This week has flown by as all the staff have been busy working on the classroom learning environments. The classes all have working walls that support the children with their learning and your children will be able to tell you the whole school targets for Maths and writing.

We have had a meeting with officers from the Learning Trust to today to look at progress made towards the key areas for development since the Ofsted Inspection. I am pleased to say that we have been deemed to have made satisfactory progress towards the key areas but will need to continue to work hard to further improve before the HMI monitoring visit that will be happening next half term.

There will be Parent governor elections coming up, so please keep an eye out for the nomination forms.

I hope your children are excited about Spanish week that starts next Monday. There are lots of fun activities planned, including food tasting and dancing workshops and the carnival on Friday will be a lovely way to finish this half term.

Thank you for your continued support. Have a good weekend.
Best Wishes,
Jane

Firstly, thank you to all the parents and carers who attended the Homework Launch on Monday. I hope that you found it useful and that if you were unable to attend that you have received the school's Homework Statement. Your child/ren should have brought their purple Homework books home yesterday -Thursday, and should have a topic -related piece of work and a Maths sheet to complete this week.

Thank you to all of you who completed a Mag questionnaire, we will of course consider all the points raised.

Also this week all the staff have been busy making the classrooms a better space for learning. We are decluttering and ensuring that all of the classrooms have the appropriate resources to support learning. Some of the children have been really excited about the changes, so we hope that this will have a positive effect on the their learning and enjoyment of school.

There will be another opportunity to meet the staff and school governors and advisors, as well as ask general questions about the way the school operates and the progress made since Ofsted at the Parents Forum on Tuesday 23rd March at 5pm.

Finally, can I remind you that you will need to make a decision about your child’s school lunches before the half-term break. The children should commit to either packed lunches or school meals for the whole half-term.

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

The term seems to be going very quickly especially with the recent bad weather disrupting so many of your working days.

Thank you for all your support and understanding with temporary arrangements that had to be made to ensure that your children remained at school in a safe environment. I hope that you will now be familiar with the arrangements for any children who are late in the morning, Please come in to the school through the side door and not the main entrance as this causes a lot of congestion.

After half term we will be starting a new school meals policy. Children will have to sign up for either school meals or packed lunch on a half-termly basis. It will not be possible to change lunch arrangements from day to day as we need to get an accurate number to ensure that the kitchen are preparing the correct amount of food for your child/ren while cutting down on waste. The cost for school meals for the next half term will be £49.50.

There will be a whole school Homework launch for parents and carers of pupils in Years 1-6 on Monday25th Janaury. You will have the opportunity to look at the kinds of homework that your child/ren will be bringing home on a regular basis and you will also have the chance to speak with the class teacher, try some of the food on offer for school dinners and buy a school rucksack. I hope to see you there.

Have a good weekend.

Best Wishes,
Jane

The school and Children's Centre will be open as usual on Friday 8th January.

There will be no After-school Clubs.

Please keep checking the website for updates.

Thank you to all of the children who showed off their wonderful talents this week in our Christmas concerts. Many parents commented on the lovely singing and the progress that all of the musicians have made this term.

In January we will be changing the procedures for latecomers to ensure that all pupils arrive safely. Any pupils who arrive after 9am will have to come into the school via the blue door at the front of the school and NOT through the main entrance. A member of staff will record their names. Parents of late children must not enter the building. If you need to go to the main office please drop your child off first. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Monday 4th January is an INSET Day. Term begins for pupils on Tuesday 5th January. We will be sending home an overview of the curriculum for the Spring Term at the end of the first week. The new homework strategy will be launched on Tuesday 19th January at an event for Parents in the Bottom Hall at 5pm.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of the pupils and their parents and carers a very Merry Christmas. Best wishes for 2010. Have a restful break.

See you in the new year,
Jane

I can hardly believe that is nearly the end of term already! There have been lots of rehearsals and preparations for all our Christmas celebrations, but the children have still been hard at work in both their Maths and Literacy lessons this week.

The Year 2 Nativity -’It’s only a baby’ was fantastic yesterday. The children sang beautifully, the costumes were great and the acting and presentation were brilliant. Thank you to all the parents who attended and of course thank you to all the staff that worked hard on putting the whole show together. A special thanks to Roz and the musicians.

Today is the Christmas Fair, so I hope that you will be sticking around after school to pick up some bargains for Christmas, buy a few cakes and of course meet Father Christmas in his grotto! This year we have also got a School calendar on sale that will have all the important dates and events happening over the next year included, so please make sure you buy a copy. All of the money raised goes back to the school via Millfields United to continue work on developing the school playgrounds.

Also a reminder that there are class concerts next week, so please check with your child’s teacher and on the Mag when it is and hope to see you there.

And finally, school will be closing at 2pm on Friday 18th December, so please remember to make arrangements to pick your child/ren up early.

Have a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Jane

It has been a really busy week at Millfields as the excitement starts to build for Christmas. The Year4,5 and 6 children enjoyed a fantastic performance of the classic, ‘A Christmas Carol’ and the Years, 1, 2 and 3 children enjoyed the pantomime ’Mother Goose’.

The choir have been very busy rehearsing this week and had a lovely afternoon singing Christmas carols at Homerton Hospital. Thanks to the choir David & Roz.

Congratulations to all the staff, children and wider community on Millfields achieving the Level 2 Rights Respecting School award! Two visitors from Unicef spent all day on Wednesday at Millfields, talking to pupils, teachers and governors and observing lessons, displays and meetings with the School Council. The chair of the School Council, Louis Smith-Landor and the secretary, Ceylan Ismail were ecstatic at the feedback session when we were told that we had passed the assessment with flying colours! A special thank you all the School Council members.

The Christmas Fair is fast approaching, so please, please if you have anything that you could donate to the tombola, hand it in to the main office asap –the class with the most donations will get a special treat!

And finally, thank you very much to all the parents who attended the meeting on Monday evening and for all your comments.

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