Jessica's Newsletters

Newsletter Friday 20th December 2024

Fri 20 Dec 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for a great 2024. You are so supportive, kind and we feel lucky to be part of such a lovely community. The children have been brilliant this year and we are so proud of them. This week we had the Year 2 to 6 concert and it was amazing. It was so great to see so many of you there. Thank you for supporting this event and we hope you enjoyed it. We were so impressed with the children’s singing. Well done to all of them.

Today we shared the staff Christmas video which the children really enjoyed. Thank you to Tommy, a parent, who filmed it and put it together. The staff really enjoyed making it and we loved seeing the children’s faces when they watched it. A great way to end the term and 2024.

Here is the video for you to enjoy

https://youtu.be/PPyojvKAUGw

Thank you for everything. Have a lovely Christmas, a Happy Hanukah and a brilliant New Year. Enjoy your holidays and we shall see back at the normal time on Tuesday 7th January.

Jessica

Headteacher

Newsletter Friday 13th December 2024

Fri 13 Dec 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a great week with many fun things going on.

Thank you to those of you who helped at or attended the winter fair. It was a great event, despite the weather. Thank you to the organisers. It’s a big job organising the event and everyone did a marvellous job. A big thank you to the parents who cleared up. This was only a few so we really do need more help with this next year.

Year 1 and Reception performed their nativity to the school and parents and carers this week. They were amazing even with a technical hitch during the afternoon performance. They sang beautifully without the music and it didn’t put them off at all. They are all stars. Well done Reception and Year 1 and to all the parents and carers for coming.

The Nursery also performed this week and sang some very lovely songs while playing instruments and having some great actions. Well done Nursery. It was amazing.

Christmas lunch was great fun today. We had a lot of fun. First, the children showed each other their Christmas hats in the hall. They were amazing. Then we all enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch with crackers. The hall was full of big smiles and laughter.

We are looking forward to seeing you next week at our Christmas concert for Year 2 to Year 6. Please remember it will start promptly at 1:30 on Tuesday 17th January at St Matthias church. Please use the south entrance via the double iron gate which is located next to St Matthias school. Please do not bring any food or drink into the church. Please collect your child from school and not the church.

I am sad to let you know that Emma (year 6 teacher) and Luke, our music teacher, are leaving us this term. Emma is moving to Glasgow, and Luke is returning to Australia. Both have been great assets to the school and will be dearly missed. We wish them well for their exciting futures and thank them both for their hard work, dedication, and care for the children.

Please remember we close at 1pm on Friday 20th December and return on Tuesday 7th January. There will be no clubs next week and no Premier on Friday 20th December. All children will need to be collected at 1pm.

Have a lovely weekend

Jessica

Newsletter Friday 6th December 2024

Fri 06 Dec 2024 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a busy time we are having. There are some really lovely things going on and we cannot wait to see you at all our events. Please see the list below with the times and dates and any extra information for each event.

Tuesday 10th December

9:45am - Nativity show for Year 1 parents

2pm - Nativity show for Reception parents

For both these shows please remember to be a quiet audience and please do not bring any food or drinks. Please remember it is two tickets per child and we cannot admit any extra adults.

Wednesday 11th December

10:30am - Nursery Christmas songs in the Nursery

Please remember no food or drink is to be brought into the Nursery and only two adults per child please.

Friday 13th December

Christmas lunch for all children

Christmas Jumper Day – the children can wear their own clothes with a Christmas jumper

Tuesday 17th December

1:30pm the Year 2 – 6 Christmas Concert at St Matthias Church. Please use the south entrance via the double iron gate which is located next to St Matthias school. Please do not bring any food or drink into the church. Please also collect your child from school and not the church.

Friday 20th December

School closes at 1pm and there is no Premier or clubs. School reopens on Tuesday 7th January.

We look forward to seeing you at the above events.

Thank you for all your donations for the Winter Fair. We are always so impressed with your generosity. We are really looking forward to seeing you there tomorrow and thank you for donating your time and support to make it happen. It really does make a difference.

In Reception today we had Family Friday. Thank you to the parents and carers who were able to come. We made decorations for the holiday season and it was lovely to have so many parents and carers attend. Thank you for being so supportive.

On Wednesday, 9 children from Years 5 and 6 attended a Mathematics Challenge Day at Nightingale Primary School. The day was hosted by Pete Hall, a leading mathematics specialist. The children explored challenges from around the world, and looked at the history of mathematics and how they can link their known mathematical knowledge to solve trickier problems. We were very proud of the children that attended as they were confident to share ideas and strategies and they were great ambassadors for Betty Layward.

On Wednesday 3rd December a group of year 5 and 6 girls took part in the Hackney Football League semi-finals against Mossbourne, Riverside and Berger. We kicked off against Mossbourne Riverside and took the lead. Unfortunately, we weren't able to hang on and lost 2-1. The second game against Berger was a tight affair, however Betty Layward came out on top with a very impressive 4-0 victory with a hat trick from Clara. Well done to all the children and thank you to the parent volunteer who accompanied us.

The deadline for reception class applications for September 2025 is fast approaching. Parents/carers with children in nursery class born between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021 must submit their reception class application by Wednesday 15 January 2025.

We have had a lot of cheeky elves visit school this week and the children cannot wait to see what they are going to do next. Please see the attached photos for some of the mischief that has been going on.

Yield N16 is a local wine shop and bar serving not only natural, organic, honest wine, but also local craft beers, E5Bakehouse bread, Monmouth coffee, Natoora and all your pantry needs. They will be raising funds for our school again this year starting now until 3rd January 2025. When you are shopping with Yield N16, customers simply need to mention their child’s school and Yield N16 will donate 10% of the total bill back to the school on January 20th.

Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you at the Winter Fair tomorrow.

Jessica

Headteacher