Dear Parents and Carers,

It was wonderful to see you at the parent/carer meetings yesterday. The teachers really enjoyed meeting and talking with you about your child.

This week, Year 6 impressed us with a fantastic assembly inspired by Grim Tales, based on the classic stories collected by the Brothers Grimm. During their assembly, Year 6 explored how these traditional stories have changed over time and the important lessons they contain. The children performed confidently, with humour and excellent storytelling skills. Well done, Ruby class.

Year 5 Saffron went on an exciting trip to the Houses of Parliament. They enjoyed a guided tour, where they even had the chance to sit in the House of Lords. Afterwards, they took part in an interactive workshop that included a sensory activity, helping them explore the different sights, sounds, and objects in Parliament. It was a memorable way to learn about how Parliament works and experience history firsthand.

On Thursday, Year Four Cerise had a very special visit from two musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra and a music composer. Together, the children created their own piece of music with the professional musicians and performed it to Fuchsia class. Descriptions like "outstanding” and “amazing” were used to describe their performance.

On Tuesday, 11th November, a group of Year 5 and 6 children took part in the Hackney Primary Schools Cross-Country Competition at Hackney Downs Park. The course was around 2km long, and the children did an incredible job at the event. Everyone showed excellent effort, determination, and team spirit throughout the races. We are very proud of how well they represented Betty Layward — from their positive attitude to their outstanding contributions. Well done to all the runners for giving their best and making us all very proud.

I was fortunate this week to be invited to Highbury Fields School, where 12 of our girls joined in September. The children gave me a tour of the school and afterwards, I enjoyed tea and biscuits with them. It was lovely to see them so settled and happy in Year 7. Some staff members were also invited to a tea party at Stoke Newington on Wednesday, where we enjoyed seeing the Year 7 pupils, their work, and discussing secondary school with them. It was a pleasure to see how happy they are in their new secondary school.

Al, Coco, and Simiy, children at Betty Layward, met local Clissold ward Councillor Sade Etti at her drop-in session this week. Both families attended to discuss the way cars speed down Church Street beside Clissold Park, outside homes, to see if additional traffic measures could be introduced to reduce the risk of a serious accident. The children were all fantastic and spoke to her about their concerns, and Coco showed her on a map where the problem was. Al also mentioned an accident involving a child from BL about a year ago at the crossing. We hope she genuinely took on board what they had to say and she was very pleased to hear from them. Well done Al, Coco and Simiy for raising this important issue.

We are delighted to share that our school continues to develop our OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) project. OPAL supports children in learning through play, fostering creativity, teamwork, resilience, and a love of the outdoors. Recently, we acquired some kayaks, which the children have enjoyed playing with and transforming into see-saws, vehicles, castles, and many other imaginative creations. To further enhance our outdoor play spaces, we are seeking a variety of resources and equipment for the children to use during playtime. These don’t need to be brand new — many items can be reused or recycled. We would be very grateful for donations of any of the following:

- Clean pots, pans, utensils, and kitchen items (for our mud kitchen)

- Tarpaulins, ropes, cable reels (for building and den-making)

- Costumes, fabric, old suitcases or bags (for imaginative play)

- Small world toys, toy cars, or figures

- Buckets, crates, pipes, tyres, or planks

If you have any of these items at home or know someone who could donate them, please bring them to school or contact us to arrange a suitable drop-off time. Your support makes a big difference. Thank you for helping us provide our children with a rich, creative, and joyful experience.

BETTER Open Weekend on 22nd & 23rd November, where all Hackney leisure centres will offer free activities throughout the weekend. The theme is 'Try Something New'. There will be opportunities to access these free activities at various centres: gym sessions, group fitness classes, badminton, and pickleball. In the pools, there will be free Swimbies taster sessions, taster sessions for junior swim school classes, and adult beginner swimming lessons. There are also some free spaces at West Reservoir's Youth Club, allowing young people to try out the water sports club. The activities will be hosted at Britannia LC, Clissold LC, King's Hall LC, London Fields Lido, Queensbridge SCC, and West Reservoir. Please see the link: https://linktr.ee/hackneyleisurecentres, where you can view and book all the free sessions.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher