We have all had a lovely first week back after the half term break. The children have had lots of exciting news to share and have settled back into their learning well.
This week at Cypress Upper, we have been thinking deeply about empathy – understanding how someone else is feeling, sharing in their emotions, and responding with kindness and care. As part of our learning, we read the book,You, Me and Empathy by Jayneen Sanders in assembly with Ms Marshall, which helped us explore the importance of caring for one another, recognising others’ feelings, and leading with compassion in our words and actions. Our discussions reminded us that empathy helps to build stronger, kinder communities where everyone feels seen and valued.
Beech Class Assembly
This week, we enjoyed an amazing assembly from Beech Class all about the Suffragette movement. The children took us on a timeline through the activism of the Suffragettes and shared their own passionate and inspiring speeches. Their important message was clear: stand up for what you believe in and fight for what you know is right, even when others say no. If you know it to be right, make your voice heard – it just might bring about amazing change! The children spoke with confidence and passion and sang The Suffragette Song beautifully, using polyphony to create a lovely, harmonious effect. Well done to Beech Class and a special thank you to Ms Fernandes, Ms Gould and Miss Barker for helping the children deliver such a powerful assembly!
Poppy Appeal
Our House Captains have begun selling poppies outside the school gates at the beginning and end of each school day – don’t forget to bring some change to donate and get your poppy! We’ll be selling until Tuesday morning, Armistice Day. The Poppy Appeal is an important way to honour and remember those who have served and sacrificed in conflicts past and present, while also supporting veterans and their families today. Poppies are available at both the Upper and Lower Schools, and for convenience, you can also donate without cash by using the QR code on our donation tins with your mobile phone. Please give what you can to support this most worthy cause. A big thank you to Ms Prideaux for organising the sale of the poppies and helping us all take part in this important act of remembrance.
Year 3 to the V & A Museum
This week, Year 3 enjoyed an exciting trip to the Victoria & Albert Museum as part of their learning about the Victorian era. The children explored the fascinating story of the Crystal Palace and its famous Great Exhibition, discovering how it showcased inventions and innovations from around the world. They also spent time finding out what life was like for a Victorian child, gaining a real sense of what everyday experiences were during that time. Keep an eye out for a news story and photos showing their day out at the museum! Thank you to Y3 staff and parents for accompanying the children on this school trip.
PAT Reading Spine
On Tuesday, we had a special assembly to launch our new reading spine books. In the afternoon, each class held a Reading Café where all the children had a chance to look at the new books. It was wonderful to see the children enjoying the books and reading them together. These are recommended reads for each year group that have been developed by staff across the Trust. These books form part of our reading for pleasure offer. Reading for pleasure has positive emotional and social benefits, improves text comprehension and grammar skills and increases general knowledge. At Cypress, we now have a copy of the Reading Spine in all of of our classes and the children are enjoying taking these home with all children having a chance to take home and give feedback on the book they have read. Each class also has the full Reading Spine for their year group displayed . We would like to thank our parents and the Cypress PTFA for working so hard to fund this and to organise book donations and are so fortunate to now have this in place across the school.
Charity Donation of Soft toys at Cypress Lower
Thank you to all our families who donated soft toys for our non-uniform day on the last day of term. Thanks to your support we have collected over 200 toys. These will be now be donated to Pora UK to help young people in Zimbabwe to find wellness after trauma. If you would like to find out more about the work of this charity click here
We wish all our children and families a relaxing weekend.
Ms Binks, Mrs Carpenter and the Cypress Team
