Newsletter – 29th October

WELCOME BACK

Welcome back. We trust you all enjoyed a relaxing break.

Events this week….

Tuesday 30th – 1C trip to the Tower of London, Y5 and Y6 CSSA Football Tournament at Talacre (after school)

Wednesday 31st – Deadline for Secondary School Applications, Pupil Premium arts and crafts afternoon (2-3:30pm)

Thursday 1st – 4L to the Owl Book Shop, Y2 PAC Maths (9am). YR Parent Tour,  Parents meet with Laurel and Mike session 1 (6:30pm, lower hall)

Friday 2nd – Parent’s meet with Laurel and Mike session 2 (9am music room), Rights Ambassadors meeting,  Parents meet with Laurel and Mike session 3 (2:45pm)

KEY EVENTS THIS HALF TERM

Below are some of the key dates / weeks for this half term. For further details, please check out the school’s web-site.

Thursday 1st November – Y2 PAC Maths (9am)

Monday 5th November – Y6 to Sayers Croft

Monday 12th November – Assessment and Anti – Bullying Week

Friday 9th November – Immunisations (Reception – Y5)

Thursday 22nd November – Y3 PAC Maths (9am)

Saturday 1st December – Winter Fair

Tuesday 4th December – Y1 PAC Maths (9am)

Thursday 13th December – Festive Concert (10:30am)

Friday 21st December – Term ends

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

As I was sorting through my office, I came across this wonderful photo of Highgate Newtown dating back to 1938. See if you can spot Brookfield Primary School. This has now been added to the mini museum which can be found in the lower corridor opposite RKS. If you have any Brookfield memorabilia which you would like to donate / loan to the museum, please let Mark know.

HALF – TERM BUILDING WORKS

I am pleased to report that over half – term, the building contractors made good progress with the work started during the summer holidays. New internal fire doors (x 22) and screens have been installed and the majority of the scaffolding has come down. Chimneys have been repointed and some external decoration to the infant playground has also taken place.

CURRICULUM NEWS

R.E. DAY

Just before half term, Brookfield celebrated its first R.E. day. Each year group took a theme and explored it through a creative and cross curricular approach. The children were thoroughly engaged in all the different activities and responded enthusiastically to their learning. Mark retold the story of Noah’s Ark in assembly and the children were amazed to discover that the ark was 30 times bigger than our school hall, it took Noah 120 years to build and had to contain pairs of every kind of animals and birds – approximately 16 000. Thank you to Louise and all the staff for helping to organise the day. Here are a few of the highlights in photos:

‘2B acting out the story of Rama and Sita through freeze frames’

‘2L making Diwali Lamps as part of their Hinduism focus’

‘5A using newspaper articles to explore the theme of suffering’

‘5L colouring in some Mandala patterns’

‘3L sharing their own beliefs at the start of the day’

EAT WITH YOUR CHILD DAYS

Did you know that we are the only Primary School in Camden which cooks its own school dinners!

Following on from our successful Pop Up Café on Open Afternoon, this half term we are inviting KS2 parents/carers to come in and share a lunch with their children.

The dates of the ‘Eat with your Child Days’ will be:

Y5 – November 5th, 6th and 7th

Y6 – November 12th, 13th and 14th

Y3 – November 19th, 20th and 21st

Y4 – November 26th, 27th and 28th

To book a place, please contact Carole in the main office on 0207 272 9627 or c.bush@brookfield.camden.sch.uk. We would particularly encourage those parents / carers who currently have children on packed lunch to give us a try. The cost of the lunch will be £5 (free to parents / carers whose children are eligible for pupil premium) and the money raised will go towards supporting other food events this year.

YR PARENT TOURS

Brookfield offers an exceptional start to your child’s educational experience and over the course of the last 12 months, the Early Years staff (headed up by Laurel) have continued to collaborate imaginatively to enrich the quality of our Early Years provision. This half term we will be running some YR Parent tours for you to find out why we are so proud of our Early Years provision. All parent tours start at 1:45pm and involve meeting Mark / Laurel and having a guided tour around the school. In order to book a place on one of the available dates, please contact Carole in the main office on 0207 272 9627 or email admin@brookfield.camden.sch.uk

IF YOU HAVE A CHILD BORN BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 2014 – AUGUST 2015, NOW IS THE TIME TO APPLY FOR A RECEPTION PLACE. Applications should be made online, to the education department of the borough you live in. 

GOVERNORS DROP IN SESSION 

As always, the  governors are keen to hear from parents /carers and have arranged their next ‘Drop In’ for Friday November 16th in the music room. Do come along if you have any questions or suggestions which you would like to make.

PARENT / CARERS’ SESSIONS WITH LAUREL AND MIKE

This week, there will be several sessions where you can meet with Laurel (Deputy Head Teacher) and Mike Yule (Chair of Governors)  to discuss transition arrangements for next term.  The times and dates are as follows –  Thursday November 1st at 6:30pm, Friday November 2nd at 9:00am and 2:45pm. The sessions promise to be informative and reassuring.

POPPY APPEAL 

In the next few days, we will be selling poppies in both playgrounds in support of the poppy appeal. Do look out for them and donate what you can. Recommended donation of £1. Thank you.

SPORTS NEWS

Massive congratulations to our netball teams! Both teams qualified for the finals and the y6 A team won the league!

The Y6/5 football league starts tomorrow. The boys’ team are looking to make a great start, the girls’ team have some pre season injuries. Wish them luck and do come along and cheer the teams on. Our last fixture finishes at 6pm and we will return to school by approx. 6.30pm

Check your child has a PE kit; if not a school version then any sporty clothes from home for them to change in/ out of.

Please spend a few moments helping your child learn how to tie the laces on foot wear. I did send a link before about elastic laces (widely available) if you are unable to teach your child.

“Tonight, before you go to sleep ask yourself: I just traded 24 hours of my life for what I got today, am I happy with the trade?” – wise old Haseeb h.khan@brookfield.camden.sch.uk 

CLUBS NEWS 

Club’s are back up and running from today. Those who are yet to pay for this half term, please do so asap. Fee’s are £20 per club. This can be paid by cash or cheque in the office.

NEWS FROM THE OFFICE

This half terms lunches will be £96. With the cold weather setting in, this is a great time of the year to be signing your children up for school dinners. Do contact Carole in the main office if you would like to do so.

GOVERNORS ELECTIONS
A message from Mike Yule (Chair of Governors)

Dear Parents and Carers,

Two spaces have become available on the Brookfield governing body for parent governors. If you are a parent or are in full time care of a child curently at Brookfield you are eligible to apply for the posts, which are decided by elections.

We have a committed, friendly and enthusiastic group of governors who are keen to welcome fresh ideas from new candidates. Even if you have never thought of this option before, please consider how you might contribute to the strategic direction of Brookfield, holding the school to account and providing support to one of our community’s most essential assets.

If you wish to apply for the role of parent governor, please complete a short paragraph on why you think you’d make a good candidate and hand this in to the office together with a picture of yourself. If you have any queries at all about this, please feel free to contact Mike Yule on mikeyule360@gmail.com or any of the governors, or Cee.

We really are looking forward to hearing from a wide variety of candidates,
Best of luck,

Mike Yule

DON’T FORGET, THE DEADLINE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL APPLICATIONS IS THIS WEDNESDAY 31ST OCTOBER. 

AND FINALLY

A special thank you to Laurence Cendrowicz whose wonderful photos (Junior in action, Eat with your child weeks, YR Parent tours and Laurel ) continue to feature prominently in this week’s newsletter and on the school’s website.

Dowload ParentHub and follow our school channel (@BrookfieldCamden) 

*** Bake sale this Friday ***

Year 5 is hosting this Friday’s bake sale! Please bring in baked goods to sell – and perhaps as it’s after the sweet-eating excesses of Wednesday we could focus on healthy savoury treats???!!!

*** Christmas card designs – DEADLINE THIS WEEK! ***

Don’t forget to hand your Christmas card designs into the school office by this Wednesday 31st October. All designs must be A4 size and include your child’s full name and class on the back.

All the artworks will be scanned and you’ll have the opportunity to view your child’s design online and order cards, gift tags and wrapping paper. Every order raises money for the school!

*** New Treasurer ***

Introducing our new treasurer and member of the PTA committee Rachel Thomas, who is new to the school and has kindly volunteered to take on this role. Thank you Rachel! We are still looking for a new co-chair!

Eliane, Lucie, Rachel, and Philip, the PTA committee
brookfieldschoolpta@gmail.com