How to be a Lion – Whole School Book
For the first two weeks back at school, we have been using a whole school book called ‘How to be a lion’ The book provided lots of opportunities to discuss acceptance, identity and friendship. This week in assembly each year group presented to the rest of the school about what they had been doing based on the book.
Nursery
After listening to the story. the nursery children did a Talk Time where they spoke about the things they like. Everyone had a different answer and the children all agreed that it was good to be different just like Leonard the lion in the story. The children watched a documentary about lions and pretended to be lions themselves by moving around on four legs and roaring very loudly! They then created their own lions using paint and collage materials. Once their lion was complete each child had to tell their friends and the nursery adults all about their lion. Some children had grumpy lions and some had happy, silly or cheeky lions. One thing was for sure; each lion was different!
Year 1
In year one the children thought about how Leonard wanted to be himself and not like all the other lions. The children thought and wrote about what lions are normally like and how Leonard was different. Then they thought about how they are all different and how that is ok. The children wrote about what they were like and what it was like to be a Holly Parker. They had fun painting African savannahs and drawing Leonard the lion with Ed Vere.
Year 2
Year 2 began by discussing what lions are like and wrote descriptive words around a lion picture. After reading the story, they added new words in a different colour, showing how their ideas had changed. Like Leonard the lion, the children wrote their own wishes for Year 2 and followed Ed Vere’s drawing instructions to create lion artwork on a savannah background. They also wrote wonderful “recipe poems” called How to Be a Holly Parker, which they are excited to enter into a Young Writers competition!
Year 3
Year 3 used different words to describe how they see themselves, how they think that their teachers see them and how they think that their friends see them.
Year 4
In Year 4, they explored how lions behave. They learned that they are fierce, scary, and deadly animals. Then they read the story Leonard the Lion and compared the two. Leonard is timid, friendly, kind, and gentle — he is unique. They thought about what makes them unique and wrote poems about themselves and their special qualities. They were also inspired by the author and illustrator of the story, and they followed their instructions on how to draw a lion.
Year 5
In Year 5, the children wrote and illustrated their own version of ‘How to be a Lion’ based on Ed Vere’s story. They also learned about lions in science and in PHSE they thought about what makes a good friend.
Year 6
Year 6 followed Ed Vere’s video on how to draw Leonard the Lion and then created their own versions of him. They took the key theme of the book and did a shared-write, writing poems on ‘How to be a Year 6 Holly Parker’. Finally, they worked in groups and used an app to create stop motion films of the story. We all enjoyed hearing about what each year group had done. Each class has also made a display in their classroom based on the book. There will be photos of the classroom displays.
Parents in School- wanting to see a member of staff
Sometimes parents have a concern and feel that they need to speak with somebody at school. We are always happy to discuss things with parents; however, it is VERY important that parents call or email the school office to request an appointment or phone call. Parents must not just assume that they can arrive at school and expect to see somebody. We are all very busy and have teaching commitments, pre-arranged meetings, courses and appointments and things that we cannot always drop to see a parent who just walks in. There is not always somebody to see a parent if they just turn up. Thank you for this consideration.
Special Lunch Menu – Thursday 2nd October
On Thursday 2nd October we have a deviation from the normal menu, we have a special lunch menu which is a particular favourite. Please make sure that your child is school lunches on that day if they wish to have it.
- BEEF BOLOGNESE WITH PASTA
- MAC & CHEESE
- GARLIC BREAD
- SIDE SALAD
- LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE WITH CUSTARD
Black History Month – October
October is Black History month. Over the month we will be doing various assemblies. The theme this year is: “Standing Firm in Power and Pride,” I will be leading a couple of assemblies about the scientist Dr Shirley Ann Jackson and the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. In classes all of the children will be having a PHSE session called ‘dream clouds.’ Teachers will be talking to the children about Martin Luther King and what he did. The children will be looking at part of his famous speech. The children will be making a cloud shape and decorating it before adding their own personal dream – in honour of civil rights activist Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream…’ speech. In addition, we will be holding a coffee morning on Thursday 16th October in the hall at 9am to celebrate and support our families of black heritage.
Y5 Cuffley Camp
Most of our Year 5 children have had a marvellous action packed residential three days at Cuffley Camp. The weather has been very kind to them and they have had lots of fun and enjoyment. They did many fun activities including: camp fires, building fires, archery tag, cameo concealment, problem solving activities, zip wire, gladiator and more. The children will have made life long memories. Many thanks to Mrs Kelly who led the trip and to all of the staff: Miss Mornington, Ms Owen and Mr Llewellyn for accompanying the children. There will be lots of photos on the website in due course.
Speaking to other parents.
A reminder – at the start of the school year and for new parents. As it is the start of a new school year, I wanted to remind parents about their behaviour on the school site. We politely request that if you have an issue with another child in the school, that you do not speak to another parent about their child. We do have a parent code of conduct that sets out clearly how parents should behave on site. In order to support a peaceful and safe school environment the school cannot tolerate parents, carers and visitors exhibiting the following:
- Being intimidating, undermining, accusatory or disrespectful
- The use of verbal aggression or abusive language towards another adult or child
- Approaching another parent or someone else’s child in order to discuss issues or chastise them because of the actions of this child towards their own child.
Please speak with the class teacher. It is much better for the teacher to speak to other parents. We ask you to do this as otherwise it can lead to unnecessary tension, worry, anger or upset between parents. The Code of Conduct is issued to all parents at the start of every school year and is on our school website. The purpose of this Code of Conduct is to provide a reminder to all parents, carers and visitors to our school about the expected conduct. This is so we can continue to flourish, progress and achieve in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.
The Code of conduct also states:
We expect parents, carers and visitors to:
- Respect the caring ethos of our school
- Demonstrate that all members of the school community should be treated with respect and therefore set a good example in their own speech and behaviour.
Should any of the above behaviour occur on school premises the school may feel it is necessary to contact appropriate authorities and ban the offending adult from entering the school grounds. We trust that parents and carers will assist our school with the implementation of this policy and we thank you for your continuing support of the school.
Harvest Festival – Date Change
Advance notice that we will be holding our Harvest assembly on Thursday 23rd October for Food Bank Aid. This year they have made a special request. They would like JUST donations of breakfast cereals. This is part of their breakfast champions campaign. As cereal is a key feature of Harvest, this is the theme of the Harvest collection this term. This is a new initiative to help ensure that no child or adult in North London has to start their day hungry. I am letting you know with advance notice in case when you are doing your weekly shop over the next month that you might want to buy a breakfast cereal from time to time and put it away ready for our collection.
Parent Meeting – Special Educational Needs in the mainstream classroom
On Thursday 2nd October at 9:00am we are holding a parent workshop about SEND in the mainstream classroom. We will be sharing information about how we support SEND children in our classrooms at Holly Park including adaptations and interventions and provisions we provide for different needs. We will look at how adults support children to help with their learning and the range of professionals for different agencies we have who come to Holly Park to do assessments and support children. We will also be discussing SEND support plans and the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process. Please do come along if this is of interest to you.
Free Child Car Seat Safety Checks
Barnet Council is offering free child car seat checks to help families ensure their children are travelling safely. Wednesday 8th October 2025, 10am – 3pm Tesco car park, Coppetts Centre, North Circular Rd, N12 0SH A trained expert from Good Egg Safety will be on hand to check seats, fix errors and offer advice – no booking required. Experts will check your car seat even if your child isn’t with you — but if they are, they can also make sure they’re seated correctly and safely. Last year, 92% of car seats checked in Barnet had errors, most of them serious enough to put children at risk of injury or death in a collision. Unfortunately, errors on seats are very easily made, but the great news is that they tend to be easy to fix. We encourage all families who use child car seats to attend.
Just One Tree – We are now a Planet Hero School
On Friday 178h October we will be joining Barnet schools in celebrating and raising money for ‘Just One Tree Day’ Just £1 plants one tree. The charity helps to Combat Climate Change through reforestation. JUST ONE Tree, make it simple to plant trees! They are a non-profit initiative making an impact in the fight against climate change through global reforestation. They plant their trees in areas severely affected by mass deforestation, maximising the effect. As part of a borough wide project on the environment, Barnet are asking all Barnet schools to participate in this initiative. I am delighted to tell you that due to our commitment to this project over the past few years that we have now been recognised as one of the elite Planet Hero Schools because of our continued support. Children need to wear green and/or brown clothes on 17th October and donate £1 on School Money. If every Barnet child brings in £1 for the non-uniform day, that is a lot of trees being planted by the charity in the Kenyan rainforest. You can find out more about the initiative here
Attendance
Whole school attendance for the last week was 96 % Well done to Year 3 Willow Class with the best attendance at 99%.
Dates
- Monday 29th September Y6 to Norfolk Lakes
- Thursday 2nd October Meeting for all parents: SEND in mainstream schools
- Friday 3rd October Y1 phonics meeting for parents at 9am
- Monday 13th October Walk to school week
- Thursday 16th October Black History Coffee Morning
- Friday 17th October Just One Tree Day
- Monday 20th October Y6 National Assessment meeting for parents at 9am
- Thursday 23rd October Harvest Festival
- Friday 24th October Be Bright Be Seen Day
- Monday 3rd November Parents in Class to Read Together 8.45-9.15am
- Monday 3rd November Notice for consultations Years 1-6
- Tuesday 4th November Meeting for all parents: Maths
- Friday 7th November Cultural Day
- Monday 10th November Anti-Bullying Week
- Wednesday 12th November KS2 Book Look 3.30-5.30pm
- Thursday 13th November Individual Photograph Day
- Thursday 13th November KS1 Book Look 3.30-5.30pm
There is facility to translate this newsletter and the whole school website at the bottom of the website home page.
This week’s newsletter: Newsletter 26.9.25
Introduction letter – September 2025