The names of the winners of the Creative Writing Competition 2020 have been announced and we are very proud that Osmani swept the board again this year! The judges Bali Rai and Chitra Soundar really enjoyed reading the pupils’ work so well done to all of you who entered.

Osmani winners are: Ali Mohammed (Y4S) poetry and short story, Janan Ahmed (Y3G) poetry, Kamran Ahmed (Y4S) short story, Maliha Islam (Y4S) poetry, Sara Jannat (Y4S) poetry.

The list of winners by school can be found here:

http://www.towerhamlets-sls.org.uk/cwc20/

The exact places will be kept a secret until the prize-giving ceremony on 2nd November 2020. The book of all the winning work will also be launched on this date.

Congratulations to all our young authors – keep writing!

Our Year 4 pupils participated in the Junior SLAMbassadors project, run by the Schools Library Service and The Poetry Society.

The programme uses the theme of Identity to encourage participants to think about the diversity of the world around them; from the local to the global. It allows them to make links between their motherlands and the east end of London, and explore their place in the world. It focuses not only on the pupils’ literacy and oracy, but also crucially on their emotional literacy.

Our children had two days of whole-class poetry workshops, performed their poems in a school assembly  and then at the Slambassadors Finale in Rich Mix in Shoreditch. On top of that, Sumeet (Year 4 Saffron) won the Poetry Society  Award for the Best Solo Performance! Well done Sumeet and all of you who participated, performed and made us proud!

This week, the children in Years 5 and  6 were given free workshops by St. Giles Trust.

The workshops  focused on preventing gang exploitation,  by both dispelling the myths which glamorise gang life and crime, whilst also exposing the serious exploitative and grooming tactics that take place in order to get young people to join gangs and commit crime.

The children found the workshop very informative and came away with  real tools to prevent recruitment and exploitation.

Thank you St. Giles Trust. The trainer was  excellent and the children were engaged throughout.  A vital workshop for young children today.

Year 1 had a marvellous time visiting Spitalfields City Farm. We saw a variety of friendly and curious animals and collected information on each one.

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We had so much fun visiting our local library! First, we found out about all the services the Idea Store has on offer. Then, we did a scavenger hunt, searching for great children’s books on the ground floor of the library. After that, we climbed four flights of stairs to get to the top of the Idea Store to enjoy the amazing views. We identified the landmarks of East London and discussed the history of our area. What a fantastic experience! Many of us were not members of the library and we were certainly inspired to join.

On Tuesday 3rd December 2019, the children in EYFS and KS1 met the author and poet Jane Clarke. Jane shared her stories and poems with the pupils and inspired everyone to read and write. Our young readers and writers left her sessions buzzing with ideas for their own work. Thank you for a wonderful day!

Every year, our keen Year 6 readers take part in the annual Tower Hamlets Book Award. The children regularly get together in our library, discover new exciting authors and stories and then they discuss and debate about the books they have read. It’s a fantastic opportunity for them to share their joy of reading and develop their speaking and listening skills.

Last week, our children attended the grand finale at the East Winter Garden in Canary Wharf, they met many authors and had a great time! On top of that,  one of our Year 6 pupils, Mariam, won a book prize for her artwork for The Boy at the Back of the Class. Well done!

Last month, we celebrated the Summer Reading Challenge in one of our assemblies. Two Idea Store representatives visited our school to congratulate children that had completed the reading challenge over the summer holiday. Twenty-six of our pupils were given certificates and medals and we were happy to see that our children enjoy reading in their free time. Let’s see if more children challenge themselves next time!

On Monday 14th October 2019, Osmani Primary School celebrated Black History Month with the help of professional story-teller, Wendy Shearer.  We enjoyed listening to stories about Anansi the Spider and joined in with Wendy to retell the stories through role-play.  The children used music, props, instruments and drama to retell these traditional West African tales with help from Wendy.  Through these stories we explored the morals and values being taught by the example of  Anansi the Spider and the important message that every person is special and unique, no matter how big or small.

Throughout this month we have been learning about different key figures in each year group, including astronauts, poets, designers and engineers. We look forward to displaying the children’s work for parents to view and enjoy in November.