Week beginning 17th April 2023
Week beginning 17th April 2023
On Friday, we broke up for the Easter holiday and school will be closed for two weeks. We return back on the 17th April when we start our summer term of learning and fun.
Last Monday, the Local Authority Advisor visited The Hayes. She always writes a report to follow, please read some wonderful comments about our VIP Pupil Advocates alongside the learning behaviours of our children: ‘It was great to be shown around the school by some of your Year 6 pupil VIP advocates who clearly take seriously their pupil leadership roles; they demonstrated good knowledge and genuine pride in their school. They were keen to point out the school values display and explain how everyone in the school understands them. They also described some of the enrichment experiences, such as a visit from a former Olympian, and the value of having a swimming pool on site. They enjoyed showing me the cabinet of trophies and talking about the sporting successes. It was encouraging that, without prompting, they described sporting behaviours and commented on the opposition teams being ‘good sports’ and ‘taking it well when they lost’. During the walk around the school, we observed Little Wandle reading practice groups. This is now fully embedded and there is early evidence of good progress in pupils’ phonics knowledge. As always, pupils throughout the school displayed highly positive learning behaviours and respectful relationships with their peers and adults. Pupils are happy to speak up and it is clear that there is a strong focus on valuing pupil voice in the school.
Class 2 Assembly: a HUGE well done to the children in class 2 who led a fantastic assembly this week all about Lyla and the Secret of Rain and taught us all about Kenya. They performed with great confidence and one child said they had enjoyed the experience of performing to parents so much that they asked Miss Slade if they could do it all over again!
Egg rolling: we would also like to say thank you to our PTA who provided the prizes for the egg rolling competition. The children had fun taking part in this last week and cheered for each other showing great sportsmanship!
Carroty Wood: we were delighted to welcome our Year 5 children back to school on Friday following their residential to Carroty Wood. The children all reported having an amazing time and we thank, once more, the staff who accompanied the children on this exciting opportunity. Despite the rainy weather, the children had a blast and one child reported that it was ‘the best school trip I have ever been on!’ Others said: we really liked the high ropes because we could jump really far and accomplished something that we thought we would never be able to do!’; ‘my favourite part was trying the leap of faith, I actually did it!’ We will upload photographs of the children on the school website, shortly!
ABCD Awards: last week, the going Above and Beyond the Call of Duty award (to celebrate the greatness of our staffing team), went to three of our support staff: Mrs Thornton, for always being kind, caring and helpful and taking us into lunch with a smile! Mr Rainsbury, by always looking after our school and keeping it running. Mrs Scola, for always having a massive smile on her face and making us happy and to Mrs Lee, by being Superhuman! Well done to all.
A message from The Hub at Kenley Memorial Hall: every Thursday during school term time, from 1-2.30pm, the large hall at Kenley Memorial Hall hosts a Play Cafe for adults with pre-school children, offering a light lunch, drinks and a large space for the children to play for a suggested £1 donation. The same day and time, the small hall hosts a Warm Hub Cafe for adults in the community to use, offering a place to meet and chat or relax, with soup, bread and hot drinks. No booking is required. If this is something you are interested in but the day and time don’t work for you, Croydon Council has a list of all the local warm spaces on its website and there is something on offer most days.
Work Experience: over the summer term, we will be working hard to support members of our local community to learn and gain new skills. We will be welcoming a number of work experience students and adults working towards teaching assistant qualifications. We are sure they will be given a warm welcome while they are with us.
Football team: our football team are through to the ‘super league’ and we wish them the best of luck in their first match against St Josephs on 18th April (first week back). We are proud of you and know that you will be the best you can be.
Eid Event: after school on Thursday 20th April, there will be a cake sale in the playground to celebrate Eid. We thank the parents who have organised this event and wish all the members of our school community celebrating Eid-al- Fitr a special day on Saturday 22nd.
Lolly Sales: PTA summer term lolly sales will resume on Fridays after school. Lollies can be brought for 50p-£1. This is a much cheaper option than the ice cream van that parks outside of the school and all profits go to the PTA/school.
Science Week: we are excited to let you know that the week beginning 24th April will be our whole school ‘Science Week’. The children will have the opportunity to take part in a range of practical experiments throughout the week. We are thrilled that we have been able to book Fizz Pop as part of our ‘Science Week’. Fizz Pop currently runs our afterschool Science club and Stuart is delighted to run Science workshops for the whole school during the week, where each class will take part in hands on experiments. These workshops inspire young people to develop a passion for learning, experimenting and scientific investigation. A donation of £2:50 would be gratefully received to help fund these exciting opportunities. Please pay on ParentPay.
Share Your Creativity in the Great Outdoors Photography Competition: It is time again for a new season of photos for our Great Outdoors Seasonal photography competition. Believe it or not, Spring began on the 20th March and ends on the 21st June. So, during the half term holiday, get out in the great outdoors and enjoy the wonders of nature and wildlife around us!
What to do: take a photograph that celebrates spring as you see it. Photos should feature landscape or portrait photographs of natural settings. It can be of wildlife, woodland, seascape – of anything that depicts Spring at its finest. Equipment: the photo can be taken on a tablet, phone or camera.
Winners: there will be one winner from the following key stages EYFS, KS1 (Year 1/2); lower KS2 (Year 3/4), upper KS2. Prizes: winning photos will take pride of place in our news bulletin, website and Twitter pages. The winning photos will be displayed in a large frame in the school corridor in the form of a collage.
Terms and Conditions:
*Photograph to be taken by a child (not adult) on either a camera, tablet or smart phone.
*One entry per child.
*Photo to have a title.
*Entrants email to Mrs Staines: wstaines.306@lgflmail.org who is the administrator for this exciting, new competition.
*With entries (jpg), please state name of child and class.
*Closing date: Friday 9th June, 12pm
*Judges: our School Council, Governors and Miss Slade.
That just leaves us to say, have a happy and safe break and see you on the 17th April.