March 2020 News

Dear Parents and Carers,

The first half of this term has been extremely eventful! As always, we would like to share our proudest moments with you, as

well as some information for the coming weeks.

Continued…

Celebrating Memorable Moments – whole school events

Annual Ormiston Academies Trust Awards Cliff Park Junior and Infant Academies are thrilled to announce that of ten of our pupils and one member of staff were nominated for the National Annual OAT Awards! Olivia, Chloe and Charlie were all nominated in the Outstanding Academic Achievement category, Ellie-May and Olivia were nominated in the category of Inspirational Pupil, Riley, Louis and Sebastian were nominated for Most Improved Pupil and Blake and Darcy both received nominations for the Creativity Award. We were very excited to hear that Louis has won the overall OAT Award in his category! Mrs Blaxell, who for many years has dedicated so much of her time to offering a wide range of enrichment activities as well as School Council and numerous charity fund raising projects, has also been selected as an award winner in the ‘OAT Enrichment Champion’ Category and she and Louis will be attending the awards ceremony in London later this month. We are incredibly proud of all our nominees and are already looking out for potential nominees for next year’s event!

World Maths Day World Maths Day took place last Wednesday and the children enjoyed taking part in a range of maths focused activities, linked to the work of the artist Kandinsky. Well done to all our Maths Day competition winners! See page 3 for some photos of our Year 1 children painting Kandinsky mathematically inspired pictures!

World Book Day Last Thursday we celebrated World Book Day and it was wonderful the see the dazzling array of costumes! The children had a lovely day celebrating reading. We also had some excellent entries for our ‘Design a new cover for your favourite book’ competition, which made judging very challenging! Congratulations to all our winners!

Sports Relief Week This week is Sports Relief Week and the children will be learning about the benefits of sport in their lives and enjoying additional activities to support their fitness and well-being. Remember that children can dress up in red clothes or sports clothes! We are not collecting donations at school, but instead ask that you give what you can direct to Sports Relief at www. www.sportrelief.com and click the green ‘Donate’ button at the top!

Ormiston Cliff Park Infant and

Ormiston Cliff Park Junior

Academies

Achieving Success Together Phone: 01493 661523

Email: office@ocpia.co.uk

Website: www.ocpia.co.uk

Head of School: Mr Phil Reid

Phone: 01493 661523

Email: office@ocpja.co.uk

Website: www.ocpja.co.uk

Head of School: Mrs Louise Watkins

Orde Avenue, Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk, NR31 6SZ

Pyjama Day fundraiser success Infant and Junior school council members organised a ‘wear your pyjamas to school’ day on February 14th, in order to raise money for the 2 charities that they are supporting this year. The Benjamin Foundation (a local childrens’ mental health charity) and EACH (East Anglian Children’s Hospices) are great causes, and we thoroughly enjoyed coming to school in our PJs and dressing gowns to raise money for them! We raised a grand total of £432.82, with equal amounts of £216.41 going to each charity.

A big ‘thank you!’ to all of the families and staff members that donated money for these wonderful charities. Thanks also goes to Mrs Blaxell and Mrs Haizel, and our school council for organising this fun, and worthwhile, event.

National Shakespeare Week Next week is ‘National Shakespeare Week’ and we are really looking forward to watching a visiting theatre production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ as part of our celebration of all things Shakespearian!

Arrival at School It’s been great to see so many children arriving at school from 8.30am onwards in recent weeks. This opportunity for extra learning is making a real difference to the children. A polite reminder please that children should not be at school before this time. We have been concerned that a number of children have been arriving very early and we cannot provide supervision for pupils until 8.30am.

Coppers for Copters Our 'Coppers for Copters' appeal is going well, but we want it to go sky high! Please bring in any 1 and 2 pence coins you have, and help us to support the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity through Mrs Audus' sponsored marathon run.

Safety and Supporting the Local Community Please help us to keep all our children and families safe on the way to and from school. Parking on the verge is illegal and puts others in danger. Also, the Gorleston Tennis Club is private property, so should not be used for school parking. Please drive down Orde Avenue slowly and carefully at all times. Avoiding driving along Orde Avenue altogether is a very practical way of supporting our commitment to keep all our children safe. Many thanks.

Junior Academy News

Exploding Volcanoes in Y4 Last half term finished with a bang in Year 4 as they hosted a visit from a real life volcano explorer! It was fascinating to hear all about his travels. They also made their own volcanoes and really enjoyed seeing them erupt!

Viking Visit Year 4 enjoyed meeting a modern day Viking, who visited to tell them all about what life as a Viking was like. They enjoyed learning all about life in Viking times and seeing at first hand the clothing and weapons that they would have worn and used.

Cross County Event Children from Cliff Park Junior who qualified were lucky enough to go to Holkham Hall on 4th March, to participate in the Norfolk School Games Cross Country Winter County Finals. The weather held out and all runners placed in the top 50 of their races. We had a great day and hope next year’s event is just as successful!

Cliff Park Junior Academy are celebrating musical success! Last week, our Choir and Recorder Group took part in the annual Gorleston Music Festival. The children had dedicated much of their free time to extra practices and, as a result, their performances in the festival received strong praise! In the Choir Unison category, they sang "Sing" by Gary Barlow and were awarded a distinction grading (88 marks), along with St Andrew's Consort Cup for Unison Choirs. In the Choir Two-Part category, they sang "Whisper" by Greg Gilpin and were awarded an outstanding grading (91 marks), along with the School's Music Association Choirs Trophy. The Recorder Group also performed extremely well, and really enjoyed listening to the other schools too! The judge gave them a commended grading and said they knew the notes well and had secure rhythm. All the children were outstanding ambassadors for the school and are looking forward to their next performance at the Summer fate. Their enjoyment, passion and enthusiasm were clear for all to see and hear - well done!

Year 6 SATs We continue to be so proud of our Year 6 children as they work hard in preparation for their tests in May. We have been really impressed by their positive attitudes and determination to do their absolute best. A reminder please that it essential that all year 6 children are in school during this week. We will be providing a breakfast at 8.20am for all Year 6 pupils during SATs week (Monday 11th – Thursday 14th May) in order to ensure that they have a relaxed start to the day.

Year 4 MTCs This year, the government have introduced a new maths check for Year 4 children, the ‘Multiplication Tables Check’ or MTC. The purpose of the check is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will also help us to identify pupils who may need additional support. The check will only take around 5 minutes and will be taking place in June. Please visit http://www.ocpja.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/MTC-Info-for-parents-2020.pdf for more information.

Attendance Cup winners for this week – Lower School: , Upper School: Peregrine

Enrichment - Free after school clubs – There are still a few places available at our free Crochet Club (for Years 5 & 6), 3.30-4.30pm on Tuesdays (beginning 17th March) and at our free Chess Club (for Years 5 & 6), 3.30-4.30pm on Mondays (beginning 16th March). Please contact the office as soon as possible if you would like your child to join, as spaces are limited.

Junior - Learning Cafes – spring/summer: Year 3 – 26th March, Year 4 – 20th March, Year 5 – 27th March, Year 6 – 12th June

Infant Academy News

Reception Year ‘Living Eggs’ One of the wonderful springtime events we hold at this time of the year is to have living duck or chicken eggs in our Reception year area. For 2 weeks, the children were able to predict what would happen with the eggs, and then watch them hatch. This is a fantastic way to cement our development and life cycles project, and fill the Reception students with awe and wonder!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dioramas Year 1 have been reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to tie-in with their curriculum theme this term, and rounded the text off by making models of their very own ‘chocolate rooms’! For more photos, please see our website (ocpia.co.uk) and our Facebook page (@OCPIAandOCPJA).

World Maths Day in Year 1 We celebrated World Maths Day on 4th March by looking at how maths and other subjects, including art, are intertwined. Our Year 1 children did some excellent interpretations of Kandinsky paintings, using rulers, and lots of different shapes and measurements. Many of our families also joined in, as Ladybird class’s Learning Café coincided with this celebration!

Attendance Challenge - Class Awards So far this term, Ladybird class, Butterfly class, Giraffe class and Ibis class have won the attendance award twice each. Can your child’s class beat them?

Enrichment activities for the spring/summer term – coming soon!

Mrs Ryan will soon be starting up a Nature and Gardening Club for Infant Academy children. Information will be sent out to parents as soon as details are confirmed.

Mrs Dawson will again be challenging parents and children to develop their fitness and stamina through participation in the Golden Mile! We have done extremely well with this in previous years, even beating most other schools in the area. The club will run after school on the Infant Academy field. Start date to be confirmed. Information will be sent out to parents as soon as possible.

Year 2 SATs Our Year 2 children are working hard in preparation for their tests during the month of May, and we are really proud of their efforts and attitudes to their learning. Keep it up everyone! Infant - Story & Learning Cafes – summer: Dolphin – 30th April, Puffin – 28th April, Starfish – 29th April, Butterfly – 17th June, Cricket – 10th June, Ladybird – 24th June, Giraffe – 15th June, Ibis – 29th June, Kangaroo – 22nd June

As always, please see our websites (ocpia.co.uk and ocpja.co.uk) for letters to parents, events, photo galleries, school lunch

menus, calendars, and lots of other useful information.

The staff and children of Ormiston Cliff Park Infant Academy and Ormiston Cliff Park Junior Academy would like to take this

opportunity to thank you for all your support so far this year.

Mr Reid and Mrs Watkins

Forthcoming visits for OCPIA and OCPJA We have been busy arranging lots of extra-curricular activities to support the children’s learning. Here follows a list of events. This list is not exhaustive and may be added to further.

Reception Year Thrigby Hall trip – date TBC

Year 1 trip - TBC

Year 2 Time & Tide trip – date TBC

Year 3 Norwich Castle trip - 29th April

Year 4 Eaton Vale residential trip - 14th – 15th July Year 4 Fairhaven Trust trip – date TBC Year 4 Orienteering – date TBC

Year 5 Gressenhall Museum Trip – date TBC Year 5 Ringsfield Hall trip – 16th June

Year 6 Kingswood residential trip – 3rd – 5th June Year 6 (small group) - UEA History Outreach 20th May Year 6 Swimming (after SATs week) – more details to follow Debating Group and School Council – The House of Commons 12th June