This half term, the children are focusing on being geographers in their humanities lessons. Mr Zanier, our geography leader, and our geography pupil ambassadors led an assembly at the start of the term to remind us of what it means to be a geographer at Grazebrook. They talked about how we use fieldwork to gather information and maps and atlases to identify and explain features of a region. 

Key Stage 1 are deepening their knowledge of the human and physical features of cities through trips to the Southbank for Year 1 as part of their 'England' topic and Hackney City Farm for Year 2 as part of their 'London and Alexandria' unit. To support your child with their geography learning outside of school, you might want to visit Walthamstow Marshes or Woodberry Wetlands,  Epping Forest or the Docklands including the Museum of London in the Docklands.

Key Stage 2 are taking their geography learning further afield. Year 3 are exploring settlements and using Digimap and Google Earth to make comparisons between different settlements in England. Year 4 are learning about tectonic plates and why some countries are more susceptible to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Year 5 are building their knowledge of the features of different biomes and climate zones in their 'Our Planet' topic. Year 6 are considering the impact of human actions on the world by exploring issues such as global warming and deforestation. The BBC Bitesize website is a useful resource to explore these topics at home with pages on settlements, earthquakes, volcanoes, the environment and biomes, 

Year 5 took to the stage for the first Learning Celebration Assembly of 2024. The children drew from their history learning in Autumn 2 to share lots of fascinating facts about the Vikings. Max, Lara, Alessandro and Roza taught us that the Vikings used long boats to allow many people to travel in one boat and that the design of the boats allowed the Vikings to travel in strong currents as well as through deep and shallow waters. Poppy, Phoebe and Ayana taught us that although most people think of the Vikings as warriors, many came to the British Isles for a better life. They were skilled farmers and crafters who liked to keep clean and play games in their spare time. 

Nursery and Reception got creative with their families at their Come Learn With Me. The Nursery children shared their learning about winter by investigating ice and making snow people. The Reception children showcased their excellent cutting skills to create under water scenes. 

We were really impressed by the Reception children's eye-catching and persuasive posters inspired by the stories they have read in class: Clean Up by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola, Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts and Hannah Peck and Little Turtle and the Sea by Becky Davies and Jennie Poh. The children would like everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle their plastic to help stop water pollution and save the turtles and other animals affected by the plastic in our seas and oceans. 

Year 1 have been very focused practising their cursive handwriting in preparation for using joined up writing. They have also been learning how to tell the time to o'clock and half past using analogue clocks in their maths lessons. In computing they have learnt that a command is a single instruction and that one command can make a Bee-Bot move. They have also learnt that a set of instructions that make a Bee-Bot do things is called code. 

Year 2 have been identifying fractions of amounts and shapes in their maths lessons. Ms McLaughlin and Ms Peters have been really impressed by the children's use of models and systematic steps to solve problems. 

Together, the children have been reading Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett. In the story, Sunny the Meerkat goes on an adventure visiting members of his extended family. He sends home postcards and letters describing what he has seen and done. The children were inspired to write their own postcards and letters describing their life at Grazebrook. 

Year 3 have been very busy learning about the properties of different rocks in their science lessons. The children used their new knowledge to identify and classify unknown rocks. This week, they will be making observations of rocks that have changed over time in Abney Park and using their observations to explain the process of erosion as well as identify why some rocks are better for different purposes than others. Next week, they will meet Mary Anning to learn about fossils. 

Year 4 have been reading The Firework Maker's Daughter by Phillip Pullman. The book inspired them to make fireworks which the children have used to decorate their writing learning walls in their classroom. We were impressed by the way the children collaborated and supported each other to be successful. In geography, the children learnt about the layers of the Earth. The children independently used their iPads to follow instructions to create diagrams to illustrate their new knowledge. 

5G visited Salter's Hall as part of the Wild City programme. Wild City is a free science-based project that brings to life biodiversity for Year 5 students, based in London. It is a five-month project where our children will get to work with experts, the Salters’ Institute and Edible Landscapes London to explore the importance of green spaces in their lives and local communities. During their visit, the children tested different types of soil and explored a range of edible plants which could be grown in the Grazebrook grounds. 

Last half term, Year 6 studied the artist Lubaina Himid. She uses pattern and colour to create both 2D and 3D artwork. In her work, she uses 3D figures to tell a story through their clothes, expressions and actions. Year 6 created their own figures to capture their identities. Their artworks are now on display outside the 6B classroom to inspire the other children to celebrate their uniqueness and showcase their creativity. 

We have just completed our annual pupil reading survey.  During the survey the children from Years 1 to 6 were asked about their opinions of reading, how they view themselves as a reader and their favourite genres, authors/poets and books. This information helps us to refine our curriculum and continue to ensure all the children develop as confident readers who enjoy books and are able to talk about their reading with others. We were really impressed by the range and number of authors, poets and books named as favourites. The results can be found below. 

Talking to children about books and stories can help them to realise how exciting they are. Showing an interest in what they've read, asking questions about it and swapping opinions helps them to develop a lifelong love of reading. The BookTrust have produced some useful top tips to support with talking to your child about reading. Please find the link here.

As you are aware, it is our ambition to ensure all of our pupils are at school as often as possible as we know that children who regularly attend school are more settled and achieve stronger outcomes over time. We set a whole school attendance target of 97%. Since September, school attendance has been 96.1%, however, we have seen a dip in this figure this term. Please be reminded that term-time absences can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances and that a request for leave with evidence of the reason must be submitted to the school office. Holidays taken during term time cannot be authorised and may result in a fine. 

We also ask that you continue to support us by providing evidence when your child has a medical appointment on a school day and that if your child is unwell, you contact the school office by 9am to inform us that your child will not be attending school on that day. Emails relating to absence should be sent to gboffice@newwavefederation.co.uk for the attention of Pam Sealy.

A polite reminder that dogs (including those being carried) are not permitted on the school grounds. This is a Hackney policy that applies to all local authority schools in the borough. We thank you for your support with this. 

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. At times, you may wish to contact the member of staff in charge of your child's year group. At Grazebrook, these are: 

Nursery and Reception: Ms Kelly O'Callaghan (EYFS Leader) 

Year 1, Year 2, Year 3: Ms Caireann Conlon or Ms Joanna Ichim (Assistant Headteachers)

Year 4, Year 5, Year 6: Ms Simone Bunbury (Assistant Headteacher) 

SEND: Ms Caireann Conlon (Assistant Headteacher) 

All email queries, including those for the attention of a class teacher or school leader, should be sent to gboffice@newwavefederation.co.uk in the first instance with the addressee and/or topic in the subject line. These will be forwarded to the relevant member of staff.