NEWSLETTER Issue 3- 24th September 2021

From the Executive Headteacher... What a fantastic week of learning! Many classes have made the most of the beautiful weather and taken learning outside, wherever possible. We’ve seen outdoor maths, creative writing, sketching and music, as well as sport, PE and our daily 60/10 sessions (5-10 mins of fresh air for every hour of class time). Take a look at our school Twitter page if you’d like to find out more about the week we’ve had https://twitter.com/Hillyfield_E17 Since returning to school this term, many classes at both Hill and Park have been reading and discussing The Promise, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Laura Carlin. The book and suggested activities have been planned by our English Team using resources developed by the CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education). The story is intriguing, very well illustrated and lends itself to endless discussion (as many of our teachers and children have found out). And the point of this unit of work is to support the transition back to school, following the summer break and a disrupted year. Our children have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the story and the planned activities. I’m sure your child will be able to summarise the story for you, but if you’d like to find out more about the work of CLPE or the book, please visit https://clpe.org.uk/teaching-resources/clpegrowingourfuture and https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/ the-promise/ The latest edition of our termly magazine The Hilly High is being printed as we speak and should be with us next week. It is, as ever, packed full of news and articles from the summer term and features our two special guest editors. Every Hillyfield family receives a complimentary copy and it is also available on the school website. If you have friends or family who are thinking of choosing Hillyfield for their child, perhaps you’d like to share your copy or direct them to our school website. Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. Enjoy the weekend. David Worrall

Hillyfield at the Park attendance:

96.4%

Overall attendance for this week:

95.4 %

Hillyfield on the Hill attendance:

94.3%

School News

Diversity and Inclusion

Playtime Snacks Children are permitted to bring a healthy snack to school to eat during their morning break. Healthy snacks such as fruit or vegetables are permitted only. Please ensure that children do not bring crisps, chocolate, cereal bars etc. Please also remember that nuts and fizzy drinks are prohibited.

This week has been a busy week at Hillyfield. The week started with Herschel class learning about Pitru Pakshar, which is a 16 day period where Hindus pay respects to their ancestors. Tuesday was World Alzheimer’s Day and Remond class learned about the effects of dementia and made posters to help raise awareness and to encourage support for those affected. Shackleton class observed the International Day of Peace and pupils asked some important questions and opened up the discussion as to the purpose of the day. Tuesday 21st also saw the beginning of the week-long Jewish festival - Sukkot which will be studied by Henson class.

Attendance Please call the absence line before 9.30am if your child is going to be absent on that day. Please do not leave any other messages on the absence line during the school day. Please ensure, where possible, all appointments are made out of school hours or during the holidays. Please email all PCR and lateral flow test results to the office email as soon as you recieve them.

Bikes and Scooters Please be aware children and adults are not permitted to ride bikes or scooters inside the school grounds. Children are not permitted on the playground equipement before or after school. Thank you for your support in keeping our school community safe at these busy times.

Bryan class and Newton class have been learning sign language as Thursday 23rd was the International Day of Sign Language. Pupils learned a song and key phrases in sign language and discussed who may use the signs and why it is important for us to learn them. Mr Worrall begins the assemblies on a Monday morning with greetings in sign language ask your child at home if they can teach you! There will be pupils recruited from Year 4 to join the pupil diversity team this half term and our staff team is expanding! Watch this space for our half-termly newsletter where we will introduce everyone and provide feedback from our staff and parent surveys.

Midday Assistant Vacancies Would you like to join the Hillyfield team? We are currently seeking to appoint committed midday assistants to complete our lunchtime team. The midday assistant post involves supervising children and working with other colleagues during the lunchtime break. The successful candidate will be able to instigate and supervise play and be able to encourage healthy eating. If any of our parents or carers would be interested in applying for this role, please contact the school office or visit the school website for more information.

Brilliance in Every Child Excellence Every Day

News from Year 2 This year, Year 2 are learning how to play the ocarina. The ocarina is a wind musical instrument, similar to a flute. It is traditionally made from clay or ceramic, but other materials are also used. We have been using ones made out of plastic. Mr Andy, our new music teacher, told us the ocarina comes from Italy- just like him! So far, we have learnt to play notes B and D. We are enjoying it so much! Upcoming dates for your diary... October

Black History Month The Big Draw

Tweet of the Week

Half term -

Monday 25th October to Friday 29th October.

Flu Vaccinations -

16th November 2021

Christmas Break-

17th December 2021- Inset day, school closed. 18th December to 3rd December inclusive.

Spring term begins -

Tuesday 4th January 2022.

Attendance Stars of the Dodd - 100% Newton - 100 %

Brilliance in Every Child Excellence Every Day

Betty’s Blog Can you believe this is the last Friday of September? How quickly this month has passed! We’ve been so busy during our first few weeks back at school, haven’t we? Have you spotted some of our new reception children around the school? I spent some time this week in Reception at the Hill. Some of my new friends were finding it tricky to get used to being in a new environment so I helped them to settle in. I know exactly what it feels like to be the newbie at school so I loved helping them to feel happy and safe in our shared space. They give the best cuddles! I started my classroom inspections again this week. Did I visit your class? I didn’t think it was pawsible for me to visit so many classes and not find a single thing on the floor to chew on. Your tidy teams have been working so hard - your learning environments are spotless. I was particularly impressed with the Year 1 classes at the Park. Their tables are so well organised - I know for sure because I made sure to check each and every one. I’ll be visiting more classes next week. I hope you’ve chosen your tidy team members and are ready for my next visit. Did you see me in assembly this week? I’m getting better at sitting in the hall and listening to the speaker. You are all fantastic at that too! I love sitting at the front where I can see how nicely you sit and how much you’re enjoying the assembly. Wasn’t it fun when we sang our song together? Did you hear me bark along to the music? That was funny, wasn’t it? The tune sounded very fur-miliar to me. We practiced it last week too, right? Except this week I noticed that you changed the words. Can you remember what our new lyrics are? I’m almost sure I heard my name in there... I visited the nursery this week too. There are lots of new friends in there for me to play with. At the park I played dog-ters and helped some of the children with their pretend broken bones. And guess what I found when I visited the nursery at the Hill… my very own Betty corner! How furbulous is that! I have always loved their soft orange rug so the nursery children very kindly made this into a special area for me to relax in when I come to see them. Thank you so much Hill nursery! Have a great weekend everyone! See you on Monday. Betty

Hillyfield at the Park Aveling Park Road, London, E17 4NR T: 020 8498 4920 E: [email protected]

Hillyfield on the Hill Higham Hill Road, London, E17 6ED T: 020 8527 7934 F: 020 8523 3868 E: [email protected]

www.hillyfieldacademy.