to embed and deepen knowledge has seen children taking part in lots of exciting practical learning in their science lessons. Some year groups have even set up studies over time, which will see them gather data to answer scientific questions in the units of study in the summer term.
The start of October saw the return of the PSA Barn Dance. A huge thank you to those who organised and ran the event and supported the school through buying tickets. Nearly £2000 was raised which will support the school with subsidising and paying for curriculum trips, the year 6 PGL residential and our visit to Hackney Empire in December.
A wide range of trips and activities are currently being finalised for the rest of the term. Please see the key dates section for more information. You will also see that our much loved reading breakfasts will return after half term. These will take place between 8.30am and 8.50am on Friday mornings. We are aiming for all year groups to have the opportunity to attend at least two reading breakfasts over the course of the year.
If you have any friends or family currently interested in applying to Grazebrook for Nursery or Reception next year, please encourage them to get in touch with the school office as tours of the school will begin again before half term and will take place each week across Autumn 2. Further details and dates will be shared with families shortly.
Finally, individual photos of children will be taken this Friday. Please ensure children are in full school uniform on this day. If children have PE or dance on Friday, they may bring their PE kit to change into instead of wearing it to school if you wish them to be photographed in a school polo shirt rather than t-shirt.
We are geographers
We are geographers
Across the school, the children have had the opportunity to develop their locational knowledge and map skills in their geography lessons this half term. Year 1 children created maps of a local walk and Year 2 used a map to find their way around Clissold Park identifying key features. Year 3 and 4 will be going further afield exploring Waltham Abbey and Alexandra Palace on Wednesday. Greenwich Museum will be brought to Year 6 on Thursday with workshops designed to consolidate children's knowledge of latitude, longitude, the Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle and the Greenwich Meridian. Children will discover why maps look like they do and learn about the people behind these important geographical items.
We are poets
We are poets
As part of our English curriculum, the children read, write and perform a range of poetry. Here are some of the poetry anthologies the children will be reading across the school this year.
Here are Year 4 sharing their autobiographical kennings poems inspired by Rachel Rooney's excellent poetry anthology, 'A Kid in my Class'.
After the success of the poetry reading webinars with Joseph Coelho during the partial school closures, we have decided to book a series of further events with authors to inspire the children to keep reading and writing their own poems and stories. The first of these will take place in December when the Year 5 and 6 children will be taking part in a poetry writing workshop with the London and Lagos raised author and poet, Karl Nova.
We are scientists
We are scientists
During their science lessons this term, the children not only have developed their substantive knowledge of scientific vocabulary and facts, they have also developed their scientific enquiry skills or disciplinary knowledge. Children learn to ask and answer scientific questions by observing over time; identifying and classifying; carrying out comparative and fair tests; seeking patterns and researching using secondary sources.
Here are year 1 comparing and grouping together the same object by material and a variety of everyday objects made from different materials based on the properties of that material.
Year 3 carried out practical activities to explore which materials reflect light and which are non-reflective. They conducted a comparative test to identify the most reflective material which could be used for a Grazebrook jacket to keep children visible and safe whilst walking to and from school during the dark winter months.
Year 5 have been learning about reversible and irreversible changes. They have been exploring dissolving and conducted a fair test to find patterns in the relationship between the number of stirs and the time taken for salt to dissolve in water.
Key concepts and vocabulary being taught in science this half term can be found on our knowledge organisers located in the classes section of our school website.
Supporting Healthy Lifestyles
Supporting Healthy Lifestyles
It has been absolutely fantastic to see so many children being active at playtimes in our amazing playgrounds and taking part not only in their weekly PE lessons which include dance for years 2 and 3 and swimming for year 5, but also participating in the wide range of sports and active after school clubs on offer. Many children have been regularly taking part in our lunchtime dance clubs on Thursdays and Fridays, as well as events and tournaments. These will continue to be offered to a wide selection of children over the course of the year. So far this term, these have included the Hackney Half School Challenge, a tag rugby festival and Bikeability cycle training. Our year 2s have the opportunity to take part in scooter safety workshops tomorrow delivered by For2Feet funded by Hackney Council.
Home Learning
Home Learning
A huge thank you to all the children who have been completing and sharing home learning projects. Here are just a small selection of those currently on display across the school. We have also loved the projects completed and posted on Google Classroom which have included films, presentations and interviews. There's still plenty of time to complete and bring in or submit an activity this half term. Maker Mats can be found in the curriculum section for each year group on the classes page of our website. Click here to find them.
Grazebook Learning Council and Parent Council
Grazebook Learning Council and Parent Council
We have had a tremendous response from pupils wishing to become members of the Grazebrook learning council. Children shortlisted will be invited to attend a short interview with Mr Kilty and another member of the school leadership team before final selections are made and announced before half term. Members of the council will change over time and children who are not successful in this round will have the opportunity to serve on the council at a later date.
Many thanks to those of you who have expressed an interest in being part of the parent council this year. As several year groups are currently not represented, the council will run slightly differently with more opportunities for families to receive information and ask questions through coffee mornings run by myself and members of the leadership team. The first of these will be with Mr Kilty with a focus on our history curriculum.
Autumn Term Key Dates
Autumn Term Key Dates
11/10/21-13/10/21 Year 6 CATs testing
12/10/21 Year 2 For2Feet scooter training
12/10/21 Junior Road Safety Officer training event
13/10/21 Year 3 Waltham Abbey field trip
13/10/21 Year 4 Alexandra Palace field trip
13/10/21 Tennis Serves Festival
14/10/21 Greenwich Museum workshops in school for Year 6
15/10/21 Individual school photos
20/10/21 Purple and Orange field trips to Clissold Park
20/10/21, 10/11/21 & 24/11/21 Apollo Music Workshops for Year 4
20/10/21 Girls and Boys Football Teams Tournaments
21/10/21 History Curriculum Family Coffee Morning
25/10/21-29/10/21 Half Term - school closed
31/10/21 Hackney deadline for Secondary School applications
05/11/21 Year 1 Family Reading Breakfast
10/11/21 High Five Year 5 and 6 Mixed Netball Tournaments
15/11/21-19/11/21 Anti-bullying Week
12/11/21 Year 2 Family Reading Breakfast
19/11/21 Year 3 Family Reading Breakfast
22/11/21 Reception to Year 6 Flu Jabs
24/11/21 KS1 Multi-Skills Sports Tournament
26/11/21 Reception Family Reading Breakfast
26/11/21 Year 4 visit to the British Museum
29/11/21 6G visit to the British Museum
01/12/21 KS2 Dodgeball Festival
02/12/21 6B visit to the British Museum
07/12/21 Year 4 Apollo Music concert trip
08/12/21 Panathlon Competition
09/12/21 Hackney Empire Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime
13/12/21 EYFS Hobgoblin Travelling Panto, The Snow Queen
15/12/21 Karl Nova poetry workshops for Years 5 and 6
17/12/21 Last day of the Autumn Term
04/01/22 Inset Day for staff
05/01/22 Children return to school
15/01/22 Hackney deadline for Reception applications
Key Contacts
Key Contacts
If you have any queries regarding you child's learning the first point of contact is your child's class teacher. You can speak to them at the end of the day or contact our school office to arrange a phone call or face-to-face meeting with them. At times, you may wish to contact the member of staff in charge of your child's year group. At Grazebrook, these are our phase leaders and assistant headteachers:
Nursery and Reception: Ms Joanna Ichim
Years 1, 2 and 3: Mr Harry Spencer
Years 4, 5 and 6: Ms Lucy Spreckley
All email queries should be sent to gboffice@newwavefederation.co.uk in the first instance with the addressee or topic in the subject bar. These will be forwarded to the relevant member of staff. Please do not use year group emails for years 1 to 6 as these are no longer regularly checked.
Mrs Jennifer Smith, our SENCo, will be absent until after half term. In her absence, any queries regarding special educational needs should be directed to Ms Lindsey O'Shea.
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