ART AND DT WEEK:
On the last week of Autumn term, we completed our Art and DT week! Each year group focused on a particular project, building up our skills each day to create some wonderful masterpieces! Toy tents were made in year 5 and we went down to Reception to show off our wonderful structure making skills! Year 3 created exquisite cityscapes, whilst Year 2 were influenced by Queen Elizabeth and created seascapes based upon this - they were even filmed by Art UK! We can't wait for our next Art / DT week!
ECO-SCHOOL
We encourage our children to take pride in their local environment, including at school. As part of our work in Science and also to support our drive to be an Eco-school, our Year 4 children became litter pickers! Armed with equipment to keep them safe, they headed out around the school grounds, gathered litter and disposed of it appropriately. We think lots of it has blown in from the surrounding shops, but we all agreed that we should play a part in keeping our community litter free.
SPORTS ROUND UP
The cold weather hasn't stopped our sport provision in school - children are enjoying their 2 hours of PE per week as we teach gymnastics, handball and hockey in KS2, building on Ball Skills in KS1.
Key Stage 2 children represented Belgrave brilliantly at a Change4Life event at Trentham Academy last week. They took part in a range of sports event all aimed at giving children the opportunity to be more active.
Congratulations to our girls AND boys football team who have both convincingly won their first matches of 2024 against Stoke Minster! The girls set the ball rolling with a 2-0 win and this was picked up by the boys who continued our winning streak with a 10-2 win! Amazing team efforts from everyone! We are incredibly proud of each of them.
YEAR 4 - LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Year 4 have been on a trip to the Mitchell Arts Centre, where they learnt about the history of the theatre, its connections to Reginald Mitchell and had the opportunity to sing, act and dance on stage, thinking about the question, 'What makes me unique?' The children reflected on themselves and how very special each one of them is. Their confidence grew by the minute as they heard all about how they were performing where many famous dancers had stood and they loved having an exclusive backstage tour down the 'walk of fame'.
SILVER AWARDS
Silver Awards are gained in school for being awarded 200 Dojo points or more during the school year. Just some of the children who have achieved this milestone recently are: Ahdeen, Ameerah, Awa-Maryam, Kaheesha and Mustafa from I4 as well as Muhammad Ibrahim Imtiaz from J4. Well done to all who have made it so far!
ATTENDANCE
We are still on that journey to reach a whole school attendance target of above 95%. We would like to say a huge thank you to the families who are working with us to ensure the children attend school as much as possible. We are still closely monitoring individual attendance rates and the attendance clinic is very busy each week.
Could we remind you that any requests for leave in school time need to be made by completing a request form from the school office. However, completing the form does not mean authorisation and we discourage any absence during the school term due to the impact on learning and progress. Please read the full attendance policy for further details. Requests of more than 5 days leave of absence from school, are likely to incur a fixed penalty fine of £60 per pupil, per parent. We would like to thank our families who have worked within our policy guidelines and only requested 5 days or fewer.
The Government have recently released their attendance campaign posters which we have been asked to share with you. These will be sent out via Class Dojo over the next couple of weeks.
Our new attendance certificates are nearly here! We know they have taken a lot longer than planned, but we are sure they will be worth the wait.
We are also starting a new reward incentive to promote attendance further. The 'Belgrave Premier League' Attendance board is being set up in the school hall. Each week, the classes will 'play' against each other and the class with the highest attendance in each fixture will win 3 points (with 1 point for a draw). There will be a league table to keep a track of the points won and a presentation to the class with the most points at the end of the year. We are hoping the class competition element will inspire the children even further with their attendance at school.
TOP PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN STOKE-ON-TRENT!
We were recently named amongst the top primary schools in Stoke-on-Trent. You can read the full article here.
MESSAGE FOR PARENTS
Please ensure that your child/children are not using the play equipment at the end of the day. We have seen some children climbing on goal posts and climbing frames, putting them at risk of harm. The children are parents responsibility once they leave class teachers at the end of the day.
PRAYER CORNER
This month’s prayer, about the year ahead, has been written by our Year 6 Chaplains:
Dear God,
Thank you for 2023. We have had so much fun with people around us. 2023 was a really good year because we had family and friends to make us happy when we were upset and to keep us company. We hope this year will be the best year that we have ever had. If there are any ups or downs, help us keep head our heads up and be the best version of us.
In 2024, may our school be full of kindness and love. Thank you, God for everything you have done for us in 2023.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Amen
DATES FOR THE DIARY
- Monday 5th February: NSPCC Number Day
- Monday 5th February: R1 trip to Peak Wildlife Park
- Tuesday 6th February: Safer Internet Day
- Wednesday 7th February: Year 2 visit to Barlaston Downs
- Thursday 8th February: Year 5&6 Active 60 Festival
- Friday 9th February: R2 trip to Peak Wildlife Park
- Friday 9th February: Last day of term for pupils
- Monday 19th February: First day of term for pupils
- Thursday 22nd February: Farm talks for Nursery and Year 5