Learn Together, Grow Together, Succeed Together

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December 2023

Issue 14

This week I have begun to meet with the teachers to discuss the progress of every child in the school. We look at their attainment and any extra support they are given and review what needs to happen for them in the Spring Term so that they can continue to or make better progress. One thing I have noticed is that those with poor attendance are not doing as well. Missing school days does not help with children attaining well and all of us here at Poverest want our children to be secondary school ready when they leave year 6.

The data reports for the Autumn Term will be emailed to you. I have hopefully created a system where I can email them out all in one go and the reports should be with you next Friday, but if there is a problem they may be delayed.

I am also delighted that BuyaGift has sponsored some prizes for attendance. At the end of each term we will put the names of all the children who have good attendance into a live draw and the winners will receive a £100 voucher to spend on a family day out of their choosing. We have decided to move away from 100% attendance prizes as illness is often an unavoidable occurrence in schools so all children who have not missed more than 2 days since September will be entered into the draw - which is 97% of the time (approximately!)

The prizes have been sponsored again for the Spring and Summer terms and everyone will start fresh in January so if you have missed more than 2 days in Autumn term this won't affect your chances of winning in the Spring.

I was lucky enough to see the Pantomime at the Churchill Theatre this week with the reception classes along with Ash and Maple. It was a great show and all the children were very well behaved and represented our school beautifully. We will be continuing with the whole school visits to the pantomime every two years, which means all the children will get the opportunity next year. Year 5 also had a wonderful trip on Thursday. Luckily Mrs Williams noticed the opportunity and negotiated a fantastic deal for our children to be the first school group to attend the Virtual Reality Immersive experience of the Great Pyramid of Giza. They have all come back so excited about how good the trip was.

Finally, another huge thanks to the Friends of Poverest for organising and running this year's Santas Grotto. We have had record numbers of children wishing to see the Great Man himself and another great event which makes the children happy and also raises some much-needed funds for the school.

Have a wonderful weekend

Year 2 Focus Week

 

In Year 2 we have had a very busy week learning all of our lines and songs for our Nativity. We are all so proud of how far they have come in such a short amount of time and we know that the children are so excited to share this with their loved ones and the rest of the school. 

On top of this we have been learning a new book called The Minpins by Roald Dahl. It started off rather scary and we were worried about what a 'Hornswoggler' was! We have had a go at writing in the style of this amazing author by making up our own words and using them in a sentence. This was so much fun as we had to put together a noun with a verb to create a new word to describe a monster. 

In Maths we have been learning about shapes. We made sure we learnt how to count the edges, verticies and faces. We can spot lots of different 3D shapes in the environment. 

In Science we completed a fun experiment to find out if woodlice prefer dry or damp areas of their habitat. We used real woodlice which was so much fun. 

In RE we have been learning about candles and the importance of them. We have been learning about Diwali and how the candles are used to guide Rama and Sita home. We then learnt that candles are also used for advent in Christianity. 

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Eco Warriors 

The Eco Warriors went to The Building Centre for a Sustainability workshop. We learnt about different materials which can be recycled into new objects. We found orange peel and coffee bean tiles very interesting! We designed our own recycled houses after seeing photos of glass bottle houses and tyre houses. We made our own Earth bricks (cobs) from hay, clay, water and sand. We also had a our photo taken on the world’s first cork stairs! 

 

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Year 4 school trips

Last Friday, Year 4 took an exciting trip to the Horniman Museum. The children took part in an interactive workshop where they were given the opportunity to handle real artefacts from Ancient Egyptian times! We also explored the museum and discovered lots more objects that were used by the Ancient Egyptians, as well as artefacts from many other countries and lots of animals! What a fun-filled, informative day we had! A big thank you to our wonderful parent helpers for supporting the children throughout the day.

This week, the children in Year 4 went on an exciting mission to collect data in our local woodlands. Despite the rain and the cold, we braved the walk to Petts Wood woods, and the children used tally charts to find out what our local woodlands are used for. We also used questionnaires to interview members of the public and find out what they use the woods for. It was such an adventure, and we were very proud of the children for not letting the weather stop them from doing some fantastic learning. Well done, Year 4!

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Pantomime

When I was at the panto I was really excited whenever I heard the drums.  At the end of the show I was allowed to go down the steps and play the drums and meet the man who played them.  I was so excited.  Mummy was watching me.  I was allowed to keep the drumsticks.

I want to be a drummer.

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Elder Class 

What are we reading in Elder Class?

The Nothing to See Here Hotel by Steven Butler

A hotel for magical creatures, a hotel for magical creatures, where weird is normal for Frankie Banister and his parents who run the hotel. When a goblin messenger arrives at The Nothing to See Here Hotel, announcing the imminent arrival of the goblin prince Grogbah, Frankie and his family rush into action to get ready for their important guest.

What do we think about it so far?

“I like the book because you get to learn about a secret world.” - Jose

I like it because it gets very tense and it’s very adventurous!” - Emily

“What I like about the story is that the main character’s family are weird and different.” - Elizabeth

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Baby News!

I am delighted to let you all know that Mrs Arnold and her husband have had a beautiful baby girl named Phoebe and Mr Duffin and his wife have also had a beautiful baby girl named Liv. Many congratulations to them all and we look forward to meeting them all soon. 

Friends of Poverest

Thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas Grotto! Santa was very pleased to see the children of Poverest ! A huge thank you to Sarah Wardle, Moira Butterworth and, of course, Santa who made our Grotto possible!

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 Tree of success

Well done to all our winners this week. 

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Safeguarding News

Please do not park in the Adult Education Car Park at the beginning or end of the school day. The centre often needs its own spaces for their attendees but we have also had reports of children running to and from their cars and almost being knocked down by other cars. Thank you.

Attendance

Class Attendance 
Walnut  95.33%
Willow 87.33%
Hazel  96.0%
Holly 94.33%
Cedar  80.0%
Chestnut 86.0%
Beech 94.29%
Birch  93.45%
Fig 94.0%

Fir

92.41%
Elm  96.0%
Elder 88.0%
Oak  94.33%
Olive  91.03%
Ash 87.27%
Maple 97.27%
Whole School  91.21%
Santa's Grotto
All Day
08
December