Dear Parents & Carers,
This week’s Senior Leadership Assembly marked today's ‘Show Racism the Red Card Day’. Dennis spoke about discrimination and race and, to some extent, how race has been seen differently throughout history. He spoke about the 'Show Racism the Red Card' charity and told them the story about Shaka Hislop, a former Newcastle United goalkeeper, who helped found the charity with an early donation, and shared his experiences of racism. Using football as a theme, Dennis then shared the experience of the first black England senior footballer, Viv Anderson. This led him to share the racial abuse that Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford received after the last European Championships. It is over 43 years since Viv Anderson played for England, and sadly, racial abuse has not lessened. As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Following the assembly, and in support of today’s ‘Show Racism the Red Card Day’, we have been taking part in activities that support educating children on racism, which at times can be hidden. We have also spoken about the importance of celebrating our diverse school community. The week has been rounded up today with our visual support with us all wearing red.
On Monday we had PC Andrea visit our year 1 children. She talked about road safety and demonstrated the safe way to cross the road. Here are some photos
Year 4 have been taking part in the National Theatre Story Seekers Challenge this half term. The children have listened to, and shared, lots of stories and learned about the skills used by professional storytellers - language, physicality, memory and use of voice. Then in groups, they chose a story to act out, which they performed in front of each other and year 2. You can see photos here.
Today Dennis led our half termly SEND coffee morning. The theme for this session was Anxiety. Dennis was joined by Nicola and Helen, a parent and psychologist. Anxiety was discussed generally and then strategies were provided on how to support children who are feeling anxious. The slides and resources provided in the workshop will be collated and uploaded to our website and a link provided in a future newsletter.
We will be having a School Gardening Day 10am-12pm on Sunday 29th October. Children and parents/carers, please do come along to help shape the gardens, get your hands dirty and have some fun. Everyone is welcome, but please note, that children are the responsibility of their parent/carer. If you can, bring tools (but do label so that they don't get lost), a drink, suitable clothing and we will provide biscuits! If you have any spare plants or bulbs, they will be most appreciated.
Next half term, Reception - year 3 are going to be taking part in drama workshops with Perform. Perform is a drama school that uses a unique mix of drama, dance and singing. They design activities to bring out children’s true potential. The children will be taking part in a workshop where they will each become explorers and go on an exciting adventure using their imagination.
Get your diaries up to date!
Next half term is a very busy one and in preparation, please do sync your calendars. All dates have been uploaded onto the website calendar but in short, we have writing parent workshops, class assemblies (start from week 2) and all our winter performances have been scheduled. Recitals from children participating in peri music lessons will be scheduled when we return after the half term break.
Any budding authors? BBC's 500 Words “Write a story you would love to read". is the UK's largest children's story writing competition for 5-11 year olds. The competition ends 20:00 Friday 10 November. If your child may be interested, click here to find out more.
Changes to PE kit requirements. Further to most children coming into school dressed for PE, after half term we will be asking all children to do this as logistically, it is proving difficult and time consuming with one or two children to have to change in class. So, from this point forward, all children will wear kit into school on their PE days and if they forget, they will have to wear a spare kit from school. Thank you for your co-operation.
I mentioned earlier in the term that we had moved our school MIS to Arbor. This system not only supports efficiency, as it streamlines many of the different platforms we use, it also can enable parents the ability to manage a number of things that normally go through the office, such as Enrichment Clubs through the Arbor App. When we come back after half term, we will be sharing with you how you can start using the App.
It has been a very busy half term, and I would like to wish everyone a restful and spooktacular October half term.
I look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday 30th October.
Kind regards,
Julie
New illustration class
Christmas trees: Our Christmas tree shop is open, offering high quality and affordable trees. The trees will be available for collection from school on Sunday 3rd of December. All orders need to be placed by 15th November. 
Join our festive wreath making evening: Tickets are now on sale. The session will be run by the fabulous Katie of By-Me.London on Friday 10th November. It is always a fun event and all wreaths made will last throughout the festive period. Katie has very generously given her time for free, this means all profits go to school. 
