Newsletter – 26th February

Events this week…

ASSESSMENT WEEK – please make sure that your children get plenty of sleep this week and arrive to school on time each morning. 

TUESDAY – Reading workshop for parents carers (9-10am), Royal Institute Maths Masterclasses for Y5 and Girls Football League Finals

WEDNESDAY – Nursery Stay and Play session (9.30-10.30am) Y6 mixed dodgeball friendly at Talacre (returning to school by 6:20pm)

THURSDAY – World Book Day (Please check Gemma’s recent letter and information below for more details)

FRIDAY – Setting up for Writing Week (3:45pm)

 Curriculum news

Nursery Stay and Play Session – Wednesday February 28th

Do you have a child who turns 3 before January 2019? If so, please come and visit our excellent nursery. We are accepting applications for start dates in September 2018 and January 2019. The nursery offers:

  • Creative, child centered and rich provision
  • ​​Excellent outdoor area
  • Weekly Forest School
  • Full time and part time places
  • Up to 30 free hours available (subject to eligibility)

There will be a ‘stay and play session’ this Wednesday from 9.30am – 10.30am where you can find out more.

Call 020 7272 9627 or visit the school office for further information

WORLD BOOK DAY:

This Thursday is World Book Day and we are looking forward to hosting an exciting range of activities for children and parents to participate in. Here are some of the key pieces of information:

Children have been encouraged to come in dressed up as one of their favourite book characters. The best dressed classes from each key stage will be awarded a class prize.

Nursery, Reception, Y1 and Y2 will participate in Tony Dallas’ interactive story – telling assembly. Parents are invited to join the assembly at 9.00am in the bottom hall.

Nursery parents and carers are invited to join their child for story time after the assembly.

At 3.00pm the whole school will take part in a ‘Big Read’. All children and staff will settle down with a good book and enjoy a relaxing read. Parents and carers are invited to join their children in the classroom to enjoy a story with them at this time. Please arrive at the school office by 2.55pm.

After school, The Owl Bookshop will be setting up in the bottom hall to sell books, including books for £1 and from 5-5:30pm we will be holding ‘Bedtime Stories’ sessions. Children are welcome to come back into school, accompanied by a parent / carer, to enjoy settling down with a hot chocolate and listening to a range of stories read aloud by members of staff. Wearing comfy clothes or pyjamas and bringing along a teddy bear is very much encouraged!

Gemma will also be running a workshop on how to support your child with their reading. All parents and carers are warmly invited, tomorrow Tuesday 27th February, 9 – 9.45am in the bottom hall.

We hope to see you there.

WRITING WEEK ( W.B. MARCH 5TH)

Katie and Carla (class teachers) write:

Thank you so much to all those parents / carers who have already started donating items towards our forthcoming Writing Week. Items that we are currently looking for are as follows:

– real or fake plant

– plastic vines

– lanterns

– camping netting

– stuffed or inflatable jungle animals

– tikki torches

In addition to donating items, we would love you to help with creating props and backdrops at the following times:

Monday and Tuesday afternoons between 1.30pm – 3.00pm in the school library and Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 6.30pm – 9.00pm in the lower hall.

After school on Friday, we will be setting up the school from 3.30pm onwards. It would be great to have a large team of volunteers who could help us with this.

If you are able to help at any of these times, please contact either Katie or Carla at k.fraserthomas@brookfield.camden.sch.uk or c.wallington@brookfield.camden.sch.uk

Thank you so much for all your help. We are all very excited about Writing Week and confident that it will be an inspiring and memorable week!

MATHS NEWS:

Barnaby (maths subject leader) writes:

The results from Round Two of the Camden Timestable Spring Slam are in!

There are 4 rounds of timestable questions, (2x – 12x) with each class in Years 3 to 6 answering a sheet of 50 questions every fortnight, with 5 bonus points for full marks! Years 3-4 have 10 minutes, Years 5-6 have 5 minutes.

Eighteen schools in Camden are competing, with only the top twelve schools reaching the final.

Round 2 Results:

Brookfield Year 3 Average score 36 – 12th out of 18 schools in Camden

Brookfield Year 4 Average Score 44 – 16th out of 18 schools in Camden

Brookfield Year 5 Average Score 48 –  6th out of 18 schools in Camden

Brookfield Year 6 Average Score 51 – 10th out of 18 schools in Camden

Please help us rise up the table and reach the final by continuing to practise timestables with your child or children at home. There are also lots of timestables games on http://www.interactive-resources.co.uk

Username: brookfield

Password: ilovemaths

Children will be doing Round 3 this week or next week. Let’s get Brookfield to the final!

 

Royal Institute Maths Masterclasses Begin

On Tuesday we held the first of six Royal Institute Maths Masterclasses. A groups of Year Five children from Brookfield and five other local Camden schools enjoyed a session, led by our Maths Leader Barnaby exploring patterns in Maths, including in Sierpinski’s Triangle and Pascal’s Triangle. Future sessions will involve guest speakers and will explore a range of problems and conjectures in Mathematics.
NEW BROOKFIELD STUDENT

Last week we were glad to welcome Roman to 1M. He has joined his brother and sister at Brookfield and we are really glad to have him here.

FORTHCOMING MATERNITIES

We are delighted to announce that we have not one, but two staff babies on the way. Gemma (Y2 teacher) and Mel (Assistant Head) are both pregnant and expecting babies in June. We’d like to wish them good health and all the best for the coming weeks and months.

‘GOVERNORS DROP IN’

Do come along to our next ‘Governors Drop In’ which will be taking place on Friday March 16th. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback.

ANTI – IDLING CAMPAIGN

Seren (Rights Ambassadors Leader) writes:

Last Friday’s Idling Action Event was a successful start to what we  hope will be a long-running campaign to improve local air quality so that children can enjoy their right to the best possible health (Article 24). The event started with an assembly to make children aware of the problem of air pollution and how we can all help to reduce it. Later in the day, the Rights Ambassadors took part in a huge snakes and ladders game on the theme of air pollution which they then brought out into the playground for school pick up. Many thanks to the parents and carers who took to the streets to talk to idling drivers about how air pollution affects health. We were encouraged by the response of the drivers and feel that the event had a really positive impact.

Sports news

The girls football team play in the Camden finals tomorrow. Wish them luck! Wrap up warm girls, it is going to be a cold afternoon.​

*The only morning club not on this week will be girls football.

I really need help with the Y3 swimming walk to and from the pool. PLEASE can parents/ carers/ volunteers come forward and either email me or confirm with the office.

A mixed Y6 team are taking part in a dodgeball friendly this Wednesday at Talacre. We finish at 5.45pm and should return to school by 6.20pm.​

As i mentioned in last weeks newsletter, I am missing quite a few team kits and t-shirts. Please, could everyone have a look around home for school sports kit please!

Finally, if anyone has balance bikes they can donate to me I would really appreciate it. I want to see the link with hand writing and balance among the early years.

If I only do what I can do then I will never be more than I am now – Wise old Haseeb h.khan@brookfield.camden.sch.uk

News from the Office

This half terms lunches are £69.60

RESPONDING TO EMAILS

As you know, we are encouraging families to contact us by email where appropriate, and have published all the class teacher’s emails in a newsletter at the start of the year. This has resulted in a higher than anticipated volume of emails. In order to prioritise effectively – as some matters are more pressing than others –  from today, you will receive an automated reply acknowledging receipt of your email, stating that we will respond fully to any questions within two working days.  If the matter is more urgent, please contact the school office directly and we will ensure that the message is passed on swiftly. Thank you for your anticipated co-operation and support.

BRRR – WRAP UP WARM!

Did you know that meteorologists are saying that  this February could be the coldest on record. With the ‘beast from the East’ set to plunge temperatures below freezing, it’s time to wrap up really warm (lots of layers, coat, hat, scarf and gloves) There is persistant snow forecast for later on in the week. However, we are planning to keep the school open. If for any reason this becomes impossible, we will contact you by text by 8.00am and a message will be left on the school’s website.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUCTION RAFFLE WINNERS:

Bottle of Chilean Pisco: Yellow 109
£20 Owl bookshop voucher: Blue 196
Acatel tablet: Yellow 538
3 course dinner at Tufnell Park Tavern: Yellow 69

Please claim your prizes at the office.

Signed bottle of whisky: Yellow 201 (won by Sally Ann)
Bottle of Pinor Noir: Yellow 235 (won by Anna)
Pizza East £70 voucher: Yellow 721 (won by Lucy Reed)
I pad: Yellow 698 (won by Ali’s sister)

We are now looking for a team to help organise the SUMMER FAIR – please drop us a line if you’d like to discuss in a relaxed, non-binding manner.

***DATES FOR YOUR DIARY***

PTA meeting to discuss future events eg supper club, quiz night, table-top sale, film night and musical instrument tryout session.

ALL WELCOME. Friday 23rd March, 9am – venue tbc.

PTA AGM 3rd May 6.45pm

Summer Fair – July 7th

And finally…
As part of an initiative to protect the more vulnerable elderly persons in our communities, the local police would like to ask if you can think of anyone in your area who may need support. Please email him with any addresses you’d like them to at least visit: murray.michael@met.police.uk

Eliane and Lucie, PTA joint chairs
brookfieldschoolpta@gmail.com