A message from Miss quarmBY
Hello! That’s Half Term 1 finished—and what a fantastic eight weeks it’s been! It is the longest term of the year, and we’re incredibly proud of the brilliant start our children have made.
We wrapped up Autumn 1 with a bang. Year 6 kicked off the week with an Athletics competition on Monday, followed by our Harvest Festivals for Lower and Upper School on Tuesday. Parents Evenings took place across Tuesday and Wednesday, and our Pre-School and Reception children enjoyed their very first Harvest Festival on Thursday. We've also celebrated Lions house for being the Dojo champions this half term and had our Diamond and Platinum postcard celebrations. Finally, to round off the week, Miss Emery led Early Years training for Red Kite Teacher Training, welcoming lots of visitors into school to see the exceptional practice that takes place in Pre-School and Reception at Whitkirk.
We couldn’t be prouder of our children during their Harvest Festivals—their big smiles, beautiful singing, and confident reading were just wonderful. Thank you to everyone who donated a cereal box. We collected an amazing 210 boxes—enough to stretch from Miss Emery’s classroom door all the way around the corridor to Mrs Moxon’s door! Year 6 set up the challenge, measured the distance, and showed fantastic teamwork. You can find our video on Facebook.
Finally, our children and staff have been celebrating Diwali. A huge thank you to Miss Kaur, whose family celebrated Diwali on Tuesday. Despite this, she was in school because she didn’t want to miss the Harvest Festival or Parents Evening. We know how important this celebration is to her and her family, and it speaks volumes about her kindness and dedication. We’re incredibly lucky to have such special teachers at Whitkirk—and Miss Kaur is certainly one of them.
Thank you, as always, for your support this half term. Have a wonderful break, enjoy Halloween, and we’ll see you on 3rd November!
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 100% are 6NT, in second place are 2CH, with 96.76% and in third place are RJS, with 96.22%. The whole school attendance this week is 93.18% can we beat this when we come back after the holidays? The only way to do that is if we all come to school as often as we can.
The whole school attendance for this half term is 96.41%. Finishing in first place this half term with 98.88% are 2CH, in second place are 6NT with 98.5% and in third place are 4AB with 98.06%.
let's take a look at what each year group has been up to this week!
EYFS
This week during Welly Wednesday, Pre-School enjoyed listening to Room on the Broom and helping the witch find her missing hat, bow, wand, and broomstick. They searched the woods for sticks to create their own magical wands, carefully choosing ones that were shorter than their arms. In the afternoon, with Mrs Nash, the children practised wrapping colourful pipe cleaners around their wands to attach beautiful autumn leaves. They finished the day by waving their wands and casting lots of imaginative spells on one another!
This week in Reception, the children have had a spellbinding time celebrating Diwali and Halloween! During Muddy Monday, they created beautiful Diwali wands, foraging for sticks and attaching brightly coloured autumn leaves to create their own bright wands to guide Rama and Sita home in the story of Diwali!. Later in the week, the children decorated the Mud Kitchen and Water Areas for Halloween! They explored mixing potions and casting magical spells! The children used lots of wonderful mathematical language as they measured, poured, and mixed their magical creations!
LOWER school
Year 1 have loved exploring the outdoors this week. They have created autumn artwork using materials they found on an autumn walk. We discussed the changing of the seasons and how the world around us changes.
This week in Year 2, we have learnt how Hindus celebrate Diwali by creating our own Rangoli patterns, firework displays, diyas lamps and posters. In Maths, the pupils have blown us away with their determination learning column subtraction. They have also lit up the stage with their smiles at Harvest!
We have ended a superb first half term in Year 3 in the best way. We have loved sharing our harvest celebrations with our grown ups. In English, we have written our own Autumn poems using imagery, onomatopoeia, and similes. In Science, we investigated animal skeletons and compared them, looking carefully at the spine, ribs, skull and legs.
UPPER school
Well done, Year 4, for making it to the end of the half term — what a fantastic start to the year! We began the week with our amazing Harvest performance, and everyone should feel incredibly proud of their effort and confidence on stage. In Maths, we’ve been mastering column addition with exchanges, showing great focus and determination. It’s been wonderful to see everyone challenge themselves and make real progress. In English, we wrote diary extracts from the perspective of the lighthouse keeper, showcasing such imagination and creativity — the writing was full of emotion and detail! We ended the week sharing our final line drawn animations. Well done, Year 4 — you’ve worked so hard this half term. Enjoy a well-deserved break! 🌟
This week in DT, Year 5 worked together to make some delicious buns. They used their teamwork, measuring, and mixing skills to carefully follow the recipe and create tasty results. Everyone enjoyed working together and seeing their hard work pay off! Well done, Year 5!
Year 6 have been very busy this week, creating their non-chronological reports showing off all they have learned about the circulatory system. They've worked so hard to include all the technical features you'd expect to see in a scientific report and we are really proud of them!