Last week at Gainsborough…

We wore Stripes for National Bee Day  

We wore stripes on Friday 16th May to raise awareness of the importance of Bees in our eco system. The United Nations have launched National Bee Day to raise the awareness of the impact of human activity on bees, here is some information from the UN:

Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities.

Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity.

To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries.

We all depend on pollinators and it is, therefore, crucial to monitor their decline and halt the loss of biodiversity.

For more information see https://www.un.org/en/observances/bee-day

Well Done Year 6 Doves!

Year 6 pupils across the country took part in SATs testing this week. They completed tests on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! They answered questions in papers that many adults would have to think hard about and we are incredibly proud of them. They were calm throughout, worked diligently and showed their commitment and determination to the best they can during the testing window. The children were incredibly well prepared by Ms Muganga and our Year 6 team. Teaching Year 6, and building towards this testing window, while competing with all the complexities of school life, is not easy and we are ever grateful for Ms Muganga’s cool, calm and very capable approach. Our Year 6 parents should be incredibly proud of their children who have taken one of lives hurdles in their stride this week.

Year 4 Protest – Keep Green Campaign

Year 4 took part in a very important campaign this week. They marched through our local area letting their views of climate change. They chanted and held placards sharing images of the earth, asking people to consider their food waste and choices when recycling.

Keeping Green

Each half term we focus on a different Gainsborough Keep: kind, connected, safe, healthy, green or giving. This half term we are looking at Keep Green. We will raise awareness of the following events and ways of being more sustainable at school and at home:

GOLDS!

Each week we celebrate an amazing achievement from each class. Children are celebrated in assembly, receive a gold certificate and their name in the newsletter. Please celebrate their learning at home too!

Nursery – Ducks

Eliyah was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for showing a great interest and engagement in planting and growing this week.  Well done Eliyah!

Nursery – Geese

Kyro was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for engaging really well in phonic sessions and excellent mark making. Well done Kyro!

Nursery – Swans

Maurice nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for working really hard to write the letters in the sound of the day and for excellent name writing. Well done!

Reception – Wrens

George was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for trying very hard to learn new sounds and apply these to his writing. Well done George!

Year 1 – Owls

Andulem was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for settling in to Year 1 really well. Well done Andulem!

Year 2- Hummingbirds

Derek was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for being kind to his friends and always using great manners. Well done Derek!

Year 3 – Herons

Aaliyah was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold for making a huge effort to improve her spellings! Well done!

Year 4- Skylarks

Samuella was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for settling into Year 4 incredibly well. Well done Samuella!

Year 5 – Magpies

Nanette was nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for being kind and helpful to everyone in lessons! Well done Nanette!

Year 6 – Doves

Year 6 Doves were nominated to receive a Gainsborough Gold Award for their dedication and perseverance during SATs week; giving their all for each exam and trying their best. They have also worked incredibly hard in the weeks and months approaching SATs. We are very proud of you all!

Next week at Gainsborough…

WAMH’s at Gainsborough – Monday 10th June 2024 

We have access to a WAMH’s clinicin at Gainsborough. This service supports both school and home and identifying and supporting pupil’s well being and mental health. Alice Zacharia is our dedicated WAMH’s worker, she is in Gainsborough every second Monday, and she is able to meet parents to discuss any aspect of pupil well being. Please email admin@gainsborough.hackney.sch.uk if you would like to meet with Alice.

The objectives of the WAMH’s programme are listed here:

• The school environment supports well-being (supporting schools to be mentally healthy settings)
• Supporting the personal, social, and emotional development of all children in schools
• Supporting schools to be inclusive places/ increase inclusive practices
• Promote cohesive and cooperative linked working between schools and mental health services
• Increase capacity within schools to identify early and meet the wellbeing and mental health needs of all pupils
• Engagement with parents and the external world

More information about WAMH’s can be found here: https://www.hackneylocaloffer.co.uk/kb5/hackney/localoffer/advice.page?id=DUgwy6CmZ6k

Walk to School Week 

Next week we will promote Walk to School week, for more information https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/walk-to-school/primary-schools/walk-to-school-week/ . We want families to walk to school as much as possible during the week 20th-24th May. We will collect information about walking to school in classes with children and make graphs about how far we walk as a class. On Friday we will also be going for a walk to Hackney Marshes and back to raise the importance of walking for children and how that feels on our minds and bodies. We are lucky, in our little corner of Hackney Wick, to have so much access to green space on the Marshes and the Olympic Park. We want to encourage families to:

• take the long route and walk that extra few minutes each day
• make walking part of your weekly routine
• encourage children to walk and talk and get outside!

Revel Pucks Circus Tickets

We have been offered £2 tickets for families to attend the Revel Pucks Circus on the Olympic Park this summer. Please see https://www.revelpuckcircus.com/ for dates, times and more information. Staff from Gainsborough highly recommend taking children from aged 3 -11 to the show. It is a really unique and child friendly, acrobatic extravaganza that the children will love. The show times are all outside the school opening hours so it is over to families to take children as and when they can! To access the £2 ticket offer please check your emails, instructions have been emailed to all families.

Attendance at Gainsborough

We are working hard to ensure good attendance at Gainsborough. To help you understand the importance in having good school attendance, we will be informing you about how we teach cycles of learning at Gainsborough in each week’s newsletter. We want families to understand the impact of absence on well being, the progress in subjects, friendships and the work load absence has on the school work force. We are doing this to help families be more mindful about taking days off.

This week’s ‘absence impact snapshot’:

Your child’s uniform is not clean, due to a mix up with the mountains of washing families have to manage! You feel embarrassed this has happened and your child does not want to go to school for fear of being told off.

Here are some solutions:

• Call us and explain, we may have some uniform spare we can lend them.
• You could buy some new uniform at school that morning, we have uniform for sale at school and you could buy the next size up which will last next year as well!
• Send your child to school in a white top and navy/ back bottoms, as close as you can find to our uniform colours.

The most important thing is that you maintain your child’s school routine and get them into school. The rest, we can discuss and resolve together.