February2025 Newsletter
Dear Parents/Carers
The new year has started smoothly with pupils continuing to engage in new learning experiences and activities. At Chadwell, we believe in the wider curriculum and enrichment of learning opportunities so that our school motto of Everyone a Learner intertwines through carefully planned teaching and learning.
The instalment of a new cooking area in the Key Stage One building has enabled the teaching of D.T to be a truly hands-on experience as the pupils learn how to follow a recipe. This includes weighing ingredients, measuring quantities, and observing how things change after heating or cooling down. This interactive learning provides the pupils with real-life experiences that they can continue to apply outside of school. This is also a valuable life-long learning lesson that the pupils will continue to develop as they grow up.
We have also been fortunate to have had a drumming workshop from a talented, and experienced, musician. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the session as they were able to listen, participate and learn all about the ‘dhol’, an Indian drum traditionally used in Indian folk music.
The pupils have also attended Movie Nights after school – a little relaxation with their friends at the end of the day. As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, Miss Smith organised the first ever Chadwell sponsored walk. Despite the gloomy weather, the pupils, and staff, were very excited to display their banners and walk down the High Road to collect funds for a worthwhile cause. The presence of the local MP, Jas Atwal, made the event extra special and his support was welcomed. We are extremely pleased to announce that we raised more than £3,000.00, a grand total and amazing achievement – thank you to all of you, your family and friends for contributing so generously. The money will be divided between Place2Be (children’s mental health charity), and the school so that we can continue to fund counselling services from external agencies.
We are very sad to see our Chair of Governors, John Hickman, step down from this role after having supported and dedicated his time to the school for over ten years. His experience and understanding of school settings has been greatly valuable and we would like to thank him for his time and contributions to making Chadwell a great school. Luckily, he will continue to serve on the Governing Body.
We are delighted that Ada Egot has taken on the role of Chair of Governors and look forward to continuing to work alongside her so that Chadwell continues to grow from strength to strength. Thank you all again for your continued support and I wish you all an incredibly happy, and safe half-term break.
Kind regards,
Ms. Kalhan (Head of School)
Dates to remember
Spring Half-term holiday
Monday 17th February 2025 to Friday 21st February 2025
School re-opens on
Monday 24th February 2025 at 8.50am
Easter holidays
Monday 7th April 2025 to Tuesday 22nd April 2025
School re-opens on
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 at 8.50am
4/3/25 to 8/3/25 World Book Week
8/3/25
06/03/25
11/03/25
12/03/25
13/03/25
Dress Up Day for World Book Day (more information to follow)
Year 1 trip to Lee Valley Farm
Year 2 trip to Epping Forest (Dyson & Jackson)
Year 6 trip to Junior Citizens trip
Year 2 Epping Forest (Bell class)
This week, our schooljoined others nationwide to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2025. This year's theme, ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online,’ focuses on teaching children and young people how to identify and avoid scams, and highlights available support.
KS2 took part in the llesson broadcast live on the CBBC channel. Pupils followed the activities to investigate whiat scams are and how to recognise them; the kind of emotions you might feel if you’ve been targeted by a scam and the warning signs to look out for if you think something might be a scam. They were also exploring phishing scams - when someone tries to trick you into handing over personal information by pretending to be a trustworthy company or organisation and why strong passwords are essential for keeping your information secure and what constitutes a strong password.
In Reception, the children explored how it might feel to be scammed online through a story, asking the children to think how the person in the story would feel using emotion cards: such as ‘confused’ or ‘scared’ and asking them what they think they could do -by reminding them to always speak to a trusted adult.
KS1 was given the opportunity to an alternative to storytelling and allowed learners to tell the story themselves through a picture. The children had to point out the different things they can see and think about what might be happening. They also looked at ways to start a conversation on how to spot, respond to and report all types of scams online.
To mark this occasion, children have been given the opportunity to create a top tips poster, advising other young people about how to spot the signs of a scam. The winners will receive a special prize!
The online world is changing all the time, but talking with young people about their online experiences can help you understand what’s going on. For helpful resources, please read Tips for Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre.
On Wednesday 22nd of January, I went on a school trip to The Houses of Parliament with the members of school council. We travelled by train and arrived at Westminster Station. As we crossed the road, I saw the looming shadow of the impressive and grand Houses of Parliament.
We went to a park where we sat down on benches to have our lunch. After we ate, we resumed our walking to the door to parliament, where we waited until we were allowed to go through.
We put our coats, bags and bottles in a box, and walked through a metal detector. Like you do at the airport. We were introduced to a guide and received headphones so we could hear him. He showed us around, and we learnt about the House of Commons (for normal people), the House of Sovereigns (for professionals) and the House of Lords (for royalty).
We saw a humongous room that was decorated with gold and all the walls were white. At the top of the room there was a hatch that led up to the room where laws were kept on scrolls.
Next, we arrived at a room where paintings of all the queens and kings were. There was also a large painting of the Battle of Waterloo. The room was decorated on the ceiling with three colours: green (for commons), red (for sovereigns) and gold (for Lords).
We were taken up a lot of stairs that took us to the viewing gallery in the House of Commons. We were able to watch a debate. Each MP stood up if they wanted to say something, then all the others sat down while one person spoke. It was really interesting.
Following that, we were taken to another room. We were put into groups of four and named after the national flowers of the UK. We then played a game where someone drew a picture and everybody else had to guess what the person drew.
After that, we met Jaz Athwal, the MP for our local area. We were given the chance to ask him questions and I felt he didn’t answer them very well, as after answering a little of a question, he said it was very complicated. We finally travelled back to school by train. Overall, I enjoyed the trip and thought it was very educational. I also learnt that out of all the people in England, less than 1 % get to go to Parliament. I would like to thank Mrs. Turner for giving us this opportunity and taking us to the trip.
By Zaynab
Year 3 and 4 had a visit from 'The Smart Brothers!'
This energetic and interactive show blends comedy, music, and circus skills to deliver important lessons about road safety and sustainable travel. Packed with laughs and surprises
Do you remember the songs and actions to the following?
Stop, Look, Listen & Think
Safer Places to Cross the Road
Dangers of Distractions (Mobile Phones, Headphones, etc.)
Dangers of Playing near the Road
Cycle Safety
Benefits of Sustainable Travel
On Friday 7th February the whole school took park in a sponsored walk in aid of Children’s Mental Health Week. Unfortunately, due to the weather Years 1, 2 and 3 had to do their walk on school grounds, while Years 4, 5 and 6 went out and braved the rain! All the children were fantastic and completed their walks despite the change in plans. We managed to raise over £3000. It was lovely to see our local MP Jas Athwal join us to support this good cause.
Thank you for your continued support for helping us raise a substantial amount of money for such a worthwhile cause.
From Monday 20th-22nd January, Jim Bernandin from the World Music Workshop company came to work at Chadwell. Each day began with a performance of different drumming styles including Brazilian Samba drumming (very loud!), and the Indian Dhol drumming with audience participation. Then, every year group from Nursery to Year 6 had their own individual workshop learning about Indian music where they had a chance to learn about playing drumming dance patterns on the Dhol drums and a range of difference -sized drums whilst learning about listening to each other and moving together as a team.
We booked this to celebrate the musical diversity of different cultures and to give the children a chance to learn about world music traditions and a chance to try instruments which we do not have access to within the school. and even the teachers were rocking along! We are very lucky to have had this opportunity to end our term on such a high point! In addition to every class taking part in a workshop, some of our MAGT (More Able, Gifted and Talented) pupils had a second workshop where they had a chance to try out some further challenges and drumming techniques.
Let’s see what some of the children had to say about it:
• I enjoyed the music because it really fit into the music which made it sound perfect.
• I liked it when he let us do a drum roll!
• I would like to take part in a workshop again as it is fun and teaches you lots of music and I love music!
• I enjoyed it because it was fun and I liked the drum! I learnt to play a drum because I got used to it.
• I learnt about the drums from India and Pakistan.
• I enjoyed it because I got to see the different types of instruments from around the world. I like how he explores different cultures.
• It was fun including activities such as singing, learning and having fun. Also everyone participates. I learnt about the culture and history of the specific instruments and music topics.
• I enjoyed seeing the different drums and then playing them!
• I enjoyed that we learnt about music from around the world.
• I enjoyed the sound of the Indian drum.
One teacher said: I think the workshop went well , and whilst the children were very excited , by the end of it , they were able to coordinate themselves to play their instruments in a relatively good rhythm. It was hard to calm down their excitement after the workshop for a while afterword, but I think it was all worth it , as they had a different , fun and practical experience which they all enjoyed and remember.
