Year 3/4 Football Success
Year 3 and 4 pupils put in an excellent performance at their football competition on Friday 16th January, showing great determination, teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the event. A huge well done to Diesel, Adebayo, Fredy, Zayan, Desmond, Godfred and Geoffrey, who represented Porters Grange extremely well. The team achieved a strong overall record, winning 5 games, drawing 4, and narrowly losing 6 against tough opposition. An extra special mention goes to Geoffrey, who was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the competition for his outstanding effort and attitude. Excellent teamwork was shown by all involved — well done, team!
Fantastic Bowling Performance
The bowling team delivered a fabulous effort at their competition on Tuesday 20th January, demonstrating focus, teamwork and enthusiasm from start to finish. Leeland, Oscar, Ayaan, Melis, Lilly and Lilly May worked brilliantly together and achieved an impressive 461 points as a team, a fantastic result. A special congratulations goes to Melis, who was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the competition for an outstanding performance. Well done to all involved for representing Porters Grange so positively.
Beach Visit
On Tuesday, Seahorse Class enjoyed a fantastic visit to the beach, and what a memorable time they had! We were greeted by a fresh, breezy morning that certainly blew the cobwebs away and set the tone for an exciting day of learning and exploration. We began indoors with some important teaching about staying safe at the beach. The children talked about what they might see and experience and learned new vocabulary, including different types of shells and place names such as tides, coast, and estuary, discussing what these words mean. Afterwards, we ventured down to the beach where the children explored with great enthusiasm. They carefully collected items that were special to them and later worked together to organise their beach treasures into groups, discussing similarities and differences. This led to some lovely conversations and thoughtful observations. A particularly exciting moment came when one child discovered a partially open oyster. The children were absolutely amazed, and this sparked a brilliant discussion about what is living, dead, and never alive. To keep warm, we finished the day with energetic beach games played in teams. The children pretended to be jumping sand fleas, fish, and crabs as they completed a mini assault course—lots of laughter and movement all around! We ended our visit with a calm and mindful moment by the waves, taking time to enjoy the sounds of the sea and the fresh seaside smells. It was a truly enriching morning full of learning, teamwork, curiosity, and joy.
Nursery
Reception
This week we have been learning about odd and even numbers beginning to understand that a pair is two and noticing that some quantities will have an odd one left over with no partner. In Literacy the children have been practising their writing and now have their own phonics writing book.
REMINDER: Please continue to read at home regularly and bring reading diaries and books in daily. Please name all hats, gloves and scarves.
Year 1
Year 1 have been very busy this week. As part of our geography lesson, we found out that Banjo has gone off on another adventure. He is now in Brazil, which is in South America. In English, Mr Sesniak’s group has been working hard with their writing rules to ensure their sentences are written correctly. Mrs Hallifax’s group have worked hard to develop their fine motor skills. They are now looking at the letter families to ensure they can write them correctly. In maths, we have practiced our number bonds to 10 and looked at numbers 10 to 20 and how we describe them.
REMINDER: Beach Days with Mrs Britton.
- Shell Class – 3rd February
- Pebble Class – 10th February
Year 2
We have come to the end of the unit of money and moved on to multiplication and division in maths. One group for English has had the focus of looking at features of a report and the other have been reading the story of Little Red Riding Hood and sentence structure. In science, the children have been learning about staying healthy and recognising how germs can spread easily! Seahorse Class had their first visit to the beach- they explored the area and found lots of different types of shells and played beach games to keep them active in the colder weather! Computing has been fun using Chrome Music Lab!
REMINDER: Oyster Class beach day is the 27th January. Please provide your child with appropriate clothing including scarves, hats, gloves and warm shoes/ welly boots.
Year 3
We have started our new unit in English which is narrative. We read The Necklace Of Raindrops and mapped out the story. Later on in the week, we thought of our own alternative versions. Next week, we will write them as a story. In Science, we looked at friction. We carried out an investigation to see which surface a toy car would travel the fastest over and recorded our findings.
REMINDER: Please continue to practise weekly spellings and times tables.
Year 4
We have been continuing our topic on multiplication and division in maths; this week we have been focussing on multiplying and dividing 2- and 3-digit numbers. In English, we have been researching the artist Frida Kahlo and beginning to plan to write our own fact files. We have also been looking at the story Amazing Grace and writing about the events in the book. In science we have been continuing our topic on states of matter, this week we have completed writing about our viscosity experiment.
REMINDER: Please continue to read at home regularly at home and sign reading diaries. PE kits must be in school Tuesday and Thursday.
Year 5
In English this week year 5 have been learning how to write persuasive letters and have been exploring our use of verb tenses and modal verbs, looking at how we can include these within our writing when we write our own persuasive letters next week. In Maths, we have been continuing with our multiplication and division unit and have been working hard on mastering multiplying 3- and 4-digit numbers by a 2-digit number. In Science, we have been learning about what fair tests are and we have completed an enquiry into understanding what a fair test is.
REMINDER: Our PE lessons are now on Wednesday and Thursdays, please ensure your child has a suitable kit within school, especially as the weather has now become much colder. Reading diaries should be signed as much as possible and remember to continue to practice your times table fluency on TTRS and Maths with a Mouse!
Year 6
In English, we have had a great week writing our own Ancient Greek myths. We have been really impressed with their description of gods, goddesses and monsters. In maths, we are continuing to focus on accurate arithmetic skills, including times tables knowledge. It ss essential for all our fractions, decimals, percentages and measurement units. In badminton, we have been focussing on accurately returning overhead, forehand and backhand shots so we can build longer rallies. In DT, we have used a budget to plan our ingredients for our own healthy vegetable and pasta dishes. Plus, we have smelt and tasted some herbs for flavouring our meals (sage, oregano, basil and parsley).
REMINDER: 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
Online Safety
Roblox is hugely popular with children, offering millions of user-created games and social experiences. This #WakeUpWednesday guide explains how the platform differs from traditional video games, and why its scale, self-rating system and automated moderation can expose young users to inappropriate content or unsafe interactions. Aimed at parents and educators, the guide explores concerns including online communication, in-game spending and compulsive play. It also shares practical advice on parental controls, limiting chat and encouraging open conversations, helping adults support children to enjoy Roblox more safely and responsibly.
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
Reporting Your Child’s Absence
To help us keep our attendance records accurate and ensure the safety of all pupils, 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. Requesting Absence for Family Time, Holidays or Travel We appreciate that families sometimes need to spend time together or may have opportunities to travel. However, please remember that for your child any planned absence from school—including holidays, family events or travel—requires an Absence Request Form to be completed in advance. You can access the form in two ways:
- Paper form: available from the school office
- Online form: available on our school website
Please note that any absence of more than 5 school days may result in a penalty notice, if supporting evidence is not provided, or if the evidence does not meet the criteria for an exceptional circumstance. Approval for a school absence is not guaranteed, and each request is considered individually in line with local authority guidance.
Thank you for helping us promote strong attendance and minimise lost learning time for our pupils.
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 1
Monday
- Beef Bologaniase with Spaghetti
- Spinach & Pesto Sauce with Spaghetti
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Broccoli & Sweetcorn
- Chocolate & Courgette Sponge
Tuesday
- Thai Green Curry with Steamed Rice
- Vegetable Pasanda Curry with Steamed Rice
- Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce
- Steamed Peas & Cauliflower
- Vanilla Ice Cream
Wednesday
- BBQ Style Hunters Roast Chicken with Roast Potatoes & Gravy
- Mac N’ Cheese with Garlic Bread
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Carrots & Seasonal Greens
- Banana Flapjack
Thursday
- Chilli Beef Taco with Cajun Sweet Potato Wedges
- Vegetarian Chilli Taco with Cajun Sweet Potato Wedges
- Pasta with Squash & Tomato Sauce
- Roasted Carrots & Sweetcorn
- Lemon Drizzle Cake
Friday
- Fish Fingers, Chips & Ketchup
- Vegan Vegetable Fingers with Chips
- Baked Potato with Baked Beans
- Baked Beans & Peas
- Maryland Cookie
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."