A message from Miss Quarmby
Hi everyone! Wow, it’s been freezing this week, hasn’t it? It definitely feels more wintery now. I'm desperate to put up the Christmas decorations, but just about resisting...one more week! It’s been a lovely week here at Whitkirk. Our Reception children have been loving their Welly Wednesday adventures at Forest School, while Year 1 have been busy getting creative with primary and secondary colours. Over in Year 3, Miss Dougall and Miss Cook can’t stop smiling about how amazing their classes are—they’re so proud of the fantastic work the children are doing. I could go on forever!
We’re getting all set for our Christmas Fair, which is on Wednesday, 4th December, from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. A massive thank you to our PTA, who are working so hard behind the scenes (like little elves!) to make it all happen. I also sent out an email earlier this week about our Nursery proposals. These plans depend on funding, but we’d really love to hear your thoughts. You can find all the details about how to share your views on our school website. We’ll also be holding a consultation right after the Christmas Fair at 5:30pm if you’d like to pop by with any questions.
Mr. Sadler also mentioned Cash for Kids in an email this week. We’ve got loads of fun fundraising ideas lined up, like a whole-school Elf Run, the Christmas Fair, and more. We’re in a competition with four other schools to see who can raise the most, with the chance of winning up to £5,000 in extra funding! We know Christmas can be a busy and expensive time, so any support you can give would mean the world to us. You can donate by following the link: https://www.cashforkidsgive.co.uk/campaign/cash-for-kids-schools-challenge-north-west-yorkshire-2024/fundraisers/whitkirk-primary-school/
We’re starting next week with a bang! On Monday, M&M Productions are coming in to perform this year’s panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for all the children. It’s always such a magical experience, and I can’t wait to see their faces light up! Have a fantastic weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday. Stay warm and take care!
Autumn 2 dates
- 25th November - Christmas Panto (during school time)
- 12th December - EYFS Nativity @ 9:30am and 2:15pm (2 seats per child, parents to pick one performance only)
- 17th December - KS2 Church Service - 10am (please don't park in the Community Centre Car Park due to an event taking place in the Community Centre for people with mobility difficulties).
- 18th December - KS1 Nativity @ 9:30am (Parents of 2KD and 1LBR) and 2:00pm (Parents of 2CH and 1JL) - 2 seats available per child
PTA updates
Raffle tickets should be coming home in your child's bag over the next few days! Top prizes include a Google chrome book, a professional decluttering/organising session and wine hamper! plus lots and lots more. Tickets are £1 each. Children will be bringing a few tickets home with them. All you need to do is fill out your details, tear off the slip and return to school with the money for any tickets you buy in an envelope/sandwich bag! The draw will happen at the Christmas Fair on 4th Dec at 5pm (don’t worry if you can't make it, the raffle slip will have your number so we can notify you in you win). If you don’t want to participate, please leave blank tickets in bags and we’ll collect them back to sell on at the fair. Good luck!
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place, with 98%, are 4AS. In second place are 2CH, with 97.24%, and in third place are 6NT, with 97%. A shout out also goes to 3RD and 5/6AR, who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 95.25%: can we beat this next week? The only way to do that is if we all come to school as often as we can.
Let's take a look AT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON THIS WEEK
EYFS
This week in Reception, the children continued learning about different celebrations around the world and shared the story 'Confetti' by Dean Atta. In the story, a little girl named Ari discovers a piece of confetti, throws it up into the air and watches it helicopter down: a small, bright moment of celebration. And before long, Ari discovers confetti in other places: at her birthday party, at the Pride parade, in autumn's falling leaves and in the magical sprinkling of snowflakes. She finds that when you look around, life is full of celebrations, each moment bursting with colour and joy - just like a handful of confetti! This then prompted the children to recall all of the celebrations that they have taken part in, including weddings, christenings, baby showers and birthdays. The children have really enjoyed comparing their celebration experiences to those of Ari in the story. The children also had their first Secret Reader session this week. Books are the bedrock to our whole curriculum at Whitkirk, and through events such as Secret Reader we bring the love for reading into the classroom. We cannot wait for more Secret Readers throughout the year.
Key Stage 1
We've had yet another wonderful week in Year 1. We were delighted to become authors this week and write our own versions of 'The Lonely Beast'. We had elves clambering steep mountains, fairies roaming through enchanted forests and monsters stomping around swamps! In PSHE this week, we spent time exploring our emotions and feelings and showing what these might look like!
Year 2 have had a brilliant week writing outstanding narratives based on Jack and the Beanstalk. In Maths, we have started to explore 2D shapes. We have also explored tints and tones in Art and we have discussed what makes a good/ bad friend in PSHE.
Lower Key Stage 2
It has been another fun-filled week of learning in Year 3! In Maths, we have been consolidating our knowledge of the 3 times table. In English, we have been writing setting descriptions based on Narnia. As Scientists, we have been exploring how objects move on rough and smooth surfaces.
This week, Year 4 have been impressing everyone with their super English work, including writing biographies about Charles Dickens with lots of engaging and interesting vocabulary. We have also been writing persuasively and the children have convinced us several times!
Upper Key Stage 2
In Year 5 this week, we have produced some phenomenal writing, all about Grendel. We have been blown away by the children's vocabulary when creating perilous, secluded mountainous settings and merciless character descriptions; they left us with shivers down our spines! In Computing, we have continued our work on ScratchJnr to create our own animations. We have looked at how we can add speech to our animations and have begun to debug our own programmes.
Year 6 have had an utterly fantastic week! We have produced some fantastic writing all about evacuation during WWII. The children have used some amazing vocabulary and have thought carefully about how to portray the emotions the evacuees would have felt within their writing. We certainly have some budding authors in Year 6! In Science, we have continued to develop our understanding of what makes a healthy diet. We have learnt all about Scurvy and how and why people on boats for long periods of time would be susceptible to getting this disease.