12 Year 6 children had the privilege of brushing up on their Spanish last week. They travelled to Almería, to the seaside town of Roquetas de Mar. They visited our sister school - Las Salinas - and met up with their buddies. Ranelagh children supported the Spanish children during their English lessons and the Spanish children helped our children with Spanish phrases. The children also had the opportunity to taste the local delicacies of churros and chocolate and eat fresh olive oil spread on crunchy Spanish bread. The children had a day of sightseeing around the historical town of Almería where they visited Almería cathedral and climbed the top of a mountain, to St. Christopher monument, which over looked Alcazaba of Almería - a Moorish fortress.

The whole of Ranelagh have sharpened up their geography skills this term. Children from year 3 have been observing the land in West Ham Park to develop their geography skills. They've identified and recorded human and physical features in the local area and created sketch maps using the information. Emrys from 3M2 said, “It was fun and exciting, like a quest, because we were using directions (NESW) and made our own map.”

Ranelagh has once again come up trumps, bagging another award, this time at the prestigious LGFL Digital Excellence Awards. Held annually, this year’s award ceremony took place at The Mermaid St. Pauls in Central London. The awards celebrate the achievements and successes of London schools in the field of Computing and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The London Grid for Learning, or LGFL, is a community of schools and local authorities committed to using technology to enhance teaching and learning. Established in 2001 by the 33 London Boroughs, it is a not for profit charitable trust that aims to provide safe, fun, engaging and efficient services for schools and the children therein. The awards are held annually, with a total of 6 categories this year, from ‘Whole School use of LGFL’ to ‘Digital Excellence by Students’ – and Ranelagh triumphed in the ‘Use of J2E tools.’

Ranelagh is very proud to announce that we have once again been recognised for outstanding practice and inclusion in our school. For the past five years we have been an Inclusion Quality Mark School and for the past two years we have been classed as a Centre of Excellence, a very prestigious award. However, as we always continue to strive for greater heights, we have now been awarded 'Flagship Status,' the highest possible accolade in this field.

Only around 100 UK schools have achieved IQM Flagship School status. This award recognises those unique schools who have held IQM Centre of Excellence status for at least 3 years; and played a strong leadership role in developing inclusion best practice across a network of schools.

The assessor spent an entire day gathering data and evidence to support the assessment, speaking to staff and senior leaders as well as parents, children and governors. The assessor was particularly impressed with the vision and leadership of Mrs. Patel and Mrs. Chowdhury - our dedicated Inclusion team and also Mrs. Lawrenson, our Head Teacher, commenting that they are "a reflective but dynamic and driving force within the school... ensuring that inclusion remains a key focus of the school."

Ranelagh truly does have a love of the spoken word, perhaps best illustrated through our annual Choral Poetry Performances. On Tuesday 27^th March, our school was once again packed to the rafters with parents and carers who marvelled at the brilliant renditions of so many epically famous poems, from Alfred Noye's The Highwayman to Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

Every year group was tasked with choosing a poem to perform aloud. With so many choices out there, and so many famous poets, it was tough to narrow it down. But alas, in grand style, Year 5 opened the show with a haunting rendition of Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman, setting the bar high right from the off. Thunderous applause greeted the children as they were quickly followed by an amazing performance from Year 2 of The Mock Turtles Song by Lewis Carroll, whose whimsical poems featured twice on stage. "Will you come and join the dance?" our parents were teased by the children as they swayed to and fro.