Ripon Cathedral School Update

Year 1 have thought about our strengths and interests and jobs in the community. We thought about jobs in the community around us. We had a visit from Natasha a local optometrist from Specsavers, she explained her role, her skills and how she helps people care for their eyes and sense of sight.

We have discussed how anyone can do any job as long as they have the right skills for that job. No matter their gender, where they are from, what they look like or who they are. We have played a guess the job game, where we listened to the skills and qualities to see if we could guess the job they are associated with. We then thought about the job we would like to do when we are grown ups. We drew pictures and labelled our pictures with the skills and qualities we will need to develop for that role.

We have had 3 visitors to Year 2 this week. A big thank you to those who came in and shared their time and expertise with us.

Mr Garner spoke to us about his role as head chef, how there is so much preparation that goes on behind the scenes plus the extra care needed in preparing food due to the increase in food allergies.

Fire Fighter Webster shared lots of important safety tips and fire prevention strategies with us. Mrs Dallaston enjoyed dressing up as a fire fighter too.

Dr Jones came to talk to us about staying healthy and about her role as a GP. We had lots of questions for her.

Within the class we talked about belonging to different clubs and groups within the community. We all belong to Ripon Cathedral School and God's family.

Year 3 had a special visitor on Wednesday, PCSO Phil came in to class to talk about his role in the community and the importance of laws to keep us safe. PSCO Phil explained that the majority of his job is to build relationships with people in the community and help them to resolve any conflicts. The children enjoyed learning about the ways in which the police serve the community and how important laws are for everyone. They have also been learning about using the internet and making safe choices in the games they play, the information they access and when to report something that concerns them.

Year 6 explored what diversity means and discussed how diversity brings 'spice to the world'. Life would be extremely boring if everyone was the same. We explored the meaning of prejudice and discrimination and discussed how stereotypes can be damaging. We looked at adverts and news articles to see how stereotypes are portrayed in the media. As sport was a key focus of our PSHE lessons, we were lucky enough to have two visitors. Our first visitor was John Dolan from JD Academy. He talked us through his role in the community and explained how discrimination is dealt with within the football industry. We even got to practise our football skills. Can you do a rainbow flick? Our second visitor was Abbey Harland who is a football coach in Harrogate. She spoke to the class about her football career and the challenges that some females footballers may face. The children practised some of her favourite moves and even managed to get her autograph! Amazing!

As part of community week, Year 5 have been learning about what makes a healthy relationship. Mandy from The Children’s Society did an excellent workshop with the children about how they can spot traits of unhealthy relationships. This led us onto online relationships, where the children watched and listened to a range of scenarios and discussed the impact of online actions and the importance of the three words, ‘Are you okay?’

The PCSO also came to speak to the children about their role in the community and the importance of keeping their information safe online, including who they speak to. Year 5 have engaged brilliantly with our visitors and have begun applying what they learnt in our computing sessions this week!

We have had such a busy week in Nursery for Community Week. The children have been learning all about the community where we live and the people who help us, as well as our school community.

"The lady in the office is on the phone in the day isn't she?" Luna

"Mr Holmes has a office that he lives in." Poppy

"At dinnertime the ladies help me with my dinner." Sophia

On Friday we had a very special visitor, Canon Matthew from the Cathedral came to share his favourite story with us. Canon Matthew arrived dressed in his official robes which the children thought were fabulous! "Is he God?" asked Charlie. We were very excited to share with him our question of the week which was "Where is God, and what does he look like?" Thank you for visiting us, and we will visit the Cathedral in the coming weeks.

A very big thank you to Iris’s mummy for coming to talk to us all about her work as a volunteer at the library. The children were very keen to hear about the library and how it is such a fabulous place for all the community to enjoy. It was brilliant then to hold our Book Swap and for the children to select a ‘new’ book to take home to enjoy. We are very much looking forward to a forthcoming class trip to the library in Ripon.

Road Safety

The Reception children spent time learning about the different ways to stay safe when walking near or across roads and were then absolutely superb on a road safety walk around our local area. Not only did the children show that they understand how to stay safe but they also behaved brilliantly, showing respect to the people they passed. They were a credit to our school!

This week, Year 4 have spent time investigating how data is shared and used online. We learnt about our unique digital footprint and how companies use this information to tailor adverts. We then discussed the types of adverts we each see or might see online due to our interests. We have also looked at community and belonging. We have looked at the communities we each belong to and the benefits those communities provide. We identified different groups of people who make up the community and how they contribute to a successful community. Finally, we had a wonderful visit from Olivia, a maternity support worker. Olivia shared with us what it is like in a day at her job and how she cares for the babies and the mums. She answered lots of questions from the children about how babies are looked after in their first moments.

As part of Community Week, we have been thinking about the Rule of Law. We thought about the 10 commandments and the rules that we have in school. In worship this week we acted out a court case. Nipper the dog was accused of biting Bob the Baker. Judge Isaac was in charge. our defence and prosecution lawyers interviewed our witnesses, Jane the Jogger and Bob the Baker. After all the evidence was shared our jury, put together from children across different classes, decided that Nipper was not guilty!

As part of Community Week all the children in Year 2 through to Year 6 walked up to Outwood to take part in a cross-country festival. They enjoyed racing round the field, competing against schools from the Ripon area. The children, as always, were fantastically behaved and they all took part with enthusiasm and determination.

This week's class worship was led by Year 3 and focused on the power of promises. The children re-told the story 'The Promise' by Nicola Davies, which tells of a young person who brings change and joy to the world by keeping their promise to plant acorns. They asked the other classes to think about promises they have made. The children explained that promises are important for Christians and a rainbow symbolises God's promise of faithfulness, grace and care for all people.

Last week children in Years 4, 5 and 6 took part in the England Rocks competition on Times Tables Rockstars. The children really did their best and we were ranked in the top 20% of schools in the North Yorkshire area. Congratulations to Year 4 who were our winning class and to Emery who was the highest scoring player! Well done to everyone who took part.

We were delighted to present the following children with their well deserved certificates in worship today:

Nursery

Poppy for being confident and using the provision areas so well.

Reception

Malachi for the effort he is putting into his reading, writing and phonics.

Year 1

Ava for showing an excellent attitude to her learning across all subjects.

Year 2

Alisa for always working hard and being such a kind friend to everyone.

Year 3

Lottie for showing determination and resilience in our cross country competition, representing the school with pride.

Year 4

Mikael for writing a wonderful and effective persuasive letter including lots of our focus criteria.

Year 5

Esme for always being ready to learn and putting 100% effort into everything she does.

Year 6

Imogen for determination at our cross country event. She pushed herself and did it all with a huge smile on her face.

Bag2School will collect sacks of used clothes (no bedding or logo uniform please) on Wednesday 29th November. School does not have a lot of storage space, so please bring bags on the morning and leave near the cycle racks at the front of school. Thank you.

On Thursday 7th December, we have our Christmas Fair. As well as some lovely stalls, this year one of parents is providing a photo booth and it's always worth buying a raffle ticket to try to win one of our themed hampers! We would really appreciate donations for the hampers. Boxes will be out in classrooms next week so you can drop your donation with the class staff. The theme for each class is on the poster below.

We look forward to seeing you all at our events, thank you for your support.

We are currently organising a range of events for the term. Below are dates that we currently have planned. We will add more dates over the term so please do check each week for new events.

Wednesday 29th November - Bag2School collection

Thursday 30th November 2023 - Year 4 sound day

Friday 1st December 2023 - Year 3 Hindu Temple visit

Thursday 7th December - Christmas Fair (after school, details to follow)

Tuesday 12th December - Riding Lights Theatre visiting school

Wednesday 13th December - School Christmas Dinner

Tuesday 19th December - EY and KS1 Christmas Party

Wednesday 20th December - EY and KS1 Celebration worship at 9am

Thursday 21st December - Celebration worship KS2 at 9am

Thursday 21st December - Key Stage 2 Christmas Party

Friday 22nd December 2023 (at 1.30pm) - Key Stage 1 Nativity in the Cathedral

Friday 22nd December 2023 - School closes for Christmas break at 2.30pm

Monday 8th January - Oscar's Holiday Club (advance notice - booking, times and cost TBC)

Tuesday 9th January 2024 - School reopens for the Spring Term

We are delighted with how busy Oscar's has become this term, thank you for everyone's support. We are unable to run any holiday club dates during the Christmas break itself, but will offer full day care on the training day on Monday 8th January 2024. Booking can now be made online. Contact Mrs Rich if you need further details, thank you.

Ripon Cathedral Church of England Primary School

Email: admin@riponcathedral.n-yorks.sch.uk
Website: www.riponcathedralschool.org.uk
Location: HG41LT, United Kingdom
Phone: 01765 602355
Facebook: facebook.com/riponcathschool
Twitter: @riponcathschool