Monday 30 December 2013

Thank you for Christmas gift donations:

We were also touched by the way that you responded to our appeal for support for our own families for whom Christmas can be a challenging time. Often the Christmas experience is one we take for granted. Your generous gifts of toys helped to ensure that all of our families were able to exchange gifts on Christmas day and enjoy some quality family time together.

It is important that our pupils understand about the needs of children around the world, but close to home is vital too. We stated in our vision that we wanted to have Broadford at the heart of the community and with your help we have made a difference for many families this year. Thank you.


Reading Awards & Prizes

Super Readers:
Emma Groom, Jude Gore, Terrika Wright, Attim Nombeko, Ruby Burchell, Lucy Stevens, Candice Blackwell & Sophie Adams have managed to earn their Bronze reading certificate (10 Books); while Emily Johnson, Terrika Wright and Alisha March have now earned their bookmark (25 books). Teddy Pilcher – who is one of our Spinebreakers – Prince Onwuegbuzie, and Finley Livingstone have managed to amass 50 books already. They truly are reading machines!

Returning Books Raffle:
One of the hardest thing with library books is remembering to bring them back so that you can borrow another one. All of our KS1 pupils were entered in a raffle again for this half term. These children were drawn out and have won a book of their very own for their efforts: Emily Claydon, Laiba Shah, Michael Rack & Ayomide Otegbola. Well done to you.

Don’t forget… return your library books!






Sunday 29 December 2013

We're In The Paper: Chloe the Karate Kid

Congratulations to Chloe who has been chosen as the final 'Pupil of the Week' for 2013 by the Romford Recorder. She has shown great resilience to maintain the levels of practice required and we are very proud of her!


Fundraising Totals!

Thank you for all the generosity you have shown this year when we have asked for charitable donations. Once again the recent day for Save the Children and our collection for Brandina (our sponsored child) were very successful.

The final totals were: Christmas Jumper Day = £71.30; Christmas Concert donations = £128.10. Miss Taylor and the School Council have arranged for the pupils to make up a Christmas box, which is being sent to the Watoto Village where Brandina lives.

We know that your gifts will be gratefully received and have a significant impact. Thank you.


Housepoints:

Red – Faringdon 60

Blue – Chatteris 55

Yellow – Dulverton 66

Green – Cricklade 67

Congratulations to Green who have managed to win the House Point trophy this week! Overall for the half term the cakes and drinks go to…

RED 838 points!

























Monday 23 December 2013

Silver, Gold & Platinum Tracker Awards:

Samantha Simpson, Charanjit Ubhi, Leo Mbata, Isaac Wright, Sabina Kopkova & Kaine Painter have completed their Silver trackers and now start their Gold! Nathan Owsley has now completed their Gold trackers… next step Platinum! Incredibly Thelma Amankwah has finished this stage already and now will collect her Diamond Tracker.





Fact Hunters: Football & Cats


Terrika Wright 
Incredibly the eggs of the Desert Shrimp can remain dormant for a season or for hundreds if not millions of years, surviving temperatures of over 124 degrees F and below zero. The eggs are strewn with the wind and will hatch only after a certain amount of water pressure is present thus ensuring a new generation lives on.

George White
Amazingly the roof of the Stade de France (the French national stadium) has tinted glass in the center which reduces the contrast and distributes natural light. It filters out red and infrared radiation, but allows blue and green lights, as they are needed to keep the turf healthy.

Louisa Makolli & Emma Groom
Spare a thought for wild cats. They hunt alone and predation is time-consuming; a cat in the wild needs to spend 6-8 hours a day hunting to meet its nutritional needs





Key January dates:

Please make sure that you put these dates in your diary:
  • Reception Stay & Play 8th January 9.15am
  • Keep Fit Sponsored event 9th January
  • EYFS Stay & Play 24th January
  • O2 Young Voices 28th January
  • Challenge Afternoon 30th January
  • Parents evening 10th & 11th February

Thank you from BRAG

Following the recent choir performance at the Briar Road Action Group Christmas lunch, we have received a lovely letter which we wanted to share with you…


Sunday 22 December 2013

Fact Hunters: Bats & Worms


William Edwards
Did you know that Fruit bats in the genus Pteropus include the world's largest bat - the greater flying fox - which can have a wingspan of 180cm? They cannot echo locate, but don't really need to as their food (fruit and nectar) doesn't try to escape and because they roost in trees not in the pitch black of caves.

Kingsley Onwuegbuzie, Tyler Houlston & Spencer Higgins 
Hydra magnipapillata, a microscopic animal with a tube-like body with tentacles, a mouth and adhesive foot is almost completely unaffected by the ageing process. Researchers say that some specimens could live, under the right conditions, up to 1,400 years.

Iasha Sillah 
Where did you go on holiday last year? Well for many people it was France – which was the most visited country in 2012!

Peiyce Lubin
Have you heard of a Christmas tree worm? It looks like a pair of brightly coloured christmas trees on the surface of a coral. The 'trees' are the cone-shaped spirals of the worm's feathery gills. They vary in colour: bright oranges, blues, pinks as well as many other colours.


Weekly Winners: MDA & Project Superstar

MDA Award Winners:
These wonderful children have particularly helpful at lunchtimes this week.

EYFS & KS1 Alex Kopiec

KS2 Kieran Dansey

Project Superstar
Well done to Finley, who has been working on projects at home. 



Friday 20 December 2013

We're In The Paper: Writing & Christmas Thoughts

We have two amazing stories in the paper this week. Our Year 6 writers have been featured for their ideas about a modern Nativity. Year 1 pupils contributed some thoughts on the Christmas story, while Reception pupils videoed their ideas about how Mary & Joseph completed their journey to Bethlehem. Apparently they might have used the 496! Make sure you get your copy of the paper this week.










E for Excellence Winners:

These wonderful children have demonstrated excellence this week. Congratulations to this weeks E for Excellence winners… well done!

Callie Rose Barnett– Mulberry

Alin Botonog – Cedar

Brooke Atkinson – Pine

Jack Barnett – Ash

Thelma Amankwah – Birch

Lucy Stevens – Rowan

Lucy Foyster – Maple

Tyler Houlston – Elm

Louisa Makolli – Willow

Sam Doidge – Cherry







Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Thank you for on behalf of all our staff for the gifts and cards that you have given to us. Your good wishes and generosity are greatly appreciated. As we come to the end of 2013, it is worth taking stock again of how far the school has continued to move forward. For too long it has been assumed that pupils from Harold Hill won’t achieve, that they can’t be as good as the kids from Upminster or Gidea Park. This year we showed again that our pupils can make outstanding progress and achieve outstanding results. We had double the number of children reach Level 6 in Maths than the national average. Our school was second in the whole of Havering for progress and 9th in terms of attainment for maths and literacy. In KS1 we exceeded the national expectation for reading and our Year 1 pupils beat the national average by 10% in their phonics scores. It isn’t just academics where we have seen great progress. When your children go into the community, or we have visitors in, the feedback is always incredibly positive about their behaviour, politeness and attitude. Our vision has been to ensure that we are the Best School on the Hill, but now we need to think beyond RM3. We will be relentless in our search for continued improvement so that your children get the very best possible start in life and can leave us equipped to make the very most of their undoubted potential.

I couldn’t be prouder as a Headteacher of the effort you have made as parents to raise aspirations and support your children; the hard work of our teachers to ensure your children get the good and outstanding quality of education they deserve; the pupils who have risen to every challenge that has been given to them. Christmas is a time where you are to count your blessings and I am very aware of how blessed I am to have Broadford Primary as the place where I get to come to work every day. We should all be very proud of what we have done so far together and what we can go onto achieve from such a position of strength. 2014 brings us the chance to show Ofsted what a good school we have become again and I couldn’t be more excited to tell them about our children, families, teachers and Governors.

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all again on January 6th to start the Spring term. Enjoy the break and see you in 2014!


Away in a Manger Fern Class





Fact Hunters: Frisbees & Octopi!

Tommy Lee Floyd
Did you know that the Frisbie Baking Company (1871-1958) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies that were sold to many New England colleges. Hungry college students soon discovered that the empty pie tins could be tossed and caught, providing endless hours of game and sport… and so giving birth to the Frisbee?

Suman Hassan
The Red Planet, as Mars is often called, is the fourth planet from the sun (Earth is the third). In a lot of ways, Mars looks a lot like our home, though instead of blue oceans and green land, Mars is home to an ever present red tint. This is due to a mineral called iron oxide that is very common on the planet’s surface.

Melisa Krasniqi
Where you aware that the mimic octopus can blend in with backgrounds and can mimic the shape of objects, such as coral and rock, and some animals? It is the only known aquatic species that impersonates an array of different sea animals via changes in behaviour, coloration and body posture.

Mr Drakes
East Antarctica has set a new record for 'soul-crushing' cold, recording 135.8 degrees Fahrenheit below zero on the mercury, or minus 93.2 degrees Celsius, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Scientists say that is so cold it hurts to breathe!


Thursday 19 December 2013

Choir - Young Voices Music

If you would like to practice the songs at home please follow the instructions below to access the backing tracks. Happy singing!

Step 1: Go to the address shown below
https://webdav.hidrive.strato.com/
username : broadford
Password : havering

Step 2: Select the public folder and then Young Voices 2014 folder.
Now you will see 2 Folders:
“Full Vocals” and “Vocals and Backing Tracks”

Select the required folder and click the song that you want to download. 


Super Readers:

Simona Raclevicius & Terrika Wright has managed to earn his Bronze reading certificate (10 Books); while Suman Hassan and Finley Livingstone have now earned their bookmark (25 books).



Christmas sing-a-long Silent Night





Christmas sing-a-long Away in a Manger





Christmas sing-a-long Santa Claus is Coming To Town





Christmas sing-a-long Jingle bells





Wednesday 18 December 2013

Mandy Cooks Christmas Lunch

Today we had a delicious feast: sizzling sausages; thick cuts of turkey; glittering golden coins. Without a doubt Mandy and her team excelled themselves. Mrs Taylor was signed up as an honorary kitchen hand for the serving, while staff ate with their classes. Now there is only a week to go until the big day, you can really sense the children's excitement.

Thank you Mandy for a delicious roast dinner!










The Day The Crayons Quit Book Review





100% Attendance Update

We are delighted to inform you that 92 pupils are still on track for 100% attendance for the entire term. Cold frosty mornings; coughs and sneezes; broken alarm clocks: nothing has managed to prevent these children from completing Job #1 on the list

Turn up every day on time!

We look forward to rewarding with their badges and certificates. Well done!


Attendance Update:

KS1: Cedar 94.57%
KS2: Willow 100%
Overall: 93.46%
Another sad week for attendance– we fell way below our target of 95%. It is vitally important that all the children are in school next week. Lessons will get back to normal after all the plays and concerts, which means your child will really miss out if they are not here.


Weekly Winners: MDA & Trackers

MDA Award Winners:

These wonderful children have particularly helpful at lunchtimes this week.

EYFS & KS1 Brandon Cohen

KS2 Lowena Amankwah

Bronze & Silver Tracker Awards:
Lewis Makolli has stuck the last merit onto his Bronze Tracker. Jacob Owsley & Bradley Joy have earned their Silver pencil. Alfie Pilcher, Jordan Crane & Lucy Lockhart have completed their Silver trackers and now start their Gold! Sophie Adams has accrued enough Golden merits to earn her bookmark. Dylan Houlston, Simona Raklevicius & Harry Vincent have now completed their Gold trackers… next step Platinum! Incredibly Samson Wright has finished this stage already and now will collect his Diamond Tracker.