Friday 17th September 2021

Dear parents and carers of Stepney Park Primary School,

Another great week at Stepney Park Primary School!

The children continue to be happy and settled, and our new nursery children are settling in nicely too.

Singing:

We have started doing more of the things we were not able to do during the pandemic, for example singing.

All year 1 to Year 6 children have a weekly half hour singing assembly, and I am hugely enjoying being one of the singing teachers. Singing can be such a happy occasion, and the children are loving it as much as the adults who are teaching it !

Subject cycle/History:

In order to achieve better quality learning, we have ‘blocked’ some of our subjects (History, Geography, DT, Art and RE). Other subjects are taught daily (English and Maths) or once or twice a week (Science, Computing, MFL, PSHE, PE, Music).

We have almost completed our first, three week long History unit. It would be great if you could talk to your child and ask them what they can remember about the History they have just learned. It is good ‘exercise for the brain’ to recall facts. Remembering key facts will help children when the time comes to study the next History unit. Reading non-fiction books is very useful too. 

We will soon start our next unit, which will be Geography.

We will be updating the curriculum section on our website throughout the year, so you can see what your children will be and have been learning about.

Meet the teacher:

Thank you for attending the Meet the Teacher meetings. We will be organising in-school meetings for Reception parents soon, so please look out for invites coming your way. 

Soft Starts:

As you know, we have started the ‘soft starts’ this week, and so far children (even the younger children) and staff have coped with this fantastically well.

The children have shown a great amount of independence and responsibility, two of our school values.

We have support staff and senior leaders positioned all the way from the school gates to the classrooms, in all the staircases and corridors, so we can supervise the children and make sure that they are safe when walking to their classes.  Each year group has their own allocated staircase, so older and younger children are separated. 

The teachers have reported how much more settled the children are when they arrive in class, and how much quieter and quicker the school day is starting. 

Children listen to calming music and take part in independent activities whilst they wait for the school day to start properly. The extra time in class with children is giving teachers more ‘pastoral care’ time, and time to chat to children, seeing how they are and giving them opportunities to get to know them better.

Lateness:

Please ensure that your child is in school before 9.00 am every day, as lessons should start at 9.00 am. The gates all open at 8.50 am.

Parents and children arriving at school after 9.00am should go to the small Smithy Street gate, where lateness and reasons for this are recorded. We will ask our Attendance and Welfare Officer to support us with repeated lateness where needed. 

I hope you will enjoy the rest of this newsletter, finding out about all the things our children have learned so far this year.

Kind regards,

Edith Philipsen

Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School