A Message From Miss Quarmby
Hello! December is here and I’ve already heard lots of stories about cheeky elves—some of them seem to have found their way into school too! A big thank you to Miss Sanderson and our Art Ambassadors for organising baubles for the Christmas trees in the hall. The trees are looking a little bare, so we’d love every child and every member of staff to add a bauble. Homemade, recycled, or shop-bought—anything festive is perfect. Our Christmas calendar kicks off next week with the Year 3–Year 6 performance at the church, starting at 10:00am. We kindly ask families to meet us at the church rather than walking with our pupils. We’ll get all children seated first and then welcome families in. We can’t wait to see you there. Please remember our Christmas Fair is this Wednesday. Our super PTA have been planning away and we’re excited to welcome you. If your child normally attends Wraparound Club and plans have changed for this week, please inform a member of the wraparound team at the door. Terrific Miss Tree visited Lidl in Halton this week to help decorate their tree. She had a super time and is already looking forward to next year—even though we’ve not had this Christmas yet! Apology incoming… In last week’s newsletter I tried to be too organised and muddled the training day information. To clarify: the Red Kite Alliance Training Day next year that school is definitely closed for is 27 November. If we are able to organise training days in the same way as this year, provisional dates would be 20 November and 23 November—but I cannot confirm these yet. I’ll let you know as soon as possible. To reiterate: 27 November 2026 is confirmed and school will be closed to pupils on that day. I’m so sorry for the mix‑up! We’re really looking forward to seeing so many of you over the next couple of weeks at our Christmas performances. Have a wonderful weekend!
Eco-Warriors
Amber, one of our fantastic Eco-Warriors has a top tip for next week: "Walk to school instead of using cars. This will save energy and is good exercise!"
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 97.58% are 5AS. In second place are RLE, with 97.08% and in third place are 3RD, with 95.71%. The whole school attendance this week is 94.26%: can we beat this next week? The only way to do that is if we all come to school as often as we can. 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 Gingerbread and Jinglebell the elves arrived in pre-school, along with a letter from the North Pole! The children enjoyed decorating the classroom to help the elves feel welcome at Whitkirk! We wrapped sparkly tinsel around our tree, hung baubles and created bright paper chains. We are definitely feeling festive and ready to celebrate Christmas!
Monday really brought the meaning of ' Muddy Monday' to life! The children in Reception had a fantastic time exploring the digging area at Forest School and jumping in the enormous muddy puddles after the rain. There was plenty of splashing, stomping, and jumping - and yes, some very wet puddle suits, but a lot of fun! Reception also enjoyed learning to use our brand-new tools safely, digging for worms, taking turns on the swing, and developing the muscle strength in their arms. A huge thank you to our wonderful PTA for funding the resources that make these experiences possible for our children. We are so grateful!
LOWER school
Year 1 have loved starting the Christmas festivities this week! The children have decorated the classroom Christmas trees, visited St Mary's Church, and made beautiful Christingles. The air has been filled with their lovely singing voices as they’ve practiced nativity songs, bringing festive cheer to everyone around. What a lovely start to December!
This week in Year 2, we have worked hard as mathematicians to identify the properties of 3D shapes. In DT, we have been learning about the claw and bridge grip, safely chopping vegetables to create yummy vegetable soup! Miss Hickman and Miss Dougan have been blown away by our commitment to Nativity rehearsals, we are definitely feeling the Christmas cheer in Year 2!
This week, Year 3 have been working hard to publish their setting descriptions and begin rehearsing and writing Christmas Poetry! We have carefully planned our mosaics in Art in the style of Gaudi's Park Guell. We are so excited to make our animal mosaics!
UPPER school
We ended the week in Year 4 on a wonderfully festive note with a visit to St Mary’s. The children thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Experience, taking part in a range of engaging activities that brought the story of Christmas to life. A heartfelt thank you to Reverend Claire and all the volunteers for creating such a meaningful and memorable visit for us. Your time and enthusiasm helped make the experience truly special.
This week, Year 5 have been delving into poetry in reading and writing lessons. We practised reading and performing them and looked at the features of poetry such as similes, personification, and metaphors. Next week, we will begin to write our own versions based on the poem we are studying. In Maths, we have learning what equivalent fractions are and how to find them. We absolutely loved using Cuisenaire rods to find equivalent fractions and we had some great mathematical discuss on how division and multiplication link to fractions. #highlevelthinking
In History, Year 6's Big Idea is 'What did the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings leave behind?' Over the last few weeks, we have investigated how and why they invaded Britain. This week, we took on a key role within a Viking community, e.g. a warrior, a merchant or an elder. In role as our character, we debated whether we believed it was a good idea to invade Britain. Year 6 have also been excited about the launch of their Century Advent Calendar; they are determined to complete it in order to earn their prize in January!