Newsletter
October Week 2
Friday 15th October
Kingfisher Celebrations
This week has been a time to reflect and rejoice on what Livingstone has achieved as a community over the past 20 years in Special Educational Needs as we celebrated Kingfisher's birthday on Tuesday.
The whole event was organised by Mrs Ferdenzi and Miss Nicholson. They did an incredible job getting so many former staff, parents and pupils to attend the celebration as well as share some fond memories of their time spent here.
The celebrations started at lunchtime where our wonderful kitchen manager, Tracy (with the help of Diane) provided the pupils with a 'Tea Party' lunch to enjoy along to some joyous music which could be heard around the whole school.
After lunch, assembly started with a special video message from the actress Jane Asher who opened Kingfisher 20 years ago. The inspiring messages that followed from Mr Lancaster (head teacher at the time) and Louise Robinson who was one of the first provision class teachers took us on a trip down memory lane. Linda Orr, who is the Head of SEN in Barnet, also spoke followed by Clive Partridge (the Chair of Governors) and Shelly Farmer. Shelly is parent of George in Yr 4 and did incredibly well to speak about such an emotive subject in front of so many people. Well done Shelly! Afterwards, we heard from Mr Boucon and Miss Fairley who used to be pupils at Livingstone nearly 20 years ago!
It was our former pupils of Kingfisher who stole the show though! Lauren, Max F, Sam and Max G all spoke to tell us what Kingfisher truly meant to them and what it is like to be autistic. We were overwhelmed with great pride and inspiration as we heard about their successes (two masters degrees and various college courses) and how Kingfisher was a huge part of their life, helping them grow into the adults they are now.
Once assembly had finished and the tissues ran out, our guests were welcomed to tea party in the Dinning Hall where a few treats were eaten and everyone had a lovely catch- up with each other.
Other guests included previous Head Teacher Mrs Lobo, SENCo Mrs Knappett and Pastoral Manager Mrs Buckland.
It was a incredible and uplifting event!
Three Livingstone Head teachers reunited
Kingfisher children and staff
Speech from our Ex-Kingfisher Pupil
Sam reads his speech
We were all left feeling so inspired by our ex-kingfisher pupils, we want to share Sam Coleman's words. Sam was one of Kingfisher's first pupils!
Good afternoon, everyone!
For those of you who may not know me, my name is Sam, and I was in the first intake of Kingfisher when it started 20 years ago. That’s certainly enough to make me feel old! Since then, I completed an undergraduate and a Master’s degree in Music, and I am now working towards a qualification to become a data analyst.
I was incredibly fortunate to have a network of teachers and classmates at Livingstone who were able to help me recognise and believe in my abilities, and also make me feel like I was part of a community, rather than simply being the odd one out.
I believe the key takeaway here is to believe in yourself. You can only truly do this if you have a community of people- peers, parents, teachers, and other professionals who believe in you and support your self- belief. There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and when the child has challenges, the village needs to rise to meet these, hand in hand with the child. And that certainly rings true both in and out of the classroom.
We all know that life is never without its challenges, especially if you have a learning difficulty or other disability. However, there’s a way in which we can use these obstacles to our advantage. Remember that for every barrier that might get in your way, there are qualities and strengths that each of you have. And also remember you are not alone. You are all here to fulfil your potential and help each other do the same. We all know that.
From a Kingfisher perspective, though, whether you are a parent, teacher, teaching assistant, or fellow classmate, I believe it is very important that we appreciate each other for being different and see each other as people no matter our way of thinking, learning, or communicating. I know that many of you in the room are still young and developing, but as you grow up, you will begin to realise that neurodiversity can bring out some of the best qualities in you that you can possibly imagine. Remember that you are all special in your own way, and I believe that if you are honest with yourself about your strengths and your challenges, you will not only grow and develop within yourselves, but you can also help each other do the same thing and learn from each other what it is to be different. You might even go on to do things that you might consider impossible at this stage of your lives, such as go to university - something that non- believing professionals and secondary school teachers told me I would never accomplish. How happy I was to prove them wrong!
Always believe in yourself, and don’t let anyone tell you that you are not good at anything. And most of all, remember that you are not alone in this journey.
Thank you.
Sam Coleman
Year 4 Harvest Festival
On Tuesday 19th October we would like all pupils to bring in tinned and dry goods so we can donate them to the local charity and food bank. It has been a tough time for many families in Barnet, so this will be an easy way to help our community.
Year 4 parents can come to the Main Hall and watch their children perform a Harvest assembly at 9am. Please can you bring a mask with you.
P.E. Councillors
On Monday, we will be voting for our class representatives to be this year's P.E councillor. If your child would like to nominate themselves, they will need to prepare this weekend as on Monday children will be explaining why they would make a good P.E leader for their peers to vote.
Student Council
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Congratulations to our new Student Council!
Year 1: Liana & Ellis
Year 2: Georgie, Ryan & Scarlett
Year 3: Zyan & Zainab
Year 4: Sophia & Kayce
Year 5: Nate & Orpita
Year 6: Zack, Emmanuel & Zeynep
Pupils throughout the school had the opportunity to vote for their class representatives in our Livingstone Polling Station. This year, our Student Council will be working towards improving the school experience, helping our local community and representing their peers.
Thank you to our Chair of Governors, Clive Partridge, for presenting to our new Student Council.
Morning Arrangements
We have noticed that the gate in KS2 playground is becoming very congested in the mornings when pupils are being dropped off. In response to this, we will be opening the gate a little earlier but ask that Year 1 and Year 2 parents do not go around to the KS1 playground until 8:40 am. If your child has Catch-up then please enter through the main office door. Thank you!
Attendance - appointments
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It has become very hard to see a doctor or dentist but wherever possible, parents / carers should always try to arrange medical and dental appointments after school hours or during school holidays. You are also expected to leave any siblings at school and not take them with you. After the appointment, please return your children to school as quickly as possible.
This weeks attendance:
Reception 94%
Yr 1 90%
Yr 2 97%
Yr 3 97%
Yr 4 97%
Yr 5 96%
Yr 6 96%
*KF1, KF2 and Nightingales are included in their Mainstream Classes.
Well done to Yr 2, Yr 3, Yr 4, Yr 5 and Yr 6 for being over 96%.
Wonder Raps
Mr Mitchell, who was a teacher at Livingstone, has created a series called 'Wonder Raps' for Sky Kids TV. The show is about being lost in a book and the adventures that a book could take you on through the medium of rap. The programme can also be streamed through NOW TV if you have a subscription. We are very proud of Mr Mitchell's achievements!
Nursery
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Vinny loves building with the blocks outside. Every day she makes interesting constructions and she is really good at balancing the blocks on top of one another. Here, she has made a house "but you can look right through it!" Well done, Vinny!
Abid didn't used to like drawing but now he loves it! He wanted to draw some flowers - and he remembered that flower stems are usually green too! He filled his page with lovely flowers. Great work, Abid!
Kingfisher Nursery
This week the autumn theme has focussed on our prickly friend the hedgehog. We have enjoyed reading about them, watching them and making our own using a variety of mediums.
As always the children have worked hard and had lots of fun, well done everyone!
Reception
This week we walked in to another visitor to the classroom... Anansi the Spider! We have been learning about the traditional tales of this trickster during our learning for Black History. We looked at African patterns and used these to make our own collages of Anansi. The theme of patterns continued in our Maths learning where we have been looking at repeating patterns. We used shapes, objects and even natural materials to practice. I wonder if you can make any at home! Well done for a brilliant week Reception... keep it up!
Liam - for good input and ideas in the whole class discussions this week
Daisy - for a fantastic effort and enthusiasm in lessons this week - especially phonics!
Year 1
This week in Maths, Year 1 focused on using a part-whole model to show addition. We used a variety of resources to show how the parts are equal to the whole. We are well into Set 2 and 3 in phonics sessions and enjoyed reading our books with 'story-teller' voices. In Music, we continued to keep the pulse and even played C on the first beat of every bar to our song Hey You. Science has continued to be exciting as we investigated the properties of materials. As always, your enthusiasm for learning is fantastic Year 1!
This week's achievement awards go to Yvette for her brilliant playing of the glockenspiel and to Lacey for her excellent description of the properties of materials.
Year 2
This week in Year 2 we have been finishing off our History, learning all about the Great Fire of London. We have learnt so many facts about London during 1666 and how London has changed since the fire. We got together in small groups and presented to the class all our knowledge about the fire. We are now using the link to the Great fire in art and we have started our sparks and flames project in art. We created our own mood boards, looking at pictures of fires and different mediums used. Next week, we will start to explore with the different mediums before we create our own fire art piece.
We have also been very busy in Y2 learning songs for our KS1 music festival in November. We have started to learn our own song to perform at the festival and we have chosen the 'Sulwe song' which is a based on a book we will be focusing on next week for Black History.
Our first achievement goes to Soroiyan for her excellent participation in music and great ideas discussing her art mood board.
The second award goes to Leon for his brilliant knowledge about the Great Fire of London and sharing this with the class.
Kingfisher 1
What another wonderful week in Kingfisher 1!
In English, we explored different elements of Autumn. Pupils made leaf prints, paying attention to the changing colours and textures of the Autumn leaves. They looked at conkers, making different animals using conkers and plasticine.
In Maths, we looked at 2D and 3D shapes. We started by looking naming shapes, then finding them in our environment and finishing by making our own structures using 2D and 3D shapes.
This week's Kingfisher 1 achievement award goes to Toby for excellent participation in all lessons. He is a brilliant role model to his peers!
Year 3
In English this week, we have completed our big write. We wrote a setting description to describe the tin forest. The children have worked really hard on presentation and including a range of grammar which we have learnt.
In Maths, we have been focusing on addition and subtraction. Using concrete resources, pictorial representations and formal methods, we can add up to 3-digit numbers with and without exchanging.
Our History foundation block has come to an end. The children have shown a great interest learning about the Stone Age and have answered our big question, 'What were the main changes in prehistoric Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age?'
In addition, the recorders are a still a huge hit and we have been practising every Friday.
This week's awards go to Leah for her hard work ethic in class and Zainab for her descriptive language in our big write.
Year 4
This week we visited Verulamium Museum to find out more about how the Romans influenced modern day Britain. Verulamium was an important Roman town during their reign in Britain making this trip even more special. During our visit, we were able to look at artefacts that were almost two thousand years old and experience life as a Roman. We had an excellent time!
In class, we have been busy learning our harvest assembly script and shanty which we looked forward to sharing with everyone next week! :)
Recommended CGP book pages: English pages 20-21, and Maths pages 12, 13 and 15.
This week's awards go to Bianca for her kind and caring nature, and to Jaime for her hard working attitude. Well done!
Year 5
This week, Year 5 have been absolute superstars with swimming! The progress they've made in the first week has been a joy to watch, and I'm sure next week they'll be even more competent and confident swimmers.
In Maths, they've been doing addition and subtraction, focusing on the column method and bar models. They 've practised doing inverse operations and rounding to check answers.
In English, the children did a partner write to prepare for their independent writing next week and also learned a poem for Black History Month.
The afternoons have been filled with scientific discoveries; the children completed experiments on thermal insulators and electrical conductors, and learned about changing states.
Recommended CGP book pages: English pages 44-45, and Maths pages 6-7.
This week's awards go to Jaydon for his growing confidence in the swimming pool, and to Katerina for her fantastic complex sentences in English - well done, you two!
Year 6
This week, we have been very busy in Year 6! The children have been revising short division before we tackle long division next week in Maths and in English, we have been looking at complex sentences including subordinating conjunctions. Our new book 'The Island' by Armin Greder has provoked some thought-provoking conversations about refugees and how it must feel to come to a place where you don't know the country or the language - I am looking forward to reading their next long write! We have also begun Art where we are looking at the Victorian artist William Morris in preparation for making our own wallpaper!
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This week's achievement awards go to Laura and Jamie for their observations in Art. Well done!
Kingfisher 2
This week in Kingfisher 2 we have been working on different strategies to add and subtract. The children have been adding two-2 digit numbers and some have even been using the column method.
Today, as part of our English topic 'Instructions', we visited Sainsbury's to buy the ingredients to make our own pizzas. The children are going to be writing their own instructions next week using photos of themselves cooking the pizzas!
This week there are a number of children who deserve to be awarded.
Firstly Arin, for great improvement in his attitude and effort to work and learning.
Jack for his fabulous recall in Maths and super quick mental calculations!
And finally Zack, who is always a great role model in class and was voted to be KF2's pupil rep! He had his first meeting today!
Well done to all 3 boys!!
Nightingales
This week in Maths we have been learning about subtraction. We initially used Dienes to help us to understand the process and then moved on to formal methods. The children have done really well this week in independently using the 'column' method.
For Black History month, we were looking at the book 'Sulwe' by famous actress Lupita Nyong'o. The children took part in hot- seating and showed a good understanding of the characters and their feelings. They also wrote acrostic poems inspired by the story.
This week's award goes to Jaydon for being very brave at swimming and even jumping in! Well done Jaydon.
After School Activity Clubs
On Monday morning, activity clubs for Autumn 2 will go online for booking and you will notice in the timetable below, Art Club for Years 1 - 6 has been added to the fantastic mix already on offer.
The same clubs will continue to operate on the same days between 3.15 - 4.15 pm.
However, a small change to the time Spanish Club starts and finishes on Fridays has been made. This club will begin at 3 pm and end at 4 pm. This means the club will begin 15 minutes before the end of the school day and therefore you will be charged for a 45 minute session instead of 1 hour.
The next half of the Autumn term and the Spring term are full of sporting fixtures for upper KS2 that Miss Fairley has been busily arranging. Therefore, the Year 5/6 Football, Netball and Tag Rugby clubs will be offered to pupils for free with the expectation that they are willing to train for the opportunity to play for the school teams. Numbers are limited so book quickly to avoid disappointment.
If you intend to book your child on to any of the clubs, please make sure you book before they recommence after half term. Two weeks is enough time to allow for booking and late bookings cause additional administration time after the registers have been finalised.
Online Safety
Reminder - please continue to monitor the content of the platforms your children are accessing online and ensure that it is appropriate for their age group.
Diary Dates
October 2021
Monday 18th:
Activity clubs for Autumn 2 go online for booking via School Money
Black History Month continues.
Year 4 Harvest Assembly to KS1 pupils
Tuesday 19th
Spooky Adventure Returns (times to be confirmed)
Year 4 Harvest Assembly to Year 4 Parents and KS2 pupils at 9am
Wednesday 20th:
Parent Consultations for Years 3, 4, 5, 6, Nightingales and KF2 - 9.00 - 11.15 AM in the Cabin
Parent Consultations for Reception, Years 1, 2 and KF1 - 1.00 - 3.15 PM in the Cabin
Thursday 21st:
Parent Consultations for all classes - 3.30 - 5.45 PM in the Classrooms
Friday 22nd:
Activity clubs finish for half term - please make sure you book for the Autumn 2 clubs before half term ends.
School finishes for Half Term at 3.15 pm
Half Term - Monday 25th to Friday 29th October 2021
November 2021
Monday 1st:
Autumn 2 term begins - pupils return to school
Activity clubs begin for Autumn 2
Tuesday 9th:
Year 5 Reading Impact Meeting
Wednesday 10th:
Year 6 Reading Impact Meeting
Thursday 11th:
Year 4 Reading Impact Meeting
Flu Nasal Spray - offered to whole school
Friday 12th:
Year 3 Reading Impact Meeting
Monday 15th:
Year 1 Reading Impact Meeting
Year 5 and 6 Netball Match v Danegrove (home) - 3.15pm
Tuesday 16th:
Year 2 Reading Impact Meeting
Thursday 18th:
Reception Reading Impact Meeting
Year 5 and 6 Girls Football Match v St. Andrews (home) - 3.15pm
Monday 29th:
INSET Day - School closed to pupils
More dates will follow...
Job Vacancy
We are recruiting a part-time cleaner to work after school. A job description will appear on the website on Monday with details on how to apply