In class this week, the children have continued to work on texts and Black History Month topics, and the discussion and debate around their learning has been fantastic. Children are naturally curious and at Millfields, the children are really learning and making connections across subjects in school and the wider community and beyond.

As part of enriching the curriculum this week, the children have taken part in story-telling sessions, Ghanaian dance workshops, and Y2-Y6 also visited Hackney Museum  The children learnt from objects, photographs and oral histories on display tell stories of people moving to and living, working, studying and growing up in Hackney, from the 1960s to today. The conversations, debates and discussion in every class I have visited has been so intelligent, considered, inquisitive and respectful. Please talk to your children about their learning this week, and always.

At lunchtime, we have also been eating lots of different food that celebrates many other cultures. The children have enjoyed trying new foods. The catering team have worked really hard creating a variety of dishes -thank you!

To celebrate the end of Black History Month, the whole school is being encouraged to dress up as part of a non-uniform day on Friday 22nd October. We will be wearing red clothes for 'Show Racism the Red Card'. £1 donations will be collected at each gate on Friday morning.

On Monday, we had a visit from the Hackney Assistant Director of Education, who had a tour of the school and met the children and staff. The feedback and general impression was echoed in this email of thanks: 'Thank you for showing me around yesterday.  I really appreciate you taking the time.  It was great to have the opportunity to see Millfields and get a better sense of the context, also the rich curriculum and how you are successfully integrating the high number of pupils with Education Health and Care Plans in classes.'

Another big 'thank you' to the parents in Turing Class and Hepworth Class who came into school to watch their child's Sharing Assembly this morning. It is so lovely for you to join us in person again -I hope you enjoyed them! Also, today we are welcoming back our first in-person school tour for prospective Reception chuildren and parents.

Finally a few reminders, please return the trips letter and contributions as soon as you can. Also, please retrun the nasal flu persmission slips. And Y5 and Y6, please note, the option to pay the deposit for the residential trips is now open -please sign up for this brilliant opportunity!

Please note that Monday 1st November is an INSET Day. Children will be back in school on Tuesday 2nd November.

Have a good weekend. Take care, stay well and keep safe. Jane.

Firstly, a huge 'well done; to all the children from Millfields who took part in the Hackney school Challenge Run last Saturday! It was a brilliant representation from Millfields as always. A very special mention to Ansel who won the whole race, and to Bluebell who was 4th! Millfields had lots of children in the top 20 finishers! Thank you to Crystal, Jo, Adele, Mahalia and Vickie for being there on the day and supporting the children.

It is the end of what has been a great week of Maths, focussing on creative thinking through geometry. Some of the wider aims of the week were to make Maths learning fun, and to encourage mistake-making, to create a love for Maths, to encourage children to take risks and develop a growth mind-set! All classes have completed daily Maths challenges and investigations around 2D and 3D shapes. All classes have had workshops to create and make their own 2D and 3D shapes using a variety of materials including straws, lollipop sticks, marshmallows and playdough. In Reception, the children were learning the names of 2D shapes that make up the faces of 3D shapes, in Y1 they have been learning about and making pyramids (tetrahedrons), Y2 made cubes, Y3 were finding out about cubes and cuboids, Y4 were learning about triangular prisms, Y5 made pentagonal prisms and Y6 investigated hexagonal prisms. The children loved the workshops! A big thanks to Maths Whizz for coming in and making the learning so much fun!

Children all around school have been looking for shapes, talking about shapes, thinking about symmetry, discussing the importance of shape structures in the workplace and environment, shape in Art and generally having great fun! Each class has also learnt about the works of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of abstract art, who developed from early landscape pictures to geometric abstract works. The children have all created some brilliant individual and class abstract art based on Mondrian's work which will be displayed around the school. Also, children in Yr 1 to 6 have been taking part in a Maths Whizz competition - look out for news about the winners next week! Thank you to all the many parents who attended the online Maths Whizz information session - we hope you found it useful. For those of you who couldn't make it, please wait for a link to be sent. Then today, everyone looked fabulous in their Maths Rock star outfits! Thank you to everyone for joining in and for the donations towards school funds and Empathy Animals. Finally, thank you to Emily who planned and organised the whole week - a brilliant week was enjoyed by all!

Today is the start of Black History Month. All the children watched a launch assembly in school that included inspiration from some of our staff and children, so we are all excited to learn more and celebrate Black History Month over the next few weeks. The aims of the learning, workshops in school, visits to the Hackney Museum, and texts read in class, are to promote positive role models, celebrate achievements, highlight contributions of Black people to society and inspire our whole school community. The work from the whole month will help create a showcase and display in school. Please talk to your children about their learning, and we will keep you updated with what has been happening in school. Thank you to the parents and children who have already entered the Hackney photo competition - there are details on your child's Google Classroom. Please put the date - Friday 22nd October in your diary as the children are invited to wear red to school that day to support 'Show Racism the Red Card'.

As part of the school Risk Assessment, we are currently opening all windows and doors around the school and in classrooms. We are aware that this may become untenable in the colder Winter months and we will have to reconsider our strategy at that time. But for the time being, to aid ventilation and to ensure that we are minimising risk, classroom doors and windows are open. Please make sure that your child wears a vest, a jumper and a warm coat from this point onwards. Please also make sure you put your child’s name in their clothes - thank you. It is already an impossible task to keep on top of lost property, so names will definitely make it easier to reunite clothes with their owner!

Thank you to all the parents who joined Reception teachers on Thursday evening as part of their virtual ‘Welcome to Millfields’ meeting! I hope you found the session and accompanying presentation useful. Please don’t hesitate to contact your class teacher or main office for further information. The children in all 3 Reception classes have made a great start to their Millfields’ journey and have now all settled really well. Most of them seem to happily skip through the gate in the morning and are always hard at work and play when I visit their classes! Thank you to all the parents for helping your child adjust to school life!

Finally, Sharing Assemblies and trips are back! Thanks to Riley Class and Faraday Class who were the first assemblies of the year, earlier this morning! This was the first time that parents and carers have been back in school, so I hope you enjoyed the experience and loved hearing about your child's learning so far this term! Dunlop visited the British Museum yesterday as part of their topic work on the Egyptians -they were all very excited to tell me about their day!

Have a lovely weekend. Take care and stay safe. Jane

We have had another busy week at Millfields. The children have all been working really hard in class and loving their learning! This has obviously been made much better by the lovely sunshine that we have had all week -long may it last!

It will definitely still be good for our many runners who will be taking part in the Hackney Schools Challenge Run tomorrow, ahead of the Hackney half Marathon for adults that takes place on Sunday. All of the Millfields registered runners have been given their number and t-shirts (If you haven't got these yet, Crystal will have them ready for you at the park tomorrow morning!). Please meet at 12 noon at the corner of Millfields Park -opposite Millfields Cafe. The race starts at 2pm, and there are lots of other activities to enjoy throughout the day. Good luck to all our runners, and so sorry I cannot be there this year! I look forward to hearing all about it on Monday.

Today is our termly 'Internet Safety Day'  -the main aim of today is to remind the children about staying safe online. Children in Years 2-6 enjoyed taking part in an interactive national online assembly entitled 'Be Internet Legends'. Be Internet Legends is an educational programme that empowers young people to be safer and more confident explorers of the online world. Please have a look at the parents page on the following link. https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_uk/parents/

At the end of last week, the teachers and children finished decorating their classroom doors to represent the name of the famous person that their class is named after. We always make this into a competition and the decision-making about the winners was again very hard this year! Well done to Bond Class, Hepworth Class, Lovelace Class and Newton Class.we also make the Class book Corner creations into a competition too, and again, well done to the winners: Hutchins Class, Riley Class, Berners-Lee Class and Hawking Class. We are creating lots of reading areas around the school building, to ensure that all of the children have a space to enjoy their reading.

Next week is ‘Maths Week’ at Millfields. The main aims of the week are making maths, reinforcing a growth mindset, making links across the curriculum and in particular Art through the work of Mondrian, to sttrengthen maths learning behaviours, to reinvoragate Maths Whizz usage across the school and to explore the use of Maths Journals. Each class will be doing 2/3 Maths investigations across the week, as well as a Maths Art lesson, and will also be taking part in Maths Workshops run by Maths-Whizz. The week will finish with a 'Dress Up' Day on Friday 1st October -we are asking everyone to dress up as Maths Rockstars! We are asking for a small donation towards our school and a chosen charity that this time is 'Empathy Animals'. This is a charity that we will be directly benefiting from in the near future, so please give generously. Look at the website for more information. http://www.empathyanimals.org/

There is a Maths-Whizz Parents' Information session on Tuesday 28th September at 5pm -please see the email for the meeting link. You can find out more about how Maths-Whizz works and how to best support your child and make the most of this invaluable homework tool.

Well done to all the Y4 cyclists who trialled for the Cycling Team yesterday -thanks to the parents who replied and signed up their child to take part.The children had a great time and tried their best!  Thanks Paul for organising!

Also, a massive, 'Well done' to Dash and Raph W in Y6 who progressed through 2 sets of trials to make the last 20 in their bid to be chosen for the Hackney District Football Team.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow! Thanks to Saron for supporting them!

Also today, we remember our friend and colleague Alice, whose birthday is tomorrow -25th September.  We think of Alice often and always remember her when we look at the beautiful memory and reflection wall outside in the back playground.

Finally, a huge 'thank you' to all the parents and families who continue to make donations to the Millfields Food Bank, as well as old school clothes donations and toys and puzzle donations. They are all very much appreciated and help us support the whole school community. Look out for texts about how you can help!

I hope you have a good weekend. Take care and stay safe everyone!

Best Wishes, Jane

I cannot believe that we are at the end of another week already! The children have been very busy and definitely look and sound like they are enjoying their learning. The new children in the Nursery are beginning to settle much more quickly in the mornings, and the Reception children are already superstars at lining up, saying goodbye and going into class, happy and ready to learn. Thank you parents for helping this to happen!

One area of the curriculum that I know that all the children are enjoying is PE with our PE coach Nana. They are also enjoying outdoor PE in the playground and at the park with their teachers and other support staff. We love all sports at Millfields, and are pleased to see so many children signed up for multi-sports, football, cycling, archery and cricket after school. We also have competitive team sports starting to happen again across Hackney schools, so watch this space for news on the cycling league and football events in the first instance. In fact, this Saturday, we have 5 children trying out for the hackney District football trials -thanks to Sahron for organising and good luck!

Thank you for sending your child into school wearing their PE kits on the days that their class has PE, it works really well. A reminder however, that football shirts should not be worn, so please try to wear a blue or white t-shirt and dark shorts.

Thank you to all the parents who have attended the class/year group 'Welcome Meetings' via Zoom this week. I know that we would have all loved to have the meetings in person again, but I feel that it is still a little too soon to have so many people in school again, especially as we have had 6 positive Covid cases reported this week across the school, and I hear that numbers in Hackney are rising. I do know, from lots of positive feedback that many of you have found them useful, and that the presentation has been sent out to those who were unable to attend, but if there is anything else that you need to ask or want to know more about, please do email the class teacher, Age-phase Leader or one of the Senior Leaders, and we would be happy to help! However, please note that teachers cannot always reply to emails immediately, but will try to respond in a timely manner, plus there is lots of the information you may need on the school website that is regularly updated.

We are aware that there are some teething problems with the organisation and logistics of the new after-school clubs, but please bear with us as we try to work out the best way forward for all the children and parents concerned. Thank you to the vast majority of you for supporting us.

Please note the dates of our Sharing Assemblies that will be starting on 1st October with Riley and Faraday Classes. For our new parents, there are 2 Sharing Assemblies each year, so the youngest classes tend to be in the Spring and Summer terms. The two assemblies run at the same time in different halls first thing in the morning. This year, we will be inviting 2 parents/carers per child to come to watch the assembly that showcases some of the work that the children have been doing.

On Tuesday 21st September, we have professional photographers in school to take individual school photos. On this day, please wear school uniform, and trainers even if it is PE, and bring PE clothes with you. Unfortunately, we will not be able to facilitate family group photos this year.

Finally, we are getting familiar with using Google Classroom again!. We will be using this platform for all classes and learning, behaviour and information communication as well as online learning. If you are in Nursery or Reception or a new child to the school this year, you will be receiving a letter that will explain this further and ask for your consent to allow your child to use a google email and Google Classroom. It is important that every parent completes this ASAP.

At the beginning and end of the day, please remember to make an orderly socially-distanced line when dropping off and collecting your children. Also, another plea, we need to be mindful and respectful of our school neighbours. Please do not stand in groups on the road or on the street corners, and please do not lean up against cars that are parked there. And finally, please do not park on the double yellow lines/corners of the roads as this is a danger to all our community. Thank you in advance for your support with all of this.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, take care, stay well and keep safe.

Jane

Welcome back to everyone at Millfields — pupils, parents/carers and staff. I hope you have had a good summer break, and enjoyed time with friends and family, and that you are now back in the school routines.

A special welcome to all our new Nursery and Reception class children and parents/carers and other newstarters throughout the school. I know it may seem a bit daunting for the children (and you!) but they will soon settle and get the hang of all the school routines. Welcome also to all our new staff; Claire, Hizza, Orla, Marie and Sheila, and welcome back to Clara who has been on maternity leave.

Also, congratulations to Blaithin on the birth of her baby boy, Rory, and to Rosie onthe birth of her baby boy, Otto. Both mums and babies are doing really well.

The children all seem to be very happy and settled in their new classes with their new teachers and support staff, and they have quickly learnt the new routines, which are almost back to the days pre-Covid! Although,we are, and will be, continually reviewing the policies and procedures currently in place in response to new positive cases in school and in the community, and any following PHE or government guidance. The numbers in Hackney are rising so please try to revisit and reinstate some of the old protocols around social distancing, hand-washing and sanitising, and plenty of fresh air and enhanced ventilation. In school, windows and doors are all open and the children are washing hands regularly.

All of the children seem to be enjoying working in their new classrooms, and enjoying the first week of learning. For the next 2 weeks every class in the school from Y1-Y6 will be engaging in a unit of learning called ‘Growing Our Future’. The work is inspired by the book ‘The Promise’ by Nicola Davies.

There has already been lots of outdoor learning in local green spaces in order to let the children connect with nature, reconnect with each other, rebuild relationships and foster togetherness. So far the children have explored our connection with nature during a park visit, made an observational drawing of a natural object, written a poem that describes their connection with nature, written a pen portrait to understand the impact of the world around us on health and well-being, taken part in role play to make inferences about a character’s feelings and motivations, and read and responded to a range of poetry about nature. Classes have also been thinking and about and discussing climate change. This theme will continue next week.

In Science, all classes have taken part in the 'Egg Drop Experiment', where the children worked in groups tocreate a design that will protect an egg when dropped! The children were so excited and had so much fun! The designs were very inventive - I think the 2 best designs I saw were the egg in a bag of rice that remained intact, and the egg in a box that floated down gracefully to the playground and landed without the egg breaking. Please speak to your children at home about this lesson.

The main aim of this week was to ensure consistency across all classes and to establish and reinforce expectations across the school, including handwriting, presentation and formatting work. Well done everyone -your workbooks look amazing!

Thank you to all of the parents and carers for being so patient while we establish our expectations and routines at the gates at the beginning and end of each day. Thank you for your support sofar with the arrangements. Luckily, as we are part of the Safer Schools Streets initiative, we have very few cars travelling down the roads around school so we can make good use of the space, but please can I remind you that it is still a road in use! Please do not congregate in the road and move on when you have collected your child. As a reminder for those parents traveling via car to school, please do not park on the double yellow lines on the corner of a road and definitely not in front of the dropped pavement as this is an access issue and dan-gerous.

Thanks also, for your cooperation while we ensure that the new, very popular, clubs are established and tried and tested routines are put back in place. We will continue to review and keep you informed of any changes,and strive to find the best solutions. Please look out for an email, and also look at Google Classroom for the Class Information Booklet that will give you an overview of the curriculum expectations and topics for this term, as well as other useful and important information for your child's class. The main form of communication will be via Google classroom and email, so please make sure we have the correct email contact details. Parents in Nursery and Reception classes, please look out for joining details next week.

Each class in Y1-Y6 will also be inviting you to a virtual 'Welcome' meeting that will take place next week. Look out foran email that has the Zoom link to enable you to join the meeting. This will give you an opportunity to meet the teacher and to hear about your child's planned year ahead, and for you to ask any questions. There will be a PowerPoint Presentation that will be shared after the meeting for any parents unable to attend.

A final reminder -please make sure you label your child's clothes, and that the children wear their PE clothes to  school on the day that their class has a PE lesson.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care, stay well and keep safe everyone. Jane