(Do keep going to the end of newsletter for details of PTA events including the F.A.B. film project, and Winter Fair.)
| Key Events | Date |
| Anti-bullying week | 15th – 19th November |
| Odd socks day! 10am Y3 and Y4 anti-bullying assembly, 11am Y5 and Y6 assembly | Monday 15th November |
| Y2 Forest School at The Secret Garden, 2.15pm Anti-racist committee, 3.45pm Football tournament for some Y5 & 6 children | Tuesday 16th November |
| Tours for prospective parents (please book your visit here), existing parents welcome from February! | Wednesdays 9.15am |
| Phonics and early reading workshop for all parents 9am | Friday 19th November |
| Year 1 & 2 choir begins | Monday 22nd November |
| Year 2 to London Zoo – Make sure you return your permission slips! | Wednesday 24th November |
| PTA coffee morning; Bake Sale, Winter clothes swap – SEE BELOW for details | Friday 26th November |
| 5.30 – 6.30pm Meet the Parents event for prospective parents | Tuesday 30th November |
| Winter Fair – SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS | Saturday 11th December |
| Christmas lunch, pm year 5 classes sharing West African drumming | Wednesday 15th December |
| Last day of the Autumn term | Friday 17th December |
Laurel’s Update
Children in years 1-5 have done brilliantly this week, completing assessments in reading, writing and maths. The results of these will be discussed in my termly meetings with every teacher and phase leaders to plan the best provision for your children for the coming months.
Our children have still enjoyed a full and rich curriculum which has included: Reception and Year 3 classes visiting the Secret Garden for Forest School, year 5 classes learning the fundamentals of the collaborative card game: bridge and extra curricular experiences from football to our first Science and Maths clubs at Channing School.
Next week is anti-bullying week with special assemblies, drama workshops and lessons planned. Children are invited to wear odd socks on Monday through to Friday.
While the world’s focus has been on leadership at COP 26 in Glasgow, Brookfield has become one of the first schools to sign the Camden School Climate Charter. https://www.camdencca.org/school-climate-charter/ This is a declaration of the climate and ecological emergency and commits us to actions to be zero-carbon by 2030. If any parents have expertise and/or enthusiasm for this project please get in touch.
On 30th November from 5.30-6.30pm, Brookfield will be hosting our first ‘Meet the parents’ event for prospective Reception children for September 2022. I am looking for 3 or more families who would be prepared to be part of a panel to represent Brookfield – please let me know if you and your child(ren) could volunteer.
We look forward to seeing parents, carers and younger siblings at the workshops and coffee mornings listed above in the bottom hall. Free tea and coffee available!
Covid-19 Update
We have had a small number of coronavirus cases in school this week, mainly of children testing positive after their parents have been unwell. Having spoken to Public Health England, although we do not currently meet the threshold for further measures, they do advise that if someone in a household tests positive, all members should get a PCR test and test daily using Lateral Flow Tests for 7 days. If these are negative, children can continue to attend school.
Here is the latest update from Camden
Monday 15th November – Odd Socks Day
We will be kicking off anti bullying week on Monday with odd socks day. Please encourage your child to wear odd socks or tights.
Parent and Carer Workshops
Join us for our Early Reading Parents Workshop Friday 19th November – Come to meet Seren and Abigail and find out about how we teach your children to read. This is a great opportunity to ask any questions you may have. There will also be an exclusive sneak preview of our new phonics scheme. We hope to see you there!
Many thanks to everyone who attended this morning’s oracy workshop. The session included some tips for developing children’s language and communication through dialogic reading and sustained conversations, which led on to some great discussion. If you were unable to attend the workshop but would like to know more, you can access the slides below.
Music Update
The Junior Choir are sounding fantastic. We are excited to be practising songs to sing at the Winter Fair on Saturday 11th December. There are still a few places left – please email me if you are interested.
Infant Choir (for Years 1 and 2) will be starting on Monday 22nd November. We will practise during the school day from 2 – 2.20pm every Monday. Please email me here if your child would like to be a member.
Camden Music Hub partners, Conductive Music, are offering FREE online afterschool clubs, where students can learn to make their own musical video games or do music technology.
Have a look here to find out if your child might be interested https://preview.mailerlite.com/o5e1s0/1815265980373276510/w9d7/
The clubs start on November 17th for the video games club and November 18th for the Music technology club.
PE Update
This term all year groups will be learning and playing hockey.
Football teams update: Last Tuesday saw Brookfield’s boys and girls football team take on their first 3 fixtures in this years league campaign. Both teams got off to a great start with the girls winning 1 of their games, and the boys winning 2. Next Tuesday both teams are back at Castlehaven from 4:00pm. As there are only 2 fixtures, games will be finished earlier than normal at 4.40pm.
Year 3 Forest School
We had big smiles and wonderful, natural creations from Heather at Forest School on Thursday afternoon! From theatres to spirals to life-size stick men, we had an amazing time exploring all that nature has to offer, working as teams to create some beautiful artwork. Thank you to the Secret Garden team for having us!
The Playroom – French & Spanish Lessons
We are a new Languages business working in collaboration with The Toy Project in Archway, teaching Spanish and French for KS1 and KS2 (ages 5-11) every Monday from 3 30pm at the Playroom.
Love Languages Café: – We are 2 highly qualified teachers with +22 years experience, DBS and first aid certificates. We teach French and Spanish through cross-curricular and cultural activities. We use song, dance and key phonics focusing on Oracy skills at KS1, and at KS2 we continue to build the solid foundations of language application, focusing on vocabulary retention and preparation for KS3. The sessions are creative, challenging and tailor-made to your child’s needs.
Please pop along on Monday after school for a mini taster session or for more information get in contact with us at lovelanguagescafe@gmail.com.
Food Bank Aid
We have a fabulous talk coming up given by Naomi Russell about Food Bank Aid on Monday evening 15th November at 7pm in the room or 7.30pm on Zoom. Please do take this opportunity to hear from her about how she set up this charity. You can either come in person to 10A South Grove and the price of £5 includes a glass of wine, or join via Zoom from your own home for £3.
Street Safe
StreetSafe is a non-crime anonymous online reporting tool to collect data to find out where women feel unsafe and why.(www.police.uk/streetsafe)
Members of the public reporting online can choose which contributing factors may be making them feel unsafe – Environmental, such as the area being poorly lit, or Behavioral, such as verbal harassment. This indicates where improvements can be made. Users can submit demographic information even though the reporting tool is anonymous. Data from StreetSafe is uploaded onto a system where police officers across the country can access it. The public are being asked to go onto www.Police.uk/streetsafe and record incidents (non-Crime related).
Thank you for taking the time to read this, it is an important step in improving our areas, reducing Anti-social Behaviour and improving trust and confidence in the Police from the public.
Please use 101 to report non-emergency crimes or 999 in an emergency
PTA NEWS
*** Winter Fair ***
Get out your diaries and find a pen! The Winter Fair is happening.
Saturday 11th December, 12-3pm
It will be the first fair we’ve managed to host in school for a very long time, so we are very excited. Your class reps will soon have more info on how everyone can get stuck in. They will be in touch with you. We’d love to have everyone’s help.
If you are keen to help out on something specific, please do get in touch with me. Email me or find me in the playground (ask around if you don’t know me and come over to say ‘hi’). Let’s see what we can do!
Thanks everyone. 29 sleeps to go! Leanne (leanne_rivers@yahoo.co.uk)
Events, Events, Events – Coffee morning, clothing swap
We have lots of exciting events coming up in the next few weeks. If you would like to meet some more people in the Brookfield community, get a pre loved snowman jumper, find some Xmas gifts or just have a cup of coffee we’ve got it covered! We hope you’ll have fun joining in & coming to them!
On Friday 26th of November, come and have a coffee, hot chocolate or croissant before school in the infant playground from 8.45am. Then from 9am join us in the bottom hall for a parent and carer coffee morning. You can just come, have a chat and meet some other Brookfield families.
We will be talking a little about the PTA & where your money goes from our fund raising events. We would also love to hear from you with any questions & suggestions.
After school on the same Friday (26th November) we will be holding a Winter Themed Clothing Swap. This time it will be held in the Junior Playground.
Start digging out you old or outgrown Xmas jumpers or winter themed outfits! Again it will be no cash, just drop and browse / collect. Donations welcome, but no pressure.
A Bake Sale will run alongside, so we would love it if you could get baking for it! (No nuts please)
We are also planning a Brookfield families Parent & Carers Pub Evening, more details in the next newsletter.
F.A.B. Film Fest
We’re really excited to announce this week’s launch of Brookfield’s Fab Film Fest 2021/2 which we have set up with the Fab Arts Committee. The most ambitious Fab Arts project yet will see every class – from Reception to Year 6 – make a film with participation in every aspect of production, from the initial ideas stage to planning, camera, sound, editing and music. The finished films will be premiered at a VIP screening for the families at the end of the year.
The PTA’s hard-earned money has once again made up the majority of the budget, with a further 4K being raised by the school, which means it’s going to be an amazing introduction to film for all the children at Brookfield!
We will shortly be approaching parents in the Film and TV industries in the school community to get involved (be it hands-on or presentations/talks etc) so please get in touch if you’re interested…
Clio, Tabs and the Fab Arts Committee:
cliodavid@me.com
tabithadoyle@hotmail.com