We are at the end of another very busy and productive term that has been enriching for the children, but also challenging and tough in may ways for the whole school community. I hope that the collaboration, support, empathy and understanding that we have shared will give us strength and unity to keep focussed on the well-being, enrichment and progress of the pupils, staff and school as a whole. Once again, thank you for your collective support.

Yesterday, we all enjoyed the ‘Rights of Spring’ performance that was a celebration of the work that The Article 12 Group (School Council), the two choirs and the jazz band have been doing on focussing on the schools 5 articles from the Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Children. We were very lucky that Clapton Academy let us use their hall which really helped to show off the children’s talents. The songs were beautifully sung, the presentations by the School Council were insightful and the Jazz Band were amazing! We have such a talented school community! Thank you to all the musicians –Tom, Maria, Jack, Jon and Simeon, as well as Roz, who pulled the whole performance together! Thank you to all the parents who attended the evening show, and well done everyone!

Today we have seen some of the most fantastic Easter bonnets –what a difficult decision it was to find a winner from each class! Each winner received an Easter egg as their prize -see the photo above! Thank you to all the children (and parents) who made such a great effort! We also drew the winners of the Easter Egg Raffle this morning. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. There were 14 winners from across the school who have been notified via text, so well done to them! The 2 main prizes of the Godiva eggs went to Evie in Cardiff Class and Lena from Canterbury Class.

On the 21st March, the newly formed badminton team took part in a cross Hackney badminton tournament and we did really well, with all the children wining a medal and Millfields being the overall winning team! Great work –well done!

Thankfully the rain stopped and the sun came out for London Day and all the classes enjoyed their trips far and wide across London. Classes visited the Canal Museum, The RAF Museum, The Horniman Museum, The Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, The Crystal, The Bank of England and the Tate Modern. Thank you to the staff who make these trips a great learning experience and a fun day out!

Also this week, the weekly mile runs have started before school as we build up to the Hackney Run on Sunday 20th May. The before school runs will be taking place every week on Tuesday and Thursday up until the run itself. Please be reminded that they start at 8:30am and that children need to then wait for the bell to ring at 8.50am to get changed in their classrooms. If it is wet on the morning, you will receive a text to say if it is on or not as a risk assessment will take place at 8:15am. Thanks for your cooperation with this.

Finally, I know that there have been a few questions around the Parent Questionnaire that went out via email last week. I would like to reiterate that this is only an initial fact-finding and opinion-finding exercise and nothing has been or will be agreed or taken forward until there has been a wider consultation with more facts and information. Please do continue to return the forms and we will put out a response and next steps in the next half term.

Have a good Easter break with family and friends. I hope the sun may shine for some of the holiday at least! Best Wishes, Jane

Firstly, thank you to all the parents and carers who came to Parents’ Evening on Wednesday this week. We hope that you found the information, conversation, and looking at your child’s books and hearing about their assessment results useful. Thank you also to the parents who took the time to complete the questionnaire. There were 3 big questions and we would really appreciate your thoughts and ideas. 1. The proposal to finish early on a Friday that would help with budget cuts and staff well-being. Please be assured that the rich curriculum offer will still remain in place. The children will still have music, Spanish, swimming and PE lessons as they do now, and the theme weeks and enrichment activities that are a special part of Millfields will stay the same! 2. Any thoughts and ideas to build on the current statutory curriculum. 3. Ideas on how to support pupil and staff well-being. Please take some time to give a considered response and hand in the competed questionnaire to the main office. We will be collating all the information and considering ideas at the beginning of next term.

What a great day of fun and sporting activities we have had today! The whole school community have been involved in dressing up in sports clothes, and completing the Sport Relief mile around the school. The children were led in a warm up and cool down by our PE coaches, Dwayne, Youlance and other staff, and then they embarked on the round school run (or fast walking for the Nursery children!). Thank you to everyone for their enthusiasm and for donating £1 for this great cause. Thanks also to all of you who bought Sports wrist bands as well! We will let you know how much we have raised next week!

On Monday, we celebrated St Patricks' Day with the Meitheal St Patrick's Troupe who treated us to a performance with dancing, singing, music, stories and poems as part of a cultural assembly. The children who take part are from all over North London and give up time at the weekends to practice and learn about their Irish heritage.

Also this week, Year 2 classes visited Woodberry Wetlands as part of their work on the environment and the local area. And Oxford Class visited East London Mosque as part of their RE work.

Our Learning Champions visited the Hackney Town Hall yesterday as part of their work on democracy and education. The had time with the Speaker and put forward their views and asked lots of challenging questions around recycling, sustainability and schools. Thank you to Emma for working with them on this.

We also had visitors from Japan at school today. They were looking at the work we do on pupil participation and curriculum enrichment as well a show we incorporate health, safety and well-being in to our curriculum. Thanks to Roz for organising and hosting. Thank you to our prime minister, Solly, who showed them around and really impressed the visitors with his knowledge and passion for the work and opportunities he talked about for all children to have their say.

Thank you to Year 5 pupils who took part in an assembly this morning to tell us all about their residential trip last week. From the photos, it looked like they were having great fun despite the rain, and they definitely learnt lots about coastal erosion and sea defences, as well as enjoying opportunities to take part in team building and confidence and trust games. Well done all of you!

Finally, I hope to see some of you at the Silent Disco tonight, although not sure how silent it will be, but I know it will be great fun while also raising money for the PSA.

Have a peaceful weekend. Best Wishes, Jane

This week with Year 2 and 5 classes took part in Fire Safety workshops run by the local fire brigade education officer. This is part of our fire prevention work that takes place every year to ensure that our children are aware of the potential fire hazards, and the ways in which they can deal with and react to a fire if it ever happens. The school staff will be having fire prevention training in the new term.

On Wednesday, 60 Year 5 pupils set off for Kingswood Hall in Overstrand, Norfolk for the 3 day residential trip that supports their work in class on coastal erosion. The weather has been very mixed but the children and staff have had a great time taking part in team-building and trust games, singing around the campfire, beach exploration and experiments, and orienteering. The children have behaved superbly and have worked together to ensure that they all got the best out of this great opportunity. Thank you to the staff, Debi, Judyann, Matthew, Ifeoma, June, Chris and Jane Curtis for supporting this trip. I am sure they will all have a well-deserved rest this weekend!

Also this week, Year 3 classes have visited the East London Mosque as part of their RE unit on ‘How Muslims live’. The opportunity to visit various places of worship from many religions, really supports the children’s understanding of each topic, and of how people of different faiths live and learn. Thank you to Naomi for organising. Year 1 visited Sutton House on Thursday as part of their work on the history and geography of the local area. Sutton House is the oldest house in Hackney and has lots of interesting facts about the past hidden inside! You must visit if you haven't been!

Yesterday was Alice’s funeral, and lots of the staff journeyed to Leeds to meet Alice’s family and friends and to share in the celebration of Alice’s life. It was a very sad day, but a day that we will all remember for the memories and images of Alice that we were privileged to share. We all wore white roses to pay or respect and share our sorrow, as this is the symbol of Yorkshire, and Alice was a true Yorkshire girl! The children and staff back at school remembered Alice too as they had a minute’s silence to reflect, and then took part in a class circle time to share their memories and thoughts. All of the children should have come home wearing a sticker to show that they had taken part in ‘Remembering Alice’.

Thank you so much again for all the cards , letters and donations that have been coming in over the last few days –the love and support for Alice and her family, and for us all at school, has been incredible. Alice’s parents have said that they would like us to use the money collected for the Millfields memorial that we are planning for the summer term. We would like there to be something permanent at Millfields to remember Alice. She loved art and was a fantastic artist herself, so something creative that the children have contributed to, and maybe a quiet area in the playground for staff and pupils to reflect……..all ideas at the moment but we will keep you updated with details and arrangements.

Finally, again, cherish all those moments with family and friends this weekend and always –they are all very special. Best Wishes, Jane

The children had a good evening playing team building and trust games before singing around the camp fire. They went to sleep around 10.30pm although still very excited. They were all awake early at 6am, eager to start today’s activities.

The children had a good journey and have arrived safely at Kingswood in Overstrand.

The sun is still shining and the children are all happily having their introduction talk and settling in to their dorms!

We have had a brilliant science and technology week working with Inspire on iDiscover Week. The week started with an assembly to get the children interested and enthused in the topics that they would be covering this week. All of the classes had visitors, special videos, workbooks and most had trips to support and enhance the fantastic science and technology work that has been going on in classes this week.

Nursery and Reception classes were tasked with finding out who stole the cake from their classroom. The children became forensic scientists and looked for clues and suspects to help lead them to who stole their cake! Year 1 looked at robots and machines, met scientists and engineers who visited the class, and used a Cubetto to programme and move robots in class. Year 2 were looking at the human body –brain, skeleton and all the parts that help the body to function, they met neuroscientists, physiotherapist, biologist and psychologists.

Year 3 were looking at the food that we eat to function as humans. They visited a food-related food organisation like Billingsgate Fish Market and then had visits from dieticians, food engineers and drinks technologists. Year 4 had a fantastic time looking at how lighting and sound engineers help theatre productions. The had visits from a range of production engineers and visited a theatre to show off their skills! Year 5 and Year 6 had a great time learning how to use the IT programme ‘scratch’ to design their own computer programme. They had visits from games designers and producers as well as a visit to Linklaters. All of the children have met people that do exciting STEM jobs. There was a Careers Carousel in Year 6; volunteers from a range of professions brought along props or equipment to demonstrate their jobs. Please spend some time this weekend talking to your children about the work they have been doing and about all the amazing people they have met! Would they like to do something like this when they are older? I hope so!

We also had visit from Gill, our SIP (School Improvement Partner) from Hackney this week. Gill was looking at the curriculum including the wider curriculum and enrichment opportunities and was very impressed with the range of activities that the children take part in and the quality of work that the children produce. Gill also met with the Subject Leaders and spoke to them about the curriculum, assessment and writing opportunities in each subject. Thank you to all the staff who pulled together as ever to prepare for this visit and who happily shared the provision we have at Millfields.

Finally, we have been notified that Alice's funeral will take place in Leeds next Thursday. Many of the staff will be attending the funeral, but the school will be open as usual. We are having a collection for Alice’s family and will be taking money at the front office. We will also be accepting any cards or letters that you may want to bring in before the end of Wednesday 14th March. The school will be holding a memorial for Alice, for the Millfields’ community some time in the next term. We will keep you posted.

I hope you have a good weekend. Let’s hope there is some sunshine! Best Wishes, Jane

Firstly, thank you to all the staff, parents and children for bearing with us this week during the snowy weather, and for ensuring that the measures we have put in place has meant your child is kept safe. On the first morning, we encouraged all the children to play out in the snow, but unfortunately as temperatures were below zero, we then had to keep the children inside to ensure their safety. Yesterday and today, small groups of children have also been out in the snow, but whole school playtimes and lunchtimes have been inside. I know lots of you have been sledging and enjoyed playing in the snow after school!

As it is ‘Book week’, all of the children have been treated to a special story-telling session in a story dome that has been situated in the top hall. The idea of the session was for children to construct their own stories orally and then to put these ideas in to writing later on in class. There have been some fantastic pieces of writing produced, so well done to everyone! Some of the stories will be on display around the school over the next few weeks, so please have a look. Also as part of ‘Book Week’, and despite the snow and bitter temperatures, we all dressed up as our favourite book characters yesterday to celebrate ‘World Book Day. As always, there were some brilliant costumes including lots of Harry Potter characters, Mr Tickle, Robin Hood, George from Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine, and Fantastic Mr Fox, as well as Miss Trunchbull from Matilda, to name a few. Thank you to children and staff for such a great effort!

Thank you also to all the children (and their parents!), for the amazing work put in to creating the amazing range of cakes depicting books –the standard set was extremely high! Although it was a competition, we could not agree on an outright winner, so have decided to award 20 children from across the school a £5 book voucher for producing such brilliant cakes. They looked great and tasted delicious too! Thanks to all those who bought a slice of cake after school yesterday, there will be more on sale today!

Today, Sheffield Class and Liverpool Class held their class sharing assemblies which were both great showcases for all the work that the children have been doing in class. The Roman costumes and the beautiful and comic singing from Sheffield Class was a lovely way to start our Friday morning. Thank you to all the parents and carers who watched with us.

Yesterday, most Year 6 children will have been notified of their secondary school allocation. We believe that the vast majority of children have been allocated a school, but if you have not been given the school of your choice, your first contact to appeal needs to be Hackney Learning Trust. Unfortunately Chris is not able to influence any appeal or write letters of support, as they will not be considered.

Finally, we hope that the temperatures rise as promised this weekend.Have a warm and peaceful weekend with family and friends.

Best Wishes, Jane