Newsletter
November Week 1
Friday 03rd November
Activity Clubs
Reminder: For health and safety reasons, please make sure your child is wearing the appropriate PE kit for after school activity clubs.
Now that the days are turning colder and wetter, pupils also need sensible outdoor clothing for Football, Tag Rugby and Netball. They have to wear shin pads, moulded football boots or astros as well as wear warm and waterproof outerwear.
The club staff will decide if pupils are wearing the correct kits and may make the decision to send children to Cabin Club if they are not.
PTA Spooky Party
Thank you to everyone who was able to help at the Spooky Party. A big thank you to Lina Cavozzi and an amazing band of PTA helpers for creating an amazing fun-packed event. After expenses an incredible £2000 was raised, all of which will go into revitalising the playgrounds.
Despite the success of this event, we always looking for helpers. In this instance we were desperately short of help to set up. Please, please come forward and help in any way you can as the more help we get the better the event and money raised enables us to buy amazing resources for the pupils such as the minibus and castle.
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Black History
This month, the school has been focusing on the history of Black History. We had a wonderful assembly on Tuesday to celebrate strong black women. We saw posters about Maggie Alphonsi, Harriet Tubman, and Isata Kennah-Mason. KF1 presented brilliant work on the text 'Anansi the Clever Spider.' Nursery and Reception worked on a book by Malorie Blackman called 'We’re Going to Find A Monster.' Year 5 created pairs of inspirational poetry for the National Poetry Competition. Year 1 and Year 2 studied Katherine Johnson and Floella Benjamin. KF2 created telescopes and wrote about the astronaut Mae Jemison.
Thank you to Miss Papas for organising, and we were so impressed with what the children learnt about history, prejudice, racism, and black role models.
Boccia Festival
On Wednesday, some children attended a Boccia festival.
The children enjoyed taking part in the different rounds competing against other schools. They even won a few games! Boccia is a great target and team-work game. The adults were very impressed with how the children represented the school and how they played.
Well done to Toby, Arthur, Daniel, Enzo, Dilan, Andreas, Mario, Jacob, George and Calvin.
Poppy Appeal
Poppy Merchandise will be available for sale from Monday the 6th November. This will be followed by an assembly for all the children on Friday explaining about the history of this event.
Please let the office know if your family will be attending the service at the East Barnet War Memorial as we would like pupils from Livingstone to wear their uniform and lay a wreath on behalf of the school.
Christmas Party Fair
We are now starting to prepare for our Christmas event, and we will be having three non-uniform days leading up to it.
Dates and Donations:
Non-Uniform Day Friday 10th November - New and Unwanted Gifts
Non -Uniform Day Thursday 16th November - Drinks (preferably alcohol)
Non -Uniform Day Friday 24th November – Chocolate and Sweets
More details to follow...
Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery
What a wonderful week of spooky delights we have enjoyed in Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery!
The children loved the pumpkin themed activities, they were making their own 'pumpkin soup,' threading, colouring, cutting and sticking. Potions were brewed and sparkly cobwebs were made. We went on a pumpkin hunt and of course we had an amazing spooky party.
Reception
Reception have had a fantastic first week back enjoying lots of Halloween activities. We have been reading the story 'Funnybones' and started Drawing Club which is encouraging the children to make marks, develop their communication and language and early writing skills. We have also had fun with pumpkins and have been learning about our skeletons.
In phonics we have been learning up to sounds 'r' just in time to see a r-r-rainbow at the end of the week!
Please practice sounds daily using speed sounds book and work on oral blending with your child. There is a link below with information and a video to help you support your child with phonics and blending at home.
Year 1
Year 1 have made an excellent start to the second half of the Autumn term. We began our history topic by investigating toys from the past. The children asked historical questions to find out more about the toys. Spooky Adventure was a great success, and we even had a Halloween Mystery Reader!
In Maths, we are learning how to subtract. We used concrete resources to show us that when we take away, the number gets smaller. We are in new groups for phonics and are focusing on remembering our Set 2 and 3 sounds. We are focusing on our handwriting as well.
For those who have not done so already, please email the office with photos of your child as a baby, toddler and Year 1 child or bring them in to class. We will be using them for an activity this Monday 6th November.
Year 1 achievement awards go to Abid and Marina for their positive attitude and progress in phonics. Well done you two!
Year 2
In Maths, we have been adding up to two-digit numbers with exchanging. We have been using pictorial representations (drawing our dienes) to work out the calculations. Keep practising, Year 2! In English, our writing has been inspired by fireworks. We have read different poems and learnt about alliteration, repetition, adjectives and similes. The children have lots of lovely ideas ready to write on Monday. We are continuing to learn about materials in science. We took part in a fun investigation to find out which materials are suitable for an umbrella, and we explored how we can change the shapes of some materials/objects.
Please make sure you log into the VLE to find the songs for the Barnet Music Festival. We will be singing on Tuesday with the other schools. Parents/carers are welcome to come to the Y2 singing assembly on Tuesday 21st November at 9am.
Homework
Maths- pages 17, 18 and 19
This week's awards go to Nirvani for her brilliant poetic language and Aysha for her hard work and efforts in Maths all week!
Kingfisher 1
We have had a lovely first week back in KF1. In English we introduced our new story "Oi get off my train". The children used props to retell the story and talk about endangered animals. We discussed the difference between real and fantasy stories.
In maths we used a range of resources to compare numbers. Some children used groups of objects, numicons and dienes.
The children had lots of fun at the Spooky Party.
This weeks award goes to Stylianos for participating in all class activities.
Year 3
We have had a very busy first week back! We have started our swimming lessons and some great progress has been made. In Maths, we have been working on column method and exchanging into the tens and hundreds column. We have finished off our Art unit where we made paint from natural resources such as mud, grass, berries and spices - it was very messy but we had a lot of fun.
Homework
Punctuation (question marks and exclamation marks).
Pages 8, 9, 10 and 11.
We had quite a few attendees to homework club this week. Please remember that homework is due in every Wednesday
The first achievement award this week goes to Orla for her fantastic progress and attitude in swimming lessons.
The second achievement award goes to Ellis for always being a brilliant role model and trying his best.
The first achievement award this week goes to Orla for her fantastic progress and attitude in swimming lessons.
The second achievement award goes to Ellis for always being a brilliant role model and trying his best.
Year 4
In Maths this week, we have been working on column addition and subtraction with and without exchanges. In English and History, we have started exploring the Ancient Greeks which the children are excited about! In English, we have been exploring the features of fact files in preparation for the class book we will be creating everything about Greek gods and goddesses. In History, we have started looking at how the ancient Greeks influenced modern day Britain.
Homework:
TTRS: 8s
Maths: Addition and Subtraction pages 17 to 19
This week's achievement awards go to Georgie for her brilliant work on Nessy, and to Alex for his excellent work on column subtraction with exchanges. Well done! :)
Year 5
This week, Year 5 have been learning about multiples and factors in Maths.
In English, they analysed diary entries and explored the main character from our text, Bradley, in detail.
In the afternoons, they thoroughly enjoyed creating their frame structures in groups. They spent 3 lessons constructing them, and then the last lesson evaluating them against the design criteria.
Homework -
Maths: pages 21 and 22 (multiplication and division)
Reading: pages 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Daffodils poem and question set 1)
This week's awards go to Charlotte, Abdullah and Leah for their teamwork and effort constructing their frame structure - well done!
Year 6
Year 6 have had a busy week. The children have created their 'mechanimals' for their non-chronological report, so we look forward to reading more about those and in Maths the children have grasped long division really well and quickly - making us very proud.
In D&T, the children interviewed Reception - asking questions about the design of their sensor-controlled lights as they are making them with Reception as the user. This really got their creative juices flowing and they have begun to make some fantastic lights. I look forward to sharing the pictures of the finished product, next week.
CGP pages
Maths - pages 11, 12 and 14.
English - pages 18 and 19.
This week's achievement awards go to Eliana and Muhammad. They have shown real determination and resilience throughout long division and have made us very proud. Well done!
Kingfisher 2
This week, we embarked on an exciting literary journey with the book 'The Day the Crayons Quit' by Drew Daywalt. Our focus has been on analysing the front cover, making inferences about the characters, and predicting the unfolding story. To demonstrate our understanding, we've used speech and thought bubbles, imagining what the characters might say or be thinking.
We've also been hard at work expanding our mathematical knowledge this week. Our focus has been on understanding equal groups in multiplication and how they connect with repeated addition. It's a key concept that's helping us grasp the foundations of multiplication.
This week's achievement awards go to:
Mario - for his effort and time spend working on Nessy to improve his spellings.
George - for making the new member of staff feel welcome and having a good attitude towards his work.
Attendance
Our attendance for last half term was 97%, which is just above the expected minimum.
Our attendance this week is 96%. We know it can be difficult to decide whether to keep your children at home when they are unwell and with the colder, darker mornings it can be very tempting to just stay in bed. If you are unsure, the office staff are happy to offer advice and if your child is unwell at school, they will contact you. You can also view NHS guidance for more information.
Mrs Barton and Mr Madle
Looking for more Parent Reps
PARENT REPRESENTATIVE MEETING 6.10.23
IN ATTENDANCE:
Giovanna Phelan- Headteacher
Shelly Farmer- Year 6 and Kingfisher 2
Charlotte Gosling- Year 3
APOLOGIES:
Jackie Scott- Rec
Carrie Lowin- Rec
Austin Scott- Year 1
Laura Blackaller- Year 2
Melissa Gosling- Year 3
Lina Cavozzi- Year 6
Kate Orr- Year 5
Megan Atkinson – Resignation, not continuing from Nursery to Reception
Q: KF 'They seem to be changing KF2 teachers. It would be helpful to be kept informed please.
Answer: From time to time, we have needed to recruit supply staff on long and short-term contacts. These would not necessarily be introduced in the way that the core staff would be as they can be subject to change, however more information will be provided when possible.
Q. Would it be possible to have some different clubs? Maybe a cooking club?
A. Mrs Kelly is always trying to ensure we have interesting clubs balanced with affordability. Cooking would be limited by the size of our kitchen and therefore it would not be possible to run for groups larger than 6 and that would create a backlog of demand and an additional expense for those wishing to take part.
Q. Would it be possible to encourage the children to look in the mirror and wipe their noses, especially at the end of the day before they go home? Encouraging their own self-care.
A. Self-care is part of the Nursery Curriculum and reminders will be given to the children before they go home.
Staffing
Welcome to Ms Burnett, Ms Koumi and Ms Babayan who have joined the school staff this half term.
Ms Koumi will be working in Year 2 and in Cabin Club. Ms Burnett will be supporting pupils in Kingfisher and Ms Babayan is covering Nursery for Ms Knappett until the end of the year.
At the same time, we will be saying goodbye to Ms Bus who has been working with our Kingfisher pupils. Thank you to Ms Bus and we wish her well in her new job!
Healthy Packed Lunches
Since the start of term, we have had incidents of nuts or nut related products being brought into school in packed lunches, as well as excessive quantities of biscuits and cake. We understand that some children can be fussy eaters but please do not include nuts and keep the packed lunches healthy. Thank you for your support.
NOVEMBER 2023
Monday 6th:
- Year 6 TFL Workshop - PM
Tuesday 7th:
- Year 2 Infant Music Festival at School
Wednesday 8th:
- Mixed League Football Match vs Trent (HOME) 3:30pm
Thursday 9th:
- Girls Football Match vs Alma (HOME) 3:30pm
Friday 10th:
- Non-Uniform Day - Please send in New and Unwanted Gifts
- Parent Champion Coffee morning in The Cabin
- Rec - Year 6 Flu Nasal Spray
- KF1 and KF2 Chicken Shed Workshop
Monday 13th:
- Netball Match vs Danegrove - 3:30pm (HOME)
Tuesday 14th:
- KF2 Trip to Everyman Cinema
Wednesday 15th:
- Girls Football Match vs St. Johns - 3:30pm (HOME)
Thursday 16th:
- Non-Uniform Day - Please send in drinks (preferably alcohol)
- Selected Years 5 and 6 Mixed League Football at Mill Hill Power League
- KF1 Trip to Everyman Cinema
Friday 17th:
- Children In Need Day - Please bring money donations of loose change. Children can wear Pudsey accessories.
- KF1 and KF2 Chicken Shed Workshop
Use this link to visit our School Calendar 23/24 for further dates.