Southfield Primary School ‘Ex Corde Vita’
Newsletter Autumn 1
Headteacher: Dr Darren Jones
HEADTEACHER INTRODUCTION
It is my great pleasure to write to you all after our first part of the Autumn term. It has flown by with many exciting events happening. Our wonderful Nursery and Reception children have settled in so well to Southfield life and have quickly become great Southfielders! We held our annual elections for Head Boy and Girl and House Captain positions and we are delighted with our new team who play a formidable role throughout the school. We are delighted that our super brand new Library ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ has opened replete with all brand new books and stunning furniture and we are extremely grateful to the PTA for all their fundraising that has allowed this project to come to fruition. This will without doubt be the beating heart of our wonderful school where story is fundamental to our curriculum and learning. We hope children will enjoy this special place and enhance their love and pleasure of reading. Our stunning curriculum offer has been punctuated this term with our new specialist provision teachers. Miss Green has been busy with both a football and Netball tournament where we have done very well against other schools in the borough. Ms Saunders, our Art teacher has been busy getting beautiful work ready for our school Art Exhibition which will take place later this term. Drama and the performing arts from Reception to Year 6 has been exciting with drama specialist Ms MacNeice where classes have performed some stunning work. Spanish and French lessons have also got off to an exciting start. Chess club has been an instant hit with children using logic and skill in a fun and creative way. Our themed curricular weeks have been a particular highlight with Diversity and Charities week held this term. It was wonderful to see the fantastic Harvest Table and the kind donations made to the Upper Room and to see so many of you at the Charities Fair kindly supporting the work of class charities. Year 1 have been attending forest school this term and enjoying exploring science in its natural setting and Year 5 have been busy getting to grips with their cycling proficiency through the Bikeability programme. We hope our weekly parent workshops have proved useful in supporting you as parents in understanding more regarding the school’s curriculum and how to support your children at home. We were delighted to see so many parents at our Open Morning last week and this was a special time for you all to see the creative classroom environments and children’s hard work, we hope you enjoyed spending time with us. I was delighted to attend a very special visit with Year 4 to see the renowned poet Michael Rosen. He was thoroughly entertaining and gave us spectacular readings of his poems and all of Year 4 were lucky enough to get a copy of his new poetry book. Year 4 were incredibly well behaved and a credit to our school. I hope you enjoy reading about the exciting things happening at school and wish you a very happy half term break ahead! All warm wishes Dr Jones Headteacher
BACK TO SCHOOL
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STORY BASED KNOWLEDGE CURRICULUM This year, we have now introduced our bespoke story based knowledge curriculum across our foundation subjects as well as our core learning. All of our History, Geography and Science units of work will begin with a story based on that topic and will be referred to throughout the half term to contextualise the learning and give it meaning. We have handpicked some fantastic picture books to introduce these topics and engage the children from the first lesson and these will also be available to the children in the library should they wish to read them or take them home.
LIBRARY We have now opened our new library ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ on the middle floor. We had a wonderful muralist come in and decorate the walls and stairs with all our favourite book characters from Paddington Bear to The Tiger Who Came to Tea. It is so wonderful to see the children in the space and hearing the laughter from the room. We have worked incredibly hard with the teams of volunteers from our school community to get the space to where it is now and we will continue to invest heavily in our catalogue of books as reading and story are at the centre of our curriculum here at Southfield. We are very grateful to the PTA for all their fundraising! We recently held out Scholastic Book Fair which was also a great success. We raised over £1500 which we will get as vouchers to use to bolster our library content further. Thank you to Carolin and her team of PTA volunteers who ran the fair fantastically over the course of the week.
CLUBS AND LUNCHTIME We are now running weekly choir, recorder and chess clubs. Choir and Recorder is for KS2 pupils and chess is for all KS1 and KS2 pupils. We also have sports coaches to support with the delivery of our new lunchtime games and zoned activities.
DIVERSITY WEEK What is Diversity Week? To celebrate Black History month, we held our annual 'Diversity Week' to set the tone for the rest of the yearand our curriculum. We continue to weave this important area into our core curriculum through the work we do! We learned about BAME authors, poets, artists, scientists, mathematicians and contributors to History and Geography and explored the themes of prejudice and difference in our ‘Creative Writing’ and ‘Maths through Story/Real Life Maths’ lessons. EYFS: As part of our whole school Diversity Week, we read Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne. We tasted and described the tropical fruit Handa packed to share with her friend. We enjoyed talking about healthy fruit snacks we have school and at home. We used puppets and acted out the story as well. We also made some patterned necklaces inspired by West African cultures. Year 1: In our Diversity Week Maths through Story lesson, we read the story We're Different, We're the Same, where Elmo and his Sesame Street friends helped us to understand that everyone is the same on the inside, and it's our differences that make this wonderful world, which is home to us all, an interesting and special place. We also read the story Coming to England, by Baroness Floella Benjamin. Her story taught us about perseverance and determination. Year 2: In Creative Writing, we read the story of ‘Mr George Baker’. He was a 100 year old man that had never learned to read because he had not been allowed to go to school due to his race. He taught us about perseverance, determination and resilience and that it is never too late to learn something new. In Maths through Story, we read about Elmer the Elephant and how he learned to embrace and love himself for who he is and helped show us how to do the same. Year 3: Year 3 used ‘The Colour of Home’ by Mary Hoffman in our Creative Writing session to write our own version of a refugee’s flight. The story follows Hassan and his family, who had to flee war torn Somalia, and leave behind Hassan’s beloved cat Musa. They settle in New York and Hassan explains all his pain through art. In Real Life Maths, we discussed where our families came from, where our parents were born and how we view ourselves. We then created a tally chart and bar chart that reflected the diverse nature of all our ethnicities. Year 4: This week we have participated in a variety of lessons to coincide with the themes and significance of diversity week. For Creative Writing, we read the story, 'Sulwe' by Lupita Nyong'o, which touched on a variety of themes, including feeling isolated and different, colourism and self-esteem. We wrote our own versions of the story touching on these themes for our writing. Year 5: Year 5 have celebrated multiculturalism by exploring the themes of segregation and friendship in our Creative Writing illustrated story, ‘The Other Side’, by Jacqueline Woodson. We also analysed the ethnicity breakdown of London according to the 2021 Census and then conducted a census of our own class in Real Life Maths to compare the diversity of our class in comparison to London. Year 6: We used Granddad Mandela as our Creative Writing book this week. This is written by Nelson Mandela’s daughter and tell the tale of his life and his fight for equality and freedom for the people of South Africa. In Real Life Maths, we looked at the different ethnicities who live in London and then contextualised that to our class to see how diverse our year group is and compared this to the population of London as a whole.
SCHOOL ELECTIONS After rigorous interviews, we have elected our Southfield Head Boy and Head Girl, Dan and Syke, and their deputies, Isaac and Otillia, for 2021. They did tremendously well and cannot wait to represent our school. The 4 House Captains were also elected and their roles are vital in promoting our TRUE values and positive behaviours in order to earn tokens for Kew, Gunnersbury, Chiswick and Hogarth. This year’s school councillors will remain the same as last year for this first term, with elections taking place in January for new members. Weekly meetings will be led by Dr. Jones and Ms. Edwards. Well done to all and to all who put themselves forward for each election.
FOREST SCHOOL As part of our focus on Science at Southfield this year, all of our year groups will attend forest school this year. To begin with, the children in Year 1 will be attending bi-weekly afternoons at our local Forest School – Green Twigs.
HARVEST FESTIVAL We have just celebrated our annual harvest festival and we are delighted to say that we had a bumper year of donations for our local homeless charity The Upper Room. Thank you to all our Southfield Community for your support.
OPEN MORNING We finally got to have our wonderful parents and carers in to see the children, the classroom and their books. It was great tohave such a buzz around the school and we can’t wait to host more events over the coming year.
CHARITIES WEEK We held our annual Charities Week in October and it was a wonderful week for the children to immerse themselves in a range of activities related to their chosen charity. Every class had a Creative Writing session with a picture book based around their charity or its theme, a Real Life Maths lesson or Maths Through Story lesson, and each year group made an item which was sold at our Charities Fair and all money raised will be donated. Thank you to all our parents and carers who gave their time to come to the fair and purchase items. Your money will make a difference to many people locally and nationally. EYFS: Our charity was ‘water aid’. We talked about the children who do not have clean water to drink or to wash with. In Science, we did an experiment about floating and sinking. We also investigated how to make dirty water clean. To raise money for our charity, we made calendars to sell and blow painted the pictures on. We raised £45! Year 1: During Charities Week, we learnt about the charity Guide Dogs UK and the work that they do. We learnt that a guide dog enables its blind or partially-sighted owner to get around safely and independently. We made wooden dog puppets to sell and help us collect money that will show our support of Guide Dogs UK. We raised £42! Year 2: Our charity is the ‘Royal National Lifeboat Institution’ (RNLI). We learned all about this charity and their dedication to saving people who have become stranded at sea and face the possibility of drowning. Their lifeguards are exceptionally brave! We raised money for them by designing our own seahorse fridge magnets that we sold at the charity sale. We raised £49.50! Year 3: Our charity in Year 3 has been Centre Point. This amazing charity is aiming to stop youth homelessness by 2037. We have created dream catchers in the shape of homes as every young person is allowed to dream of a safe and nurturing space or home. We raised £31.25! Year 4: During our charities week, we have been able to raise money for the charity, Barnado’s. They do wonderful work for children and young people in need of support. We created bars of soap to sell as part of the school’s charity sale. We raised £53.21! Year 5: Our charity was the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), who are the world’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity. We fundraised for the RSPCA by upcycling an everyday item – a sock – and transforming it into a rescued and rehabilitated animal puppet, which now required a ‘forever home’. We also created kennels and heartfelt messages to secure as much money as we could for the charity at the sale event. We raised £38.92! Year 6: The charity we chose to support was Help for Heroes. Over the course of the week, we watched videos and read testimonials about how this charity helps injured veterans and their families in the aftermath of war. We designed poppies which we sold at our annual Charity Sale after school on Friday. We had a great week immersing ourselves in all things related to their great work. We raised £41.50!
CYCLING PROFICIENCY This half term, Year 5 have been taking part in our cycling proficiency training which is run by Ealing. The children took part in level 2 bikability training which introduced them to cycling safely on roads. Bikability is an important part of our program as an active, healthy and sustainable school. We have a Gold Accreditation and we will continue to maintain this for this academic year. The children who took part had a great week and a big thank you to Mr Coleman and Mr Tauchert for supporting in the delivery of this important aspect of our curriculum.
MICHAEL ROSEN TRIP Year 4 managed to secure a coveted place at The Shaw Theatre to have a sixty minute audience with the renowned poet Michael Rosen. We were treated to a wonderful performance of his work, an insight into his childhood and early life and a question and answer session. Every pupil also received a free copy of his new book! It was such an enjoyable day; the children absolutely loved the experience.
PARENT WORKSHOPS Mathematics: On Thursday 23rd September, Miss Edwards delivered a Parent Workshop on Mathematics at Southfield. During the workshop, Ms Edwards went through what the school’s aims were with raising the profile of this subject, how lessons are structured and taught, our contextualised curriculum and assessment in key year groups. Ms Edwards also shared examples of the types of questions the children are asked in our ‘teaching to mastery’ approach and provided some useful websites and documents for parents and pupils. Phonics: On 7th October, Mrs Ouko delivered a presentation to parents about our new phonics programme ‘Read Write Inc’. The workshop detailed how the children will learn to read letters by their ‘sounds’, learn to blend these sounds into words and then read the words in a story. The importance of pronunciation when teach sounds was discussed, e.g. ‘mmmm’ not ‘muh’ and ‘lllll’ not ‘luh’. Ms Ouko explained how these phonics lessons were taught and gave ideas to parents as to how they can help their child learn their sounds and letters at home. Parents can visit www.ruthmiskin.com/parents to practise saying the sounds clearly. SEND: On Thursday 14th October Miss Tamber delivered a Parent Workshop on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). During the workshop Miss Tamber shared the vision of Southfield when it comes to children with SEND/additional needs; she explained that “Every teacher is a teacher of every pupil or young person, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities’. During the workshop Miss Tamber explained the areas of SEND, the process by which children are added to the SEND register and how applications are made to the Local Authority for additional support/funding if deemed appropriate for the child in order to get them an Educational Health Care Plan. Miss Tamber also shared all the strategies and interventions that take place in school to support children with SEND/Additional needs. A copy of the PowerPoints shared at each workshop are available on the school website.
EYFS NURSERY In Nursery this half term, our theme has been ‘All about me’. The children brought in a baby photo and a photo of them with their family. They then spoke to the class about what was in the photos. It was lovely to hear the children talk about their families! The children have played in the role play area which is a kitchen and have made lots of lovely food! We have also been learning about our senses and attended a workshop called ‘Discovering our Body’; we moved our bodies in different ways. We also used our senses to taste food with a blindfold. In Art, we have been mixing primary colours to make secondary colours and the children loved getting messy!
RECEPTION What a wonderful half term we have had in Reception! The children have settled in well and have adjusted well to their school routines. Our topic was ‘Myself’ and as part of this we have been getting to know our new classmates and building friendships. As part of a special homework project, the children decorated a shoe box which they filled with special items that represent them, which they then presented to their classmates. When looking at the story of ‘Funny Bones’ we learnt about different bones in our bodies and made some skeleton pictures. Children have role played in the home corner and retold the stories of ‘The Little Red Hen’ and ‘Peace at Last’ using masks and puppet. They also drew and labelled their favourite part of the story as part of Creative Writing. In Maths we have been counting to 20. We have been practicing recognising numerals 0-9 and how to find one more and one less. We have explored Maths through Stories where we enjoyed counting together using lots of objects, including our fingers and toes.
KEY STAGE 1 YEAR 1 The children in Year 1 have been working very hard this half time, and learning a great deal across all the different subjects. In English, we have been using the story Peace at Last to write a character description, a diary, a short narrative, a letter and a poem. We have been working hard to remember to use capital letters and full stops in the correct places and include adjectives in our writing. In Maths, we have been counting forwards and backwards across 100. We have been working to make sure we are writing numbers correctly. We have also been finding one more and one less from a given number. In Geography, we have been learning about what makes a good map and about the compass points, North, South, East and West. We havelearnt about our body in Science and we now know even more about our five senses. In the last week before half term we had an RE day where we learnt about Judaism and the Synagogue. We also had a PSHE day where we learnt about healthy living, healthy eating and how to keep our teeth healthy.
YEAR 2 This half term, Year 2 have been studying the book ‘The Mousehole Cat’ in English. They have used the novel to help expand their own vocabulary and enhance their writing. The children have written some wonderful diaries, letters, poems, short narratives and play scripts! In Maths, we have been focusing on counting forwards and backwards in ones and beingable to identify the place value of two digit numbers. Furthermore, we have been comparing and ordering numerals and measurements based on known facts and applying this knowledge to solve a range of reasoning and mastery problems. In Science, we have explored systems of the human body, including the digestive, circulatory and musculoskeletal systems. We really enjoyed finding out what makes us function! In Geography, we honed our map skills. We learned how to use a map to locate objects in orienteering and we learned how to draw our own map from an aerial view. We also had a PSHE day where we learnt about healthy living and explored the Buddhist religion.
KEY STAGE 2 YEAR 3 In Year 3 this term, we have been studying E.B. White’s classic story ‘Charlotte’s Web’. The children have used the story to extend their vocabulary and writing skills and written an amazing play script complete with stage directions, and wrote in both 1st and 3rd person through diary entries and recounting the story. In Maths this half of term, the children have continued to consolidate and build on their place value skills. They have been using their reasoning and mastery skills to explain how they know where and why a number goes in a certain place or order. In Science, we have learnt about how our skeleton keeps us upright and moving, that our muscles are either controllable or independent of control and we have explored the inner workings of our digestive system. In Geography we have been using our map skills and understanding of different parts of the world to compare and contrast different areas of the world. History this half term has been all about learning about what life was like in Stone Age Britain. We have been amazed at how much we can learn from what has been left behind.
YEAR 4 This half term in English, we have read the novel ‘Street Child’, set in Victorian England. Throughout the duration of our time reading this text, we have used the novel to inspire our writing in the way of a diary entry, a setting description, writing a letter, creating a newspaper article, as well as writing an acrostic poem. Throughout our time in Maths, we have recognised the value of each digit in a 4-digit number; ordered and compared numbers beyond 1000; counted in multiples of 1000 and found numbers which are1000 more or less than a given number, while applying this knowledge to solve a range of number problems. This half term in Science, we have taken a greater look at the human body, and understood the importance of a healthy diet. We have also taken time to understand the importance of good dental hygiene, and avoiding sugary or acidic foods. In Geography, we have spent some time building on our prior knowledge of Spacial Sense. We have looked at Ordnance Survey map, and discovered how to use four-figure grid references to identify locations on our map, including finding the destinations of shops and parks in our local area. We have studied Ancient Greece in History, and understood the significant differences between a variety of city-states, such as Athens and Sparta. We also discovered what brought these city-states together, such as 'The Battle of Thermopylae', and discovered who Alexander the Great was, and how he built such a vast empire.
YEAR 5 Year 5 have had a fantastic start to the new school year! Through reading the novel ‘Why the Whales Came’ by Michael Morpurgo, we have developed our narrative storytelling, characterisation and technical English skills by drafting numerous genres of writing – such as a diary entry, first person narrative recount and a newspaper report. In Maths, we have learnt to order and compare numbers up to 1,000,000 and solve place value word problems and reasoning questions with decimal numbers. For Real Life Maths, we used our map skills to chart a trans-continental voyage similar to Captain James Cook around the world and use the map’s scale to convert centimetres into kilometres. In Geography, we have been developing our core spacial knowledge and skills – such as navigating around the world using latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates and interpreting relief maps. For History, we have learnt about the golden age of Baghdad in 900 CE and its impact on modern society – including our number system, algebra and alchemy. In Science, we have compared the growth stages of different species and drawn graphs to identify patterns in the data collected.
YEAR 6 This half term, Year 6 have been studying our class novel ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ which is set during World War Two. We have acted as evacuees in drama lessons and written many pieces from our main character, Willie’s, perspective. In History, we have covered World War One, how it began, life in the tranches and its consequences. We have written diary entries from the perspective of a soldier in the tranches and really enveloped ourselves into life during war times. In Geography we studied map skills and all about longitude and latitude and in Science we have studied The Circulatory System and even experimented with increasing our heart rates. We learned all about Humanism and what being a Humanist means in RE and in PSHE we studied all about how to keep ourselves healthy. In Creative Writing we have linked our picture books to World War Two and our class novel and this has also been a main theme in our Real Life Maths lessons where we have completed lessons on rationing.
ATTENDANCE We are delighted and thrilled with our half term attendance figure which stands at 95%. A huge thank you to all for your sterling efforts and for your commitment and support with the current systems in place to keep us all safe. We now aim for 95% attendance next term!
FURTHER INFORMATION Aktiva are providing breakfast and after school club. Please email them directly if you are interested in your child attending.
Please kindly ensure your account for ISS Catering for your child’s school dinner is always in credit.
‘Ex Corde Vita’
Email: admin@southfield.ealing.sch.uk
Southfield Primary School Southfield Road Bedford Park London W4 1BD Tel 020 8994 6173 or 020 8742 3127