It has been a very, very busy week , especially for the children in the choir and for Roz and the musicians, as we continue to share and promote the Millfields C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S song. Some of the children sang at the Dalston Christmas Market on Sunday, and they have also performed around the Christmas Tree outside Hackney Town Hall, and outside the Hackney Learning Trust building –we collected over £100 towards the playground development fund, as well as encouraging people to download the video, like us on Facebook and tell everyone they know to buy it!  Also, very excitingly, the choir sang outside Advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy who have installed the amazing Dave & Dan's Chocolate Machine in the window of their offices at 16 Hanbury St, near Spitalfields Market. There are 1000s of chocolate coins waiting to be purchased at £1 each with ALL proceeds to our cause so send your friends, family and colleagues down there.  The Hackney Gazette have also been to take photos of the choir this week, so look out for a mention of Millfields playground project this week or next! And finally,  the choir will also be officially launching the release of the single at the Unicef Christmas Gala, that takes place in Knightsbridge on Monday night.  All this before the Winter Concerts, nativity performances and Music Evening take place over the next two weeks. It is going to get very busy!

Well done also to all the children who have taken part in Sports events over the last few weeks. We have been well-represented at cycling races, cross-country events and football matches. The children all tried very hard, and were excellent ambassadors for the school, even when the results didn’t go in our favour! Thank you to Nicole, Dwayne, Sharon and Gurpal for accompanying the children and encouraging them at all these events.

The Christmas Lunch  is next Friday 13th December, so if your child normally has a school lunch and would like a Christmas dinner, please collect a letter from the main school office. The Christmas Fair is also taking place on the same day. I have heard that Father Christmas has confirmed his attendance, as well as another special visitor, and lots of fun games to play and gifts to buy! I hope to see you all there.

There have also been lots of visitors to the school this week –prospective parents and new governors. The children were all very busy and keen to tell the visitors about what they were doing and the behaviour was excellent.

Finally, we have all taken a moment today, to reflect on the sad passing of Nelson Mandela. Please speak to your child/ren about this great man who has had such a huge impact shaping the world we live in.

I hope you have a good weekend. Best Wishes, Jane

We have all been very busy promoting, playing and selling the Millfields C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S song and encouraging people to download the video, like us on Facebook and tell everyone they know to buy it! We made number 5 on the iTunes children’s chart in the middle of the week, but need you to buy it to keep it in the public eye. The iTunes and amazons links are on the school website. The choir will be performing the song at the Dalston Square Christmas Market on Sunday 1st December. They are on at 3,20pm, so hope to see lots of you there to support the children and the song!

It has also been a very busy week for staff and children in class. All of the class teachers have been observed by members of the Senior Leadership Team, teaching Maths. We have had a huge focus on Maths this term as this was highlighted as an area to  in the last Ofsted Report and we have adopted a new Maths programme and approach to the teaching of basic concepts in Maths since September. The feedback from the observations has been very positive and the children are able to talk about what they are learning and the methods that they are choosing to solve calculations. We have also had another very successful Maths Workshop for parents to learn how to support their child at home. There will be more workshops for both Early Years parents and KS2 parents in the new term. Thank you to Vicki Wood and Gemma Sassoli for preparing, organising and delivering these sessions.

The PSA have also been busy getting ready for the Christmas Fair that takes place on Friday 13th December. Thanks to Pierre, Joe’s dad, we have more raffle prizes than ever before this year, so look out for the tickets coming home over the next week. Also, we will be looking for donations for the book stall, toy stall, small gifts for the tombola and cakes for the Christmas tuck shop, so look out for more information coming soon. Also, look out for the Christmas Tree order form that will come with this week’s Mag –the trees were very popular last year and are delivered to school for your collection. What could be easier!

The staff have also been marking World Aids day that falls on December 1st by buying the red ribbons, buying cakes at break and also holding circle times in each class to mark the day. The story, ’Come Sit by Me’ is used in class to support discussions and is suitable for children from reception to Y6. If you would like to see a copy, please contact Katherine Gill via the main office.

Year 6 were treated to a drama performance at City Academy yesterday. The children studying GCSE drama put on a special primary performance of ‘Lord of the Flies’, which everyone really enjoyed. This is also an opportunity for the Y6 pupils to visit City Academy ahead of secondary transfer.

Finally, the Children’s Centre had an unannounced Ofsted Inspection on Tuesday. Thank you to the staff who ensured that the day went smoothly, and well done! The results will be published in the next few weeks.

I hope you have noted the days and times of the Winter Concerts and performances. Have a good weekend. Best Wishes, Jane

Millfields Community School, a primary school in Clapton, London, has released a Christmas song to help raise £250k for a new playground. 20% of the funds raised from the single will be going to UNICEF’s campaign, ‘Sing for Syria” Campaign. The song, called ‘C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S’, was recorded by 620 pupils between the ages of 5 and 11, and was written by local resident Jonathan Hart.

A music video made by two parents and featuring many of the children will also be released during the week beginning 18th November. ‘Millfields Community School is one of the largest primary schools in Hackney but has the smallest outside space’, said Head Teacher Jane Betsworth, who has been at the school for 24 years. ‘Recording the song has been great fun and we hope it will provide a big boost to our fundraising.”

Plans for the playground (by Erect Architects, who also designed the new adventure playground in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), have been developed by a working party of parents and staff in consultation with the children over the last two years and include areas for planting, orchards, sports, performing arts and external learning environments.

The recording will be available as a ninety-nine pence download on iTunes/ Amazon and other outlets. Other products including a CD with original artwork (priced at £3) are also available.

The song will have its live premiere at the Annual UNICEF Christmas Carol Concert on 9 December at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge. More information about “Sing for Syria” can be found here.

More information (updated daily) about the project, including a short promotional video of rehearsals, pupils’ views about the existing playground and more about the school’s relationship with UNICEF, can be found on the Facebook fundraising page.

We have really enjoyed all the trips, workshops and visitors connected with Work Week. This is now an annual event and all the children really enjoy learning about different jobs and visiting a variety of places of work including Year 2 visit to Shoreditch Fire Station, Y3 visit to the Bank of England, Y1 visit to Dalston Library, Year 4 visit to the National Theatre, Year 5 market place sale which takes place this afternoon, and Year 6 wowing city bankers in the Dragon’s Den! Thank you also to the many parents who came in to share stories and information about their jobs with the children.

Also, Year 5 continued with their chess lessons this week. Each week the children learn a new move and strategy and then the children and adults play games against each other. The sessions are led by a chess tutor from Chess in Schools. There will be a Chess Club starting after school and at lunchtime in the New Year.Today, the children in the Children Centre, Nursery and Reception are all taking part in the Children in Need appeal by wearing their pyjamas to school! The children were all very excited about not wearing their uniform, and were thrilled to see their teachers wearing pyjamas to school as well!

Thank you also to all the parents in Year 1 and Year 2 who came to the Maths Workshops yesterday and today. They were well attended and hopefully gave information on how the children are taught Maths in school so you can help your child at home. There will be 3 more sessions over the next few weeks –look out for more information and texts to remind you.The Book Fair has also started this week. It will be after school, and for the full length of the Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 20th November. Please support the school to raise money for books to stock our school library. Also, if you have not already signed up for an appointment to see you child/ren’s class teacher, please sign up on the yellow board that will be outside the Year 1 class or in the main playground.

As you may well know, the Millfields Christmas Single, ‘C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S’ is now available to buy as a CD or download on itunes. It is a very catchy song as you know, so you may hear staff and children continually humming or singing this over the next few weeks! The final video will be released next week, and as ever if you know anyone in the media, anyone famous or influential –please pass on the details! Check the website, flyers, posters and texts for information on how you can help to raise money for our new playground!

Next Saturday –23rd November from 10am-2pm, there will be a Family Road Safety Event at the Children’s Centre. Kirby the Cone will be visiting, so be sure to come and enjoy the fun!

And finally, a reminder that the school photographer will be in school on Monday 18th November. All of the children will have a single and family photo taken on this day.

Thank you for your continued support. I hope you have a good weekend. Best Wishes, Jane

Firstly I hope everyone had a good half term –it seems a long time ago now a s the school has been very busy as usual. Thank you to both Oslo Class and Paris Class who shared their work in assemblies today. It is always lovely to hear about and see what the children have been doing, and the children benefit greatly from the opportunity to speak in front of an audience. Our Celebration Assemblies, now celebrate children who have achieved 3 happy faces in class, the class teacher’s ‘star of the week’, Spanish stars of the week as highlighted by Belen (Spanish teacher), and sports stars of the week, as awarded by our resident sports coaches. There are always so many things to celebrate, it is great to see the children so pleased when receiving their certificates and having their photo taken!

Also this week, we have been recording the video that will accompany the Millfields Christmas Single, ‘C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S’. The children were fantastic and performed really well. The project is all coming together now, so please keep a look out for any flyers or texts with more information in the next few weeks.  There is now a Facebook fundraising page set up, Millfields Community School Fundraising, and the link is on the school website. If you have a Facebook account or  know anyone who has, please ask them to ‘like’ the page. There is also a promotional video to tell you more about the project that we hope will raise us enough money to re-develop our playground and raise money for Unicef’s ‘Song for Syria’ campaign. A huge thank you to all the parents who are involved in this project in one way or another –too many of you to name but you know who you are!

Also, I would like to congratulate and welcome Paula Hughes (mother of Frey in Mexico City) as the new Chair of the POA! Year 6 have been very busy this week, as 22 of our children went to the launch of a new project that we are involved in ‘Debate Mate’.

The children observed a debate on how to appoint a Head teacher –interview or election, quite an interesting thought! According to the teachers, our children were exemplary and really represented themselves and the school in a very positive light. Well done to you all, and I look forward to hearing about how each debate goes over the rest of the year.

Next week is ’Work Week’, so if you have not already been in touch to offer your support with talking to classes about your job, please let Heidi know at the main office. The children will all behaving visitors or going out to visit  places of work, so please ask your children about their experiences.

As part of our work with parents and the new Maths programme that the school has adopted, we will be holding workshops for parents to learn how they can support their children with Maths at home. The first of 4 workshops for parents in Years1 and 2 will take place next Friday –look out for times to be confirmed.Thank you for your continued support.

I hope you have a good weekend.
Best Wishes, Jane

We have had another very busy and very exciting week at Millfields. All of the classes have been celebrating diversity and looking at family history as part of Black History Month celebrations. Staff and children have been sharing stories, photos, and precious items from their past, and talking about their cultural heritage with classes around the school. The children have also been making Recipe Books, full of their family’s favourite recipes from al around the world. The children have also enjoyed taking part in drumming workshops and today we were treated to a visit from former Team GB athlete, Tosin Oke. Tosin was an Olympic finalist from London 2012, and is the reigning Commonwealth Games triple jump champion. Also, his mum used to be a teacher at Millfields!  The children enjoyed finding out about what it takes to be an athlete and hearing about his Olympic experience.

This week, we have also started the recording of the singing for the Millfields Christmas No.1 Single (hopefully!!). All of the children from Reception to Year 6,  had their voices recorded, with the mixing of the music and singing will take place over half term. We have also had a short promotional video made this week in preparation for promoting the single before it is released on 9th December. So it really is happening and is very exciting! Again, if you are able help promote the single in whatever way you can, or have any media or music contacts or know any famous people, please do complete the form that came home last week, or contact Clare from the PSA directly by email on: clare.wooldridge91@googlemail.com.

Today, many children have also taken part in a writing workshop, led by Tim Rylands, who will be working with the teachers tomorrow –training to ensure that we improve writing lessons, and therefore ensure even better writing success for all pupils in the coming academic year. Tim’s focus for writing is through talk and the innovative use of ICT. f you would like to find out more, please look at his website: www.timrylands.com

Year 5 have also had an introduction to playing chess today! Year 5 children will be part of a year long project that brings chess in to the primary curriculum. As you will know the skills and focus needed to play chess will help in all areas of the children’s school work, but especially in Maths. There will be more information for parents after half term.

And finally, thank you to all the pupils and the staff, and parents who have worked so very hard this half term. It has been a really long one, and there have been lots of special days and special events that have all only been possible because of the commitment and hard work of the Millfields community working as a team.I hope some of you will be coming to the Diversity Evening celebration tonight. There will be entertainment, quiz and lots of lovely food to enjoy. Food tickets are £3 for adults and £1 for children.

Have a good half term. Stay safe and enjoy the break.
Best Wishes, Jane

It has been a very busy week despite the fact that it has been a short one! I hope that all our Muslim families enjoyed the Eid celebrations earlier in the week. We have had lots of special events and community activities this week.

On Wednesday, we marked ‘No Pens Day’. This is a national initiative that is endorsed by speech and language therapists, as it encourages everyone to think more about speaking and listening , and highlights the need for clear explanations and good questioning. All the classes were asked to think of a way to mark the dinner register without using a pen/pencil. The results were great –using pin boards. Sticking sweets to the paper, using blue tack to make a mark  fingers, choosing your name to go in the correct group, bead and peas! All very creative and good fun. Some of the children also took part in spaghetti maths, class circle time and debates, as well as baking activities, to ensure that learning took place without using a pen!

This week we have been learning about e-safety, and how to be aware of staying safe on the internet. Parent Workshops  on cyber-bullying took place this morning and this afternoon -the parents who attend found them very useful. If you would like more of these, please let us know.  The children all took part in Cyber-bullying assemblies to make them more aware of the dangers of social media, cell phones, and the internet.

Today, saw the next stage in the preparation for the release of the Millfields Christmas No.1 Single (hopefully!!). All of the children were photographed  in a whole school picture that will be used in the publicity and form the cover of the souvenir CDs. The recording of the singing will be happening next week. So, the project is all going to plan, we just need your help in whatever way you can, to promote the single and to encourage everyone you know to buy the download when it is released on 9th December. If you have any connections in the music or media world who could help, then please email Clare from the PSA on  clare.wooldridge91@googlemail.com.

The children in Years 1 and 2 had a ’Bake Off’ today, as part of their work on money in Maths. The children (and staff!) were very excited. All goods were 10p, and all of the classes sold the cakes, and fruit kebabs.

As we come up to half term it’s a good time to be thinking about some bug busting. Unfortunately, as in most schools, we have had many recurring cases of head lice this year. Guidance for bug busting can be found on our website or at www.nits.net/bugbusting . All you need is a fine tooth comb, lots of conditioner and some time and patience.

Have a good weekend.
Best Wishes, Jane