Firstly, a huge well done to our girls football team this week for playing brilliantly in the group stages of the Borough 5-A-Side Tournament. They won all their matches and will be playing in the grand final in February 2025. Well done to Alina, Iris B, Iris J, Mia, Rose, Rosie, Safi and Tiana and big thanks to Izaac and Sharon for organising!

We are definitely in the Christmas spirit now! The children in Y1 and Y2 have all been excitedly learning their lines and practising the songs for the Nativity Performances that are planned for next week.  There will be tickets for sale on the day - £1 donation for each performance  See the details of days and times on the poster that was emailed out and in the Mag. We hope to see you then! All of our talented instrumentalists and the KS2 choir have also been practicing hard and are getting ready for the evening concert that is taking place on Thursday 12th December at 6.30pm at St James. This is always a lovely evening that gets us all in the mood for the holidays!

The Y1 - Y6 Concerts are taking place during the next week, and will be in St James Church on Lower Clapton Road.  The concerts are one year group only, and each class will sing 2 songs, and a couple of songs altogether, so they will be short and sweet! Please look at the information that has been sent out via email and  text to remind you of days and times, as well as information on Google Classroom about the clothes/colours that children need to wear for their concert.

Also, next week, we will also be having our Christmas lunch with party hats, and asked to wear sparkle and shine/party clothes on Friday 13th December. If you don't usually have school meals but would like your child to have one on Christmas Lunch day, please let your class teacher know.  A reminder that we have lots of non-uniform days in the next two weeks.  For the class concert, the teachers will ask your child to wear a specific colour/costume, and Friday 20th is Christmas Jumper day with donations of £1 on the gate for 'Save the Children'.  A reminder that school finishes at 1pm/1.15pm on the last day of term.  There are no after school clubs on the last day of term.

A huge 'thank you' and 'well done' to all of the parents from the PSA and the wider parent group who worked so hard to pull off an absolutely amazing Christmas Fair this afternoon! The playground was truly transformed into a magical Christmas wonderland with lovely food, drinks, games, craft stalls, karaoke and of course Santa's Grotto!  The atmosphere was so lovely and the event was enjoyed by everyone who came along!  A huge 'thank you' to all the committee and the many wonderful volunteers  -too many individuals to mention, who were in school from early morning setting up, and for those here clearing up at the end. Thank you to all of you who came along to support the school event. We will let you know how much we have made in the Mag next week!!  Also, well done to all the choir children for bringing some festive cheer to the whole event. Thanks to Tom and Roz for organising them!

If you are not going to be in school for any reason that is not an illness, please make sure that you have requested permission by emailing info@millfields.hackney.sch.uk and ask for a Leave Request Form. This can also be found on the school website under Attendance. All leave is not automatically granted, so please make sure you make a request in good time, and do not book any travel until it has been authorised.

Finally, we will be preparing the Christmas Food Hampers on Tuesday 17th December, ahead of distribution on the Wednesday.  If you have any more non-perishable festive and luxury foods - mince pies, fruit pies, tinned fish, tinned fruit, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, savoury snacks including crisps, custard or other desserts, we would be very grateful. Many thanks to all the parents who have contributed so far - it is very much appreciated.

Finally, have a good weekend - remember to wrap up warm.

Take care and stay well. Jane

We are so proud that this film: The Manifesto of Tomorrow: Democracy Week at Millfields was launched at the Ashoka event that took place here at Millfields on Tuesday 12th November. It wil be  shared with many other schools around the UK and the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Xjisu_FPY

It has been another busy week, and seems to have flown by, with only 3 more weeks of term until the Christmas break.

On Wednesday, the whole school took part in the national 'No Pens Day'. It was a chance for children to put their pens down, talk, listen, and take part in lots of pen-free activities. No Pens Day is a nationwide fundraising event run by us at Speech and Language UK. It’s an amazing opportunity for pupils across the country to take part in activities that put the importance on talking, listening and interacting with classmates and teachers. The feedback from the children was very positive. They enjoyed a whole range of activities that didn't involve using a pen/pencil and encouraged the spoken word e.g memory and word games, movement games, mental maths, art and crafts and so much more to encourage and develop a wide vocabulary for all. Thank you to all of the children and staff who brought so many items in that made our whole school 'show and tell' a huge success!

Thank you to all the parents and carers from Annapurna and Ararat who came into school today to see the Sharing Assemblies. The children love sharing their learning and enjoy the performance too! Also today, thank you to all the parents who attended the workshop on 'Understanding Behaviours' with the school Clinical Psychologist, Phillipa.  I hope you found it useful -we will share the slides on the school website.

A huge 'WELL DONE' to the boys and girls football teams who both won their group matches this week, and have reached their respective finals! Both boys and girls had convincing victories, either 3-0. 4-0, 5-0! Great news -look forward to the finals in the new year!

As you will hopefully already know, the Christmas Fair is next Friday 6th December in the afternoon and starts at 2:30pm until 5:30pm.  The PSA have all been busy for the last few weeks and still need lots of help for the actual event, getting ready for, during and after. We need donations of toys and tombola prizes. If you have not already bought raffle tickets, who, if your child is in Nursery to Y3, will have brought a book home with them today. Otherwise, please see one of the PSA committees who will be around all next week to buy a book. They will also be on sale at the actual Fair.  All of the activities, food, drink and stalls will be outside, so we hope to see lots of you there, enjoying the atmosphere and having some festive fun!

The children in Y1 and Y2 have all been excitedly learning their lines and practising the songs for the Nativity Performances that are planned for the week beginning 9th December.  There will be tickets for sale on the day - £1 donation for each performance  See the details of days and times on the poster that was emailed out and in the Mag. The Choir and Instrumental Concert is on Thursday 12th December from 6pm. This is always a lovely evening that gets us all in the mood for the holidays! We hope to see you at school -Y1 or St James Church -Y2. And the week beginning 16th December are the Winter Concerts for all classes, and also London Day -look out for details via email.

Another date for your diary is the Christmas Lunch day - Friday 13th December.  If your child usually has packed lunch and you would like the special lunch for your child that day, please let us know via email before the end of next week.

We are now collecting non-perishable goods for the Food Bank Christmas Hampers that will be given out on Wednesday 18th December.  We need more rice, lentils, pasta, pasta sauce, tins of soup, baked beans, tins of tuna or sardines, custard, UHT fruit juice, and other more festive items such as tinned fruit, drinks, cakes, crisps, sweets, biscuits and mince pies.  Thank you to all of you who have already contributed and continue to contribute on a weekly basis.  The families in receipt of the food are extremely thankful.

Thanks to everyone for trying hard to park bikes and scooters in the right place, but please could I ask that children be particularly careful when they put their bikes in the bike store - we have recently had some haphazard “parking” which has resulted in a few bikes being scratched and damaged. We are also in the process of getting some flighhts to make it easier to find your bike at the end of the days that are so dark now. Thank you.

Finally, Winter seems to be here as the temperature has dropped, and it is feeling chilly outside, so please make sure that your child is wrapped up warm, and that all coats, scarves, gloves and hats have names on them!  It really helps when we try to match lost property to the right owner!

Have a good weekend, take care and keep well. Jane.

This film: The Manifesto of Tomorrow: Democracy Week at Millfields was launched at the Ashoka event that took place at Millfields a couple of weeks ago.

It will be shared across the Ashoka Network that is all over the world. (https://www.ashoka.org/en-gb/country/united-kingdom)

We are so proud of all the children for their passion and enthusaism.

This week seems to have flown by and it has, as always, been a busy one at Millfields! There has been lots happening as usual, including the sounds of all those Christmas song favourites being learnt already that can be heard ringing through the halls!

On Tuesday night, Vicky and some members of the school Eco Team were invited to the London Clean Air Eco Awards as a nominee for the top prize. Thanks to Vicky writing a fantastic bid, and to the children for presenting all the amazing work they do in school including litter picking, switching off lights, running the Fill-up shop, making posters and campaigning. As the top 2 schools were called, we thought that we hadn't won anything, but were thrilled when Millfields Community School was named Eco Super School! It was a lovely event at a venue in Kings Cross, and the children were so proud and excited to win! Well done to the whole Eco Team but especially to Bettina, Luan, Dexter, Tolayo, Robin, A'Rayah and Marion who represneetd Millfields on the night! And BIG THANKS to Vicky!

Also this week, members of SLT have been in classes observing teaching and learning, talking to children about their learning and teachers about the impact their planning and adaptations had on each child's progress.  One thing shines through; all the children at Millfields 'Love to Learn' (This is one of our core values!).  The children were able to tell us what they learnt during the lesson, in previous lessons and in lessons last year.  There are a few more observations next week, and Autumn term assessments in classes from Year 1 to Year 6 start on Monday 2nd December.

Our first festive event is the Christmas Fair that will take place on Friday 6th December. Please see the poster in the Mag for more information, and please contact the PSA if you are able to help out/volunteer before or on the day. We are also looking for Raffle Prizes, so if you have any contacts in local businesses, or you can donate something, please bring in and drop off with me as soon as you can!

Then, the first of our performances/concerts start during the week beginning 9th December. The Y1 and Y2 Nativity performances are on 10th, 11th and 12th December. The whole school Christmas Lunch is on Friday 13th December -on this day, children are asked to wear party clothes that sparkle and shine! Christmas Concerts are taking place in the last week of term -EYFS on Monday 16th december, Y5 and Y4 on Tuesday 17th December, Y2 and Y6 on Wednesday 18th December and Y1 and Y3 on Thursday 19th December.

We also have London Days during that week, a Millfields tradition, when all the classes visit somewhere in our brilliant city to celebrate the end of term! Please look out for more details, timings, venue etc in the coming days and weeks via google Classroom, email and text.

You should have received a letter this week about our newly launched filtering and monitoring online safety programme, senso. Senso is a cloud-based system that collects and analyses data from pupils' internet activity on their chromebook use at home and at school. Please take a moment to read it.

Another big 'thank you' to all the parents who have donated money and/or food items to the weekly Food Bank.  We will be making up Christmas Boxes in the next few weeks for all our families who use the Food Bank, so please drop any donations of more festive goodies to the school from the beginning of December (e.g. Christmas Cake, selection boxes, boxes of biscuits, tubs of sweets etc.).

Thank you to Fitz Roy class for sharing their learning today in assembly. The children have learnt so much and really enjoyed sharing their learning with their families. Thanks to all the parents who came along to support their children.

Also, we are collecting luxury food items for the Food Stall Christmas Boxes -any mince pies, Xmas puddings, biscuits, cakes or anything else you would like to donate. Please bring donations to the main office starting on 2nd December.

Wrap up warm this weekend, and keep dry! Take care and stay well.  Jane

What a wonderful sight this morning seeing all of the children and adults wearing their pyjamas to school!! Thank you everyone for such a brilliant effort – we have raised more than £525 so far!  We have such a wonderful school community who are always so generous and continue to contribute to all the fundraising that we take part in -thank you!

A very special 'thank you' to Dougal, Tova's Dad (Shenandoah Class) who organised another fantastic firework display last Saturday night at Millfields Park for the children at Millfields, Rushmore and the local community.  The event raised lots of money - more than £2000 for Millfields which  has kindly donated to the school - thank you so much to all of you who went along and for your donations! This money will help with some of the consumables and other little things that enhance the curriculum.

It has been a very busy week at Millfields with so much learning, lots of visitors, trips, workshops and dressing up! It is Anti-bullying Week and there have been lots of discussions and work in classes around this year's theme: 'choose respect'. The Anti-Bullying Alliance definition of bullying is 'The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face to face or online.'

The week included focussed assemblies and lessons and started with us all wearing odd socks on Tuesday, celebrating the fact that we are all different and that is a good thing! Thank you to everyone for getting into the spirit! The assemblies talked about the fact that respect means to have due regard for (someone’s feelings, wishes, or rights). We have really encouraged the children to talk to an adult about anything that is worrying them, and especially if there is something that is making them feel uncomfortable or sad, or if they believe that they are being bullied .This week always brings up many worries and things that the children want to talk about -this is what it is all about -tackling any bullying and letting children know that it is not acceptable! So we please talk to your child at home, and get in touch if they and you have any worries, especially around any online worries!  The children know that they can talk to any adult at school, and that we will make sure their voice is heard. The children voiced the need to show everyone respect and to treat others as you would expect to be treated.

As part of this week, Y5 children were very excited to go on a trip to the Apollo Theatre in Victoria to watch the musical 'Wicked'. This was a fantastic opportunity for our children, many who had never been to a theatre before to experience a big West End show and enjoy the magic of live musical theatre. The feedback was all very, very positive, so thank you so much to all the staff, and to the parents who went along to support this trip, and of course to Vicky for organising everything to make it happen.

Well done to all the Y5 and Y6 cyclists who took part in the 2nd Cycling League race at Mabley Green yesterday. The children all tried very hard and raced well! BIG WELL DONE to all of them, and thanks to Nishie and parent, Saga for supporting them!

On the topic of bikes, we are having a few issues with the way that bikes and scooters are being stored at the beginning of the day and then picked up at the end of the day. So, from Monday, there will be signs up to indicate where each year group should park their bikes, and a specific area for children who will be attending After-school Clubs. Please do try to follow this and ensure that bikes and scooters are not being damaged or moved/lost. Thanks in advance for your help and support here!

Also this week, Millfields hosted an event with Ashoka Org (https://www.ashoka.org/en-gb/time-for-change) to premiere our Democracy Week film to an audience of other Head teachers and educational professionals from across the country. The film showcases the fantastic work, learning and participation behind democracy week at Millfields, and the journey to elect our own Prime Minister and cabinet. Our Co Prime Ministers for this year, John and Safi, along with Deputy Tessa, spoke to the room and were very well received for their passion and commitment. A HUGE well done to them. BIG thank you to Emma for being a huge part of the film, and also to Roz for speaking at the event and for making the initial link with Ashoka around 10 years ago! Please take some time to watch the film on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Xjisu_FPY

Another big 'thank you' to all the parents who have donated money and/or food items to the weekly Food Bank.  We will be making up Christmas Boxes in the next few weeks for all our families who use the Food Bank, so please drop any donations of more festive goodies to the school from the beginning of December (e.g. Christmas Cake, selection boxes, boxes of biscuits, tubs of sweets etc.). If you would like to make a monetary donation, please ask for the bank details at main Reception or email info@millfields.hackney.sch.uk

Finally, I hope you have noted the dates and times of the Winter Concerts that have been updated from previous Mag.

Have a good weekend everyone. Take care and keep well. Jane