Autumn Term Newsletter #4

27th September 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a busy and productive week in school. I have visited all classrooms this week and have been thoroughly impressed by the children's engagement and the way they articulate themselves in lessons. Some of the collaboration between pupils to support each other has been a joy to watch.

Values: We have explored the third of our core values this week - resilience. In our values assembly on Monday, we talked about many heroes and the challenges they overcame, such as Beethoven losing his hearing and Michael Jordan being told he was too small as a child to play basketball. We all have resilience and it has been great to hear children explaining their efforts as 'resilient'. Next week our value is empathy as we consider others in the run up to our Harvest Collection.

Harvest Collection: Friday 4th October gives us an opportunity to help others with our Harvest Collection. The local foodbank does important work supporting so many families and we have a chance to make our own contribution. Please only bring items in on Friday 4th October. Children can drop them in the foyer as they arrive. A list of desirable items can be found here.

Votes for Schools: 'Could pre-loved clothes become more popular than buying new?' and 'Would you give away your belongings?' provoked some reflections about our own experiences, such as hand-me-downs from older siblings and what we do with old toys. Next week's question is connected to the start of Black History Month: 'Do we know how to appreciate other people's heritage?' (KS2) and 'Can you learn from other people's life stories?' (KS1)

The weather app tells me the sun is back tomorrow so make the most of it and explore some of the great outdoor spaces in town and the surrounding areas: Cassiobury Park and Cheslyn Gardens are personal favourites. St. Albans Park with roman ruins and the cathedral is a great place to spend an afternoon too. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to enjoy some quality family time.

Best wishes,

Mr Matt Morey - Headteacher

Upcoming Dates...

Fri 4th Oct

Harvest Festival Collection. All children encouraged to bring in a food item to donate to the local foodbank to help those less fortunate than ourselves. See letter from Miss Hayes (RE Lead).

Thu 10th Oct

A chance to hear from Mr Morey and Mr Wansford (Director of Education) about progress and plans for the learning experience at Lanchester Primary School.

Tue 22nd Oct, 5-8pm & Thu 24th Oct, 3.40 - 4.40pm

Parents' Evening (Booking details TBC)

School calendar

Attendance

Whole school attendance has improved this week to 94% which is just below our target of 95%. It is vital that children are in school everyday so that we can build our learning sequences and strengthen our relationships together. Well done to Beijing for maintaining their place at the top of the table for yet another week!

Beijing 98%
Rio 97%
Cusco, Kampala, Kingston, Delhi, NY & Sydney 95%
Cairo & Wellington 93%
London 92%
Rome 90%
Barcelona 86%

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!

Reception:

London - Isla

Year 1:

Rome - Denise

Barcelona - Harvey

Year 2:

Dehli - Freya

Beijing - Vera

Year 3:

Wellington - Arnav

Sydney - Olivia

Year 4:

Cairo - Caydance

Kampala - Mya

Year 5:

Rio - Reyansh

Cusco - Saiananya

Year 6:

New York - Yanis

Kingston - Raphael

Class News

This week in Reception

This week, in Reception, the children have continued to explore and master the early sounds in their phonics lessons. Lots of children have been finding words to match the sounds in the classroom and the outdoor environment.

This week in Year 1

This week, in maths, year 1 have been feeding their crocodiles in maths for 'greater than, less than and equal to'. This creative approach helps the children to make comparisons between different amounts.

This week in Year 2

Year 2 are learning about significant people who influenced history, including the lifetime achievements of Neil Armstrong, who was the first person to walk on the moon. Children were truly inspired by his resilience, ambition for excellence and undeniable courage. We also discussed the meaning and significance of words: " That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

This week in Year 3

This week, we have been broadening our vocabulary using words from our reading lessons to enrich our writing. We have explored using adjectives and adverbs.

This week in Year 4

This week, we were using our text maps to remember and then act out our model text in writing. The images and actions help children to internalise the story to use the key features in their own writing.

This week in Year 5

Year 5 were learning how to round numbers up to 1,000,000. This sparked discussions over how 1,000,000 is represented, with some students expressing their hopes that one day their bank account will reflect this new milestone! We also spent time looking at the movement of the Sun, Earth and our Moon, reflecting on the cycles of seasons, day and night and how different parts of our world experience them at different points in time.

This week in Year 6

Year 6 have been using the grid technique in order to imitate artwork related to Trailblazers. Pupils have surprised themselves at how taking a methodical and logical approach to art, can produce some great results!

Furthermore, Mrs de Garis & Mr. Bristow could not be more proud of the Year 6 pupils and the way that they have shown resilience and an all-round brilliant attitude towards their baseline assessments. Well done Year 6!

This week in Staff Meetings

The teaching team reviewed our recent training on the limitations of working memory considering some adaptations they have made to teaching resources and strategies over the last week. We spent some time considering ways to further engage and motivate children.

Friends of Lanchester

AGM

Thank you to everyone who attended our AGM on Monday. It was great to see so many of you and lovely to see some new faces! We had a great discussion about how our fundraising has gone this year and what we’re planning for this year.

A huge thank you to Sally Bownes who has been co-Chair for the last 4 years. Sally has been a brilliant Chair, going above and beyond to make sure the PTA raise as much as they can to ensure our children have enriching learning experiences as well as lots of fun. Thank you for everything Sally!

Thank you also to Michaella Simpson who has been a brilliant co-Secretary and has been an integral part of the PTA over the last year.

Your PTA committee for 24/25 is:

Co-Chairs: Helen Gibson and Chloé Harper

Treasurer: Tracey Bravo and Louise Brown

Secretary: Laura Robson and Lawrence Brown

We’ll circulate the minutes of the meeting next week.

If you couldn’t come along but would like to get involved, please feel free to chat to us anytime or send us an email on friendsoflanchester@gmail.com

Asda Cashpot

We’ve currently got £82 in our Asda cashpot so thank you to everyone who has signed up so far!

If you haven’t yet signed up, it’s really easy to do. Download and sign up for the Asda Rewards app. Opt into the Cashpot for Schools campaign. We get £1 for everyone who signs up and we also get a percentage every time you shop and scan your reward app.

All of the money raised will be invested directly back into providing educational experiences for our children.

Pre-loved uniform

We might not be too far into the term but if you’re already missing jumpers or your children have had a growth spurt and grown out of them already, don’t forget about our pre-loved uniform shop. We have lots of uniform in all sizes and it’s simple to buy and collect. All you need to do is:

1. Go to: www.uniformerly.co.uk

2. On the side menu go to FIND MY SCHOOL and follow the instructions. You will be asked to select Local Authority (HERTFORDSHIRE), followed by School (LANCHESTER COMMUNITY FREE SCHOOL). You will then be able to see the available items.

3. Click on the item to find out what sizes are available and how to purchase.

4. If you are interested in an item/items, you need to register to send a message through the website. You will then be in contact with the PTA to confirm the size required and when it will be available to pick up at school.

Thank you to Helen L who has been amazing at setting this up and keeping it all running.

Dates for the diary

Friday 25th October - Non uniform day and Autumn bake sale

Friday 8th November – Disco

Saturday 7th December - Christmas Fair

Friday 20th December – Non uniform day

Thanks for your support!

Friends of Lanchester committee - Sally Bownes, Helen Gibson, Tracey Bravo, Laura Robson, Michaella Simpson and Chloé Harper

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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