Autumn Term Newsletter #10

15th November 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a productive week in school with plenty of extra learning opportunities delivered. On Monday, we celebrated remembrance respecting the silence at 11am, coming together in assembly and then creating artwork, as we reflected on the past and looked to the future. It has also been Anti-Bullying Week which has included a range of tasks and workshops. Members of our JLT were online sharing their experiences and ideas in a webinar through our Votes for Schools work.

Parent Governor Election: From January 2025, the school will have a new School Board responsible for governance of the school. Parent members, with a skill set that could support the school's improvement journey, are required for this role. A letter will be sent to all parents next week outlining the next steps should you be interested in the role.

Prospective Open Evening: Thursday night saw a selection of parents come to school looking for a school place in September 2025. They met with me, toured the school, enjoyed a sample menu in the dining hall and listened to a talk from our confident Year 6 pupils. Thank you to Bridget, Jamirez, Justin, Manaal, Maya and Mollie for representing the school. I am very proud of all you achieved.

Values: We decided to 'Choose Respect' this week and considered how to show respect to others. Next week, we will be exploring ambition as our core value.

Votes for Schools: This week we explored 'Can you disagree with someone respectfully?' as part of our Anti-Bullying Week provision. Next week, we explore Parliament and consider the questions 'Should we learn more about the UK?' (KS1) and 'Should UK Parliament move around the country?'

Anti-Bullying Week: It has been great to hear some of the thoughtful and reflective work that has taken place this week under the theme 'Choose Respect'. As I mentioned last week, the ABA also provide an informative Parent Pack which provides some excellent resources for parents. As a further support for our children's wellbeing, the school nurse team recommended some resources for families to work through together. One of these is Lumi Nova. An online game to boost children's resilience. Parents and children must register to access the resources.

I hope you all enjoy a relaxing weekend filled with family time.

Best wishes,

Mr. Matt Morey - Headteacher

Upcoming Dates...

Fri 22nd Nov - Flu Vaccinations

School will host the vaccinations. You will be contacted directly by the NHS to arrange the vaccine for your child.

Fri 29th Nov - Occasional Day: School Closed

The school is shut to pupils.

Mon 2nd Dec - Inset Day: School Closed

The school is shut to pupils while staff undertake training from Herts County Council's safeguarding team.

Thu 12th Dec - Xmas Jumper Day / Panto Trip

A chance to wear those festive jumpers and enjoy a trip together.

School calendar

Attendance

This week, we’re celebrating a fantastic attendance of 95.2%! It's wonderful to see so many of our students in school, ready to engage in their learning and contribute to our school community. Consistent attendance is key to making progress and building stronger connections in the classroom.

A special congratulations to Cairo, who led the way with an impressive 100% attendance—well done! Our top performers this week include Rio De Janeiro (99.5%) and Kingston (98.3%).

Let’s keep up the great work and continue aiming for those perfect attendance records! Here's a summary of the attendance across the classes:

Cairo 100%
Rio De Janeiro 99.5%
Kingston 98.3%
Rome 97.2%
London 96.7%
Kampala 96.4%

Let's keep aiming for success as we build on our attendance this week!

Values Champions

This week, in our celebration assembly, we said well done to the following children for their excellent attitudes to learning. All of these children have been ready to learn, respectful of their teachers and resilient in a range of ways. Congratulations to them all!

Year 1:

Rome - Noah

Barcelona - Gigi

Year 2:

Dehli - Elisa

Beijing - Grace

Year 3:

Wellington - Nouman

Sydney - Miguel

Year 4:

Cairo - Isaac B

Kampala - Sulaiman

Year 5:

Rio - Javani

Cusco - Benjamin

Year 6:

New York - Archit

Kingston - Emily

House Points

This week, the competition for house points has been as exciting as ever! Children’s attitude to learning has been recognised through the collection of Dojo points, which are then totalled as house points across the school. Every child continues to show their commitment to being Ready, Respectful and Resilient, earning points for their house.

A huge congratulations to Curie, who have taken the lead this week with 649 points, closely followed by Sharman with 633 points. The race is tight, and it’s all to play for as we head into next week!

Here’s how the points stand:

1st: Curie with 649 points (+372)

2nd: Sharman with 633 points (+357)

3rd: Carver with 618 points (+365)

4th: Alhazen with 579 points (+357)

Let’s keep up the great work and continue to support each other as we aim for the top!

Class News

This week in Reception

This week, Reception have been showcasing their creativity through text mapping various fairy tales. By linking our provision to the enchanting world of fairy tales, the children have had the opportunity to explore classic stories in a fun and engaging way.

This week in Year 1

In Year 1 science the children explored the question "Does the size of the ball change how high it can bounce".

This week in Year 2

This week in Year 2, children joined in with Remembrance Day activities. We have used various resources to follow the steps in making a poppy collage to display in the classrooms.

We also have been learning about cardinal points and how to use a compass in Geography lesson.

This week in Year 3

Year 3 have created their own collages of a poppy using different shades of red paper. They learnt about the significance of the day and demonstrated respect throughout the week.

This week in Year 4

Year 4 has focused on the value of respect. Throughout the week they have created art pieces for Remembrance Day as well as a moment of silence to reflect on the sacrifices made by people in conflict. Additionally, we marked anti bullying week with discussion focussed on promoting kindness, respect and empathy. We spoke how unkind words can make us feel as well as how we can disagree with each other respectfully.

This week in Year 5

This half term we are focussing on explaining 'why Rain Cats are extinct'. The children analysed our model text in depth and discussed what the writer did to create an excellent explanation text. They then developed this by examining what grammatical techniques the writer used to do this. The children have also continued their investigating the world unit this week by developing their map reading skills to create grid references. They also experimented with different types of paper in Design Technology to create a collage.

This week in Year 6

Year 6 enjoyed completing black out poems this week in response to their learning and reflections on Remembrance Day. Mr Morey was particularly impressed by the resilience shown by Year 6 during their practice SATs assessments this week; the Year 6 team are very proud of how hard they are working and the progress they are making.

This week in Staff Meetings

We've been a busy team this week. On Tuesday, teachers visited St John's Primary School across town to moderate a selection of children's writing. This was a really useful process that will help to strengthen our provision. Today, all the staff who teach phonics took part in detailed training to improve their lesson delivery. It was an excellent day packed with strategies the team can implement straight away.

Maths Week

Last week, Lanchester celebrated the wonders of maths across the school! Our classrooms (and even the playground!) were buzzing with excitement as students discovered how maths connects to the real world through fun, hands-on activities. Here's a snapshot of what we got up to:

🔢 Outdoor Maths Trail: From measuring the tallest plants to comparing numbers and linking addition and subtraction to science topics like habitats, students took their learning outside to explore maths in nature.

💰 HSBC Workshops:

Where Money Comes From: Year 2 pupils enjoyed a fun, age-appropriate introduction to the world of money.
The Lost Purse: Students tackled saving and budgeting challenges.
Sporting Chance: Year 5 explored financial decision-making with a sporty twist!
Banking 101: Year 6 learnt all about the different types of accounts that exist and the dangers of not keeping up with credit card payments!

🧮 Sports Maths Challenge: Maths and fitness combined in this high-energy outdoor circuit! Students worked out how many exercises they needed to complete at each station – an active way to build their problem-solving muscles.

🔓 Maths Escape Room: Teams of budding mathematicians collaborated to solve puzzles and crack the codes to “escape” the room. Their teamwork and logical thinking were put to the ultimate test!

🍪 Baking Challenge: A sweet end to the week! Students used ratio and proportion to adjust cookie recipes and budgeting skills to plan their ingredients. Their efforts resulted in some truly delicious maths (and cookies)!

🧩 Times Table Games and Battleships: From flashcard challenges to exploring coordinates with Battleships, students honed their skills through friendly competition.

A huge thank you to our parent volunteer and HSBC for their inspiring workshops and to all our staff and students for making Maths Week a roaring success. From outdoor adventures to edible equations, it’s clear that maths truly is everywhere! 🏅

Friends of Lanchester

Christmas Fair

It’s just over 3 weeks to go until the Christmas Fair and we’re busy getting ready but we need volunteers to run our stalls and support with donations to make our games as fun as possible.

Thank you for all the colour hamper donations, you can still drop donations in if you haven’t managed to this week. Next week we’re asking for second hand books as we’ll have a stall at the Christmas Fair for the first time.

We’ll also be asking for the following over the next couple of weeks:

W/C 25th November - Christmas jumpers and chocolate for our very popular chocolate tombola

Friday 6th December - Baked goods - cakes, biscuits and any other tasty treats! No nuts please.

If you’d like to get involved, please drop us a line. All help welcome!

Christmas cards

For a short period of time, the shop will reopen for you to order cards or other products of your child’s Christmas design.

If you have list the copy of your child’s picture, you can email Class Fundraising to get a copy of the child’s picture and the code to be able to order. You need to include the organisation number 698F97), and the child’s name and class, and send this to lostcodes@classfundraising.co.uk

Christmas Craftanoon

Following the huge success of last year’s Christmas Craftanoon, we’re bringing it back again this year. With massive thanks to Laura Robson and Miss Hayes who will be running them both.

An afternoon full of fun crafts, with a snack and drink included, it’s a lovely way to start the festive season.

Our Monday session is sold out but there are a couple left for Thursday if you get in quick.

Book your tickets here: https://www.pta-events.co.uk/friendsoflanchester/index.cfm?event=event&eventId=89769

Lanchester Autumn disco

Our Lanchester disco raised over £1,000 which is a massive amount! Thank you to everyone who came along.

Together with the £400 raised from the Halloween bake sale and non-uniform day, we’re looking at a really successful Autumn term. Thanks for your support.

All-weather playground flooring

You will hopefully have noticed the work which has started on the all-weather flooring for the adventure trail. Thanks to a Watford Neighbourhood Grant and the fundraising we did last year, the adventure trail will now be able to be used all year round. Make sure you don’t miss the official opening by the Mayor of Watford at the Christmas Fair!

Thank you

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the Halloween bake sale and non-uniform day. We raised a total of £427 which is brilliant for our first fundraiser of the school year.

Congratulations to Archit Gupta from New York class who was selected as a winner of the DKH estate agents drawing competition over half term! Excellent spooky picture Archit!

Supermarket Grants

If you shop in either Tesco or Asda, you can help us get a grant for the school at absolutely no cost to you.

Asda Cashpot for Schools donates a proportion of your shopping to us every time you swipe your reward app. Even if you don’t shop there, you can download the reward app and we’ll get £1 for everyone who chooses our school. There are only 15 days left and we'd love to make as much as we can!

We’ve also been selected for Tesco Stronger Starts where we can receive up to £1,500. Every time you shop in store, you should receive a blue token. Simply put your blue token in the Friends of Lanchester box and the cause with the most blue tokens in January will win the most money.

Dates for your diary

Monday 25 November - Christmas Crafternoon

Thursday 28 November - Christmas Crafternoon

Saturday 7th December - Christmas Fair

Don’t forget to follow us on

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoflanchester or Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsoflanchester/ or contact us by email: friendsoflanchester@gmail.com

Thanks for your support!

Friends of Lanchester committee - Tracey Bravo, Lawrence Brown, Louise Brown, Helen Gibson, Chloé Harper and Laura Robson

On Behalf of 'Friends of Lanchester CFS'

Find us on Facebook - www.facebook.com/friendsoflanchestercfs

Registered Charity 1161580

Lanchester Primary School, Hempstead Road, Watford, WD17 3HD

Tel: 01923 224160 Email: office@lanchester.herts.sch.uk

Website: www.lanchester.herts.sch.uk

Headteacher: Mr Matt Morey

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