Edition 5 May 2014 Welcome to the latest edition of our school newsletter. All articles are written by : Aimee Long, Cloe ‘O Brien, Harvey Green, Sophie Challis, Alicia Garnham, Amber Coleman, Emily Mann, Tilly Hills, Tara Duffy, Ella Embery, Avanis Ratnakumaran, Emilio Serghiou, Edie Saunders, Sophie Darby, Louie Oakes, Harry Campbell, Chad Clark and Lennon Simpson Dear Parents and Carers You will see from the newsletter that there have been lots of exciting activities taking place this half-term. I am pleased that the first meeting took place this week for our Parent Forum. There will be a section on our website dedicated to this and you will be able to see what was discussed. There will be an e-mail address available for parents to contact the parent representatives about any issues you would like raised at our next meeting on 24th June. One of the issues raised was diary dates. If you go onto Parent Mail and click on ‘diary’ all the events are there for this term. The Little Clacton Carnival is on Saturday 7th June. Our wonderful dance group the ‘Engaines Snazzy Dancers’ are taking part. We wish the organisers well and hope many of you can support this event. On Thursday 12th June at 2.30pm, we shall be holding a meeting regarding the teaching of phonics at Engaines. It will be very useful for those parents with children in Foundation Stage and KS1. A creche will be provided. Parking!! An on-going problem. Please could I ask that you drive and park sensibly to ensure our children are safe. There is a voluntary one-way system operating in St Osyth Road East, whereby cars should enter the road from the church end and then turn left into Leys Drive, which really helps the flow of traffic. Due to Health and Safety regulations from Essex CC the children are not allowed to wear earrings for PE or have them taped over. If you are unsure of PE days check with the class teacher please. Wishing you a very happy and hopefully sunny half-term Ms Irwin This term’s stay and read sessions were held on Tuesday 20th May and Thursday 22nd May. Reading together really promotes a positive attitude towards books and reading. We would like to thank all the parents who came to these sessions. Girls Football Pictured– Back row-Darcy Jennings, Stephanie Pollard, Cloe O’Brien, Kaci Sneddon Front row –Mia Lovell, Olivia Fincham, Mae Hughes, Emily Priestley and Amber Barker An amazing season for the girls! The girls won the league with a grand total of 24 points. They played against six other schools and won all of their games. Goals came easily and the team showed a lot of skill and team spirit. As the season comes to a close , the team played in the cup final . This was held on Friday 16th May against Holland Park School. A close contest, demonstrating flair and buckets of determination. Engaines desperate to win went a goal down but Cloe managed to equalise. The team then went behind again but again managed to equalise through a Mae Hughes goal. After full time and extra time the teams could not be separated. Penalties bought the game to a dramatic close. Kaci Sneddon managed to save a couple of spot kicks but in the end victory went to the opposition. The girls showed bravery and perseverance until the end. A heart breaking result but the girls should be very proud of themselves. Well done to everyone– the amazing team, the dedicated coaches and the magnificent supporters! SATs Well done to year six. Last week was a challenging week for all 30 students in year 6. We have worked extremely hard all year and last week we completed our national tests. It has come and gone, and for some of us it was tense and nerve wrecking. We had many tests to do covering aspects of Literacy and Numeracy. Some of us had up to 12 tests! Miss Warnes and Mrs Crabtree were extremely pleased with our attitude and hard work. Year 6s are now looking forward to Kingswood and very little homework!! Alicia Garnham Ms Aldridge would like to thank everyone who took part in the ‘Silly Sock Day’ for Autism Anglia. They were very pleased with the £140 she took them in the Easter holidays. The PTA would like to thank all the children and parents who supported the Easter disco. Lots of dancing, food and fun! A total of £340 was raised. This money will go towards our 100 year celebration later this year on 1st July. What’s happening in year 5 and 6? Year 5 and 6 are completing a project about the local area. They are learning about the history and geography associated with the village. Last week they walked around the village looking for key features and placing them on maps. They looked for dates and buildings of interest. The old school is an interesting building. It has a date above the door and we were told that the markings on the wall were where writing instruments were sharpened! What is happening in year 3 and 4? In class have been learning about World War 2. We have been finding out about what life was like during this time and written letters as if we were evacuees. We have also been writing stories in Literacy. We also now know lots of facts such as 1) The Allies (our side) eventually won 2) Italy changed sides in 1944 3) Hitler targeted large or important cities and factories that made weapons. By Tara Duffy KS1 have an exciting topic this half term. Recently they found a large footprint! It belonged to a dinosaur! It was found outside Miss Eastman’s classroom and we decided to check it out! It was very dark in colour and looked mysterious! Also, KS1 have invented a way to catch the dinosaur. It was very intriguing and the children put their thinking caps on! They have found clues and solved them. They have looked at different life cycles and created a timeline to show when dinosaurs were on Earth. By Alicia Garnham FoundationIn Maths, the foundation children have been learning about the capacity of shapes. They have been investigating difficult shapes and some children have showed their work in assembly. Alongside this, they have been learning about letters and sounds. They have been using their letters and sounds to make rhyming poems about fearful firemen. On Wednesday an actual fire truck came to school! The children have also started to get ready for going into year one. They have had lots of fun practising maths skills. They have practised addition and subtraction as well. Lots of hard work! An amazing effort . Well done. Chess The Engaines A team have made progress into the final 16 teams of the national yes2chess tournament. On Friday 16th May, they played a team from Middlesborough. Robert secured our first win very quickly. Wins for Casey and Tobias followed and Nathan and Ryan snatched draws from the jaws of victory to leave us with a 4-1 win. John, our chess coach will be analysing their gameplay on the computer and will feedback to them individually to help them improve. The B team, having lost a match earlier in the tournament, are still progressing through the losers bracket and should be playing a team from Lincolnshire shortly. Their last match finished with us claiming a win by default as 3 of the opponents failed to log in to play. The two who did log in lost to Luke and Freddie. The team members have surpassed our expectations in this competition and we are very impressed with their efforts. Many thanks to John Lambert for his expertise, patience and perseverance in helping them do so well. Mr O’Brien This year, the school marks its 100th year! Engaines moved to the current site in 1914, the same year as the start of World War 1. The school has changed over the years, with many different students and staff. The building has also changed a lot. We are currently planning a celebration on the 1st July which will involve the whole school. There will a celebration of our school past and present. Details of how you can help us celebrate will be sent to you shortly. RemindersHealthy SnacksAt break time, the school would like to encourage healthy snacks. Fruit and vegetables are ideal. Healthy options are also available from the snack trolley for 20p. As we move into the summer, please remember to have a suitable P.E in school. This consists of blue shorts, a white t.shirt, plimsolls for indoor P.E and trainers for outdoor P.E. Shoulder length hair should be tied up and no jewellery should be worn. On hot days, please have a water bottle and sun cream. Pupil Voice In our school, we have started Pupil Voice. This is a good way to get the whole school to meet. The group involves children from all age groups, from foundation to year six. The older children lead the group. The aim of the group is to the get the children to talk about the school and give their opinions about different things in school. We can also come up with ideas about how to improve the school. Ms. Irwin says, we are the most important part of school ,so we can help decide how to improve it. Dates Half Term—Monday 26th May—Friday 30th May First Day back at school— Monday 2nd June Joke! What is a rabbits favourite dance style? Hip Hop! Chosen by Year 3 and 4