This is the place where you will be able to read my weekly newsletters. Thanks for taking the time to read them, Jessica

• Newsletter Friday 24th February 2023

  Fri 24 Feb 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  It has been lovely seeing you after the half term break. I hope you had a good week.

  We had a cake sale before we finished last term and raised £790 which was match funded so in total we raised £1580. This money will go to the charity https://ahbap.org/ Thank you for supporting us with this. It means a lot and every penny really does make a difference.

   

  Please remember we have the jumble sale on Saturday March 11th. Information will be sent out soon. I hope some of you are able to volunteer and help.

  We are really proud of Aranea in Year 6.  We knew she had been a finalist in the Greenpeace poem competition. Over 2700 children entered. This week we found out that she won. Well done Aranea.  It is a wonderful poem and here it is –

  Morning in the forest

  By Aranea
  Category 7-11

  I like to sit under the tree canopy
  At sunrise
  Bark against my back.

  I look up and see the branches
  Flying off in every direction
  Into the blue

  And the first light sitting on the patient leaves
  Underneath me the roots
  Run deep in the wise old earth

  I imagine the fields
  Gazing at the sky
  Waiting for the sun to rise

  The flowers dance and laugh
  In a light-hearted breeze
  I wish this would last forever.

   

  Online safety is a really important topic and one we need to be thinking about and remembering for our children at all times. I think it is easy to think that we are all okay and know all about it when the reality is we don’t. There is a very informative documentary/film all about this and I recommend you watch it. It is called Childhood 2.0. Here is the information https://www.childhood2movie.com/ Please watch it and see the risks of being online. There is more out there than a lot of people realise. Please take the time to look at it as it is eye opening.

   

  There is a teacher’s strike on Thursday 2nd March. Unless things change before then we will be closed. I am sorry about the inconvenience and I thank you again for all your support. We have moved World Book Day to Friday 3rd March and the children can come to school dressed as a book character. Please ensure that they can go to the loo easily and sit down easily in their costumes. We look forward to seeing them and thank you for completing the survey about your favourite book. We will enjoy sharing some of them with the children.

   

  Thank you to those of you who have downloaded the Arbor app and logged in. We are in the process of getting it all set up. If you are having any issues please let us know.

   

  I hope you have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

• Newsletter Friday 10th February 2023

  Fri 10 Feb 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  We have come to the end of another half term and what a great half term it has been. The children are working hard and have been amazing. They embrace learning with enthusiasm and really want to do their best. We are very proud of them. I can’t believe we are half way through the year. Where is the time going?

   

  Year 5, Buttercup performed the most amazing assembly this week on how we can take care of our planet. We were so impressed. The children spoke clearly and were great. They knew so much and were able to explain to us why it is so important to look after our environment. Well done Buttercup class.

   

  We have two new parent governors, Laura Williams, a parent of a year 2  child and a year 3 child and Megan Jones, a parent of a year 4 child and a Reception child. We welcome them to our governing body and thank them for their support and time. 

   

  Our Junior Road Safety Officers led an assembly for Nursery and Reception this week about keeping safe on the road. They were amazing. The children in Saffron class went out onto Clissold Road and monitored traffic and speed. The children used the speedometer and found that the drivers in the area were careful and not too fast. The children are really aware of the importance of keeping safe on the roads.

   

  Thank you for your donations for the cake sale yesterday. The situation in Turkey and Syria is devastating and we want to do as much as we can to support them. We will be sending anymoney raised and donations to the organisation; https://ahbap.org/disasters-turkey. The amount we raise has been matched funded by a parent so all donations have really helped.

   

  On Tuesday we held an assembly for Safer Internet Day 2023. The children discussed games and apps they like to play, and how to communicate with others respectfully online. Children from years 1 to 6 were able to talk about what they would do if they came across something that made them feel unhappy or worried when playing games online and they know to tell a trusted adult. 

   

  Please do look at www.nationalonlinesafety.com. It has a lot of useful guides to all the different games available, and how to support children to use games safely. To create your account, please follow https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/betty-layward-primary-school and complete your details. When you’re set up, you’ll be able to set ‘Parent/Carer’ as your user type. 

      

  You can access National Online Safety online via any device- including via the smartphone app. To download the app, please go to:

  https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/national-online-safety/id1530342372

  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.nationaleducationgroup.nos

  Alternatively, search for ‘National Online Safety’ in the App Store/Google Play Store. 

   

  Online safety is incredibly important and we ask that you monitor what children are using and looking at on computers and tablets at home. The children are aware of it but reminders and monitoring only help and support them keeping safe.

   

  There is a high chance school could be closed on Thursday 2nd March for the teacher strike. This is also World Book Day. We do not want the children missing out so we will be having World Book Day on Friday 3rd March instead. The children can dress up as a book character. Please can they wear costumes that allow them to use the toilet easily and if it is their PE day they will need to bring in PE clothing. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  Thank you for your ongoing kindness and support. One of the really special things about Betty Layward is how lovely, supportive and kind everyone is. This really makes a difference and the school is a really happy place for children and adults. We are all very lucky and I feel especially lucky to be the Headteacher of such a wonderful school. I wish you a very happy half term break and look forward to seeing you all on Monday 20th February.

   

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

  

• Friday 3rd February 2023

  Fri 03 Feb 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  Thank you for a good week and all your kind words of support for the teacher’s strike on Wednesday. I know you appreciate how hard they work and the commitment they show to your child’s learning. I know it also must be frustrating for you having to find child care which means your words of support mean even more to everyone so thank you. I will let you know about any future action once I know. 

   

  Well done to the Year 5 children and their clothes sale last week. They raised £400 for cancer research and this is going to be match funded so will have raised £800 in total. Well done. What an amazing achievement. 

   

  Well done to the children who represented Betty Layward in the Hackney Football League on Tuesday 31st January, playing against Mossbourne Parkside.  All of the children played incredibly well and the girls won with an amazing score of 10-2 and the boys drew 2-2.  Thank you to the teams, you were amazing.

   

  Emerald class performed an amazing assembly on Ancient Egypt. They took us back in time and shared some very interesting facts. Well done Emerald class. 

   

  We are currently changing our school information system to Arbor and school payments and bookings will be moved onto this new system very soon. We chose this system for its ease of use so we hope you do find it easier. We might need to be patient with each other while we all get used to it. We moved our old Management Information System to Arbor on 1st February 2023. Adopting Arbor will allow us to communicate with you more efficiently and bring all core school data and workflows into one system. We are really looking forward to getting started with Arbor and parents are invited to familiarise themselves with it using the link below.

  Getting started - Log into the Parent Portal and the Arbor App

  You do not need to do anything at this stage.  We will send further communication on the parental Portal and the Arbor App and how to register by 10th February 2023, please look out for this information and register your child when prompted. We hope you are looking forward to using this new feature as much as we are. Any questions please ask. 

   

  I hope you have had time to look at the knowledge organisers sent to you this week. These are designed to help you support your child’s learning at home and they will also enable you to discuss your child’s learning with them. You will hopefully hear them using the vocabulary we have shared with you on these knowledge organisers. These will also be available on the website. If you need paper copies please let us know. 

   

  Next week is Children's Mental Health Week. The theme for CMHW this year is Connect. Mental Health and well-being are important areas that we look at throughout the year and celebrating this week is an opportunity to explore them further. Connect is one of the 5 steps to well-being that the children have been introduced to in assemblies. Monday's assembly will introduce Children's Mental Health Week to our children. This will open up class discussions on how we can connect with our families, friends and the wider community and how connections can have a positive impact on our mental health. We will be revisiting this theme throughout the week providing children with time to discuss how they are continuing to connect and how it is making them feel. We value the children's mental health as much as their physical health and we want them to feel safe to discuss their feeling and emotions at all times.

   

  Thank you, once again, for all your kind monthly or single donations. It is so kind and generous of you and any offer of help, financially or by helping at an event. Everything is greatly appreciated.

  
  Thank you and have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher