A newsletter for Parents and Carers of Pupils at Torfield School Edition 15 Summer 2017

During our recent Science Week

all the children took part in outdoor

and indoor activities to help them

understand more about sound, life

cycles, animals and humans,

states of matter and materials to

name but a few areas covered.

Science Blast—a one man noisy

and interactive show was very

popular.

During term 5, Hedgehogs and Rabbits learnt all about the natural world. We planted different seeds and observed them grow. We went to the woods to look for signs of spring and saw lots of birds, bluebells and insects. When we got back to school, we used the treasures we found in different art activities including collage and painting. We enjoyed lots of different stories such as;

Percy the Park Keeper, Jack and the Beanstalk and Titch. We loved acting out the Jack and the Beanstalk story on the playground using the slide as the beanstalk!

Our topics this term have been Minibeasts and Transport. We learnt all about the life cycle of a butterfly through the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. All the children enjoyed making

fruit skewers using fruits from the story! We went out and about on a minibeast hunt and we enjoyed observing the insects when we got back to school. During our transport topic, we made different vehicles from boxes which were big enough to sit in! We explored using different toy cars and trains in paint to make marks and explored colour through toy vehicles and traffic lights. In the hot weather, we have also been able to enjoy lots of outdoor learning including painting, water play and mark making out- side.

FOCUS ON COMMUNICATION Every pupil at Torfield has a speech and language difficulty of some type. This may vary from

difficulty making specific sounds to a severe delay in developing communication skills. Most of

our pupils will develop verbal communication skills but some will rely on Makaton signs and

symbols. Many children experience difficulties with social use of language and need practice

knowing, for example, what might be appropriate to say in a situation or how to ask questions

(and listen to the answers). The level and type of support pupils receive is determined by their

needs. On your child’s IEP you will see a code and this describes the level of support needed.

E stands for Enhanced and means a therapist will set a programme and monitor it. They

might provide blocks of direct support. A trained member of staff may provide regular

sessions.

A stands for additional and means your child will have a programme and this will be

delivered by school staff, monitored by the therapist.

S stands for standard and means your child’s needs are met through the weekly Talking

Together session and through the regular opportunities teachers plan for everyone to

practice skills.

All staff attended recent INSET training that focused on communication skills. At Torfield we

believe every lesson, playtime, lunchtime and club is an opportunity to practice skills and that

through these regular and frequent opportunities pupils make the best progress. A small number

of pupils still require 1:1 sessions and this is especially true of very young children and those with

a higher level of need.

In class we use a range of resources to help children to communicate their ideas, give answers

and support their independence. Some of these resources could be easily used at home.

If you would like to know more about how we support communication skills please ask your

child’s class teacher. We will also be running sessions on how to support communication skills

for families next year through our Family Learning programme.

We say goodbye to three members of staff this term. Sarah Overbury has worked at the school for 20

years. She has been a wonderful teaching assistant and we will all miss her and want to thank her for her

dedication to the pupils at Torfield. Tamara Piggott leaves us to take up a teacher training course. Tamara

will be doing two of her placements at Torfield so we will be welcoming her back in October. Finally Sam

Sankey is leaving to take up SENCO roles in two mainstream schools. We wish Sam well in her new posts

and thank her for all her hard work during the last couple of years. In September we welcome Ben Fisher

to the teaching team. He is a very welcome addition to our excellent team of teachers.

The children have been working really hard in term 5 and 6.

Their writing has been a pleasure to read in English. In term

5, the children wrote some wonderful play scripts based on

some traditional fairy tales including Cinderella and Jack and

the Beanstalk. They loved writing these and then acting

these out with stage directions. In term 6, the children have

been learning about Anne Frank’s diary. Before writing diary

entries, we took the time to really get to know who Anne

Frank was and what happened in her life. The children have

done incredibly well at remembering the key events that took

place in her life - I was very impressed and proud of them all!

They found it fascinating learning about her life. Many of the

children were very inquisitive, asking questions to deepen their understanding. They did really well at

writing diary entries in character (as if they were Anne Frank), using personal pronouns, time connectives

and emotive language.

In term 5, the children did lots of learning about the Battle of

Hastings in topic lessons. They loved our trip to Battle Abbey early

on in the term which helped them to have a good understanding of

the battle. During this visit, the children participated in a hands-on

workshop. They got the chance to try on some chainmail armour and

use the language of weight to describe how it felt on them. The

children also got to hold shields and weapons which they enjoyed.

The children also re-enacted the battle scene with the Saxons at the

top of the hill and the Normans at the bottom of the hill. This helped

their learning come to life. During this area of learning, the children

also visited Pevensey Castle and Hastings Castle which they learnt

were both prominent around the Battle of Hastings. In class, the

children learnt about William the Conqueror and King Harold, who

became victorious in the battle, the importance of the Bayeux

Tapestry in gathering historic evidence and motte and bailey castles.

In term 5, the children worked hard on capacity in maths. They started by learning capacity vocabulary for

example ‘full’, ‘half full’ and ‘empty’. The children were then able to describe the amount of liquid in the

containers. Once they had practised this, the children began to read scales to determine the amount of

liquid and pour in liquid to a certain measurement. The children made

a magic potion to practise pouring out different amounts of liquid. They

really enjoyed this lesson and worked well in teams!

The children have been learning

all about energy in science in term

6. They have learnt about the

differences between renewable

and non-renewable energy and

have identified different examples.

The children made their own

paper windmills to understand that

the wind makes the blades move

which in turn creates energy. The

children also loved Science

Week – they enjoyed the ‘Blast’

session, our pond-dipping trip and

the range of activities on offer.

Wow! I can’t believe I am writing the last newsletter of the year, this academic year has gone so quickly

and all the children in 2N have worked so hard and achieved so much.

Looking back at Term 5 in Science we completed lots of work on plants, some children were focusing on

the four main parts of the plant – I wonder if they can remember them? Whilst others were working on the

functions of the four main parts. To help us with this we visited Blackbrooks Garden Centre where we

looked at all the variety of plants that they had and pointed out the different parts of each plant. We then

bought pots, tray and seeds and on our return to school we repotted the plants and set up an experiment

to see exactly what the plants needed to survive. We discovered that plants need water, food, light and

warmth to grow. Mrs Burrows also let us set up an experiment to see who could grow the tallest

sunflower. In Art we looked at the work of Claude Monet. We all chose our favourite painting and then

tried hard to copy it. As you can see from the photographs our versions of his paintings were very good.

Term 6 is always a busy term, but more so when you are in Year 6. We have been learning all about

WW2 in which we have learnt all about how the war started, The Blitz, the

role of women during the war and how the children were evacuated to the

countryside. We also visited Newhaven Fort to enable us to have hands

on experience of the equipment and sounds of WW2. In our Maths lessons

we have worked hard on telling the time, using money and solving

problems. These are real life skills which we hope will stay with the

children; feel free to continue this work at home by asking the children to

tell you what time it is. In PSHE

we have also been learning about

how our bodies will change and the

children have all asked really

sensible questions. Our highlight

of the term was definitely our

residential trip to Hindleap Warren

which you can read all about in a

separate article.

Monday 26th June 2017 saw 11 excited, yet anxious, children board the minibus on their

way to Hindleap Warren for their residential trip. The children had previously visited the

site but they were still anxious about all the different activities that they would encounter,

which was perfectly natural. All the staff were delighted by the amazing behaviour of all the children from Torfield,

they were polite and helpful, as well as being really kind towards each other.

The children were so independent whilst we were away, choosing their own clothes, dressing themselves, showering

themselves and brushing their own teeth. I would urge you to encourage this independence at home as well. Whilst

all the children were amazing a few of them must be named in person for their personal achievements:

Sam – her natural leadership skills were evident all week and noticed not just by our staff but by the staff at Hindleap

Warren. She was kind and caring and noticed all the small details that helped other children to cope with situations

they weren’t comfortable with, eg climbing up high on the climbing wall or stack of crates. She was also able to help

her team with their map reading skills which enabled them to move around the site finding different clues – great

work Sam!

Jayden – managed to conquer his fear of heights during the week. Some of the activities despite the reassurance

and safety precautions of the staff were scary – zipwire, climbing wall, high adventure. Although it was very obvious

that Jayden was scared he was able to listen to advice and reassurance and had a go at everything with a smile on

his face – well done Jayden!

George – managed to conquer a different type of fear. George was very anxious about being away from home and

having to try different foods, however, after a couple of days he was able to settle into the routines and start to really

enjoy himself. We are all very proud of George for staying all 4 nights and trying different foods – well done George!

Ryan – his kindness towards everyone else just has to be noted. Ryan hasn’t even completed a full year at Torfield

yet he was so kind and thoughtful towards everyone else – despite his own fears. He made sure his roommates

were well looked after and on any of the activities was there to give encouragement and support whenever it was

needed. Such a wonderful young man to know!

Last, but not at all least Christopher – whose team work has been absolutely wonderful. He always made sure his

partner was safe and when working as a whole group he was able to take care of everyone, consequently the group

were successful in so many of their challenges and it was all down to Christopher – fantastic!

On Tuesday and Thursday we were joined by two more members of staff and another pupil. Although Phoebe was

very anxious about the zipwire and didn’t want to have a go, she did watch all the other children go down and was

pleased to see them on their return. She did however take part in the climbing wall activity and after a couple of

attempts was able to reach close to the top of the wall – amazing work Phoebe. Although the obstacle course was

very wet and muddy Phoebe took part by herself and certainly enjoyed the warm shower afterwards. Well done

Phoebe for having a go!

Thank you to all the parents who encouraged their children to attend this trip, I hope they will remember it (for all the

right reasons) for a long time to come.

Dear Parents and Carers

The end of the school year is fast approaching and it has been an exciting and event filled term since we published our last newsletter. It is a joy to read about and see pictures of some of the activities each class has participated in. My thanks go to all of our staff who have worked so hard to support our pupils so well this year and to our parents and carers who are so supportive of the work we do.

At this time of year we also say goodbye and good luck to all of our Year 6 children. Every one of them has worked hard to be the best that they can be! We are extremely proud of them and we wish them every success in their new schools. For most children, Saxon Mount will be their new school and once again it has been very pleasing to see the children growing in confidence with each taster visit. I am also proud to say that we have more pupils than ever before already signed up to attend the Saxon Mount summer school, which we know gives new pupils a flying start in their preparation for September. If you haven’t yet done so, I would strongly encourage you to sign up, even if it is for just one of the two weeks we are offering; we know that this programme has helped many of our children to transition successfully over the last few years. For those children transi-tioning to different classes in Torfield, we will also be working hard to make sure everyone is well prepared for the new school year.

It was very pleasing to receive so much positive feedback form our most recent parent consultation evening, which was well attended again. I am delighted that so many parents and carers have expressed such enthusiasm for the work of the school, including phrases like; ‘brilliant school! ’I can’t recommend enough!’ and ‘amazing’! Your feedback is always welcome as we are always trying to improve in every aspects of our work, but comments such as these make us go into the summer holiday feeling very happy that so many parents have seen such improvements in their child’s learning and development during their time with us.

I wish you all a very happy and safe summer holiday.

Mr Preece

Executive Headteacher

News from 2M This term 2M have been learning about Florence

Nightingale and Mary Seacole in History. The

children imagined what it would have been like for

Florence Nightingale to go to a hospital with no clean

sheets, water or food by taking part in a role-play.

The children had to act like nurses and be kind and

helpful to the wounded soldiers. They quickly worked

out that it was easier to keep track of the needy

soldiers if the beds were in a line. The children also

ground together herbs to make herbal remedies that

Mary Seacole might have used.

This term in Science the children have been learning

about plants and we have been growing our own

plants to eat in the classroom. To explore plants

more, 2M went on a visit to Bedgebury, where the

children were able to explore the plants as well as

working as a team to get around the obstacle course.

Dear Parents and Carers

We are now at the end of the year and it has been a really successful

and eventful one with lots to celebrate. I hope you enjoyed reading

about your child’s achievements in their annual their report. I read each

report and it always makes me feel immensely proud of the children,

who may experience many challenges, but keep trying really hard to do

their best. Some of their greatest achievements may not be apparent in

the subject scores they get, but have a huge impact on their personal

development. We hope the introduction of the Rainbow Awards helps

you to see what they are working hard to achieve in these areas. It’s

lovely to see so many children getting certificates in our celebration

assembly.

We know that children achieve their best when everyone is working

together to help them. Thank you to the many parents and carers, big

brothers and sisters and other family members who spend time listening

to the children read and completing activities on Espresso, Reading

Eggs, Mathletics and Clicker 7. This shows the children how they can be

learning all the time and it means they make even more progress.

At this point in the year we also give out attendance awards. Over 30

pupils have received a prize for excellent attendance in terms 4, 5 and

6. This is the highest number of prizes I have ever given out! Well done

to all those children and to their families. If you are experiencing

difficulties ensuring your child is attending school every day they are

able to, then please contact us so that we can support you.

During the summer holiday an upgrade to our heating system will take

place. Also the final repairs to the Additional Support Facility will be

completed. The children in this class have managed very well during the

past term but we are all looking forward to seeing them back in their

classroom and being able to use all of their spaces.

Next year in term 2 we are inviting the National Autistic Society into

school to carry out a review of our systems and practices in supporting

pupils with autism. As parents/carers of a child with autism you will be

asked for your views on how the school supports you and your child.

Since our last very successful review three years ago we have further

developed our practice to ensure we provide all possible support to our

pupils. We welcome the NAS review as an opportunity to work with

colleagues and share good practice.

So finally I would like to say thank you to all the excellent staff at Torfield

who have worked so hard and with such dedication this year. Also to all

the parents, carers and families who have worked with us so well to

support their child. Thank you to the many families who attended our

school events this year. It was lovely to see so many people at our

recent sports days, cheering the children on. Special

best wishes to our wonderful year 6 pupils and their

families as they move on to secondary school. I wish

you all a safe and happy summer break and look

forward to seeing you and the children for the start of

a new year at Torfield.

With best wishes

Natalie Shuttleworth

The children thoroughly enjoyed

the experience of a French market

during activities week. They had

the opportunity to try a range of

French food and for many children

it encouraged them to try new

foods. The atmosphere was

enhanced with French music and

bunting and berets made by the

children in their classes. Feedback

from the children was very positive

all round.

At Torfield School the children access a broad and balanced maths curriculum. As well as daily emphasis

on place value and number work, the children also take part in weekly problem solving activities and

regular topic work, covering concepts such as time, capacity, weight etc.

Much of the children’s learning will be through practical experiences and reinforced through teaching

methods. Opportunities to work together collaboratively are built in to planning, which promotes many

PSHE and speaking and listening skills too.

Within this academic year, the children have taken part in a maths themed week and enjoyed our visiting

maths magician. Some parents took up our offer of training, through the family learning programme, in or-

der to support their child with maths at home. Maths homework is regularly set for children in the school

and reinforces their learning within the classroom. If you would like to know more about how maths is

taught at Torfield or have specific questions relating to maths, then please speak to Mrs Love.

Quality resources are

used to engage children

in their maths work and

displays act as a tool to

prompt children with their

learning.

The children are proud of their achievements and their

work is displayed throughout the school as well as in their

own books.

Our Topics for Term 5 were Science - Living Things, Geography – Countries of

the World, History - The Egyptians, Art & Design – Models, Clay & Modroc & RE

– Important Books & People.

The children explored these topics across the curriculum and had hands

on experiences especially when we visited Raystede Animal Sanctuary

and Drusillas. The children really enjoyed the practical approach towards

learning by meeting some of the animals face to face and being able to

touch and learn some important facts about them. They were shown how

to handle the animals with care and learnt about what food the different

species eat, also what kind of climates and habitats they live in. We

further investigated climates around the world and thought about

what kind of clothing we might wear for each season.

Our Topics for Term 6 were Science – Living things, Geography – My

Home, School & Beyond, History – People in History, Art & Design –

Textiles and RE – Beliefs.

This term we visited Bedgebury Pinetum where the children had a

fabulous time exploring lots of different shady woodland areas in

search of minibeasts and their respective habitats. It was a beautifully

hot day and the children really enjoyed their experience.

During all of our educational visits

the children are able to continue

developing their personal and

social skills especially in respect of

their turn taking and social

interaction skills.

First of all, I would like to say a massive thank you to all of the children and the amazing staff in 2P for all

of their hard work and support over the last few months. The flooded classrooms and subsequent

temporary move to the studio and meeting room has not been easy, but the children have coped remarka-

bly well with the changes in routines. In term 5 our theme was ‘myself and other animals’ – during this

term we focussed on learning about our bodies, how we could be more healthy and also began to think

about animals around the world. In term 6 our theme has been ‘Plants and Minibeasts’. We looked at

minibeasts around the school, growing plants and different types of plants around the world. Alongside

these areas we have still been focussing very much on communication, social and life skills. The rainbow

awards continue to help us and we are going to try and achieve a lot more awards in the following year.

The children have also continued working on developing early learning skills which also include literacy

and numeracy targets. Educational visits still remain central to our planning and often help support all of

the areas mentioned above. At the end of this term we say goodbye to Jesse and George who are

moving onto a new school – I would like to wish them all the very best for the future. They will both be

missed by everyone who knows them – good luck you two!

At school we have an on-going focus on teaching the children to be safe on-line. Children are taught not

to share personal information when using the internet. We help them to understand that people are not

always what they seem to be. The best support you can give your child as they learn these very important

life lessons is to always supervise them on the computer, ipad, tablet or smart phone. We know that our

children are very motivated by computers and will learn how to find what they want; even children who

struggle in lots of other ways will often have the skills to navigate the internet. Without supervision they

will find things that are frightening and harmful. If you need support in setting security measures on your

devices or want e-safety support of any kind, please contact the office. Look out for our family learning

sessions in the new term.

We have had a great year in Music and the children have all worked hard and made some very

enjoyable sounds! This term we have extended the work on pulse, tempo and rhythm in their regular

school music lessons. To complement this learning, Jamie Harris, a music teacher from East Sussex

Music Service, spent a full day at Torfield, working with all our children running drumming workshops.

Jamie works with children across the county including children with SENs. Jamie taught our children

drumming patterns with simple beats and more complex rhythms, plus African songs and chants. The

children enjoyed these hand-on sessions playing djembes, congers, bongos, tamborims and other

percussion. They learnt African polyrhythms and some simple samba beats. The sessions were relaxed

and fun. At the end of the day, Jamie conducted a performance piece for other classes to see. The

children gained a great deal from these workshops

and clearly enjoyed the experience of seeing a

musician in a live performance, up close!

Our governors have been busy again since our last newsletter. As well as visits to Torfield and Saxon Mount to see the schools in action, the Board of Directors have met to review our schools’ progress and to discuss future developments. These discussions always put developing our services for our children and young people at the heart of our vision. At Saxon Mount, we have been consulting with stakeholders about a proposal to extend the provision beyond Year 11 for one year, for some pupils who could then transition successfully to mainstream Post 16 college provision. We are also looking at ways in which we can support local primary and secondary schools and parents and carers of children who attend them, with the provision of better information about our schools.

During Term 5, Badgers learning was fo-cused on Spring and Growing. We planted lots of different seeds and ob-served them growing. We talked about what plants need to help them grow and what they look like when they don’t have water. We visit-ed local woods and play parks to look for signs of spring and we did a Hunt for Spring Treas-ures in Collington Woods which we later used in our art work. We engaged with lots of differ-ent stories including Jack and the Bean-stalk, Titch and Percy the Park Keeper. We used puppets, props and pictures to retell Jack and the Beanstalk and we told the story orally altogether with our own actions.

Our topics in our last term have been Minibeasts, Transport and Summer. Our favourite story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Using the story as a springboard, we learnt about the lifecycle of a butterfly, pattern, minibeasts, fruit and matching words to pictures using initial sounds. We went on a Bug Hunt around the local area and found a but-terfly, snails, slugs, ants, spiders and A LOT of woodlice! Watching the bugs moving around and interacting in the collecting box led to lots of lovely language. During our transport topic, we made different vehicles from various materials including lego, dulpo, knex and junk. We have al-so spent lots of time outside this term, taking the opportunity to use our outdoor space as a classroom and enjoying lots of water play.

The children at the Early Years

Centre really enjoy their

swimming and some excellent

progress is being made by many

of them. It is important to learn to

breathe properly in the water so

blowing toys on the water helps

to develop such skills. In the

photos you can see they have

fun as they learn their skills.

Learning to lie on their backs is a key

skill in swimming and can be quite scary

but the children are making very good

progress in this so well done to them all

for their hard work in their learning.

We also have time for

some games, songs and

lots of fun to make the

learning enjoyable and

desirable.

Monday 4th September

Tuesday 5th September

Friday 13th October

Friday 20th October

Monday 30th October

Week beg 6th November

Thursday 9th November

Tue 14th/Wed 15th November

Wednesday 15th November

Friday 1st December

Saturday 2nd December

Wednesday 13th December

Wednesday 20th December

Tuesday 2nd January 2018

INSET day—school closed for pupils

First day of Term 1

INSET day—school closed for pupils

Last day of Term 1

First day of Term 2

Maths Focus Week

Parents/Carers Evening

National Autistic Society visit

Upper KS2 London theatre visit—Matilda

MUFTI

Torfield Christmas Fair

Proposed Christmas performance and dinner (tbc)

Last day of Term 2 pupils finish at 1.45pm

First day of Term 3

The taxi journey to and from school is a really important time for our pupils. The local

authority are responsible for this service but we work with them and 247 taxis to make sure

things run as smoothly as possible. We think that a taxi passport will help everyone to

remember what the pupils needs are so we will be producing a post card sized summary of

your child's key needs and interests. This will be available to all taxi staff supporting the

children.

In order for everyone to get to school on time can we ask

that you look out for the taxi and have your child ready to

leave at the arranged time. Please remember that the

escort is not authorised to get out of the taxi to collect your

child. You must bring them to the taxi and collect them from

the taxi when they come home.