Weekly Newsletter
Friday 9th February 2024
This week in school
World Thinking Day Thursday 22nd February We have been asked by the leaders of the local Rainbows, Brownies and Guides if members of their groups in the area are able to wear their uniforms to school (instead of the usual school uniform) for the day on Thursday 22nd February as it is their World Thinking Day.
Very often 22nd February is in the half-term holiday and the groups don't have the chance to mark the day. When it is on a school day, the leaders ask us if we can support this.
We haven't heard from the Scouting leaders (Beavers, Cubs & Scouts) yet but they also support this day.
If your child is not sure about wearing their full uniform, just a jumper or their necker is also fine!
After half term We will be changing what we put in our newsletters. There will still be a brief weekly update with dates, any information we need to share, attendance and the week's class stars. The updates from classes will come out at the end of every half term, as well as their regular posts on Dojo showing what they have been up to. Please can we ask that you either set the notifications if you use the Eduspot app, or that you check for updates as key updates and forms (like the football club info this week) are still sent this way.
Year 5 families Please look out for a letter about the residential visit planned for October 2024 which has been sent out today. At this point you just need to go on to Parentpay to pay the deposit and give consent: forms about contact details, medical info and dietary requirements as well as kit lists will come out nearer the time.
Contacting school Please can we remind you that all messages about absence, medicine, appointments & changes to after school picks ups must come through the school office either by phone 01757 704308 or email admin@bp.starmat.uk. Messages through Dojo don't work if a member of staff is absent, and also staff do not have their phones with them in the classrooms while they are working with the children so they can't always pick them up.
PE sessions We seem to have a lot of children missing PE due to not having kit, or for reasons that are not clear. PE is part of the statutory National Curriculum and all children are required to take part by law. It also supports children's health (medically and emotionally) and their social development. Please make sure your child has their PE kit in school at all times:we do have spare kit available and will be using this where children seem to keep 'forgetting'!
If there is a medical reason why children should not take part, we will need written evidence of this (a Dojo message or email is fine) and, for long-term medical concerns, we will need evidence from a medical professional. We will be monitoring participation closely and contacting you directly where we are worried.
Please help St Wilf's!
Consultation about a new Rector for Brayton Parish
Dear Parents of children at Brayton C of E Primary School
My name is Pat Jarvis and I am the churchwarden of St Wilfrid's Church. As you are probably aware, our previous Rector Rev Pete, has left our Parish to take up a new role and I, together with our Parochial Church Council (PCC), are in the process of recruiting a new Rector for our Parish.
As part of the recruitment process our PCC is preparing a 'Parish Profile' to accompany the advertisement for our new Rector. This Parish Profile covers many aspects of our church life and as such we would like to hear from as many people as possible in our Parish Community - people who come to church regularly or just for special occasions (Christmas, Easter), those attending family occasion such as weddings, Baptisms, and funerals, and importantly the schools within our parish.
Therefore, as a parent of a child at Brayton Primary School I would like to invite you to take part in our consultation by simply giving us your considered views on the following questions:
- What's important to you in choosing our new Rector?
- What could we do to make coming to church attractive for you?
If you'd like to contribute, please email your views to me on churchwarden@stwilfridsparish.com
Or come along to one of our drop-in sessions in the Parish Hall (behind St Wilfrid's church) on
Tuesday 13th February, 7-9pm
Saturday 17th February, 11am- 1pm
Refreshments will be served and people will be there to answer your questions.
Many thanks and with kind regards
Pat Jarvis
Churchwarden, St Wilfrid's Church Brayton
Term dates 2023-24 & 2024-25 The term dates for this year and next year are on the school website at https://brayton-cofe-primary-school.secure-primarysite.net/term-dates/
Jewellery No necklaces, bracelets, rings or other jewellery should be worn to school. If your child has earrings, these must be removed for PE sessions, or earrings can be left at home on PE days. Earrings for school should be small stud types so they don't get caught and cause any injuries.
Free School Meals
Free school meals: save up to £450 a year With so much in the news about the cost of living and now energy prices going up, you can check whether your child could be eligible for a free school meal, whatever school year they are in. All the information is on the NYCC website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/free-school-meals Some of this information may be out of date, especially around eligibility, so please get in touch if you are unsure.
If you would like any advice or support with this, please contact the school office. We treat these matters with complete confidentiality and are always happy to help if needed.
Allyson Buckton (Headteacher) & Mel Walmsley (Deputy Headteacher)
Whole School Attendance
Attendance has stayed above the national again for another week. Thankyou for your support in making sure your child attends regularly. We can keep building on this now as we gradually leave the winter bugs behind!
Please remember, we will always contact you if your child is unwell during the day, so please make sure they are here as much as possible. With your help we made massive improvements in attendance over last year and this is now better across school than it has been in a very long time!
We would also remind you that, according to the new guidance for schools, ANY leave for holidays should be unauthorised: there is no longer the 'up to 5 days/10 sessions' which can be authorised at the Headteacher's discretion. Last year we put forward 38 requests for Fixed Penalty Notices to be issued, which the Local Authority have advised us that they have actioned.
DIARY DATES
Friday 9 February - School closes for half term
Monday 19 February - School opens
Thursday 21 March - School closes for Easter
Friday 22 March - STAR MAT training day (school closed to children)
Monday 8 April - School opens
Monday 6 May - May Day Bank Holiday
Thursday 23 May - School closes for half term
Friday 24 May - Training day (school closed to children)
Monday 3 June - School opens
Friday 19 July - School closes for summer
Monday 22 July - Training day (school closed to children)
Happy Birthdays!
Many many many many happy returns for all the birthdays this week and in the holiday next week...
Beau W
Oliver B
Emily S
Isla D
Eleanor W
Ada-Rose E
Ethan P
Sofia N
Rio H
Charlie C
Sophie H
Bram O
This week in classrooms
Nursery - Stars
The children have really embraced learning about the Luna New Year this week. We have read the Lunar New Year story and found out through books and the internet about how they prepare and celebrate the New Year. The children have enjoyed mark making in the red sand and writing Chinese numbers, exploring rice and noodles in sensory play, having a go at our own dragon dance and lots of Lunar New Year crafts.
In maths we have looked at number 2. We have practised counting to 2 and finding 2 objects. We have also looked at the numeral and formation of 2. In Phonics we have continued to learn about syllables by playing games such as syllable snap or syllable halves.
Star of the week: Louie C
Reception - Moon and Mercury
This week we began with taking part in Children’s Mental Week. We explored how we can make sure we are happy and shared different pictures of feelings and discussed when we might feel these emotions. The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas was definitely one of our favourite stories! It was Safer Internet Day on Tuesday and this was the perfect time to talk to our classes again about both the benefits and dangers of using the internet. In phonics we have continued to review all previously learnt graphemes and completed our phonics assessment. It would be really helpful if you could look out for their gaps analysis in reading records and learn these during the holidays. In maths we looked at different representations of 6, 7 and 8, sorted them and then represented the numbers on a ten frame. In R.E we have concluded our topic ‘Where do we belong?’ by looking at the Christian Baptism ceremony and the Muslim Aqiqah ceremony. We really enjoyed talking about our own experiences of baptisms and made some beautiful cards. We also celebrated Lunar New Year with a delicious lunch and lots of fun activities throughout the day. What a wonderful opportunity to introduce our children to different cultures and traditions.
Thank you for your continued support and have a lovely half term.
Star of the week:
Moon - Jagger R
Mercury - Ayla W
Year 1 - Galaxy and Venus
Can you believe that we’ve been at school for 5 weeks and the term is finished, that has flown by! We’ve had a very animal themed week. This week the children completed their unit of dance in P.E, performing a dance to the song I just can’t wait to be king from The Lion King. Some have been able to not only perform in time to the beat of the song but sing along, too! In Science, the children have begun to explore different animal groups - this week we explored reptiles and birds. We were able to notice some similarities between each group of animals and some very obvious differences. The children independently researched their animals using fact files before coming back together as a class to see if we could find any key similarities. In Art, the children applied their skills in hatching, cross hatching and tone to sketch a variety of animals with great effect. Children were able to select if they were going to draw a range of different animal groups, with some choosing mammals, birds, fish or reptiles.
Star of the week
Galaxy: Jude C
Venus: Jacob H
Year 2 - Earth and Mars
What a fantastic end to the half term! We stepped back in time this week to look at toys from the past in our History lesson. The children really enjoyed discussing (and playing!) with some very old toys that our special visitor brought in to share with us. The children asked some super questions and were very interested in learning about the old toys. In English we wrote some fabulous poems about ‘If I Were in Charge of the Country!’ and then made a class performance! The children had some wonderful ideas about what they would like to cancel and what they would create if they were in charge! In Art we have looked at another famous Artist - Marc Quinn and the children have created some brilliant sculptures of human figures using plasticine. In maths we started our new unit -‘Length and Height’ and the children have demonstrated some great measuring skills and used these to compare different lengths and heights.
Well done everyone for all your hard work and effort this half term! Enjoy the well deserved rest.
Stars of the Week:
Earth: Oliver B
Mars: Reggie B
Year 3 - Jupiter and Saturn
Although this half term has flown by, we still can’t believe we broke up today. The children have worked so hard and we have been so impressed by the work they have produced.
This week in English the children have created their own sequel to the story of ‘The True Story of Three Little Pigs’. We have been gripped reading the plots the children have been creating and can’t wait to read the conclusions over half term.
In Maths, we have been working on equivalent lengths this week focusing on metres, centimetres and millimetres. Today we moved on to comparing lengths and I know the children are excited to continue this unit after half term when we will move onto measuring and calculating perimeter.
Monday was our final orienteering lesson and the children loved taking part in a picture orienteering event. On Friday in PE we finished our Dance routine which all the children are very proud of. All the children have given 100% in this unit developing and varying dance phrases using canon, unison, repetition, and changes of direction, level, speed and pathway.
Finally, in History this week the children created a timeline as a class in chronological order then investigated the reasons why Boudica (who was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe) attacked the Romans.
We hope you all have a lovely half term.
Star of the Week:
Jupiter: William C
Saturn: Albie C
Year 4 - Neptune and Meteor
What a brilliant end to half term! The children have been absolutely fantastic, as always. In English, we have edited our independent writing work from last week and have started to look at our new unit of work ‘Poetry’. The children have been incredible at identifying lots of different poetic features in a variety of poems. This is preparing the children for next term, ready to begin writing their own. We have finally finished ‘Multiplication and Division’ in Maths and have already cracked on with ‘Length and Perimeter’. The children are already demonstrating that they have a good level of understanding in this unit of work and are proving this when completing their workbooks. In Science, we have conducted another experiment looking at the way sound travels and the differences between distance and the sound that is heard. In PE, we had a little bit of fun and played dodgeball this week, due to the children having already finished their dances last week. They absolutely loved this! Handwriting this term has been a really big push across the school and the Year 4 children have really been determined to improve the presentation of their work. We have worked on our Handwriting at least three times a week, if not more. We are so impressed with the progress they have already made with it and can’t wait to see the future progress.
Fantastic progress Year 4. We are so impressed with your attitudes towards your learning. Keep up the good work for the rest of the year and have a lovely break!
Stars of the Week:
Meteor: Finnley S-L
Neptune: Mason S
Year 5 - Asteroid and Pluto
In a half term, where the children had already written an assessed piece on Katherine Johnson, the children have been working hard on writing poetry about Space. We have been recapping similes, metaphors, personification and expanded noun phrases. On Wednesday, each class wrote a poem together, where the children were able to share their ideas. On Thursday, they drafted their own poems, which were hard to start with, but when their creative juices started to flow, they produced some great pieces of writing. In Maths, they have completed another booklet on fractions. We feel that this has been a much easier set of lessons, due to the hard work they did at the beginning of the year. Let’s hope they keep practising their times tables to make them quicker at answering questions. We had the joys of learning the recorders this half term, and while the children are excited when they see the tray of recorders, they are much calmer when playing, and now know two notes! In ICT, we have been learning about how the Internet works and, most importantly, how to keep safe on the internet. Finally, we have finished our sessions of Dance and Orienteering. It has been really great to see all the children taking part in the sessions, and developing their group work with children they do not normally work with.
Star of the week
Asteroid: Sam S
Pluto: Alfie Y
Year 6 - Nebular and Constellation
Well… what a week! Your children have truly shown us what they are made of! Not only have we completed all of the normal curriculum subjects, but also SAT assessments to give them the additional insight as to their format and question structure. You deserve this week off to recharge your batteries ready for next half term.
In Maths we have completed our algebra unit, with the children tackling their work like they have covered algebra every year of their school life. Very impressive understanding everyone.
In English we have told the Amazon Rainforest exactly what we think about it - mainly, that it is such a wonderful creation that has unparalleled ‘verdant hues’. Yes, it was Ode week. The figurative language they used was fantastic to hear and read. In Art, we have investigated and created our own artwork, inspired by Delauney. He uses colour to express feeling and emotion, and his brush work is aimed at creating contrasting visuals of balance or imbalance, depending on the mood of the piece. In Geography, we used locational knowledge to create questions that would mean the information provided, were the answers to them.
Have a wonderful week off everyone! We will see you soon!
Star of the week
Nebular: Freddie W
Constellation: Niamh J