To begin with, we had a great Easter School, with 16 invited Year 6 pupils attending every day from the first Monday of the holidays, right up until and including Good Friday. The children worked on investigative and mental maths, as well as tackling challenges set in the outside environment by our gifted and talented pupils. The children also took part in a football tournament, alongside myself, Tracey Boanas, Paul Venus and James Wiltshire, although as my team got knocked out in the semi-finals, I should perhaps have taken that as a portent of the experience at Birmingham that was to await me!

The impact of all the time spent working, during what was supposed to be a well earned holiday for the children, was that their confidence jumped up over the course of the five days. Having intensive time to focus upon mathematics and the attention of one adult to five pupils also meant that results improved dramatically. This accelerated support, along with all the booster provision, quality classroom teaching and the additional 1-1 support provided for all the children this year, should give us the very real prospect, for the first time at Canonbury, of seeing all our Year 6 children, regardless of home background or economics, being able to demonstrate equally good progress since their Key Stage 1 tests at aged seven. We also hope that attainment will rise and put the school in a much stronger position in terms of combined attainment in English and mathematics than we were able to reflect at the end of our first year of improvement in May 2011.   The children are taking their SATs this week, from the 14th May to the 18th May and advice on how to support your child through this experience is attached as a link on the home page of our website.

Another major development at Canonbury is the progress in music, which has leapt forward this term. Our Year 5 pupils have continued to benefit from the Woodwind and Brass tuition, provided through the Wider Opportunities programme  and now Daniel Hunt, our Brass teacher, has issued the practice books and instrument permission slips as he begins teaching Year 4 pupils how to play the Euphonium, French Horn and Cornet. The children are really excited, and quite rightly as they take up this wonderful opportunity to play an instrument for free, as part of their Canonbury entitlement. In addition to this plans are in place to be able to extend the brass tuition to Years 4 and 5 in September, as well as introducing Recorder lessons for Year 3, through Kirsty Wilcockson from Music First. This along with the continuation of our Wider Opportunities programme into Year 6 in the new year, means that every pupil at Key Stage 2 will receive free instrumental tuition from September. This is a first and very significant step, which will and is making Canonbury unique amongst primary schools.

Some people have asked me why this focus on music? I think that the best response I can provide is to say that music is a language all of its own and it provides a skill that will keep your child focused, entertained and learning for a lifetime. It can also provide children for whom other routes into learning have been rocky, with a way they can be successful without the challenge and pressures they feel in the rest of the academic curriculum. I want children at Canonbury to have the best opportunities and for them to learn in a school where music is a pleasure for every child and family and where every child can be given the opportunity to shine and make themselves and their families feel proud.

I also have to use this space to say thank you and farewell to our wonderful Sports Coach, Scott Chickleday, who has moved on after seven very successful years at Canonbury. Scott was given a very emotional farewell at a special assembly, as well as receiving an Arsenal kit for his baby, (Scott is an ardent Spurs fan!) and a range of other gifts from parents, pupils and staff. The children from all year groups read out poems and messages for Scott and his contribution to their development and enthusiasm for sport was much evident. Scott’s after school clubs are being run by the Kick Start providers, and Scott has agreed to work with Cate, our PE and Sport Leader to return to accompany our teams to tournaments. In the longer term we will be appointing a new sports coach and are seeking someone with a sports background to provide lunch time sport activities in the playground. Some parents expressed anxiety about the future of sport at Canonbury but I can rest assured this is not going to slip, and Cate has also invested a huge amount into planning a new PE curriculum and scheme of work, so that P.E. in 2012-13 will be even better.

Indeed, the results of the parental survey carried out by Governors for the school during the consultation evening in March, have shown that we still need to communicate about the journey we are on in building a school of which we can all be proud. Some parents remain unclear about what our priorities are and will be, and others have so many wishes for what they wish us to achieve that they feel frustrated we cannot deliver everything all in a year. This is entirely normal and understandable, given the change we have had to embed at Canonbury in the first two years since I arrived.

In recognition of the need for us all to see what is being built here and the part we can play, I have been working with your children, the staff and governors  to create a plan for the coming three years. The governing body will be working with me to finalise this plan and then we will publish it here and in paper form, so that you can read and see the aspirational goals we have set and the steps we are taking to achieve this. I will also find a way to put that plan into child-friendly language so that everyone can understand what is happening and why. I hope in this way that the communication about the school we are creating will be truly effective and that everyone involved at Canonbury will be able to feel they have chosen to join that journey confident in the clarity of what will be taking place now and in the coming years.

Finally I look forward to seeing you all at some of the productions, sports days and assemblies over the course of the term. Remember that all events should be listed on the diary which you can access from the homepage, and some are also recorded in the dates section on the last page of our newsletters.

Matt Britt

Matt and the governors would like to invite all parents to meet members of the current governing body to find out about their role and what they do for the school at an informal coffee morning.

Over the next year, parent governor elections will take place as some of our current governors reach the end of their 4 year terms. Come and find out if you could be part of the team which aims to take Canonbury from good to outstanding and help deliver the exciting music and arts vision.

We are really keen that the composition of our governing body, more fairly reflects the diversity of our school community and would urge everyone, who has the time and energy to commit to this role, to come to the meeting as a way of finding out more.

Friday May 25th 2012 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.

If you cannot attend a daytime event, please give your name and contact details to the office and we will arrange an evening opportunity for you to meet governors after half-term.

Kick Start have promised they will post some news and pictures about breakfast club in this news section very soon. In the meantime we attach a link to the Kick Start Brochure, and would remind everyone that should they wish to book a place this term it can be done directly with them in the morning, or via a booking in our school office.

Kick Start – Our Brochure

MPS or UPS (Inner London) for September 2012

Our School Needs…

Our School offers….

Closing date for applications: Monday 21st May 2012 at 3.30 p.m.
Interviews and teaching observations: Monday 28th May 2012.

Tonight, Thursday 26th April, the Canonbury PTA are holding their annual quiz night.

Funds raised will all go towards reducing the costs for the Year 6 school journey and pupils from Year 6 will attend the quiz night along with their parents to serve at tables and assist in the organisation.

Last years winners, for the very first time, were a staff team. Tonight is a chance for other teams to prove they can outdo the staff team as they attempt to hang onto their trophy!

You can come alone or with friends and  you should get to school for 7.30 at the latest. Food is being provided as part of the ticket price.

Today Year 4 launched their Olympic Village project.

James and Matt will be teaching across Year 4 regularly this term and they are leading a project which involves the children working in teams to plan and design their own Olympic Village.

Each team will have a different landscape to adapt in order to provide their Olympic village and will be expected to work within the requirements of the budget available as well as the expectations of planners and the sustainability advisers. The teams will need to elect a Chair, a spokesperson, a sustainability adviser and a planner, to deliver their projects.

Working in this way will provide lots of opportunities for maths in real life context, role play, presentation skills and geographical enquiry. This unit will be a model of the creative integrated curriculum the school will be looking to develop throughout the coming academic year.

The link you can access by clicking here leads to a document which will be the children’s starting point today as they open the project.

After the very successful sale of our first ever school newspaper ‘The Canon’ we are now beginning to work on the second issue, due to go to print in the first half of the summer term.

From issue 2 each class in school will contribute one article to The Canon each half term, meaning that every child in school will have their name in print.

I am also setting an Easter holiday writing challenge for pupils, this will involve them working on an article for the newspaper. Articles/ pieces for the paper could include:

-          A review of family friendly park/ restaurant/ café in our local area

-          A book or film review

-          A puzzle/ crossword or cartoon strip

-          A blog about family life during the school holidays!

-          A sports report from a football match

-          A short story or poem

-          A family recipe

-          A review of a holiday destination

-          A report about ‘Canonbury on Ice’

Pupils can either write out their article or type onto the computer at home and a parent email to Katie.hanley@canonbury.islington.sch.uk

All pupils that contribute an article for the newspaper will receive a certificate and reward during the second week back after the Easter holidays.

Younger pupils in Nursery, Reception and Year one will need support from parents and carers with their writing and this could be approached as a family article with a parent/ carer writing down the child’s information.

We hope you enjoy the Easter holiday writing challenge!

Katie Hanley

Senior Teacher Years 1 & 2

Canonbury Primary School

This month has seen both Rowling and King Class being  honoured by the presence of King Henry VIII and his wife Jane Seymour  to dine and celebrate in Royal Banquet style. The feasting and drinking element of the banquets occured in front of the King and Queen.

The celebrations began with the making of Pomanders (oranges and cloves) to disguise the awful smell left in the Tudor streets. The children practiced Calligraphy writing in order to make place tags for the feast – they had such honored guests as Lord Antonio of Islington joining us for the day.

The feast commenced with the servants serving their royal guests and toasting the King and Queen. Between courses they were entertained by court jesters and towards the end of the feast all guests and servants took part in some traditional Tudor dancing. In King Class, Ayomide and Paige took the roles of King and Queen, and in Rowling Class, the roles were played by Jed and Merve. The children all deserve a special mention because they all played their parts without embarrassment or worry, and as a result they all thoroughly enjoyed the feast.

A great day was had by all. This experience of role play and first hand experience, which works so well in embedding learning in our Early Years, also has a powerful place in the learning of our older children. The Tudor feast day was a vivid example of this.

Adam introduced Elfie and Lucy, two of his pupils, and they performed solo pieces to an assembled audience of at least 300 children and adults. Then Adam joined with his friend Verity, a cellist and together they played a piece by Shostokovitch, which the children really enjoyed. The children were particularly enthralled by the passion evident on the faces of Adam and Verity as they connected with the piece and the music flowed from them.

Adam was full of praise for music at Canonbury and told pupils he looked forward to hearing about their future success as a school. Elfie and Lucy then presented Adam with gifts on behalf of the staff and pupils.

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Dear Parents

I am writing to inform you that I recently received notification from the National Union of Teachers about the decision of their members to strike on Wednesday 28^th March 2012.

The action will potentially involve a large number of the teaching staff at Canonbury, and as a result I have decided in the interests of health and safety that it would not be safe for the school to remain fully open.

I have worked as hard as I can in a short space of time to ensure the school can remain open to pupils in Nursery and Reception as well as those in Years 4, 5 and 6, on the day of the strike. Unfortunately I do not have enough staff to keep the school open for pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 and therefore this will be a strike closure day for those pupils.

I am very sorry for the disruption that will be caused and obviously will keep you informed should a settlement in this dispute be reached nationally prior to the day of action, which would mean the closure would be reversed. I also recognise the disruption to education this causes which is why I have done all I can to keep Canonbury open wherever possible and to provide as much notice as I could.

The Canonbury after school activity club will operate as normal on the strike day and extra-curricular clubs will not be affected as they are not scheduled to run in the last week of the term.

Matt Britt

Headteacher