Newsletter 12 4th December 2020 Our primary objective is to keep our children, staff and school community safe. I must ask that if your child or a family member within the household is unwell with any of the key symptoms of COVID-19 (A new, continuous cough, a temperature over 37.8 or a loss or change to taste or smell), please do keep your children at home and follow the government guidance. This is very important for us all in making sure the run-up to Christmas is as safe as possible. Our wonderful children, families and my exceptional staff team are so deserving of a great Christmas - let's all work together to make the next two weeks the very best they can be! A Message From Mr Lillo Changes To Statutory Testing This Year The government has updated it’s guidance on statutory testing for primary schools. For the academic year 2020/21 we will still submit the EYFS profile at the end of Reception indicating whether or not the children have met the Good Level of Development. The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check will still take place in Year 1 and Year 2 children who didn’t pass the PSC in the autumn term will have the opportunity to take it in June. This year in Year 2 there will be no SATs. The teachers will submit teacher assessment for Reading, Writing and Maths. The Multiplication Check will be optional for Year 4. We have decided that they will be taking it. Year 6 will not take the Grammar Punctuation and Spelling test as they have done in previous years, but will still take the Reading and Maths SATs papers. The teachers will also be submitting teacher assessment in reading, writing and maths. These SATs will take place in May. Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2021-early-years-foundation-stage-assessment-and- reporting-arrangements-ara?utm_source=cbb56e44-966b-485e-98d6- 864ed90af8c1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=daily https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2021-key-stage-1-assessment-and-reporting-arrangements- ara?utm_source=57a58f0c-5f97-410c-80cf-2f87722737dc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk- notifications&utm_content=daily https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2021-key-stage-2-assessment-and-reporting-arrangements- ara?utm_source=a9f1aa24-d310-4aae-85bb-b3051ce2194c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk- notifications&utm_content=daily We will send further information closer to the time. Anti Bullying Task Force The Anti Bullying Task Force had their first meeting this week. The panel is made up of a range of people with different roles and responsibilities. Our Head Boy and Head Girl spoke about the playground equipment which is currently available and what they think would help to make the playtimes more enjoyable. They spoke highly of the school and talked about the changes we currently have in place since coming back after lockdown. We will be meeting again in February 2021 to discuss how the school deals with any bullying situations and how this can be improved further. Reminder! Years 2, 5 & 6 Enrichment Clubs have now finished for Autumn Term, so please collect your child at normal school finishing times as of next week. Years 1, 3 & 4 have one extra session next week to make up for the lost sessions due to INSET Days.
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Newsletter 12
4th December 2020
Our primary objective is to keep our children, staff and school community safe. I must ask that if your child or a family member within the household is unwell with any of the key symptoms of COVID-19 (A new, continuous cough, a temperature over 37.8 or a loss or change to taste or smell), please do keep your children at home and follow the government guidance. This is very important for us all in making sure the run-up to Christmas is as safe as possible.
Our wonderful children, families and my exceptional staff team are so deserving of a great Christmas - let's all work together to make the next two weeks the very best they can be!
A Message From Mr Lillo
Changes To Statutory Testing This Year
The government has updated it’s guidance on statutory testing for primary schools.
For the academic year 2020/21 we will still submit the EYFS profile at the end of Reception indicating whether or not the children have met the Good Level of Development.
The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check will still take place in Year 1 and Year 2 children who didn’t pass the PSC in the autumn term will have the opportunity to take it in June.
This year in Year 2 there will be no SATs. The teachers will submit teacher assessment for Reading, Writing and Maths.
The Multiplication Check will be optional for Year 4. We have decided that they will be taking it.
Year 6 will not take the Grammar Punctuation and Spelling test as they have done in previous years, but will still take the Reading and Maths SATs papers. The teachers will also be submitting teacher assessment in reading, writing and maths. These SATs will take place in May.
We will send further information closer to the time.
Anti Bullying Task Force
The Anti Bullying Task Force had their first meeting this week. The panel is made up of a range of people with different roles and responsibilities. Our Head Boy and Head Girl spoke about the playground equipment which is currently available and what they think would help to make the playtimes more enjoyable. They spoke highly of the school and talked about the changes we currently have in place since coming back after lockdown. We will be meeting again in February 2021 to discuss how the school deals with any bullying situations and how this can be improved further.
Nursery: Our theme this week in Nursery was Music. We looked at many different instruments and listened to the
sounds they make and found out how they were played. We made our own shakers and sung whole class songs
such as ‘Tanka Tanka Skunk’, using them as a percussion accompaniment. We have had great fun dancing along
to the ‘Animal Bop’ and the ‘Animal Boogie’. We even looked at sheet music and tried to write the musical notes
and symbols! We also started practicing for our Christmas sing-song and we used our handmade instruments to
keep to the beat!
Reception: This week Reception have had a wonderful week learning about the season, Winter. They have loved
watching the story The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and used the story to inspire their ideas for what their
snowman might do at night-time. The children also enjoyed learning about the Artic and the cold animals that live
there, such as polar bears and the beluga whale.
Year 1: Y1 have started a new book called “The Queen’s Hat”. We have been reading a fragment from the book
and children used their imagination and made predictions based on the text. In Maths, we have carried on solving
problems using the known strategies. In Science, children have enriched their knowledge about the five senses
and have had a detailed look at eye and sight. We have also talked about fire safety and created fire safety
posters. In History, children have played detectives and tried to figure out how The Great Fire of London might
have started. Today Year 1 have dressed up as adjectives, we were all amazed with their creativity and how the
children were able to explain the adjectives their outfit shows. We had lots of children who were sporty, sparkly,
scary and fluffy, then we had some more individual costumes described as adventurous, noble and noisy. We
would like to thank the parents/carers who supported developing the outfits and discussing the adjectives with
the children.
Year 2: Y2 worked very hard this week completing a Phonics Check. They all worked brilliantly and remembered
lots of their sounds. Mrs Cutter and Miss Bell are very proud of all the children. Well done Year 2!We have been
writing poems about their favourite foods. We have learned about syllable patterns and have had fun with
rhyming and assonance in our English! We’ve also continued to practice our multiplications in Maths and have
tested the rigidity of different materials. The highlight of the week was easily today however, when we all dressed
up as EXPLORERS! Fantastic effort Year 2!
Year 3: We have been practicing what we have learnt by answering test papers. It has been tricky but we have
done so well. In the afternoons we have been carrying on as usual being historians, scientists and gymnasts.
Year 4: We have future political party leaders in our midst! We have been putting together our own manifestos
and party speeches to become leaders of the school. We have had great fun conjuring up new ideas to improve
our school experiences. We have continued reading our book The Accidental Prime Minister, which has helped us
with our writing task. In maths we have been interpreting data and creating pictograms. We have also tested our
knowledge of the new learning that we have done in Year 4 so far. In PE we were concentrating on teamwork and
distance jumping… watch out Olympics 2024! In ICT we have created animations and used broadcasting tools to
make the animations move and talk. We have also been getting into the Christmas spirit and started practicing
our Christmas song! Fa la la la la…
Year 5: Year 5 have been continuing to learn about forces in Science. They undertook an investigation into the
best surface for a PE hall and used force meters to measure the force to pull a shoe. Today, they have all looked
incredible in their wonderful Viking costumes. During their Viking day, the children had lots of fun making rune
stones, creating Viking kennings and completing an investigation into floating long ships.
Year 6: Y6 have finished their work with fractions this week and moved on to statistics. We have seen some
children really excel in their understanding of plotting co-ordinates, translating, and reflecting a shape. In
Science, we looked at the eye and the links to light. Some children showed great understanding by producing
some wonderful masterpieces for their homework. In English, we concluded our work on Goodnight Mr Tom and
will continue the story as a class book. We also ended the unit of work by creating a comparative image in Art
from the descriptions they completed last week. In Topic, we have been using our inference skills to answer the
question, 'who am I?' Children had to work out who each character was, based on clues that were given to
them. In Music, each class composed our own Jazz piece and played along on the Glockenspiel.
What We’ve Been Up To This Week
Newsletter 12
4th December 2020
Newsletter 12
4th December 2020
Local Interest
South Norwood library – Croydon Council have marked South Norwood library for closure. Please visit https://friendsofsnlibrary.wixsite.com/home to sign the petition and find out more. There will be a socially distanced protest on Saturday 5th December at 11am Croydon town centre updates – following the lockdown, Check Out Croydon will have updates on how to stay safe while shopping: https://checkoutcroydon.com/news Social prescribing events – there are free events on a range of topics from loneliness and safeguarding to entrepreneurship available through Croydon CVA: https://cvalive.org.uk/calendar/