A message from Miss Quarmby
Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a fantastic week—I’ve heard plenty of pancake stories! This week, we’ve been incredibly proud of our Reading Ambassadors, who led a brilliant assembly for World Book Day. A huge well done to our Century stars from Year 2 to Year 6, who celebrated their achievements with a well-deserved chicken nugget party with Miss Tomlinson!
You may have noticed a short break from our Facebook updates due to some technical issues (we kept getting locked out!), but we’re back now! Be sure to like and follow Whitkirk Primary School on Facebook to stay updated with all things Whitkirk. Rest assured, email will remain our main form of communication for important reminders and updates.
Today, we’ve had an amazing World Book Day! As always, the children's outfits have been incredible—I wish I could pop by some of your houses in the mornings for hairstyling tips! In class, we’ve focused on stories connected to our local area, including the Barnbow Lasses and Rob Burrow. Next week, our leadership team will be visiting Temple Newsam House to explore how our local history can be further embedded into the Whitkirk curriculum. Plus, an exciting art project is on the way for KS2 in collaboration with Temple Newsam House—more details to come soon!
A huge thank you to everyone supporting us with our Uniform Policy. We want all our children to wear their uniform with pride, and we truly appreciate your efforts. A gentle reminder to ensure children bring their P.E. kits to school and, where possible, keep hair tied back—not just on P.E. days, but daily for both health and safety reasons (and to help prevent any headlice outbreaks!).
Also, what an improvement in our attendance! Since returning after February half term, we’ve consistently been in the top three of our Trust primary schools for daily attendance! If we keep this up, it will have a hugely positive impact on our children. Let’s keep going!
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to seeing everyone on Monday!
Attendance
This week, our overall attendance was 98.07% (above our whole school target!), with 4JF and RJS achieving the highest attendance (100%): well done! A little reminder that if you’re unable to schedule medical appointments outside of the school day, it’s always best to arrange them for the end of the day rather than the morning whenever possible. We placed 2nd in the Trust for attendance this week—let’s see if we can take the top spot next week!
Let's take a look AT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON THIS WEEK
EYFS
This week, Tracey from the Children’s Centre joined Reception in class to talk about the importance of brushing your teeth. She demonstrated how long to brush, the correct technique, and why it's essential to brush our teeth two times a day and visit the dentist often. As a special treat, the Children’s Centre kindly provided each child with a toothbrush and a tooth brushing chart to help them practice good oral hygiene at home!
Key Stage 1
This week Year 1 have been creating their own Tudor Houses to recreate Pudding Lane. We discovered that they burnt quickly because of the materials they were made from. We finished our week be learning all about inspirational local authors, Rob Burrows and Kevin Sinfield, who wrote a story all about perseverance. The children were quick to spot that the moral of the story links to our PE focus of partner skills.
Year Two have written some fantastic non-chronological reports about Mary Anning, showcasing their growing research and writing skills. In maths, they have been working hard to find the most efficient methods to calculate change, demonstrating great problem-solving. In science, the children have been exploring the habitat of a tree.
Lower Key Stage 2
We have had a great week in Year 3 and certainly loved celebrating World Book Day! On Monday, we walked to Halton Library and were lucky enough to be given free book tokens. We explored the various genres and authors they had on offer and shared stories with our friends. In History, we have been learning about Pharaohs and their achievements in Ancient Egypt. In Writing, we have been learning how to use inverted commas and adverbs within our narratives.
Spring is in the air and learning has been blossoming in Year 4. We are just putting the finishing touches to our bird boxes which we designed and made in D.T and in English we have begun writing in role as King Aegeus, an Athenian and Theseus in preparation for next week, when we are going retell the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with a few innovations! In Science learned how to construct a circuit and to draw it scientifically too.
Upper Key Stage 2
This week in Year 5, we began to explore the concept of Karma and how actions affect the act of reincarnation for Hindus. We created our lifecycles and discussed how good and bad karma affects the life cycle. We then discussed what actions would cause someone to be reborn as a human, actions that would lead to a Hindu being at one with god (Moksha) or whether they would turn into an animal. Miss Richardson and Miss Kaur have been super impressed with the children's respectful conversations and prior knowledge. Well done Year 5!
Mr Sadler and Miss Tomlinson have been truly blown away by the phenomenal writing in Year 6 this week. The children have taken on the role of Macbeth and written a diary entry from his point of view when he met the witches, who told him he would be king. The children really got into character and used some fantastic vocabulary and sentence structures within their writing. Well done Year 6, true authors in the making!