16th September

Dear Shacklewell community,

it seems like only yesterday that I was sitting down to write my final bulletin of academic year 2018-2019. I cannot believe that the summer has flown by so quickly but it has been wonderful being back at school and hearing about your varied adventures during July and August.

The school year has begun with real focus. The children have all settled incredibly well into their new classes and it is clear that they are relishing their new opportunities with their teachers and classmates.

The whole school has a range of priorities for this academic year but as I mentioned in the welcome back letter and as you will have heard at the meet the teacher events, promoting a love of reading is our number one goal for this year. Your children will have shown you their new reading albums if they are in Year 3-6. This beautiful binder is designed to chart their journey as a reader. It is self lead and requires the children to think very carefully about who they are as individual readers.

To enhance the position of reading within the school day we have opened a brand new library. This library occupies a space in the very heart of the school and will be run by Ms. Williams and her team of volunteer librarians. We do however need your help- if you have any books for children that you could possibly donate to us, it would help boost our stock and ensure every child is able to find something they love. More on this drive to improve reading standards can be found below.

If you are a new parent or haven't yet signed up now is the time, because this year we are going to be increasing our use of Twitter to showcase the fantastic learning here at Shacklewell. Click this link to be taken directly to our feed and if you have any questions about how and why we use Twitter do not hesitate to speak with me in the playground.

In addition to our huge focus on reading the curriculum at Shacklewell is undergoing a change too. The children will continue to learn in themed units but we are putting a greater emphasis on the individual academic disciplines like history, geography and science. We are also investing in ways to bring the curriculum to life, making the curriculum real for the children and to provide them with experiences they will remember for a long time. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming visits and trips.

You will also have noticed that our Knowledge Organisers have been updated to include links to prior knowledge. This is to ensure that the children are increasingly able to see the connections in their learning and to help them develop their understanding of how the world fits together.

Have a great week,

Rory

Curriculum lessons started brilliantly last week, with teachers planning memorable experiences to 'hook' the children into their learning.

Year 4 were lucky enough to visit the Guildhall Art Gallery to learn all about the history of Roman London. The children had the opportunity to handle real Roman artifacts and imagined what they were used for thousands of years ago. Back at school, they got busy creating their very own artwork- beautiful mosaics in the Roman style.

Year 6 delved straight into their topic, 'AD 900' by using the Now Press Play headsets to become Mayans, meandering through the palaces, pyramid-temples and grand ball courts, to complete their important mission.

Year 2 held a famous faces catwalk to kick of their topic, 'People of the Past'. The children made such a fantastic effort with their costumes and had so much fun guessing who the famous person was! They can't wait to learn all about these important historical figures in their curriculum lessons.

All children have been given a maker mat with some great ideas for creative curriculum projects at home. Please talk to your child about what they are learning in their curriculum lessons and if possible, help them to create something to bring into school.

This academic year we are making it our mission to instil a love of reading in every pupil. Our teachers do a fantastic job promoting different genres and text types and we welcome your help and support at home too.

To begin the school year we were fortunate to have a visit from the brilliant Tom McLaughin, a fantastic children's' author and illustrator. The children were fascinated to learn all about him before going on to read his book, 'The Story Machine', for our writing weeks.

As Mr McGrath mentioned, we have created a new library space and given our KS2 children new 'reading albums'. We have lots of excellent, recently published, stories in the library so hopefully we will see some entries created about these titles in your children's reading albums very soon!

We would also like to introduce you to the LoveReading portfolio of websites. Their mission is to support teachers and librarians to get the best books in schools either as core texts to support the curriculum or for reading corners and school libraries. We have recently signed up to be a member school of their site for schools – and would like to invite you to access our school’s page. You will need to create an account here. Once you have an account you can search for our school page or access our page using this link along with the password Shacklewell123.

If you are interested in seeing the book lists we have curated then access our pages. We know how challenging it is to find a ready selection of books to engage and inspire children to read for pleasure so we hope you will take a look at the reading recommendations for your children.