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

• Friday 24th March 2023 Newsletter

  Fri 24 Mar 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  We have had a lovely week with the sunshine beginning to shine and having longer days. Please remember the clocks go forward on Sunday and we lose an hour.

   

  Year 6 Chilli performed the most amazing assembly on William Shakespeare this week and knew so many facts about him. It was educational and fun. Well done Ruby class

  and thank you to all the parents and carers for coming. It was really lovely to see you.

   

  School closes at 1pm for Parent/Carer meetings on Wednesday. Years 1 – 6 will be receiving their child’s school report on Tuesday, which then can be discussed at the meeting. Please ensure you have booked a time. We look forward to seeing you then. You can book Adventure Kids (the old Fit for Sport) from 1pm until 5:45pm and there will be a creche just for your appointment time if you wish not to take your child to the meeting with you. They are very welcome to attend the meeting and it can be very purposeful if they do.

   

  Ramadan Mubarak/Happy Ramadan. Ramadan is celebrated in many different ways around the globe to mark the special occasion, from Iftar gatherings (Iftar- the opening of one’s fast), to household decorations and traditional foods, to mark its arrival. Fasting begins just after dawn, before which Muslims will take a modest meal known as “suhoor”, and ends after sunset, known as “iftar”. In between these meals, those who are partaking in the fast will consume nothing, not even water. In 2023, Ramadan began on Wednesday 22 March and end on Friday 21 April. It starts with the sighting of the crescent moon, which usually appears one night after a new moon. I hope you are able to go and visit the lights in Piccadilly as I mentioned in my email yesterday.

   

  World Autism Acceptance and Admiration Week runs from Monday 27th March to Sunday 2nd April. This is a week to raise awareness of autism, and to advocate for the acceptance and admiration of autism and those who fall into the spectrum. We will be talking to the children about it and I will send some more information for you via email.

   

  Salwa and Simon are expecting a baby and Salwa will be going on maternity leave after the Easter holidays. I am sure you will join me in saying a huge congratulations and we cannot wait to meet their new addition.

   

  This is my last newsletter of the term as we break up on Thursday at normal time. There are clubs on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. We wish you a happy holiday and look forward to seeing you when we are back on Monday 17th April. Thank you for all your support and kindness. We really do appreciate it.

   

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

   

   

• Newsletter Friday 17th March 2023

  Fri 17 Mar 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  Thank you for all your support with the school being closed due to the strike for two days this week. We really appreciate your support and understanding. It means a lot and I know you are aware of how hard our staff work and how we need the money to pay them properly.

   

  Please make sure you have signed up to Arbor as this will be the only way you can book clubs and I don’t want you to miss out. We can still only allow two clubs per child to ensure all children get a club. If you book more than two clubs on Arbor we will have to choose the two your child will be allowed to attend so please ONLY choose two.

   

  Thank you to those of you who have paid off any money owing. Please ensure this is done before the Easter holidays. If you need any help or support please let me know.

  On Tuesday 14th March, children from year 4 and 5 represented Betty Layward in a football match against Rushmore. The boys kicked off first and after going 1-0 in the first half, Wilfred equalized and made it 1-1, to the delight of the Betty Layward team. Unfortunately, Rushmore scored in the last minute to make it 2-1 at the end. The Girls kicked off next and despite putting in a resilient performance lost 2-0.  Well done everyone.

   

  Well done to Violet class for their assembly this week on hot and cold climates. It was brilliant and made me want to travel on Violet airlines. The children did so well and it was great. Thank you to so many parents and carers for coming.

   

  Tuesday 21st March is World Down Syndrome Day. We are asking children and staff to wear some socks that will get noticed: either mismatched or colourful and crazy. The idea is to start a conversation, so when people ask you about your socks you can tell them, "I'm wearing them to raise awareness of Down syndrome". The theme this year is 'With Us Not For Us', which promotes a human rights-based approach to disability. A human rights-based approach views people with disabilities as having the right to be treated fairly and have the same opportunities as everyone else, working with others to improve their lives. Please remember to ask your children to wear special socks on Tuesday 21st March. Thank you.

   

  I wanted to let you know about an exciting new project that we are embarking on in September. We will be working with OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) to improve our lunchtime provision. Lunchtime is a really important part of the day and we want the children to get the most out of it as possible. OPAL is an award-winning, mentor supported school improvement programme that addresses all the areas that schools must plan for if they want to strategically and sustainably improve the quality of their play opportunities. OPAL is the only programme of its kind that has been independently proven to sustainably improve the quality of play in British primary schools. Its success comes from a series of interrelated actions undertaken with specialist support from an OPAL mentor. This embeds play into the school’s policies and practices and establishes clear guiding principles and strategies for initiating lasting changes at playtimes. As a school we will provide many more outdoor exciting opportunities for the children in the playground, e.g. building dens, small world and much more.

   

  We know you want your children to be happier and healthier and to get the chances to play happily. OPAL schools also see these benefits:

  • 80% drop in reported behaviour and first aid incidents
  • 20% more afternoon teaching time
  • Compliance with wellbeing inspection requirements
  • Increased resilience, collaboration and inclusion
  •  

  Our aim by engaging in this project is to ensure all children have great play at school. There will be a working party consisting of staff, a governor and 2 parents/carers. If you are interested in supporting this and would like to be part of the working party please email me. You would have to commit to several meetings (not many) from September for 2 years as that is how long the project takes. I am really excited about this and please look at the OPAL website for more information. Any questions please ask.

   

  The PTFA are working with Class Fundraising to produce two tea towels for Betty Layward. The design will feature self portrait drawings by every child at Betty Layward and their class teaching staff. One will be produced by Nursery and KS1 and one by KS2. Children love drawing and we are really excited to support this initiative which involves the whole school and will raise funds for the PTFA. The children will be doing their drawings over the next two weeks and the tea towels will be available to buy early in the Summer term - £5 each or 3 for £12. 

   

  We are signed up for the Hackney Half Marathon for the children on Saturday 20th May at 10:30am. They will run a mile that day at Hackney Marshes. The actual half marathon is Sunday 21st May. There are 150 places for Y2 – Y6 children on the Saturday and we will also need parent/carer volunteers to make this happen. Parents and Carers can also support by raising money by running the half marathon on the Sunday. Please put these dates in your diary as these are great fund raisers for the school. A just giving page is being set up and more information will follow.

   

  I hope you have a good weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

   

  

• Friday 10th March 2023

  Fri 10 Mar 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  We have had a really good week at school and we have had a lot of children apply to be mini referees. We will be letting them know the outcome of who has been successful very soon.

   

  Thank you to those of you who have donated items for the Jumble Sale or their time to help. We were worried we would not have enough helpers but it should be okay and it can go ahead. If you can still help please let me know. We look forward to seeing you there.

   

  As you know we have a new information system called Arbor. We really need you to log into your account and ensure it is working okay. You will only be able to book next term’s after school clubs if you have Arbor as this is the system we will be using for clubs, payments and parents’ meetings from now on. If you haven't set up your Arbor account, please try the link below and click on 'first time logging in'.  You will need to enter your child's DoB to verify the account. If you need any help or something is not right please contact us.

   

  https://betty-layward-primary-school.uk.arbor.sc/?/home-ui/index

   

  There are teacher strikes on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th next week. Please plan as if the school is closed and if things change I will let you know. We have changed Aqua’s school trip to Friday 17th instead. Homework will be due in on Tuesday and not Wednesday as the school is closed. Thank you for being so supportive during this time.

   

  On Tuesday 7th March, children from Year 5 competed in a football match against Mossbourne Riverside. The boys kicked off first and showed great skill in teamwork. Despite all their great efforts Mossbourne Riverside came out on top. The girls kicked off the second game of the day and were victorious with a 1-0 win.  It could have been more, but we will take the 1-0 victory! Well done to all the children who participated, you are wonderful.  Thank you to the parent volunteers who helped out on the day.

   

  13th – 19th March is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, and is an ideal opportunity for us to learn more about, and celebrate, neurodiversity. The term neurodiversity refers to the differences between how people think, process information, behave and communicate. Types of neurodivergence include ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and Tourette’s syndrome. Every classroom is neurodiverse - because every pupil will have a different way of thinking, feeling, and learning. We will be watching some videos on neurodiversity and discussing neurodiversity within the classroom during the week. If you would like to watch the videos at home, here is the link:

  https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/resources/what-is-neurodiversity-videos-for-children/

   

  Apologies for the glitch on school interviews this week. They would not let us log on. Thank you for your patience and I hope you managed to book a meeting. We will be moving the bookings onto Arbor next time so please make sure you have signed up.

   

  Please can I ask you to pay any lunch money debt you might have with us. We are currently owed thousands and we cannot afford to carry this debt. The great news is that lunches will be free for all primary aged children from September for that academic year, so could you please ensure that you are up to date with payments now and for the rest of this school year. If you are having difficulties paying please come and chat with me. I am always happy to help. Thank you for supporting us with this.

   

  I hope you have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you at the jumble sale tomorrow,

   

  Jessica

  Headteacher

  

• Friday 3rd March 2023

  Fri 03 Mar 2023 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  What a fabulous Friday – the children looked amazing. We love World Book Day. Thank you for supporting us with the costumes. The children have had a great day learning about the favourite books you told us about on the survey. We chose the theme of animals as we had so many books to choose from. Here are the books the children worked on today -

  Nursery - The Rainbow Fish

  Reception - Where the Wild Things Are

  Year 1 - The Elephant and the Bad Day

  Year 2 - Handa's Noisy Night

  Year 3 - Giraffes Can't Dance

  Year 4 - The Cat in the Hat

  Year 5 - The Velveteen Rabbit

  Year 6 - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Graphic novel version)

   

  The children really enjoyed it and it was an absolute delight walking around the school and all the classrooms seeing the children enjoying their learning and dressed up in their costumes. What a great day.

   

  Please remember it is the Jumble Sale on Saturday 11th March from 10:30-12:30. Please sign the board by the school entrance if you are able to help. Any help is really welcome as these events raise a lot of money for the school. We look forward to seeing you there and thank you for your donations.

   

  Year 1 went on a trip to the Aquarium this week and they were great. They had a lovely day and we are very proud of them. Well done Year 1.

   

  Some Year 4 children led a wonderful assembly this week on ‘How to look after our Planet’. They worked really hard and made an excellent power point and taught the children all about how we can help look after the planet. Well done to those Year 4 children. They all did really well.

   

  Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is the UK’s largest walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling challenge. It inspires pupils to make active journeys to school, improve air quality in their neighbourhood and discover how these changes benefit their world.

  This year the challenge will run from 20–31 March 2023. We have registered as a school.  We will compete to see if the children either walk, use a wheelchair, scoot or cycle to school. We will be competing against other schools in the borough and nationally.  We would like to be the ones that win so please encourage your child to travel to school via one of these methods. We will keep you updated with further information.  

   

  Please remember it is Parent’s meetings on Wednesday 29th March. Please sign up for an appointment and we look forward to seeing you then.

   

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher