Future dates
From Monday 7th September: Reception children begin on a staggered intake
From Wednesday 9th September: Nursery children begin on a staggered intake
Thursday 10th September – PTA AGM at 6pm on Zoom- see below for details
Monday 14th September 4-4.30pm Y1 Curriculum Meeting
Tuesday 15th September 4-4.30pm Y3 Curriculum Meeting
Wednesday 16th September 4-4.30pm Y4 Curriculum Meeting
Thursday 17th September 4-4.30pm Y5 Curriculum Meeting
Friday 18th September 4-4.30pm Y6 Curriculum Meeting
Monday 21st September 4 – 4.30pm Y2 Curriculum Meeting
Thursday 1st October – 6.30-7.30pm Meet the parents event for parents in Y5 & 6
Thursday 22nd October – Nasal Flu Vaccines
This week we have been delighted to welcome back children in years 1 – 6. All our children have made a brilliant start to the year: re-establishing friendships, getting to know their teacher and support staff and settling back into school life. This term we are following a recovery curriculum which provides classes with time to reflect on the separation we have all experienced and support children in any gaps in their learning. This focuses on building five key elements: a sense of safety; a sense of calm; a sense of control; a sense of connectiveness; and a sense of hope.
It has been a pleasure to visit classes (at a distance) and see children reading with their teacher or learning support assistant. We are taking time to find out where children are with their reading and they will be bringing books home over the coming week. You might like to ask your child about the Oliver Jeffers book ‘Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth’ that the whole school is reading and engaging with.
Curriculum Meetings for year groups will take place via Zoom the week commencing 14th September. This will be an opportunity for parents and carers to hear about the learning experiences over the coming term and how children can be supported at home.
We really look forward to welcoming our Nursery and Reception children from next week.
Thank you for your patience as we make improvements to drop off and collection arrangements. The beginning and end of the day needs to be safe for our children, parents and staff.
Here is a copy of the letter sent on Tuesday 1st September with information about arrangements for this term.
Parents are asked to wear a mask at drop off and pick up times due to the limited pavement space with only one adult per child. It would be really helpful if parents can avoid gathering at the school gates before their child’s entry time. Children need to bring a named water bottle to school each day. Here is a reminder of our new staggered start and finish times:
| Infant playground | Junior playground | |
| 8.45 – 3.15 | Year 2 | Year 6 |
| 8.50-3.20 | Year 1 | Year 5 |
| 8.55-3.25 | Reception | Year 4 |
| 9-3.30 | Nursery | Year 3 |
We have been really pleased with the return of nearly all our children to school this week. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns and we can also put families in touch with our school nurse, Hannah Pike.
Here is some information from Camden, in a range of formats and languages, about children returning to school:
www.Camden.gov.uk/schools-children-and-families
Punctuality
Thank you to all parents, carers and children for adapting to the new start and finish times. We have had a huge improvement in punctuality over the last two days and it has been great to see so many of you back in school.
As mentioned in the welcome letter, we are unable to accept children arriving late through the office after 9am as this will compromise keeping year groups apart and clashes with the induction meetings of new children. Any children arriving after 9am will be given home learning for the morning and given an allocated slot to arrive at lunchtime to join their year group. Exceptions will be made for children attending appointments, please have confirmation to show the office.
We really hope that this brilliant start to the year will continue. If you have any questions around start and finish time, please contact the admin team: admin@brookfield.camden.sch.uk
Wellbeing
It’s too early to say what the full impact of Coronavirus will be on children and young people’s mental health, but the signs are that it will be significant.
The Anna Freud Center is a brilliant mental health charity that provides resources and information to support young people and their families.
Please see the attached leaflet which contains advice for parents and carers in how to reassure children and young people who are worried about coronavirus.
Here is the link to their website for more information: https://www.annafreud.org/
Positive behaviour policy
Brookfield has a new Positive Behaviour Policy with the aim of fostering an atmosphere and environment where children feel safe, happy and motivated to learn and where high standards of behaviour are achieved within a climate of trust and mutual respect.
There are 6 key priorities areas in the new policy: 1. High Expectations 2. Consistency of approach 3.Whole school behaviour system 4. Connection to values 5.Provision for vulnerable pupils 6. Teaching learning behaviour.
We have adopted the ‘staying on green’ whole class behaviour system. Staff integrate the system within daily teaching in order to promote positive behaviour. The full policy is available on the school website. There will be a parent information and feedback meeting this month, details will be released shortly.
After School Clubs
After school club places are still available for children of all year groups this half term. At this stage, we are unable to provide the usual range of clubs to all children as we still need to maintain year group bubbles held within school days.
As a result, some clubs may be more limited to individual year groups while the current government guidelines are in place. We are ensuring that good hygiene practices and safeguarding are always our top priority for everyone’s safety. Any updates or changes to clubs will be posted each week in the newsletter or sent out via email.
If you have any questions please email Callum at basc@brookfield.camden.sch.uk
Year 2 reading
Reading with your child each day is one of the best ways you can support their progress. Reading is a gateway skill to the whole curriculum. The letter below contains details for year 2 parents and carers about reading at home.
PTA News
AGM – Thursday September 10th, 2020, 6pm
As mentioned back in July, we will be holding the first ever Zoom PTA Annual General Meeting at 6pm on Thursday 10th of September.
If you want to attend, please email brookfieldschoolpta@gmail.com and we will send you the Zoom link, an agenda, and a copy of the accounts to be ratified nearer the time. These will also be available on the website next week.
Any items for the agenda, please email (as above), or speak to Lulu or Rahma beforehand.
CALLING REPS
New reps, current reps – some people will carry on being class rep, others will hand over. Let us know who is going to be the PTA point person in your class.
Reminder: main rep activities are – organising a class get-together; doing an end-of-year present for teachers; helping with PTA events; and a few other things, but it’s pretty easy stuff.
PTA EVENTS
So far, we have nothing immediate scheduled due to Covid, as you’d expect. However, we are looking at all sorts of fundraising ideas and possibilities for this term and beyond. All ideas welcome too – please get in touch in the usual way.