Two weeks already! The term is flying by. Everyone is working hard to not only teach their new classes but to make up for lost time due to the last 18 months of turmoil.

Enrichment activities are still a little on hold until half term, when we will risk assess the spread of Covid and hopefully see that being altogether again without bubbles is not a problem.

As you already know, we have had a few cases of Covid within school, but these have so far not disrupted the rest of the children's education.

Please do keep following the guidelines and avoiding the virus as much as is humanly possible. We really don't want an outbreak to take us back to bubbles and self isolation in our school - we are loving being able to see each other again!

I am working hard to continue to improve the school website and procedures and enable the MAT to appoint your new Headteacher as soon as possible. The team are working hard to develop the curriculum and retain standards, the MAT is supporting us with the building developments and the children are getting on as usual! Thanks to you parents, your support is enabling all that to happen.

As usual - we are all shining as one.

97%

That's good attendance - thankyou.

An amazing 332 children had 100% attendance this week.

From today we will be giving a special mention in the newsletter to all the children and staff who have had birthdays during the week. For this first one, we are mentioning last week too!

Happy birthday to Mrs Bottomley, Jaxon Acaster, Lyla Butler, Sam Coltman, Taylor Sheldon, Bettie Hanson, Scarlett Mead, Ruby Corbally, George Watson, Evelyn Hare and Lily Smith.

We are thankful for you all and wish you many many many happy returns!

This week we have started to think about our theme All About Me. We have talked about our families and looked at the story ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell. The children have enjoyed acting out the story in our tuff tray, making their own owls using natural materials and making nests for our baby owls. They have also drawn a self portrait to go on their individual boards in Stars.

In phonics this week we have practised being a good listener and have played lots of games to develop our listening skills. In maths we have been sorting and matching objects and identifying things that are the same.

The children have continued to explore the provision and are starting to learn each other’s names and make new friends.

Superstar - Penny Fenton

It's hard to believe we have now completed our second week back at school. We are so proud of all the children for their hard work, enthusiasm and creativity. Thank you to you for all your support. This week the children have been continuing to explore the classrooms and outdoor area playing beautifully together and forming some great friendships. Also, they have been telling us all about their interests and we've had some fantastic responses which range from drawing and singing to helping with cooking tea at home and of course feeding chickens.

Superstars - James Smith, Lily Smith

We have had a mischievous visitor to our classroom this week in the form of The Evil Pea, causing mischief and strife across our classrooms. The children have enjoyed writing wanted posters and letters and creating traps to capture him. We have also explored artwork by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, creating our own self portraits in his style using fruit and vegetables. In Science we have begun to investigate the human body, whilst in R.E. we have discussed the importance of belonging. Mathematically we have explored finding one more and one less and in Geography we have begun our study on our local area. We are very proud of how well the children have settled and demonstrated their characteristics of effective learning.

Superstars - Alfie Fisher, Ashleigh Bramhald

What an exciting second week we've had in Year 2/3! It may have become colder outside, but the temperature hasn't dropped in our Year groups as the children have been introduced to our topic - Fire! Fire! All the children have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Brayton art gallery and experiencing the sights and sounds of a fire in the school grounds. In English we have been using our experiences to write a recount of the Great Fire of London. Guided Reading has supported this as we have been retrieving information and vocabulary from text related to our topic. In Maths we have continued to recap place value (hundreds, tens and ones) and represent two and three digit numbers in different ways. The children have recapped the story of Creation in RE and during PSHCE we have shared ideas about what makes a great friend.

Superstars - Joshua Lane, Aniela Nycek, Oscar O'Driscoll

What a lovely week in Mars and Earth. This week, the classes have been exploring different areas of Viking life, children have learned where the Vikings came from, the buildings that they lived in and the food they would have eaten while in Northumbria. In addition to this, children have enjoyed learning to represent 4 digit numbers with Cheerios of all things! This has allowed us to explore numbers less than 10, 000 and test our place value knowledge.

Superstars - Macy Adkin, Ryan Visser

With audible gasps, oohs and ahhs around the class, Year 5 showed their appreciation of the dramatic start to our Tudor class novel, Treason. Hooked, from the start of this award winning story, we are looking forward to an excellent read and related work. In maths we are working with larger numbers and rounding, while in English, we are displaying excellent manners, planning and composing formal thank you letters. We had fun launching our Tudors topic, finding out how food really was preserved and how dangerous it was for some to have been married to King Henry VIII. Lots more surprises and Tudor discoveries await this term

Superstars - Harley Robinson, Mia Hawksworth

This week, the year 6 children have begun their 'journey into the unknown', with Science being at the forefront of their learning this week. We have learnt that regardless of the conspiracy theories, the Earth is indeed a sphere. We found out about the early theories and the factual evidence that support its shape. We discovered that due to the time of its orbit around the Sun, Mr Close would actually be coming up to his 4th birthday, if he lived on Jupiter! We also created orrerys; models that have 3 different mediums (watercolour, pencil and paint) of the Earth, Sun and Moon, which show the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, whilst the moon is orbiting the Earth. In Maths, we have continued to build our knowledge of place value of whole and decimal numbers. In English, we have used the passionate moon mission speech, delivered by the American President John. F. Kennedy, almost 59 years to the date, to detail the goals we have for ourselves this academic year. Well done everyone - some great outcomes this week.

Superstars - Isabel Stansfield, Megan Anderson

We haven't had any honey pot prizes given out this week - but it won't be long!

10 extra bee points go to:

Best attendance

Blue 98.6%

No red slips

Sadly - all of the hives had red slips this week.

Yellow = 3155

Congratulations to the Yellow Hive!

So far this year:

5020

Green Hive

Well done - keep it up!