House Competition Update

We are now just one week from the cake and drinks reward. This time it was a tie between the Green & Blue teams... so the final result will be extremely close!

Blue - 71
Green - 71
Red - 52
Yellow - 51
Orange - 23

Library Visits:

On Monday we have all of Year 1 & 2 visiting the Hilldene library. Year 1 are walking down during the morning, while Year 2 will go in the afternoon. Later in the week – on Thursday – it is the turn of EYFS to go. To keep up to date with events, please look at the calendar on our website as it is updated with any new events, workshops or trips.

http://www.broadford.havering.sch.uk/index.php?page=calendar

Reading League Winners!

We have had a fantastic response to this term’s reading league. The children organized themselves into teams of five. After a term of loaning, reading, reviewing and blogging the winners have been announced. The prize for these children is a chance to see West Ham vs Crystal Palace on the 19th April… all expenses paid!

Well done to Samson & Endurance. Their team may not have won, but they amassed so many individual points that they have earned the title of Super Star readers and have claimed the last two tickets.

1st Place: Premier Domination – Prince Onwuegbuzie, Jaseem Miah, Harry Bradley, Raheem Miah & Kingsley Onwuegbuzie

2nd Place: The Honey Pops – Fletcher Marney, Fawaz Bakreem, Yinka Busari, Jack Ibbunson, Toby Adelowo

Super Star Readers: Samson Wright & Endurance Obazee

Fact Hunters: Bears, beetles & whales

Terrika Wright
Taking off from the equivalent of a 15 story building, an albatross chick will fly out to the open ocean to live on the water for the next 3-5 years, without touching land until he or she returns to start courting.

Elisa Rina
Were you aware that the Southern Giant Petrel (a bird that lives near the South Pole) spits gobs of regurgitated food and stomach oil at its enemies?

Sophie Hann
Did you know that scientists can recognise individual spectacled bears from the markings on their face? Every bear has a different pattern of pale fur.

Georgia Brooks
Incredibly, Rhino beetles can lift objects 850 times their weight! That would be equivalent to a human lifting 9 fully grown male elephants!

Holly Clark
Unbelievably Consumer group Which? said tests at its London offices found equipment carrying bugs that could cause food poisoning! Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office's toilet seats.

Chloe Wager
Did you know that the American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) was the first person to show that there are galaxies beyond our own that are constantly moving away from the Milky Way.

Super Star Swimmer: Hayden!

Hayden has been working hard at improving his swimming. By entering the pool safely, being able to put his face under the water confidently and gliding through the water he has earned his next certificate. Well done Hayden!

Sports Relief Winners!

A huge thank you to Miss Cook and Mr Clark who organised a range of activities for Sports Relief last week. Harry managed to have the closest estimate for the number of Haribo in the jar - the total was 302!

Kimberley choose the right name for the bear - Cuddles!

E for Excellence Winners:

These wonderful children have demonstrated excellence this week.

Danayo Meggoe – Mulberry

Alfie Donnelly– Cedar

Lillie Wicks – Pine

Fayo Ayodola – Aspen

Jackie Ramalingam – Ash

Sian Burnett – Birch

Candice Chambers – Rowan

Tommy Watson – Fern

Elisa Rina – Maple

Fletcher Marney – Elm

Lucy Lockhart – Willow

Elina Joshi – Cherry

Terrika Super Athlete

In her spare time, Terrika attends the Edmonton Running Club - which is based at Lee Valley. Recently Terrika took part in a competition. There were three events:

1. 60m sprint
2. 60m hurdles
3. 200m sprint

Points from each event were added up to give a grand total. Terrika managed to finish in the top 30 out of over 60 other children. 

If you come in the top 10 you get a Gold medal. Finishing in the top 20 gets you a Silver, while if you are ranked in the top 30 you earn a Bronze. 

Well done to Terrika for her strong performance and her well deserved medal!

http://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/go/lee-valley-athletics-centre/

Generous Book Donation

A huge thank you to the parent who came in last week and made a fabulous donation of books to the school library. There were lots of brand new titles that will suit all ages: fairy tales, early readers, Horrible Histories and many more.

Miss Sparkes will get them all logged and entered into the system as quickly as possible.

Celebrating With Cake & Flowers!

This week we received two great 'well dones'. Ravensbourne sent us a beautiful bunch of flowers to congratulate our school on the achievement of being graded as Outstanding. In addition to this, one of our staff - Mrs Richardson - baked a very impressive cake. There isn't much of it left now... but it was delicious.

We're In The Paper: Front Page News

Make sure that you get your copy of the Romford Recorder today. There is a great story in there focusing on the improvements we have all worked together to achieve at Broadford… and some lovely photos of the children.

When I took over as Headteacher in September 2011 it was clear that a number of significant changes had to be made, and made quickly, if the children were to get the quality of education that they needed. Within half a term we had bought in a new approach to the teaching of reading across Reception and Key Stage 1. This has had huge impact. Initially only 28% of our pupils were at the right level of phonics knowledge and now 80%+ pass the screening test - which is significantly above the national average. Across the school, teachers, Governors and parents have all worked hard to promote a wider love of reading. We now have a full time librarian who has more than doubled the number of book loans, recorded YouTube video reviews and taken the children to meet Malorie Blackman (the children's Laureate). Prior to 2011 Broadford did not invest in high quality training for staff. Teachers now benefit from a range of INSET and there is a culture of sharing best practice and working together to improve the quality of teaching through coaching. As a school we have spent over £100,000 improving the quality of the outdoor environment - which has helped teachers plan for exciting and active lessons. Pupils don't want to miss a day. Quite simply we have left no stone unturned to ensure that every pupil in every class gets the best deal possible everyday. Our relentless approach has raised progress and attainment to the extent that we were ranked in the top 250 out of all schools nationally for progress. All of the team are now excited about what we can achieve over the next few years. The children of Harold Hill deserve nothing less than an outstanding education and we are very proud that Ofsted recognised the hard work from pupils, parents, staff and Governors that has made this possible.

More photos and video can be found online at www.romfordrecorder.co.uk

Attendance Update:

KS1: Pine 96.77% 

KS2: Maple 97.33% 

Overall: 94.71%

Due to the sickness bug that spread round the school last week we have taken a hit with our attendance figures. Four classes did manage to beat our target… but the rest were below. We must do everything we can to ensure that the children are in school every day on time. We are still on track to beat our target for the year, but only if we keep up the same high standards.

Alfie's Skipping Challenge

Congratulations to Alfie who has achieved a personal best in his skipping challenge at lunchtime club. 

Next Week:

Miss Barr is taking the cheerleaders to a festival performance on Monday afternoon – at Pyrgo Priory. We also have a visit for Year 3&4 from the Havering Museum. On Tuesday & Wednesday we have two Maths Problem Solving Days for all classes. The children will get to tackle some oversized maths problems in groups and pairs.

Little Thurrock Primary school are coming to visit our EYFS setting on Thursday morning. Friday 4th April will be the last day of the term. Children are due back in school on April 22nd.

Tracker Winners

Ronnie Marshall & Lily Redgrave have completed their Silver trackers and now start their Gold! Michael St Matthew Daniel, Holly Turner & Bobby Wicks have earned their Silver pencil.

Jack Barnett, Tyler Houlston and Luis Bone have collected their Golden Bookmark. 

Sophie Hann has managed to collect her Platinum Pencil & Pen set. 

Ruby Burchell has completed her Platinum tracker!

E for Excellence Winners:

These wonderful children have demonstrated excellence this week.

Iman Mitze – Mulberry

Rokas Zaikauskas – Cedar

Jack Dempsey – Pine

Maisy Hearn – Aspen

Iasha Sillah – Ash

Riley Newall – Birch

Peiyce Lubin – Rowan

Bailey James Nash – Fern

Kailen Davey – Maple

Charlie Adams – Elm

Georgina Morton – Willow

Yemi Adedipe – Cherry

Human Calculator & Maths Challenge:

Well done Jacob Owsley for his fantastic mental maths skills this week. In the Maths challenge we have also had great entries from Tyler Houlston, Samantha Simpson, Jude Gore, Holly Clark, Sabina Kopkova, Louise Paius, Kie Purse, Skaiste Burinskaite & Lily Redgrave. Watch out for the new challenge on Wednesday!

Facts: Whales, toads and bees

Nathan Owsley
Sperm whales are known to dive as deep as 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in search of squid to eat. These giant mammals must hold their breath for up to 90 minutes on such dives. Incredibly they eat thousands of pounds of fish and squid—about one ton (907 kg) per day.

Sophie Hann
Did you know that toads shed their skin up to four times a year… and eat it? Incredibly the claws of a sloth can measure up to 8cm – this means they are perfect for digging at termite mounds.

Martin Wicher
Why not try this at home… an apple and an onion will taste the same if you eat them with your nose plugged. Try it with a blindfold to make sure you don’t cheat!

Kye Smethurst
Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, is the tallest person in history for whom there is irrefutable evidence.

Teddy Pilcher
A bee's wing flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a fruitfly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.

Keeley King
Because tigers are not always successful on their hunts, they need to hunt often. They can eat up to 27 kg (60 lb.) if they are very hungry, but generally they eat about 9 kg (20 lb.) of meat in one sitting – which is the same as 400 burgers!

Attendance Update

KS1: Cedar 99.33% 

KS2: Elm 99.33% 

Overall: 96.94%%

Congratulations to Cedar and Elm. Both of these classes came incredibly close to winning a cup cake party for their classes. They were just one attendance mark short! Overall we had another stunning week with almost 97% attendance. Well done to all of you for keeping the good run going.

Mother’s Day: FoB Sale

The Friends of Broadford would like to inform you that there will be a Mother's day gift stall selling gifts and cards from 30p. They will be available 27th and 28th March for all year groups.

Demon Dentist Book Review

listen to ‘Demon Dentist Book Review’ on Audioboo

Star Writers

Our latest batch of Star Writers collected their pencils and certificates yesterday. Russell, Yeliz, Sophie, Thelma, Raheem, Jack, Keeley and Sophie L are all now featured on the Star Writer display.

Outstanding Banners Are Up!

To celebrate our school's recent grading as Outstanding, we have purchased several banners for display around the school. Every child will also be given an Outstanding Badge and pencil. These should be ready to give to the children before the Easter break.

Our children, parents, Governors and staff have demonstrated that there is no limit to what can be achieved by Harold Hill residents... so now we need to shout that from the rooftops and share it with as many people as possible.

Infant Music Festival: If I were a Minibeast

listen to ‘If I were a Minibeast Infant Music Festival’ on Audioboo

Kookabura Round Infant Music Festival

listen to ‘Kookabura Round Infant Music Festival’ on Audioboo

Kookaburra Infant Music Festival

listen to ‘Kookaburra Infant Music Festival’ on Audioboo

Hey Brown Duck Infant Music Festival

listen to ‘Hey Brown Duck Infant Music Festival’ on Audioboo

Georgia's Fact

listen to ‘Georgia's Fact’ on Audioboo

Bancrofts Activities

Every weekend eight pupils from Year 5 have been going to Bancrofts school in Woodford for enrichment classes: Greek, drama, maths, chemistry and art. Kirsty explored tessellating shapes in her class. When she got home, she completed a patten of her own using just kites.

Can you see how they have been enlarged and rotated?

Why not try a pattern of your own?

Adventure Pathway Moves Forward

Fox holes have been dug for the children to crouch down and hide in; tunnels have been delivered (great as a base or reading hole); the gazebo is up (and varnished). Now we are waiting for the cockle shell to be delivered and we'll almost be finished.

Star Writer Displays

Each week we have been celebrating the children's writing by displaying it in the main corridor. Please have a read of the pupils' work and leave a comment for them!