A Message From Miss Quarmby
Hi everybody! I hope you’re all well and enjoyed the long weekend—it felt like such a treat, and it’s been lovely hearing what everyone has been up to. School was closed for those two training days this year, as teachers returned on the Friday of the summer holidays for curriculum training at Temple Newsam House. Since then, staff from Whitkirk and Austhorpe Primary have been working together in a series of twilight sessions focused on neurodiversity. We’ve got one more to go in January! A few people have asked if we’ll be able to do the same next year. I’ll update you as soon as possible—hopefully in January—about next year’s training days. I do know that one is already in the calendar for 20th November, as this is a Red Kite Alliance training day. You may have noticed our lovely and smiley new crossing patrol, Suzzanne. We’re delighted she’s joined us and hope she’ll help keep our roads safer—with everyone’s care and cooperation, of course! We know that the majority of our families park safely and respectfully every day. If you are in the minority where this is still not the case, please work with us to make sure our roads are safe for everyone. Christmas preparations are well underway, and we’re looking forward to our Christmas Fair on 10th December straight after school. We hope you’ll be able to join us! Have a wonderful weekend—I’ll be putting up my Christmas tree on Saturday and then heading to the Abbey Dash (not running!) on Sunday. Good luck to anyone taking part!
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 99.4% are 1VM. In second place are 2KD, with 99.36% and in third place are 5AK, with 98.89%. A shout out also goes RJS, 3RD, 3JC and 4AR who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 95.73%: 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
Pre-school were very excited to spot the first signs of Winter during our frosty Welly Wednesday session this week! They loved listening to and feeling the crunch of the frozen grass and leaves beneath their wellies and enjoyed using twigs and sticks to make marks in the sparkly frost. The children worked together to collect ingredients to make icy cupcakes and even decorated a miniature Christmas tree with leaves!
This week Reception had a fantastic time exploring movement and colour today. Inspired by the work of Jackson Pollock, the children experimented with rolling and splattering paint by shaking and tilting their trays. They were fascinated as vibrant patterns and unexpected designs began to appear on their paper. It was wonderful to see their excitement and creativity shining through. Well done, artists!
LOWER school
This week, the children in Year 1 have been impressing us with their fantastic ability to write words using the suffix-ing. They’ve shown great independence and produced some lovely handwriting too! Our Science fun continued as we explored our sense of smell, investigating a range of interesting scents and discussing how we use our noses to understand the world around us. As part of our History topic, we also explored some games that were played in the past, comparing them to the games we enjoy today. The children loved discovering how play has changed over time!
Year 2 have been working incredibly hard this week, exploring tint and tone in their art lessons. In Maths, the children have impressed us with their growing understanding of 3D shapes and their properties. In RE, they also learned about the importance of the River Ganges (River Ganga) and why it is so special to many people.
What a fun-filled week we have had in Year 3! From completing our setting descriptions of Narnia, learning how the north and south poles of magnets affect each other, to learning about farming and settlement changed Stone Age housing and even making our own settlements from lego! We compared Skara Brae to Whitkirk, identifying similarities and differences. Well done Year 3!
UPPER school
This week in Year 4 we’ve been working hard on our Charles Dickens biographies, really showing stamina as we tackled a longer piece of writing. In Maths, we’ve been practising our multiplication and division skills - showing courage when faced with a challenge. In History, we looked at why the Romans wanted to grow their empire, and in Computing we continued exploring Micro:bits, trying out different ways to code them. A great week!
In English this week in Year 5 we completed our epic stories of how Beowulf defeated the Grendel. In Computing, we have been using a program called Scratch to write algorithms to make animated stories. In gymnastics, we have been combining forward rolls and jumps to make sequences. We even scored each other and gave each other feedback on to improve.
Year 6 have had another busy week, even in only four days! In English, we have been writing diary entries from the point of view of evacuees, showcasing all our amazing vocabulary and new grammar that has been learned over the last few weeks. We've tackled more of our fractions and percentages challenges with real determination. On top of this, we've even been learning how to create games using Scratch.