July Newsletter

Interim Executive Headteacher: Mr M Drakes

Interim Headteacher: Mrs L Smith

12th  July 2016

July Newsletter

Check out our wonderful new website and blog at http://www.mead.havering.sch.uk/.

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The full version of this newsletter is available on the blog page and Facebook.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Hello from Mr Drakes (Interim Executive Head)

I am delighted to write to you in my position as the Interim Executive Head for both Mead and Broadford Primary schools. Thank you for the already warm welcome that I have received from pupils, parents, staff and Governors. To have the opportunity to work with your school and so many Harold Hill families and children is a real privilege. The last five years of my career have been the most enjoyable as this community has been a very friendly place to work and one where the children make every day rewarding. My vision is to ensure that we deliver nothing less than an outstanding school experience for your children, so that they have the very best start in life - they deserve nothing less. I believe that we can always find 1% gains to further improve what we do - and my job is to ensure staff have the resources, training and confidence to reach for them. It is very worrying that in 2016, where you are born in Havering still has such an impact on your life chances. Currently there is a 7 year life expectancy gap between children born in Harold Hill and those born in Upminster. If we don’t provide a world class education then we become part of the problem, rather than empowering the children to have a brighter future where they can choose their own place to life, work and raise a family. We have been working together more formally for about a year now and the impact is starting to be seen. Approaches are more consistent within and across schools, staff have consistently high expectations and results are up - significantly up on 2015. Having now met all the staff and the vast majority of the children I have high hopes for  our united school community - which will number over 1,200 pupils and 120 staff. Together we will ensure that Mead & Broadford are the best schools on the Hill, and an education community that looks to put a dent in the universe much further afield too!

Federation Completed!

Following all the consultations, we are delighted to announce that Mead and Broadford are now officially federated. The Department for Education notified us of this last week. The newly appointed Governing Board met last week and we are now well underway with preparations for September. A letter has been posted on the web page and handed out to pupils of both schools. Last week we held the first joint parents meeting, which went very well. The notes from it can be found online:

http://broadfordprimary.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/federation-board-parents-meeting.html

Summer Concert

Mead School cordially invites parents/carers to a musical extravaganza which will take place on Friday 15th July from 13:45 to 15:15 on the school field, weather permitting. There will be performances by all classes, instrumental soloists and Mead singers. Bring your family and friends for a fabulous music event. Don't forget to bring a blanket or folding chair.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Superb SATS Results

Congratulations to our Year 6 pupils for a fantastic set of SATs results. Despite the high expectations of the new national curriculum and the rigorous testing arrangements, our Mead pupils rose to the challenge and gave it their all. Determination to succeed, a motivation to learn and plenty of perspiration have resulted in 86% of our pupils meeting the required standard in Reading, 86% in Spelling & Grammar and 90% in Maths. This compares very favourably with the national picture where 66% achieved the standard in Reading, 70% in Mathematics and 72% in SPaG. Overall 79% of our pupils achieved the expected standard in all 3 areas of Reading, Writing (teacher assessed) and Mathematics. This is 26% higher than the national average of 53%.

We are incredibly proud of all that our Year 6 pupils have achieved this year and these results are affirmation of the outstanding progress each child has made. Well done Year 6!

School Fete

Inflatables, candy floss, face paints, dancing, live music, pizza: these are just some of the wonderful things that children and families from Mead and Broadford enjoyed last Saturday 2nd July. Friends of Mead and staff at school did an amazing job to organise this community event and we were all delighted that the rain held off.  

The grand total profit was an unbelievable £3,435 .

We would like to say a MASSIVE thankyou to Mrs Hockley, Mr Cowley, Mr Chris Kent , all the Friends of Mead and staff at school who worked so tirelessly to make this event happen.  The money raised can be used to buy resources that will directly benefit the children- we will let you know what we decide to put the funds towards.

How can YOU help in future? Get involved with Friends of Mead and help make your child's school a success!

Prize Draw Winners

Thanks to all of you who bought tickets for the Prize Draw. The lucky winners of the 4 hampers were- Charlie Wisnlewski, Australia; Harper Tisbury, Madagascar; Hector Rimkus, Scotland; Leona Doughty, staff member. There were 18 smaller prizes too ranging from Golf vouchers to chocolates.

Farewells-

We are sad to be saying goodbye to a number of staff this term who are all moving on to pastures new.

Goodbye, good luck and a big thank you to Mr G Pitty, Miss G Hagans, Mr H Trusler, and Mr P Mead our IT technician who all have exciting new jobs to look forward to. Best wishes and thanks also go to Mr Wolfers, Mr Woods and Miss Hawthorne who are leaving us for new schools too.

Sporting Success:

Drapers Athletics Sports Day:

-          8 Children from Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 competed in the Drapers Athletics Sports Day.

-          We competed against: Broadford, St Ursula’s, Drapers Brookside, Pyrgo Priory and Hilldene.

-          We came 3rd in Year 3.

-          We came 2nd in Year 6.

The children’s behaviour was magnificent and they all did themselves proud.

Cricket Competition at Pyrgo:

-          We competed against: Broadford, Pyrgo Priory (2 teams) and Drapers Brookside.

-          We finished 3rd winning 2 matches and losing 2 matches.

The children behaviour very well and enjoyed the experience.

All the sports days have been very successful, thanks to the hard work of Mr Pitty, Year 6 pupils and a number of other staff who have helped to organise and run all these events.

MEAD SPELLING CHAMPIONS:

Can you spell 'discernible'? 'hyacinth'? 'Monochromatic'?

The amazing children of Mead Primary School can!

They proved it when taking part in the Drapers' Academy Spelling Bee 2016.

Eight trusty spellers set off, four from KS1 and four from KS2.

The younger children had their chance first and ALMOST triumphed! They made it to the tie-break round and were stymied by the word 'coyote' (from the KS2 list!) Runners-up though and very proud of themselves!

The older children came next. Again, they made it to the tie-break! This time the word was 'monochromatic'.(from the KS3 list!) The other team failed to spell it so Mead were triumphant! How proud are we?

MEAD CAREERS FAIR 2016

What are your aspirations? What do you want to be when you grow up?

These are questions Key Stage 2 pupils were being asked on Thursday 30th June at the 2nd Annual Careers Fair at Mead.

An exciting range of professions were represented, including a headmaster, a  hairdresser, an estate agent, an occupational health therapist, a graphic designer, a caterer, a member of aircraft cabin crew and a sports coach .

The children had an exciting time finding out what kinds of qualifications they would need, and trying out some of the equipment used in these professions.

Of 162 pupils surveyed after the event, 85% said that this event inspired them to think about different jobs they could do in the future, and 85% said they were considering going on to higher education after the age of 18.

The visiting professionals were very impressed with the children at Mead. These were amongst the feedback comments we received:

'The children were enthusiastic and keen to ask questions,'

'This event was really well coordinated,'                 'What lovely, polite children you have at this school,'

Bikers Breakfast/ Cycle and Scooter sessions

Lots of hungry cyclists and scooters enjoyed a free, delicious, healthy breakfast last Friday. Pupils from all Key Stages tucked into the tasty treats, then came out to get some exercise at one of the  extra playtime sessions held specially for those on wheels. We are helping to create ‘Commuters of the Future’ ;  we are part of a plan to ease traffic congestion, which is set to rise steeply in our Borough over the next decade.

Reading

Well done to all those regular readers who have managed to read at least 3 times a week at home all year. This is a great habit to get into, which will set you up for a lifetime of literary enjoyment!

Thanks to Ann Stewart (Harper Tisbury’s nan); she donated a story book for every KS1 and foundation class.  It was to raise money for the Chesterfield  Royal Macmillan Cancer charity.

You can keep your reading up over the summer by joining in the Summer Reading Challenge at your local library.

Changes to Summer Reading Challenge

Harold Hill library will be moving to its new building within the shopping area of Hilldene a bit later than planned during the summer holidays so unfortunately the  Summer Reading Challenge will be starting a little later there now as the library will be closed for a couple of weeks (probably from 16th July).

The Summer Reading Challenge start date now for Harold Hill Library will be Monday 8th Aug (the National Start Date is Sat 16th July)  This will still give the children five weeks to complete the challenge and they aren’t restricted to a book a week, just one book per visit,  so that should still give them plenty of time.

Alternatively they can do the challenge at any of the other libraries eg. Harold Wood, Gidea Park or Romford.  They just need to turn up with a library book already read and they can sign up to do it from the 16th

Attendance

Winners of  last week’s attendance trophies:

Reception: Barbados 94.3%;   Year 1   Australia 94.6%; Year 2  Madagascar  97.7%

Year 3 / 4:   wales 3rd place 93.5%; 2nd place 95.3 % Scotland  ; 1st Germany 97.9%

Year 5/6 :  3rd Arg   97.9%;  2nd place  98.3% brazil;      1st  chile 99%

The winners of the best attendance all year will be invited to take part in the Mad Science workshop on Tuesday 19th July. There will be exciting rewards next year too, for the pupils and classes with the highest attendance.

We would like to remind you that all pupils should be aiming for 100% attendance. Attendance below 96% is considered unacceptable by OFSTED.

New Uniform

In September we will be launching our new school uniform. Your child will receive their free jumper/ cardigan in the new school bottle green colour. Please remember that  ALL items of school uniform, PE kits, lunch boxes, water bottles etc; MUST have your child’s name and class on them BEFORE they bring them into school. This way they can easily be returned if they make their way to lost property.

We would like to wish you all a wonderful summer break. Have fun, stay safe, and we will see you again in September.

Mrs L Smith,

Interim Headteacher

Diary Dates

Event	Date	Time
Oliver– Year 6 performance to parents	Tue 12th July	5.30-8pm
Oliver– Year 6 performance to parents	Wed 13th July	5.30-8pm
Meet your new teacher	Wed 13th July	1.30-end of school day
Year 4/5/6 Disco	Thu 14th July	5.30-7.30pm
Summer Outdoor concert	Fri 15th July	1.45-3pm
School Council Trip to Parliament	Fri 15th July	All day
Year 4 trip to Bethnal Green Toy Museum	Mon 18th July	All day
Mad Scientist Attendance rewards workshops	Tue 19th July	All day
Nursery Graduation Ceremony	Tue 19th July	AM + PM
Staff V Year 6 football match	Tue 19th July	3.15 -4.15pm
LAST DAY OF TERM. 2PM FINISH!	Wed 20th	2PM

Important dates for next term	Date
Staff Training days	Mon/ Tue 5th & 6th September
First day of term for pupils	Wed 7th September
Fiji Trip to Colchester Castle	Thu 15th September
Year 3 Lullingstone Roman Villas	Thu 6th October
Staff training day- school closed to pupils	Fri 21st October
Half term break	Mon 24th - Fri 28th October
Year 5 Bikeability	Mon 31st - Fri 4th November
Year 3 Bike Skills workshops	7th & 8th November
Year 4 Bike Skills workshops	9th & 10th November
Last Day of Autumn term- 2pm finish	Wed 21st December