INA Primary Newsletter
6 May 2016
Announcements
Dear Parents and Carers, We have been making the most of the fabulous weather this week – long may it continue! Whilst it is lovely to have the sun shining, we do want to encourage our children to ensure they stay safe by drinking plenty of water and staying hydrated. Please make sure that your child has their water bottle with them every day, labelled with their name and class on it. Tam Broadway
Message from the Reception Teachers Please continue to upload and share any great learning moments with your child at home. It is important that your child’s work includes learning steps from home and school to demonstrate their understanding and development. We are especially trying to capture quality independent writing pieces this half term; it would be great if you could upload any great examples on Tapestry and then send the writing piece into school so that we can celebrate the work in our class writing galleries.
To gain a better understanding of the Early Learning Goals, they are available for you to view on the school website under the Community Tab and Parents Resources. 2  INA Newsletter
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>>> News PE Lessons in Reception
As part of your child’s learning and demonstrating a ‘good level of development’ for their age, they must be able to dress and undress themselves. This will also help them as they move up to Year 1 in September. This term, on Mondays, the children are expected to come to school in their normal school uniform and will need to bring their PE kit with them to change into for their afternoon lesson. They will remain in their PE kit for the rest of the day, bringing their school uniform home in their bag. Can you please ensure that every item of clothing is clearly labelled with your child’s name. There is now a lost property box in the main reception area for any items found around the school, or for you to drop off any items that your child may have taken home by mistake. Composer of the Fortnight
We are currently listening to and learning about Dizzy Gillespie as our Composer of the Fortnight. As a suggested activity to support at home, you could gather some facts about Gillespie in preparation for the coming weeks. Information can also be found on the following links. www.dizzygillespie.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdvPuDxNFXM
Safeguarding Children As part of their curriculum, the children learn how to keep themselves safe. The following website has been set up by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) to offer parents and schools advice on how to raise safeguarding awareness with children. There is a notable section called ‘The Underwear Rule’ which is of particular support and guidance to parents. The website also offers advice regarding ‘online safety’ and how to obtain support or advice regarding the safeguarding of children. www.nspcc.org.uk INA Newsletter 3
Exciting Learning
Year 1 made some rain gauges and placed them in different parts of the school to measure rainfall. It seems to have done the trick because since their arrival, the sun has shone! Ms Curley did however inform me that there had been one day of rain since they were made, but the water had evaporated – leading to a whole new exciting discussion.
The Reception pupils have been learning about money this week.
The Reception pupils enjoying their afternoon choosing activities 4  INA Newsletter
Well done to the following children, who have been recognised this week!
Primary Praise and Recognition
very week each teacher chooses two children from their class to receive a certificate E in assembly, one in recognition of a child demonstrating our BRIDGES habit of the week, and the other in recognition of a pupil’s academic effort throughout the week.
Curie Class: Hamza Chand – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for being really brave and embracing new challenges with his learning.) Yusha Master – Scholar of the Week (for writing a wonderful sentence in phonics with all his letters facing the right way.) Maxwell Class: Mohammadou Sillah Marega – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for getting involved in his learning by speaking to his teachers and peers.) Prajin Raja – Scholar of the Week (for really trying with his writing in phonics and thinking about his sentences.) Newton Class: Esa S – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for experimenting with water and exploring the bubbles.) Navneet – Scholar of the Week (for the fabulous effort she made to form her letters in literacy.)
Britten Class: Amber Carless – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for being brave and having a go at answering questions.) Naniyah Owusu – Scholar of the Week (for brilliant explanations in maths.) Fitzgerald Class: Jasmine Gadhiya – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for trying new foods at lunchtime.) Arissa Isha-Butt – Scholar of the Week (for working really hard to improve her spelling of red words.) Glennie Class: Rohan Taheem – Headteacher’s Habits Award (for being an amazing leader for Glennie class when the Norwegian teachers came to visit.) Ayaan Hussain Riaz – Scholar of the Week (for, despite having a poorly arm, still producing amazing handwriting in all his work.)
The following pupil has received 75 merits since September for making good choices and moving up to gold on the class ‘good choice chart’ – this is fantastic achievement. A special ‘gold’ certificate will be presented during the Celebration and Awards Assembly. Nicholas Fertrina Jardiel
Curie
The following pupils have received 25 merits since September for making good choices and moving up to gold on the class ‘good choice chart’ – this is fantastic achievement. A special ‘bronze’ certificate will be presented during the Celebration and Awards Assembly. Saminderpreet Kaur Gulle Jannat Zahir Siya Kamothi Arissa Isha-Butt Aariz Khan
Headteacher’s Lunch
Well done to the following pupils who have been nominated for the Headteacher’s Lunch next week on Thursday 12th May. An invitation will be given to the children during our Celebration and Awards Assembly. Muhammed Esa Syed Gulle-Jannat Zahir Ravi Jethwa Klaudia Peichlova Daniyal Sheikh Siya Kamothi Yanis Benjamin
Newton Maxwell Curie Britten Britten Fitzgerald Glennie
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At Isaac Newton Academy every student is set the target of 100% attendance. The class with the highest attendance at the end of every week is awarded the attendance trophy during Friday’s Award & Recognition assembly. Curie Maxwell
96.7% 95.7%
Newton
96.6%
Britten
98.6%
Fitzgerald
91.9%
Glennie
96.7%
Overall Attendance: 96.0 Congratulations to Britten class, who are the winners for this week. I would really like to see a number of classes reaching 100% next week. National average attendance for primary schools is 96.1%. It is important that the children attend school every day and do not miss any learning. Thank you for your support in ensuring your child is at school every day. We always strive for 100% 6 INA Newsletter
ATTENDANCE
Regular attendance is a crucial factor in students’ educational development and ability to achieve their full potential.
"We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Isaac Newton BRIDGES are habits of mind or learning characteristics that develop a pupil's character and learning power and enable him/her to grow into a well-rounded individual and resilient learner. There are seven BRIDGES habits that we will be working on, which will rotate on a weekly cycle throughout the year. The BRIDGES habit of the week will always be introduced at the beginning of the week during the Monday assembly and reinforced throughout the week across the curriculum. Each class teacher will award a certificate to a pupil who they feel has demonstrated the BRIDGES focus for the week. Each week we will update you on the BRIDGES habit that will be introduced in the coming week and offer some top tips on how to reinforce the habit at home too. Please also refer to the Primary BRIDGES wheel below.
Week commencing 9th May – Resourcefulness Resourcefulness comprises ten dispositions: Questioning, Remembering, Imitating, Making Connections, Transferring, Adaptability and Flexibility, Reasoning, Scavenging and Recycling
At School: • • •
It is important that the pupils are able to use and remember their vast phonics knowledge and apply this information when beginning to write independently. As adults we are acutely aware that we model behaviours for the pupils every day during lunchtime when we eat with our knife and fork, don’t talk when our mouth is full, wash our hands, dress and present ourselves smartly, speak to each other politely; we know that the children will imitate the behaviour they see. As well as being able to read the sounds and words on pages, the pupils now need to be able to question, reason and comprehend the text they read and explain what is happening and their ideas.
• •
In Maths the children need to apply and transfer their knowledge to different problems and also give reasons for the way they have worked out the answers. Every classroom has a recycling bin which we encourage the children to use and we also look at how we can use materials around us to incorporate them in pieces of art or other areas of our work before we throw things away.
At Home: Encourage your child to use items around the house to create a piece of art or make junk models and re-cycle as many items as possible. Ask questions: What could we use this material for instead of throwing it away? Do you think we could make a car, boat or castle from this large box we have? How can we use some of the things we have around the home and turn them into something more useful? When your child finds reading a word difficult or a maths question challenging, ask them to remember and use the things they do know and apply it to the new word or challenge etc.
Tam Broadway, Head of Primary
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Key Dates for the Spring Term 2016: Primary Future Key Dates for Summer Term Maxwell Class Assembly (Maxwell Class Parents Invited) – Friday 13th May 3.00pm Bank Holiday – Monday 2nd May Coffee Morning with the Head of Primary – Friday 20th May 9.00-10.00am Year 1 Visit to Colchester Zoo – Monday 23rd May Half Term Break – Friday 27th May Back to School – Monday 6th June Newton Class Assembly (Newton Class Parents Invited) – Friday 17th June 3.00pm Staff Inset Days – School Closed Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th June Reception Visit to Old MacDonald’s Farm – Thursday 30th June Staff Inset Day – Friday 8th July Coffee Morning with the Head of Primary – Tuesday 12th July 9.00-10.00am Reports Sent Home – Friday 15th July Parent Progress Meetings – Tuesday 19th July Celebration and Awards Assembly – Wednesday20th July – Times TBC Last Day of Term – Wednesday 20th July – 12.15pm Finish Selling of School Uniform – Friday 22nd July
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