Lord Mayor's Design Awards
We are delighted to announce that we were winners (joint with Simonside Primary) in the Education Category of the Lord Mayor's Design Awards. The judging panel all agreed that 'Havannah First School would be a lovely place to learn'. The judges 'applauded the project team for securing a high quality design while still meeting the Governments technical specification for school buildings'. It was noted that 'the ethos of the school has permeated the layout of the school and its spaces.'
We agree with the judges that our school is a lovely and happy place to learn and we are really proud of our school building and grounds, but more proud of the wonderful people who fill it and make it so special every day!
Transition Arrangements for Y4 Children
Parents and Carers of children in Year 4 will hear from the middle schools soon, if not already, about transition arrangements.
Children going to GEMS have three days of transition from Wednesday 3rd July - Friday 5th July. Children transferring to Great Park Academy have one day of transition on Friday 12th July. On these days, the children will visit their new schools and have the opportunity to meet the staff and other children from other first schools. We have no control over these days and we would ideally prefer them to be at the same time and for the same length. The date for GPA academy was shared with us last week for the first time and we were concerned that it clashed with our open afternoon. We have asked GPA if it was possible to rearrange the day but we have been told that this is the only time they could visit for the whole day. We will make sure that children who are transitioning to GPA have an opportunity to have their own open afternoon in the last week of term so that their parents and carers can visit them here and look at the progress in their books.
In school transition arrangements for R - Y3
While the majority of our Y4 children are at GEMS, we will be having our own transition time in school. Children will all have the opportunity to visit their new classes and meet their new teachers. As well as visits to new classes, our teaching staff and support staff will have meetings where they can talk about the children and make sure that important information is passed on.
Starting a New Key Stage
The biggest jumps in a first school are from Reception to Year 1 and from Y2 to Y3. This is because at both of these points, the children start a new stage of the curriculum and at and are taking big steps in terms of expectations and independence. At Havannah First School, children also move to new parts of the building at these stages too. For these reasons, we are holding transition meetings for parents and carers of children who are currently in Reception and in Year 2. You will have the chance to visit new classrooms in Y1 and in Y3, meet new staff and hear about some of the changes. We hope that this will help you to prepare your children so that they can make a smooth transition into the new Key Stage in September. These dates are on the attached dates list.
Gosforth Schools' Trust Photo Competition
We loved the entries which were sent in and all of the children who contributed will get a prize from school.
Here are some of our inquisitive learners looking for the signs of spring in this picture!
There were lots of flowers, blossoms and trees in the photos we received.
We had to choose a school winner to enter into the finals of the GST competition and we have chosen Ruben's lambs. Well done, Ruben!
The Ducklings
While we are on the theme of spring...
The duckling project is always a favourite time of year in school and this year was no exception. Everyone was captivated by the four new friends we nurtured from eggs to feathery, noisy, swimming ducklings.
Thanks to the Year 4 Duck Squad who had the less glamorous job of cleaning the cage and taking care of the ducklings
Our ducklings have now gone back to the farm and perhaps we will have some of their eggs next spring!
Parking
We are well aware of the challenges regarding parking around school. We have a responsibility to make our car park safe but we cannot manage the traffic off site and therefore we depend on you to park legally and safely in the streets around school. We regularly receive phone calls from residents who report that our parents and carers have parked inconsiderately or dangerously. Hopefully, the path between school and the Park and Ride facility will be completed soon and this will help. We will continue to pursue this.
Phonics in Year 1
All children in Year 1 will take part in the phonics screening check later this term. This check is for all children at the end of Y1 to assess whether they have met the expected standard in their ability to decode and blend sounds.
Mrs Jones and Mrs McMillan are having a meeting for parents and carers of children in Year 1 to explain the process and give you some ideas of how you can support your child at home.
This will take place on Tuesday 14th May at 5pm in school. Please come along if you can. Thank you.
The Summer of Kindness
We are having a summer of kindness at Havannah First School!
We have a team of 20 Kindness Ambassadors (2 from every class) who are helping to make this a summer term full of kindness. They have helped to draw up a whole school kindness charter and are choosing children in their own classes who deserve a certificate each week.
We can already see this having a positive impact in school and we are looking forward to seeing many random acts of kindness and everyone working together to make sure that we are all happy at school.
We will keep you up to date with our work!
Planted Areas on Site
At pick up and drop off times, please ensure that your children are not playing on the planted areas around school, especially the courtyard. Some of the plants are just growing back for the spring and summer and we have noticed that some have already been damaged. Please help us to keep our site looking beautiful as well as teaching our children how to respect nature and the environment. Thank you.
Thank you
A message from Mrs Walker:
I just wanted to reach out to say thank you for all of your efforts with the Outdoor Bingo game which the PTFA organised. We have been overwhelmed at the generosity of parents and also amazed at how some of the objects managed to find their way into school as they were not easy items to transport!
As a staff, we went out last week to tidy up the area and position the items in the correct place, ready to be used by and enjoyed by the pupils. A few of the smaller items are still being housed in the shed until we next go outside and for safety reasons as well.
Each class teacher tried their best to tick off the donations on their bingo card. However, we appreciate that some donations came in and it wasn't always communicated to class teachers or the office who had brought in a certain item. There was no clear winner with a full house, therefore, we thought it only fair that each class should be rewarded for all their efforts with an extra hour of play time in the area. This will take place at some point between now and the end of the year in addition to any sessions which were already planned for curriculum purposes. We are sure that the children will have great fun playing out there.
We will still greatly welcome any donations of a similar nature throughout the year. I anticipate that once the good weather hits combined with the approaching bank holidays, some people may find themselves unearthing more outdoor learning treasures when sorting out their own shed or garage!
Once again, on behalf of all the staff and children at Havannah First School, a big thank you!
Eat Smart
The Eat Smart project has started this week and our Waste Warriors have been doing an amazing job of collecting and weighing our food wast every day.
There is a homework job coming home for everyone next week - it will be on ParentMail so keep an eye on the app.
Next week is planning week so we are looking forward to hearing how the Waste Warriors think we can reduce waste. We will keep you posted.
Football Team at Regent Farm
Mr Burnett and Mrs Blakey took a team to Regent Farm to play against other first schools in Gosforth. We won one, lost one and drew one!
The team were amazing and played together really well in every game. We were really proud of them and are looking forward to more games in the future.
Well done, everyone!