Newsletter
January Week 2
Friday 14th January
Despite many families having their Christmas holidays interrupted by the spread of COVID, we are pleased to report that Livingstone has had a very productive start to the term with only some pupils being delayed a return by a few days and a very small number testing positive this week.
With the number of isolation days being cut to potentially 5 days and the use of Lateral Flow Tests being permitted to enable a quick return to school, even after testing positive, there is hope that we can get continuity of learning and good learning outcomes for all of the pupils.
Please contact the office if a member of your family or child shows symptoms or tests positive and we will advise best practice to follow in each individual case. Look out for text messages as they will keep everyone notified of any positive cases. If we work together in partnership, we hope to minimise the risk of COVID spreading.
Parent Representative Meeting
All our parent representatives will be meeting on 19th January, so if you have any comments or questions regarding the education offered at Livingstone please let them know before Wednesday. However, please remember that if you would like to discuss something regarding your child/children, please speak to the class teacher or main office.
HEYFS & KS1 Movie Night!
The Student Council would like to invite pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 to Livingstone's Movie Night on Thursday 20th January, 3:30 - 4:30 pm.
Come and enjoy a free cinema environment to watch a fun movie with popcorn and juice!
If you would like your child to come to the EYFS and KS1 movie night, please let your teacher know.
Details of a KS2 movie night to follow.
Y5 and 6 Football
Pupils were selected from after school club to represent Livingstone in our second fixture of the league against Northside on Thursday. The girls had a phenomenal muddy game. Everyone works so hard at our extra-curricular club and the hard work paid off. Despite the state of the pitch, everyone had smiles on their faces and got really stuck in! The game ended with a score of 7-0. What a triumphant win! Maisie scored 3 goals, Arbel, Hattie, Kaitlin and Catherine scored one goal each. We are so proud of everyone who attends the clubs as it shows dedication to working as a team. Well done to Keira, Maisie, Zeynep, Hattie, Lois, Katherine, Kaitlin, Geethesri and Arbel.
Nursery
Our book of the week in Nursery is The Gruffalo's Child. We have been doing all sorts of activities around the story and here, Mikey is acting out the story with all the Gruffalo characters in the snow. Well done, Mikey! You knew all the animals and what they got up to in the story! Excellent listening!
As part of our learning based around The Gruffalo's Child, Arshin is making a Gruffalo cake. He is mixing cornflakes with butter and syrup. Well done, Arshin! You knew the name of all of the ingredients and the kitchen tools too!
Nursery children also made Gruffalo tea to go with the cake!
Kingfisher Nursery
Kingfisher Nursery have had a great start back to school and settled well!
We have had an exciting week exploring different elements in 'The Gruffalo's Child'. We started our week focusing on the different animals, working on labelling the animals and using animal props to act out key parts of the story.
We continued by role-playing our favourite parts, including making Gruffalo tea! We followed visual supports to make our own tea and some children even tasted it and enjoyed it!
We finished our week by making our own Gruffalo's child - children worked on labelling their arm, leg, head, and body to help them put together their own Gruffalo's child.
Reception
A brilliant and very busy week in Reception this week! We have been learning about winter and lots of our learning has been about our focus story: The Gruffalo's Child. We have been writing speech bubbles, enjoying the role play area and painting tracks in the snow just like in the book! In Maths, we are continuing with numbers to 5 and working on our 1:1 correspondence skills alongside comparing and building number towers. We have been working hard in phonics especially with the all important Fred talk and blending. This is making our writing even better! Below you can see the sounds we have been learning:
Miss Knappett' group: p, g, sh
Miss Edwards' group: sh, th
Miss Purse's group: sh, th, ch
Thank you for support during Read with me on Fridays! Please continue to practice with the new reading materials that you will get weekly on WEDNESDAYS when we ask that your child's book bag and reading diary is in and signed.
Mollie and Jonathan for their amazing efforts during phonics and reading activities. Well done!
Year 1
Year 1 have made a great start to the Spring Term. We are focusing on number bonds to 10 and 20. We used tens frames, numicon, part-whole diagrams to help us work from the practical resources to the abstract fact families. We continue to learn Set 2 and 3 sounds in our phonics lessons and are learning how to read in a story-teller voice. In Computing, the children are creating and writing our own algorithms for crazy characters. Well done on a great first two weeks back!
The first achievement award this week goes to Ryan for his excellent work in phonics and computing sessions. The second achievement award goes to Ellis for his systematic approach to finding all of the number bonds that make 10 and 20.
Year 2
Year 2 have had such an exciting week! In Science we have been learning about animals and their habitats so we decided to do a local trip to Hadley Woods in order to explore different micro-habitats and find animals that live under logs and in the soil. The children found a range of mini-beasts like slugs, spiders centipedes, earthworms and even a family of frogs! We also saw many different types of birds like ducks, wood pigeons and crows.
Since our trip was such great fun, we decided to write all about it during our English lessons this week!
In Maths, we have been learning how to divide in groups of 2, 3, 5 and 10 using cubes and pictorial representations using the bar model.
This week's achievement award goes to Edward and Ryan for their amazing recount about our trip tp the woods!
Kingfisher 1
What a busy week we have had in Kingfisher 1! All the children have now settled back in and are working very hard in all their lessons.
We are continuing with traditional stories in English, this week is 'Little Red Riding Hood.' We have looked at different versions of the story, acted it out and described characters. We have several budding actors in the class!
In Maths we have been adding in a variety of ways and solving real life problems. The children have impressed us with their efforts.
This week some children made carrot cakes in cooking and they looked delicious.
This week the achievement award goes to Dilan for making a big improvement in his fine motor skills and completing his homework, well done!
Year 3
Year 3 have been very busy since returning to school. In Science, we have been learning about forces and magnets. We have taken part in many investigations to observe how magnets interact with each other and to identify which objects are magnetic. On top of this, we compared how different surfaces affect travelling objects.
Our English this term links to our history topic, 'Ancient Egypt.' We have been learning about the process of mummification as we will be writing a set of instructions next week. The children started the week a little squeamish but now they have become mummy experts!
In Maths, we have been multiplying and dividing focusing on our 3, 4 and 8 times tables. Keep practising at home :)
CGP Books
Maths-18-19 to recap addition and 24 to go over elements covered in class.
English- 18-19
Achievement awards this week go to Sheena for her use of time connectives and adverbs in English and Olivia for excellent efforts in Maths, focusing on her times tables.
Year 4
This week in Year 4, we have been learning all about volcanoes! We started off the week with a workshop to kick-off our Geography topic. During the workshop, we learnt about the key aspects of the physical geography of volcanoes by looking at the structure of the earth, how volcanoes are formed and how and why they erupt through role play. We explored the key terms active, dormant and extinct and looked at examples from the UK and all around the world. We also examined current natural disasters, significant historical incidents (such as Pompeii) as well as talking about what life would be like if a natural disaster occurred in our area and the damage it would cause. We focused on the human geography and the effect it would have upon society, the infrastructure, the environment, and the economic impact it would have.
We have taken this topic and used it to inspire our writing in English and the children have created several poems about volcanoes which have been a real pleasure to read.
Achievement awards this week go to Abrel and Sienna-Rose for being caring and supportive. Well done! :)
Year 5
This week, Year 5 have been learning all about pop art and testing out the styles of two prominent pop artists: Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. They created self-portraits in their styles, and then planned their own final piece.
In Maths, we have been tackling long multiplication, multiplying 2, 3 and 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. While the children found this challenging at the start, they persevered and now can do this with more confidence.
In English, we are reading an adaptation of Beowulf (an epic poem written over 100 years ago in Old English) and using it to inspire our story writing. The children have practised writing purposeful direct speech and complex sentences using -ing and -ed starters.
CGP Books
Maths: page 24 (written multiplication)
English: page 62-63 (punctuating speech)
This week's awards go to Lisa for her fantastic complex sentences, and to Lois for her interesting well-punctuated direct speech - well done, girls!
Year 6
Year 6 have settled back in and have been working hard. In Maths, we have been looking at algebra and in English, we are looking at our new book called 'Rose Blanche' for our writing as it links to our topic this term. The children are very engaged in our new History topic of WWII which is creating a lot of discussion as they make links to family members who experienced the war. We have also been very lucky in being able to look at some newspapers from that time which have been kindly brought in by Charlie. On Tuesday morning (18th), we have a Zoom with The National Holocaust Centre, who will talk to us about Kinder Transport. Well done for all your hard work, Y6!
This week's achievement awards go to Lexi for her fantastic Maths this week and Sogol for being a great role model and always trying her best!
Kingfisher 2
We have had a lovely two weeks back in KF2. The children came in ready to learn and it appears they missed each other.
They loved listening to each other’s Christmas experiences and enjoyed telling their class mates all about the gifts they gave and received.
In English, we have just started our theme of ‘Comic Strips’ and superheroes and they are going to enjoy reading and creating their own versions. This week we have looked at creating and describing Superheroes and Supervillains and using speech/thought bubbles.
In Maths, the boys have been consolidating their understanding of place value and are now working with 4-digit numbers. So far, they have been identifying the value of each digit and using different place value resources to represent these numbers in a variety of ways. In addition and subtraction this week we have been looking at addition in any order and using the inverse to solve problems and check calculations.
This week's achievement awards go to Calvin for his fantastic English. He had a great attempt at creating a comic strip and created a fab Supervillain 'Electric Man'!
Well done Calvin!
Nightingales
This week in English we have been retelling the story of the three little pigs from the perspective of the wolf. The children have really enjoyed pretending to be the wolf blaming the pigs for everything! They have completed great independent writing as a result.
In Maths, we have been practising different methods for addition and subtraction. The children have become more confident using a variety of strategies and have increased their speed too.
This week's award goes to Rehan for writing using a clear viewpoint and good vocabulary. Well done Rehan!
Diary Dates
January 2022
Monday 17th:
Year 4 begin Swimming at New Barnet Leisure Centre - everyday for 2 weeks
Tuesday 18th:
Y6 workshop with the National Holocaust Centre
Wednesday 19th:
Parent Rep meeting
Thursday 20th:
Rec and KS1 Movie Night - 3.30 - 4.30 pm
Wednesday 26th:
Football match vs St. Catherines - 3.30 pm (Home)
Thursday 27th:
School Nurse visiting Reception and Year 6 for height and weight measurements
Monday 31st:
Netball match vs Churchill - 3.30 pm (Home)
February 2022
Wednesday 2nd:
Football match vs Sacred Heart - 3.30 pm (Home)
Monday 7th:
Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
Year 6 trip to RAF Museum
Activity Clubs for Spring 2 go online for booking at 8 am
Tuesday 8th:
KS2 Cross Country Competition
Wednesday 9th:
Girls Football match vs St. Catherines - 3.30 pm (Home)
Thursday 10th:
Year 6 PGL meeting for parents/carers and pupils (face to face)
Monday 14th - Friday 18th HALF TERM
Monday 21st:
Pupils return for Spring 2 term
Activity Clubs begin for Spring 2
More dates will follow...