Keep up to date with all the news happening in school at the moment.

Please click a headline to read more or visit our school Facebook page: Cliftonville Primary and Pre-School.

• Harvest Celebration

  Fri 24 Oct 2014

  Thank you for supporting Thanet Food Link

   

  The children all brought in food to support the Thanet Food Link, which they took to Holy Trinity Church Margate where we had our harvest celebration. The generosity of the children and parents was amazing with the huge trolley of food overflowing on to the floor of the church. Being a local charity many of our children are aware of the Food Link, and were very happy to support an organisation that benefits the  people in our area so much. Our school choir sang some beautiful songs which were interspersed with songs from the rest of the children and readings about harvest. 

   

  Thank you to Mrs Weitzel and Mrs Ross for their 'behind the scenes' organisation in preparation for today's celebration.

  

• Youth Summit

  Fri 24 Oct 2014

  On Friday October 17^th the year 5 and 6 School Councillors attended a Youth Summit hosted by Hartsdown Secondary School to discuss major issues facing our society today. After a moving assembly showing the struggles other people face in global community for the most basic of human rights, they participated in a variety of workshops identifying how they could combat some of the issues in our local area. These issues ranged from pollution of our beaches and how to improve recycling to how we, as a school and with other schools, can help to raise money and awareness for those that have very little.

  The children participated fantastically asking meaningful and insightful questions and, as a result, were then inspired to take part in a local and global event that will help to make a difference to those that need it most. The School Council will be leading us in a number of charitable events to show that we really can make a difference. Letters providing information as to how you can help will be released in the near future.  Thank you to Mr Briggs for accompanying the children.

  

• Term 1 Attendance

  Fri 24 Oct 2014

  We have worked together to beat our target!

   

  A massive thank you to everyone in the whole school community for improving attendance again this term.  There is a 0.6% improvement compared with this time last year...which sounds very small but it actually represents a huge increase in the number of days attended. 

  

• Year R Harvest

  Fri 24 Oct 2014

  Year R Harvest celebration and Talk 4 Writing

   

  Having only embarked on their ‘Talk 4 Writing’ learning journey at the beginning of October, it was clear at Cliftonville Primary School’s Year R Harvest celebration on Thursday that this is something the children and staff already feel passionately about. To rapturous applause, 90 four- and five-year old children stood confidently in front of their families and retold them, by heart, the story of the Little Red Hen and her own journey of making bread without the help of her friends. Out on display were the children’s own bread rolls that they had made in the roll of the Little Red Hen. Using actions and a story map to guide them, the children were able to use a variety of language and expression to tell their story with huge smiles on their faces.

   

  Assistant Head teacher and leader of Literacy at Cliftonville School, Louise Wilson, explained...

  "In our determination and drive to further raising standards in literacy we have embarked on adopting the ‘Talk 4 Writing’ approach to teaching reading and writing to enable children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it. Through fun activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing with the teacher to show them how to create their own pieces of writing, children are helped to write in the same style. We have already seen an amazing impact, not only upon the quality of the writing the children are producing, but also in their developing love of literacy and their own confidence levels when speaking."

   

  Children in Reception and year 1 have been learning the story of the Little Red Hen for the Harvest celebrations whilst Year 6 have produced some moving and powerful work based on the poem ‘The Highway Man’ by Alfred Noyes and Year 5 children have been working hard to create texts based on Michael Morpurgo’s ‘Born to Run’.

   

  “Giving our children an opportunity to perform their work to their families and wider community here at Cliftonville School has given their learning purpose and meaning. We are very excited to see what the children will produce next.”

  

• Operation Christmas Child

  Fri 24 Oct 2014
  

• I Believe in Unicorns!

  Tue 21 Oct 2014

  'I believe in unicorns'.  Click on the link below for a fantastic opportunity to see one of Michael Morpurgo's books brought to life.

   

  http://theatreroyalmargate.com/event/i-believe-in-unicorns/

• Accelerated Reader workshop

  Sun 19 Oct 2014

  20^th October 2014

   

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  We would like to invite you to a Key Stage 2 information workshop to let you  know about our reading programme Accelerated Reader (abbreviated to AR) so you can support your children at home.  We would love you to come along and learn how we use AR, how we level the children and look at some of the resources we use. Our AR leaders will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. All children at Cliftonville Primary School will eventually be part of the AR programme so coming along to find out as much as you can would be really worthwhile.

   

  The workshop will be held on Tuesday 4^th November at 2.30pm in our school hall.  Please complete the slip below to let us know if you are able to attend. For those unable to come along, we will add the presentation notes to the ‘English’ area of the website.

   

  http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/english/

   

  We all hope to see you there,

   

  Yours sincerely

   

   

  Mrs Louise Wilson

  (Assistant Head Teacher)

   

   

  

• Talk For Writing

  Fri 17 Oct 2014

   

  Mrs Wilson is leading our work on children's writing across the school.  We are using the 'Talk For Writing' strategy which is having an amazing impact.  We thought you may like to see what some children in Year 1 have been doing (click on link below).  Year 6 have also used Talk For Writing to write their own version of 'The Highwayman' poem by Alfred Noyes.

   

  http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/english/

• Spelling bee competition

  Wed 15 Oct 2014

  Dear children and parents,

   

  HALF TERM HOMEWORK!

   

  Spelling bee Friday 28th November  for Year 3 & 4

                 Friday 5th December for Year 5 & 6

   

  We are excited to announce a new spelling bee competition for our KS2 pupils.  The purpose of this is to help children improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

   

  There will be two ways to enter:

   

  1. Children can enter as an individual.They will be asked to spell thirty words, chosen at random, from the Year 3/4 or 5/6 spelling list overleaf. They will be given the word to spell by their teacher.

  2. Children can enter as a team of up to four – the team must be made up of pupils from one year group. They will be asked to spell forty words, chosen at random, from the appropriate spelling list overleaf.  In rotation, they will take it in turns to answer.

   

  Individual pupils and teams will compete in the hall in front of their classmates but don’t worry… we will give them lots of support and encouragement!

   

  All children entering will receive a certificate and there are fantastic prizes for those scoring maximum marks.   The spelling list has been copied, laminated and displayed around the school….so children can learn them on the playground, while queuing for lunch, etc!

   

  Please encourage your child to take part.

   

   

• BBC Ten Pieces

  Tue 14 Oct 2014

  We are very excited to be part of the BBC Ten Pieces Music project.  Mrs Ross, our specialist music teacher, is leading this at Cliftonville:

   

  • The project will help us to deliver key aspects of the educational curriculum, including learning about the works of great composers, composing and performing
  • The project is endorsed by music and arts and education bodies
  • It is a great opportunity to be part of an inspirational national BBC initiative
  • We have access to free BBC educational resources
  • It will give us an opportunity to work in partnership with local arts and music organisations such as Music Education Hubs and Music Services, to enhance the work already being done in our classrooms
  • Participation will also develop children’s creativity, confidence and collaborative skills

   

  You can listen to the ten pieces by clicking on the link below.  How many do you recognise?

   

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01vs08w/clips