Mr Choueke’s Newsletter – June 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to the final half term of the year. As always the staff team have been working hard to ensure that the last 6 weeks of the term are both memorable and exciting for our children.

Year 6

Last half term passed quickly and there was a lot to celebrate. Our Year 6 children undertook their SATs and we were extremely pleased with the way they approached them. In line with the school’s core values, they were incredibly caring, supporting each other through what was a potentially stressful week.  They were resilient in their approach to the challenges the tests threw at them, and approached each new test with confidence. Year 6 then had the chance to unwind and spent a week in Norfolk, climbing, kayaking, canoeing and generally having fun together. I have every confidence that all our Year 6 children, despite feeling sad about leaving Coleridge, are ready for the next step in their education and will all be assets to their new schools.

Behaviour

Coleridge children are kind and caring towards each other and are respectful.

However, there are times when there might be some unkind and inappropriate behaviour and it is important that our children understand how to react and how they can protect themselves and others.

As a school, we are noticing that with children spending more time online, they may be exposed to material aimed at older people, or videos/programmes that are inappropriate, meaning that some children may mimic certain behaviour that they do not have the maturity to understand. It is our mutual responsibility, in our role as educators at school and your role as parents/carers out of school, to protect our children and support them to understand certain behaviours. We have run a session for parents on online safety which can be accessed using this link. How children at Coleridge learn about online-safety

This half term, we are continuing to talk to the children about the importance of telling a member of staff and/or their parents if they are unhappy about how they have been treated, whether it is unfairly or inappropriately by another child. Last week and again this week, I delivered assemblies to all the junior children talking about how we are a “telling school”.

During my assembly, I reminded children that bullying is when someone hurts someone else, more than once, by using behaviour or words which are meant to frighten or hurt that person.

I explained that bullying can be…

• Emotional: Hurting people’s feelings, leaving someone out.
• Physical: Punching, kicking, shoving, spitting, hitting, and pushing.
• Verbal: Being teased, name-calling, saying things behind a person’s back.
• Written: Letters, notes, graffiti
• Racist: treating some differently (negatively) because of the colour of their skin or religion.
• Cyber: saying unkind things by text, email or online

We have and will be introducing the children to the acronym S.T.O.P. We have spoken about how bullying of any kind can be defined as, Several Times On Purpose. Also that if they are being bullied children should Start Telling Other People. We will also be talking to the children and asking them to think about who they would tell if they felt someone is bullying them or mistreating them.

Dates for your diaries

In addition to the usual lessons the children will be engaging with, this half term we have a number of special events taking place.

The Coleridge Summer Fair will be on Saturday 25^th June. We are really looking forward to this event, it seems extra special seeing as we haven’t been able to have one for the past two summers. We hope you can make it.

Sports Day – Thursday 30^th June at Hornsey Cricket Club. For new parents, this is a whole school event and parents and carers are welcome to join us. Coleridge East (infants) children have their activities in the morning, then Coleridge West children come and join us for a picnic, before their activities in the afternoon. Please look out for an email with more information about how the day runs.

Cultures of Coleridge – week beginning Monday 4^th July

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has been part of our school development plan this year and it will continue to be a permanent priority of the SDP in the future. Our aim is to create a school community where all children can thrive together, a place where we nurture equality and inclusion, where children and adults understand that individual characteristics make people unique.

We will be having a celebration of our diverse community during Cultures of Coleridge Week (beginning Monday 4th July). The week will provide many opportunities for children and our school community to learn more about the heritage, language and culture of one another and enjoy learning and celebrating our diverse community together.

The children will take part in lots of activities in their classes; however, we would love to invite parents, grandparents, carers and other family friends and relatives to come in to their child’s class and share information about their heritage and culture. We would invite you to read stories, share foods, teach songs  dances, or talk about ceremonies and festivals that are a part of your culture. Please look out for the separate email about Cultures of Coleridge and speak to your child’s class teacher if you would like to take part.

Healthy Living Week – week beginning Monday 11^th July – this is a week when children get to do a huge variety of activities about the importance of mental and physical health. Past activities have ranged from: orienteering, yoga, circuit training, mindfulness, dental hygiene, plus many more. More info to follow. The school’s Green Team will also be planning a sustainability day as a part of our Health Living Week.

Parent consultations – Tuesday 12^th and Wednesday 13^th July 4-6pm. We will be having the meetings via School Cloud again. You will have received your child’s end of year report before these meetings take place. It was wonderful having many of you visit the classroom for the open mornings; we will arrange some more sessions like this and invite you into your child’s class at set times/dates

Term dates:

Wednesday 20^th July 2022 – last day of school for children
Thursday 21^st July – INSET day – school closed for children

September 2022 – the children will return to school on Monday 5^th September. There will be two INSET days on Thursday 1^st and Friday 2^nd September.

Curriculum Development

Every community school has a School Improvement Partner provided by the local authority. Partners are usually either serving Headteacher’s or former Headteacher’s. We have been extremely fortunate in that we have a highly experienced partner, Dawn Ferdinand who is Headteacher of the Willow Primary School. Dawn has been extremely useful offering us both support and challenge. Over the last two terms, she has been working with our Middle leaders refining their thinking about how we are developing our curriculum. While offering suggestions, she has also been very complimentary about both our school and what we offer our children.

Art at Coleridge

As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, I wanted to take the opportunity to explain to you about the different subjects that your children learn about throughout their time with us. We aim to make the curriculum as exciting and stimulating as possible for all our children. When we talk to the children about their favourite subjects, inevitably art is always mentioned. In our last survey, children said they love art because, “they get the chance to make lots of different things and are shown lots of different techniques.” They also enjoy the creativity that the art room provides them with.

Children from Year 1 upwards have the opportunity to have a full morning or afternoon, every other week, in one of the art rooms on Coleridge East or West. Currently art is taught by Amy Bridgeman and Isabel Richert. From the outset, children are taught the technical skills and knowledge required to explore their imagination, generate and create original ideas, and make considered judgements about their own work, as well as that of others.

During their time at Coleridge, children learn how to draw, paint, print, sculpt, collage and use textiles to invent and create their own varied works of art using a range of materials. In doing so, they will explore the formal elements – shape, line, pattern, colour, form, tone, space and texture. All topics are linked to other areas of the curriculum, such as the Ancient Greeks in History, Coastal Areas in Geography, and Space in Science. I have attached a number of photos for you to show you the quality of our children’s art work.

The Outdoors

Following on from the redevelopment of the outdoor playground the area outside Year 5 & 6 has flourished. Our Leavers’ Garden, which is looked after by a group of children called The Guardians of the Garden is looking beautiful. Our new allotment, looked after by a group of children is also thriving and the children are growing a wide range of vegetables.

Staffing update

I will write with a full staffing structure before the end of term, but just to update you that there will be some changes: some staff who will be leaving Coleridge and some new staff joining or who have been promoted. I have already written to you about Nina Grimes and Kyle Grimadell leaving, Kirsty Edge (Y6 teacher and Maths lead) will also be relocating and leaving Coleridge. Matt Skrein (Y4 part-time teacher) will also be leaving, but we are hoping he will return to do some supply or Forest School work with us. Maria Daniels, Reception leader, will be extending her maternity leave. We will miss them all, but wish them all well.

These changes have meant that we have been busy appointing and recruiting; we are delighted to welcome three new class teachers, Phoebe Soteriades, Emma Nashaat and Grace Ludlow. Louise Foulkes will be the new deputy head, Tim Ibbotson is the new assistant head and Kirstie Henry will be the new Well-being lead. Congratulations to all of the above.

I look forward to seeing you all at one of community events this half term.

Best wishes

Leon Choueke

Headteacher