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.

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.

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.

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.

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.