Headteacher Blog Archive Autumn 2 2023
15th December 2023
This week has been packed full of events to help us continue to celebrate Chanukah. It has been wonderful to come together every afternoon to like the Chanukiot, sing songs and hear from each other some of the special moments of Chanukah. It was also wonderful to welcome so many adults in to school to join in with our celebrations. Seeing grandparents, aunts and uncles enjoying the ruach vibrating around the hall and then enjoying tea with their family member has been wonderful too. It has been lovely for me personally to meet so many members of out Etz Chaim extended family and to all enjoy Chanukah together.
As well as enjoying the festivities of Chanukah there has been a lot of other learning taking place across the school this week. Reception have been reading the book Owl Babies and thinking about where people and animals live. Year 1 have been learning and practicing their number bonds to 10. In Year 2 they have been thinking about how to live a healthy life, they have talked about good foods to eat and how exercise can help our bodies. Year 3 have finally finished reading the book Ugg: Boy Genius of the Stone Age. The text has given them an insight into the problems with wearing trousers made out of stone. Year 4 have looked at what happens when you change the states of water. They have looked at frozen water and heated water and considered the changes that occurred. In Year 5 have been learning about Search Engines and the use of Search Engine Optimisation to help people find the web pages they are looking for. Year 6 have completed their work on the Shang Dynasty by looking at artefacts form the time and seeing what they can conclude from them about like in Shang times.
Congratulations to the following children for showing educational excellence in class this week and being invited to my tea party:
Lana M, Ariel C-E, Libby C-E, Sasha VDB, Gracie C, Mason M and Sadie K.
As we come towards the end of term it is a time to look back on everything we have done since September. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my staff for their hard work, commitment and dedication to providing our children with the best opportunities possible. Without them the school would not be the place that it is and we are truly lucky to have so many wonderful adults working here. It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Ms Moshwe who is leaving us at the end of term to take up a new teaching role in a Secondary School. We will miss her around school and have reminded her several times that we are not very far away and hope to see her back for a visit. Finally, I would like to welcome Mrs Cohen to our team, she will be taking over as Year 4 class teacher for the remainder of the academic year.
Wishing you all a wonderful winter break (when we get there) and a restful Shabbat.
Mrs Martin
8 December 2023
Preparations for Chanukah started earlier in the week with each class considering what the two miracles of Chanukah were and how these are still remembered today. There have been a lot of ways in school we have been honouring and remembering these miracles which have included making salt dough Chanukiot, making potato latkas/kugel and creating clay dreidels. It has been wonderful to hear the buzz of Chanukah songs filling the corridors and I thoroughly enjoyed our first candle lighting assembly yesterday in which we invited all the wonderful adults who volunteer in school to celebrate with us. I look forward to four more candle lighting assemblies next week with more special visitors as well as my favourite food - doughnuts!
We are looking forward to welcoming Pikuach inspectors into school next week to see the wonderful learning opportunities our children are provided with in school. If you have not yet completed the parent survey, please remember to do so by 12pm on Tuesday 12th December.
As always the children having being working hard in all lessons each day producing some wonderful pieces of work and continuing to develop themselves as learners.
Reception have been working hard on their phonics and learning new sounds.
Year 1 have been continuing their work on feeding birds as well as attempting to learn their left and right!
In Year 2 the children have been finding out about money and the coins that we use in England. They have even set up a shop in order to practice using correct amounts, some items in the shop are very reasonable!
Year 3 have been recapping the work they did last term on volcanoes, tsunamis, tornadoes and earthquakes. I was given a great description this morning of what happens just before a tsunami hits.
Year 4 have been working hard to find areas of different regular and irregular shapes.
Year 5 have been kept busy this week writing poems and speeches about Odysseus travelling to the land of the dead. It has been wonderful to see the class becoming so engrossed in the text.
Year 6 are coming to the end of the History unit on the Shang Dynasty. The children have researched different area of the Dynasty and I was lucky enough to get shown one on their multiple G-ds.
Congratulations to Kiki, Cecily, Ella F, Jonah, Ido, Ella C-E and Gabi for showing educational excellence in class this week.
Thank you to everyone that supported Jewish Blueish day today in support of Jewish Child's Day. The money raised will be used to support children in need to help transform the lives of those who need it.
Finally, I would like to remind you all that home learning is set by teachers so that the children can show us what they know and what they may not yet know. If your child is stuck with their work at home please encourage them to let us know what they are finding difficult so that we can help them with it in school.
Wishing you all a wonderful Chanukah, a restful Shabbat and a good weekend.
Mrs Martin
1 December 2023
It has been wonderful to see the variety of hair styles and accessories in school today. Thank you to everyone that has supported Chai Cancer Care Mad Hair Day, raising money for an amazing charity that helps people in our community at the darkest times. Chai in Schools supports children affected by a cancer diagnosis of either themselves or someone in their family. It also gives Headteachers, teachers and SENCOs advice and training in how to respond appropriately to the child’s needs as well as those of their classmates.
Thursday began with our Year 1 Chagigah HaSuddur. The children in Year 1 showed us all how to use a Siddur and which Tefillot they will be using their Siddur for right from day one. They were so excited to receive the own Siddur and all looked up at their parents with awe and wonder as they were handed their special book. Rabbi Jack from Mill Hill East Synagogue reminded us all how special it is to pray and connect with G-d and how lucky we are as a community to have opportunities to do this each day. Once the adults had gone home the children were treated to a special celebratory kiddish which they all enjoyed together.
We were visited by one of our school improvement partners Ben Conway this week, who spent time during his visit focussing on our maths provision. His visit involved speaking with myself and Miss Genn, our maths leader, and visiting lessons to speak to learners, staff and observe our methods of teaching and learning. Ben commented on the high levels of engagement and learning behaviours in all learners, as well as the strength of teaching and learning by staff across the school. In summation, he confirmed that the actions we are taking to further develop fluency across the school are well targeted and appropriate to our needs. A big thank you to Miss Genn for her work on this, and to our learners and staff. Ben also spent time with Miss Roberts and Mrs Bloom finding out about how Art, DT and History are taught across the school.
This week there have been numerous knocks on my office door from children wanting to show me their fantastic work. This week they have taught me about nocturnal animals, why animals hibernate as well as how to trap animals in order to eat them! There is nothing more heart-warming than seeing the children come to me beaming with pride over the work they have produced.
As always, my week ended with spending time speaking to the children at my weekly tea party. They always love to tell me about the work they have done in class that week as well as any exciting things they have been doing out of school. This week I learnt more about their boxing, judo and swimming skills. Congratulations this week to Omer, Lyla, Bella, Cameron, Shulamit, Lior and Milly.
Over the course of the last few weeks, I have continued to show around many prospective applicants for our Reception cohort for September 2024. They have been incredibly popular and provide families with the opportunity to see and hear about all aspects of our school. If you, or anyone that you know, is thinking of applying for a place with us for next academic year, please contact the school office and book onto our final tour.
Finally, please can I remind you to park respectfully when dropping off and collecting your children from school. Please do not block any driveways or entrances or park on the yellow lines.
Hope you have a lovely weekend, Shabbat Shalom.
Mrs Martin
24th November 2023
This week has been Road Safety week where we have been thinking about how to cross roads safely and how to travel in the dark as safely as possible. It was wonderful to see so many colourful items of clothing in school today, despite the cold wind, it made my time on playground duty brighter. We have also spoken to some of the children about the value of reflective items of clothing or reflective stickers or patches on dark clothes. It is fantastic that many darker coats now have reflective strips put on them as they are being made.
On Wednesday night we held a Prospective Parents Evening for future members of our school community. It was wonderful to meet so many families interested in hearing more about our school. We loved showing them around the building and celebrating what a wonderful and caring school we are. A number of parents commented on the clear commitment to the children and to their well being that we have at Etz Chaim and were amazed at the fantastic facilities and resources we are lucky enough to have. If you know of anyone interested in a Reception place for September 2024 please suggest they get in touch with the School Office as we still have one more day time tour coming up.
The Children's Commissioner has started a national campaign The Big Ambition in which they are asking all children in the country to complete a survey so they can share the information with political parties. It is vital that all children have their voice heard through this survey in order to protect and promote the views and interests of children. The Big Ambition provides a much-needed opportunity for the children of England to tell political decision makers what is important to them ahead of the General Election. Their responses will be shared with Government to ensure that children’s voices are heard.
Children can complete the survey here: www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition
I had another busy tea party today celebrating the hard work of the children who attended. Congratulations to Blake, Annie, Jagger, Joseph, Leon, Celine, Katie and Libby for showing Educational Excellence this week.
As always the children have been working hard this week in class.
In Reception some of the children drew pictures of them and their friends.
Year 1 created some fantastic pieces of writing about door mice and bats.
Year 2 have begun learning about The Fire of London and were able to recount how the fire started and why it spread so easily.
Year 3 are continuing to learn about life in the Stone Age considering how it is different to today.
Year 4 have been learning the key features of diary writing and then used their new found knowledge to write their own diary entry.
Year 5 have been learning more about life in Ancient Greece and have looked at the clothing they wore and the food they ate.
Year 6 learnt how using their senses can help them to write the best piece of descriptive writing possible.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, don't forget to wrap up warm! Shabbat Shalom,
Mrs Martin
17 November 2023
As always here at Etz Chaim we have had another busy week of learning and of memorable experiences. We have now come to the end of our three week rolling lunch menu and I am so pleased to say that our lunches have been a roaring success. I have gone into the lunch hall every day to check the quality of the food and find out what the children think about the food and the menu and I am pleased to say that I am yet to receive anything but positive feedback from the children - something I thought would never happen!
This week has been anti-bullying week, as a result we have had additional lessons in class around being kind and what to do if someone says or does something that makes you feel unhappy. We were also fortunate to have had Streetwise in on Wednesday to run workshops in each class around anti-bullying and being kind to one another. These workshops are an ideal opportunity for the children to hear from other adults about ways to support themselves if someone is unkind to them.
As part of our focus on doing things for others for MItzvah Day the children have all gone to different areas of the park to carry out a litter pick. We talked to the children about the importance of looking after our environment for ourselves and for others and then went to the park to collect litter in order to make it more pleasurable for others. The children in Year 2 that I went out with were amazed at the quantity of litter dropped by people and were extremely excited to find a Prime bottle amongst all the rubbish!
On Tuesday we had adult visitors from Kisharon-Langdon come in for the afternoon to work with Year 6 on sorting and bagging up the food we had collected for Food Bank Aid. Our children worked alongside the adults to sort the food in food types and also spent time playing games with them and learning more about each other.
Thursday was a special day for Year 3 as it was finally their turn for their Chagigah HaChumash. This year the whole ceremony took place in Mill Hill shul emphasising the value and importance of this momentous occasion. The children shared some tefillah and songs with the audience and also explained why the Torah is so special to them and what they are looking forward to doing once they have received their Chumash. Rabbi Rose reminded the children how unique a Chumash is and that it is a book that they can learn from time and time again throughout their lives.
Also on Thursday Year 5 and Year 6 went to Fairway School to take part in a Diwali celebration. The children from Fairway told us the story of Rama and Sita and how that connects to how and why Hinds's celebrate Diwali today. We were then entertained by a celebratory dance and were lucky enough to get taught the dance too. During the afternoon the children were also able to try their hand at making Rangoli patterns with tissue paper, make dough candle holders for Diwalli Diva lights and learn about some of the traditional sweets eating during the festival. It was wonderful to see our children learning from their peers and getting to meet other local children of the same age.
Shabbat Shalom,
Mrs Martin
10 November 2023
As always we have had another busy week at Etz Chaim. We began UK Parliament Week with an assembly for Years 3 to 6 with Lord Levy, our school President. Lord Levy spoke to the children about the differences between the House of Commons and the House of Lords as well as how people become eligible to sit in the two houses. He also talked to the children about some of the things he has been fortunate enough to do during his 26 years in the House of Lords.
Mrs Bloom lead our assembly on Tuesday morning. She provided us with the opportunity to find out about the variety of things the children had completed in class during Black History Month. Each class shared with the school some of the themes they had discussed as well as sharing some of the work they had completed. Year 3 even lead us in a whole school sing song in celebration of the impact black musicians have had on the music industry.
We also welcomed a large group of prospective parents into school on Tuesday morning. Mrs Osborne, Mrs Fraser and I were fortunate enough to be able to show them around the school and let them see how wonderful our school truly is. It was a pleasure to show them around and have the opportunity to share with others how special Etz Chaim is. As I walked around all of the classes I was struck by the commitment of our staff to provide the children with engaging and motivating lessons which captured the enthusiasm of the children to learn more and remember more.
On Wednesday Year 6 welcomed some visitors from the charity Kisharon-Langdon. They spent time in class talking to the children about visible and invisible disabilities and heard how they support adults with disabilities. The children then heard from one of the adults who uses their service about her life and how Kisharon-Langdon support her to live as independent a life as possible. We look forward to welcoming more people that Kisharon-Landgon work with into school next week to work with Year 6 to sort the food collected for Food Bank Aid.
Thank you to all the families that have donated items for our Mitzvah Day collection. There is still time to send in food for Food Bank Aid or toys for the Chai Chanukah Gift collection next week.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable tea party today celebrating the academic excellence of Zac Z, Shelby, Myla M, Ella D, Sam, Lily, Samson and Alissa. During the tea the children all told me what work they were proud to have completed in class this week.
Reception have made poppy pictures with pencils and other materials.
Year 1 have written sentences for a story poem about hibernating animals.
Year 2 have written sentences using adjectives and onomatopoeia describing things they found inside their magic box.
Year 3 have been learning about the Stone Age.. They learnt that they didn't have oven and had to cook over fire.
Year 4 have been working hard on their handwriting and making sure they form their letters correctly.
Year 5 have been reading a book about the Adventures of Odysseus. They then wrote a letter to the son of the character in the book to try and convince him that everything was ok.
Year 6 have begun to read the book 'How to Live Forever about a young boy called Peter who lives in a library which comes to life as a city at night. They have also been learning how to answer long division questions.
I hope to see many of you at our Fireworks event, Shabbat Shalom.
Mrs Martin
3 November 2023
I would like to start by offering another welcome to our new Israeli families that have joined our school this week. I can only imagine the upheaval and uncertainty that they have experienced over the past few weeks and am pleased to say that we can offer our new children a safe and welcoming environment in which to learn and grow whilst they are in London.
The big excitement of the week has been the reintroduction of hot school lunches once again. The main difference this time is that the lunches are now being cooked on site by our fantastic catering team. As I listened to children unpacking their bags on Monday morning there were a number of conversations around how much they will miss packed lunches, however by the end of day one those feelings had definitely changed. It has been heart warming to see happy, smiling faces in the lunch hall each day. Words such as 'delicious' and 'amazing' have also run out through the lunch hall and I personally have loved spending time in there each week seeing the children thoroughly enjoying our delicious, hot lunches whilst chatting away to their friends and to me. The buzz of happy children fills everyone in the school with a warm feeling, as not only are the children eating fantastic, nutritious lunches but they are also able to concentrate and perform better in afternoon lessons.
As we head into November there are a lot of national days as well as special event we will be marking in school. This week we have started our Mitzvah Day collection, collecting food items for Food Bank Aid which Year 6 are then going to sort, alongside some people from KisharonLangdon, and then deliver to the charity headquarters in Finchley. Next week we will be beginning our annual toy collection for the Camp Simcha Toy Drive. We will be collecting new toys on behalf of Camp Simcha which will then be delivered to children in hospital over the festive season.
On Tuesday Ms Moshwe lead an assembly on Remembrance Day and reminded the children why we will be selling Poppies in school from next week and who the charity supports. The Junior Travel Ambassadors (JTA's) also launched their 'Be Bright, Be Seen' poster competition this week. They asked children to design a poster to promote the message 'Be Bright, Be Seen' so that people traveling in the dark hours after school consider how what they wear in the dark can impact on their safety.
Shabbat Shalom,
Mrs Martin