Weekly Newsletter
Friday 28th January 2022
This week in school
Looking ahead...
We have had another tricky week with pupil and staff absence, and it is great to see so many members of our school family returning to class. Again, everyone has really worked together and the children have been excellent as ever in adapting to the changes. A very special mention to the Y5 children this week, who helped out with our teacher interviews by being part of an observed writing lesson and by giving feedback to Mrs Walmsley and me afterwards. We are delighted to say we have found some fantastic staff to join the team, and we will share more once all employment checks and contractual paperwork have been completed.
Looking ahead to after half term, we are hoping to change our arrangements for the end of the day so that families can come on site and collect children from outside their classrooms. This will mean that, if you need to, you will be able to contact your child's teacher more easily for a quick word; and hopefully will be the start of us being able to hold events for families again. We will be in touch to confirm this just before the half term holiday.
Reminder from last week: As the government continues with the easing of restrictions there has been some uncertainty around the latest on isolation. Children and adults can now end their isolation after 5 days, as long as they have 2 negative LFD tests, one on day 5 and one on day 6. So children can come back to school on day 6 as long as they have had that second negative result in the morning. If they are still getting positive results, they should carry on isolating for up to 10 days. After 10 days they can still come back, even if their tests are positive, as it is highly unlikely that they are still contagious. If you are not sure, please just contact the school office and we will help out.
Thank you for your continued support.
Allyson Buckton- Proud Headteacher
Whole School Attendance
An amazing 300 children have had 100% attendance this week: very well done!
Happy Birthdays!
This week in classrooms
Our school values
Nursery - Stars
We are continuing to enjoy learning fairy stories and this week we have focussed on The Enormous Turnip and Jack and the Beanstalk. The children are really good at joining in with the actions for “bigger and bigger and bigger” and have been very interested in how things grow. In phonics we have been learning to count the number of sounds in our names and other words In maths we have been sorting objects and saying what is the same and different.
Star of the week: Penny Fenton
FS - Moon and Mercury
This week we have been intrepid investigators, investigating different habitats and deciding which habitats would be best for a range of different animals. We have also been using our imaginations thinking about what animals might say if they could talk and have written some fantastic speech bubbles.
We have been on another Virtual Trip this week to Cannon Hall Farm and been discussing what we get from farm animals and how farmers use animals on their farm in a range of different ways.
In Maths we have been comparing Mass predicting items that are going to be heavier and lighter than others and getting a little bit wet measuring capacity outside seeing how many litres of water will fill the water tray.
Star of the Week –
Moon – Riordan Hawe
Mercury - Alistair Howell
Y1 - Galaxy and Venus
This week in Year 1, we had a wonderful time sightseeing across our capital city-London. We began our journey virtually travelling across the city on a double decker bus, visiting an array of famous landmarks and tourist attractions. We sped along the Embankment, towards Tower Bridge, passing The Shard and finally visiting the Queen herself for afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace. In English, we have studied non fiction, reading information texts, creating timelines using time connectives, and have created recounts in writing. In maths, we have compared number relatives creating number fact families, using tens frames, the part whole model, and the bar model. Geographically, we have used a selection of maps, aerial photos and Google Earth to explore London. In art, we have studied the work of graffiti artist Banksy, using stencilling. Whilst in R.E. we are studying the Jewish religion.
Stars of the week
Venus- Riley Cooke
Galaxy- Harper Lea
Year 2 / 3 Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune
We have enjoyed stepping into the shoes (or sandals!) of a Roman soldier this week, finding out about the uniform and weapons and even learning their Latin names. In DT, we have been making our own Roman helmets or ‘Cassis’. The Roman shields being brought in for homework are very impressive. We have found out that life in the Roman army was hard work as Marcus the Legionary took us through a day in the life of a Roman soldier. In English, we have been taking notes from him so we can write our own diaries next week. In Maths, we have continued with multiplication; the Year 2 children have been practising their 2, 5, 3 and 10 times tables by playing lots of fun games whilst the Year 3 children have been learning the new skill of short multiplication which has taken a while to master but through perseverance we have got there. In RE, we have begun learning about Muslim prayer which the children have found fascinating and in PSHCE we have explored mental health.
Stars of the week
Jupiter- Alfie Butler
Saturn- Abigail Lawlor
Neptune- Isabel Jakowyszyn
Year 4 Mars and Earth
We’ve had a very investigative sort of week in Year 4. In science, we have become sound detectives and have been testing out a range of materials to judge their suitability for making effective ear defenders. We’ve also thoroughly enjoyed the start to a new music project by listening to the opening sections of the theme music for Beowulf. We have also been delving deeper into the lifestyles of the early Anglo-Saxons as we considered a range of reliable source materials and carried out research using the chromebooks in order to create another page for our history fact file. Whilst in our maths we have been finding the area of squares and rectangles as we continue to build on our skills with times tables, some of us are rapidly becoming champions.
Stars
Earth - Niamh Jones
Mars - Lewis Brooks
Year 5 Asteroid and Pluto
In Year 5 this week, we have been writing an alternative ending for our guided reading book characters' visit to the Porsche garage. We have been stretching our vocabulary usage and really concentrating on showing, not telling their feelings through their body language. We have started our fractions unit with a bang, with finding equivalents, moving on to improper fractions to mixed numbers and back again! Our model planets are beginning to take shape and we have been planning how to add interest to our models with asteroid belts, the rings around Saturn. We may even add a tiny Pluto, even though it’s technically not a planet (much to our disdain).
Stars
Asteroid: Monty Karslake
Pluto: Joseph Possnett
Year 6 Nebular and Constellation
In Year 6 this week, we have continued our deep dive into the civilisation of Ancient Egypt. We have investigated the different levels of society and the hierarchy that was used. Who would have thought that something we take for granted (the ability to read and write) would have such a high place in an advanced society. We have spent the week understanding complex sentences and how to create atmosphere in our writing. We then wrote from the perspective of two different characters in our class text, giving one a positive atmosphere, and giving the second a negative one to show contrasting viewpoints. Unbelievably, we are onto the second half of our new novel, whilst having also answered many different types of questions each day. In maths, we have been interpreting line graphs and answering questions about them. We then used this to create our own graphs and questions for others to answer.
Stars:
Nebular: Taylor Hatton
Constellation: Ethan Keeble
Applications for primary school places.
If your child was born between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2018, you need to apply for a primary school place in the Reception year for September 2022. Applications should be made online at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/apply-place-primary-or-secondary-school and the deadline is 15 January 2022. If you have missed this date you can still apply. Please remember that even if your child attends our Nursery, you still need to apply for a Reception place.