A Message From Miss Quarmby
Hello! What a wet week it has been! This week has been National Storytelling Week, and we’ve used it as a great opportunity to refresh our reading spark, as I mentioned last week. All children in Lower School swapped classes to share a favourite story or book recommendation, and it was lovely to see children enjoying stories together across year groups. Mrs Tomlinson has also been working with some of our more reluctant readers, helping them to find books they genuinely enjoy — whether fiction or non‑fiction — and we’ve been busy ordering some new books for our library too. When I went to London, I was spoilt for choice at the British Museum bookshop! Some favourites included the “So You Think You’ve Got It Bad?” series (a child’s life in Ancient Greece, Egypt and beyond), so we’ve ordered a selection of these. We’ve also added titles linked to our Ancient Egypt learning, such as The Ancient Egypt Sleepover and The Cursed Tomb, alongside one that isn’t history‑related at all but we’re sure will be popular — The Fart That Changed the World! Looking ahead, next week is Children’s Mental Health Week, and reading is proven to support wellbeing. Perhaps next week could be a great opportunity to swap a little screen time for a shared family story. Children have also been asking for more Dork Diaries, Dog Man, Magic Molly, and other favourites. We’re always happy to keep extending our library, so please do share any suggestions. Have a fabulous weekend, and I’ll see you next week for the final week of Spring 1 — a half term that certainly hasn’t felt very spring‑like!
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 100% are 1LR. In second place are 4AR, with 99.22% and in third place are YNAT with 98.96%. A shout out also goes RJS, RLE, 1VM, 3RD, 4AB, 5AS and 6NT who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 97.16%: 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 have blown Miss Tree and the team away with their phonics progress this half term! The children have used “my turn, your turn” to practise saying the words shown on our picture cards and have grown so confident that they have now started to role play as teachers and practise independently! This week we have started to practice oral blending, with help from Fred the Frog - listening carefully to the sounds in each word before choosing the correct animal from Fred’s farm!
It has been a very busy and exciting week in Reception! The children were thrilled to welcome some very special visitors who help keep us safe in our community. We were lucky to have a visit from a local paramedic, Katie, who taught the children all about how paramedics help people. The children loved exploring the different uniforms paramedics wear and were especially excited to go inside the teaching ambulance. Reception also enjoyed a fantastic visit from the firefighters at Killingbeck Fire Station. The children learned about the important role firefighters play, explored the fire engine, and were fascinated by the water hose and the jaws of life. Hearing the sirens and the bullhorn was definitely a highlight!
LOWER school
Lower School celebrated National Storytelling Week by bringing in a favourite book from home and sharing it with a child from another class. It was so lovely to see the children enjoying stories together and celebrating their love of reading.
In Year 1 this week, we have continued our learning about countries and capital cities in the United Kingdom, before moving on to explore the oceans that surround the UK. In Science, the children have been continuing their learning about materials. Our investigation this week focused on discovering which materials are bendy and stretchy.
Year 2 have had a brilliant week completing our unit on multiplication and division problem-solving and reasoning, as well as geography. We have learned all about drought and famine in Kenya, and in music we performed reggae-inspired pieces.
What a fantastic, busy week we have had in Year 3! In Maths, we have been solving multiplication and division word problems and in English, we have been writing using conjunctions. In Science we identified different types of fossils and in Geography we used grid references to locate cities in Italy.
UPPER school
This week in Year 4, we worked on finding the perimeter of rectilinear shapes, as well as regular and irregular polygons. In DT, we began blanket stitching our decorations and are looking forward to seeing the finished results. In Science, we carried out three experiments to investigate the question, “Are spaces really empty?” In Geography, we used atlases to locate rivers in Yorkshire.
Year 5 have been brilliant debaters this week. They worked hard on using eye contact, taking turns and listening carefully to their partners to hold thoughtful, respectful discussions. It was wonderful to hear them speak with such enthusiasm about the advantages and disadvantages of living in the rainforest. We cannot wait to read your balanced arguments next week. Well done Year 5!
Year 6 have spent several weeks designing stuffed toys, measuring fabric, cutting out swatches, threading needles and sewing carefully. We're now at the stage where some people are starting to finish and they're looking brilliant! We've been so impressed with their care, attention to detail and enthusiasm! Well done Year 6!