Livingstone Newsletter 21
March Week 2
Friday 15th March
Rec - Year 5 Maths Impact Workshops and Year 6 SATs Meeting for Parents and Carers
Thank you to all the parents, carers and friends who came to the IMPACT sessions this week. We were blown away with how many of you came to find out how to support your child in Maths. I am sure you found this beneficial.
It's not too late to sign-up and support your child/children to see how the school teaches Maths. We know it can be difficult for working parents to attend, however it is important that someone from your family attends as it boosts your child’s confidence and reinforces a positive attitude towards learning. This can be Mum, Dad, a Grandparent, an Aunt or Uncle, older brother or sister... but someone please!
The sessions will take place at 9 am for an hour. Please use the form links below to inform us someone will be attending the meeting for your child's year group.
Year 3 Maths IMPACT Workshop - Wednesday 20th March 2024
Year 6 parents/carers will be having a SATs meeting instead. Please use the following link to inform us if you will be attending.
Red Nose Day Comedy Show
Thank you for helping us raise £200 for Red Nose Day!
CHICKENSHED’S 50th BIRTHDAY!
Chickenshed is celebrating its 50th Anniversary of Inclusive Theatre.
In 1990 Livingstone Primary school pupils took part in a huge performance at The Royal Albert Hall, which included a thousand children. Did YOU take Part in Chickenshed’s Anansi performance? Were you a pupil or a member of staff? CHICKENSHED needs YOU!
Please contact Charlotte Bull at Chickenshed at CharlotteB@chickenshed.org.uk’
Parent Rep Meeting - 28.02.2024
Giovanna Phelan- Head Teacher
Sid Visuanathan- Reception
Jackie Scott- Year 1
Laura Blackaller- Year 2
Charlotte Gosling- Year 3
Melisa Gosling – Year 4
Kate Figgis- Year 5
Lina Cavozzi- Year 6
Shelly Farmer- Year 6 and Kingfisher 2
Q Why can dogs not be brought into schools?
A We love dogs at Livingstone, but dogs are not allowed on school premises even if they are small and being held. This is for many reasons; some people may fear dogs but more importantly dogs can be unpredictable and for the safety of all people who visit our school we ask you not bring your dog onto the school premises.
Q Can the new school dinner menu be sent to parents?
A The school dinner menu is always updated onto the school website. We will try to find another way to deliver this information for those who cannot access this.
Q Could the new teacher in Year 1 be introduced to the parents/carers?
A The new teacher in Year 1- Ms Kwan has joined the year 1 team along with Mrs. Segal. She has recently returned from maternity leave and although she may be new to the year 1 parents and pupils, she is not new to the school. It was mentioned in the school newsletter that she was returning.
If any parent wishes to introduce themselves, please speak to her when you pick up your child or send her and email via the school, we are sure she will be pleased to meet you.
Q Can we have more accelerated reader books for year 2?
A The school has invested in more books for all the pupils and extra ones for year 2.
Homework - Parent Rep Responses
We had many comments about homework and Brain boosters.
Parents have asked for the weekly homework to be handed out a couple of days early, so they have more time to complete this.
Some suggested changes to the name of Brain Boosters.
Requests for homework that can be done independently.
Requests for more worksheets and fewer making activities.
Brain Boosters are very time consuming and involve too much parental involvement.
They could be activities for the Summer.
Homework can be stressful and not motivating.
Good mix of homework is provided
Thank you to all the comments. Above are just a sample of parental views.
For the moment homework will continue as it is, with work expected to be completed in Reading, Maths and English. We emphasise again that Brain Boosters is an enrichment programme and may suit some children more than others. These are not compulsory, and the children can choose which ones they want to do.
Finally, the fit bag is also doing the rounds and it was agreed this was another alternative fun form of homework.
Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery
Continuing with our people who help us theme, this week has been all about Firefighters and the important job they do. The children have had a great time learning all about the job they do and the equipment the use to help them. They have been dressing up and acting out emergency scenarios. They have made various fiery works of art, and they have been learning songs as well. They have been counting fire engines and enjoying lots of water play. We were lucky enough to have the fire brigade visit us on Thursday afternoon, when they were not too busy, to show us all the equipment close up. The children were very excited to sit in the fire engine and spray the hose.
Reception
Reception class have had a very exciting week welcoming their eggs. We looked at animals that lay eggs and predicted what would hatch. Was it turtles? Penguins? Spiders?! No... Reception Llass were lucky enough to watch 9 lovely chicks hatch from the eggs! We have 3 hens and 6 roosters out of 10 eggs in the incubator. We have had very important discussions about the life cycle already and they have inspired so much learning in all areas. We are looking forward to having them for another week and seeing what else the children will come up with.
To every child in Reception this week for following the rules about chick care and being very enthusiastic and engaged!
Year 1
Year 1 enjoyed learning about ‘Leaders and Teachers’ in our
RE lessons this week. They spoke about special people in their lives as well as learning about the leaders of different religions. Ask them what they remember from the Biblical stories of ‘Jesus feeds the 5000’ and ‘The Good Samaritan.’
Thank you to those parents who joined us for our Maths Impact session; we hope you found it helpful. This week, we focused on length and height. The children practically explored how long, short or tall classroom objects are by measuring and comparing them using non-standard units.
In our English lessons, we continue to enjoy poetry and have started to write our own versions of Shel Silverstein’s If The World Was Crazy.
In our phonics lessons, the children are almost finished learning all of their Set 3 sounds. Please make sure your child reads the 2 Read Write Inc books in their bookbag to you for 10 minutes every day. The library book is for you to read to your children.
The first achievement award goes to Evan for greeting his teachers beautifully every morning and for trying his best in all the activities across the curriculum. The second achievement award goes to Naz for her enthusiasm and excellent ideas for our discussions during RE Lessons.
Year 2
We have started learning about money in Maths. We have counted in pence, made amounts of money in different ways and counted in pounds. In English, 'Traction Man' has been our inspiration for our writing this week. We have written sentences with adjectives and conjunctions.
Year 2 have really enjoyed DT this term. We have been learning about how vehicles move. Children created fabulous designs and we have started to create our own vehicle. We await the final product!
Homework
Maths- Read page 44.
Complete pages 45 and 46. 47 is an extension.
This week's awards go to Toby for his excellent grammar in English and Jack for his great knowledge in DT.
Kingfisher 1
In Maths this week we have been learning all about equal and unequal grouping. The children used a number of resources and shared them out. Reception continued to make numbers using different numicons.
In English we have been reading 'The Tiger Child'. Some children retold the story using build a sentence and colourful semantics and reception categorised animals into their habitats.
This week's award goes to Enzo for working really hard all week.
Well done and keep up the great work!
Year 3
This week in Year 3 we have started our new science unit on Rocks and Fossils. We have really enjoyed a hunt around the school looking for different rocks and examining different kinds of rocks. We have also been doing our own research on fossils, looking at what fossils are and how they are formed.
In English, we have started story mapping our own tricks based on Mr Twit which we have really enjoyed. We have come up with many different types of tricks from frogs being hidden in cupboard to ants inside a burger! Next week, we will start to write our own tricks which we look forward to.
Homework:
English punctuation: pages 26 & 27 inverted commas
Maths: pages 51 & 52 recapping over multiplication and division.
This week's awards go to Eli for his consistent hard work and Renee for her excellent story mapping
Year 4
In Maths, we have continued learning about fractions with a focus on converting them from mixed number fractions to improper and vice versa. In English, we looked at a range of explanation texts in preparation for our next piece of writing. In computing, we have been looking at how to use search engines and various other programmes such as Microsoft Forms and Excel.
Homework:
Maths: Fractions - pages 65 and 66
Reading: Question set 2 - pages 32 and 33
This week's achievement awards go to Leon for his positive effort, and to Skye for challenging himself in maths. Well done.
Year 5
This week in Maths, the children calculated areas of rectangles and more difficult shapes.
In English, they wrote fantastic letters as Michael to Michiya based on our whole-class book, 'Kensuke's Kingdom'.
In the afternoons, they were engineers building their race cars. While they enjoyed the task, they quickly realised that team work and carefully reading instructions was key. Some groups found it very hard, but will hopefully feel more successful in their next DT project.
Homework
Maths: pages 75 and 76 (area)
Punctuation: pages 10 and 11 (commas to avoid confusion)
This week's awards go to Evgenia for doing a great job with her letter writing, and to Ravi for excellent area work in Maths - well done!
Year 6
This week in Year 6, the children have been writing a letter as a character from 'Letters from the Lighthouse' ensuring they get the characters personality across. The children have done really well and we are extremely pleased with the outcomes. In Maths, the topics have been volume and angles. Next week, the children will be looking at shape.
I hope you all enjoyed the soup your children brought home. I think we have some budding chefs within Year 6.
On Thursday 21st March, there is a SATs meeting at 9am to inform you about them. Please let us know if you can attend by clicking on the link above. The SATs tests are beginning on Monday 13th of May which will be here before we know it as we have the Easter holidays in-between.
CGP Homework Pages
Maths - Targeted Question book - pages 60 and 61
English - SPaG - pages 12 and 13
This week's achievement awards go to Mya for always persevering and pushing herself to try, and Uzair for being a positive role model. Well done!
Kingfisher 2
This week in Maths we have been measuring volume and learning about capacity.
In English we have been planning our own stories about characters in the park.
Kingfisher 2 decorated red noses for comic relief.
This week's achievement awards go to Calvin and George for their fabulous participation in the dance festival.
Mother's Day Stall
The Mother's Day stall was a great success, with thanks going to Mrs Cavozzi, Ms Mace and Diane for sourcing the gifts and Kate Orr and Laura Blackaller helping on the stall. We hope that everyone had a lovely Sunday and got to enjoy their gifts.
MARCH 2024
Monday 18th:
- Neurodiversity Celebration Week
Wednesday 20th:
- Year 3 Maths IMPACT Meeting for Parents/Carers 9am in the Dining Hall
- KS2 Cross Country Competition at Oakhill Park (runners to be confirmed), 11:30 - 15:00pm
- Year 5 France Trip meeting for parents/carers 3:15pm in Year 5 classroom
Thursday 21st:
- Year 6 SATs Meeting for Parent/Carers 9am
- KF1 and 2 Bowling Trip to Hollywood Bowl (cost £7.00, please give permission and pay via School Money)
- Girls Football Match - Livingstone vs Monkfrith 3:30pm
Friday 22nd
- Netball Tournament at Copthall School -AM
- PTA Glow in the Dark Party - PM (more info to follow)
Monday 25th:
- Activity Clubs for Summer 1 go online for booking at 5:30pm
Wednesday 27th:
- Years 5/6 Tag Rugby Competition - PM
Thursday 28th:
- Year 5 Easter Assembly to whole school (Year 5 parents/ carers are invited to attend)
- End of Term - school finishes at 2pm (NO SPANISH or CABIN CLUB)
Friday 29th:
- Good Friday - school closed.
APRIL 2024
Easter Holiday - Monday 1st - Friday 12th April 2024
Monday 15th:
- Summer Term begins - pupils return to school
- Activity Clubs begin for Summer 1
Use this link to visit our School Calendar 23/24 for further dates.