2nd March

Dear families,

the first week back to school has been very successful. The children have settled into their new science topics incredibly well. They have also enjoyed their first writing week, examining the style and language in a new story. This week they will invent their own original stories using the approach of their class author.

A major event for us at Shacklewell this week is World Book Day. This year we are celebrating by dressing up as our favourite characters from stories we love. We will also share stories, listen to new authors and read our books throughout the day. Some children will also visit Stoke Newington Bookshop to spend their £1 vouchers and collect some brand new books for their class library. I know that a new costume can be expensive, and in all honesty I would rather the money spent on books, so I have reminded the children to recycle and reuse items they may have already to create their costumes. If you are looking for advice or guidance about World Book Day then click this link.

Over the coming weeks we have a great number of ways for families to get involved with school. We have redesigned our Come Learn with Me for this half term so that they have a science focus. Children in Year 3, 4 and 5 will work with their families on a range of exciting scientific investigations on Thursday 12th (Year 5), Thursday 19th (Year 4) and Thursday 2nd April (Year 3). All of these sessions will run from 9.00am-10.00am and we are looking forward to welcoming families to these events.

Alongside these science events we are also getting ready for a busy term of assessments in summer 1 by hosting parent information sessions before the Easter break. Children in Year 6 will complete their national exams in May 2020 and to help families prepare we are hosting a Year 6 SATs information event on Tuesday 17th March at 3.30pm. The children in Year 1 will be completing an assessment of their phonics in June. This Phonics Screening Check is a great way to identify potential gaps in the children's phonetic knowledge and to support families understanding of this we will be running a parent session on Tuesday 31st at 9.00am. Our final assessment parent session this half term will be for Year 4. This year the children in Year 4 will sit an electronic test called the Multiplication Times tables Check. This new national assessment is designed to check the children's abilities to recall the multiplication tables. To help the families in Year 4 understand this new assessment we will be running a parent session on Thursday 2nd April at 3.30pm. In addition to the above we will also be hosting Parent Consultation evening on Thursday 26th March.

Here at Shacklewell we understand that we are part of the wider local and national community, and as a result we have to be mindful of events occurring outside our immediate experience. Whilst we are not explicitly talking about coronavirus with the children we have increased our monitoring of good hygiene practices. Children are told to wash their hands before and after being in the playground and before lunchtime. We have increased our number of hand sanitisers in the building and have plans to add hand washing facilities to each playground. We understand parental concern about this issue and we are working to find the right balance so that our day to day school work continues uninterrupted.

As always if you have any questions about the bulletin or events at school then please do not hesitate to contact me,

Rory

Key Dates