Busy times at School 21! We have lots of important notices for you below, and read on for details of the exciting learning students have been enjoying this week.
LATEST NEWS AT SCHOOL 21:
Term Dates 2024/25
Our term dates for the next academic year have been confirmed as below (following Newham base dates) to help families looking to plan their year beyond this September 2024. INSET dates will be confirmed as soon as possible.
- Autumn Term 1: Monday 2nd September 2024 to Friday 25th October 2024
- Autumn Half Term: Monday 28th October 2024 to Friday 1st November 2024
- Autumn Term 2: Monday 4th November 2024 – Friday 20thDecember 2024
- Christmas Break: Monday 23rd December 2024 to Friday 3rd January 2025
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- Spring Term 1: Monday 6th January 2025 – Friday 14thFebruary 2025
- Spring Half Term: Monday 17th February 2025 – Friday 21stFebruary 2025
- Spring Term 2: Monday 24th February 2025 – Friday 4th April 2025
- Easter Break: Monday 7th April 2025 – Monday 21stApril 2025
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- Summer Term 1: Tuesday 22nd April 2025 – Friday 23rdMay 2025
- Summer Half Term: Monday 26th May 2025 – Friday 30thMay 2025
- Summer Term 2: Monday 2nd June 2025 – Wednesday 23rdJuly 2025
- Summer Break: Thursday 24th July – TBC
Parents/Carers Survey 2024
Our Parents and Carers Survey 2024 is now live! If you are a Parent or Carer of children at School 21, please do click the link on Reach More Parents, or scan the QR code in our Front Office, to have your say. Your feedback will help us to identify key areas for improvement in addition to allowing us to recognise what we are doing well. The survey is available until 9th February 2024.
Parent/Carers Coffee Morning
Our Headteacher Mr Dickson is hosting a Parent/Carers Coffee Morning on Tuesday 6th February (8:40-9:15am). Main topics for discussion are wraparound care, feedback on school improvements and our priorities moving forwards, and how School 21 can support more parent and carer engagement. Please sign up here to attend so we can have your visitor badge ready on the day. We look forward to seeing you!
Wraparound care
We have shared a link to an expression of interest form via Reach More Parents. Please complete the form to help us plan for next academic year.
School 21 Musical – West Side Story 2024!
School21 presents… West Side Story- Featuring students in Y5-Y13!
Wednesday 28th Feb, Thursday 29th Feb, Friday 1st March- 6pm start
Tickets are available to all members of the community via Reach More Parents (Weduc) now!
Sign up to the 'Friends of the Music Department' membership scheme via the link here and you can also get 2 free tickets to either the first or second night of the show!
Family Music and Movement
Don’t forget our family music and movement sessions (suitable for age 0-4, accompanied by an adult) take place at 8:45am Friday morning (full details in our previous Community Newsletter).
LEARNING AT SCHOOL 21:
Reception
Amazing Artists! Before the holidays, we took part in a competition called Me and My Family, where Reception children around the country were invited to enter by drawing a picture of their families. We are delighted to announce that some of our children's artwork has been chosen to be part of a new book that is being published! The children were awarded certificates and stickers for their efforts and the school will receive a copy of the book when it is finished. Well done!
What's hiding in the cave? This week in Reception, we have been reading the story "The Cave" by Rob Hodgson. In Drawing Club, we have had lots of fun making 'getaway' vehicles for the wolf, sending the bear on new adventures and practising our writing to make secret codes. We even made our own caves using different types of media and materials. In Maths, we have been adding together small quantities to find a total and practising our counting skills too!
Year 1
Year 1 are learning all about the Great Fire of London. This week we visited the Tower Hill to experience some elements of the Great Fire of London!
Year 3
Stone Age Survivors! Y3 all visited West Ham Park last week to learn more about Stone Age life. In the workshop, they learnt about building shelters and making fires. They even had a go at lighting their own fires! The children carried on building shelters in the Forest School this week too.
This week we have been writing cinquain poems. We have thought about appropriate adjective, verbs, adverbs and similes we can use to describe different animals from the Stone Age including woolly mammoths and smilodons.
Year 4
In mathematics this week, we have been exploring using manipulatives to identify fractions of amounts. It has been a fantastic way to practically see how we can use amounts as a whole and then calculate a fraction (part) of that whole, concrete and pictorially.
Year 5
Year 5 have been learning about fractions recently, using both fraction tiles and bead strings to show fractions and decimals.
We also went to the Horniman museum to look at Benin artefacts including some Benin Bronzes, which allowed us to build on the learning undertaken this term in class. This is part of our project “What do the Benin bronze sculptures reveal about the culture and history of the Benin Empire?”.
Year 6
Year 6 are delighted to share what they have produced in their latest writing unit. Students have delved into the gripping world of "Letters from the Lighthouse," a compelling novel set in World War II, and have been crafting personal recounts from the perspective of the main character, Olive. Their main objectives were to cultivate empathy by stepping into the shoes of Olive and enhance their command of punctuation. These objectives were definitely met and their personal recounts not only showcase their writing prowess but also reflect the depth of their understanding of historical events and the human experience. Please have a read of the extracts written by Noor, Orla, Jerry and Iqra.
Year 7
This week, Ms Jenny Martin, Public Health Strategist from the Newham Council came to visit the Year 7 Food Technology Project group and talk to them about the importance of eating good food. She discussed various topics such as how food can affect teenagers' mood, external pressures affecting teenagers to make food choices and some practical tips to improve the quality of nutrition in the diet. Later in the project, the students will plan a menu for School21 tuck shop, which we envisage to open in the near future.
Year 8
Year 8 students applied the principles of Eatwell Guide to prepare vegetable frittatas in the class. They also reviewed the recipe and discussed ways of making it even more healthy!
Year 9
Students in year 9 have managed to get and interview from: Miriam la Reina (Spanish professional Boxer) and Eloy Fuga (footballer first Division & Guinea Ecuatorial national team ). We will now officially have them in our Spanish Cultural Podcast with Miss Jebrin. We will be also be debuting with our brand new podcast set ready to go live from next week!
Also this week, Year 9 had their recap on safeguarding in an assembly led by Ms Blatch and Ms Uddin.
Year 9 students have been learning about cuisines from around the world. This week in the Food Technology class, the students made beef burgers and a vegetarian option was made available for them to make chickpea burgers. They also learnt the importance of hygiene when handling raw meat.
Year 10
This week Ms Northey’s Year 10 class have been practising their essay writing skills in English. They have been exploring the Power and Conflict anthology of poetry – on Tuesday they worked together to plan a comparison essay examining how ideas about power and control are presented in William Blake’s ‘London’ and John Agard’s ‘Checking Out Me History’. There was some brilliant collaboration in the pairs and trios – here are some of of the Venn diagrams that they wrote up on the desks using whiteboard pens as they discussed their ideas:
Below are a selection of the responses that were written in Wednesday’s lesson – recognition to Angel, Aysha, Kayja, Natas, Arjun and Iqra!
Year 10 & Year 11
The Year 10 & Year 11 Crew Building competitions are well underway. Every second week in Coaching classes have been tasked with creating some sort of challenge to compete against the other groups. So far we have seen riddles, balancing activities, basketball, national flag and anthem quizzes and many more incredible ideas. At the end of the competitions, the coaching group with the most points will earn themselves a pizza lunch (thanks Mr Dickson!)
LOCAL NOTICES:
Scroll through the gallery below!
ICT Bootcamp at UCL – For Year 9 students and above
UCLEast are offering an inclusive ICT bootcamp training during the February half-term for east London schools. The bootcamp is part of a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) focusing on inclusive public activities for ICT (InPACT). We have partnered with Google to provide hands-on training in various digital technologies and tools. The goal is to promote ICT skills and innovation among young people and provide opportunities to collaborate on projects that tackle real-world challenges. Each day, the students will learn a new topic and apply their knowledge and skills to create an ICT project showcasing east London.
