Edition 7 - Earthly Endeavors

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Beeches Connect, a unique Headteacher blog where you can stay up-to-date with all the latest news and events in school.

Last week, I asked how much of the body was made up of water. I have been challenged by some of the children on this, as they rightly point out that it is different for men and women. Men are 60% on average, and women are 55%. This week, the blog continues the science theme. I have been incredibly impressed by the knowledge learned in lessons and how much the children can recall from their learning.

In the last week or so, children in Year 4 have been learning about the digestive system and the different functions of the teeth. I popped into a lesson and was astonished at the technical vocabulary they were using; I can’t wait to read their explanations next week.  Here is some of their work so far....

When I was chatting with some Year 5 children, I was amazed by some of the interesting facts they found when comparing animals. I learned that an elephant is dependent on its mother for 5 years!

As a whole school, we celebrated Earth Day. This is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. This year's theme was Planet vs Plastics, with the goal to reduce the production of plastics by 60% in 2040 and ultimately build a plastic-free future. This is something we are trying to do in school as we play our part in this commitment. Doing this will require hard work and dedication. I have seen a lot of that this week as the children have been working hard on our core value of resilience. Well done to these children for showing exceptional resilience this week:

RJF-Whole Class

RSS- Abdul

RDVS- Whole class

1TC-  Tetiana

1MW- Subhan

1HK- Esther

2RS- Milena

2SB -Zayyan and Meta

2MZ- Husayn

3AB-leonardo

3HH- Sumayyah

3CB- Benwin

4DF- Saira

4DS- Alesia

4SJ- Marcos

5DC- Layla

5RH-  Ibrahim

5TC- Nikko

6FJ-Yee Ching

6AB Malvina

6SW- Alexandra

Finally, as it has been a science-based blog, I feel like I need to give another science quiz question this week. How many bones are in the human body? Good luck counting those!

As always, enjoy a restful weekend and I look forward to another week of learning at The Beeches.

Mr Fisk

 

Edition 6 – Lunchtime Success

Welcome back to my first Blog of the Summer Term.

The answer to the previous blog question was that 11 teams have United in their name. I hope you enjoyed challenging your brain with that question over the holiday. Thank you to all the children who completed the reading challenge too. Please bring in your sheet and place it in the grey box outside my room to be entered into the prize draw.

This week, I have been pleased with the efforts of our whole school in improving our lunchtime dining hall experience. We have established some new rules so that everyone can eat their dinner in a calm environment. I have been delighted that we have reduced food waste by 50% this week! This is an incredible achievement and is supporting our mission to become a sustainable school.

This week's core value focus was on collaboration. Collaboration is like teamwork in school. It means working together with teachers, friends, and other grown-ups to make our school better and help each other learn and grow. When we all work as a team, we can do amazing things. I have heard some lovely examples of teamwork this week and we were delighted to award Star of the Week to the following children:

RJF- Liam and Safa-Noor

RDVS-  Zayan and Mussa

RSS- Deen

1HK: Zayan

1MW: Ionut

1TC: Arbish

2RS- Muhammad

2SB- Irene

2MZ- Leon

3AB- Jan

3CB- Abdullah and Ruqayya and Madeen

3HH- Musa

4DF- Mohammed

4DS- Abdul  and Yeshua

4SJ- Keylah D'Almeida

5RH- Lenny, Shammuwel and Sarah

5DC- Zuriel Williams and Markuss

5TC- Aishah

6AB- Jomiloju

6SW- Jazaan

6FJ- Ibtsaam & Kamile

As we start the summer term, the weather is likely to improve (hopefully). Please may I remind all of our families that the children should bring a reusable water bottle to school every day so that they stay hydrated. My quiz question this week is related to water. What percentage of the body is water?

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mr Fisk

Edition 5 - Unified Achievements

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents, children, and staff for their efforts over the last term at The Beeches. It has been an action-packed period with many successes.

Last week, I asked how many breeds of dog can be found in the UK. The answer is 222.  Did you know, there are 8 factors in the number 222? They are: 1, 2, 3, 6, 37, 74, 111, 222. The reason I mention this is because I have seen some excellent use of factors in school recently. I even heard that the Y4 children were impressing their parents with their times tables knowledge in the MTC Café on Tuesday. Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended.

This week saw us draw the term to a close with our Star of the Term assembly. Being selected for this award is a huge achievement. Our Stars have shown all our Beeches values over the whole term and thoroughly deserve this special recognition. A massive congratulations to:

RJF Aliyah

RSS Muhammad

RDVS Dareen

1TC Shania

1MW Shana

1HK Sarah

2SB Zayyan

2MZ Elija

2RS Ashar

3HH Mario-Daniel

3AB Ahmed

3CB Sami

4DF Leo

4SJ Eduard

4DS Abraham

5RH Shanvi & Vanisha

5DC Darasimi

5TC Izumi

6AB David

6FJ Sahil

6SW Charlie

As we finish the term, we all look forward to spending quality time with our families. I am looking forward to having more time enjoying one of my favourite hobbies, football. I will be watching, coaching, and playing over the holiday. My quiz question for you this week is, how many professional football teams in England have the word ‘United’ in their name?

Talking of united, I would like to finish this week's blog by expressing how delighted I have been with how well our children have adopted our new vision this year. Every day, I see One School, One World, United in action. I see our children thinking carefully about their role in the world as we develop our core value of sustainability; I see collaboration at the heart of learning; and I see many more parents/carers enjoying our cafés and events, uniting together as a family community.  

I hope everyone has a restful Easter break, full of fun times and happiness. For our Muslim families, I warmly wish you a blessed Eid filled with love, happiness, and countless blessings.

Best wishes,

Mr Fisk

Edition 4 – Paws and Pages

Good afternoon and welcome to the latest edition of Beeches Connect. I hope my title of ‘Paws and Pages’ will become apparent as you read on.

Firstly, the answer to last week's question is: Articulate was released in 1992. Well done to those who managed to find out the answer. I enjoyed playing this at the weekend, but I must confess, I was on the losing team!

It has been another action-packed week in school. On Wednesday we had two special events. The first was a visit from our Local Authority advisors. They looked around the classes and spoke to several children and staff. They were extremely impressed with the learning behaviours in classrooms, as well as the work we are doing to support all children in our school.

The second event was one of our weekly assemblies. Every Wednesday, one of our talented teachers records an assembly for the children to enjoy in classrooms. This week, we learned about different religious festivals in the month of March. We learn about Holi, celebrated by Hindus; Easter, celebrated by Christians; Ramadan, celebrated by Muslims and Vaisakhi, celebrated by Sikhs. Religious education and understanding the heritage and beliefs of all of our children are a big part of our school values.

This week our teachers selected a ‘Reading Champion’ for each class. There are many different reasons for children winning this award. We had a number of children chosen for regular reading at home and many children making excellent progress in lessons. Well done to all of our Reading Champions:

RDVS - Alexandra

RJF-Nomaan

RSS- Vakaris

1HK- Petronela

1TC- Anayah

1MW- James

2SB- Ayansh

2MZ- Sumaya

2RS- Tiana

3HH- David

3CB- Madeen

3AB- Samuel

4SJ- Keylah 

4DF- Siena 

4DS- Aizah

5DC- Skaiste

5RH- Shanvi

5TC- Amelija

6FJ- Bia

6SW- Hadiqa

6AB- Emilis

We are keen for all children to keep up the reading momentum during the holiday. On Thursday, we sent out an Easter Reading Challenge. Please encourage your child to take part. I am looking forward to doing the final challenge on the journey… reading to an animal – although I am not sure how my dog will feel about that! Here is Honey, my dog. 

 

Finally, as always, I have a new question for you. According to The UK Kennel Club, how many breeds of dog are there in the UK?

Have a great weekend everyone.

Mr Fisk

Edition 3 – Articulate Minds

Good afternoon everyone,

Your answer to last week’s quiz question was…. 49 books were published by Roald Dahl.

This week the blog is called ‘Articulate Minds’ because talking and communication has been our focus. We have been concentrating on our core value of Articulate.

Just a week ago, I visited Year 3 to listen to some very articulate children. They shared their latest piece of writing with me. I was invited to each class to listen to their persuasive speeches about whether I should buy a house in Yaxley or Peterborough. The children in Year 3 had recently visited Yaxley and included some fantastic points in their arguments, such as the “delectable fish and chip shop”, “the quaint, thatched cottages” and the “long, picturesque walks”. Faran in 3HH argued that I would enjoy the “delicious restaurants” and my children would “love the ice rink” in Peterborough.  I thought it was very impressive that they had not only thought about the most suitable location for my house but also what my children would enjoy. Well done Year 3!

One way that we ensure children develop good language and communication skills is through our weekly oracy lessons. This happens every Tuesday in every class across the school. The children have many opportunities to read with expression, take part in debates and develop the skills of presenting to an audience. This week, Year 1 children learnt how to ask a good question. Some of their ideas were amazing!

On Wednesday, we were visited by leaders from other schools. They watched some lessons and spoke to lots of children. They were extremely impressed by how clearly and articulately our children could explain their work. They spoke with passion and enthusiasm about our wonderful school.

Next week, our Year 3 children will be showing off their articulation with a performance to parents on Monday 18^th March, at 2.30 pm. I hope the year 3 parents can come along to see some excellent poetry.

Well done to all the articulate minds across The Beeches this week. Our Star of the Week certificates were awarded to:

RJF- Amelia 

RSS- Muhammad

RDVS- Holan

1MW- Hassnain 

1TC- Ebube

1HK- Safaa

2SB- Biana

2RS- Ayesha

2MZ- Mard 

3HH- Zakariya

3CB- Mohammad 

3AB - Damian 

4DF- Rayyan

4DS- Abraham

4SJ- Aarifah 

5DC- Armaan 

5TC- Bryan

5RH - Coraline 

6FJ- Ibtsaam 

6SW- Reda

6AB- Sufyan

Finally, all this talk of being articulate has reminded me of one of my favourite games to play with my family. I will definitely have a game of Articulate this weekend! The quiz question is, in what year was this board game released?

Have a great week. Remember being articulate is an essential life skill and is something we have plenty of opportunities to practice, wherever we are.

Mr Fisk

 

Edition 2 – Read all about it….

Hello everyone and welcome back to the next edition of Beeches Connect, a place on our website where parents and children can stay up-to-date with our latest news.

Thank you to everyone who read the blog last week. I am told by my statistician that we had over 200 views! The answer to the quiz question was:  David Attenborough is 97 years old.

This week our school focus was on creativity (one of our Core Values). I have been blown away by the creativity in the work around school, and particularly the homework that continues to pour in. I have enjoyed playing a home-made version of table football and Ball Run. Well done Henry and Cataleya!

You might be wondering why this edition is call “Read all about it…” Well, this is because I have lots of news to share, and of course, it has been World Book Day. There have been lots of exciting reading activities going on but I was most impressed by our community reading event on Tuesday. I was delighted to welcome over 60 families into school to read a range of stories across different ‘worlds’ in our story-telling event.  Thank you to our talented staff for their enthusiasm and effort. Thank you also to our parents and children for attending; I hope you enjoyed it!

If you visited the “Space’ world in Y5, this was the picture of the alien you were trying to draw from Mr Challis’s clues:

 

In other news, our football teams continued to do us proud. The girls had an afternoon of playing against many other teams across the city. Well done to Kotryna, Keylah, Taybah , Rukayah, Valeriia, JoJo, Malaika and Zofia.

Also, congratulations to the boys’ team, who finished top of the group with a respectful 2-2 draw with TDA. Go Team Beeches!

With an abundance of creativity on display, we were delighted to award Star of the Week to:

RJF- Carolina

RDVS- Dareen

RSS- Karina

1MW- Larissa

1TC- Marinela

1HK- Darling

2RS- Barbora

2MZ- Khadijah

2SB- Eliezer

3AB- Jo-Jo

3HH- Maria

3CB- Yasmin & Nufaysah

4SJ- Henry

4DF- Castro

4DS- Ayushmaan & Cataleya & Aria

5DC- Elsie

5RH- Mohammed

5TC- Ameena

6SW- Mia

6AB- Rihannah

6FJ- Atene & Gabriele

Finally, as it is World Book Day at The Beeches, I wanted to share my favourite Roald Dahl book. Without a doubt, it has to be Danny the Champion of the World. Your quiz question this week is about Roald Dahl. How many of his books were published? If anyone would like to put a list in the blue box, I would love to remind myself of his wonderful novels that enriched my childhood.

Have a great weekend. Remember, reading is not just for World Book Day - it’s for life!

Mr Fisk

____________________________________

Edition 1 - Going Green

Hello parents, carers and children.

Welcome to my first blog as Headteacher. You will notice it’s called ‘BEECHES CONNECT’. It was named by Aratrika in 1MW. I chose this name because I really loved the word CONNECT. This blog is all about connecting with everyone in our school community, so you know what’s going on in our wonderful school.

Even though I have been a keen writer all my life, I have never written a blog. So here goes! It might be a bit longer today as it's my first ever go…

Firstly, I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate our fantastic OFSTED report where the school was graded as GOOD in all areas. This is a wonderful achievement which we should all be very proud of.

What a busy first week back we have had!
On Monday, we launched our new Core Value for Sustainability! This is something very important to me. I want my children and all the children at The Beeches to grow up in a world that has addressed the issues of climate change and made the changes needed to sustain our natural planet. I've already seen a difference in school! Lights are being turned off, paper is being reused more efficiently and I have even had some board games made from reusable materials, which we can use during wet play times. Please keep them coming!

Ms Marsden and I were delighted to award Star of the Week to children who had gone that extra mile in being sustainable. We had children recycling, others walking to school more often and even children growing their own fruit and vegetables!

Here are all our winners:

RJF Fabio 

RSS - Kevin

RDVS- Roanda

1MW - Fatimah

1HK- Mustafa

1TC- David

2MZ- Dimitri

2SB- Ester 

2RS- Sajjal 

3CB Romeemah 

3HH- Antarip & Auxiliadora 

3AB - Malaika

4DF Nicole

4DS Florina 

4SJ - Taybah

5RH -Abiha

5DC Muhammad

5TC  Leon

6FJ Ranya

6AB- Amelia 

6SW- Liutik

Just when you thought we could not be any more sustainable, I awarded our Bikeabilty Crew their certificates and badges for learning how to ride safely on the roads. What an important life skill! And of course, it reduces cars on the road too.

As the weather improves, I am looking forward to the gardening club growing some vegetables in our patch.  Talking of growing... I was walking to the dining hall next to what I thought was a year 2 class. After a second glance, I noticed it was our Reception children! I was so impressed with their behaviour and how they have started their education at our school.

Well that's about all this week. I have decided I will always end my blog on a quiz question (I love quizzes). The answer will be in next week's edition so please come back to read it. 
Question: How old is climate champion David Attenborough? No googling allowed!

Have a great weekend. Look after yourself, your family, and, of course, our planet.

Mr Fisk