At the Upper School this week, we have been learning about the power of resilience and especially the ability to use this when challenged. We looked at the example of Martin Luther King who faced many challenges. He faced: people who disagreed with him; setbacks and disappointments and times when he felt like nothing was changing. Despite this, he did not give up. This week the children are showing they can keep going when something feels difficult, not give up when things don’t work first time and learn from mistakes and try again.
At the Lower School we have been learning about empathy and the importance of being able to understand the feelings of other people. We have considered ways of recognising how other people might be feeling, how people might show their emotions and what we can do to help others. It was lovely to hear how so many children have taken this message on board this week, as we celebrated their kindness and empathy during our Rainbow assembly today.
Rowan Class Assembly
This morning, we started the morning with a brilliant assembly from Rowan Class. Rowan Class made an excellent link to our Collective Worship theme ‘achievement’. The children shared their learning journey so far this year. We heard about the texts they have studied so far this year and some good examples of writing that included imagery. All of us were impressed with the night lights they had made in DT and the Roman shields they had made in thematic lessons. The children sang a great song about the water cycle and also finished the assembly with the song ‘Roar’ which had everyone singing along. Well done Rowan Class. You all performed with such confidence and prosody. A huge thank you to Miss Marshall for doing a brilliant job preparing the children for the assembly. To all our parents and carers who joined us thank you for all your support and encouragement.
Food Council Meeting at Cypress Upper
This week the Food Council at Cypress Upper met with Chef Morad. They talked about some things they were enjoying and how pleased they were that some of their suggested changes had been implemented. In this meeting, the children shared their feedback about the menu options they would like to see more of and those that were less popular. The children were particularly impressed with the improvements that had been made to the salad bar. One of the children’s suggestions was to include houmous on the salad bar and they were very impressed to see it had already been added to the salad bar on the day after the meeting.
Lower School Eco Council
The Eco Council met recently with Mrs Dutton to plan their upcoming cake sale where they hope to raise funds towards their gardening initiatives. Please bring along some cash and support them next Friday 30th January.
Pegasus Sports Poetry Competition
A HUGE congratulations to the talented team who represented Cypress at the Pegasus Sports Poetry Competition grand final, which was held at Whitehorse Manor. Our team performed incredibly and were up against some very tough competition from other schools in the Trust. Their poems were imaginative, creative and beautifully written and you can read them here. It’s not easy performing on stage in front of a large crowd and despite the nerves and excitement, Team Cypress delivered amazing performances which you can view here. We are thrilled that Maddy, Abigail and George received well-deserved medals and congratulations to our entire team for reaching the final!
| Year 1 – Maddy | ‘The day I won the race’ – GOLD MEDALLIST |
| Year 2 – Rita | ‘Kicking around a football’ |
| Year 3 – Abigail | ‘Sports’ – BRONZE MEDALLIST |
| Year 4 – George | ‘The elephant on ice’ – SILVER MEDALLIST |
| Year 5 – Giorgia and Phoebe | ‘I like basketball’ |
| Year 6 – Emilia | ‘Follow your dreams’ |
Cypress Superstars
Well done to Caleb in Sycamore Class who visited the office to share his excellent explanation in maths. Caleb had explained the steps needed to find the area of a compound shape which included diagrams. Congratulations to Oskar and Dani-Elrod in Sycamore Class who came to share their maps of Viking settlements they had created in thematic. The boys had made excellent use of keys. They could also explain why these features were included and why the Vikings needed them. We are very proud of Henry and Laolu for their independent writing in Yellow Class as they decided to copy all the single sounds, digraphs and trigraphs they have already learnt in phonics. Well done to all of Year 2 for their positive behaviour during our recent visits to Croydon Mosque. We have been impressed with your knowledge and thoughtful questions as you’ve learnt more about the Islamic faith.
Attendance
Poor attendance is a key priority for the government and the Local Authority now has ‘live’ access to our attendance data. Croydon have also assigned Cypress Primary School a Local Authority Attendance Officer who will work alongside Mrs Wesley (our Academy Attendance officer) to rigorously track and challenge poor attendance. Anything below 94% is of concern and if attendance falls below 90% this is considered a serious concern. Below 90% is regarded as persistent absence by the DFE and parents will be asked to meet with Attendance Officers and Senior Leaders to discuss poor attendance. Aside from absence through illness, if there is a very good reason that your child cannot attend school, you are expected to request exceptional leave before your child is absent from school. Any request for exceptional leave which comes after the period of absence has already been taken will not be granted and will be classed as unauthorised absence. The office is always available by email or through Studybugs if you are unable to call or come into the office in person for any reason. Any absence that is attached to a school holiday, no matter the reason for the exceptional leave request, is likely to be denied and will be classed as unauthorised absence. There has been a rise in vague ‘family emergencies’ that are attached to a holiday, when we are all aware that flights are cheaper. In order to ensure fairness, and without having to ask intrusive questions, it is easier to expect that requests which are attached to a holiday will not be authorised. Parents can be issued a fixed penalty notice of £80 per child, per parent by the Attendance Officer for extended unauthorised absence. This can increase to £160 for a second offence within a 3 year rolling period. The link to our website attendance page is https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/attendance-2 if you wish to find out more information. We know that the majority of our families support their child’s attendance in school and we are happy to discuss any specific attendance queries if you have them.
MHST Coffee Morning
Please join us on Tuesday 27th January from 9.15am in the Lower School Community Room for a Coffee Morning with MHST (Mental Health Schools Team). You can find out more about their work in school and how they can support children and parents. Everyone is welcome!
We wish all our children and families a relaxing weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week.
Mrs Carpenter, Mrs Sorensen and the Cypress Team
