Livingstone Newsletter
April Week 4
Friday 02nd May
DfE Filming at Livingstone
After school was the place to be on Tuesday as the DFE filmed our exciting, fun-packed clubs. The film crew captured a range of activities, led by Mr Fisher, Mrs Church and Mrs Craddock. They also filmed the pupils enjoying their healthy snacks with Miss Haghighi and our new member of staff, Miss Davies. Mrs. Armstrong's positive description of the club led the DFE to choose Livingstone, and she was interviewed about her role.
Thank you to everyone who took part. The pupils were very well behaved, and everything went smoothly. We are eagerly looking forward to seeing the film once it has been edited and posted on the DFE website.
Barnet Sustainable School Charter
This week, Livingstone School signed up to the Barnet Sustainable School Charter. A big thank you to Stuart and Diane for their hard work in transforming our Forest School. They are working with our pupils to learn about sustainability and develop projects to make our school more environmentally friendly.
We also extend our gratitude to the PTA for their contributions. The funds raised have enabled us to add an all-weather shelter, and there are plans in place to renew the pond and decking area.
Keep Our Area Tidy
We are very fortunate at Livingstone to be situated on the borders of the Green Belt. To help us preserve this precious environment, we kindly ask parents, carers and pupils to not drop litter outside the school and in the surrounding woodland area. Please put your litter in a nearby bin or take it home with you.
Family Camp Night
Exciting news! We have set the date for our annual PTA Family Camp Night for Friday 20th June (this is our next INSET Day) so make sure you add it to your calendar. More information to follow soon.
Nursery and KFE
Another busy week immersed in the wonderful world of Eric Carle's hungry caterpillar. The children are becoming more familiar with the story and the life cycle of the butterfly and thanks to the fabulous weather have spotted some butterflies and other minibeasts whilst enjoying the outdoors areas.
Our core text is also great for learning all about numbers, colours, days of the week. the children have made their own caterpillars showing of their skills in cutting, colouring, sequencing and sticking.
The phonics sound this week was 'a' as in apple, ant and astronaut.
Reception
Reception have had another fantastic week with their traditional tale of The Three Little Pigs. They have been learning about their body parts, different breeds and where in the world pigs live. We have been building houses, mixing paint, playing games and even watched and discussed a ballet performance of the story. We are really looking forward to seeing some pigs and piglets along with other animals at the farm next week!
Year 1
Year 1 learnt all about Queen Elizabeth II in our history lessons and compared her reign to Queen Victoria’s. In Maths, we learnt about sharing and grouping. Please practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s up to 100. Inspired by Billy’s Bucket, the children wrote fantastic narratives about the exciting creatures that lived in their magical buckets. Please continue to review Set 2 and 3 sounds and practise reading their Read Write Inc books for at least 10 minutes every day.
Our first achievement award goes to Leslie for her excellent work in music this week. Our second achievement awards goes to Royce for showing accurate working out with his drawing in arithmetic. Well done you two!
Year 2
In Maths, we are continuing to learn about measurement focusing on mass. We have ordered and compare mass and solve word problems looking at the four operations.
In English, we have written sentences with adjectives, conjunctions and commas for list. The children have great ideas and it has been lovely to read their writing with the correct punctuation.
In Science, we have taken part in many investigations. We answered the scientific question, 'Do bigger fruits have bigger seeds?' and learnt about hydroponics. We have begun to grow our own beans and we will observe what happens.
Homework
Maths- page 78 only.
This week's awards go to Asiya for her consistent hard work across all subjects and Dacian for his amazing work ethic in Maths. Well done to you both!
Kingfisher 1
In Maths this week, we focused on fractions, particularly finding halves of objects and quantities. The children engaged in a variety of practical activities to support their understanding that fractions represent equal parts of a whole.
In English, we continued our author study of Eric Carle. The children thoroughly enjoyed retelling the story 'The Bad Tempered Spider' through role-play and used colorful semantics to support sentence structure and storytelling.
This weeks award goes to King for his brilliant independent work in maths. Well done King!
Year 3
This week in Year 3 we have been using our imagination to describe the sights, sounds, smells and textures on a Caribbean beach. The children have generated a wide range of evocative vocabulary to paint a picture in a reader’s mind.
In Maths, we have been revisiting fractions and understanding about the whole being split into equal part of the denominator. We were able to apply it to real life contexts such as recipes or buying a X Box when there is 1/3 off the original selling price. We finished the week with Proud Fridays where some children shared with the rest of the class a proud moment from their lives.
Homework
Maths: pages 87 - 88 (optional page/Spicy also complete page 89)
Comprehension: pages 36 - 38
Well done Filip for getting an achievement award for being a phenomenal talk partner.
Leo received an achievement award this week for showing increased independence and developing his vocabulary for Writing.
Year 4
Year 4 have had a busy week. In Maths, the children have been investigating money. They have been converting pounds into pence and vice versa, estimating and comparing amounts. In English, the children have been incorporating their Romans knowledge from History into writing expanded noun phrases and using conjunctions to extend their sentences. Next week, they will be writing a non- chronological report about the Roman Army.
Homework pages
Maths - pages 97 and 98
Reading Comprehension - pages 49 and 50
Please continue to use Times Table Rockstars and read, daily. Thank you.
If you haven't done so already, please, check Arbor for the Roman Velarium trip letter which is on Thursday 8th May.
This week's achievement awards go to Liana for being an avid reader, and always filling in her reading diary and Zachary for his fantastic, expanded noun phrases work. Well done to you both!
Year 5
This week, the children continued learning about angles, including how to find missing angles on straight lines and in full turns.
In English, they used metaphors to create a romantic tone and subordinating conjunctions to link their ideas together. They planned their letters based on The Highwayman ready to write next week.
In DT, they enjoyed analysing the nutritional information of different breads, but this was trumped by them tasting different breads - they loved it! Next week they'll be making a small loaves.
Homework due by Weds 7th May
Maths: pages 90 and 91 (angles)
Punctuation: pages 16 and 17 (commas for extra information)
This week's awards go to Junior and Daniella for their excellent English work on metaphors - well done!
Year 6
This week, year 6 have been taking part in their mock SATs in preparation for the real assessments which start on Monday 12th May. It has been an invaluable experience for everyone, helping the children to understand the process and become more confident with what to expect. The pupils approached the week with a fantastic attitude and should be very proud of their effort.
In Geography, we’ve continued our study of South America and the Amazon, focusing on the different layers of the rainforest, their characteristics and the types of plant species commonly found in tropical climate zones.
From Monday 12th to Thursday 15th, all year 6 children are invited to join us for a free Breakfast Club from 8:00am in the Year 6 classroom, followed by a calming Yoga session with Kate at 8:30am in the main hall. We strongly encourage all pupils to take part in this opportunity to arrive early, enjoy a relaxed start to the day, and feel well-prepared for their SATs.
Homework:
This week’s homework focuses on SATs-style questions:
Maths: Volume, reading scales and comparing, describing, and ordering measurements.
SPaG: Parenthesis, apostrophes, antonyms and synonyms.
These tasks aim to build confidence and reinforce key skills ahead of SATs.
This week's achievement awards go to Anastasia for her hard-working and positive attitude to learning and to Elon for his brilliant reasoning in maths. Well done!
Kingfisher 2
This week in Maths we have been looking at addition and subtraction. We have been using our knowledge of place value to calculate and have practised our written methods.
In English, we have re-told the story of Theseus and the Minotaur including adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions.
This week's award goes to Deni for great contributions during our English lessons. Well done Deni!
Non Stop Action
MAY 2025
Monday 5th:
- Bank Holiday Monday - School Closed
Tuesday 6th:
- Cluster Rehearsal at Trent School for members of Choir attending Barnet Music Festival - AM
Wednesday 7th:
- Reception Trip to Lee Valley Farm
- Y5/6 Tag Rugby Match vs St. Catherines. Selected pupils
Thursday 8th:
- Year 4 trip to Verulamium Museum
- Year 5 Secondary Transfer Meeting for Parents/Carers - 3:15pm in Y5
Friday 9th:
- Parent Champion Coffee Morning 9 - 10am in The Cabin - all welcome
Monday 12th:
- Year 6 SATs Week
- Year 6 Br
Use this link to visit our School Calendar 24/25 for further dates next term.