St Mary's Newsletter

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

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are by now well underway with everything Christmas-related during this period of advent. As if last week’s pantomime visit and this week’s advent assembly wasn’t enough, there is much more going on over the next two weeks, including:

School Christmas Fair – tonight at Rectory Gardens – 5.30-7.30pm

Do come along with your children and extended family members and friends to this wonderful whole school community event to have fun with the wider school community and, alongside our wonderful PSA, help to raise money for our school. Your support has recently helped to pay for the pantomime trips and the visiting infant pantomime next week.

Nursery, Reception, Y1 & Y2 (KS1) Nativity Events

Our Church Lane children across the early years and in years 1 and 2 will proudly show off a variety of nativity performances next week. Do take note on the school calendar when it is that we are asking you to visit. If you are unsure, please ask your child’s class teacher.

Y3-Y6 (KS2) Christmas Carol Concert at Hornsey Parish Church

This will take place on Tuesday 13^th December at 6pm. We really need your child’s presence at this very special occasion and we need you to also come along to watch and take part. This will be the first time that we have been able to do a Christmas Carol Concert since 2019 which will make the occasion even more special.

In amongst these special events, we have a Christmas music concerts, Christmas Jumper Day, Christmas Dinner Day, a Santa Fun-Run and class parties – there really is no let –up in the run up to the end of term on Friday 16^th December. Do have a look at our school website if you are unsure about any of the dates and/or timings.

Helen Hutchings

Yesterday, you will have received a letter from me about the sudden passing of Helen Hutchings, our beloved School Business Manager. As we strive ahead and keep things as upbeat and positive for your children, we do so knowing that Helen is smiling down on all of us and knowing that we are giving our very best for the most wonderful community we serve, just as she did.

Thank you for your very kind words and gestures of support during this very difficult period.

With very best regards,

Calvin Henry
Headteacher

Important Dates – UPDATED – please make a note

Monday 5th December – Nursery Nativity 9.30-10.30am
Tuesday 6th December – Reception Nativity 9.30-10.30am
Tuesday 6th December – KS1 Nativity 1.45-2.45pm – Y1 Parents & Carers
Tuesday 6th December – Violin Concert @ RG 11am for Y4 Scarlet and continuers
Tuesday 6th December – Flu Immunisation (for those children that missed/rebooked)
Wednesday 7th December – Christmas Trumpets & Trombones Concert Y4 Crimson and continuers (plus Mrs Peacock’s choir & band) 11am)
Wednesday 7th December – KS1 Nativity 1.45-2.45pm – Year 2 Parents & Carers
Thursday 8th December – Panto to Church Lane
Thursday 8th December – Christmas Jumper Day + £1 for Save The Children
Monday 12th December – Santa Hat Run Day – more details to follow
Tuesday 13th December – Christmas Dinner Day – packed lunch children – contact office to book
Tuesday 13th December – Rectory Gardens Carol Concert @ Hornsey Parish Church – 6pm
Wednesday 14th December – Christmas Service for children @ Hornsey Parish Church 10-11am
Thursday 15th December – Class Parties

For Your Information

Have you seen our 360° Tour – click HERE to have a fly around our beautiful school
Christmas Football & Multisport Camp at Rectory Gardens – LFA

LFA will again be running a football and multisport club at Rectory Gardens for the first week of the Christmas holiday – all details here

Did you know that you can sync our school calendar with your phone/iPad/tablet/device? Click on Calendar under News tab and click on subscribe

Reminders

Christmas Dinner

Do you want your packed lunch child to have a Christmas dinner? Please tell the office.

SchoolStreet Consultation

There is still time to feed in to the SchoolStreet consultation that would turn Rectory Gardens into a no-through road at the beginning and end of the school day – details are on this letter

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.

: French Cafe

: Crimson Assembly

: Crimson Assembly

: Crimson Assembly

: Christmas Lunch Menu

: Reception Christingle

: Reception Christingle

: Reception Christingle

: Advent Assembly

Class News

Nursery	‘Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.’ Nursery are enjoying learning and acting out this traditional tale. We have been busy making a wide range of gingerbread themed crafts and have even cooked our own gingerbread people (following a trip to Sainsburys to buy the ingredients.) We are continuing learning about the Nativity story and are looking forward to our performances next week. All afternoon children are invited to join us for the morning session on Monday 5th December to allow them to take part in the show. Other highlights include our Church visits to make Christingles and to watch a puppet nativity.
Reception	In English, Reception have been learning about traditional fairy tales, noticing the similarities and differences between them. In maths we have been learning how to identify one more and one less of an amount. In topic we have enjoyed learning about how light is used in different ways around the world. In response, we created our own fairy light art. In RE we have continued to learn why Christmas is so special for Christians. We visited Holy Innocents church and made Christingles and watched a puppet show which retold the story of the birth of Jesus!
Year 1	We have had an action packed fortnight in Year 1. In English we finished learning about Supertato, making hero masks and reimagining our own heroes and villains. We have now begun to look at Jinglebells by Nick Butterworth, writing a class letter and making predictions. In maths we have started exploring 2D shapes – sorting, naming and arranging the shapes into pictures. In ICT we have looked at coding using Cubetto, which the children really enjoyed! We are continuing with our topic lessons, learning about black superheroes and thinking about how we can overcome obstacles ourselves. In preparation for the Nativity, in our RE lessons we have been looking at each of the characters and their roles, as well as practising the songs for the Nativity performance. We hope to see you all there!
Year 2	Year Two enjoyed a French Cafe experience last week. The children have been learning greetings and food vocabulary and were all able to say hello, ask for their drink and a croissant or pain au chocolat and say please and thank you entirely in French!
Year 3	In English we have been applying what we have learnt about dialogue to our story writing and also using a wide range of synonyms for said and also using adverbs when working closely with our text-The Dark by Lemony Snickett. In maths we have been using the inverse to check answers. We have also been using all the new concepts we have learnt this year and applied them to a variety of problems. More recently we have been working very hard and also discussing what we know about times-tables and odd and even numbers. In geography we have continued our journey down the Indus River. We have been learning about how the river changes from the source and how dams work to support irrigation and its impact on farming. Our focus has not only been on the location and features of the river but also its’s relationship with the Himalayan mountain range.
Year 4	In English we have started our mythical unit and have enjoyed exploring powerful vocabulary to use in our writing. In maths we have moved on to multiplication and division. We look forward to using all our knowledge gained through our MTC preparation, in our learning. In RE to add to the festive season, we are enjoying learning all about What Peace at Christmas means to Christians and why Jesus is considered the Prince of Peace.
Year 5	In English we are continuing with our work on ‘Hidden Figures’ and the story of four black women and the space race. Last week, we learned how to write formal and informal letters in a role of one of the characters from the story. We are focusing on adverbials and abstracts nouns, in order to make our writing interesting and rich. In maths we are working on fractions, with the emphasis on equivalent fractions. We are using manipulatives and pictorial representations to help our children to understand the concept of fractions. For our history topic we are continuing to work on the Round City of Baghdad by exploring the reasons why this city was one the most famous cities in the world and how it developed from a small village into the city with one million citizens. In science we are exploring Forces by conducting fun and interesting experiments and recording our findings in a scientific way. Our children enjoyed playing table tennis with straws, while investigating the forces involved. Everyone enjoyed our trip to the Hackney Empire. The children were excited, engaged and well behaved. It was a lovely trip!
Year 6	In Year 6 we have ended our unit on diary writing and have just begun looking at a new text, The Ice Bear by Jackie Morris. In maths, while the children will continue to regularly make use of all the skills they have learned involving the four operations, our focus now shifts to fractions beginning with finding equivalent fractions and simplifying. Our topic on Ancient Civilisations has also come to an end recently with the children learning the difference between primary and secondary sources and what they can tell us about civilisations. Our topic on light is underway and the classes have learned how light travels and how we are able to see objects. In RE, we were kindly visited by Nina Saint who came in to talk to each class about how Hornsey Church advertises Christmas, demonstrating the kinds of things the church does with donations to help the local community and encourage inclusiveness. Each class has created their Christmas hoops which are on display in the hall and we would like to thank all parents for their kind donations this week.

In the news over the last two weeks…

Advent Assembly 2022

Celebrating the Beginning of Christmas with our Advent Assembly

Nativity Puppet Show and Christingle Workshop

St Mary’s goes ancient!

Y3 Jade Class Assembly – Ancient Egypt

St Mary’s goes ancient!

Christmas Dinner at St Mary’s 13 12 22

Christmas Dinner 13 12 22

Crimson Class Assembly – November 2022

Crimson Class Assembly

Year 2 Trip to the Tower of London

Anti-Bullying Week

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 – UPDATED – please make a note

For Your Information

Reminders

Class News

In the news over the last two weeks…

Advent Assembly 2022

Nativity Puppet Show and Christingle Workshop

Y3 Jade Class Assembly – Ancient Egypt

Christmas Dinner at St Mary’s 13 12 22

Crimson Class Assembly – November 2022

Year 2 Trip to the Tower of London

Contact Details

Useful Links