It was another great week at Grazebrook last week; a real triumph of the week was our focus on friendship and kindness through Anti-bullying week - it was lovely to see so many smiling faces on Odd Sock day and Friendship Friday. We are looking forward to continuing the legacy of these special events.

We were also privileged to host a delegation of Norwegian visitors who wanted to see how technology is integrated into our curriculum, including how we develop coding skills for our pupils. I was very impressed as I showed the visitors around; the pupils' technological skills, as well as their communication skills and ability to work in a team is a real credit to them and the staff at the school. It made me really proud to see our fabulous pupils in action, showcasing their learning to visitors with confidence and enthusiasm.

Note for your diaries - Dr Bike is making a welcome return on Friday 22nd November 8.30am-10.30am for FREE bike checks, minor bike fixes and cycling TLC - Bikers Breakfast too. There is also the Year 2 Reading breakfast to look forward to on Friday. Next week, please remember our Parents' Consultations are on 28th November. Letters came home last week outlining how to book a slot, please contact the school office if you need any assistance. Next week also sees our first Festival of Reading on 29th - pupils are invited to come into school dressed up as a character from a book so do get those outfits ready!

We also have our travelling book fair returning to school from Thursday, please do take advantage and make the most of it, books start from as little as £1 and will be open for browsing before and after school from Thursday 21st until Monday 25th.

Have a lovely week,

Jess Hutchison

The theme for this year's Anti-bullying week is The Change Starts with Us, encouraging children to think about how they would like the world to be and what changes they can make themselves. Throughout the week we focussed on this theme, in class, in our assemblies and also through whole school activities like Odd Sock day and Friendship Friday. A huge thank you to our PSA who funded the Play in a Day with Konflux theatre, allowing our pupils to really think and reflect about the way our behaviours can have an impact on others.

The theme of friendship and kindness will continue throughout the half term as we revisit and develop pupils' understanding of these important themes.

This Friday morning saw our second reading breakfast of the academic year. It was wonderful to see so many families turn up for the event. Thank you to all who came and made it such a special morning- we hope you had fun!

Next week is Year 2's Reading Breakfast, we'd love to see you there and don't forget to save the date for our Reading Festival on 29th November - we are inviting all our pupils to dress up as their favourite characters. Don't forget our book fair too - it starts this Thursday and there are bargains to be had as well as money to be raised for the school to buy books too.

We are computer scientists!

In Year 5 the sound of drones filled the air last week. Year 5 pupils used their coding expertise to fly drones around the solar system, they also used their maths knowledge of angles to make sure the drones were flying in the right direction and were developing their understanding of language like pitch and yaw to make their mission to Mars successful.

Elsewhere in the school our Reception and Year 1 pupils were being their coding journey, using the App Tynker and Beebots to begin to think about block coding to problem solve and ways to debug their code if problems arise. In other year groups our understanding of our science topics was enhanced using technology. We were making stop motion animations of the digestive system or explaining magnetic forces using Keynote.

Another treat awaited us last week with a visit from Apollo Music. There was an assembly for Key Stage Two in which we were entranced by the four live classical musicians who performed for us and told us all about the pieces of music we were listening to, their composers and the individual instruments within the quartet. Year 4 then had workshops which further deepened our understanding of classical music and of string instruments in particular as well as reflecting on the emotional responses we have to certain pieces of music. We can't wait for the project to unfold and for us to learn more about an orchestra.

We also had a fantastically busy sporting week with pupils from Grazebrook trying their hand at a number of different sports. Our Year 3 team took part in the Hackney Schools Tri Golf festival at Queensbridge Leisure Centre on Wednesday - there were lots of smiles all round as pupils tried something new.

Grass, Mud, Tarmac, Hills, Corners, Hurdles - our team of Year 5 & 6 cyclists took the Young Hackney Schools CycloCross Event in their stride. A great ride by our team over at Hackney Downs. Well done to all our teams!