Gazette 15/05/2026

Year to date 94.5%

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:

This week, the class with the highest attendance was 1P with 100%.  Well done!  The attendance reward will be coming your way.

Change of Menu (Option 1) on Thursday 21 May

As there will be no hot dinners on Friday 22 May due to the sports afternoon and picnic, fish and chips will be served on Thursday 21 May instead. All other menu options for Thursday 21 May will remain the same.

News from EYFS

This week in Reception, we have continued our learning about life under the sea and have been focusing on some of the characters from the film Finding Nemo.  The children have especially enjoyed learning more about sea turtles and discovering lots of interesting facts about them.

In Maths, we have continued our work on shapes.  The children have been using 2D shapes to create pictures and have also been learning about 3D shapes.  We explored the different faces of 3D shapes and identified the 2D shapes we can see on them, for example recognising that a cube has square faces.

In PE, the children have continued practising for Sports Day, which will take place next Friday.  This week, they practised their final events, including the sack race and space hoppers, and showed lots of enthusiasm and determination.

News from the Resource Base

RBR: We have been exploring a range of skills linked to decimals, including rounding decimals to the nearest whole number, tenth, and hundredth, as well as adding and subtracting decimals and multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100, and 1000.  The children have worked incredibly hard and are becoming much more confident applying their understanding of place value to increasingly challenging calculations.

In English, the children have been writing the draft version of their hot task: creating a story opening that builds curiosity and atmosphere.  After completing a box-up, the children drew upon all the ideas, techniques, and knowledge they have developed over the past few weeks to write six detailed paragraphs.  Each child then discussed their work with me individually, where we reflected on strengths, identified areas for improvement, and explored how these could be developed further.

The children should feel extremely proud of their writing this week; they have shown fantastic creativity, resilience, and maturity throughout the drafting process.

RBH: This week we have worked particularly hard in Maths.  Our week of Maths learning started off by looking closely at division, where we used different methods to share equally.  The children learnt 3 ways to use equipment and images to help them divide.  We then finished off our unit about measurement by learning about reading temperature scales and reviewing what we have learnt about mass and capacity.  The children then moved onto fractions, where we have used objects and images to really start to grasp the foundations around fractions.  The children have used vocabulary such as whole, part, equal, unequal and half.  Perhaps you can ask them at home what each word means?

In English this week, we have been planning a biography about Florence Nightingale.  Next week we will be using images and actions to help us prepare to write our biographies through talk for writing.

The children have done a super job of being silent when passing areas where Year 6 pupils have been busy working, showing respect and consideration to their older peers.  Well done RBH!

RBN: In Maths, we have been learning about fractions.  We have explained what a numerator and a denominator is, what a mixed number is, where these would be placed on a number line and  looked at how to partition a mixed number.  There were challenges along the way but once we had linked it to food e.g. slices of cake, slices of pizza, the children gained confidence in understanding.  Using this method, they soon understood that the larger the denominator the smaller the piece they would receive!

In English, we have been boxing up a plan for a story with a magical object.  We worked as a group to identify prepositional phrases and noun phrases.  They also found a cliff hanger!  They then started to adapt the box plan to create their own narrative with a magical object.  I look forward to the children writing these next week and reading what their character has found.

Influential Figure – Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is an inspiring activist who speaks up for children’s rights and the importance of education, especially for girls around the world.  Born in Pakistan, she showed great bravery by continuing to campaign for education even when it was dangerous to do so.  Malala later became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  Her story teaches children about courage, kindness, and the importance of helping everyone have the opportunity to learn and achieve their dreams.

Music Moment

Our music moment this week was Brave.

Fortnightly Focus – Resilience

Our whole-school focus this week will be on resilience – helping pupils develop the confidence, perseverance and independence needed to overcome challenges both in and out of the classroom.

Throughout the week, staff will be exploring how resilience is built across all areas of school life, including learning, behaviour, attendance, personal development and inclusion.  We will be encouraging pupils to understand that mistakes are part of learning, that challenge helps us grow and that effort and perseverance are key to success.

In classrooms, pupils will be supported to tackle difficult learning, reflect on feedback, develop independence and build strategies to manage setbacks positively.  We will also continue to promote the importance of focus, attendance, positive attitudes and emotional resilience.

By working together, we aim to help all children develop the determination and confidence needed to thrive now and in the future.