IN THIS ISSUE Walk the halls – State and Independent school Open Day directory FEATURE: Find the local Club/Class/Activity to suit your diary and your child! Issue 123 September 2018 familiesonline.co.uk Welcome to the September issue! CONTACT US: Families North West WALondonTFORD Magazine BUSHEY RICKMANSWORTH Editors: Heather Waddington and Janine Mergler M1 STANMORE P.O. Box 2378, Watford WD18M25 1RF HATCH END NORTHWOOD EDGWARE T: 01923 237 004 E: [email protected] WEALD HAREFIELD PINNER KINGSBURY HARROW WEST Listings and Features Editor: RUISLIP HENDON WEMBLEY ICKENHAM DOLLIS HILL Anna Blackshaw E: [email protected] PARK NORTHOLT BRONDESBURY PARK www.FamiliesNWLondon.co.uk WEMBLEY UXBRIDGE A40 QUEENS PARK WILLESDEN KILBURN www.facebook.com/FamiliesNWLondon @FamiliesNWLon Readership of over 60,000 local parents, carers and teachers every issue. Published seven times a year. For families from birth to twelve. UPCOMING ISSUES: October 2018 - ‘Education and Schools’ Deadline: 10th September 2018 Nov/Dec 2018 - ‘Seasonal Celebrations’ Deadline: 10th October 2018 Send in your news, stories and advertising bookings to the details above. Feature images used under license from depositphotos.com. Other IN THIS ISSUE: images have been supplied by independent sources. 5 Back to School – Oral Health 6 Education Families North West London Magazine is part 12 State school Open Days of Families Print Ltd, a franchise company. 14 Independent School Open Days All franchised magazines in the group are independently owned and operated under 16 Choosing the right activity for licence. Families is a registered trademark of LCMB your child Ltd, Remenham House, Regatta Place, Marlow 24 Educating your children about Road, Bourne End, Bucks SL8 5TD. The contents Social Media of Families NW London Magazine are fully protected by copyright and none of the editorial 26 What”s On or photographic matter may be reproduced in any form without prior consent of Families North West London Magazine. Every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, but Families Cover image: North West London Magazine, its distributors, the depositphotos.com franchise company, Families Print Ltd, and LCMB Ltd cannot be held responsible for the claims of advertisers nor for the accuracy of the contents, or any consequence thereof. Families North West London Magazine is distributed Where is Families bi-monthly throughout north west London. An area North West London? bordered by the A40 to the south, by the A5/M1 to the east and out towards the M25 in the north and west. You can collect a copy FREE from scores of outlets: schools, nurseries, play groups, clubs and classes, sports centres, children’s libraries, family doctors and baby clinics, theatres, your local council offices and children’s shops. If you would like to stock copies to give to parents, please let us know. 2 Families North West London familiesonline.co.uk NEWS North London Grammar School celebrates! New Children’s Ballet & Street Dance Classes in Wembley The London Academy of Gymnastics and Dance first opened classes in Wembley in April this year at the Ark Elvin Academy. With a brand new Sports Hall and all the latest gymnastics equipment, they have proved to be very popular NLGS has been awarded ‘Outstanding’ in all categories from their recent with local families. From September Ofsted inspection. there will be an exciting additional The school is situated on Colindeep Lane in Colindale, Hendon NW9 6HB and programme of Ballet and Street has been at this site for four years. A family oriented modern Grammar School, Dance in the Academy’s purpose- Ofsted found they are dedicated to providing a safe, caring and aspirational built Dance Studio, plus additional environment for each child to promote their academic and personal Gymnastics classes for children of all abilities aged 3½ to 11 years old. development in a rich, nurturing and protected climate. “We are fortunate to have a team of highly-trained and experienced Other recent achievements include winning 2 gold and 2 silver medals from Gymnastic Coaches and Dance Instructors who are able to bring out the the International Genuis Olympiad in New York for their 2-year science project best in every child, whatever their ability.” Jessica Shenton, Founder & centred around the possibility of creating a coral bank. Director, LAGAD Head teacher Mr Hakan Gokce states “NLGS prides on every pupil’s academic To reserve places and/or book a Trial Class visit www.lagad.co.uk or and pastoral well-being. Our vision is for every NLGS pupil to become excellent contact us by email [email protected] or phone 0208 883 4675 role models, citizens and extend to become outstanding community leaders.” And Pupils are equally proud of their school, “When I heard that our school got awarded outstanding I felt very proud because I knew we earned it. I love being a part of a small school because I know pretty much everyone in the school and all the teachers know me.” Saadet Cifci, Year 8. Schools join research into To read the full report visit their website http://northlondongrammar.com the effect of air pollution on children’s health Local MP Guest of Honour Over 3,000 primary school children in polluted areas of London and Luton will have at School Prize Giving Day their lung health monitored over a four-year Visitation Day at Aldenham Prep School period in a new international study led by is always a very special occasion for Queen Mary University of London, launched all the children and staff at the school. by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. This year was made all the more special The CHILL study (Children’s Health in London with the Guest of Honour Oliver & Luton) is funded by the National Institute for Dowden MP. Health Research. It will test whether policies to The School’s Visitation Day event saw improve air quality, such as London’s new Ultra pupils aged from 4 to 11 rewarded for Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)*, are associated their all hard work, in front of friends, with improved growth of children’s lungs and reduced chest symptoms. teachers and parents. Researchers from the University of Bedfordshire and Queen Mary University of London are currently recruiting schools to take part. Mr Dowden gave an informative speech, enjoyed by all, before handing out the well-deserved prizes. He said: ‘It was a real pleasure to present The children will have an annual health check for four years that includes the prizes at Aldenham Prep. This wonderful day rightly recognised its measuring the size and function of their lungs by blowing into a machine students’ impressive achievements this year and I very much enjoyed the called a spirometer. chance to speak to them about their work. I’m grateful to everyone at the Professor Gurch Randhawa from the University of Bedfordshire said: “We School for their warm hospitality and look forward to visiting again.’ urgently need to know whether our public health policies on air pollution are Mrs Gocher, Headmistress at Aldenham Prep added ‘It was a pleasure to effective. This timely study enables us to measure accurately their impact on welcome Mr Dowden to Aldenham Prep and we hopefully will be able to children’s health.” welcome him again in the future’. More information, including how to join the study, can be found on the CHILL website: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/chill/ familiesonline.co.uk Families North West London 3 NEWS Local children’s class Families and communities provider wins award urged to register for UK Claire Taylor, who runs Monkey Music classes in Harrow, Uxbridge and Edgware, has been recognised with a top award Road Safety Week and help in the annual Monkey Music Franchise Awards 2018. protect those on bikes The Ambassador Award recognises Claire’s Families and community groups outstanding contribution to Monkey Music. can now register for Road Safety More than 300 children now attend Monkey Week 2018 (19–25 November), Music classes in Harrow, Uxbridge and the UK’s biggest road safety Edgware and Claire’s dedication to giving event. Road safety charity Brake, her families a fun and educational musical which coordinates the event, learning experience every week was, in the is encouraging parents and opinion of the judges, exceptional. community leaders to go to www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk to get ideas on Claire said, “I’m obviously delighted to receive this award, I love my work with campaigning for safer local roads and register for a free online action pack. Monkey Music – sharing the wonder of music with young families is always Parents and community road safety champions can access free electronic a pleasure – and I’d like to thank all my wonderful teachers for helping me to resources and guidance to help them get involved. Go to www. share that experience. I look forward to welcoming many more new babies roadsafetyweek.org.uk/communities for ideas and to register for a free and young children to Monkey Music very soon!” online action pack. This will include downloadable, interactive resources for If you’d like to know more about your local Monkey Music classes or both children and adults, advice on how to campaign for safer streets, and to book a FREE class contact Claire Taylor on 0208 427 6595 or email case studies showing how other groups have got involved in previous years. [email protected] or visit the Monkey Music website at: This year Brake will develop new age-appropriate resources to raise www.monkeymusic.co.uk awareness about the importance of everyone being Bike Smart. For younger children, the focus will be on inspiring and engaging pupils about how to be smart when riding a bike and helping them call for smarter cycle routes, so they can get about safely on two wheels.