Winter Coat Drive
With the nights drawing in and the Winter fast approaching could we please ask, if you have a coat that your child has grown out of could you possibly donate it to our 'Coat Drive' here at Porters Grange Primary School so another child could benefit from using it. Could coats please be of good, clean condition and if you could please bring them to the School office it will be very much appreciated.
Thank you
Diary Dates
December
- Monday 16th December - Nursery Christmas performance
- Tuesday 17th December - Reception Christmas performance
- Wednesday 18th December - Year 1&2 Christmas performance
- Friday 20th - INSET Day
- Monday 23rd - Friday 3rd January - Christmas Break
January
- Wednesday 15th - Year 6 Height & Weight check
- Wednesday 22nd - Reception Reading Workshop
February
- Monday 17th - Friday 21st - Half Term
- Monday 24th - INSET Day
April
- Monday 7th - Thursday 17th - Easter Break
- Friday 18th - Good Friday
- Monday 21st - Bank Holiday Monday
May
- Monday 5th - Bank Holiday Monday
- Monday 12th - Thursday 15th - KS2 SATS Week
- Wednesday 21st - Reception Height & Weight, vision & hearing checks
- Monday 26th - Bank Holiday Monday
- Tuesday 27th - Friday 30th - Half Term
June
- Monday 2nd - INSET Day
- Monday 9th - Friday 13th - Phonics Screening Check
- Monday 16th - Wednesday 18th - Year 6 Residential
July
Wednesday 23rd - Last day of term
Nursery
The children have really been enjoying all our Christmas preparation. We have enjoyed a range of activities, arts and play with lots of sparkle everywhere!!!... everyday. We have enjoyed lots of Christmas stories and songs. We have enjoyed dressing up and making Christmas cards.
REMINDER: Please remember our Christmas activity day is
Monday 16th December
- AM- 10.45-11.45
- PM- 2.15-3.15
You can join your child to make some Christmas art and join them in their play. We also would love you to join in with some Christmas singing.
Reception
This week we have continued to enjoy a range of Christmas activities such as making our Christmas cards and creating hats. We have worked hard rehearsing for our Christmas Nativity show and singing all the songs. We have enjoyed listening to different Christmas stories. We went to the cookery room and created holiday biscuits using icing and different toppings... they were very yummy!
We really enjoyed our Christmas dinner this week.
Next week we have our Christmas Nativity at 2.30 on Tuesday 17h December.
We have class parties on Thursday 19th December.
Year 1
The children have been working very hard in English. We have used proper nouns in our writing, ensuring that the proper nouns being used have capital letters. In maths, the focus has been number bonds to 10 and 20. The children have been encouraged to spot patterns in the numbers to help them complete harder number sentences.
Year 1 have continued to practise their nativity songs. They are doing very well and are very excited to perform to parents/carers next week.
REMINDER: If you haven’t done so, please ensure your child’s nativity outfit is in school ASAP.
- School Nativity is Wednesday 18th December.
Year 1 parents are invited to the morning performance only please at 9:30. Please remember your ticket as we do not want to turn anyone away.
Year 2
The children have really enjoyed practising their Nativity this week, they have successfully performed in front of the reception children. They are looking forward to performing in front of their parents. In English the children have been working on writing simile poems about winter and Christmas. It has also been great fun learning about 2D and 3D shapes in maths. Recycling has been an important part of our learning and the children sorted every day items in to recycling bins to help them identify what can be recycled.
REMINDER: The school Nativity is Wednesday 18th December. Year 2 parents are invited to the afternoon performance. Please remember your ticket as we do not want to turn anyone away.
Please bring in any junk modelling resources for an art session next week e.g. kitchen roll rolls, cardboard boxes, clean empty bottles, bottle lids, chocolate trays.
Year 3
This week we have been writing reports about mountains. We have used headings and subheadings, and we have also included pictures and captions. In maths we are continuing learning about multiplication and division and have looked at the 3-, 4- and 8-times tables. In geography we have been looking at what happens when a volcano erupts. We have also labelled the different parts of a volcano.
REMINDER: Please ensure your child's reading book is in school every day.
Year 4
This week we have been doing some shared writing about how to care for wolves based on a fiction book of the same name. We have started to write our own instructions about a different animal too. In maths we have been very focused on our times tables and have been set 3 calculations to focus on for the week. TTR heatmaps will be given to children weekly so they can see their targets.
REMINDER: Not all reading books are in every day, the children should also bring a bag to school every day so they can put their belongings in it.
Year 5
This week, in English, we have been writing our own descriptive narrative based on a sequel to FArTHER – which we read last week. We have focussed on adding effective dialogue to our narrative, exploring how effective speech can help advance the story. In maths, we are coming to the end of our fractions adventure, learning how to subtract mixed numbers and solving word problems. We have also been practising for our carol service – which we performed on Thursday! Thank you to all who were able to come.
REMINDER: There are still several children who have no PE kit within school, please ensure your child has suitable kit.
Please also read at home and fill the details into your reading record.
Year 6
This week, in English, we have been exploring the features of non-chronological reports and have written a class report about our science topic – light. Year 6 took part in a workshop about hair, learning about the importance of hair and how it protects our bodies and how diverse it is. The children enjoyed another session of bouldering at IndiRock and continued to develop the skills learnt over the previous weeks.
REMINDER: Please continue to read daily and record in your home school diary.
The children all need to have a PE kit in school on Wednesday and Friday.
French
This week we have successfully rounded off our topic of sport with year six learning about the women’s world cup of 2023; we have written a super summary paragraph about pets in year 3, and we have applied our knowledge of colours in year one to some creative design work.
Music
Rehearsals are taking place throughout the school for the many different Christmas performances.
Music clubs are now finished for the term and will restart in January.
Instrumental lessons
Guitar and keyboard lessons have finished for the term.
Drum lessons started later and will continue until next week.
Healthy Schools
How to find an NHS dentist
If you need to register with a dentist you can search for an NHS dentist near you on the following website
Find a dentist - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
You can find a list of dental surgeries locally and see if any are taking on new NHS patients. Whether it's near your home or work, phone them to see if there are any NHS appointments available.
Dental surgeries will not always have the capacity to take on new NHS patients. You may have to join a waiting list, look for a different dentist who is taking on new NHS patients, or be seen privately.
Once you find a dental surgery, you may have to fill in a registration form at your first visit, which is just to add you to their patient database. But that does not mean you have guaranteed access to an NHS dental appointment in the future.
Did you know? Advice on how to find an NHS dentist from the NHS advises that dentist practices do not have a catchment area and patients do not need to “register” with a dentist in the same way as with a GP (though practices may have their own registers to store personal details and waiting lists).
Online Safety
The holiday season is a time for celebration, relaxation and spending well-earned time with loved ones. While this period will hopefully be calm, it’s important that parents and educators acknowledge there are still things we can do to make these weeks as safe as possible for the young people in our care.
Of course, it’s not immediately obvious what can or should be done to stay safe over the festive season. This guide offers expert advice on the steps you can take to enjoy a less fraught winter break, safeguarding any youngsters who might be present for the celebrations.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
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. 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.
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.
Thank you
Attendance
Reporting pupil absences due to illness.
Please make sure that you are contacting the school when your child needs to be off due to illness, we have noticed that we are having to make an increasing number of call home in the morning to find out the reasons for absences.
You can call to leave a message or use our attendance email to let us know. Thank you to all those parents who are already using this system, we really appreciate being contacted so that we can have an up-to-date record on our register.
Term Time Holidays or Travel Abroad
Holidays taken during term-time will not be authorised, so please bear this in mind when making your booking. Updated guidance for schools from the DfE regarding penalty notices for parents for holidays taken during term will be available on the school website shortly. Our school advises all families to plans holiday dates during non-term based dates. Printed copies of our school calendar dates are available in the main foyer.
Aim to attend school 100% Of every week.
Reminder! – Contact the school with a reason for your child’s absences
We are starting to get an increasing number of pupil absences where families have not let the school know what the reason for the absence is. It very important that all pupil absences from school are given a reason, we can then potentially authorise the absence. Absences with no reason are always unauthorised. You can leave us a message in a number of ways
- From 8am call the school on the morning of your child’s absence, to speak to Ms Wyer.
- Email the school to report the absence using the attendance email – this can be done during or out of school hours
- Leave a voice message on our attendance line (this will happen if the line is engaged or if you call out of hours)
- Answer or respond to any calls or messages from the school, if we contact you on the day of your child’s absence.
- You can even hand in a paper note in the day that your child returns to school
Being here is half the battle won!
Contact us
If you would like to talk to someone for support or advice on attendance or punctuality, please do not hesitate to contact the Attendance Team and ask to speak to, Mrs S. Wyer, Attendance Administrator or Mrs D Morris 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!
Being ready for every day and getting in on time is the challenge you set yourself to achieve greatness!
Dinner Menu
Week 1
Monday
- Beef Bolognaise with Spaghetti
- Vegan Bolognaise with Spaghetti
- Baked Jacket Potato with Grated Cheese
- Peas & Broccoli
- Maryland Cookie
Tuesday
- Ham & Cheese Pizza with Baked Wedges
- Margherita Pizza with Baked Wedges
- Pasta & Tomato Sauce
- Carrots & Sweetcorn
- Apple Crumble with Custard
Wednesday
- Roast Chicken with Roast Potatoes & Gravy
- Vegan Vegetable Biryani
- Baked Jacket Potato with Baked Beans
- Seasonal Greens & Cauliflower
- Cherry Cornflake Cake
Thursday
- Chilli Con Carne with Steamed Rice
- Vegan Bean Chilli with Steamed Rice
- Pasta & Tomato Sauce
- Broccoli & Carrots
- Chocolate & Pear Sponge
Community
Please click on the link below to read the Christmas Edition of the Early Help Community Newsletter - Thank you.
Early Help Community Newsletter - Christmas Edition
Southend Foodbank - Click here
Cost of Living Advice
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.