A Message From Miss Quarmby
Hello everyone, it has been a bittersweet week at Whitkirk. On Tuesday, we welcomed Mr Sheriff for his “last lap” before he leaves RKLT. It was such a lovely afternoon — the children were incredibly warm and welcoming, many had made him cards, and they had lots of questions about what he will be doing next. One of our Pre‑Schoolers really made him smile by telling him he had the same socks as her Grandad. It was a really special afternoon, and I know Mr Sheriff was genuinely touched by the kindness of both staff and pupils. Then, on Thursday, we were delighted to host Mr Tucker, who will be joining us as our new CEO after February half term, for a tour of the school. He was very impressed by our writing displays, absolutely loved seeing our new Pre‑School, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone. Once again, the children who met him were wonderfully welcoming and showed exactly what makes our Whitkirk community so special. Across school this week, I’ve seen some fantastic writing, heard brilliant stories from Forest School — including Mrs Fewster’s fashion show! — and so much more. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I look forward to seeing you next week.
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 100% are 2CH. In second place are RLE, with 99.58% and in third place are 6OS with 99.48%. A shout out also goes YNAT, 1LR, 1VM, 2KD, 3RD, 4AR, 5AK, 5AS and 6NT who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 97.99%: 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.
PTA Update
Thank you for your continued support of our Whitkirk PTA ! We are so proud of what has been achieved together—the poster attached outlines how the funds raised have supported our children and highlights upcoming events. The next PTA meeting will take place on 21st January, everyone is welcome!
let's take a look at what each year group has been up to this week!
EYFS
This half term, Tim the Travelling Turtle is helping Pre-School to learn all about the Arctic! This week we have enjoyed exploring Arctic animals and feeling the soft texture of snow in our Tinker Tray! Pre-school have begun to explore contrasting temperatures and used key words such as hot, cold, warm, icy, or freezing to describe the way each object felt. We particularly enjoyed using our sense of touch to feel the chilly ice and watched as our warm hands caused it to melt back into water! We are excited for Tim to teach us more about the animals he met on his travels.
This week in Reception, during our Forest School session, the children were fully engaged in problem-solving, exploring, and creating using the natural resources around them. Christmas tree cut-offs were imaginatively transformed into armchairs, lampshades and hats, rope became wires for televisions, and branches were used as walking sticks to balance in the thick mud! The children then explored the best ways to roll down the hill- agreeing that tucking in your arms makes you roll faster! We are incredibly proud of how resourceful and creative the children are becoming during their Forest School sessions!
LOWER school
The Year 1 children have settled well into their new phonics groups and are making great progress. In Maths, we have been focusing on recalling number bonds to 10 and 20, and the children are becoming quicker and more confident. We also enjoyed exploring collage in our Art lesson, practising cutting a range of materials such as paper, card, felt and fabric, which is great preparation for our final art product later this half term.
What a super week we are having in Year 2. In RE, we have begun our new topic on Christianity and created a paper chain of rules. In Maths, we are quickly becoming multiplication experts. In Computing, we have started working on our moving animations. I couldn’t be prouder of the progress that all of 2KD and 2CH have made in their writing as we begin our new narrative, Lila and the Secret of Rain.
We have had a fantastic week in Year 3. We have shown great resilience in Maths when learning to multiply 2 - digit numbers by 1 digit using the grid method. We began using counters and base 10 and now we have even been using numbers with confidence! In Science, we have been looking at rocks. We tested what they would be suitable for by conducting a test to find out if they absorb water or can be scratched. We worked in teams to decide which would be best to make a statue.
UPPER school
Year 4 have had a great week of learning! In Music, we started learning the ukulele and practised how to hold, strum and tune the instrument before learning the C chord. In Science, we continued our topic ‘In a State’ and enjoyed observing how solids change into liquids. In Maths, we built on our understanding of multiplication and division, using related facts and practising multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100.
Year 5 have had a fantastic week of learning as we explored the events leading up to a boat crash in the Amazon Rainforest. The children loved comparing Maia’s and Miss Minton’s versions of the story, which helped them prepare thoughtful questions for their hot-seating activity. A big thank you to Miss Pease for taking on the role of Miss Minton — the children absolutely loved it!
This half term, Year 6 have really impressed us with their Geography knowledge. We have been learning about the different biomes of the world and how animals adapt to life in these biomes. The children have built a wealth of knowledge about the key aspects of each biome. We can't wait to see how this links in with their writing in English lessons next week - a persuasive piece about visiting one of the biomes! An enormous well done to our Y6 pupils who completed the Century Advent Calendar. All your additional hard work outside of school really helps with your progress.