A Message From Miss Quarmby
Hello everyone! Fridays really do come around quickly – this half term always feels like one where you blink and it’s gone. It’s also the time of year when, as a leadership team, we start looking ahead to next year – especially now that our Reception 2026 places have been offered. At the same time, though, we’re feeling a little emotional about just how little time we have left with our wonderful Year 6 pupils. I mentioned last week how proud we are of them, but it really can’t be said enough. From the huge number of Century nuggets they’ve completed (600+ this week alone!), to how kind they are to themselves and others, and how passionate they are about making our school and wider community the best it can be – they are a real credit to Whitkirk. This week, I received a letter from a Year 6 pupil who so professionally and thoughtfully persuaded staff to invest in additional equipment for Upper School pupils, including tennis and cricket equipment for lunchtimes. It was such a lovely reminder of the confidence, maturity and sense of responsibility our Year 6 children have developed. On Thursday, we were delighted to welcome Mr Tucker, our CEO, alongside a number of Red Kite Trustees. Miss Emery, Mrs Moxon, Miss Dougan and Miss Tomlinson all shared the fantastic work taking place this year, including Trio Time, Maths provision from Pre‑School to Year 2, and Writing in KS2. A particular highlight for me was seeing the drama and hot‑seating taking place in Year 5 – Miss Kaur and Mr Chamberlain (who was drafted into Mr Stout’s class) clearly have some hidden talents! I hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.
KEY DATES FOR SUMMER 1:
- 4th May - Bank Holiday
- 11th - 15th May - Year 6 SATs week
- 13th May - Reception trip to Temple Newsam Farm
- 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
Tennis
CRICKET
Whitkirk All Stars Cricket provides non-stop fun for all children aged 5-8 years old. The activity and game based programme is suitable for all skill levels, providing your child with the foundations to begin a lifelong love of physical activity and cricket, while making friends in a safe and enjoyable environment.
Date: Tue, 05 May - Tue, 30 Jun 2026 Time: 18:15 - 19:15 Age: 5 - 8 years old Price: £50.00 Where Whitkirk Cricket Club LS15 0AA Gender: Mixed
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 99.51% are YNAT. In second place are 2CH, with 99.07% and in third place are 1VM with 98.94%. A shout out also goes to RJS, RLE, 1LR, 2KD, 3RD, 4AB and 6NT who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 96.91%. 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 maths, pre-school have been carefully noticing similarities and differences between objects as they explored sorting, matching and making groups of the same type or colour. Throughout the week we have matched animals on Old MacDonald’s farm, sorted food for a Very Hungry (and very fussy!) Caterpillar, and enjoyed creating matching bouquets in our new garden centre in the outdoor area - we think we have some future florists in the making! We have been very proud of children’s teamwork and their confident descriptions of the sets they have created. Well done superstars!
This term in reception the children have been exploring the colourful artwork of Martin Bulinya. This week, they discussed and recreated his art! The children spotted the bright, cheerful colours and noticed how each person is outlined in bold black lines. Inspired by his work, the children created their own beautiful pieces of art. They carefully used pen to draw their body silhouettes and then brought them to life with oil pastels, choosing bright and vibrant colours for the clothing - just like in Bulinya’s artwork. We are so proud of their creativity and the care that the children took when creating their art!
LOWER SCHOOL
Year 1 had a lovely trip to Tropical World, bringing their animal learning in science to life. The children were excited to see a range of animals up close and learn more about their habitats. Back at school, they explored the art style of pointillism inspired by George Seurat. Using tiny dots of colour, they created their own bright and thoughtful artwork.
What a busy week we’ve had in Year 2! We were lucky to have a special visitor, baby Max, who helped us learn about how babies are welcomed into the world. This linked to our RE learning about belonging and how people celebrate new life. In maths, we have been learning about fractions and practising our counting skills. We have also welcomed some tiny caterpillars into our classroom. We are very excited to watch them grow and change into beautiful butterflies!
This week in Year 3, we have been investigating the role of the stem of a plant. We set up an experiment using celery and food colouring and documented our predictions. We can't wait to see the results next week! In Geography, we used atlases to find and locate different coastal areas across the UK. In DT, we planned and designed our birdbox structures!
UPPER school
In French, Year 4 enjoyed bringing the story of Le Petit Chaperon Rouge to life by applying their vocabulary through song. They sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in French, which is helping to develop their understanding of the text and support vocabulary recall ahead of our upcoming unit. In DT, we have been exploring different types of moving mechanisms and developing our understanding of the importance of wheels and axles. The children investigated how wheels and axles work together to create movement, identifying examples in everyday objects.
Year 5 have loved immersing themselves in our class text 'The Skellig' this week. We spent our reading lessons making inferences about the strange character found in the garage and we've also woven in our computing and English lessons into it too. In writing, we are going write a newspaper report on a mysterious creature being found the Scrap shed at school. To help, Mr Chamberlain kindly offered to be interviewed about the discovery! The children then took on the role as reporters asking fantastic questions to help with their writing. In maths we have been interpreting tables, line graphs and timetables.
Year 6 have had another busy week this week. From creating imaginative stories based on our Class Text 'Holes', about how Madame Zeroni came to lose her left foot, to learning about the how Brazil nuts are produced within the Amazon Rainforest and everything in between! We've even had time to develop our shape and space knowledge and skills in Maths lessons too.