Dear families,
We hope you enjoyed spending time with your families during the half-term break. It’s lovely to be back, seeing the children refreshed and ready for this half term.
Hopefully you would have had a chance to see some more of our new signage up at school. Over half-term, more was added – we now have our colourful core value circles on our gates and along the walls outside, the lift shaft in the main playground has also been updated with much more colour! It’s great to have the visual reminders of what our school is about both inside and outside the building.
Aspiration Fortnight started yesterday, with the theme: “I know I can!” – we will have a huge number of speakers coming into school to inspire the children with their careers and their journeys to get to where they are! Next Thursday 14th November, we will mark the end of Aspiration Fortnight with the children dressing up as what they want to be in the future.
It’s the P Factor on Thursday where the children will perform a poem together as a class to try and win the P Factor cup! We hold our annual P Factor to celebrate the end of our Identity work from the first half term.
This work is a very important part of our curriculum which focuses on children valuing what makes them special, their cultures, interests and everything that makes them who they are! Read more about why we do this here. Thank you for supporting your child to learn their poem. Ask them to give you a performance of it, if they haven’t yet!
Looking forward to a great week ahead!
Matt
Welcome back – I hope you had a safe and enjoyable half term break. I am available in school from Monday to Wednesday – do get in touch ([email protected]) if you have any questions in the meantime.
South London Citizens are arranging a day of events to celebrate another year of campaigning. Please see the flyer below and do let me know if you intend to attend.
Before the holiday I met the Programme Manager for Children and Young People from an organisation that supports families with a Latin-American background, IRMO (Indo-American Refugee and Migrant Organisation). They run several services for children and young people – I’ve included the flyers on the community page later in the newsletter.
A few weeks ago, I sent out a survey about the offer of freshly-cooked meals for our families to collect once a week. We are in the process of finalising the process and hope to have the meals available very soon.
Please keep an eye on my information page outlining advice from me about various issues that may concern you.
Fi
Responsibility Core Value Champions for before Half Term:
Next week we meet our new Core Value Champion for this half term – Percy Perseverance!
NEWS – It’s Aspiration Fortnight!
Aspiration Fortnight kicked off yesterday and will last until Friday 15th November. Ask your children about the variety of speakers that will be visiting their classrooms over the next two weeks: they’ll be hearing from Actors to Vets! Don’t forget that on Thursday 14th November it’s Dress As Your Aspiration Day where children (and adults!) can come in dressed as their current future aspiration. Please do not go to any extra expense for this – be creative with what you have – the more creative the better – below are some examples from last year!
NEWS – Sue and Teddy launch Poppy Appeal at SSq
Sue and Teddy are selling poppies at the office in anticipation of Armistice Day next week (Monday 11th November). Find out more about the meaning and significance of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal here.
News – Odd Socks Day next Tuesday 12th November
As part of Anti-Bullying Week we invite all children and adults to wear odd socks next Tuesday 12th November. Respect is one of our core-values and it’s no coincidence that Ri Ri wears odd socks herself; Ri-Ri feels sad if people show disrespect. It makes her wings sag and her spotty sock fall down! It is even worse if this disrespect is persistent or comes with an imbalance of power…this is bullying and we have Odd Socks Day to raise awareness and make a commitment that we won’t let it happen in our school AND community! Show your support next Tuesday and wear odd socks.
NEWS – SSq and Celia Pym prepare to Sock it to them at Art Exhibition in North Greenwich Peninsula!
We are all excited and looking forward to the launch of Socks: The Art Of Care And Repair at The Now Gallery in December.
This exciting exhibition will celebrate the everyday act of mending through darning. Central to the exhibition will be a vibrant, colourful installation of 488 socks, each stitched and darned by our own school community using industry ‘warehouse’ waste socks.
Children, staff and families of Ssq, learnt and practised their darning and stitching skills on socks, during a series of 26 workshops facilitated by one of our aspirational class names – artist Celia Pym – last year.
To book FREE tickets to see this wonderful exhibition at the Now Gallery in North Greenwich (near the 02 Arena) then click here. We also hope to arrange trips for all the children throughout the exhibition. The exhibition runs from December until March 2025.
NEWS – Tuesday Treat for Year 6 before Half Term!
Year 6 were treated to a final rehearsal of local secondary school Walworth Academy’s version of High School Musical. The children showed all our Core Values throughout the performance and enjoyed seeing some former pupils on the stage.
Year 6 then continued their excellent behaviour and attitude as they walked the short distance to the Una Marson Library to get new books and hear a story from the librarian. Well done Year 6!
NEWS – Thank You for the Music SSq!
Thank you to everyone who submitted their first Homework challenge of this year. We were inundated with brilliant pieces of work. We had instruments that could be plucked, shaken, beat and blown! Thank you all for the videos and photos that were shared. We enjoyed watching them in our final assembly of last term!
NEWS – Year 1 Enjoy Foundation Week
Before the holiday it was Foundation Subject Week for years 1-5 where the children spent each day developing their skills in the subjects of art, RE, geography and computing. This gave them the chance to really understand the subject in more depth and take part in lots of engaging activities throughout the day.
Year 1 learned about the importance of Shabbat in the Jewish faith. They then made play dough and plaited it just like Challah bread! It took perseverance from everyone!
NEWS – Inspirational Class Names Focus – Year 5!
Each year our teachers think carefully about an inspiring person to name their class after. This year we have artists, activists, athletes, Paralympians, musicians, mathematicians and TV presenters.
Throughout this term, we are going to find out a little more about why teachers chose these inspirational people. This week, we find out why Marcia and Steve in Year 5 chose Joy Crookes and Alex Bellos as their aspirational class names in Year Two. Watch their videos below!
NEWS – New Photo Permission Form for This Year!
We are looking to update our records for photo permissions. At SSq we use media in a variety of ways to promote our values, our practices and our excellence in and out of the classroom. This may include images of your child here at school or on trips therefore we would like the most up-to-date permissions from our families so please take your time to read this form and respond accordingly.
We will need one response for each of the children you have here at SSq.
We will also send this out by Parentmail. If you have any questions then please email [email protected]
Opal Play Reminder!
As colder weather and rain inevitably arrives this Autumn, please remember to send your child in with a WATERPROOF COAT. Part of our OPAL play scheme is that children will go out in all weather.
We are also grateful for any donations for the playground: scooters, bikes, dressing up clothes, prams, wheelchairs etc).
Please email Debbie or Kathryn for more information or questions.
Music Lessons Update
We’re looking forward to another half term of music making! Please ask your child to check the daily timetables that come around to classes each day. Do email Maxx ([email protected]) or Chris ([email protected]) if you have any question or queries.
After School Clubs Update
Our 4:30pm clubs continue this half term from Mon 4/11. No need to sign your child up again as when people signed up originally, this was for the whole of Autumn Term.
We do have space available in Mon drama. Originally this was a Y4-Y6 club. We would now like to open it to any interested Y3s.
We also have space in Wed multisports Y3-Y6. Multisports is when a different sport is done each week eg hockey, football, tennis, basketball.
There’s also a few spaces available in Thursday drummercise for Y2-Y6 and Friday drumming for Y2-Y4.
The cost of these clubs is £4 a session so £28 for the half term. If you would like to sign your child up please contact Maxx in person or by emailing [email protected]
PE Kit Update
Attendance Last Week – well done Pym Class!
Well done to Year 4 Pym Class who had 98.6% attendance on the week before the Half Term Break!
Well done folks and keep it up!
Please contact us daily if your child is off ill or for another reason.
Email [email protected] or phone 0207 7033049 (option 1)
This Week’s Menu and Update!
Thank you to all the parents that responded to the lunch survey before the Summer, apologies we haven't let you know sooner about the steps we have taken to improve the dining experience. The current menu is under review and we are looking at making sure this reflects our community, we will be collecting daily feedback from the children and tweaking the menu in terms of their responses. We will update in a couple of weeks on what further steps we have taken to improve this service. If you have any questions or comments please come to the office and speak to Kelly or email [email protected]
Please ensure that you never send your child in with any foods that may contain nuts. Click here for more details.
Key Dates for this academic year!
We know that some of you like to plan ahead for the year. Please see our summary of key dates for 2024-25. Please note that some dates may change so keep checking this website or our social media channels (X formally Twitter and Instagram).
Below are the flyers that Fi mentioned earlier from IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation). Scroll for your language of choice!
Southwark Food Action Alliance Food Map
Southwark Food Action Alliance have launched their new food map which you can access using this link. This map shows food banks and pantries, community fridges, community meals and more. They have also produced a leaflet that is split into four sections: Places to go for free food, Places to go for low-cost food, Places to go for meals, cafes and takeaways, and Foodbanks where you need a referral or voucher from an agency. You can view and download the leaflet here.
Footballers in Years 3,4 and 5 wanted!
As you may or may not be aware, Southwark Jaguars launched their first ever girls football team in August 2023. Since that first sunny day they have grown from strength to strength and currently have 60 girls registered across our U9’s, U10’s, U11’s & U12’s teams. We can guarantee that most of you will have at least one girl at our school that is a Southwark Jaguar. With that in mind they are keen to offer the opportunity of playing competitive weekend football to more girls. Unlike most football teams they do not offer trials. If you are girl and want to play, then this is the club for you. Please note they are looking for girls that are currently in year three, four and five.
Parents/carers will need to follow the link below or scan the QR CODE on the attached flyer to register their interest.
Southwark Jaguars Register of Interest – The PE & School Sports Network (lpessn.org.uk)
The SEND Saturday Sports Club returns!
This amazing opportunity reopens again on Saturday 21st September! Please see the below info or find our more from the LPESSN website.
