Stephanie Taylor visits Year One
On Friday 29th June, we were fortunate enough to welcome the author Stephanie Taylor into our school due to our continued relationship with Jacqson Diego Story Emporium. Stephanie introduced her debut picture book to our Year One children and their families: ‘I’m going to be a Princess’ (published by Nosy Crow). This is an inspirational story about black women and girls. The story gives the reader the opportunity to learn about many aspirational black women such as the fearless Princess Amina and the intelligent hardworking neurosurgeon Alexa Candy.
The children enjoyed hearing the story and why she wrote the book. With their families and teachers, the children completed activities to describe the main characters' qualities and think about their own future ambitions. The children enjoyed this aspiring experience so much so that many children purchased a signed copy in our beautiful library! Stephanie commented on how much she enjoyed her visit to Porters and how wonderfully behaved our Year One children are! It was such a treat inviting families into. We are excited to invite another author in soon!
Nursery
This week we have been doing lots of work and discussions with our children that will be moving up to in Reception in September. We have had lots of visits with their new Teachers. We have also enjoyed lots of our favourite things in nursery, malleable play, dressing up and super hero small world play.
REMINDERS: Thank you to all our parents who supported Parent’s evening, it was amazing to see you all and showcase our Nursery year.
Reception
This was a very busy week. On Monday our year one teachers came into reception and read us a story. We also talked about the things in the year one classroom. We were able to visit our new classrooms on Tuesday at open evening. Our adults looked at the work we have done in reception this year and then joined us in our year one classrooms. On Wednesday, we had sports day and a picnic with our adults. We enjoyed cheering on our friends and then chatting and playing with everyone.
REMINDER: The reception team would like to thank you for the support this week, both at parents evening and sports day.
Year 1
After writing reports about themselves last week, the children wrote a top copy to give to their new teacher. When writing the top copy of the report they were building writing stamina ready for Year Two. This is a good skill to have. Their new teachers will then read the reports and guess who the report is about. In maths the children have been learning about the days of the week and months of the year. The children have been learning about the history of teddy bears, finding out about significant people like Theodore Roosevelt and Margarete Steiff. Thank you for attending the KS1 sports day, the children had great fun and it was lovely to see how supported they were by their families.
REMINDER: Please practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, this will help with many maths skills in Year Two.
Year 2
This week in English, we wrote leaflets for the Year 1 students. We used persuasive phrases to introduce them to Year 2 and tell them all the exciting things they can look forward to. In Maths, we reviewed what we have learned throughout the year. The students worked hard to remember and understand all the different topics. We tested our knowledge and made amazing posters with information and pictures of Brazil in our Geography lessons. The students enjoyed learning about Brazil's culture, landmarks, and animals. In Computing, we looked at our projects to see how we could make them better. The students added new features and fixed any problems. In Science, we checked on our cress experiment. The students were excited to see how much their plants had grown and wrote down their observations.
REMINDER: Please ensure your children bring a bag to school to take home all their artwork and books.
Year 3
This week in maths we have been learning how to read, create and gather information from pictographs. The children have had time to collate their own information and then design a pictograph and place this information on. In English we continue with non-chronological reports, more specifically about the Romans. This week the children have partaken in a DT Day where they have had the opportunity to create a Roman catapult.
REMINDER: Please continue to use TT Rockstars and other games to learn your times tables and improve your speed.
Please be reading with your children and signing their records please.
Year 4
In maths, we have finished learning about lines of symmetry and started reading tables and graphs to answer questions about data. We have also started a new text in English with a focus on facts and opinions. We will be writing discussion texts about Vikings. First, we will be arguing that Vikings are fierce warriors and next week we will argue that they aren’t. We are finishing sewing our Viking purses with backstitch and adding runes to decorate them. We have made music in our science lesson – focussing on changing the volume and pitch of sounds.
REMINDER: Please continue to use TT Rockstars and other games to learn your times tables and improve your speed.
Year 5
In English, we have continued our work on debates. This time, debating whether or not the Internet should be used for research purposes. Our points were very persuasive, and we used all the skills we had learnt during this unit. In maths, we have begun to look at converting units of measure, from millilitres to kilometres. In layered reading, we finished our unit looking at ‘Earth Heroes’ by looking at the life of arguably the greatest ever Earth hero: Sir David Attenborough.
REMINDER: Please remember PE kit for Monday and Friday.
Log into TTRS to see if we can win the trophy in the final week!
Year 6
This week year 6 took part in a workshop with the Port of London Authority (PLA). They learnt about how ports are used and how the PLA looks after a stretch of the River Thames – including the part that flows past Southend! Some of our year 6 pupils enjoyed the residential trip to Danbury where they took part in many different activities. The children who remained at school enjoyed a trip to Southend United Football Club and a range of fun activities at school!
REMINDER: Please remember to learn your lines for the end of term production and bring any props or costumes needed into school.
Remember to have PE kit in school on Wednesday.
Letters sent home this week
French
This week, year one have been successfully talking, listening and writing about plants and flowers in the garden; year four have been playing language learning games about adjectives and sports and have designed their own poster on the topic in French.
Music
Open Evening - Well done to all the children who took part in our musical showcase at the open evening.
Thank you to all the parents who supported us.
Instrumental Lessons – If you are interested in your child starting lessons in September, letters are available from the school office.
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
Contact Us
If you would like to talk to someone for support or advice on attendance or punctuality at any time, please do not hesitate to contact the Attendance Team: Mrs. S. Wyer, Attendance Administrator, or Mrs. D. Morris, Assistant Principal and Senior Leader for Attendance. You can visit the school office to speak to one of us face-to-face if we are available. Alternatively, you can call the school or email us at attendance@pgps.porticoacademytrust.co.uk We are here and always happy to help!
From the first day of term to the last, the small moments in a school day make a real difference to your child.
For the online pupil absence request form, please use the following link – Pupil Absence Request Form Link
Every day of school is important, moments matter, attendance counts!
Weekly Attendance Report
Dinner Menu
Week 2
Monday - Pork Sausage with Mashed Potato & Gravy - Vegan Sausage with Mashed Potato & Gravy - Pasta & Tomato Sauce - Sweetcorn & Baked Beans - Chocolate Rice Crispie Cake
Tuesday - Chicken & Sweetcorn Pasta - Vegan Tomato & Mixed Bean Sauce with Fusilli - Baked Jacket with Grated Cheese - Carrots & Broccoli - Mandarin Jelly
Wednesday - Honey Roast Gammon with Roast Potatoes & Gravy - Sweet chilli Stir-fry Mushroom & Steamed Rice - Wholewheat Pasta & Tomato Sauce - Seasonal Greens & Peas - Vanilla Ice Cream
Thursday - Beef keema with Turmeric Rice - Vegan Layered Vegetable & Sweet Potato Bake - Baked Jacket with Baked Beans - Carrots & Sweetcorn - Apple & Carrot Flapjack
Friday - Breaded Fish Fingers with Chips & Ketchup - Vegan Fajita Wrap with Chips & Ketchup - Peas & Baked Beans - Lemon Drizzle Sponge
Community
The link for the parents to book for free is 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.