St Mary's Newsletter

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back

Welcome back everyone. It’s lovely to see the children back in school and I hope everyone had a good break. I’m really pleased to say that attendance as well as punctuality this week has seen a real improvement. We’re really looking forward to this very busy half of the term, culminating in our wonderful Easter celebrations including my first experience of Derek the donkey!

Parent Consultations

Next week are the Parent Consultations where you will have the opportunity to see how your child is progressing. If you haven’t made an appointment yet you can use this link Parent Consultations

As part of the consultations, we will be asking you to complete an online survey to gather your views on what you think of us, and how your child is getting on. These surveys are a really useful way of us finding out what you think we are doing well, and how you think we can improve, so please look out for the link. Paper copies will also be available from the office, if needed. The deadline for completing the survey is Friday 1^st March.

Book Fair and World Book Day (Thursday 7^th March)

To begin our celebration of World Book Day there will be a book fair on both sites on Friday and Monday after school and on Tuesday and Wednesday during Parent Consultations. For every book you buy, the school receives some commission to keep our library topped up so please come and have a look.

Internet Safety Meeting

Thank you to those parents who came along to our e-safety meeting on Thursday night. Some of the content was quite difficult to listen to and we would urge all parents to be very mindful of their children’s exposure and experiences with online interactions. There is a lot of good information on our website so please have a look and try to establish a culture of talking with your children, making sure they feel confident to talk to you if anything, or anyone, upsets or bothers them online. Click here for our website resources on Keeping Safe. Thank you to Mr Cummins for hosting this important meeting.

Calling All Nursery, Reception and Year 1 Parents

There will be an Early Reading and Phonics Coffee Morning on Wednesday 28^th February after drop-off at Church Lane. This will give you the opportunity to find out how we approach this crucial part of your child’s early reading and how you can support this at home. Please come along.

Have a lovely weekend.

Jane O’Brien

Headteacher

Important Dates – please make a note

Monday 26th February – Y6 Amethyst Parent Consultations
Tuesday 27th February – Parent Consultations – Nursery to Y6
Wednesday 28th February – Early Reading & Phonics Coffee Morning @ CL
Wednesday 28th February – Parent Consultations – Nursery to Y6 (not Amethyst)
Thursday 29th February – Y2 Buttercup Class Assembly – 9.15am
Monday 4th March – Y5 to Science Museum
Thursday 7th March – Y1 Saffron Class Assembly – 9.15am
Thursday 7th March – World Book Day – World Book Day 2024
Tuesday 12th March – Y1 Tangerine Class Assembly – 9.15am
Tuesday 12th March – Vision Check for Reception Children
w/c 11th March – Science Week – more details to follow
Tuesday 26th March – Easter Pageant @ Hornsey Parish Church
Wednesday 27th March – Easter Procession

For Your Information

Free netball for children aged 7-11 from Tottenham Hotspur Foundation with Bee Netball at Edmonton County School – click here for more details and to sign up THF Free Netball Jan 2024
Southgate Hockey Club are running half term camps – click here for details Southgate Hockey Camps
Parent Consultations are next week – please book via the link & contact us if you have any problems (see dates above)
Are you the parent/carer of an SEND child – this is the latest SEND newsletter from Haringey SEND Newsletter February 2024
To celebrate International Women’s Day a local martial arts club is offering free Brazilian ju-jitsu classes for girls aged 6-12 during the month of March on Saturdays at APS. See poster Martial Arts Free Course in March for Girls for details or contact enquiries@alexandraparkbjj.co.uk
The Crouch End Literary Festival starts next week with lots of child-friendly events – see here for details Crouch End Literary Festival
We are working with our new partner Synergy to improve attendance and punctuality in school. Some of you will have received letters from them, and some of you may have been upset by the contents. Please be assured that we only have the best interests of the children at our heart and if you want to discuss any of the contents, please contact the school to speak to Bea Fenton, our School Home Support Practitioner.
Correctly fitting shoes matter! This is an old article from 2010 but the facts remain the same. Please encourage your children to wear their shoes correctly fastened to prevent issues as they get old Why Correctly Fitting Shoes Are Important
Term Dates for 2024-2025 are now available Term Dates 2024-2025

Reminders

Parking in Rectory Gardens: Please park with consideration in Rectory Gardens. We rely on the goodwill of our neighbours for harmony and parents/carers who park across drives and leave engines running are creating a poor impression
World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March – please see here for some details World Book Day 2024
We are a latex-free school – this includes balloons, latex gloves, rubber bands etc. This includes loom bands
We understand that getting doctor & dentist appointments is difficult but please try to make these outside of school time.
The next mum2mum Nearly New Sale will be at Earlham Primary School on Saturday 2nd March – see poster below
LOST PROPERTY – we have lots of lost property at Rectory Gardens – please have a look through & take your children’s clothes

Contact Details

Are your contact details up-to-date?

If you have changed your address, telephone or email address please let us know as soon as possible. Have your personal circumstances changed? Again, please let us know. If you don’t get emails or texts from us then we may need to update your details.

Class News

Nursery	It has been lovely having the children back after the half term, they have settled back into the nursery routines wonderfully! This week we have made some delicious pancakes in celebration of pancake day last week. We have been focusing on the story of The Three Little Pigs which we will continue to work on next week. We have been discussing our goals and achievements which the children were very proud to share with the rest of the class. Please continue to practice name writing at home. It would also be great for the children to start thinking about their favourite book in preparation for World Book Day on the 7^th March. Well done Nursery, we are all so proud of you!
Reception	In maths, we have continued exploring up to 8 by making pairs, doubling and even learning about odd and even numbers. The children have really enjoyed the challenge of these new concepts and are able to apply them to activities and resources around the rooms and outside. In English lessons we innovated the story “Where Can An Elephant Hide?” before half term and we liked changing characters and thinking of new places for Morris to hide. To tie in with this half term’s topic, we are now reading “How To Catch A Star” thinking about going on our own space rockets and what we might see. Our topic is about the night sky and we are concentrating on constellations this week. We have really liked making our own versions with black paper and sticky stars! In RE we have begun learning about the Easter story and we will continue this until we break up. We have been surprised that there is no chocolate in the story, but have been keen on learning more about Jesus and his life. In PSHE this half term we are focusing on how to be healthy and this week started to learn about exercise and how it is good for our bodies. We hope you all had a lovely half term break and we look forward to seeing you next week at Parent’s Evening.
Year 1	This week year 1 were welcomed into a new term all about dinosaurs, descriptive writing and place value to 50. Over the half term, Year 1 made their own dinosaurs using a range of materials and colours. Throughout this week, the students explained what they made and even had interesting facts about the prehistoric animals. We continued learning more about dinosaurs in English and Year 1 have used descriptive language to discuss the features of their dinosaurs, as well as continuing to use conjunctions to extend their sentence writing. Lastly, the students have enjoyed counting to 50 and beyond, using practical resources like diennes, ten frames and cubes to show their understanding of number.
Year 2	It has a been a busy start to the term for Y2! We have started our new topic “Multiplication and Division” and have explored what equal and unequal groups are. We know that equal groups have the same amount in each group whereas unequal groups do not. We made equal groups using some yummy sweet treats! In the last week before the half term, Marigold were working really hard in preparing for their class assembly. I’m sure you’ll share our view that Marigold Class pulled off a showstopper. A big well done to Marigold class! This week Buttercup have begun preparing for their class assembly. We hope you will enjoy it! In English, we have started to innovate the story ‘The Magic Paintbrush.’ We enjoy making up our own characters to fit in to the story. We always remember to use our toolkit to help us with our writing. Furthermore, we have also been looking at maps in geography, learning different acronyms to remember the directions North, South, East and West as well as creating aerial maps of our classroom! We have been having so much fun! In RE, we have started our new unit focusing on the story of Easter. We made some beautiful pieces of artwork as a response to the Easter story. Make sure to check them out! On another note, the Y2 team look forward to meeting parents and carers next week to share the wonderful progress your children are making.
Year 3	In English we have been composing our own poetry. We have been developing our understanding of rhyming pairs and how we can manipulate language. We have completed our length and perimeter unit in maths and have now moved on to fractions! So far we have been recognising equal parts, comparing and ordering fractions and also understanding the numerators of non-unit fractions. We also participated in a very fun but challenging activity where children had to find patterns in their chosen sequence. In coding the children have been using ‘busy things’ when sequencing routines and understanding, and using, repeated loops. They have used what they have learned to guide ‘Beard Man’ through a variety of adventures!
Year 4	In Year 4 we have had a busy first week back! In English we are excited to be writing our persuasive letters based on adopting an endangered animal. In maths we have been learning all about how to calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes and polygons before moving on to our new unit of fractions next week. Our new unit in geography is ‘Climate’ and we are looking at what Holy Communion is in RE. The children will also be re starting their art lessons with our specialist art teacher this week.
Year 5	In English we have started writing about a book called ‘Way Home’ by Libby Hathorn. This book is full of fascinating illustrations and opportunities for inference whilst covering the theme of homelessness and friendship. In our maths lessons we recapped using the formal method for multiplication and have now started division. As usual, we begin a new concept using concrete materials and then moving on the pictorial and abstract. In addition, we are covering reasoning and problem solving related to division and multiplication. We have just finished our unit on the Christian message and next week will being our Easter unit of lessons.
Year 6	In English, we have been working on direct speech punctuation so the children will be able to make use of this skill during their Victorian newspaper reports. In maths, we have begun our unit on percentages but have first developed the skill of being able to convert a fraction to a decimal. We have begun our new unit on electricity in science, with the children creating basic circuits to start with as we look to build on their prior knowledge while in RE, we have completed our study of Buddhism and have started our Easter unit, looking at how Christians can find hope in the Easter story.

In the news over the last two weeks…

Sporting Events Spring 2 2024

Year 2 Have Been Busy

Y2 Have Been Busy

DT in Year 5

International Mother Language Day Celebrations

International Mother Language Celebration Day 2024

Children of the Week – w/e 09 02 24 & 23 02 24

Christian Values of the week: 09 02 24 & 23 02 24 – How We Show Our Vision Through Compassion and Love

As we love, we flourish
As we flourish, we aspire
As we aspire, we achieve
Together, we are a family

St Mary's Newsletter

“Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)

Important Dates – please make a note

For Your Information

Reminders

Contact Details

Class News

In the news over the last two weeks…

Sporting Events Spring 2 2024

Year 2 Have Been Busy

DT in Year 5

International Mother Language Day Celebrations

Children of the Week – w/e 09 02 24 & 23 02 24

Contact Details

Useful Links