Firstly, well done and thank you to all the Year 6 children and teachers who have worked really hard this week on their SATS tests. The children were all very keen to do their best and some of them arrived early for breakfast and last-minute revision each morning! Some of the children will be taking the Level 6 Maths test next week, so good luck to them too - it looks really tricky! To celebrate the end of SATS the children have all gone out on a trip to Finsbury park today.

A big thank you to all the staff and parents/carers who organised and attended the social event in the Hackney Attic last Friday. The entertainment and atmosphere was great and I am looking forward to the next one soon! Also, the PSA have been working hard to organise the Book Fair event that is happening from Friday 18th - Wednesday 23rd May. It will be open from 3.30pm-4pm and then again at 5pm-6pm every day and it will also be open during Family Film Night tonight. The Film Night is completely sold out so sorry if you have not already bought a ticket. I hope I will see many of you there later.

This week Innsbruck, Helsinki and Moscow classes have visited the Tower of London and New York Class visited the Olympic site.

We will be holding a special celebration event on Friday 1st June for the Queens Diamond Jubilee. There will be a 'Street Party' in the playground with entertainment and a picnic. It is Non-Uniform that day, so we will be encouraging children to wear red, white and/or blue clothes or to dress up as a king or queen for the day. It should be a fun event (if the weather is good!) to finish the half term. More details to follow.

There will be Music Celebration concerts on Wednesday 30th May that will include all pupils who learn an instrument and the school choir. A letter will go out to families soon with further details.

As the term seems to be going so quickly, I would like to let you know about some of the events organised for the rest of the year. Creative Week is almost upon us and the parents and staff met this morning to finalise the arrangements. It promises to be a fantastic week with the whole school community working together to produce some great art work while having fun and learning new art and design techniques and skills. Creative Week is the week beginning 28th May -1st June. The art work will be on display as part of the Clapton Festival later in June.

The Olympic Fortnight Project will be taking place during the weeks 18th - 29th June. There will be a Millfields Opening and Closing Ceremony and lots of fun events including sports days planned. There will also be Olympic meals, with a different country being represented every day! We are all really looking forward to it!

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

We have had a fantastic week at Millfields with lots of exciting activities and visitors. Yesterday we were treated to a visit from Martin Brown, illustrator of the Horrible Histories book series. The visit was to award Aisha Vesamia, from Y6 Oslo class with her prize for designing a fantastic poster for the national Horrible Histories competition. Aisha won a goody back that included lots of signed books, a Nintendo DS and the original pen that Martin used to draw the pictures in one of his most recent books. Congratulations again to Aisha, and thank you to Jonathan for organising the assembly for Year3-6 who were thrilled to hear Martin speak about his work and watch put together a few sketches. There will be an article in the Hackney Gazette next week.

This week lots of classes have been on trips to the Olympic View tube and some to the Olympic Stadium. The children in Year 5 enjoyed a great day our on the Isle Of Wight as part of their topic on holidays! It certainly was a typical British holiday with drizzle for some of the day, but this did not spoil the children’s enjoyment and excitement about the whole day. They enjoyed playing on the beach and were all treated to an ice-cream! Thank you to all the staff who supported this trip.

The Millfields swimming team were also very busy yesterday and had a long day at Clissold Leisure Centre taking part in the Hackney Gala. We won lots of medals and will hopefully have more details of the successes next week.

You may have noticed that Gurpal, our Lollipop Man has not been around for a few days. His wife has had a baby and he is currently on paternity leave – He will be back soon.

Children in Years 1, 3 and 5 are taking part in a medical research project on Monday next week, so if you are wondering what the big white truck is doing in the playground, it is part of the lab that the children will be visiting next week.

Jon Abbey, the School Improvement Partner from the Learning Trust visited Millfields yesterday and spoke to all the senior leaders and subject leaders as part of his school assessment. The staff, all continue to work very hard and Jon was very impressed with the curriculum, programmes of study and interventions that are happening to support and challenge children.

Next week is SATS week for the children in Year 6 who have been working really hard getting ready for their tests in reading, writing, spelling and maths. Good luck to you all, I know that you will try your very best.

Finally, I hope to see some of you at the PSA/Staff Social event tonight at the Hackney Attic.

Have a good weekend.
Best Wishes, Jane

It has been a busy and productive time at Millfields, with Mexico City Class and London Class Sharing Assemblies being the highlight of the week. London Class spoke very convincingly about the right for everyone to have a voice and presented arguments and speeches to persuade and encourage everyone to use their vote and to have their say. I hope that the three fictional candidates for mayor of Millfields will be on display and on the website for you to read in the near future. Year 2 treated the audience to an old fashioned Punch and Judy show which is part of their work on the seaside. Well done to all the children and thank you to their teachers.

Last Friday, the PSA held a very successful Family Disco. Thank you to all the parent volunteers and to all the children who attended. It was very popular and you can be sure there will be another one organised soon!

This week all the class teachers have met with the Leadership Team to talk about pupil progress including interventions, challenge and the support that is in place to ensure that all the children are making expected or better progress and reaching their targets before the end of the year. Please talk to your children at home about their targets in Maths, Reading and Writing.

Some classes have been to visit the Viewtube in Stratford this week. The children were able to see the Olympic site and learnt first hand how complicated and busy the area is going to be during the Olympic Games as there were test events happening in the park. The school hopes to have more details of how the parking restrictions and road closures will affect Clapton in the coming weeks.

Finally, thank you to all the Millfields staff who have been very supportive while we all as a community support another local school, especially through their Ofsted Inspection earlier this week.

Have a lovely long weekend, and see you on Tuesday 8th May.
Best Wishes, Jane

It has been a very wet and windy week, but somehow we have thankfully managed to have very few wet playtimes! With this in mind, could I please ask that you send your children to school with appropriate footwear and with a suitable coat when rain is forecast.

Also, thank you for your feedback on children who have packed lunches. When there is rain, the children are all expected to eat their lunch in the bottom hall, and should not be in the playground. Also, all packed lunches should be put on the trolleys in the playground and not taken to the classrooms. I will be reminding the children about this in assemblies next week, but please could you remind your children where they should leave their lunch boxes and where they should eat their lunch.
This week, classes in Years 3-6 were treated to a special science assembly which was enjoyed by staff and children alike. Also, several classes visited the Viewtube at Stratford as part as our work on the olympics that will culminate in a two week 'Welcoming the World: Olympic Project' next half term. Other classes will be visiting the Olympic Park in the next few weeks. Look out for more information, including Sports Day dates soon.
This week, the teachers have also been planning for Creative Week that will be taking place during the week beginning 28th May. Thank you to all the parents and carers who have already pledged their time to support art workshops across the school, and thank you to Linda Culverwell and members of the PSA for all the hard work that is making this happen. There should be some fantasctic artwork on display after the event, so am really looking forward to seeing the end results!
You should also have recieved your class Information Booklet this week telling you about the currciulum topics, trips, visitors and dates for the coming term. In addition, you should also have a trip letter for this term's WOW trip that supports the class topic. If you need a copy, please ask at the main office.
I hope that you will all have had a copy of the PSA events planned over the next term, starting with the Family Disco this evening. I hope to see you there.
Thank you to all the parents who have expresssed their support for Millfields staff being offered professional development opportunties while we suppport at another local school.
I hope you have a good weekend. Best Wishes, Jane

Firstly thank you to all the parents and carers who attended Parents’ Evening appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The feedback has been very positive and the information and comments on the Parent Questionnaire are being looked at over the Easter break, so we will be acting on your suggestions and concerns. In addition, some parents were unable to make the dates and times given, so please approach individual class teachers who will be happy to make alternative arrangements; and some were unable to get in to school to actually make the appointment, so we will be looking at different ways of signing up for Parents’ Evenings in the future.

One of the areas for development that I know was commented on by several parents was school meals. If you would like to find out more about the guidelines for school meals and the variety of food on offer, as well as learn about what makes a healthy balanced packed-lunch, then please join Leea, our Catering Manager next Friday 30th march at 9.30am in the dining room. We will be happy to hear your views and work with you to ensure that all the children enjoy their lunchtime food.

This week, the children had their photographs taken. They all looked very smart and well-presented and very excited about having their photo taken. We will get the proofs to you as soon as they arrive in school.

We have been busy preparing for Millfields Creative Week with a group of very talented and enthusiastic parents and carers. The project will last over a week and every class will have the opportunity to work with a parent/artist and produce some fantastic work that will be on display in school and at the Clapton festival in June. Look out for more details soon.

We are organising and preparing for our Olympic Project that will take place in June, and will let you have the dates and details of the events including Sports Days in the Mag and on the website after Easter.

A reminder also, that on Wednesday 28th March, the school will be closed to pupils as some members of staff are on strike. The Children’s Centre will remain open as usual and the school re-opens as usual on Thursday 29th March. Thank you for your cooperation and support.

I hope you have a good weekend and enjoy the promised sunshine!

Best Wishes,
Jane

I am very proud to announce that this week Millfields was nominated for and won the Learning Trust Educator's Award for the 'Most improved school' in Hackney. Janet and I attended a ceremony at the Hackney Empire on Tuesday evening to collect the award on behalf of the whole school community. The award is a fantastic recognition of all the hard work and commitment shown by all the staff who work at the school. Well done to you all. The plaque will be on show in the main reception area next week.

I am also thrilled that the children in Yr 5 have been part of the Shadowball project that finished last night with a brilliant performance at the Hackney Empire. All the children in Years1-6 thoroughly enjoyed the whole theatre experience in the afternoon and the parents and carers were treated to a stunning evening performance, where of course the Millfields children were the stars! (But then I am biased!) Thank you to all the staff involved and to all the children who have had a great learning experience and all been stars!

I hope that most of you will have signed up for Parents' Evening  that takes place over two nights next week Tuesday 20th March until 5.30pm and Wednesday 21st March until 8pm. The sign-up sheets are on the yellow display board that is in the playground at the beginning and end of the school day.

This week, the Yr 3 and 4 boys footabll team topped the league, beating Daubeney and Gainsborough on the way.. Well done to all the boys and thank you to Dwayne and Sharon who have trained the boys so well. Also, the debating team took part in a cross school debate at Clapton Academy, and as you will see from the table inside the Mag, Millfields are topping the league.

The next two parent workshops that take place every Friday will be led by the school cook on healthy eating and Music provision that will be led by Roz Wilson.

Finally a reminder that the school photographer will be here next week -Thursday 22nd March to take individual and family portraits.I hope to see many of you next week, have a good weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums.
Best Wishes, Jane

As you will hopefully know, each school in the Olympic GetSet Network has two Olympic Ambassadors. The ambassadors for Millfields are Year 5 pupils, Alecia Mansell and Jack Robinson. The ambassadors have been taking part in a 5 day training programme and will be presenting their work to the other children in the school over the next few weeks. They are taking their role very seriously and have worked very hard, so they will be sharing their work and more about their role in the Mag over the next few weeks.

Thank you to all the parents who came to Sharing Assemblies this week and to all the parents who took part in the Spanish workshop that was led by Belen our Spanish teacher –I hope you found it useful. Please let us know what else you would like to find out about the curriculum at Millfields. Parent workshops take place on Friday mornings at 9.30am. Next week, the school Catering Manager will be talking about healthy school food and healthy packed lunches and offering food samples, and the following week, Roz will be talking about music provision at Millfields.

Year 5 children continue to work hard on their production of Shadowball. The children in Years1 -6 will have the opportunity to see the performance during the afternoon on Thursday 15th March. There are still tickets available for the evening performance directly from the Hackney Empire.Again this week we have had several visiting education professionals in school.

Jon Abbey from the Learning trust and headteacher colleagues paid an impromptu visit on Wednesday. They walked around the whole school and were very impressed with the school ethos, the learning behaviours of staff and children and the quality of the interactions they observed, as well as the quality of marking that is helping pupils move forward in their learning.

On Tuesday, members of the After-school Judo Club visited the Olympic Park. The children were congratulated on their behaviour and the quality of the questions they asked by the staff at the park, so well done to everyone, you were real ambassadors for the school. I will also be keeping you updated over the next few weeks with the school building and playground developments. The PSA and some of the support staff have visited other school playgrounds to look at good practice and use of space, and there are also two parent architects working very closely with the school and the Learning Trust on building developments to accommodate the transition to 3 form entry.

Just a reminder that Parents’ Evenings are on Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st March. Sign up sheets will be ready at beginning of next week.

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