Livingstone Newsletter
May Week 2
Friday 12th May
It hard to believe that Year 6's time at Livingstone is entering the final stages. When the last Maths papers were collected today, the children could finally relax and start looking forward to an action-packed end to the last weeks of term.
Well done to all the pupils for the exceptional effort they have put into the preparation for the SATs tests. Every member of staff who has worked with these pupils has contributed to their outcomes. However, the biggest cheer goes to Ms Breen and Mrs Armstrong for working so hard to get them ready for the challenge.
Both the Breakfast Club and Yoga sessions were a great success. It was lovely to see so many of the Year 6's take up the offer and we do hope it helped make a good start to their day.
A big thank you to Kate Orr for coming in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning to practice Yoga with Year 6, helping to awaken and energise them as well as put them in a focused and positive mood. They were the perfect Yogis!
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PARENT REPRESENTATIVE MEETING 28.04.2023
IN ATTENDANCE:
Giovanna Phelan- Headteacher
Carrie Lowin and Jackie Scott- Reception
Laura Blackaller- Year 1
Melissa Gosling- Year 3
Kate Orr- Year 4
Shelly Farmer- Year 5 and Kingfisher 2
Paula Falco- Year 6
APOLOGIES:
Austin Scott- Reception
Lina Cavozzi- Year 5
Charlotte Gosling- Year 2
Paula Falco- Year 6
The Coronation Lunch took place on Friday 5th of May. All the children with the exception of Nursery took part as they are not eligible for school dinners. Nursery had other wonderful things to do for the celebration of the King’s Coronation.
School Uniform was worn for coronation celebrations as the school photographer was in on that day.
School Dinners
Q. Would it be possible for a child to have a mixture of school dinners and packed lunches?
A. Unfortunately a child has to commit to one. The school has to order food in advance to keep costs down and the logistics would be challenging for kitchen and children to remember the changes every day.
Reception
Q. Do Reception Class have transition preparation to Year 1?
A. We are so lucky at Livingstone school as the Reception children are always well prepared for their all-important transition into Year 1.
They have ‘Meet the Teacher' to look forward to and by the end of the year will be working at the level they need to enter Year 1. So there will be no big surprises on the work front.
They will also see their new classroom and feel familiar with their new surroundings which we hope makes the transition as smooth as possible for them.
Camp Night
There will be a family camp night this year and because of its popularity, the parents/carers have asked if there will be two nights. This is yet to be discussed with the organisers, though given the level of effort required for one night and the impact on the younger pupils, it is unlikely that this event will be carried over to two nights.
School Trips
Parents have asked for more school trips.
We have on average around four school trips per class during the school year. Some of the past trips have not been recovered since lockdown. For example, visits to religious places. Our intention is to re-start these in the next academic year and additional trips may be added as we are always looking to enrich the children’s learning with out-of-school and in-school experiences.
School Strikes
It is difficult for the school to let parents know when a teacher is going to strike.
The school can give advance warning of this but the unions and teachers don’t have to let the school know until the day before - or even on the day of the strike.
We are lucky that our teachers do let us know, but the whole point of this, is the strikes cause as much disruption as possible to get their point across.
Please bear with us and the school will inform you as soon as they know which classes will be affected.
OFSTED Questionnaire
Livingstone School is due an Ofsted visit and we never know when this is going to happen.
We are ready for them!
In preparation, the school website will be having some changes and we will be asking for your feedback.
Year 6
Year 6 are very happy to be doing “SCHOOL OF ROCK” as their end of term show.
They are currently working very hard towards their SATS. Once the SATS are over, more information on the show, prom and end of term celebrations will be given to parents/carers.
Parent Champions Coffee Morning - Friday 12th May 2023
Thank you, once again, to all the parents/carers and Parent Champions for attending May's coffee morning.
It was a great opportunity to share information on local children services and network with other parents.
We are looking forward to our next coffee morning on Friday 9th of June 2023.
Nursery and Kingfisher Nursery
This week in the Nursery we have been continuing our 'seed planting' theme - this time completing 'seed bombs' for World Earth Day!
The children made their seed bombs by rolling seeds very carefully in blue and green tissue paper before putting them into their envelopes. They looked just like globes!
Reception
This week the children have continued learning about King Charles and have written all about him wearing different hats! We have learnt lots about London, including the different famous landmarks and key places. We have been busy building our own bridges to reach over the River Thames, and creating cityscapes inspired by the artist Stephen Wiltshire.
Achievement Awards!
Jeshy - for fantastic effort and work in phonics lessons. Keep it up!
Year 1
Year 1 were inspired by Andy Goldsworthy in our Art lessons and created their own pieces of art using natural materials in our pond area. We started our science topic on plants and discussed what the children already know. I am very impressed with the knowledge and curiosity of our budding horticulturalists! We look forward to expanding our understanding of plants in the next few weeks. Please continue to read the library book to your children, and the children should read their two phonics books to you as well as practise their set 3 sounds. In Maths, we are learning how to make equal groups of 2, 5 and 10. Well done on another challenging and exciting week in Year 1.
The first achievement award goes to Arthur for sharing his excellent knowledge of plants. The second achievement award goes to Iliana for challenging herself in maths this week and going for the spicy challenge. Great work you two!
Year 2
In English, we have been looking at the fairy tale, 'The Three Little Pigs'. We will be using this traditional tale for inspiration as we create our own version using different characters to retell the story.
In Maths, we have been solving one step and two step word problems involving all four operations.
We have been learning about plants in science where we have identified different plants, seeds and bulbs.
Homework
Reasoning- pages 15 and 16.
This week's achievements go to Savannah and Gia Khang for settling in straight into Year 2 and having a great first week with us :)
Kingfisher 1
This week in Kingfisher 1 we continued with our author study, we read 'The Mixed up Chameleon'. The children listened and commented well and completed some good descriptive writing.
In Maths we have been adding - the children are deepening their understanding and working with larger numbers.
This week's achievement award goes to Daniel for his excellent work in Maths, especially his fact families, well done!
Year 3
This week in Y3 the children came into class only to realise their chairs had gone on strike! Inspired by the book 'The Day the Crayons Quit', our chairs decided to go on strike and quit for a lesson too! We all had to do our work on the floor or standing up. We have been creating thought showers about the feelings of the chairs and why they went on strike, ready to write a letter of complaint as a chair next week!
We have also been practising very hard with our recorders ready and demonstrated this in our fabulous recorder assembly this afternoon. We also sang a new song that we have been learning in our music lessons in the assembly as well. Year 3 are musical stars!
CGP
Maths: Money page 50
SPaG: Questions pages 40 & 41
Our first achievement goes to Lexi for her excellent PowerPoint presentation that she has created in her own time for our assembly.
The second achievement is for Nathaniel for his hard work this week in his writing especially when writing subordinating conjunctions in his sentences.
Year 4
This week in Year 4, we have been using the four operations to solve word problems about money in Maths.
In English, we have been looking at figurative language (personifications and similes) to describe our chosen setting and mythological creature.
In Science, we have been exploring the digestive system. The children loved recreating this especially when waste product was formed in the large intestine!
CPG
Maths: Money pages 48 and 49
SPaG: Prefixes pages 68 and 69
Times table: Complete the times table rhymes part 1 and 2.
Go to Teams > Y4 Chat > Times tables rhymes part 1 and 2 on forms
This week's achievement award goes to Leah for her excellent work with money in Maths and to Olivia and Sotirio for their brilliant personifications and similes in English. Well done!
Year 5
This week, the children calculated angles around a point, and drew and measured angles with a protractor.
In English, they practised the grammar they'll use in the narratives: direct speech and complex sentences.
In the afternoons, the children learned about street art with a satirical message. They designed their final street art piece and drew it. They turned out very well!
CGP Books
Maths: pages 68 - 69 (angle rules)
English: pages 62 - 64 (punctuating speech)
This week's awards go to Sienna and Arber for their fantastic work on direct speech - well done!
Year 6
Year 6 have made me and Mrs Armstrong very proud this week. They have been focused, determined and resilient. Now that SATs are out of the way, our attention will shift to the show and preparing them for Year 7.
I'm sure they will be very pleased to hear that they have a week off from homework!
Ms Breen
This week's achievement award goes to every single member of Year 6 as you have all been fantastic!
Kingfisher 2
This week in Kingfisher 2, we have been writing about our bank holiday news, focusing on punctuating direct speech and using conjunctions to form compound sentences.
In maths, we have begun our unit on fractions, recognising and finding fractions of shapes and quantities.
Well done to Nathan, who gets the achievement award this week for being kind and helpful. Nathan has been holding the door open for adults and always offers to help with the classroom tasks.
BABY BIRDS Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo...
GOOD NEWS!! We have new baby birds that have just hatched in our forest school area. Hungry little things they are!
Head Lice
Recently, cases of head lice have been identified across the school. Whilst lice are nothing more than a nuisance, it is important that children are checked on a weekly basis so that any headlice can be dealt with quickly and before they are allowed to spread.
Due to the cases that have been identified in school, please ensure you check your child's head this weekend.
How to keep headlice outbreaks to a minimum:
Check your child's hair once a week
Use a proper detection comb - with teeth no more than 0.3mm apart to trap the lice. The comb is usually white in colour so lice can be easily identified.
If you find live lice, check the whole family.
For more information and further advice on the treatment of head lice, please visit the NHS website.
Cricket - May Half Term
Barnet Educational Arts Trust
MAY 2023
Monday 15th:
- Yr 5 and 6 Athletics Practice - pupils can bring trainers to run in.
Thursday 18th:
- Netball Final at East Barnet School 3pm
Friday 19th:
- Tag Rugby League (selected) Competition from 11:30am
- Year 4 Reading Group visit to the library
- Choir cluster rehearsal at Danegrove from 12:30pm
Monday 22nd:
- Activity Clubs for Summer 2 go online for booking from 8am
Friday 26th:
- Livingstone Founders Day Picnic
- Activity Clubs finish for Summer 1
- School finishes for Half Term (normal time)
HALF TERM: Monday 29th May - Friday 2nd June 2023
JUNE 2023
Monday 5th:
- Start of Summer 2 Term - Pupils return to school
- Activity Clubs begin for Summer 2