Newsletter
March Week 2
Friday 11th March
Barnet Dance Festival
Well done to all the Year 6 pupils who performed ‘I'm a Believer’ at the Dance Festival – they were spectacular! They had a great look thanks to Miss Fairley and put on a fabulous performance thanks to our dance teacher Hannah from Non Stop Action, Miss Breen, Mrs Armstrong and Diane who prepared them on a very tight schedule. Even when the music stopped just seconds before they were due to finish, Year 6 just carried on and finished the dance to perfection and to the delight of a packed audience. It was such an enjoyable evening and hosted by the Barnet Schools PE Partnership, Anne Fisher and Kim Henderson who did everything they could to bring this memorable event back to the Artsdepot after an interruption caused by COVID.
To quote 'Strictly A-ma-zing!!' Definitely not a 7 but 10+++
IMPACT Maths Meetings
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Our final Maths Impact meetings took place this week. Thank you to all the parents that have joined us. We hope you have found the sessions valuable and enjoyable.
As mentioned in the meetings, here is a link to the National Numeracy Challenge. It's a platform on which you can create a login to help develop your own understanding of maths. It consists of small maths quizzes and support with how to approach any of the mathematical concepts you were not confident with.
https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/challenge
Also, here is a link to our website where you can find the White Rose calculation guidance documents, which can give you more of an understanding of the methods and approaches we use in school.
https://livingstoneprimaryschool.org/barnet/primary/livingstone/site/pages/send/maths
Parent Governor Election
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We had no volunteers for the role of parent governor following our advert in last week's newsletter, so this will be re-advertised at the start of the next academic year. But please come and speak to Mrs Phelan if you are interested.
Running Red Nose Day - Friday 18th March from 1.30pm
Pupils should come in clothes that will allow them to get messy - they should wear old clothes please!
For a £1 contribution, pupils get to do one circuit of the school field in the quickest time possible, tackling every obstacle to the best of their ability. If pupils would would like go round more times, they pay £1.00 for every other circuit they do and money raised will be shared between Red Nose Charities and Humanitarian Aid for the Ukraine.
Red Nose Runners will get to participate in:
1 Dodge Ball
2 Beat the Bubbles
3 Camouflage Net Crawl
4 Water Pistol Squirt
5 Ladder Run
6 Huddles and Hoops
7 Shoot out
Parents can come and watch and are more than welcome to join in the challenge, also for £1 a challenge!
Please note, this event may be postponed at short-notice if it rains.
Parent Representative Meeting 04.03.2022
HEAD TEACHER – GIOVANNA PHELAN
NURSERY - MEGAN ATKINSON
RECEPTION - APOLOGIES FROM LAURA BLACKALLER
YEAR 1 - APOLOGIES FROM ELLEN PATMORE
YEAR 2 - MELISSA GOSLING
YEAR 3 - KATE ORR
YEAR 4 - LINA CAVOZZI
YEAR 4 - SHELLY FARMER
AND KING FISHER
YEAR 5 - APOLOGIES FROM PAULA FALCO
FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES…
Mrs. Kelly will see if there is a demand for an earlier breakfast club. A letter will go out to parent/carers at Easter to see what the potential take up would be and if it would be financially viable for Sept 22.
Question: Parents have shared concerns with staff over the amount of sugary food given out as gifts for children’s birthday treats at school. Some children have food allergies and some parents don’t wish for their child to eat so much sugar, so it is important to bear this in mind sending your child in with something to share.
Answer: The school shares this concern and would ask parents to be mindful of the sweet gifts they send into school for birthdays. More information will be given out regarding this soon.
Question: Does the school’s meals service provide vegan options?
Answer: Most weeks the vegetarian option is suitable for Vegans three days of the week but the other two days there is only jacket potato and the salad bar is available every day. Not enough students are vegan to make this work for the school at the moment, so the school would recommend that Vegans should bring sandwiches unless they like jacket potato. This is always up for review if numbers increase.
Question: Can the school do ‘Hat Day’ on the 25th March?
Answer: The school has a list of charities that we support and school council choose a new one every year. This makes it too late to add this one at such short notice especially as there have been requests for the school to raise money and help donate to the Ukraine. We will be talking to the PTA and linking our fund raising events to Ukrainian Humanitarian Aid.
Comment: The school has been praised for keeping World Book Day simple this year. The choice of costume or PJs has taken the pressure off many parents.
Comment: On Friday afternoon, it is not uncommon for all the teachers to shut their classroom doors as Year 3 pick up their recorders for their lesson with Mark the music teacher. The kids are doing great and have learnt so much and can now play a tune or two. Thank you Mark and well done year 3.
Comment: A polite note to parents – please do not park outside school unless you are a blue badge holder. Also if you park in the school area please be considerate to residents, other drivers and be aware of children.
Question: KF parents have asked for pupils in KF to be able to have more of the food they like at lunchtimes and more information on their daily reports
Answer: Mrs Phelan will discuss these questions with the KF team and parents will be consulted on how this may impact individual pupils.
Question: Can we reinstate some of things we used to do pre-Covid, like having assemblies that parents can attend more regularly, uniform stall at the end of term etc? Also, are there plans to reinstate camp night (and would be great to lift the alcohol ban at camp night)?
Answer: Assemblies are being re-instated and Year 5 parents will be invited to the Easter Assembly. Events are being added to the calendar including Camp Night. The alcohol ban will be discussed at the PTA meeting about the Camp Night and reviewed.
Question: Could we ask if reception/nursery can wait in the playground now too as the playground is safer?
Answer: Reception and Nursery are being kept outside the playground because the playground is used by the Nursery who arrive at staggered times. Also work is due to start on redeveloping the playground in the Summer term which will affect its use.
Question: How about a monthly class cake sale all classes take part? Last Friday of every month or every 2 weeks a class bakes cakes and sell at end of day all money raised either goes to PTA to fund events etc. but at end of year the highest selling cake sale that class is rewarded with one of the cake sales takings to do as they wish.
Answer: We have a problem with having cake sales because it sends mixed messages about healthy eating. At the moment we are trying to find a diplomatic way of asking parents/carers to scale back on the number of sweets and cakes coming in for birthdays and in packed lunches. We will continue to have cakes at the school fairs and we are going to be organising a tea party for Mother’s day so that should help raise funds and bring parents/carers together.
Question: The walk down Baring Road is just getting worse and worse with dog mess, every day is like a nightmare for all parents and those with buggies and smaller kids. Is there any way we can get some signs made and put up to get people to pick up poo or like a school project to raise awareness to the dog walkers? No bins nearby either doesn’t help the situation.
Answer: This is one for our site manager, Stuart Sudbury and the council. We will get in touch with our local councillors and get the pupils to organise posters and campaign to alert dog owners – though as some of the problem is caused by foxes, it may not be possible to get rid of the problem entirely.
Nursery
This week in the Nursery we started our Read Write Inc. phonic sessions. All of the children were so clever and quickly knew the first 3 phonic sounds 'm', 'a' and 's'. Lots of the children went on to write their own letters independently on their small whiteboards. Benji wrote lots of 's's all on his own and told us lots of things that begin with the phonic sound 's'. Clever boy!
Our story of the week in Nursery is the Three Little Pigs. The children created their own little houses made of straw, sticks and bricks. Here, Abid is making a lovely straw house. Later, the children acted out the story with three little pigs and the houses they had made. They all joined in with "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!"
Kingfisher Nursery
Well done to all the children in Kingfisher Nursery for another great week!
This week we used our fun from learning about the farm to focus on the story 'The Three Little Pigs'. We enjoyed the sensory exploration of the different materials mentioned in the story. We explored the story by role-playing the story using props such as lollipop stick characters, dressing up as the pigs and the wolf, and used the play houses in our outdoor area to recreate key events in the story.
We finished our week with an exciting time at our Spring Fun Day!
Reception
This week we have welcomed our new classmates... the caterpillars! They have been getting bigger each day as they have been eating so much! This has linked with our story 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. We have been very busy with all different caterpillar and butterfly activities. This has included caterpillar word building, lego fruit making, collage butterflies, stick caterpillars and of course making observations of our very own caterpillars! In Maths this week we have been learning about pairs and odd and even numbers. We have been playing snap and memory games and also sorting odd and even numbers. We have also been learning about Spring and the changes around us, what signs can you spot over the weekend?
We have been slowly getting back to daily phonics lessons this week, please can you all practice and revise all set 1 sounds including special friends.
Please read daily using the materials given to you.
Maths homework scrap book to be in on Monday please :)
Filip - for always trying hard in everything he does!
Holly - for excellent improvements in many areas of learning
Year 1
What a busy week we've had! In Maths we have been measuring various items using rulers and have learnt to... Always start at zero!
We have been exploring using different tones in our voice with expression when reading with our partners. That was lots of fun!
In computing, the children have all learnt how to successfully log on and shut down a computer, how to control the mouse (and not touch the screen), how to log on to Purple Mash and access the various activities. Using 2Create a Story, they have recreated their own versions of the classic fairytale 'The Three Little Pigs', with excellent outcomes. They have also used 2Paint a Picture; here they explored the various drawing tools and techniques to recreate their own piece of art based on the work of the artist Romero Britto.
Well, done to the children who have continued to access Purple Mash from home. We have been really impressed with their story writing and creativity.
ANOTHER FANTASTIC WEEK, WELL DONE YEAR 1!
This weeks awards go to Oliver for his continued perseverance in Maths and Ellis for his amazing measuring and problem solving in Maths.
Year 2
Another week full of excitement and hard work in year 2!
In Maths we completed our Fractions unit learning how to find non using fractions of a shape, number and set of objects. We are currently working on Time, reading analogue clocks to the nearest hour (o'clock), the nearest half hour (half past) and the nearest quarter (quarter past and quarter to). Please reinforce this learning at home by asking children time questions as well as questions about time intervals (e.g. It's 3 o'clock now and the TV programme you are watching will finish at half past 4. How long does the programme last?).
In English we have been reading a new book called 'The Rise and Fall of Claude the Magnificent' by Chris Capstick and Monica Filipina. Claude is a country cat who is an 'artiste'. He leaves his home to go to Paris to follow his dreams and finally becomes rich and famous by creating flamboyant hats for extravagant cats! However, his greed and vanity ruin him and he has to return to the countryside. We story mapped it as a whole class and then acted it out, we worked on possessive apostrophes and built vocabulary about Claude and his character.
Our Geography topic is now finished but we are continuing our Transport theme in D&T. We started learning about mechanisms in moving vehicles and spoke about the role of chassis, axles and wheels and discussed why different vehicles have different numbers of wheels (lorries, cars, buses, bikes, etc.) Thank you to everyone who brought boxes and rolls! We will be using them very soon to create our own vehicles.
This week's award goes to Anwen for her problem solving skills in Maths.
Our next award goes to Taha for his amazing grammar work on possessive apostrophes.
Kingfisher 1
All the children in Kingfisher 1 have been working hard all week.
In Maths we worked hard consolidating addition knowledge, practicing number bonds to 10 and 20 and finding missing numbers in number sentences.
In English we continued to explore the animals in 'Handa's Hen' and worked on positional and descriptive language.
In Phonics we continue to see good progress with the children's reading and spelling.
In the afternoons the children have enjoyed PE, swimming, Art and more. This week the cookery group made delicious tzatziki.
The achievement award this week goes to Arthur, for his accurate counting in maths, well done!
Year 3
In Maths, we have finished our statistics topic where children have been able to read, draw and interpret tally charts, pictograms, tables and bar charts.
In English, we have been planning our diary entry and working with partner to gather our ideas and practice using informal language.
We have finished History this week and children have been able to answer our big question 'What do we know about Ancient Egypt from what has survived?' Our new subject is Science and we will spend two weeks learning about rocks and fossils. We started the unit by exploring the different rocks around us and we had great discussions about describing the properties of rocks.
CGP Books
Math-pages 52-53
English- pages
This weeks awards go to Sonny for his great statistic work in math reading a range of tables and charts and Lewis for his fabulous informal language in our diary entry.
Year 4
In maths this week, we have been learning how to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator. In English, we have started writing our descriptive recounts of Pompeii before, during and after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius as well as some children writing a diary entry as a survivor of the disaster.
In D&T this week, the children have designed and are now making their torches by applying all the skills and knowledge learnt about circuits and switches in previous lessons.
CGP:
Maths: page 30 and 31
English: 50 and 51
This week's achievement awards go to Leah and Sienna-Rose for their excellent work in maths. Well done!
Year 5
This week, Year 5 have been learning all about Buddhist beliefs and teachings, including karma, samsara and reincarnation. It was a great opportunity for the children to share their opinions and thoughts on some issues in the world, as well as their beliefs on life after death. They now understand that Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path to reach nirvana and become enlightened.
The children have blown away Mr T and I with their writing on Kensuke's Kingdom. They've drafted their emotive formal letters from the main character (Michael) to Michiya, ready to edit and publish next week.
In Maths, they applied their fraction knowledge by solving word problems. While it was difficult, they persevered and found that drawing bar models helped them understand the problems.
It was also Mrs Horsewood's first week with the class. We're all looking forward to working with her for the next few months in her teacher training.
CGP Books
Maths: pages 74-75 (revision test)
English: page 76 ('shus' sound)
This week's awards go to Orpita for her problem-solving in Maths, and to Qamarzada for his excellent progress in writing - well done!
Year 6
We've had some exceptional non- chronological reports about World War II this week and the children were able to add their artistic flair which has made them very eye- catching. We have moved on to letter writing and will be using our class book 'Letters from the Lighthouse' as the stimulus for it as the children write in character. In Maths, we are working at a fast pace to complete all the topics before SATs so can your children be in school as much as possible, please. This week we have looked at co-ordinates and reflection before we move on to area next week.
In Design and Technology, the children have been investigating soup and have been tasting a variety of different ones so they can decide on the ingredients for their soup which they will be making, next week.
I would like to finish of by saying how proud we were of the children at the Barnet Dance Festival. From their performance to their behaviour throughout the day, they represented Livingstone amazingly. Well done!
This week's achievement awards go to Lily M and Hadiya for their enthusiasm and dancing in the Barnet Dance Festival this week.
Kingfisher 2
We have had a good week! The children have been recognising equal parts for their fraction work and identifying and finding halves for lengths, shapes and sets of objects.
In English, we have been describing characters and settings from our text ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’. The children have been using lots of great descriptive language. They have also creatively designed and described their own characters and planets!!
This week’s award goes to Zack! Due to his fantastic attitude and all the hard work he puts into each day, we have seen such big progress across every subject.
He should be very proud of his achievements!
What a superstar and a great role model to his peers!!!
Nightingales
In Maths this week we have been practising our calculation methods for addition and subtraction. We have been using bar models, comparing calculations and solving word problems. The children have all been trying really hard to apply their skills to complete more challenging maths questions. They should be very proud of themselves.
In English, we have been enjoying our topic of dinosaurs. We wrote questions to look up and have been practising our research skills using the laptops. We have been finding out interesting facts all about different types of dinosaurs.
This week's award goes to Jaydon for applying his maths skills this week when using bar models and in comparison questions. Well done Jaydon!
Snacks and Treats
Nobody wants to disappoint children when it is their birthday and everyone deserves a treat however please try to think creatively when bringing in a birthday surprise, avoiding sweets if possible. If you would still prefer to send a sweet treat, please make it a small one but not lollipops.
Snacks for after school clubs and in packed lunches must be nut-free and healthy.
Netball vs Christ Church
Netball club has been extremely popular this year and it has been fantastic to see all of the enthusiasm children have shown. The children have made so much progress in terms of intercepting the ball, footwork and creating opportunities to shoot within the game. We are so proud of everyone who has committed to attending the netball club as we have seen great improvements. Last week, children from our netball club played in the Barnet netball league against Christ Church. It was an exhilarating game and the children worked fantastically as a team. The children worked hard to finish the game with a 6-1 win! Well done to Maisie, Zeynep, Albion, Qamarzada, Louis, Arbel and Lois.
Football vs Trent Primary School
We have many leagues that we participate in throughout the school year. Large number of children join and we emphasise that we are all one big team. On Tuesday, we had a competitive football match against Trent Primary School. They gave it their absolute all despite the game starting in their opposition's favour. However, the girls responded with great determination and resulting in a 7-1 win to us. Well done to Lois, Hattie, Kaitlin, Katerina, Geethesri, Catherine, Maisie, Zeynep and Arbel.
Diary Dates
March 2022
Monday 14th:
INSET Day - School closed
Wednesday 16th:
Year 5/6 Girls football match vs Sacred Heart - 3.30 pm (Home)
Thursday 17th:
Year 5/6 football match vs St. Johns N20 - 3.30 pm (Home)
Friday 18th:
Red Nose Day
Monday 21st:
Down Syndrome Awareness Day
Wednesday 23rd:
Year 5/6 Boys football match vs Sacred Heart - 3.30 pm (Home)
Thursday 24th:
PTA Mothers Day Afternoon Tea - 2 pm
Friday 25th:
PTA Mothers Day Stall - All Day
Monday 28th:
Autism Awareness Week
Activity Clubs for Summer 1 go online for booking
Thursday 31st:
Activity Clubs finish for Spring 2
Year 5 Easter Assembly
April 2022
Friday 1st:
End of Term, school finishes at 2 pm - No Cabin Club or Yoga Club
EASTER HOLS Monday 4th April - Monday 18th April 2022
Tuesday 19th:
Summer 1 term begins - Pupils Return
No Activity Clubs this week
Year 6 SAT's Practice Week
Monday 25th:
Activity Clubs begin for Summer 1
More dates will follow...