Fairlop students train with Olympic athlete

Two of our students had the fantastic opportunity to train with Jeanette Kwayke earlier this week.

Jeanette Kwayke is a sprinter and at the moment she is ranked the sixth fastest woman in the world. She is training to compete in the 2012 Olympics. She's always been an amazing runner but she hasn't always been that dedicated. As a teenager she was chosen to run for Great Britain, but went to Ayia Napa with her friends instead!


Along with students from other local schools, our two Year 5 competitors - Mohammed and Melody - made the best of this Masterclass event at the Lea Valley Athletics Centre.  The day covered many activities including sprinting, relay, javelin and long jump, with the chance of spending time with Jeanette after the training was over and receiving a goodie bag too!   See how they got on .....

Fairlop students attend Diamond Jubilee visit

Students from Redbridge schools made the most of the opportunity of visiting Valentines Mansion last Thursday, lining the route within Valentines Park to get a glimpse of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Twenty excited and enthusiastic students from Fairlop attended, waiting for the royal cars to come into view and most of them got some great photographs of the royal couple!  One Year 6 student, Wai-Hong, was one of the lucky few allowed into the invitation-only area at Valentines Mansion to greet the royal party.   Wai-Hong commented on what a privilege it had been and an experience that will stay with him forever!



Fairlop students meet Eoin Colfer & Simon Mayo

Over the last few weeks, some of our students have been lucky enough to visit Ilford County High School and meet two authors - Eoin Colfer and Simon Mayo.

Eoin Colfer has written many blockbusters, including the Artemis Fowl series.  He gave a really interesting talk and students from many Redbridge schools asked lots of questions about him and his work.

They also met Simon Mayo, who chatted about writing his new book Itch.  He is one of Britain's best-loved and well-known radio presenters, working on BBC radio since 1981.  ITCH is his first novel.  Listen to his podcast below:

Simon Mayo and his new book Itch!
 
(Acknowledgement:  The Guardian Newspaper podcast)

Cystic Fibrosis & Asthma fundraising day - March 2012

As we have students who are affected by both conditions in school, a wonderful fundraising day was held last week, raising over £800!

Firstly, a Tea & Coffee morning sold home-made cakes, biscuits and items from a Bric-a-Brac stall.  After school, another Sumptous Feast took place - savoury Indian food was on sale, with lots going to our staff for their take-away suppers!

Our thanks to all involved with Friends of Fairlop in arranging such a successful day.

Our new school sign

Kat Hall, a local artist has been helping our students to design and make a new sign using mosaics.  It will be located above the new entrance area to the school and reflect the arch shape.

Children from every year group assisted in creating the sign, which incorporates lots of red, green and mirror tiles.  They also have made additional interior arch shaped mosaics to be installed along the upper and lower corridors at Fairlop.

You may have seen our photo in this week's Ilford Recorder, showing how the sign incorporates the ethos of Fairlop along with links to this year's London 2012 Olympic Games.  It has taken over six days to make, but finally we have finished and hope it takes pride of place very soon.

Olympic Torch visits Fairlop!

Last week, our KS2 students had an unexpected treat!   Eric Stuart, a parent of two children who used to attend Fairlop, is responsible as a Met Police Officer for getting the original Olympic flame from Athens to London. 

He gave a wonderful talk to our students about many aspects of the Olympics - including the history of the torch.  Some interesting facts we learned were:

• The Olympic flame will go to within an hour's travel of 95 per cent of the population.
• Six islands will be visited: the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Shetland, Orkney and the Isle of Lewis.
• 8,000 Torchbearers will carry the flame and can keep their torches!
• The total distance the flame will travel (including to the islands) is estimated to be 8,000 miles.
• The relay will start at Land's End in Cornwall on May 19, 2012.
• It will take 70 days to complete.
• The Olympic flame will travel for 12 hours each day, and on most days ending in an evening celebration event.
• The arrival of the Olympic Flame at the opening ceremony in London on July 27 2012 will signify the start of the Games.

Near the end of the presentation, two teachers carried in Mr Stuart's Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic torch (he was a torch bearer there) and a gold 2012 torch for this year's games.  All of our classes had our photographs taken with the torches!


It was really exciting to learn more about this event that is taking place only a few miles away from our school, and to take a sneak preview of the torch.  Mrs Frost has placed all the photos on our Fronter pages, but here a few below:

Festive Fun at Fairlop

That's it, tomorrow we finish for our Christmas break. 

It has been a hectic term, with loads of activities in every Key Stage.  Many parents attended the Christmas Productions performed by Early Years and Year One. 

Parents had a wonderful morning making mince pies which were sold at last week's Christmas Concert.  We have also recorded two CD's - Christmas Cracker (24 tracks) each track sang by a different year group and the Year 5 Carol CD - both are on sale in our School Office and all funds contribute towards the Activity Trail equipment we would like to buy for our KS2 playground.

Our Film Night last week was a great success!  Year 3-6 enjoyed their popcorn & soft drinks watching an old classic - Home Alone. 

Some sad news too - we said goodbye to a favourite Midday Assistant -Mrs Fardell.  She supervises the 5-a-side teams at lunchtime, and lots of Year 6 students were upset yesterday at her special leaving assembly.  We wish her well with her plans for spending a little more time to herself after 18 years at Fairlop.

Thanks to you all for your ongoing support with all our fundraising over the year, and our very best wishes to all our students & parents for an enjoyable break.

Remembrance Day 2011

We learned about Remembrance Day today, as Class 4T gave their assembly.  It helped us understand why we wear a red poppy and also why we hold a 2 minute silence at 11 minutes past 11.00 am, on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year.

Remembrance Day is on 11 November. It is a special day set aside to remember all those men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. It used to be called Armistice Day, but was renamed in WWII.

Remembrance Sunday is held on the second Sunday in November, which is usually the Sunday nearest to 11 November. Special services are held at war memorials and churches all over Britain.

AUTUMN TERM - OCTOBER 2011

Students have settled into their new year groups, and amazingly next week it is half-term and Parents Evening already!  Lots of exciting activities are already taking place - Year 4 swimming, Yr 5 & 6 Bikeability sessions, Year 2 trips to the London Aquarium, Redbridge Sports Centre day and of course, Glasbury.

A fantastic start to the term too, for the Cross Country team who have completed 2 out of 4 challenging races, our Fairlop football team - winning 6 out of 7 games at the Chigwell Football festival and our Chess Club (managed by Richard Harding, our Chair of Governors) who have been recognised by the English Chess Federation as a chess centre of excellence.  Well done to all!

Our EID celebration last month was a great success, raising over £350 for the school.  If you would like to organise a new event, please contact the Friends of Fairlop team as they are always searching for new ideas.

End of another busy 'Fairlop Year'

 

Another year has come to an end here at Fairlop! We have all worked extremely hard at achieving our goals, but there has also been a lot of fun along the way.
With a great deal of help from our friends of Fairlop, school councillors and parents we have had many successful events this year. We would like to say a 'big thank you' to everyone involved.
Also we wish our year six children the very best of luck as they go off to their new scondary schools. We hope you have an enjoyable and successful future ahead of you.