News

Loxford in the month of May

Within the month of May, our students took part in the following activities:-

• Year 10 Parents’ Evening had an excellent turnout of 97% and parents were happy to come and see the teachers
• Year 7 Dance students watched a video called “Get Pupils Moving” with Perri Kiely from Diversity.  Perri was encouraging the students to move with confidence and enjoy the joy of movement via a 10-minute follow-along dance tutorial
• Awais Syed and Harsh Tailor have both been shortlisted for the 2023-24 National Youth Board
• Our new East Asia Themed Art Club has proved to be a great success.  Materials were bought for 17 attendees and 30 have been attending
• Redbridge Fusion Vaping Workshops took place on 2^nd and 4^th May for targeted students to receive information on the long term impact of vaping on their body and mood
• On 29^th March, the Ilford Recorder/Rotary Young Citizen’s Awards were held as part of the Mayor of Redbridge’s Community Awards and one of our Sixth Formers, Aisha Qayyum, was nominated.  Although Aisha did not win, she was praised for her hard work in the school helping children between the ages of 4 and 12 to read at their local Library and also received a certificate
• On 5^th May, Primary students delivered an informative presentation regarding the importance of climate change with the opportunity for questions from the Secondary school Eco Warriors from Years 7-9.  A presentation was delivered to all students regarding climate change and use of resources (Story Cop 26 and class debate).  This concluded with an independent task to design a leaf mask.  Certificates were awarded to the students
• Representatives from the Army Youth Outreach Team came to school and delivered a presentation to all year groups and got them involved in some activities
• PowerPoint presentations were shared with the students during registration for Mental Health Week
• On 17^th May, the GCSE Music Class and selected excellent Key Stage 3 students were treated to a professional Wind Quintet Concert by five professional musicians from London.  The concert featured a variety of pieces ranging from the likes of Bach to Joplin.  The students were intrigued by the french horn, oboe, clarinet and bassoon and were able to ask each individual musician how their instrument worked.  Perhaps the most enjoyable activity was hearing the set work that our GCSE class has studied over the course of the year- Badinerie by Bach- played so beautifully.  The quintet praised our students and stated that our school was one of the politest and best behaved that they have attended
• Energy Quest hosted an Engineering Workshop on 18^th May for our Year 8 and Year 9 students.  Students learnt about the different types of engineering careers.  They also took part in an orange practical to see what the highest voltages were
• On Friday 26^th May, Year 11 and 13 students held their special Leavers’ Assembly to mark the end of their school career.  They came ‘glammed up’ and pictures were taken as memories for the students

We visited the following places:-

• On Wednesday 10^th May, the Year 12 A-Level Politics class visited Westminster in London, went on a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, and took part in a workshop on the legislative process called “Law Making and Debating”.  During the tour, the class was able to sit inside the House of Lords and watched a debate from the public gallery where they saw the Archbishop of Canterbury deliver a speech.  During the day, the class also went to Downing Street and Westminster Abbey where the King was crowned only a few days before.   A fun day had by all
• Our musical students in Years 7-9 went on a trip to St Luke’s to listen to the London Symphony Orchestra
• Our Year 10 students went on a reward trip to Fairlop Waters Activity Centre and had a great time engaging in water sports including kayaking, paddle boarding and raft building
• Year 7 Geography students went to the IMAX cinema, Waterloo to watch an epic geographical documentary on “Oceans”
• Year 8 Geography students also went to the IMAX cinema and watched a documentary on “Wild Africa”
• Year 12 A Level English Literature students had the opportunity to visit Highgate Cemetery for a guided Victorian tour as well as visiting the current Rossetti exhibition that is showing at Tate Britain.  Both of these visits are for their contextual studies
• The Careers Department arranged a trip for Year 12 students to Redbridge Town Hall.  This trip gave them an insight into vacancies and apprenticeship roles in Redbridge.  They were able to speak to a wide range of employers across various sectors, training providers and colleges

Loxford took part in many sporting fixtures:-

• 6^th form lost their football match against Trinity in the semi-final 1-4
• Year 10 won their netball match against Atam 9-5
• Year 7 lost their football match to Palmer Catholic Academy 1-4

Primary

• We have been having a lot of fun in nursery! We have been learning about capacity and in our play and using special words like "empty," "full," and "half full." We have also been playing games on the computer where we match 2D shapes. Alongside this, we were pretending to be superheroes and learning how to make good choices and say no to bad ones. During our outdoor activities, we have been playing music and singing to our favourite songs
• This half term, in English, Year 1 have been exploring both fiction and non-fiction. We have read The Great Dragon Rescue by M.P. Robertson, and the children wrote their own detailed character descriptions based on the text. We explored the use of senses to add detail, and using more than one adjective to make our writing exciting for the reader. Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed this story, and we wondered - is there such a thing as a real dragon? This led on to our non-chronological report writing based on Komodo dragons. We researched key facts about their appearance, habitat and diet and have planned our reports using key features such as a title, subheadings, pictures and captions. For our landing pad, we will compile the completed reports into a class non-fiction book about Komodo dragons and display it in the school library's non-fiction section to share with our school!
• Year 4 have been exploring the text, 'The Tin Forest', by Helen Ward. Children had the opportunity to explore the events of the story, empathising with characters to gain an insight into their motivations and actions. Using this, alongside roleplaying and hot seating, children went on to write their own diary entries from the perspective of characters from the book. Using first person and a range of emotive language techniques, they shared their understanding of characters from the story. Year 4 are currently looking at creating instructional texts, taking a leaf out of the main character's book, on how to create their own Tin flower for their own Tin forest.
• Year 5 have been exploring the text, 'The Incredible Book eating boy', by Oliver Jeffers. They started by exploring the events of the story, empathising with a range of characters and sharing our thoughts and feelings about the story. Year 5 went on to explore the structural and language features of a range of different narratives before going on to write their own version of the story. They then creatively used a range of descriptions, figurative language techniques, sentence types and direct speech to create their own version of the story. Following this, Year 5 went on to look at what actually happens when we eat food (not books!). They explored the processes involved in digestion, taking notes and exploring scientific vocabulary to get a better understanding of how the body works to absorb nutrients and get rid of waste after a meal. They then used this information to create their own non-chronological report, using formal language and diagrams, to share what they had learnt.