The best start in life for all our children.
CARTERHATCH INFANT SCHOOL
Issue 8: 14th January 2022
Office email: office@carterhatch-inf.enfield.sch.uk Website: https://www.carterhatchinfants.com/
Diary:
Thursday 20th January at 2.00 – Bring and Buy Sale Monday 24th January – Fluoride Treatment for Nursery, Reception and Year 1 Tuesday 25th, Thursday 27th & Friday 28th January - Reception Hearing Tests Monday 31st January – Reception weight and Height Checks Thursday 3rd March – World Book Day Thursday 3rd March at 2.30 – Book Sale Monday 9th May – Class Photographs Friday 27th May – School Closed
Term dates for 2022/2023 are now available on our website
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back to school with a warm wish for a happy and healthy 2022. We would also like to welcome Josh who has joined Rob and Richmond, our site staff team. We hope Josh enjoys working at Carterhatch now and in the future. We ended last term on a busy note with our winter workshops, trips to the theatre for Year 1 and 2, year 1 trip to a local church, yoga session for our Reception and Nursery children, Year 2 performances, and individual class celebrations. We would also like to thank our catering staff for the children’s festive lunch. These experiences help children in so many different ways, for example, building confidence and self-esteem, social skills, extending vocabulary. A trip like the theatre is not only enjoyable and inspiring for children but also improves motivation and achievement, as we use our trips and visits to maximise learning by linking their experience to their writing and other areas of our curriculum.
Trips and Experiences for your Children
In the past we have managed to fund most of our trips and visits or at least subsidised them by contributing money so parents do not have to pay as much. Due to reduced school funding we now find this difficult and rely on parents contributions for off site visits. It is with reluctance and sadness that we have had to cancel the Year 2 summer trip (Orienteering) due to only a small number of parents contributing. We have looked at ways we can fund this but unfortunately are unable to do so. Our year 2 team will look at alternative summer activities for the children. Please contact the office if you have not received your refund.
Covid updates
We continue to manage the pandemic and our priority is to keep face to face learning in school for our children as we know this is best for the their academic progress as well as for their mental health and well-being. Where we have cases of Covid we always follow advice from Public Health and the Department for Education. We would appreciate if you could send in a photo of any positive lateral flow tests for your children.
Uplifting Start to the Morning
We are sure you have noticed the music playing when entering the school. We hope it gives you and the children an uplifting start to the day. Music is so versatile with many different tastes in music. Therefore, feel free to e-mail the office or catch a member of staff with any requests you may have. It may be an artist of the week, a song that brings back good memories for you or your child or a song from anywhere around the world. Not only do we feel music makes it more welcoming but research has demonstrated that music releases a chemical in the brain that has a key role in setting “good moods”. Hope it has helped you and the children in the mornings, especially for those who have to wait a while for our doors to open.
We look forward to the term ahead.
Many thanks,
Adrienne and Sarah
Bring and Buy Sale
We are holding a Bring and Buy sale on Thursday 20th January at 2.15 in the school playground. Please donate any unwanted and unused gifts by Wednesday 18th January. All proceeds made at the sale will go towards school fundraising!
Year 2:
Year 2 started Forest School this week. Despite gloomy skies overhead, the children were full of excitement and intrigue. This term's forest school will support our learning around plants and there are a wide range of fun activities from a mud kitchen to den building! (photos on main newsletter)
15th February is the final day for applying to Year 3 for September 2022. https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/
Year 1:
Happy New Year from the Year 1 Team. The children started 2022 by making calendars and creating the seasons on 4 trees using collage and painting. We felt it was important to make them at the start of the New Year to support children’s understanding of the order of the months January through to December. Children have learnt the months of the year song and how the months correlate to the seasons.
“The Weather is very cold. It is winter and today the temperature is only 1 degree.” – Omar
“My birthday is in the season of spring! March!” – Zyaan
(photos on main newsletter)
Reception:
Happy New Year and welcome back. The children have settled into the Spring Term and we're excited about moving them on with their learning and development across all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum.
Last term we had focus weeks for each child and feel that this enabled us to really get to know more about your child's development and their next steps. Therefore, this term we are moving on to adult lead focus phonic and math groups to further support their learning in these key skills. Our curriculum will continue to be explored through inside and outside environments and following your child's interests. We will organise parent consultations towards the end of this term where we will have the opportunity to discuss your child's progress and how we will be teaching them moving forward.
If you have any questions about how we are supporting your child in school, please do feel free to speak to your child's class teacher.
Nursery:
Happy New Year to all of our Turtle families. It has been great to welcome the children back after their winter break. They have settled very well and have been very engaged in their play and learning this week. The children have particularly enjoyed voting for which story they would like to have read in class at carpet time. They have loved joining in with counting out the cubes to see which text is most popular! Counting is such an important skill, which can be practised in many different ways. At home with your child, you could try counting how many steps to get from one room to another in your house, counting how many red cars you see on the way to school or counting how many plates you need to get out for a family dinner time. Introducing counting into everyday routines helps children to make the link between counting and what the number represents.
To ensure a calm and safe end to the session we would like to remind parents to wait in the line when collecting children.
Saturday 15th January is the last day to apply for your child’s school Reception place for September 2022 https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/
Thank you for your support in your child’s learning, Nursery Team
Internet Safety - One to listen out for:
Poppy Playtime (New Game)
We have been made aware of a new game called Poppy Playtime which on first impression can appear to be a child friendly game. However, Poppy Playtime is a horror-type game quite similar (in terms of horror) to Five Nights at Freddie's which was popular a few years ago. It's a puzzle game where, as the player, you have to investigate a number of incidents whilst being pursued by a huge toy called Huggy Wuggy. As you would imagine there are plenty of YouTube videos, including videos from some of the bigger influencers with their typical clickbait titles (titles to encourage you to explore further) and, although the game is a paid-for game and only available on the Steam (PC) platform, we have heard of replica games being created within Roblox. Children have shared with us that they are scared and have had nightmares after seeing Huggy Wuggy. Please be mindful and continue to supervise your child’s online activity as well as ensuring you have child locks on. Especially if you received new devices for Christmas!
Makaton:
This week – the letter H https://makaton.org/TMC/News_Stories/SOTW/SOTW_Letter_H.aspx
Week beginning 17th January – the letter I https://makaton.org/TMC/News_Stories/SOTW/SOTW_Letter_I.aspx
Chickenshed:
Rose-Anne was the Year 2 winner of a family ticket to Chickenshed after taking part in the giant paper chain last term. Rose-Anne said that it was lots of fun and she was thrilled to be able to take her friend with her.
Enfield Children’s Centre:
Carterhatch Children’s Centre, Autumn close EN1 4JY
Stay and Play Timetable
Monday – 9.15 to 10.30 & 11.15 to 12.30
Tuesday – 9.15 to 10.30, 11.15 to 12.30 & 1.30 to 3.00
Wednesday – 9.15 to 10.30 & 11.15 to 12.30
Thursday – 9.15 to 10.30 & 11.15 to 12.30
Please note you are only allowed to attend one session a week.
Please call 0208 106 9996 to book your place.
Please see the Our Voice newsletter on our website.