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Livingstone Primary & Nursery School WK4 APR 2016

Newsletter

April Week 4

Friday 29th April

This week I have been approached by a group of parents about a day of protest against educational changes which they feel are having a negative impact on their children. I can understand why there are concerns about these changes. Parents/carers of pupils undergoing statutory assessments who have been helping prepare their children for the tests are now very aware of the higher expectations brought in by the revised curriculum and how much work this has added to the educational experience. As teachers we believe extending pupils to reach their full potential is something to aspire to, and that assessment is important in this process, but in order to achieve the new standards we have had to modify the curriculum. Maths and English are now taught for a minimum of 15 hours per week and we expect pupils to attend challenge clubs, holiday school and complete regular homework. This will inevitably have an impact on the amount of time we can devote to creative subjects. As Headteacher, I lead a team of professionals who work tirelessly to ensure that we have the highest academic standards for all our pupils, and our results confirm this, but I am also mindful of the need to ensure that the school remains a place where children are encouraged to explore and develop as individuals as well as prepare for tests. You can rest assured that I will do everything I can to ensure that we strike the right balance between these competing imperatives.

We have been notified by the local authority that from this year parents/carers can now be fined for bringing their child into school late. Punctuality is vital to ensure that pupils come into school settled and ready to start learning. Lateness can have a very detrimental effect on the start of the day and the first lesson so we will be monitoring the situation carefully and making a note of persistent offenders who will be sent a letter if they are at risk of being fined. So please make sure that your child/ren are in school on time every day.

Please ensure that your child comes into school with the correct uniform. Pupils are not coming in with the correct footwear and are not wearing school PE Kit. Glittery tops, multi-coloured t-shirts with characters, hoodies with logos and football shirts are not permitted for PE. Our PE Kit is a white t-shirt and plain blue shorts. In the cold weather pupils are expected to wear plain black jogging bottoms (with or without the school logo) and the school sweat shirt. In September we will stocking the jogging bottoms in bigger sizes and will look into introducing a hoodie in the school colours.

We have had a few issues with pupils continuing to ride bikes and scooters, and to add to the situation one has gone missing. Which is very disappointing for all concerned. We would like to encourage bikes and scooters but staff should not be expected to constantly be telling pupils off when everyone knows the rules about not using them on the school grounds.

Livingstone Winners

Reception

2AP

Yr3

Yr4

Yr5

Yr6

Setayesh for working extremely hard in class both the teacher and independently.

Rashed for working hard and writing a fantastic booklet about looking after chicks.

Pheobe for her fabulous retelling of the story ‘Toys in Space’

Scarlett her fantastic times table work in Maths.

Vjosana for trying really hard in Maths and English.

Ava for being a great member of Year 1.

Asia for her excellent story writing.

Jack for using the correct scientific terminology.

Mariella for having a fantastic week in maths.

Isabella for writing a fantastic story about ‘Willy the Wizard’

Kacper and Shyam for working hard to achieve challenging targets in Maths.

Bradley for showing incredible skills in Maths.

Jack C for excellent sentence structures and wonderful vocabulary.

Daniel B for always putting effort in his work, especially Maths this week.

Antoni for his work on fractions.(KF)

Louis for his Blitz inspired Acrostic Poem.

Unique for making an effort to improve her punctuation.

Livingstone Netball Team

(Silver Medal Winners)

East Barnet League

Unique, Charlie C, Illinois, Lily R, Christiana, Amy, Emmy, Jerom & Lydia

Dates - April	Time	Event	Year Group/s	Approx Cost	Parents/Carers Invited	Comments
May 2nd		May Day Bank Holiday - School Closed
Dates - May
Monday 9^th		SATs Mon- Reading, Tues-Spelling and Grammar, Wed & Thurs-Maths	6
Friday 13^th		Non-Uniform Day- Bottle Donations
Monday 16^th		Bike Proficiency Training	6
Monday 16^th		KS1 SATs start	2
Friday 20^th		Non-Uniform Day - Chocolate Donations
Friday 27^th		Camp Night	4	£5
Dates - June		Half Term 30^th May-3^rd June – School Close
Monday 6^th		Phonic Screening Tests Start	1
Monday 6^th		Road Safety Training	4
Tuesday 7^th		Sports Day (Subject to weather conditions)
Thursday 9^th		Road Safety Training	4
Saturday 11^th		Summer Fair			All Welcome
Tuesday 21^st		Parent Meeting – New Reception Pupils
Friday 24^th		Forest School Day & Family Picnic (Open Day)			All Welcome
Dates July
Friday 1^st		INSET- School Closed
Thursday 7^th		Secondary School Transition Day	6
Friday 8^th		PTA Family Camp Night			Y	Tickets Only
Wednesday 13^th	TBC	Year 6 End of Year Show Pm	4 5 6
Thursday 14^th	TBC	Year 6 End of Year Show Eve
Monday 18^th	9am	‘Read with me’ Assembly	Rec/Yr1		Y
Monday 18^th	2.45pm	‘Read with me’ Assembly	23456		Y
		Summer Activity Camp - 2 Weeks – August 8^th- 15^th

Please ask at the office for Easter Camp details

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