Parents of current Year 2 children should be aware that children who are moving from KS1 (Year2) in to KS2 (Year 3) will no longer be eligible for Universal Free School meals, as these are only for children at Key Stage 1. If you feel you are still eligible for free school meals, even if your child has a packed lunch every day, it is important that you apply as additional funding will come into the school to support all areas of your child’s learning (this is called the Pupil Premium funding). Please see the newsletter dated 15th June for further information and advice.

The Summer Reading challenge 2018, which is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered by libraries, is Mischief Makers.  Children are being asked to read books and, with the help of Dennis, Gnasher and other classic Beano characters, find the treasure in Beanotown.

Children aged 10 or over can take part in the ImagiNation 2018 challenge where they can create artworks or write reviews inspired by the books they have read.  Please see the flyer attached to our newsletter dated 15th June for further information.

On Monday (4th June) we welcomed Chinese teachers, Miss Han, Miss Liu and Ms Zhang to Kendall. Amongst many of the workshops they delivered to all the year groups the children were able to experience chopstick dancing, Chinese kite making and brush painting, listening to Chinese stories, paper folding, calligraphy and Tangram puzzles.

This week a few children from Year 2 were selected to participate in an ‘Authors Abroad’ workshop to develop their writing skills with a real author. After studying the poems, ‘Mr Magoo’s Zoo’ and ‘Has anyone seen my teeth?’ the children embarked on writing their own poems as part of a group, then individually. As you can see in the Newsletter dated 25th May, the children had a really great day.

On Tuesday Gil, Cecily and Reanna represented Kendall at the Colchester Junior Youth Speaking competition. They did incredibly well speaking on the topic of The Secret Lives of Cats. They performed in front of an audience of parents, other schools and the judges including the Mayor of Colchester. We are very proud of how well they did and the confident speeches that they delivered. Well done!

You may well have heard about Sir Linkalot's extremely successful visit to the school this week where he conducted Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar workshops, focusing on spelling. Many of the parents who were able to attend bought copies of his books. If you would like to find out more about them, you could email Alex Cottrell (alex.cottrell@thinkalink.co.uk), putting 'Kendall' in the subject line. You can find reviews of the book at: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Link-Remember-Absolutely-Everything-Bonkers/dp/1407116487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525949979&sr=8-1&keywords=sir+linkalot

We think these books will be a very useful resource for your children now and in the future. You may even enjoy them, yourselves!