Newsletters

January 2023 

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Friday 20th January, 2023


Luckily, we have avoided any severe weather this week, although it has been bitterly cold. We have managed to get outside on most break and lunchtimes which I'm sure the children have been very pleased about. 

We enjoyed having Year 4 parents in school this week and will continue to add dates as the school year progresses. We are also looking to host some coffee mornings throughout the spring and summer. These will be informal but will give you a good chance to chat to key school staff about any issues you'd like to, including SEN and the curriculum. The first one will be on Tuesday 7th February at 9am, with Mr Walton, Miss Clark and Mrs Magee. 

We have been holding pupil progress meetings across the school where we analyse and look at how well they are progressing. One of the key indicators for us is how well their reading is progressing and especially their understanding of the texts read. We continue to encourage all children to read regularly at school and home and to share texts with parents. We all lead such busy lives now but finding time to read together, or for a child to read independently is so important; helping build their vocabulary and confidence. 

Please do read the information below about parking on the yellow lines at the front of the school. It is important we keep this area completely clear so all the children have a safe passage to and from school. 

An email was sent home this week about the NEU strike action over the next few months. We will let you know as soon as we possibly can if there will be any disruption on the strike days.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Kind regards

Matt Walton

Headteacher 


Attendance

Attendance for the autumn term was 94.3%. Unfortunately, the last week of term hit us (and most of the country!) with a lot of illness and this reduced our overall percentage. Our attendance is in-line with the average of schools nationally, and we hope this continues into the spring term. This term we will be awarding 100% certificates but also recognising excellent attendance too. 

Arts' Project

We are hoping to ensure all year groups benefit from the project by attending a live arts' production. Year 6 are off to see Matilda in London whilst Year 3 will be off to the Theatre Royal in March to watch 'Unexpected Twist'. We are also looking at the opportunities we can offer Year 4 & 5 too. All trips are being heavily subsidised by the project. All very exciting!

Head lice

We are aware of outbreaks of head lice in year 4 and 5. Please check your child's hair and refer to the link below for advice: 

Head lice - advice from the NHS 

Diary Dates 

January

Thur 26th - BBC Big Schools' Winterwatch - live lesson

Fri 27th - Sumdog Norfolk maths contest begins

February

Wed 1st Feb - Year 6 trip to London to see Matilda

Mon 6th Feb - Children's Mental Health Week

Tue 7th Feb - Coffee morning - 9am

Wed 8th Feb - Yr 6 football vs Woodland View (a)

Mon 13th - Fri 17th - Half-term

Wed 22nd -  Yr 5 Maths Challenge at Norwich School (chosen pupils)

Fri 24th - Cross Country (at Horsford)

Fri 24th - Yr 6 Maths Challenge at Norwich School (chosen pupils)

Mon 27th - Year 6 Science at Sprowston Academy 

 

Calendar Logo PNG Clipart Background | PNG Play

 


Panathlon Challenge | Competitive Sport for Disabled & SEN Chilldren

Adapted Games

Today children from across the school took part in a morning of sports in the Norwich East School Sports Partnership Adapted Games at UEA. 

The purpose of the event is to introduce new sports and skills to children, to try and engage them in an active lifestyle, and to experience social interaction in a different environment.

Activities included: bowling, bean bag toss, target ball, curling, basketball shot, bench roll target game, volley bat.

We all had a fantastic time and there were some performances to be really proud of. Here are some of the highlights:

"I enjoyed everything about the morning!" Alfie (Year 4)

"I liked playing volley bat the best. I think we got the most points" Max (Year 5)

"The minibus journeys were great fun. I enjoyed playing the curling the best" Noah (Year 6)

A big thank you to the Norwich East School Sports Partnership for organising the event and to Sprowston Community Academy for letting us borrow their minibus for the morning.

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Year 4 Parent Lunch 

Year 4 welcomed parents into school this week to see what is going on in the classroom and to enjoy lunch with their children. We were delighted to have so many joining us and for the children it will have no doubt been the highlight of the week!

We hope you enjoyed seeing the children's books and seeing them complete Accelerated Reader and Times-table sessions. We look forward to welcoming you in again soon!

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Science Club 

Mr Reeds & Mrs Lewis are once again running a science club and the children have really enjoyed the first two sessions. Last week they enjoyed learning about electricity and this week they were learning about static electricity and sticking balloons to their faces! I'm sure with Mr Reeds (or Professor Khrol) around, the next few weeks will be a lot of fun!

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Cyber-security 

We were delighted to welcome John Greenwood from the Specialist Crime and Intelligence department of Norfolk and Suffolk Police into school this week. John talked to children in Years 5 and 6 about the importance of cybersecurity. The children found out more about how to use apps and social media safely, how to protect personal information online, the impact of their digital footprint, how to create a secure password and the impact of cyberbullying. 

As always it was a fascinating and engaging session from John. We will be continuing the discussions in class over the next few weeks.

There is more information about how to help keep your children (and you) stay safe online in the 'stay safe online' section of our school website.

Creating and rolling out an effective cyber security strategy


Marvellous Me 

Thank you if you have let us know whether you are happy for your child's photo to be on Marvellous Me.

For those who haven't yet told us, we are going to use the photo permissions we already have from you. We are going to treat Marvellous Me like the school website. If you have said yes to photos on the school website we will post images, but if you originally said no, we will not post images of your child. Please get in touch if you'd like to change any photo permission choices. 

Home - MarvellousMe


Parking

Before Christmas, it was brought to our attention that some parents or carers were parking on the yellow lines outside the school. We have been keeping an eye on the situation, and we have seen cars waiting and stopping there at various times.

Please can all parents and carers avoid parking, stopping or waiting on the yellow lines or parking on the pavement next to the yellow lines. This area needs to be kept clear for safety purposes. This allows a safe passage into the gate at the front of the school and enables children to cross the road safely by allowing clear vision, so they can see both ways if they need to cross the road.

Recreation Ground Road, as we know you are all aware, is extremely busy both before and after school. Please help us to prevent accidents as much as we possibly can by following the principles above.


Year 12 work experience

This week we had some familiar faces back in school. Four ex-pupils joined us to complete their Year 12 work experience placements. They spent the week helping in classes, working with children and supporting the year group teams. It was great to see Ruby, Thomas, Isabel and Lois back at Sprowston Junior, and they have all been fantastic this week.