A very warm welcome back to Autumn 2 term! I hope that as families you have enjoyed your time together over the holidays. It has been lovely to welcome students back this week and it is encouraging to see the positive behaviours and habits established last term quickly become the norm on our return.

Our first set of GCSE results are now live for the public to view and it is confirmed that our progress 8 score is well above the national average. From further analysis of the local authority, it is lovely to announce that this puts Avanti Fields as the second most high performing school in the city!

A full summary of our data can be found here and local authority comparisons can be found here.

I am looking forward to joining the community at the Diwali Bazaar and Shri Hanuman Chalisa event this Sunday. For further details, please read the PTFA Updates section below.

Leading with hope in a time of conflict

I am writing a short piece following the significant escalation in violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our thoughts are with all of the innocent victims of this devastating conflict.

You will be aware of how this heightened violence can often have a knock-on effect on inter-faith relations, hate crime incidents and exploitation by extremists here in the UK. I want to ensure that our school remains a safe environment in which to learn and work.

Next week we will be launching opportunities for pupils to offer their thoughts around how we can continue to build hope within the world. We know that young people may have a strong personal interest in these issues, which could lead to political activity. Our roles will be ensure that students have an understanding environment to ask questions and share their opinions. We will be supporting teachers to expose false or inappropriate information that students may access and provide guidance and expertise to navigate any discussions in a way that maintains high standards of ethics and behaviour.

There are a number of trusted sites that provide support for teachers and families:

• To assist, the Community Security Trust have published several educational resources, including those that support understanding and identifying antisemitism.
• For anti-Muslim hatred, Tell Mama provides a confidential support service, with their website providing a number of different ways to report anti-Muslim incidents.
• To support families in having difficult conversations at home, Common Sense Media provide a range of helpful resources.

Secondary Calendar

• Monday 6th – Friday 10th November: Sanjiv NHS social media effects and damages assemblies
• Tuesday 7th November: IET Faraday challenge Day (Science)
• Tuesday 7th November: KS4 Careers: Aspire Initiative (Medical careers talk)
• Friday 10th November: Festival Day: Diwali & Govardhan Puja – non-uniform (traditional wear)
• Friday 10th November:  Y11 1:1 careers guidance
• Monday 13th November: School will be closed – Diwali
• Tuesday 14th November: School will be closed – Govardhan Puja

Primary Calendar

• Thursday 9th November: Nursery: Diwali Parent workshop
• Friday 10th November: Festival Day: Diwali & Govardhan Puja – non-uniform (traditional wear)
• Friday 10th November: Reception: Diwali Parent workshop
• Friday 10th November: Year 1: Diwali assembly
• Monday 13th November: School will be close – Diwali
• Tuesday 14th November: School will be close – Govardhan Puja

Playground Markings

During the holidays, we had an exciting visit from Fun & Active Playgrounds who came to install some new playground markings for our outdoor play area. We now have an abundance of educational markings including a colourful world map, compass clock, and UK map for geography. Plus a number grid for maths, a Dance With Me game for fun, and a activity-packed trail for children to follow and improve their fitness!

It’s been great to see the children enjoying their new playground games and we’re pleased to have been able to introduce more opportunities for physical activity at our school, encouraging our children to get their recommended daily exercise.

Experience events

At Avanti Fields we want all our pupils to receive a rich and vibrant curriculum offer. To support this, we plan in additional events and visitors to enhance the experiences the children have at school. Some of these events are paid events such as the Pantomime. Please login to Parent Pay to make a payment to support these events. You will have received an email earlier regarding the details of all the events we have on for Autumn/ Winter.

Nursery Winter Events -£10

Reception Winter Events- £10

Year One Winter Events- £7

Primary School Calendar:

We have an abundance of exciting events taking place next week. Please ensure you keep up to date with the Primary school calendar to ensure you do not miss out on anything: Calendar – Avanti Fields School

Diwali events coming up:

9th November – Nursery Diwali parent/ carer workshop 8.00am- 9.00am

10th November – Year 1 Diwali assembly 8.15am

10th November – Reception Diwali parent/ carer workshop 1.30pm- 2.45pm

10th November – All school non-uniform day- Diwali dress up day

13^th and 14^th November Diwali and Govardhan Puja, school closed.

Netball Years 9 & 11

A huge well done our year 9 and year 11 netball teams who played in the East Leicester Netball Competition. Our year 9s won two games and only lost 1 with Tanvi B being our player of the match with her effortless goals. Our year 11s finished second in their group and narrowly missed first place by just one more goal scored by the opposition. Player of the match went to Nehal G for her amazing talent as a shooter too.

Student Leadership

Congratulations to the following students for being shortlisted for the 3 student council roles. They will be preparing posters and speeches ready to present in assemblies after half term. All students will then get to vote for who they wish to elect.

Chairperson – Veda Pentakota, Ashna Anchal, Anshh Dhagia

Vice Chairperson – Lian Rughani, Shreeya Raithatha, Aashi Karia

Secretary – Umair Zafar, Siddarth Khunti, Maya Takiar

Netball Years 7/8

A proud moment for our year 7/8 netball team who played in the East Leicester City Netball Competition for the first time. They won against Beaumont Leys, City of Leicester and Leicester High and only saw one defeat to New College. It was the highest scoring netball fixture across all of our year groups with a total 21 goals scored. The girls worked extremely well together as a team and everyone worked hard until the very end. Our player of the match goes to Keah.P for her outstanding display as goal attack and her unwavering shooting ability. Well done girls!

Chemistry Competition: RSC Top of the Bench Competition

Calling all students that like Chemistry!!

We are looking for a team of two year 9 students, one year 10 student and one year 11 student to represent Avanti Fields School in the regional RSC Top of the Bench Chemistry Competition.

Please use the holidays to prepare for a short chemistry quiz. The top 4 scoring students will then be invited to sit the regional quiz online.

Tue 31st Oct – Tue 7th Nov – see a science teacher at lunch time to sit the selection quiz.
Wed 8th Nov – Fri 10th Nov – selected 4 students sit the regional online quiz during lunch time.

Any questions see your science teacher,

IMMUNISATION SESSIONS AT OUR SCHOOL

The School Aged Immunisation Service from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust will be delivering vaccinations at our school for the:

Seasonal flu vaccination for children –  reception to year 11
Wednesday, 22 November 2023

3-in-1 teenage booster + meningitis ACWY vaccination for young people (starting from school year 9)

14 February 2024

Human papillomavirus (HPV) and Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination for young people (starting from school year 8)

08 May 2024

Important changes and more information

• Introduction of self-consent for young people in year 8 and above where no parental response has been received.
• HPV – national change from two doses to one dose following guidance from the JCVI (the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation).

Community opportunities

Dear Parents, Carers, Staff & Pupils

PTFA continues to bring you lots of community events and initiatives over the next few weeks. The exciting line-up of events in our calendar reflects festival season. That means lots of celebration and, hopefully, lots of fundraising for our school.

You’ll be receiving posters and promos via email, and can also check out details about forthcoming events on our social media pages (Facebook & Instagram) as well as on display around the school premises.

Please look at what’s coming up:-

DIWALI BAZAAR – Sunday 5^th November 2023 11am – 4pm

For the first time ever, the PTFA is proud to bring you a special Diwali Bazaar at the school. There’ll be a wide variety of stalls selling Diwali-related items such as gifts, sweets, snacks, arts and crafts, rangoli, fashion, etc.  There’ll also be special demos and workshops on the day. Free entry!  If you’d like to have a stall at the Bazaar, please get in touch with the PTFA on [email protected].

We are also excited to announce the Hot Potato Shop will be bringing there food truck to the event so we can enjoy their ethos friendly hot food on the day.

We have also arranged our popular HANUMAN CHALISA, MAHA-ABHISHEK & BHAJANS 3pm – 6pm on the same day as the Diwali Bazaar on the 5^th November, For sponsorship, donations and registering as Laadoo or Maha-Abhishek Yajman please complete the form on this link.

This is a FREE event and Prashad will be served, for us to cater accordingly please let us know if you are attending by booking your free tickets here. Click Here to Book

As you can see, we have been extremely busy arranging the above events, we strongly urge you to book asap as we expect all of the to sell out.

Hanuman Chalisa  Challenge for students

As part of our Diwali Mela Celebrations on the 5^th November we will also be hosting our Annual Hanuman Chalisa event stating at 3pm.

We would like to encourage as many of our pupils as possible to take part in the occasion whilst helping us to raise funds for the school.  So, we have a challenge for them to take part in. We are inviting pupils to collect sponsorship for sitting through the recital of 11 Hanuman Chalisa on the day.

To encourage participation, we will be giving every child that registers and completes the sponsorship activity, a free present and certificate.

To register your child please click on this link and complete the form.

https://avanti.wufoo.com/forms/q1m3z5xl04b5b0m/

All pupils taking part will need to arrive by 3pm on the day and we would encourage you to bring your sponsorship money and form with you.  All family and friends are welcome to come and take part also and watch your child complete the challenge.

Whether your child is taking part in the challenge or not you are all welcome to attend this Free event and Prashad will be served, for us to cater accordingly please let us know if you are attending by booking your Free tickets Click here to book.

Sponsorship forms will be handed out to your child this week (Primary). For Secondary pupils we will email sponsorship form to you once you have registered.

We hope to see you on the day at the most popular PTFA event we host.

 PTFA  – Annual General Meeting

Please see the link for the above said PTFA – Annual General Meeting:

AGM Flyer 2023

Communications – Wherever possible please use the contact form on our website to get in touch. This is detailed on the website at https://avanti.org.uk/avantifields/contact-us/. The appropriate member of staff will pick up the message and get back to you as soon as possible.

Absence

To report an absence to the school, parents should contact us by 8:00am (primary) and 8.30am (secondary) 

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0116 326 6813 (Option 1 to leave a voicemail) 

Please remember to state your child’s full name, tutor group and reason for absence. If your child is unwell, please could you give a brief description of the symptoms. 

All education research highlights how crucial it is to a child’s academic progress and wellbeing they attend school , on time, all of the time. Therefore, a reminder that it is important that families organise events or holidays outside of school time to ensure that their child is at school as often as possible.   

The school works closely with the Education Welfare Officer at LCC, and we do seek to ensure that any requests for authorised absence are dealt with on a case-by-case basis, in a sensitive manner. However, the school can never authorise a family holiday or a trip abroad to visit family members during term time.   

This academic year, families will have two weeks at the October half-term, three weeks at Christmas and two weeks at Easter for extended family holidays. Please do ensure that if booking holidays, they fall within the holiday periods.