Portico Writing Competition – Open to Every Child!
We are delighted to launch our Trust-wide Writing Competition, open to every child across all of our schools! This exciting celebration of creativity offers a different writing challenge for each year group, designed to inspire imagination and showcase brilliant storytelling. From creating magical friends in EYFS, to becoming superheroes in KS1, to crafting a dramatic tale for "The Storm That Changed Everything" in Year 3 & 4, and building tension in a Year 5 & 6 story that begins with a warning, there is something for everyone. We are looking for imagination, atmosphere, emotion and creativity. Whether it’s through powerful description, ambitious vocabulary, figurative language or fantastic illustrations, we can’t wait to see our pupils’ ideas come to life. This competition is open to everyone and we strongly encourage everyone to take part. ✨ Every child who enters will receive a bookmark to celebrate their participation. 🏆 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded in each phase. 📅 Closing date: 18th March
Beach School
Oyster Class visited the beach this week – and what a fantastic visit it was! Before setting off, the children took part in a teaching session where they explored where our beach is on the map, discussed what we might see there, and learned about what an estuary is. They were full of curiosity and excitement for our trip! At the beach, the children identified different shells and talked about why some were ‘stuck’ together because of “nature’s glue”- nature’s glue forms when shells sink to the sea floor and are buried by sand. Pressure and tiny particles in the water cement them together over time. They then completed a sensory challenge, thinking carefully about what they could hear, smell, see and feel. The children made notes about their discoveries, which led to a wonderful in-depth discussion. They built on each other’s ideas beautifully – from describing “the crunching sound of the shingle under our shoes” to listening carefully to the sounds inside shells. To end our session, the children who were wearing wellies had the opportunity to paddle in the water – lots of smiles all round! Finally, each child chose a special stone, made a wish, and threw it into the water to finish our magical day at the beach. What an amazing experience for our young explorers!
Nursery
Nursery class has had an amazing book themed week, celebrating ‘World book day’. We love dinosaurs at nursery, so we decided to theme our work on lots of different dinosaur stories. On Thursday we had a super day all in our pyjamas enjoying a range of book week activities with our Adults. We also got very excited with selecting our, free book week, book.
REMINDER: Please can you put your child’s name on their water bottle. Thank you
Reception
What a fun and exciting Book Week we have had. After reading Little Red Riding Hood, the children made cheese muffins to take to Grandma’s house! We then acted out the story and ate our muffins in the sunshine. The children had so much fun on dressing up day in their pyjamas and enjoyed our book day activities with their adults. In Maths we have been learning about 3D shapes, naming them and talking about the properties. In science we have been given caterpillars and we will enjoy watching the life cycle of a butterfly.
REMINDER: Please make sure you bring reading books in daily.
Year 1
World Book Week has been very successful in year 1. World Book Day was an amazing experience for all of our children. Thank you for coming to visit. The children really enjoyed creating a piece of writing based on themselves being superheroes in English this week. Also, they enjoyed using their favourite books to create a piece of independent writing. In maths, the children have worked hard to create addition number sentences. In science, we have been looking at materials and their properties. Springtime is here and we have been given some frog spawn to look after. We can’t wait to see the life cycle of a frog from start to finish.
REMINDER: Please ensure reading books are in school every day. Shell class beach day will be confirmed by Mrs Britton. Our year 1 school trip to the Sealife Centre is in the works and being confirmed at the time of writing. Keep an eye on Arbor as there will be a permission form and payment to be made. We are looking at Tuesday 21st April.
Year 2
Year Two have had a blast this week! The children immersed themselves in World Book Week by creating their decorative door design, opened Mrs Bolter’s ‘Sneak Peek’ books and enjoyed pleasure for reading sessions. Oyster Class visited the beach- please see the separate section to find out more about their trip. The children have continued to learn about multiplication and division in maths. We have started our new topic of dinosaurs in science. There were lots of questions which were generated around the topic of dinosaurs and what they’d like to find out over the next few weeks.
REMINDER: Please bring your child’s PE kit in, it is compulsory. Remember that it is the Infant Music Festival on Thursday.
Year 3
This week we had an opportunity to visit Indirock, where the children learned to use their strength to climb the different routes on the walls, having a great time. In science we learning about rocks and in geography we are continuing our topic of rivers. Our PE this term will start to be done outside as soon as the weather is kind enough; we are starting both athletics and hockey.
REMINDER: Please make sure your child has a pair of long trousers for PE so that we can start to go outside comfortably and check that they have a suitable, well-fitting pair of shoes for PE lessons too.
Year 4
What a busy week! We had a fantastic time at Indirock on Wednesday, the children were showing lots of their learning powers to be successful. We had a fantastic celebration of reading Thursday during World Book Day, thank you to everyone who joined us. In maths, we have been comparing and ordering mixed numbers and understanding improper fractions. In English, we have been continuing to write our own narrative based on a known story.
REMINDER: Please continue to use Times Table Rock Stars at home. Year 4 will have a multiplication check at the beginning of June and the best way to prepare is the practise as much as you can.
Year 5
We have had such a fabulous week in Year 5 this week! We had an amazing World Book Day and loved sharing our favourite books within our year group. Thank you to everyone who joined us! On Friday, we visited Indirock and had a very exciting time. In English, we have been writing our own Chapter 3 to the book Time Twisters 3 – The Curse of Time and the children have written some great narratives. In Maths, the children have been working really hard on exploring the correlation between equivalent fractions and decimals and have done well with this tricky unit so far. In History, we have been loving our unit on Ancient Egypt and have been exploring the key features of Ancient Egypt such as the pyramids and the River Nile.
REMINDER: Please ensure your child has a suitable PE kit with them on a Wednesday and Thursday, our spare PE kit is very limited. In addition to this, we will be doing our PE lessons outside this half term so please ensure that your child has warmer clothing for being outside. Please strive to read with your child and record this in their home school diaries.
Year 6
This week we have been working as a class to write a new version of The Tin Forest story. We have been using the skills we learned last week: figurative language, purposeful dialogue and varying sentence structures. In maths, we are learning how to find equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages. We carried out our science investigation to see which exercises increases our heart rate the most. We have enjoyed our new learning in our My Happy Mind project where we have discovered how our brain works!
REMINDER: Please remember that the children’s homework is due in on Thursday. We run lunchtime homework help clubs on Monday and Tuesday, which we encourage the children to come to if they are struggling. Taking responsibility for completing homework is an important step in getting the children ready for secondary school.
Music
Diary Dates:
- 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
French
This week, year one have been learning to talk about objects in the sky in French; year three have been talking about hunger, thirst and other sensations; year four have been learning how to say more about where people live in France and elsewhere.
PE & Sports
The year 2 football team played in a very tough competition on Friday 13th February. We came away with 2 draws and 3 losses. A huge well done to Mason, Bailey-Jo, Garib, Robert, Henry, Jasper, Finn and Battal. An excellent team effort.
Online Safety
With reading for pleasure in decline, this practical guide offers ten thoughtful ways to reignite children’s enthusiasm for books. From valuing all forms of reading to broadening access to diverse materials, it explores how adults can nurture positive reading habits both at home and in school. Digital tools, audiobooks and augmented reality are also considered as engaging ways to support today’s readers. It also highlights the power of social connection – recommending books, reading together and meeting authors – alongside the importance of modelling reading ourselves. With expert insight from literacy specialist Carl Pattison, this edition provides supportive, achievable ideas to help young people reconnect with reading and see it as a meaningful part of everyday life.
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
Attendance-Related Meetings and letters
We send out a number of attendance information letters as well as hold a number of different level attendance meetings to help support pupils and families. These include meetings for planned absences, Level 1 (L1) attendance concerns, and Level 2 (L2) attendance concerns. Level 1 (L1) – Attendance Information and Early Concerns At L1, we contact parents by letter to make them aware of their child’s current attendance. Meetings at this stage may be arranged when:
- A pupil has had several illness-related absences
- Patterns of poor punctuality emerge
- School staff feel an early conversation would help prevent further decline in attendance
The purpose of L1 meetings is to offer support and ensure parents understand how attendance and punctuality affect learning.
Level 2 (L2) – Attendance Support Meetings
At L2, we contact parents by letter to invite them to an attendance meeting. Meetings at this stage may be arranged when:
- Unauthorised absences are a concern
- A pattern of absences has been identified
- Earlier interventions have not improved attendance
These L2 meetings are more formal and focus on identifying barriers and agreeing actions to improve attendance.
Planned Absence Meetings
When parents request a planned absence, we may invite them to discuss:
- The circumstances behind the request
- The likely impact of the time away from school
- Any implications of the length or timing of the absence
These meetings help us work together to ensure pupils’ learning is not adversely affected. If you have any questions about any letters or meeting invites you have received, please try not to worry, just get in contact.
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!
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."