Jessica's Newsletters
This is the place where you will be able to read my weekly newsletters. Thanks for taking the time to read them, Jessica
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Newsletter - Friday 20th October 2023
Fri 20 Oct 2023Dear Parents and Carers,
We come to the end of our first term of this academic year and I thank you for all your kindness and support. It has been a great and busy term and the children have been amazing, as always. They have worked hard and have demonstrated excellent behaviour. We are so proud of them and it is a pleasure being their headteacher.
Thank you for supporting our Black History event today. It was great fun and thank you to the parents who organised it. The children also received an assembly about Hidden Figures today and Key Stage 2 had workshops. Our Black History Month menu this week was also very delicious. The children really enjoyed it.
Thank you for your support with Grandparent Week this week. It was lovely having Grandparents visit the school. The children really enjoyed listening to them.
On Wednesday, Eloy, Felix, Gene and Finlay attended the Hackney Tennis Primary School Championships. All four played a number of matches against children from Jubilee and Sir Thomas Fairchild schools. They came out victorious and won the competition, bringing home the trophy. Well done to our amazing tennis players.
On Wednesday afternoon, two children from KS2 visited Hackney Town Hall to attend the launch of the Hackney Reading Champions. This event marks the kick-off of our Reading Ambassadors challenge. Over the year the Reading Ambassadors will help to raise the profile of reading in our school by completing a series of challenges. These ideas will come from the children with the intent of making our school a place where as many children as possible love to read.
At the event, we were lucky enough to meet Sav Akyuz who is a children's author/illustrator. He showed us how he came up with his characters and even drew an illustration of a cool alien. Sav is going to be the patron of the Hackney Reading Champions for this year and we look forward to showing him all the amazing things we achieve.
Silas and Emmett Hussey held a toy, cake and lemonade sale on their road last week (in the last of the warm weather). They bought two bags of donations for Betty Layward’s Harvest appeal for the Hackney Foodbank with the proceeds. Well done Silas and Emmett.
Dates for your diary – Quiz night is Friday 17th November at 7pm and the winter fair is Saturday 2nd December. We look forward to seeing you there and thank you for supporting our events.
The details for parents’ meetings went out today. Please ensure you sign up. We look forward to seeing you there. Please could you ensure that you are signed up for Arbor as we are going to be using it more and more. Without it, you might miss out.
Thank you for a great term, all your support and I hope you have a lovely week,
Jessica
Headteacher
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Newsletter Friday 13th October 2023
Fri 13 Oct 2023Dear Parents and Carers,
We have had a great week. Ruby class performed an amazing assembly. It was a quiz show about the Mayans and they definitely knew a lot and taught us a lot too. Well done Ruby class.
It is our Black History Month celebration next Friday (20th October) at 3:30pm in the hall. Please buy tickets for this as it is going to be a lot of fun. It is £6 for an adult and £4 for a child and a delicious plate of food is included. The children are having a special Black History Month assembly on that day and KS2 will be having workshops. KS1 will be having lessons too. There will be a special Black History Month menu on Thursday and Friday-
Thursday
Jamaican Oxtail Stew or
Jamaican Vegetarian Stew
Grilled Plantain, Rice & Peas
Traditional Breadfruit Pudding
Friday
Jamaican Patties (Beef or Vegetarian)
Corn on the Cob, Mango & Cucumber Salsa
Ginger Loaf
We are also asking children to wear red on Friday 20th October in support of showing Racism the Red Card. We need to challenge misconceptions, stereotypes and negative attitudes in society. We will be talking to children about this next week and asking them to wear red to school on Friday in support of this. They do not need to wear school uniform on this day.
On Tuesday 10th October, Betty Layward played their first football fixture of the Hackney football league against Halley House at the Young Hackney Eastway Hub. Despite a terrific team performance by the boys, Halley House won 2-0.
The girls kicked off their first game of the season with a very hard fought 3-3 draw with goals from Zhara, Martha and an own goal to get our first points of the season. Well done everyone.
On Wednesday 11th October, the Betty Layward boy's football team took part in a year 5 and 6 boy’s football competition at Mabley Green. There were victories over Parkwood and William Pattern and a draw against Baden Powell which meant that Betty Layward qualified for the next round against Mandeville. The boys put in a lot of effort during the match however were unable to get the victory as Mandeville won 2-0. Well done to all the boys who took part, we are very proud of you all.
We are looking forward to seeing Grandparents next week. If you haven’t booked your child’s Grandparent in please see your child’s class teacher. Thank you for your harvest donations. We were delighted to see so many. Thank you for supporting our fancy dress, second-hand uniform and coat sale today.
The children are having a week of work the week after half term. This will involve them learning about different careers. Nursery are learning about everyday jobs, Reception are learning about jobs in nature, Year 1 are learning about Engineering and robots and machines, Year 2 are learning about community jobs, Year 3 are learning about building futures and architecture, Year 4 are learning about arts and the theatre, Year 5 are learning about ethical business and Year 6 are learning about developing an app. There will be a trip or workshop linked to the theme for each year group. We are really looking forward to it. If you work in any of these businesses or can come on a trip (letters will be out next week) please let us know.
While thinking about what is going on in the world it would be lovely if hatred could turn into shaking hands and weapons could turn into welcoming arms. Kindness should be at the heart of all that we do and it definitely is at Betty Layward.
Have a lovely weekend,
Jessica
Headteacher
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Friday 6th October 2023
Fri 06 Oct 2023Dear Parents and Carers,
Thank you for all your support with Ofsted this week. Your support and kind words were overwhelming and very special. I was not allowed to see your comments from the questionnaires but the inspector told us how positive they were and how supportive you are as a group of parents and carers. I thank you for this, as this is the reason why Betty Layward is such a lovely place to work. Thank you to those of you who did send me the comments you wrote as they were very lovely to read. We had an amazing result of 100% of families recommending the school. This is fabulous and this is what really counts. The children were amazing and a credit to you and us. I was so proud of them. I have organised a thank you treat for them the week after next. The report will be out in around 30 days.
On Wednesday, four children in year 6 talked to the school about dyslexia in assembly to celebrate Dyslexia Awareness Week. They did a fabulous job at explaining what dyslexia is, and shared some of the difficulties that people might typically face. Did you know that these famous people are dyslexic: John Lennon, Jamie Oliver, Daniel Radcliffe and Whoopie Goldberg?
On Wednesday 4th October a group of year 4, 5 and 6 girls took part in a football competition at Mabley Green. The first round of matches were in a group stage format where the top 2 teams qualified for the quarter-finals. Both of the Betty Layward teams were successful in qualifying. Unfortunately, after a hard-fought match against Mossbourne Parkside our year 4's journey ended at the quarter-finals. Our year 5 and 6 girls however made it all the way to the finals and after a dramatic and nerve-racking penalty shootout against Woodberry Down school, Iris scored the winning penalty to win the competition for Betty Layward and sparked wild celebrations. Thank you to the parent volunteers and well done to all the girls who took part. We are very proud of you all.
Stanley, Frankie and Dylan made cakes and planes last weekend and sold them to raise money for the school. Well done – they raised £30.17. I am so impressed with the children’s attitudes about helping the school. Congratulations to Stanley, Frankie and Dylan.
Our sail shades are being installed very soon, which is really exciting.
Please remember Ruby class assembly on Tuesday at 9:15am. We look forward to seeing you there. Thanks again for all your support this week.
Have a lovely weekend,
Jessica
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