Jessica's Newsletters

Newsletter Friday 15th May 2026

Fri 15 May 2026 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week, we celebrated Mental Health Awareness Week with the theme “Action,” and the children truly embraced it. To show our support and raise awareness, children and staff wore green on Monday. Pupils also took part in outdoor movement activities, promoting real-life connections and the positive impact of movement on mental well-being. They created supportive postcards for one another, spreading kindness and encouragement across the school. This has been particularly helpful for our Year 6 pupils during SATs week, as they supported each other with encouragement. The feedback has been wonderful, with many children feeling more supported by their peers. We have noticed a very cheerful and positive atmosphere around school this week.

Year 6 sat their SATs this week, and they did an amazing job. We are so proud of them. They approached the tests with confidence and positivity and they worked incredibly hard. Well done, Year 6. We made sure they also know that they are so much more than an SAT’s result. I am really excited to see Year 6 enjoying their last weeks at Betty Layward. We will ensure they have the best time.

This week in Opal, the children thoroughly enjoyed den-building and construction on the playground, working together to create imaginative structures from a variety of materials. They demonstrated excellent teamwork and problem-solving skills as they planned, built, and adapted their dens. The children also enjoyed recreating Curling, a winter Olympic sport.

On Wednesday, Year 2 went on a wonderful trip to the Garden Classroom. They discussed how plants grow and what they need to stay healthy, then explored the gardens by observing, smelling and tasting different plants, and by drawing pictures of them. After this, they dug up some weeds to examine the roots under a magnifying glass and they created an oversized plant using different vegetables as the roots, stem, leaves and flowers. Lastly, they planted their own peas to take home. Despite the weather, the children took part in the activities with enthusiasm and were commended by the Garden Classroom staff for their scientific knowledge and great behaviour.

Year 4 had a fantastic time taking part in a science workshop all about sound and how it travels. Throughout the session, the children explored a variety of hands-on activities to help them understand how sounds are made, how vibrations work and how sound waves travel through different materials. The children showed great enthusiasm, curiosity and teamwork throughout the workshop. We are very proud of their participation and scientific thinking.

Thanks to those of you who are running the Hackney Half this weekend, and to those taking their children along to run too. We are very grateful for your support and for helping raise money for the school. Good luck. We know you will be amazing.

We look forward to seeing you at Blastonbury on Tuesday at 2pm. We hope the weather is kind to us. I know it is not always easy to see, but I know the children’s singing will make up for it.

We were lucky to have 3 new additions to Betty Layward this week, as the Nursery children watched 3 ducklings hatch from their eggs. They are very lovely.

There is no school next Friday, as it is an Inset Day. This will be the last newsletter of this term. We are really looking forward to next term, and hopefully the sun will shine.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher

Newsletter Friday 8th May 2026

Fri 08 May 2026 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a lovely week, and we hope you have too. Peach class delivered a fantastic class assembly explaining the life cycle of a bean, showing how a seed grows into a plant through stages such as germination, growth, and flowering. They also told the story of Jim and the Beanstalk, in which Jim climbs a giant beanstalk and helps a giant using kindness and clever ideas. The children clearly intertwined storytelling with science. Well done, Peach class.

On Thursday, the children were visited by Fab Science, who led a workshop on forces. These sessions explored how air pressure can be used to squeeze a hard-boiled egg into a glass beaker. How the difference in pressure between gravity and air pressure can help a ping pong ball stop water from rushing out of a container. And, how the Bernoulli Principle can be created by a leaf blower to keep a beach ball floating in mid-air, just like when an aeroplane creates lift to fly. The children very much enjoyed the workshops and asked lots of probing questions about forces.

It is Mental Health Week next week, and the theme is Action, Action, this year’s theme, because while awareness is vital, real change comes when we take action too. Being kind to others and to ourselves is a key part of that. We are asking that the children wear as much green as possible on Monday (including school uniform), as green is the colour that represents Mental Health and it is a lovely way to start Mental Health Week. The children will be carrying out different activities all week. We are always letting the children know the importance of talking and being kind to each other. It is important that we all take care of our own mental health and look after each other.

Next week is the Year 6 SATs. We are so proud of all our Year 6 children and how well they are doing. We know they will do their best. Year 6 children can come in early for breakfast Monday to Thursday. We also know that all children are more than their SATs results, and they should be incredibly proud of who they are and what they have already achieved. We are very proud of them. Good luck, Year 6.

A massive thank you to all the children who are fundraising. This includes Emmett, Freddy, Silas and Luca, amongst others. We know who you are and how great you are. It is quite incredible to see all the enthusiasm and kindness from them. It is also lovely to see how proud they are of the fundraising. Thank you for your support with this, too.

Today marks Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday. To honour a remarkable champion of the natural world, the children took part in a live Picture News assembly that commemorated his life and legacy on his 100th birthday. Together, they explored his work, the wonders of the natural world, and why protecting our planet matters more than ever. Through images, discussion and thoughtful questions, pupils reflected on how one person’s voice can inspire global change and what each of them can do to care for the world around them.

On 16th May, a record 116 children and 20 parents will run the final mile of the Hackney School Challenge at Hackney Marshes. This is the largest number of entries from any school in Hackney, which is amazing. This final mile will complete a full half-marathon, following a series of similar runs at school over the spring and summer terms. There is no cost to enter, and even the t-shirt every runner receives is covered. There is a GoFundMe to raise funds for the event, with a £25 sponsorship target per runner. All money raised will go directly towards essential equipment and learning resources at Betty Layward. Here is the donation link: https://gofund.me/df92af551. Thank you for all your support with this, and to the parents and carers who are organising.

There will be a new PTFA event on Friday, 5th June. There is a cocktail-making class for parents and carers, and a silent disco in the playground for the children. More details to follow and tickets can be purchased soon.

Have a lovely weekend,

Jessica

Headteacher

Newsletter Friday 1st May 2026

Fri 01 May 2026 Jessica

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have had some opportunity to enjoy the sunshine this week. We have had a lovely week with Reception Aqua class delivering an amazing assembly. Their assembly focused on the life cycles of different animals. During the assembly, the children presented their very own nature programme, Nature News Live, which was full of fantastic facts about the natural world. The children also shared a letter they received from Ranger Jo at Clissold Park, who thanked them for the nature reports they wrote about the animals that make their homes there. Ranger Jo also set the children the challenge of looking after some caterpillars. Aqua class showed everyone how these caterpillars changed from crawly creatures into majestic butterflies. The children spoke very confidently and clearly. We are very proud of them and they should be very proud of themselves.

A group of Year 5 boys proudly represented the school at last Friday’s football tournament, showing great enthusiasm, teamwork, and determination throughout the competition. They played brilliantly against strong opposition, demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and skill in every match. The team performed exceptionally well and should be very proud of their achievements. We are incredibly proud of their effort, positive attitude, and the way they represented the school. Well done to all involved.

The fundraising by the children has already begun and we are so impressed. Emma, Alice, Ottie and Elsie from Cerise class set up a lemonade stand last weekend (with help from Iris y2 and Maddie y1) to raise money for the school. They raised £78 and had a lot of fun together creating their posters for the stand and making and selling lemonade after football in Clissold Park. Well done, we think this is amazing.

Last weekend, George (Year 4) and Max (Year 1), with help from Dylan (Year 4), Miles and Lenny (Year 1), put on their selling hats and sold lemonade on the street outside their house. They were really proud of their efforts and we are very proud of them. Thankfully, there was a long queue at the ice cream shop on Saturday, which made for a captive audience. They raised £115 from lemonade sales, which is amazing. Having caught the bug, Max headed back out on Sunday to sell some old toys and clothes. He raised a further £11. We think this is amazing and thank them all for their wonderful support. All money from both fundraising events will go towards their class totals for 20p day. Those classes are definitely off to a good start.

We were thrilled to welcome back the wonderful children's author Eric Huang this week, who previously visited the children as part of our World Book Day celebrations. We are excited to announce that Eric has officially taken on the role of Betty Layward’s Author-in-Residence. During his visit, Eric spent time with our staff to share his unique approach to generating creative writing ideas, and he has kindly agreed to run writing workshops for the children in the near future. We highly recommend checking out Eric’s fantastic novel series, Guardians of the New Moon, for reading inspiration at home.

We shared a video with the children about dyslexia and some of them have asked me to share it with you. Made by dyslexia's mission is to teach the world the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking, and to empower it in every home, every workplace, and every school. Here is the link - https://www.madebydyslexia.org

We hope you have a lovely long weekend and see you on Tuesday.
Jessica