Latest News

Art Makes Children Powerful

Thu 05 May 2022

We are so lucky to have Sue, our Art Therapist, in school 3 days a week.

Professor teaches Year 5 pupils magic tricks!

Thu 05 May 2022

Paul Curzon, a Professor of Computer Science in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, visited Year 5 students this week armed with a number of magic tricks up his sleeve!

"The fun part of our computer science sessions," said Paul, " is that we are able to teach magic tricks and link them to computing. The exercises we explore are really about problem solving and how
maths, science and engineering underpin everything."

Paul went on to add, "The kids in both classes were really, really enthusiastic throughout and
a joy to teach. They all worked hard to try and work out how the tricks worked, coming up with creative ideas and running little experiments to narrow down what could be happening, before we went through the secrets. I hope they now enjoy putting on their own mini-magic shows but remember to keep the secrets they were taught!"

Year 5 Pupils attend LSO concert at the Barbican

Wed 04 May 2022

Pupils from Year 5 were entertained by the London Symphony Orchestra today at the Barbican. A concert was staged to educate children and expose them to the work of fabulous forgotten or neglected female composers from across the centuries.

5 Bronte students, Jah Kai, Hayden and Ivy, were very enthusiastic about seeing the LSO. Jah Kai declared, "I don't usually like classical music but I enjoyed this show." Ivy commented, "I was surprised at how many different instruments were being used by the orchestra. My favourite instrument was the flute." Hayden enjoyed the harp saying, "It makes such a beautiful sound I could listen to it for hours."

Molly from 5 Hawking enjoyed the audience participation and said she would really like to go again. Classmate Jessica added, "I really enjoyed listening to the orchestra play the Dr Who theme tune."

Year 1 student follows Year 6 pupil's fundraising efforts

Thu 28 Apr 2022

Year 1 pupil, Ana, has been so inspired by a Year 6 pupil's fundraising efforts during the month of Ramadan that she has begun raising money for charity.

On hearing about Year 6 pupil Zaavier's support for a mental health charity for children during assembly one morning, Ana was so impressed that she has turned her attention to help the Orphans in Need charity. Ana has been baking cakes for friends and family after school to raise money and has also set up a GoFundMe page:

https://gofund.me/5faf8624.

More information about Orphans In Need: Orphans in Need believe that every child everywhere has the right to a happy and healthy life. We are a UK based organisation, supporting over 30, 000 orphans and their families 1n 14 countries. We support those who cannot provide for themselves, delivering sustainable, long term solutions to those in need. We offer food parcels, cover fees for education and healthcare and support orphanages abroad.

Able Maths Day

Tue 26 Apr 2022

The school continued its hosting of workshops for local schools with its invite to talented Year 5 mathematicians from Handsworth Primary and St Marys RC Primary who teamed up with selected pupils from Bronte and Hawking classes for an Able Maths Day held in the Junior hall. The sessions were led by Pete Hall.

Pete was seconded to the National Numeracy Strategy for three years. He was the Senior Regional Coordinator for the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM).

As a freelance Consultant Pete has supported many Local Authorities, academies and schools. As an author, he has had many books published, notably a series on problem solving for KS1 and KS2. He has also produced online materials for a range of companies.

Year 5 pupil Millie who attended the workshop said, "It was really great working with pupils from other schools. The maths activities were fun and interesting."

Year 6 Pupil Zaavier raises money for charity during Ramadan

Mon 25 Apr 2022

During this month of Ramadan, another of the school's courageous advocates, Zaavier from Year 6, has been fundraising for a children's mental health charity called 'Supporting Humanity'.

Last year Zaavier hit the headlines when he helped raise over £5000 for a food poverty charity by cooking at different restaurants and houses. This year, instead of working alone, Zaavier has a team of 15 children aged from 5 -12 years old working with him across locations in London and the local area.

Zaavier's team of cooks, dubbed the Ramadan kids, have received widespread news coverage including the following article from the arabnews.com website:

Kids cook while fasting to raise money during Ramadan for UK mental health charity (arabnews.com)

Zaavier, who himself is fasting at the moment, commented, "I'm having a great time going to all these different locations cooking food such as nanza which is like pizza made with nan bread. The most prestigious restaurant I've cooked in is Saffron Street in Gants Hill which has been a great experience.

I've also teamed up with a well-known Instagrammer and TV chef called, Parveen, to do some cooking with. The most important thing though, is that I'm helping people and bringing awareness to the issue of children's mental health."

Donation link:

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ramadankids

'Keep Our Kids Safe!' Campaign Update

Thu 21 Apr 2022

It all began when Stan, our much loved lollipop man, retired on 5th April 2019 after serving the school and local community for 21 years. Upon Stan's retirement, the school was informed that the London Borough of Waltham Forest had taken the decision to stop funding Crossing Patrols saying we had to fund a replacement for Stan from our own budget - something the school considered unfair and dangerous to pedestrian safety considering how busy this stretch of Kings Road can often be and how often our pupils and staff use it.

What followed has been a 3 year campaign called 'Keep Our Kids Safe!' involving pupils, parents, staff, governors and members of the wider community in a bid to improve road safety outside both school sites. Initially the campaign focussed on improving the safety of the zebra crossing on Kings Road which is used throughout the day as pupils and staff travel backwards and forwards between the two sites. However, the campaign diversified to also tackle the problem of inconsiderate driving and parking by a minority of motorists, particularly at school drop-off and pick-up times.

As well as an online petition requesting the council took action to improve road safety on Kings Road, the campaign also saw a protest outside the Infant site featuring a steel band from Heathcote Secondary School plus the presence of local politicians including Chingford's MP, Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

https://www.chingfordcofe.org.uk/videos-1/

Throughout the campaign our pupils played a significant role in attempting to gain support to improve road safety outside the school's Infant and Junior sites. A team of 'Traffic Ambassadors' was established who frequently patrolled outside the school under the supervision of staff and parents trying to persuade road users to park and drive safely.

Year 5 pupils worked with police officers to monitor drivers' speed along Kings Road and even got to use the speed guns themselves! Pupils also made lollipop crossing signs complete with slogans referring to speeding such as 'Twenty is Plenty!' and 'Thirty is Dirty!' which were displayed outside the Infant site facing the zebra crossing.

Inevitably the 'Keep Our Kids Safe!' caught the attention of the local press and articles appeared online and in newspapers. However, the appearance of cameras and a news team from ITN really took our breath away. It was fantastic to see some of our Traffic Ambassadors being interviewed about road safety outside the school on the 6 o'clock regional news programme one evening!

The impact of the 'Keep Our Kids Safe!' campaign has been extraordinary culminating in the installation of a controlled crossing on Kings Road which came into operation yesterday. Other road safety improvements include a speed limit reduction outside the school to 20 mph and refreshed zig-zag line markings. The school has also gained recognition from the UK Parliament for the campaign receiving a highly commended certificate in the 'School of the Year' Awards in recognition of its work in encouraging children to participate in social action projects.

However, perhaps the greatest impact has been upon our pupils who have seen first hand that social action can bring about positive change and that they can play a part in bringing change to their local community and even the world.

There is still work to be done despite the campaign's successes. Although the behaviour of some motorists during drop-off and pick-up time is not as bad as it was, there is still room for improvement. Watch this space!

Champions Challenge

Thu 31 Mar 2022

Over the past 4 weeks Year 4 pupils have been completing the Champions Challenge giving them the opportunity to find what wellbeing is all about. Each day during the month long challenge children have been asked to write or draw a picture of something in their Champions Challenge Diary that they had done that was good for their PHYSICAL HEALTH, something that helped their WELLBEING and a HEALTHY MEAL they managed to eat.

Specially trained Champions from Year 5 inspected the diaries at the end of each week giving the children a stamp in their diaries for each day all 3 targets were met.

The Champions Challenge is an initiative run by the Red Balloon Foundation and has involved Red Balloon Staff coming into school on a regular basis training selected Year 5 pupils in many aspects of wellbeing and encouraging them to 'look not just after their own interests, but to look out for others, too.' (Philippians 2:4).

World Book Day Writing Competition

Thu 31 Mar 2022

It was wonderful to have so many fabulous entries for our writing competition. Our winners are: Nancy RD and Albert 1S, who wrote fantastic invitations to their favourite book characters; Riya 1S, Ollie 1B, Joshua 1B and Lucia 2N for their fabulous retelling of their favourite stories; Jack S and Jack H 3B for their excellent blurbs, which provided clues about their chosen books without giving away too much information and Luca and Jessica 5H, who wrote interesting and entertaining pieces about their time with their chosen book characters.