Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope you've had a good week. Ours has been lovely despite the rain; we've found our own sunshine every day.

This week, the Year 4 classes visited the Young V&A museum in Bethnal Green. The children participated in a workshop where they acted as architects and clients, helping to introduce the concept of user-centred design. They were tasked with creating a design brief for an animal’s home and experimenting with different materials to build a model of their client's shelter. The children also had the opportunity to explore the V&A galleries and learn about how children throughout history have played and how technology is changing young people's leisure activities. Year 4 were exceptionally well-behaved and served as excellent ambassadors for our school. Well done, Year 4.

On Monday, the reading ambassadors attended our first live Hackney Reading Ambassadors meeting at Hackney Town Hall. The children represented the school with confidence and maturity. They shared what they have been doing at Betty Layward Primary to promote reading across the school. They were also given additional ideas on how to excite and encourage their peers to read. They were also visited by the poet Christian Foley, who challenged the children to create their own tongue twisters. 

I have shared our guidance on using school WhatsApp groups. Please ensure these messages are only about PTFA events and how you can support them. If you have any questions regarding the school, please come to me directly. Thank you for your cooperation. Parents and carers have mentioned that sometimes there are too many messages, too many complaints about minor issues, or content unrelated to the PTFA.

We are looking for new volunteers to take on roles within the PTFA. We will need a new secretary and someone to organise online raffles for the fairs. If you are interested in these roles, please let me know. There are some great school benefits associated with these roles and the money raised by the PTFA makes a significant difference to the school. We have a fantastic school community, and I am confident there are many excellent candidates out there. Please email me if you are interested.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher