Ripon Cathedral School Update

Christmas Jumper Day is Save the Children's annual event which raises money for the children who need it most. It was great to see so many children in their bright festive jumpers. Thank you for the donations given on ParentPay that will be passed on to Save the Children.

What a wonderful Christmas Fair! Many thanks to everyone who came along and supported the Friends in helping to raise funds for the school. There was a good variety of stalls and it was lovely to be visited by Father Christmas who we know is so busy at this time of the year. Many thanks to the Friends team who worked so hard on putting the fair together!

Thank you for all the hamper donations. We have texted all winners and most hampers have been collected, so I'm afraid if you haven't been contacted, you will have to wait until next year for another chance to win!

Money Day for Reception centred around our big question: 'Why do people go to work?'. This proved an interesting point of discussion, and it was unanimously agreed that adults need to earn money to pay for a home, food, clothes and all the lovely things that we like to do. After discussing the different jobs of people in their families and in the community, Reception were keen to get dressed and into role, ready to go out to work. The Reception classroom turned into a very busy workplace, with all jobs covered from astronaut to zoologist! What a lot of interesting ways there are to earn a living!

For money day, Year 5 explored stereotyping in different careers. The children were intrigued to learn about the role of a male staff nurse, and a female construction worker. They then went on to look at statements about different career paths. They explored their statements such as, 'People our age can't start a business.' through a class debate. Finally the children explored the qualities and skills needed for different job roles and thought about the career path they may wish to take.

In Year 3, the children have been looking at jobs and careers for money day. Firstly, they completed a fun quiz to match the teacher to their previous job; some of the staff in school have had some very interesting jobs in the past! They then looked at stereotyping in the workplace and researched some inspirational STEM trailblazers, such as Katherine Johnston and Marie Curie. Finally, they took part in job interviews and thought about the skills and qualities needed for different careers. The Year 3s have some high future aspirations!

For money day, Year 1 thought about what we need money for. We made shopping lists of things we need to buy. We explored different coins through coin rubbings and making our own piggy banks. We then went on to think about how we get money, We spoke about different jobs and the roles of people who help us is the community.

This week, Year 6 have explored how different spending habits can cause a variety of emotions. They looked at what necessities and luxuries people may spend money on and discussed how unexpected bills or fees may suddenly affect someone's mental health and wellbeing. They discussed what risks are, why someone may take a risk and what factors may affect someone's ability to make a sensible decision. Children were then introduced to the negative impacts of gambling, decided who was best to go to for help and support and then gave a character help and advice after losing money when gambling. Year 6 you have been fab as always. Well done.

We had a very thought evoking money day in Year 2. We began with making a Christmas list of things we wanted and then looked at the needs of children living in poverty and made a list of the things they need . After that we took a closer look at our lists and thought about how fortunate and blessed we are to have all we have in our lives.

Next we looked at Fairtrade farming and how being given a fair price for their products makes such a difference to farmers.

After all this we played a game of 'would you rather?' having to choose how we would hypothetically spend our money.

For money day, Year 4 thought about different ways to pay for things and the benefits behind each payment method. We thought about spending decisions, values and needs and how often a large proportion of money goes towards buying things we need such as electricity, clothes and food meaning there isn't usually much left for things we'd really like. The children investigated this by working to a budget and prioritising and choosing from lots of everyday essentials. We discussed why it is vital to keep track of spending and the risks associated with untracked spending. Using all of this information, the children put their 'working to a budget' skills to work by calculating how much money they had spend and what had remaining when designing a mini city to a budget of one million pounds. They had to think very carefully about what they would put in their city using a costs key to keep track of spending. We then discussed what we had put in our cities and our reasons for doing so.

Last Friday, Year 3 visited the Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple in Bradford. The children were warmly welcomed into the temple and they particularly enjoyed looking at the murtis (statues) of some of the gods and goddesses from the Hindu religion on the elaborately decorated shrine. In the afternoon, the class learned how to tell the story of Rama and Sita through dance and also a dance about the elephant headed God, Ganesha.

Just a reminder! On December 12th Riding Lights Theatre Group will be visiting us to present their production of 'Give it Back Mak!' This show is suitable for Reception to Year 3 and is part of our enrichment programme. As I am sure you will appreciate the cost of a visiting theatre group is significantly cheaper than going on a visit and equates to only £3 per child. We would welcome any contributions towards the cost of this event. Parents of children in Reception to Year 3 are able to make a contribution through Parent Pay. We are sure the children will thoroughly enjoy seeing live theatre

Spiritual Council posed the question - 'What message would you send in a text to God?' We had some great responses from the children and staff.

'Good morning God. How are you today? Is there anything special that is going on for you? What is the reason of life?'

''God how lucky are we to know you are always there beside us. I always feel safe and will let no one take advantage of me or you.'

'How can I worship you?'

'Please don’t make people unkind and help us all to make peace.'

'How did you make the earth?'

'You are mighty , powerful, kind, caring, beautiful, unique and loving.'

'Thank you God for such a wonderful school and friends and teachers.'

'God - I’m grateful to be here'

'Can you make the world a better place and stop the wars?'

'Will you come down to earth?'

'How are you the beginning and the end?'

'Everybody loves you and so do I. We are all your family.'

'How old are you and what do you look like? - because no one on earth knows.'

'You are mighty, powerful, unique and loving.'

We always enjoy celebrating children's achievements in our celebration worship on a Friday. Well done to all our stars of the week.

Nursery

Sidney for marvellous manners and being more independent with his learning.

Reception

Violet for amazing effort and perseverance when working independently on challenges.

Year 1

Advin for always showing lots of enthusiasm for his learning and being an excellent role model to others.

Year 2

William for working so hard on his handwriting and everything this week, we are very proud of you.

Year 3

Roman for having a super attitude in lessons listening to feedback and working hard to get the most out of our lessons.

Year 4

Olive for wonderful effort and preparation for her speech.

Year 5

Joshua for being an excellent member of Year 5. Joshua has settled in brilliantly, is always ready to learn and wrote an excellent story in English.

Year 6

Alanya for challenging herself in maths. She showed such fantastic determination when using fractions.

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 (booking essential, see below for details)

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.

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