A Message From Miss Quarmby
Welcome back to the summer term! I’ve been in and out of school this week, so if I’ve not yet seen you, I hope you had a wonderful Easter break. It’s hard to believe that we are already into the final third of the school year. In just a few weeks’ time, our Year 6 pupils will be completing their end of Key Stage 2 tests (SATs), and we are already incredibly proud of the effort and commitment they are showing. I’d like to particularly recognise those pupils who are completing extra practice on Century and attending our breakfast and after-school booster clubs. Our staff are working incredibly hard to ensure every child achieves their full potential and feels confident and well-prepared for the next stage of their education. At the other end of the school, Miss Emery and I were in London on Thursday for the Lead Reception School RISE conference. It really highlighted just how special this opportunity is, and what an amazing accolade it is for Whitkirk to have been selected as the lead school for the whole of Leeds and Wakefield. We have so much to look forward to this summer term, and it’s really important that children are in school every day so they can enjoy all that’s on offer and make the best possible progress. Have a wonderful weekend.
KEY DATES FOR SUMMER 1:
- 29th April - Year 1 trip to Tropical Word
- 4th May - Bank Holiday
- 6th May - Reception trip to Temple Newsam Farm
- 11th - 15th May - Year 6 SATs week
- 20th May - Year 3 trip to Saltburn-by-the-Sea
- 21st May - House Film Afternoon
- 22nd May - Diamond & Platinum Awards
- 22nd May - Break up for half term
Attendance
This week, finishing in joint first place with 100% are RLE, 1LR, 1VM and 3RD. In second place are 2KD, with 99% and in third place are 6WS with 98.96%. A shout out also goes to YNAT, RJS, 5AK and 6NT who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 97.24%. Please remember look at the NHS guide Is my child too ill for school? - NHS (www.nhs.uk) This is used to determine which reasons for absence will be authorised or unauthorised.
let's take a look at what each year group has been up to this week!
EYFS
This week in Pre-School, we launched our new Big Idea all about life cycles, nature, and growth! After reading our new class text, Sam Plants a Sunflower, we planted sunflower seeds, carefully following the instructions from the story. Throughout the week, we have also used wildflower seed shakers in our outdoor area, and planted peas on Welly Wednesday. The children blew us away with their knowledge of how to take care of their plants. We’re excited to closely observe them as they grow and can’t wait to see the first shoots appear. Well done to our super gardeners!
This week in Reception the children found out about our new Big Idea: Little Seeds, Big Adventures! The children had a fantastic start to the term, sharing their ideas about what we might find in a garden and exploring different plants and habitats. They talked about why creatures live in certain places, such as worms underground, and confidently shared their knowledge of life cycles while learning new topic vocabulary! At Forest School, the children loved becoming minibeast detectives! They carefully used a checklist to spot, tally, and record a range of minibeasts, working together as they searched for where the creatures were hiding. We also had a very exciting delivery…our class caterpillars arrived! The children were thrilled to meet them and are already looking forward to observing how they grow and change throughout the term! What a wonderful start to the term!
LOWER SCHOOL
What an amazing start to the summer term! The children in Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed exploring our new provision areas and have settled into their learning with great enthusiasm. This term, we are focusing on hot and cold parts of the world, with a particular interest in the polar regions. In Geography, we have been busy creating our own globes. The children carefully added the continents and marked the equator, helping them to understand where different climates are found around the world.
This week in Year 2, we launched the summer term with a traffic survey on Templegate Walk. In Science, we have been learning all about life cycles. We even had a visit from Whitkirk Tennis Club!
We have had a great start to summer term in Year 3! In English, we have started reading our new text 'Alice in Wonderland' and have practised constructing sentences with different word classes, to help us write our diary entry. In Maths, we have been adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator. In Geography, we have crafted our own coastlines, labelling their key features!
UPPER school
Year 4 have had a super start to the Summer term. This week, in particular, they impressed us in Science where they worked in teams to sort a range of living things. The children were brilliant at sharing their thoughts and ideas and discussing any questions they had about specific animals/plants. Great work Year 4!
It's been great start back after the Easter holidays; the children are refreshed and raring to go! We have started reading Skellig, a story where a child discovers a mysterious creature living in his garage. Year 5 have done lots of work on understanding the vocabulary, the plot so far and writing a character description on the mysterious creature. In computing we have begun to learn how use iMovies to make sort films. We are eventually going to create a Sky News style report on events from the Skellig. In PE, we learnt the importance of warming up and practised our sprinting skills too.
Year 6 have returned to school after Easter with loads of determination and enthusiasm for all their learning. In our English lessons, we have started reading our new text, 'Holes', and conducted some rigorous hot seating to interview one of the most intriguing characters we've met so far: the outlaw, Kissin' Kate Barlow!