Outdoor Learning
Despite the very rainy weather, the children in Reception and Year 1 made the most of their outdoor learning time and had a fantastic experience embracing the elements. The session began with the children practising how to get in and out of wet suits independently—an important life skill that they tackled with enthusiasm. Once ready, they headed straight for the puddles, exploring them fully by creating the biggest splashes they could! The children then searched for shelter from the rain, prompting thoughtful discussion and imaginative play. With the Year 1 children, we talked about why certain materials are effective at keeping us dry, helping them to link their real-life experiences to scientific thinking. Reception children focused on exploring floating and sinking, using a range of resources to investigate. One container had a small hole, which led to great discussions about why boats float and what causes them to sink. Year 1 children extended their learning further by investigating how to move floating objects through water without touching them. This turned into an exciting race! The children showed wonderful creativity, with some using a spade to push the water forward, making their object travel across the surface. It was a joyful, hands-on session full of curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork. What a great time we had learning together—rain and all!
Sitting Volleyball Success!
Students from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 recently took part in a Sitting Volleyball competition and showed outstanding effort throughout the day. All of the children had a fantastic time, demonstrating teamwork, resilience and enthusiasm. They were involved in some impressive rallies, showcasing their developing skills and sportsmanship. Well done to everyone who participated for making it such an enjoyable and successful experience!
Audio Stories
At Porters Grange, we know that reading for pleasure goes far beyond books. It can include magazines, newspapers, tablets—and now audio stories too! Nursery, Reception and Year One have proudly introduced Tonie audio boxes into their continuous provision, giving children an exciting new way to enjoy stories. Each week, children vote for the story they would like to listen to, learning to listen to one another, respect different choices, and understand that every vote matters. The most popular story wins! This week, Reception voted for a Porters Grange core classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 🐛📖. Audio stories are a fantastic way to support reading for pleasure, exposing children to a rich range of vocabulary and a wonderful variety of stories—while fostering engagement, independence and a love of storytelling.
Nursery
This week we have been enjoying lots of sensory and malleable play, loving getting messy, having fun! We have also enjoyed looking very closely at our favourite stories, working with our teachers to draw and ‘write’ about them. We are also continuing to learn lots of new songs and rhymes.
Please remember if you child is absent from nursery to inform the office. Thank you
Reception
This week reception have been learning the concept of doubling and that this means ‘twice as many’! They have enjoyed playing games such as dominoes, where the children can match the same number of dots. The children have also had great fun making biscuits and eating them. They measured the ingredients and learnt how to follow a recipe. The children have also visited the school library and enjoyed looking at a wide variety of books.
REMINDER: Please remember to read regularly with your child at home and sign their reading record. Please also remember to bring in a named hat, scarf and gloves for the colder weather. Hopefully not much longer! Please can we ask that children do not bring in toys from home, as they can easily become lost or broken.
Letter sent home this week
Year 1
Year 1 have been very busy writing dictated sentences to support their oracy skills. We have been looking at our writing rules, nouns and proper nouns and using them in independent sentences. In maths, the children have been working extremely hard to identify the tens and ones in numbers. For example, 25 has 2 tens and 5 ones. In geography, the children have continued to practice their continents song, and oceans song. Also, we found out that Banjo is going to North America next. He is visiting the United States of America.
REMINDER: Please make sure PE kits are in school for Mondays. Read at home please. The more they read, the better they get at spotting the digraphs and trigraphs and finding tricky words too. We will do our Winter Walk very soon. We will let you know of the new, new date!
Letters sent home this week
Year 2
This week in English Mrs Britton and Mrs Van Den Berg’s group have been learning about the Gingerbread Man story, looking at sentence structure and repetitive refrains. Mrs Head’s group have been writing a report about the Great Fire of London. In maths, the children have started a new unit of multiplication and division, looking at how many items are in each group and using stem sentences to explain the total. Science has been fun, engaging in some healthy eating role play and discussing our healthy food journals. The children spoke about how they could make some improvements to their current diets! Unfortunately Oyster Class's beach day has had to be postponed due to the weather. We are hoping to reschedule this for after half term.
REMINDER: Please remember to read with your child as frequently as possible, making a note in their reading records.
Year 3
Year 3 have had a busy week writing stories! They created a story map at the start of the week and used their imagination to write a story based on The Necklace of Raindrops. In Science, they looked at friction. They discussed what friction is and carried out an experiment to see what surface a car travelled on best.
REMINDER: Please ensure that spellings and times tables are learnt weekly.
Year 4
This week year four have been continuing to learn different methods for division, this has been quite tricky but the children have persevered and used their times table knowledge to help them. In PE, we have been learning different jumps and balances using benches and stools.
REMINDER: Please remember to read regularly with your child at home and sign their reading record. PE is Tuesday and Thursday, kits should already be in class.
Year 5
This week in English, we have been writing our own persuasive letters – using various writing features, such as flattery of the reader; emotive language and a formal register. In maths, we finished our unit looking at multiplying and dividing, using our skills to complete some word problems and demonstrate our understanding. In PE, we have been completing heart racing fitness circuits, getting our blood pumping and improving our cardiovascular health.
REMINDER: Remember PE is Wednesday and Thursday this half term. Please ensure your child has a suitable kit with them for these days. Please strive to read with your child, and record this in their home school diaries.
Year 6
We have started a new unit in English – writing balanced arguments. It’s a great way to think about both viewpoints then make your own decision. This week, we have focused on whether it was better for Ancient Greeks to live in Athens or Sparta. In maths, we have continued to improve our arithmetic skills by revising the key addition, subtraction, multiplication and division strategies taught in years 3, 4 and 5. Octopus class have been to Lidl to buy their ingredients and have spent the week cooking their own healthy, budget vegetable pasta dishes. We hope you have enjoyed their delicious meals (and that you are being offered more help with cooking at home now!). Stingray class will be shopping and cooking next week.
STINGRAY CLASS - if your child hasn’t brought in their pot for cooking, please remind them. Homework club is available for any children that would like support on Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes, and homework is due on Thursdays. PE is on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Music
Diary Dates:
- Southend Makes Music – Palace Theatre - 10th February – KS2 Choir
- Infant Music Festival – 12th March – Selected children from Year 2
- Junior Music Festival – Cliffs Pavilion - 8th June – KS2 Choir
Instrumental Lessons Tuesday Guitar - Mr Brown Wednesday Guitar – Mr Elliott Wednesday Keyboard – Mr Hockey Wednesday Drums – Mr Peters Keyboard lessons resumed this week. All other lessons will commence next week
French
Students have had a great week concentrating on things like, in year 2, learning about spring, and in year 6, telling the story of a falling out at school. Year five have also enjoyed learning about careers.
PE & Sport
A huge ‘well done’ to the following children who represented Porters at Sitting Volleyball this week. Ayaan, Lia, Nivvrithi and Ryan from year 3, Dylan from year 4, Deborah from year 5, Jad and Aayansh from year 6. Brilliant effort from all of you!
Online Safety
Children and young people are increasingly turning to social media for mental health advice, but much of what they encounter online is unverified, oversimplified or misleading. This guide explores why platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become go-to sources, and how misuse of clinical language and viral trends can distort children and young people’s understanding of mental health. Aimed at parent and educators, it offers clear, expert-led strategies to counter misinformation. The guide looks at topics such as encouraging open conversations, identifying reliable sources, and strengthening school–home collaboration. Use this information to build young people’s critical thinking, resilience and confidence in seeking appropriate professional help when needed.
Second Hand Uniform
Our Uniform shop is located within the front reception area of the school and is open Monday-Friday 8.30am - 4.00pm. All items are 50p each (cash only please). We always have a good selection of skirts, trousers, jumpers, tops, dresses and P.E items. Please ask at the office to point you in the right direction.
Donations
We always welcome school uniform donations for us to sell at our school uniform shop. Could we please ask that the clothes are in good, clean condition. All items can be dropped off at the school office between 8.30am - 4.00pm. Thank you so much for doing this for the school as it helps our parents out tremendously.
Attendance
Did you know…?
To meet the government’s attendance expectation of 96%, a child can have no more than 8 days of absence across the entire school year. We would like to remind parents and carers that if you child has had more than 8 days of absence at this point in the year is a cause for concern. If this applies to your child, our Attendance Team will be in touch. This may include an attendance letter and, where needed, an Attendance Support Meeting to help improve attendance going forward. Reaching 96% attendance is achievable—if absences do not exceed 8 days in total for the whole year.
Thank you for your continued support in helping your child attend school every day.
Reporting Your Child’s Absence
Each day the school must record the reasons for a child’s absence, to help us keep our attendance records accurate and ensure the safety of all pupils, unfortunately we are still not receiving messages from parents explaining your child’s absence. Please remember to contact the school every day your child is absent. You can do this in any of the following ways:
- Call the school office
- Email us
- Whatsapp message
- Pop into the office on the next day your child returns to school
It’s important that we know the reason for each absence, and daily contact helps us keep our safeguarding processes up to date. Please be aware that if we do not receive contact from you, or if we have any concerns about a child’s absence, a member of staff may carry out a home visit as part of our safeguarding procedures.
Thank you for working with us to support strong attendance and ensure all our pupils are safe and ready to learn.
Contact us
Please ensure the school is kept informed of the circumstances for any absence, that way you will know if an absence has been authorised or unauthorised. If you need to talk to someone for advice on a planned absence or about support with difficulties around pupil attendance or punctuality, please do not hesitate to contact the Attendance Team. You will need to speak to, Mrs Dowd our Attendance Administrator or Mrs D Morris our Assistant Principal and Senior Leader for Attendance, you can also pop in to the school office to request to speak to one of us face to face, alternatively you call the school or send us an email to attendance@pgps.porticoacademytrust.co.uk we are here and we are always happy to help!
Thank you for your continued support in helping every child achieve excellent attendance.
School Lunch
Week 2
Monday
- Grilled Cumberland Sausage with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
- Vegan Sausage with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
- Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
- Steamed Peas & Carrots
- Chocolate & Pear Sponge
Tuesday
- Beef Korma with Steamed Rice
- Vegan Chickpea & Spinach Korma with Garlic & Coriander Naan Bread
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans or Salmon
- Spiced Roasted Cauliflower & Broccoli
- Apple & Carrot Flapjack
Wednesday
- Roast Leg of Pork with Gravy
- Vegan Spiced Squash & Potato Samosa
- Pasta with Tomato & Vegetable Sauce
- Roast Potatoes, Broccoli & Carrots
- Fruit Jelly
Thursday
- Spiced Tex Mex Chicken & Baked Wedges
- Roasted Vegetable Fajita & Baked Wedges
- Pasta with Squash & Tomato Sauce
- Corn on the Cob & Roasted Carrots
- Homemade Strawberry Cheesecake
Friday
- Fish Fingers, Chips & Ketchup
- Vegan Quorn Nuggets with Chips & Ketchup
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Baked Beans & Peas
- Vanilla Ice Cream
Served Daily
- Pabulum Salad Bar
- Fresh Fruit
- Yoghurt
- Jelly
Cost of Living
Click here to access cost of living advice from Southend City Council. It contains information on housing support, energy cost advice and benefits and support for those with children.
Credits:
Created with images by Fabio Principe - "A diary open with instruments for writing. Pencil, eraser and notebook on white background. Close up of a wooden pen orange and black, an eraser green and a booklet black. " • Ekaterina Pokrovsky - "French national flag" • Pungu x - "Username and password (Login) with biometric identification fingerprint scanner, encryption for technology cyber security internet and networking system. Businessman hand typing notebook (Laptop)." • Pixel-Shot - "School uniform on color background" • Tetiana - "Generative AI picture of delicious food meal in school canteen" • Vitalii Vodolazskyi - "Cost of living written in a notebook and calculations of home finances."