The Lister Weekly Update #2

As you know, we have a special place in our hearts for reading at the Lister News Desk. We know that it is central to the success of our students - good readers find exams far easier than those who struggle to read. Through the year we will draw your attention to the steps we are taking at Lister to promote reading. To begin, we have a wonderful library at Lister with librarians who can recommend books for all tastes, including for students who don't like reading!

Secondly, in form time, during the week we have a special place for reading. Our year 9 students are collectively reading Animal Farm, by George Orwell; whilst our year 11 are collectively re-reading The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (this is their GCSE text, which they have already studied, but reading it again will help with recall and retention). Year 7 are visiting the library in English lessons and will be voting on their favourite book from the Carnegie Medal (a writing prize) shortlist. They learn about democracy as well and knowing that they can make decisions about what they read. Year 8 students will receive their own book from the Book Buzz charity. Finally, year 10 will also be reading collectively. We want to hear from the year 10 Student Council on their choice of text for collective reading.

English homework in KS3 - Year 7-9 - will be based on a new programme called Sparx Reading. This will mean that all students in KS3 will be reading a book online. This text will be taken from the Sparx Reader catalogue and will be perfectly matched to your child's reading age. Each child will be set a certain amount of reading to complete during the week and they will have to answer regular questions on the text in order to show that they have read the book carefully.

Lister loves reading!

There are many services at Lister to support the wellbeing of your child. One of the important services is a charity called Place2Be. Many of you will have seen the letter from Ms Clay which highlighted the excellent work of this charity. If you missed the email, here is a snippet of the information:

Place2Be is a national charity supporting schools to improve the confidence and wellbeing of children and young people.

Place2Be provides emotional and therapeutic support to children and young people, families and staff in more than 550 schools nationwide. It gives children and young people a space to express themselves through talking and creative work, and to think about any worries they might have. Place2Be also provides support for parents and staff too. For more information about Place2Be and its work please see the Place2Be website (www.place2be.org.uk) or speak to your child’s Head of Year,

Pastoral Manager or the Place2Be staff member in the school.

Extracurricular activity offers students valuable opportunities to develop skills and experiences outside of the curriculum.

Getting an apprenticeship, a place on a course at College or University, or a good job, is not just about getting good grades. The world beyond school is competitive, and further education providers and employers are looking for more and more from their applicants. Taking part in extracurricular activities lets employers know more about you, your interests and your strengths. It can demonstrate skills and abilities beyond those that you use in the classroom. Also, extracurricular Activities are fun!

The School’s aim is to provide a wide and varied assortment of extracurricular activities to suit all tastes. Participating in extracurricular activities is a key part of the Lister Character Award. If there is something you would like to see on the timetable that is not already there, let us know and we will see what we can do to help!

Extra Curricular programme 2024/2025

We all know that children do better at school if they have had breakfast, but at times it can be difficult to convince teenagers that they should have breakfast. At the Lister News Desk, we thought that it would be an opportune time to remind you of the Breakfast Club service we provide for all students. Breakfast Club is open from 7.30-8.05

The curriculum page of our website is very informative and useful for you to visit to get the sense of what will be happening through your child’s year of learning at Lister. This part of the site is divided into year groups and then subjects with topics covered in the curriculum for that year. We recommend that you visit the page and have informed discussions with your children about their learning. Instead of 'How was school?'

'Good.'

You can ask about particular things in PE, or Maths, or DT.

It's good to stay informed.

Treasure Boxing Club are offering free free boxing classes on from now until the end of the year.

Mondays:

5pm 6-12 years old

6pm 13-25 years old

7pm female only 13+

Weekly sign up form

https://www.treasureboxingclub.com/pages/summer-activity-program

Newham are running a new online parenting course, Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC), which has been developed by the Race Equality Foundation . Information and how to register can be found below and on the attached poster.

To book a course or explore our other parenting programmes, please visit Newham's Parenting Offer Page on Newham Families Advice and Support.

Overview of the Autumn Term 2024/25 courses (September – December 2024):

• Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) 7-11yrs – 26th September 2024, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
• Being A Parent - Autism 5-16yrs – 17th September 2024, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Being A Parent - ADHD 5-16yrs – 3rd October 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
• Who's in Charge (Child to Parent Abuse) 11-16yrs – 2nd October 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
• Being A Parent - 2-11yrs – 2nd October 2024, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
• Triple P for Baby: Birth to 1 year – 24th September 2024, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
• Triple P Family Transitions (For separated couples who are co-parenting) 0-16yrs – 6th November 2024
• DICE (Awareness Raising of Grooming and Child Exploitation) 10-18yrs – 1st October 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Parents are encouraged to book through Ticket Tailor to secure their places.

In the forthcoming days and weeks we are running year group information events. All of these events are listed in the important dates tab at the bottom of this news letter. The events run from 3.15 and are gong to be hosted by heads of year and pastoral teams attached to year groups. Ms Clay, our headteacher, will also be there to introduce herself and there will be opportunities to see behind the scenes at Lister. We want to take this opportunity to welcome parents and carers to the forthcoming events!

Please see the image below for the menu options this week.

The Thought for the Week next week is focused on love. Please discuss the thought with your child who will be looking at the thought in assembly and discussing the idea with peers and the house team.