Livingstone Newsletter
January Week 1
PTA Comedy Night - Thursday 30th January
Friday 10th January
Tickets are still available on School Money under the 'Clubs' tab for purchase at £15 per ticket. You will not want to miss out so be quick to avoid disappointment. Over 18s only.
Join us for a night of laughter!
New Term Dates 24/25 - Updated!
We have added two more INSET Days into the Summer term now that confirmation has been received.
Please see the updated term dates below.
Attendance
Important Reminder: If reporting an absence please call/ email the school office by 8:30am on the day of absence.
This week, we held a special assembly focused on the importance of attendance. We discussed with the children why being at school every day is so valuable—not just for their learning but also for building friendships, developing routines, and embracing all the wonderful experiences school life has to offer.
As part of the assembly, we celebrated the achievements of our pupils with outstanding attendance during the autumn term. Many gold, silver, and bronze certificates were handed out, and it was fantastic to see the excitement and pride on the children's faces.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support in promoting regular attendance. Your efforts ensure that your children get the most out of their time at school, and we truly appreciate your partnership in this.
Let’s keep up the great work as we head into the spring term!
Cinema Night - Change of Date
Cinema Night is now going to happen on Thursday 6th February.
The first screening of the films will start at 1.30pm for EYFS and finish at normal time. The second screening for KS1 and KS2 will start at 2.30pm and will finish at 4.15pm.
The cost of this event is £1.00 and includes popcorn and a drink.
Pupils can also bring in pocket money as there will be Enterprise stalls run by pupils and by the PTA. Pupils will have a chance to buy toys, games, books, comics, jewellery, sweet treats and hot chocolate.
Money raised at this event will be shared with the pupils/ entrepreneurs, the school and charities nominated by the School Council.
More information to follow...
Thank You!
Happy New Year and thank you to everyone who made a contribution towards the school Christmas Fair by sending donations, helping out, buying tickets, coming along and bringing friends and family. Including Santa's Grotto, the Raffle, Bid Up, and eBay Sales, we made over £5,000. After deducting expenses, we have well over £4,000, which we will use to create a shelter in the Forest School. This will enable us to extend the range of activities on offer for all the pupils and allow us to use the space more often.
Here is a quick breakdown of our contributions:
- Fair: £3,378
- Grotto: £1,230
- Donations in Cash and Vouchers: £285
- Bid Up: £171
- eBay Sales of donated gifts: £43
Expenditure
Grotto £361+ (some gifts were carried over from last year)
Christmas Tree £315
Christmas Fair Expenses £327
We still have gifts and donations left, which will be used for Comedy Night, Cinema Night, Mother's and Father's Day Stalls.
Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery
What an exciting and busy first week of the year we had! This week in Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery, we immersed ourselves in the enchanting story of Little Red Riding Hood. The children thoroughly enjoyed creating delightful artwork inspired by the story, including woodland scenes and paper plate characters. We also had important discussions about the dangers of talking to strangers, ensuring the children understand the significance of safety. A highlight of the week was Olivia's bunnies' visit, where we had the joy of naming one of the adorable bunnies, now called Cotton.
Sadly, we also said goodbye to our beloved EYFS practitioner, Miss Pomphrey, who has been an integral part of our nursery and will be deeply missed by everyone.
Kind Reminders for Parents:
- Label All Belongings: Please ensure that all hats, scarves, gloves, coats, and jumpers your child wears are clearly labelled with their name. This will help us return any lost items to their rightful owners.
- Appropriate Clothing: We kindly ask that children come dressed in appropriate clothing. Please avoid sending them in shoes with laces and ensure no tights are worn for Big PE sessions.
- Water Bottles: Please make sure that water bottles contain only water—no squash or juice is allowed.
- Grapes: If your child has grapes as in their lunch box, please cut them in half to prevent any choking hazards.
Reception
Reception have had a fantastic first week back after the break. They have really impressed us with their behaviour and the way they have settled right back into routines. We have new phonics groups, and the children are making really good progress, please continue to support your children at home and write in the reading diary weekly and bring in on a Wednesday.
This week the children have really enjoyed discussing winter and the changes they have seen in the world around them. They have been enjoying icy activities and discussing frost and snow, even making their own snowflakes for our seasons tree display. A fantastic first week back and we can’t wait to see what else is in store for the half term!
Year 1
Happy New Year! We are delighted that the children have come back focused and excited to learn. This week we began our Art topic on Colour where we explored painting and printing with primary and secondary colours. The children continue with their phonics lessons, learning Set 2 and 3 sounds and reading these sounds in words. Please continue to read with your children for 10 minutes every day so that they improve their fluency. We are starting English lessons in the Spring Term. This week, we read 'Aliens Love Underpants' and wrote about our own imaginary aliens. In Maths, we reviewed our number bonds to 10 in order to apply them to our number bonds to 20. Well done on a great first week back!
We are very excited for our trip to The Young V&A this Monday. Please remember to dress warmly, bring a packed lunch and arrive at school on time.
Achievement awards this week go to Isla and Leslie for their brilliant paintings inspired by Jasper Johns. Well done you two!
Year 2
Year 2 have had a great first week back at school and are very enthusiastic about our new topics across all subjects. We are learning about money in Maths. We have recognised different coins, counted pence and found different ways to make amounts. We are learning about non-chronological reports in English. We have looked at a range of fact files about polar animals as we will be writing our own next week. In Science, our new topic is Living Things and Their Habitats. Children have excellent knowledge about plants and animals that live in different habitats. We have explored what classifies something as living and non-living and created our food chains for animals.
Homework
Maths- This week's maths is on a double-sided sheet as we have just been focusing on pence.
Reading- 37, 38 and 39.
This week's awards go to Denat for always contributing in all of our lessons and Yasmin for her excellent effort in Spelling and Writing.
Kingfisher 1
In Maths this week we were learning all about counting on from numbers from 10 and composition of numbers 11, 12 and 13. Early years composition of 5. The children participated in practical activities using a range of resources, eg: 10 frames, numicons and dienes.
In English we have started our traditional stories topic. This week was Jack and the beanstalk. The children joined in with role-play activities and used colourful semantics to build simple sentences about the story. Our early years foundation children matched initial sounds to the story.
This weeks award goes to Finley for his great blending in phonics and his fantastic work in maths!
Well done Finley!
Year 3
Year 3 have started the new year with positivity, enthusiasm and imagination. This week we have started out heathy snack research and design process. The children are excited about getting the opportunity of creating their version next week. In English, Science and Maths, we have started new topics and the children have been using the new vocabulary that they have been learning in their explanations to show their understanding.
We are looking forward to our action-packed Spring Term. Please look out for our key dates as these will be updated soon.
Homework
Maths: pages 39 - 41 (optional 42 &43)
CGP Punctuation: page 35
This week's achievement awards go to Alex and Daisy for using the technical vocabulary correctly in their verbal and written sentences.
Year 4
Welcome back! Year 4 have had a great week and settled straight back into routine. In Maths, the children have continued 'Multiplication and Division' and have been multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000. Please encourage your child to go on to TTR daily. It has been wonderful to see the progress that the regular TTR players have made.
In English, the children have been looking at diary entries alongside reading and acting out a scene from the 'The Iron Man' in preparation for writing their own diary entry in role as Hogarth.
In Geography, Year 4 are learning about volcanoes. There is a trip booked to the Natural History Museum on Tuesday 28th January for which you have received an online letter with more information.
Homework
English - reading comprehension - pages 30 and 31
Maths - pages 45 and 46
Please read and practise times tables with your child, daily. Also, your child's reading diary should be in school every day - thank you.
This week's achievement awards go to Sienna Maloney for her focus during Maths and Musa for his Geography work about volcanoes. Well done to you both!
Year 5
It's been a fantastic first week back! In Maths, the children learned two methods of multiplying 2-digit numbers: the area model and the column method. They especially loved using Dienes on large area models to practise.
In English, they've been incredibly engaged with our two class texts for Spring: Beowulf (an epic from Viking times) and Kensuke's Kingdom, which we're reading all term. They will be writing action-packed narratives based on Beowulf in a couple of weeks' time.
In RE, they've learned about key concepts in Buddhism - such as karma and samsara - and compared these with Christian beliefs on life after death.
Today, the children are bringing home lyric sheets for the All Under One Sky gala. Please can you encourage them to practise the songs - thank you.
Homework due by Weds 15th Jan
Maths: pages 45 and 46 (multiplication)
Reading: pages 28 and 29 (Up-Hill)
This week's awards go to Zak for his comparison of different Beowulf versions, and to Christina for her fantastic work on the area model - well done!
Year 6
Year 6 have had a great start to the new term. In Maths, we’ve been learning about algebra, including forming expressions, using substitution, and solving simple formulae. In English, we’ve begun reading Rose Blanche, a moving story about a young girl during World War II who tries to help those in a nearby concentration camp, despite not fully understanding the situation. In the afternoons, we’ve explored key events of World War II, Britain’s role in the war, and the Blitz.
Homework
Maths: Missing number problems – pages 46 and 47
SPaG: Phrases – pages 12 and 13
This week's achievement awards go to Oliver for demonstrating excellent knowledge of WW2, and Renu for their outstanding work solving formulae in maths.
Kingfisher 2
Kingfisher 2 have had a great start to the new year!
In Maths, we have been learning about the place value of 3- digit numbers. We have been reading, writing, ordering and comparing them and playing number games on the computers.
In English, our new topic is 'Fairy Tales'. Our first story is 'Little Red Riding Hood'. We have created our own story maps, planned our stories and explored new vocabulary to use.
This week's award goes to Arthur for excellent independent work while calculating with fractions. Well done Arthur!
Christmas Performances
We hope you enjoyed watching your children perform in their Christmas shows. They all worked incredibly hard practising and rehearsing songs, dances and lines to make sure they put on a performance for you to remember. Whilst, they all put in 100% effort, it would not have been possible without the hard work of the EYFS, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and KF teaching teams.
Well done and thank you to all involved!
The recordings are currently being worked on and will be made available when ready.
We love to know what our pupils are enjoying and achieving outside of school. Last term, in the lead up to Christmas, Daisy in Year 3 had the best time showcasing her singing, dancing and acting skills by performing in the pantomime 'Aladdin' at Wyllyotts Theatre. We know she worked incredibly hard in rehearsals alongside the rest of the cast and are incredibly proud of her. Well done daisy!
We hope some of panto loving families got to see it!
Classroom Cloakroom Chaos
Please limit the amount of bags coming into school especially as it is now very cold and we need the space for coats, hats and scarves.
Please consider if all these things are needed in school everyday or any day.
JANUARY 2025
Monday 13th:
- Year 1 Trip to the V&A Museum (cost £3.50, consent needed via School Money)
- Mixed Football Match vs All Saints - 3:30pm
Wednesday 15th:
- Deadline for Reception 2025 intake applications to Barnet Admissions
Friday 17th:
- Year 6 trip to RAF Museum (cost £7.00, consent needed via School Money)
Tuesday 21st:
- Year 6 Kinder Workshop
- KF2 Boccia Competition - PM
Thursday 23rd:
- Guitar Assembly 2:30pm in Main Hall (parents/carers of pupils learning guitar are welcome to join us)
- Mixed Football Match vs Christchurch, 3:30pm
Use this link to visit our School Calendar 24/25 for further dates next term.