Dear Parents and Carers,

 

We have had a busy week. The Year 6 children had a wonderful week away in Norfolk and were absolutely brilliant. They had a camp fire, an amazing amount of activities and a lot of fun. They had the best time and they so deserved it. We are incredibly proud of them.

 

Jade class performed an amazing assembly on Wednesday and demonstrated excellent historical knowledge, performing skills and timing. We were all very impressed. Well done Jade class.

 

Blastonbury is on Thursday 25th May at 2pm in the playground. The children will be singing songs from around the world. Please stay behind the tape and enjoy. You will pick your child up from school as normal. We look forward to seeing you there. 

 

Well done to Kenza in Year 6 who won their category, Ages 10 and under for Science Journalist of the Year, in the Global Young Journalist Awards 2023.  They received many outstanding entries this year, and we want to say a big congratulations for this incredible achievement. Kenza’s entry truly impressed the judges, and they were proud to recognise her talent and hard work. This is an incredible and amazing achievement. Well done Kenza. I have attached the entry.

 

The Hackney Children’ Mile for the Hackney Half takes place tomorrow. I am really grateful to everyone who is participating and raising money for the school. If you are taking part please arrive at the marshes for 8:45am so you have time to find everyone. If you are late there won't be anyone at the meeting point anymore as everyone will have moved to the starting line.  We have 106 people to register and there are 1500 children taking part from across the borough, all wearing the same t-shirt, so please be prompt and patient until you find the Betty Layward children and families.  This have raised at least £6,100 so far!!  (this includes GIFTAID) and here is the page if you or anyone else would like to sponsor us  

 

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bettylaywardprojectrenovate

 

Thank you for supporting the school with this; the organisers, runners and anyone who has sponsored us. It is greatly appreciated.

 

On Tuesday 16th May, girls and boys from year 4 and 5 played in a football match against Kingsmead and Mandeville primary schools. We played some very good football. The boys lost both games and the girls drew 1-1 against Kingsmead and then recorded a victory over Mandeville, 1-0 with a goal from Zoe. Thank you to the children who took part.  We are very proud of you.  Thank you to the parent volunteers for coming to help.

 

On Wednesday 17th May, children from year 4 took part in an Aquathlon festival at Clissold Leisure Centre. There were many different events like picking up glow sticks from the bottom of the pool, a relay race using noodles and floats, and many more activities. Thank you to the children who took part and the parent volunteer who came to help.

 

Thank you for all your support with the bingo last week. It was a great evening and a great success. Thank you to everyone who came and a massive thank you to the organisers, host and performers. We are happy to say the final amount raised from Betty's Disco Bingo was £4140 and an amazing £975 was raised in REWIND donations alone. Well done everyone.

 

Thank you for all your support and kindness. I hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Hackney Half Marathon.

 

Jessica

Headteacher

 

Massive Hole on the Sun’s Surface – How does this affect our planet?
Have you ever pondered about the mysteries of the Sun? Or why we need to study the Sun’s activities?
A new phenomenon has left scientists stunned. NASA have detected a coronal hole on the Sun’s surface that can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in massive and long-lasting power outages. With the coronal hole being approximately 20 times larger than Earth, this has prompted US federal agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to send out a high alert as
geomagnetic storms are unleashing 1.8 million mile-per-hour solar winds towards Earth, predicted to hit us on 25 th March at a G1 level.
Coronal holes appear as dark areas in the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere (solar corona), as Extrema Ultra-Violet (EUV) and soft x-ray solar images. The open configuration of the magnetic field in coronal holes allows particles to escape, and it is found that these holes are sources of high-speed
solar wind streams.
“Events like these are of great interest to us scientifically to further understand our Sun’s 11-year solar cycle, but are also important for us to evaluate how these winds might affect technology in orbit, like GPS (Global Positioning System)” said Machine Learning researcher at Swinburne University of Technology, Dr. Sara Webb.
The coronal hole produced auroras far further south than usual, with the skies in Arizona turning an electric purple and green, but why?
A coronal hole will cause solar wind to travel faster and carry a higher density of particles, therefore bringing more to the Earth’s magnetosphere. A higher density of these particles creates the bigger aurora storms that we all love to hunt. This leads to rare occurrences of the auroras as south as New York and Idaho. With this information, scientists hope to develop our understanding of coronal holes and possibly share their knowledge with future generations to protect our home.
Only time will tell what other mysteries we can learn from the Sun.
By Kenza Al-Yassin, Betty Layward Primary School