Parkside Community Primary School, Aycliffe Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 4EP
Phone: 0208 387 3000 | Fax: 0208 387 3001 | admin@parkside.herts.sch.uk | Initial enquiries: Mrs Berwick
Leaving School before the end of the day
From time to time children will need to leave school before the end of the school day.
In order for us to release your child we ask that you provide documentation to the school office to verify all appointments. Thank you.
Hertsmere Schools’ Partnership
SEND Surgery: Wednesday 31st January 2024
Hertsmere Schools Partnership (DSPL6) is offering a 30-minute session with our SEND School Family Workers to answer questions and to offer support and signposting for parents/carers of children with additional needs.
Social Media
A reminder to all parents about children using social apps without social maturity.
Again, the school is having to respond to unkind online behaviour whilst your child is at home requiring staff to address this behaviour and impact to another. Many reported incidents are of children using WhatApp with a recommended age rating of 16+. We ask for your support in taking an active interest in your child’s online behaviour, monitor them and encourage behaviour that influences kindness and stronger friendships.
Hot Chocolate Winners
Congratulations to those children who joined Mrs Smith for a cup of hot chocolate to celebrate their efforts which were recognised by their teachers. Thank you children for upholding the standards we expect at our school.
Parkside Flyers
Congratulations to everyone who were awarded their wings this week for being true ambassadors of the school’s vision and mission.
Thank you children for being such a great example for others to follow. *Hot Chocolate will be on Monday with Mrs Smith.
School Uniform Reminder
At the beginning of every term, it is useful to remind families of their responsibility of sending children to school in the correct uniform.
This includes PE kit. Please remember that all children should wear the correct school jumper with the school logo on it, a white polo shirt, grey or charcoal trousers for boys / girls and or a pinafore, warm socks and most importantly black school shoes. They should also wear non-branded PE kit. I cannot stress highly enough the importance of wearing the correct school uniform, it instils pride and gives a sense of belonging.
Hot Chocolate and Parkside Flyers
Congratulations to everyone who joined Mrs Smith for a cup of hot chocolate on Friday afternoon in recognition of their hard work and the excellent efforts they had demonstrated through the week.
Well done to this week’s Parkside Flyers – Your determination, excellent attitude and hard work have helped you to take flight this week. Keep this going please all year.
Magical Minds Teacher in Residency
Teacher in Residency is a project following a successful Arts Council funded tour of Truefitt’s children’s production Magical Minds (a production that tours to primary schools to educate children about positive mental health through performance and dancing mindfulness).
Having completed this project in three primary schools in 2022/3, this project allows a trained Expressive Arts Educator and Dancing Mindfulness Facilitator to work for half a term within the school as a “Teacher in Residency”.
The project will involve the teacher in residency working closely with all year groups to offer group and 1-1 Dancing Mindfulness workshops. The project also involves hands-on training in Dancing Mindfulness with the purpose of developing, in collaboration with teaching staff, more creative approaches to support children’s learning and wellbeing. The teacher in residency will spend one school day per week for half a term to bring their knowledge and expertise.
On Wednesday, Florencia spent her day getting to know some of the children in KS2 and is now looking forward to her next sessions. It was a delight to speak to her afterwards, as she was so complimentary about the groups of children she had and how excited she is to work in collaboration with us.
The Beginning of TT Rockstars for KS2
Times Tables Rock Stars is a maths programme that takes all the worry out of learning times tables and has a proven track record of boosting children’s fluency and recall in multiplication and division.
Children in Year 3-6 should soon be coming home with their new log ins, we will be providing Year 1 and 2 with their accounts next week, where they too can concentrate on their 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
A Parent’s Guide to Times Tables Rockstars:
When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important — the more facts your child remembers, the easier it is for them to do harder calculations. Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and challenging programme designed to help
students master the times tables! To be a Times Table Rock Star you need to answer any multiplication fact up to
12×12 in less than 3 seconds!
Message to Parents
World famous rock musicians are the best at what they do because they’ve spent hours practising guitar chords, writing music or playing on the drums. It’s just the same with times tables – all Times Table Rock Stars need to practise and practise and practise. It’s absolutely essential that your child does a little bit of times table practice every day. In our experience, short bursts of practise on a daily basis are more effective than spending hours once a week.
And this is where you come in. For your child to be fully motivated and for them to get the best out of the practice, they need your help – your praise, reminders and support will help your child feel confident and motivated.
Over the course of the next few weeks and months, your child WILL get faster and more accurate with the times tables. All your hard work and theirs WILL make them a Times Table Rock Star!
Rock Status
It’s helpful to understand that the quicker your child can answer a times tables question, the higher their Rock Status. Use this list as a guide to help your child work out their Rock Status:
≤ 1 sec/question = Rock God
≤ 2 secs/question = Rock Legend
≤ 3 secs/question = Rock Star
≤ 4 sec question = Headliner
≤ 5 secs/ question = Support Act
≤ 6 secs/ question = Breakthrough Artist
≤ 7 secs/ question = Unsigned Act
≤ 8 secs/ question = Gigger
≤ 9 secs/ question = Busker
≤ 10 secs/ question = Garage Rocker
> 10 secs/ question = Wannabe
Game Modes
Single Player
Garage – the questions will only come from the times tables the teacher has set. As pupils start to answer questions, TT Rock Stars works out which facts they take longer on and will give them more of these questions to answer. The Garage is best for getting quicker at a few facts. Players get 10 coins per question.
Studio – the questions in the Studio can be anything from 2×2 up to 12×12.
TT Rock Stars calculates each the mean speed from their last 10 games in the Studio and translates into a Rock Status: Under 1 second per question to become a Rock God – Under 2 seconds per question to become a Rock Legend – Under 3 seconds per question to become a Rock Star – Over 3 seconds is a Busker
They earn 1 coin per question and the Studio is the place for them to set their best time across all the tables.
Multiplayer
Rock Arena – The Arena allows players to compete against all other members of their Band (their Bandmates would need to join the same game in order to compete together). A new Arena game starts every 15 seconds and once the clock starts they race to answer more questions than the others. In the Arena, questions will only come from the times tables the teacher has set for the week, similar to the Garage. They earn 1 coin per correct answer.
Rock Festival – The Rock Festival games are open to players from around the world. Like the Arena, there is no limit to the number of players who can join a game; however, unlike the Arena, questions are selected at random from 2×2 to 12×12. Pupils might choose the Rock Festival if they were playing at home (and therefore couldn’t easily synchronise playing against a classmate) or wanted to compete against others not in their Band. They earn 1 coin per correct answer.