Gazette 09/01/2026

Year to date 94.1%

We expect pupils to be in school everyday.

We will not authorise term time absence except in exceptional circumstances and where appropriate, Essex County Council will issue fines.

Classes:

RBC: 76%	3VB: 91.7%
RS: 78.3%	4A: 92.4%
1D: 95%	4L: 92.8%
1P: 93.3%	5R: 95%
2A: 95.2%	5/6P: 93.4%
2N: 90%	6CH: 94.8%
3MH: 92.9%

This week, the class with the highest attendance was 2A with 95.2%.  Well done!  The attendance reward will be coming your way.

 

News from EYFS

This half term, our theme is Traditional Tales, and we’ve kicked off with the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood.

The children have loved exploring the Big Bad Wolf, thinking about his character and appearance.  They’ve been busy drawing and describing the wolf, using lots of exciting vocabulary to express how he looks and behaves.  We’ve also focused on the setting of the story, helping the children understand where the tale takes place and encouraging them to use descriptive words for the forest, the cottage, and the characters.

In addition to all the learning, the children have been getting creative!  They’ve painted their own versions of the Big Bad Wolf and made paper plate wolves.  Using role play equipment, they’ve enjoyed re-enacting scenes from the story, experimenting with how the characters might move, sound, and act.

We’re excited to continue our journey through traditional tales and see how the children’s understanding and creativity develop!

News from the Resource Base

This week we welcomed Ms Senuka to the RB team.  She has truly been welcomed by the team and the children.  On Monday, we will be welcoming Miss Munday to the RB team who many of the children already know and have worked with.  Over the coming weeks, you will hear the children speaking about different members of the RB team they have worked with.  As always, we timetable staff so the children build relationships with them all.  With the new staff with us, you will probably hear the children discuss this more than usual.  Please encourage them to talk to you about them.

This week in RBR Maths, we have been working on word problems, developing our reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.  In guided reading, we started a new book, How Do You Deaf? by Kerry Tidman, and have been sharing our thoughts and feelings about the themes explored in the first few chapters.

In English, we have begun a unit on instructional writing.  For their cold task, the children made an animal out of play-doh and then had to write a set of instructions explaining how they did it.  We also evaluated the effectiveness of written instructions for a range of card games.

The children in RBN have been working hard this week on identifying features of a newspaper report.  When you are reading your newspaper or news reports online, please share them with your children and ask them to spot things like: the headline, name of reporter, introductory paragraph with the 5 Ws (who, what, where, when, why), pictures with captions, past tense, reported and direct speech, rhetorical questions and a concluding paragraph.  The more they see, the more they will remember and I think they’ll blow you away with how much they know.

For Maths, the children have been identifying arrays for multiplication and grouping for sharing.  They have applied skills to word based problems too.  I’m sure they will show you their fantastic skills with their homework this week.

In RBH this week, in Maths we have been learning about 2D shapes including how to organise them into groups and how to find a vertical line of symmetry.  We have had lots of interesting discussions, especially in the reasoning part of our lessons.  The fun will continue next week as we start to learn about 3D shapes.

In English we have been reading, Find Your Happy.  Following this, we have been using a range of adjectives to describe both positive and negative feelings.  The children have thought carefully about how some feelings can be both good and bad depending on why we feel them.  We have also looked at what we can do when we feel certain feelings, whether that may be to seek comfort to make ourselves feel better or to use perhaps to use our good feelings to help others.

Influential Figure – Kemi Bandenoch

Kemi Badenoch is a UK politician and senior government minister whose family background reflects how people coming to Britain have brought valuable skills and trades that have helped the country grow and develop.  Her story can be used to show pupils how contributions from people of different backgrounds have helped shape modern Britain.

Music Moment

Our music moment this week was African Drumming Music.

Fortnightly Focus: Leadership

Over the next two weeks, our whole school community will be focusing on Leadership. Leadership is not just about leading others, it’s about how we lead ourselves through our attitudes, choices, and actions every day.

Our focus will be on three key leadership skills:

Open Mindset

Great leaders are open to new ideas, feedback, and different viewpoints.

-For pupils: Be willing to try new strategies, learn from mistakes, and listen to others.

-For staff: Model curiosity, reflect on practice, and embrace opportunities for growth.

-For parents: Encourage children to see challenges as chances to learn and improve.

Ask yourself: What can I learn from this?

Setting Clear Goals

Leaders know where they are going and why.

-For pupils: Set simple, achievable goals for learning and behaviour.

-For staff: Be clear about priorities and success criteria.

-For parents: Support children in setting and talking about their goals at home.

Ask yourself: What am I aiming to achieve?

Identifying Next Steps

Leadership means knowing what to do next to keep moving forward.

-For pupils: Reflect on feedback and decide on one action to improve.

-For staff: Use assessment and reflection to plan purposeful next steps.

-For parents: Talk with children about what they can do next to improve or progress.

Ask yourself: What is my next step?