As we slip back into some of our normal routines and ways of working, it is a pleasure to be writing to you via our academy newsletters once again and celebrating some of the amazing achievements our students have had, in what continue to be, on occasion, difficult times. Across the Trust, we have been able to begin to reintroduce activities and events that had been postponed or cancelled previously. The impact of this and the return to near unrestricted learning has been huge, with students able to begin to enjoy again the wider curriculum and all that it offers.
It is thanks to our amazing staff team that such experiences have been offered. They are an amazing bunch of professionals who are all now ready for a well-earned break; time with their own families and an opportunity to recharge their batteries.
I hope that however you celebrate the pending holiday season, you too get the chance to spend time with those you love and to enjoy a break.
Who knows what the next year will bring, but the one thing I am certain of is that I’m glad that whatever it is, I will be doing it as part of the IET team and with you and your children.
With warmest wishes
Sarah Sprack
CEO of IET
Sarah Sprack
Principal's Update
I would like to start by thanking you all again for your continued support over the past 18 months. It has been the strangest, most challenging time for all of us for so many reasons. Whether it has been pressures from work, family life or our own challenges with COVID you have all come in smiling each day. The students have been amazing. They continually amaze me with their resilience, caring nature and attitude to work they are a credit to you all each and every day.
This academic year has allowed us to begin to restart some kind of normality across the academy. It has been fantastic to be able to welcome parents back into some activities within the academy, whether it be for a meeting or to join us for our remembrance service. Over the coming months Omicron dependant we hope that these activities will become far more regular again. This starts with the students' Christmas concerts over the next couple of weeks. It will be great to see their faces up on the stage again singing and smiling with parents in the hall to watch. We also wish to welcome you to our first carols around the tree. Where together children and parents we can celebrate the beginning of Christmas. This will be finished off with our Christmas Fayre (Please pray for the weather). We have been making some changes across the academy which the children may or may not have told you about. The hall has been repainted and updated. We have also had a Technology room created to allow the students to take part in a range of cooking and food related activities.
A huge thank-you must also go to the PTFA for their continuing support and fund-raising efforts. It is great that as we are able to begin to open the academy up to a more normal daily life we have a group of parents who are eager to support and organise activities for the students and parents across the academy.
As we move to into 2022 I, like many, hope that life continues to return to normal for everyone allowing more and more activities to happen. I would like to take this opportunity to also wish you all a very Happy Christmas and lovely new year. As always if you have any questions please come and speak to me
Head Girl 2021/2022
Head Boy 2021 / 2022
Play Leaders 2021/2022
Pine Class
Pine class have been busy finding out about Autumn. We went on a walk to look for signs of Autumn. We collected leaves, pine cones and sweet chestnuts, which we used to make Leaf Hedgehogs, clay owls and Leaf Man Collages.
Chestnut Class
In our R.E. lesson on November 4th, Chestnut Class learnt about the celebration of Diwali which is a festival of light. Our volunteer member of staff, Mrs Chakraborty, celebrates Diwali, and so she was able to tell us about the festival and the traditions around it. She showed us the Diya lamps that she made for her family. We watched a video clip about a girl called Jessica who helps her family with the Diwali preparations. These included preparing special food, going to buy sweets and painting Rangoli patterns on the doorstep to welcome their visitors. We also learnt about the story of Rama and Sita. Afterwards the students carried out Diwali activities during their play sessions. These included making Diyas with the playdough, writing Diwali cards and creating Rangoli patterns in the outdoor area.
Chestnut Class
This term Chestnut class have completed a Lego Duplo Stem project. The students have learnt about gears, moving parts, probability, chain reactions, ramps and gravity. Not to mention the Lego 6 brick challenge - its amazing what you can do with just 6 coloured bricks! We have had great fun and learnt how to work in groups, listen to instructions and communicate our ideas.
Mulberry, Sycamore and Elm Class
Food Tasting
As part of the Mess, Muck and Mixtures topic, Elm, Sycamore and Mulberry tasted and evaluated different foods from around the world. They tried baguettes from, France, Feta cheese and olives from Greece, Stroopwafels from The Netherlands, pretzels from Germany, scones from England, naan bread from India and Prawn crackers from China. After tasting a piece of each food, the students had to rate it and describe its taste and texture. Stroopwafels and Pretzels were a big hit, but the students either loved or hated Feta cheese and olives. Here are some pictures of Mulberry class getting stuck in!
Mulberry, Sycamore, Elm
On Monday 15th November, the children in Mulberry, Sycamore and Elm classes took part in Odd Socks Day, to kick start anti bullying week. We all started the day by watching a virtual assembly that was created by Andy and The Odd Socks band in association with the ABA (Anti Bullying Alliance). We found out that the reason behind wearing odd socks is to demonstrate that we are all unique, all different and most importantly, all equal. We then talked about how we can all work together to unite against bullying and shared our ideas within each class.
Anti-Bullying week 15th-19th November
The theme for this year’s ant-bullying week was ‘One Kind Word’. In Key Stage 1, we listened to the ‘One Kind Word’ song by Andy and the Odd Socks and then watched the ‘One Kind Word’ official video from the ABA (anti bullying alliance). We then made posters to display the word that we thought was most important to us. Here is a photograph of Mulberry Class displaying their kind word posters.
Year 2 Christmas Journey
The students in Year 2 visited Wesley Church in Epworth and took part in a special Christmas Journey. They listened to the story of Christmas then travelled back in time. They saw Mary baking bread, a shepherd looking after her sheep at night, the animals in their stable and the King preparing his gifts for baby Jesus. They told the children their part of the Christmas Story and some children took part by finding gifts for the King and dressing as shepherds.
Willow and Beech Class
This term we have been taking part in cross-curricular activities working with the students of South Axholme Academy.
The pupils were led by pupils at South Axholme and taught skills in throwing, catching, and accuracy using a ping-pong ball. Pupils were surprised at how different they needed to treat the ball when throwing and catching in comparison to a Basketball, which they have also been completing this year.
They then completed skills in handling the bat, and how to create different shots and change grips to create more or less speed and increase their accuracy. They competed against each other and the secondary students in competitive matches and concentrated on creating rallies and scoring points.
The students had an amazing time and really enjoyed learning a new skill provided by pupils at South Axholme, and a new sport which many of them had not encountered before.
Beech and Willow Class
We have had a very busy term in Beech and Willow. As part of our Computing curriculum we have been improving our coding skills. We had to programme to Bee Bots and Pro bots. We were amazing as spotting the errors in the ‘algorithms’ and then had to ‘debugging’ to correct the code.
Part of our English work was writing instructions. We carved pumpkins in preparation to write a set of instructions. Whilst carving the pumpkins the students were really good at using a range of imperative verbs and adverbs.
During the first half-term we were really lucky to have Mrs Sheppeard for music. During these sessions we learnt how to play the Boom Whackers and compose music. After composing their own music the students performed to each other.
Hazel and Maple Class
In Maple and Hazel Class this term, we have read two fantastic books!
‘Boy in the Tower,’ by Polly Ho Yen and ‘Warrior Boy,’ by Virginia Clay.
The books are set in extremely contrasting settings and have very different plots; the similarities running through both books are resilience and determination- something that we all need to possess!
Hazel and Maple Class
In Hazel and Maple classes, we have had a very busy term. Our sports sessions at South Axholme gave us opportunities to learn new skills in hockey and netball. We also had a fantastic wheelchair basketball session which really made us think about how can use our bodies while having a limited capacity.
A large part of our wider curriculum work has been looking at different art forms from street artists such as Banksy through to designing African jewellery. We have also been looking at one of Epworth’s most famous son – John Wesley.
Oak and Olive Class
On Monday 22nd November, Year 6 went on an academy visit to Bletchley Park to develop our learning further in relation to our history topic on World War 2.
While we were there, we were shown around by Stuart, a local from the village of Bletchley, who gave us a guided tour, explaining to us in detail what it would have been like to be recruited to work as a code-breaker during the war.
We then took part in a workshop, where we first had to sign the official secrets act. We then began the important role of code breaking. It was D-Day, 6th June 1944, and our job was to decode the messages sent by the Germans to ensure that it would be as safe as it could be for our troops to land on the beaches of Normandy. It was difficult to do, but an enjoyable job.
After a quick lunch, we then had the freedom to visit some of the huts and buildings on site. We went into the mansion, which had been left just as it had from WW2; we went to see Alan Turing’s Bombe machine, which was designed to break the Enigma codes mechanically, as well as popping into the huts to see how the staff and Bletchley lived and worked.
We loved our day and learnt loads!
PTFA News
The newly formed PTFA have been working hard to bring a little festive cheer and continue fundraising.
