Jessica's Newsletters

Newsletter Friday 28th June 2024

Fri 28 Jun 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a busy week we have had. Thank you for attending Sports Day today. It was so much fun and great to see you there. The children really enjoyed it too. Thank you for supporting us today. It is such a lovely day being together and it shows how great the school community is. There was some unexpected fun at the end when I had to race against the police officers. Thank you for all your support and for being brilliant in the egg and spoon race.

Thank you for signing up for your parent's meetings. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday. Junior Adventure Group will be here from 1pm and the creche will be available for children during your appointment time. Please make sure you have signed up. The school will close at 1pm. We are looking forward to letting you know how well your child has done this year.

We have Parents and Carer's week coming up. Please be sure to look out for a letter telling you the date and time. I hope you can make it.

We had Hispanic Day yesterday and the Mariachi band joined us. They were fantastic and the children loved it. Our theme was Carnivals. The children made headdresses and they paraded them in the playground. It was great to see.

On Wednesday the children learning guitar with Zach performed to their families. It was fantastic. The children were great and not only did they play the guitar they also sang along. Well done to all those children. Keep learning and practising.

The children really enjoyed the Railway children on Tuesday. We had arranged this show as a special treat for them as they have worked so hard this year. They loved it and they so deserved it.

Last Thursday, Sarah and Jojo attended the final Hackney Reading Ambassador meeting at Hackney Town Hall. Over the course of the year, Sarah and Jojo have led the Betty Layward Reading Ambassadors through a series of challenges to help raise the profile of reading in our school. They, along with the other reading ambassadors, have attended Hackney reading meetings, set up and run an outdoor reading station, surveyed children about their favourite books, made recommendations, organised and run the Hackney Reading Road Map challenge in Years 3 and 5 and helped develop a weekly graphic novel club. All the children involved have been amazing and we look forward to welcoming new leaders and ambassadors for next year.

We are so proud of Kelise who competed in the 2024 International Future Cheer Barcelona competition this month and came second. Her last competition of the season was also this month called Jamfest Europe which took place in Liverpool. They took home an amazing first place despite having an athlete unfortunately drop out two days before which meant they had to amend their routine in 2 days. Kelise has had a total of 5 competitions this season achieving two first places, two second places and one fifth place achieving zero in four performances, which means no point deductions were made from the performance (which means they were perfect). Kelise has been in competitive cheer for 2 years and will continue for her 3rd year starting this September. The head coach had asked if anybody might be interested in joining. Boys and girls can start from the age of 4. Tryouts for the new season will be this July The coach's details are Marshalscheer@gmail.com or @Marshalscheer on Instagram. Well done Kelise, you are amazing.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher

Jessica Bailey

Headteacher
The Betty Layward Primary School

Newsletter Friday 21st June 2024

Fri 21 Jun 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are so glad the sun is shining and summer could finally be here. It makes such a difference and we are hoping it stays nice for Sports Day next week (but not too hot).

We have had a lovely week. Violet class performed a wonderful assembly about oceans. It was fantastic. They were confident, shared a lot of facts and sang beautifully. Well done Violet class.

On Wednesday 19th June, a team of year 4 children participated in a year 4 Aquathlon competition at Clissold Leisure Centre. The children participated in many fun water activities like finding the treasure and hot potato. The activities also included using a float and noodles. Well done to all these wonderful Year 4 children.

Thank you to everyone who came to Family Friday this morning. I hope you enjoyed it. We really enjoy having you.

Our school Eid celebration was due to take place on Monday after school. We are going to postpone it and it will now be taking place after school on Wednesday 10th July. Thank you so much for all your lovely offers of donations and help so far. We are really looking forward to it.

OPAL is going very well in the playground and the children love it. We are about to put a mud kitchen into the woodlands so would really appreciate any donations of kitchen utensils, saucepans, frying pans, plastic plates, cups etc. We are also going to add some water play and would love donations of watering cans, plastic cups, jugs etc. Thank you for all your donations so far. They have really contributed to a happy lunch time. If you ever have any spare mugs our staffroom will always benefit from those too. Thank you for your support.

We are introducing yellow wristbands for accidents and injuries that are not head injuries (these will stay red). If your child has one they will have received first aid for another area of their body. We would always ring you if it is a serious injury. We will let the children know and encourage them not to fall over on purpose to get a wrist band.

Well done to Year 5 who organised their own cake sale today to raise money for their eco-projects and for our solar panels. It is great to see children caring about the environment and how they can help and contribute. Well done Year 5 and thank you for all your cake donations.

Back in February Poppy in Year 3 asked if she could plant a little garden around a tree that grows in the communal space outside her flat to attract butterflies and bees. She did a great job of choosing bee and butterfly friendly flowers and Poppy and her family have watched it thrive ever since. Last week Poppy invited her Woodcraft Folk group to come and see the flowers she’d planted. She then took them to plant some flowers and seeds around a London Plane tree at the top end of Albion Road. The Woodcraft Folk group, which includes children from several local schools as well as a handful from Betty Layward, worked hard preparing the soil and adding a layer of compost before adding a selection of lovely flowers and watering them. After planting the flowers, they went on a short walk around the back streets of Stoke Newington planting wild flower seeds. Poppy and some of her friends have been watering the trees every night and the seedlings are starting to grow. Well done to Poppy, Beth, Silas, Willow and Ivy for caring about the environment. It is great to see.

It is Sports Day next Friday and we are hoping for good weather. Please can the children wear their Team Betty t-shirts and shorts or leggings and trainers. We also ask the children to wear a hat, have sun cream applied in the morning before school and bring two bottles of water to school. We want to ensure the children keep hydrated as it could be a warm day.

Silent Disco tickets are still for sale from the school office. This is on Friday 5th July from 4:30-5:30pm. Parents and carers do not need to stay but if you would like to volunteer to help please let me know. This is for all children from Nursery to Year 6. The tickets are £4 per child and include a couple of treats. The children do not need to bring any money.

The Summer Fair is on Saturday 13th July and we will need volunteers. Please sign up if you would like to help. We doneed as much help as possible and this is a great event for our children as well as other families and people in the community. We will be having an Own Clothes Day for the children on Friday 12th June. The children can wear their own clothes and we ask in return that they bring in a donation of chocolates, alcohol, unused toiletries or unused toys. If you have any larger raffle prizes or work for or know a company who would like to donate one please can you bring them in. We are really grateful for any donations. It sounds like it is going to be a great day.

You should have received the parent’s meeting letter. Please ensure you sign up for your appointment on Monday. We close at 1pm and Junior Adventure Group will be here. The creche is only for children during your parent meeting appointment time.

Please remember we would love donations for our foodbank. Any tins, dried goods or toiletries are welcome. Thank you.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine,

Jessica

Headteacher

Newsletter Friday 14th June 2024

Fri 14 Jun 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a great busy week and this interchangeable weather has not got us down.

Buttercup class performed an excellent assembly all about Benin. Benin has a wonderful rich history. The children taught us about Benin; a powerful and wealthy kingdom in West Africa. Geographically it was perfectly situated for trading its high-quality goods with other African kingdoms. We learnt that Benin was well known for its impressive arts and crafts as well as the crops produced by its farmers. All the children worked well together to produce this assembly and were clear and confident with their lines. Well done Buttercup class.

Well done to some children in Year 4 who held a cake sale to collect 20ps for their class. Luna, Kitty and Beth did a marvellous job by raising £40.75 so their class already have a healthy contribution for 20p day. Well done to these children and I hope everyone else is collecting their 20ps too.

We held our new Reception meeting yesterday and it was lovely to see parents and carers who are already here and to welcome new families. Thank you to those of you who attended.

Today we start our foodbank for the local Stoke Newington community. This will run every Friday from 2:10 to 2:40 by the Daniel House gate during term time. We would also really appreciate any donations for this foodbank. They could be dried goods, pasta, tins, sanitary products, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, etc. There will be a bin at school for these donations to be placed in. Your child can bring them in too. Thank you for your support with this.

Congratulations on all the fundraising for our solar panels. We are nearly at the amount needed. This is fantastic as it should cut our electricity bills by about half and at the moment this bill is not cheap. It is also much better for the environment. The panels are due to be installed during the summer holidays which is really exciting.

Well done to Raja, Felix, Jaiden and Noah in Year 4 who presented a wonderful assembly on how to work well as a team in sports. They were brilliant and had worked hard in preparing a lot of information. Well done.

Well done to Morley in Year 2 who entered the 2024 Global Young Journalist Awards. Morley was shortlisted and advanced to the final stage of the evaluation process. This is truly a remarkable accomplishment, and we hope Morley takes pride in his exceptional work. It is amazing that Morley was among the top entries as this is a fantastic achievement, especially given the high number of submissions that were received this year. Morley wrote an article about a parent at the school who had run a marathon.

We will be running a workshop on online safety on Thursday 27th June at 3.30pm in the school hall. We will be discussing practical tips to make sure children stay safe online. Please put the date in your diary, we would really like to see you there as this is a really important topic and keeping children safe online is essential. We look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you to those of you who have already bought a silent disco ticket for your child. This is on Friday 5th July from 4:30-5:30pm. Parents and carers do not need to stay but if you would like to volunteer to help please let me know. This is for all children from Nursery to Year 6. I am really looking forward to it and tickets are still available from Max in the office. They are £4 per child and include a couple of treats. The children do not need to bring any money.

The Summer Fair is on Saturday 13th July and we will need volunteers. Please sign up if you would like to help. We do really need as much help as possible and this is a great event for our children as well as other families and people in the community. We will be having an Own Clothes Day for the children on Friday 12th June. The children can wear their own clothes and we ask in return that they bring in a donation of chocolates, alcohol, unused toiletries or unused toys. Thank you for these as these items are essential for the Fair. We are really looking forward to it.

May your feast be the best this Eid. Eid Mubarak. May this day bring love, happiness, harmony and joy in your life. Happy Eid to all of you.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher

Newsletter Friday 7th June 2024

Fri 07 Jun 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you had a lovely half term. I cannot believe it is the last week of term before the summer holidays. Where has the time gone? It is the last term for our Year 6 so we will ensure they have the best ending. The children are and have been amazing this year and are very ready for their next adventure to their new year group.

We have a new special event for the children. There will be a silent disco in the playground at 4:30pm -5:30pm on Friday 5^th July. Tickets are £4 per child and will be on sale before and after school on Monday. The children will need to bring a named water bottle and other snacks will be provided, which is included in the ticket price. They will not need to bring any money. We are really looking forward to seeing all the children dancing in the playground with their headphones on.

Nursery had a family morning this morning when parents and carers came in and it was really lovely to see parents and carers having a lovely time with their children. Thank you for coming and supporting the morning. It looked like everyone had a great time.

A new order of PE T-shirts has been made and I am hoping they will be here by the end of next week. Sorry for the delay.

Hopefully, the weather is improving. I have reminded the children to wear hats and to apply sunscreen before school.

We have a lot of children off school at the moment with an upset stomach. We really do not want this to spread further so we ask that you follow the school guidelines and that your child does not return to school until 48 hours after their LAST bout of sickness or diarrhoea. Thank you for your support with this.

We are really looking forward to this term and all the lovely events taking place. Please ensure that you have all the dates in your calendar.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher