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

• Newsletter - Friday 14th October 2022

  Fri 14 Oct 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  I can’t quite believe we are near the end of this term. Only one more week to go. Where does the time go? Year 1 went to the zoo today and had a fabulous time. What an exciting trip for them and well done for being so great. 

  This week our school WAMHS worker (well-being and mental health), Natalie, spoke to the children in year 1 to 6 about how we can look after our mental health using the 5 ways to Wellbeing - Be Active, Connect, Keep Learning, Give, Take Notice. The children thought of different ways they could keep their minds healthy. You can ask your child the ideas they came up with about how they can keep a healthy mind. We have been looking at World Mental Health Day and discussing how important it is to look after our mental health as well as our physical health. We have Mindful Mondays every week and we discuss questions that help support the children with taking care of their mental health.

  On Tuesday, two of our reading ambassadors represented Betty Layward at the launch of the Hackney Schools Reading Champions Challenge. This was hosted by Hackney's Deputy Mayor, Anntoinette Bramble. This project strives to link Hackney schools together through the excitement of and love of reading. The children were introduced to a series of challenges which will help to further highlight and raise the profile of reading in our school. Please keep your eyes and ears open for future Betty Layward reading events.

  Thank you for coming and supporting the clothes sale today. Thank you for the support and all the donations. It is impressive how supported Betty Layward is, so a massive thank you from all of us.

  Please remember to come to the Betty Layward Black History Month Celebration next Friday after school. There will be music, storytelling, a fashion show and delicious food. Please join us for this event. On this day all the children will be having a drumming and storytelling assembly too.

  Your child might come home letting you know they are going to present an assembly to the school. We have asked children if they would like to. They have to find an interesting topic to talk about and make a plan and then they can come and see me to make a time. We are really looking forward to these.

  Please remember we cannot give children medicine unless it a prescribed medicine that your child needs to take four times a day. If your child does need to take this medicine please come to the office to get a medical form to fill in.

  Please remember to fill in the school lunch survey. The link was sent out this week.

  We cannot authorise time off in term time unless it is for an incredibly special reason. To ask for time off please come to the office and ask for a leave of absence form.

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

  

• Newsletter Friday 7th October

  Fri 07 Oct 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  We have had a really good week. The children are really settled and working very hard. They are really looking after the playground and keeping it tidy too. I am really impressed. Please can you make sure all your child’s clothes are labelled with their name as items are often left around school. Please can I remind you that children are not allowed to wear crocs at school.

   

  Year 6 Chilli got to the British Museum this week and had a look around. Ruby class unfortunately didn’t make it. The member of staff leading the workshops was not well so they had to cancel at short notice. Sorry Year 6.

  Please can I remind you the main school entry gates will close at 9am and if your child arrives after that time they will be marked in as late. KS2 come into school between 8:50am and 8:55am and Nursery, Reception and KS1 come into school at 8:55am-9:00am. Please arrive to school during these times.

   

  I know some parents have said they cannot read this newsletter on the Teachers2Parents App. If you are finding it hard please delete the app and the newsletter will come through as a regular text, which you can click on and the newsletter should come up on your phone. Any problems please let me know. I hope you are enjoying our new website.

   

  Thank you for attending the Meet the Teacher sessions this week. I hope you found them useful. We have put all the slides from the meetings on the website. We are also putting every year group’s newsletters on the website too so please take a look.

  We have spaces for instrumental lessons for Year 2 to Year 6 children for flute and trombone. Please email me if you would like your children to learn one of these instruments.

   

  We work alongside a great company called Streetbox who provide delicious fruit and vegetables. If you sign up and order from them the school get a free box for every box you order. The children really enjoy this at playtime. I have attached a flyer. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  If your child has a stomach bug- sickness or diarrhea please ensure that they are off school for 48 hours. The 48 hours has to start after the last bout of sickness or diarrhea as the child can still be contagious for that time. Thank you for doing this as it helps to stop the spread in school.

   

  Thank you for supporting us with the mini-marathon. I hope the sponsorship is going well.

   

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

  

• Friday 30th September

  Fri 30 Sep 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  We have had a lovely busy week this week. Thank you for attending the Meet the Teacher meetings. We hope you found it useful. Year 2 – 6 will be sending out weekly newsletters that will let you know what the children have been learning and how you can help them. The children are writing these themselves. Please read them.

  Thank you for supporting the International Food and Welcome event last Friday. It was a great success and raised nearly £2000 for the school as well as being a great event for our families. It was lovely seeing so many of you there and we look forward to doing it again next year. Sorry for the long queue to get in. We will improve that next year. Thank you to all the parents and carers who made and donated food. Thank you to the Spence Bakery for donating the rolls for the BBQ. Thank you to Pressure Drop, a Hackney Brewery, for donating beer and thank you to the Cookery, a butchers on Stoke Newington High Street for donating burgers. Thank you for all your support and I really enjoyed seeing the community come together. It was also lovely that the sun shone for us too.

  We took some of the children to see the Lion King this week. They absolutely loved it and were a credit to the school. It was lovely watching them enjoy a theatre experience.

  Please can I remind KS1, Reception and Nursery parents and carers to let KS2 children come into school first and to not wait by the gates. Please can I also ask that you walk around the school to leave to avoid congestion. Please could you ensure your child is not touching any of the equipment in Nursery as this is either ready for the children or has been tidied away. If you have a childminder or another adult picking up please can you let them know this information too. Thank you for your support with this.

  I hope you received the email about the census lunch. If your child has a school lunch on this day it really helps us. Thank you for your support with this.  

  I really hope you have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

   

• Friday 23rd September 2022

  Fri 23 Sep 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  We have had a great week. Reception joined us for their first star of the week and the kindness award assembly and were absolutely brilliant. Year 2 went on their first trip to the Woodbury Down Wetlands and were great ambassadors for the school. Year 4 started tennis this week, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

  We have a new music teacher called Helene. She started with us yesterday. We are so pleased she is joining our staff team. Helene is very passionate about music and has some very exciting plans ahead for our children at school.

  Terry is back as our permanent site manager. He could not keep away and we are thrilled he has returned. I am sure you will join us in welcoming him back.

  This year the children at Betty Layward will be taking part in the Mini London Marathon at school. The Mini London Marathon in schools is all about inspiring children and young people of all age and abilities to be physically active. As part of this event the children can be sponsored by friends and family members raising money for the school. You will be receiving a letter about this today. Thank you for your support in advance. 

  Thank you for supporting and coming to our International Food and Welcome event this afternoon. It was fabulous to see dishes from all over the world and the atmosphere was brilliant. The food was also delicious. It was a lovely way to start the academic year as a community and I look forward to even more school events.

  You received the dates letter this week and it has your Meet the Teacher dates on it for you. Please come to these meetings as it gives you a chance to meet your child’s classteacher and find out what they are learning this year. We look forward to seeing you there.

  Please can I remind you and your child to be on time. It is really important that they are not late at the start of the day or pick up. We monitor punctuality and it will be reported back to you. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

• Newsletter Friday 16th September

  Fri 16 Sep 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  We have had another great week. The Reception children are now full time and have settled in really well. I am so impressed. I went into their classrooms today and it was like they have been there forever. Well done Reception. It is the same for the Nursery children. They have also settled in really well and we are really pleased all the children and their families are now a big part of our school. 

   

  We have the International Food and welcome event next Friday (Friday 23^rd September) at 3:30-5:45pm. I have had some kind offers of help and food but not nearly enough. I know it is short notice but I am going to hold a meeting here at school at 9:00am on Tuesday 20^th September, so if you can help please come along. If you can donate time or food please email me if you cannot attend the meeting. I really want this to be a success and I hope you can attend. It will be lots of fun.

  Please remember that KS2 come into school at 8:50 -8:55 and KS1, Reception and Nursery come into school at 8:55-9:00. Please can you keep to these times to avoid congestion and please can you wait across the road and not at the front gates when waiting to come in. The collection times are 3:10 for KS2 and 3:15 for KS1, Reception and Nursery. Please can I also ask that the children do not scoot or cycle on the school grounds and that you walk around the school and do not exit via the front gate. Thank you for your support with this.

   

  Homework starts this week and we have decided to go back to books. We had mixed feedback from our homework survey and decided that using books was the best outcome. Thank you for trialing Google Classroom for homework with us. It is always worth a try.

   

  As you already know school is closed on Monday due to the funeral of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We are open on Tuesday as normal.

  A dates letter is coming soon. Please look out for it and put any dates relevant to you in your diaries.

   

  We received a lovely letter of congratulations from Hackney this week celebrating our successes last year. I have attached it as a photo so please read it as it reflects all the hard work of our school community. Well done everybody.

   

  I hope you have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher

  

• Friday 9th September 2022 Newsletter

  Fri 09 Sep 2022 Jessica

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  Welcome back. It is lovely to see you all and have all the children back in school. Welcome to our new Reception and Nursery parents and any other families who have joined us this year. We hope you and your children will be really happy here. I hope you had a lovely summer, even though it’s beginning to feel like summer is slowly disappearing.

  The children have settled in really well and are all smiles. We are really impressed with how the Nursery and Reception children have settled in too. It is like they have been here forever. Well done Nursery and Reception.

  Welcome to the newsletter on our new website. We are still learning how to use it and update it so please be a little patient with us.

  We talked to the children today about the sad news of the Queen’s passing. We allowed children to talk and ask questions. We showed them this video in case you would also like to share it at home.

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/news/watch_newsround

  I am so proud of how honest, kind and caring our children are and how they support each other. If you have any questions about anything please ask.

  I know clubs went live last night and they quickly disappeared. I know this can be frustrating and we are always looking at ways of improving the system and making it as fair as we can. Jamila is going to try and ensure every child has a club. We have a lot of clubs but we do have to be conscious of space and ensure that the clubs are high quality as these are extra-curricular and not childcare. It may take us a few days to put new children on sco-pay so we apologise for any delays. Thank you for your support with this.

  Thank you to those of you who have offered help at our International Food and Welcome event after school on Friday 23^rd September. I am really looking forward to it. This is a great opportunity for us all to be together to welcome in the new academic year. Please can you let me know if you are able to donate any dish or offer help, as we still need a lot more of both. We really want this event to be really successful. Thank you for supporting us with this and I hope you can attend.

  We will be sending out more information on dates for the term next week. Please look out.

  I am really looking forward to this year. We have a lot to look forward to.

  Have a lovely weekend,

  Jessica

  Headteacher