1. St Luke’s Church of England School Newsletter 29 January 2016
Message from Mrs Tyler
I have to stop beginning my messages with “It’s been another busy week!”, but it has! On Monday we welcomed David Gosling, an LDBS Inspector, to the school – he spent time talking with governors and then went into each class observing the teaching and learning and talking with the children. He gave us some really lovely feedback – “Evidence from this visits points to outstanding governance and consistently high quality teaching”. On Wednesday we were treated to the Reception children leading their first class worship. It’s not easy talking in front of a group of people when you are only 4 or 5 years old, but the children surpassed themselves with their loud voices and great expression, as they told us all they had learned about their Space topic. On Thursday we welcomed a group of eight trainee teachers to the school, as Mrs Patel and Mr Stephenson had been invited to lead their training on the teaching of KS1 Phonics and KS2 Maths.
The week after next is our Parents’ Consultation Evenings - Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th February. We have added some more time slots at the beginning of the school day to help working parents and to give you slightly longer with the class teacher. The lists to sign against your preferred appointment time will be in the classrooms from Monday morning.
St Luke’s Church Half-term Holiday Club - EPIC Explorers
Wednesday 17th – Friday 19th February. To book a place contact Jonnie: by 10th February.
Reception Class
Golden Book
Daniel for lots of independent writing.
Lucas J for persevering when he finds something tricky.
Maths Monkey
Finley for measuring the length of objects in the classroom.
KS1 Class
Golden Book
Hyman for improved handwriting.
Kiana for problem solving with money.
Maths Monkey
Freddie for telling the time accurately.
Owl Photos
Today you will receive a photo of your child with one of the owls from STEM Week. Please remember you are under no obligation to buy it. If you do not want the photo, please send it back to school (as we have to return all those that are unsold). Photos are £8 each.
Catering Award
Congratulations to Mrs Mullaney and Miss Aquillina who were presented with the Camden Caterlink Award for the Autumn term.
KS2 Certificate of Merit
Year 3
Gaia for being systematic and logical in Maths.
Year 4
Kian for excellent questioning in Geography.
KS2 Maths Monkey
Mathi for helping others in their learning.
PE Kits
Please check your child’s PE kit to ensure that they only have their own items, and not any belonging to another child, as we have had several items go missing already this term. Please bring any ‘muddled up’ items back to the school office. Please also make sure all your child’s PE kit items are clearly named.
PFA Shoes
The PFA has arranged for the school to collect shoes that are no longer wanted for charity. Please bring any unwanted shoes to put in the recycling box in the school entrance. Any shoes in any condition are accepted, but please no wellies or other rubber shoes (e.g. ‘crocs’).
School Phone Number
Please note that the only school phone number is Any other number that shows up when you receive a call is a dial-out line only.
News from Reception
Firstly, I would like to celebrate the huge achievement of this week – our class assembly! Thank you for helping your child to learn their lines and thank you to the children for being brave enough to stand up and deliver an amazing assembly – I am so proud of them all! We have spent the rest of this week learning about length and the children have been using a range of equipment to measure everything in the classroom! On Monday the children learned about ice. They found our old Maths Monkey frozen solid outside, as well as blocks of ice with objects stuck in them. They had a wonderful time exploring different ways to warm up Maths Monkey and free the objects from the ice – ideas included chipping away at the ice with a hammer and spoon, putting it on a heater, throwing it down the stairs and running it under hot water! The children also estimated how long a tray of ice cubes would take to melt and enjoyed checking on the progress throughout the day. Thank you to the two Lucas’ parents, who taught us all about Brazil, as we went Round the World on Wednesday!

2. 2015-16 and 2016-17 term dates are on the school website.
News from KS1
We have had another busy week in KS1. We learned about why Neil Armstrong is famous and the children had great fun using their knowledge to quiz Mrs Cawthorne – she certainly needed their help to answer the questions! We have also been learning about features of a newspaper report and written our own article about Neil Armstrong. In Maths we have been using money to solve everyday problems. The children have been adding amounts of money and working out their change. This weekend, please encourage your children to use real money in a shop. Can they work out if they have the correct change?
News from Lower KS2
It has been a busy week in Key Stage Two with lots of visitors coming to see us hard at work! At the start of the week we started thinking about conjunctions to create compound and complex sentences. This was a great success as we have seen lots of great conjunctions being used in the children’s writing. The children have also spent a lot of time in their reciprocal research groups to gather information and draft their own information text about a country in the UK. We have continued to carry out investigations this week in Maths, giving the children opportunities to use and apply the many number skills that they have acquired this year. Finally, we would like to say thank you to the many parents who are giving their child more autonomy in the morning. Dropping your child off at the KS2 double doors, allowing them to put their own things away and settling themselves down to work is really making a huge difference.
St Luke’s Church Events
Coffee morning for St Luke’s School parents & toddlers – Wednesday 3rd February, 9-10am.
Dates for Diary (Spring term)
and term dates are on the school website.