A Message From Miss Quarmby
It’s been such a positive first week back - it has been lovely to see everyone again, and I hope you all had a really restful and enjoyable half‑term break. The lighter mornings and evenings (and a lovely dry week!) have made such a difference this week. This week, Ms Thornton‑Jones, our Director of Primary Education, spent time in school and was incredibly proud of what she saw. She heard from some superstar Year 6 pupils, who spoke confidently about Trio Time, which we have introduced across the school this week. Trio Time is a strategy we use to retrieve, reinforce and assess previously taught knowledge. It supports children in moving new learning from their short‑term memory into their long‑term memory, helping them to remember more and build on what they already know. Ms Thornton‑Jones also spent time looking at writing books from pupils who have a special educational need and/or find writing more challenging. She was extremely impressed by the progress these children have made since the start of the year — a real credit to the children themselves and to the staff who support them so carefully.
World Book Day – Wednesday Next Week
A quick reminder that we will be celebrating World Book Day on Wednesday next week (not Thursday). Children are welcome to:
- come to school dressed as their favourite book character,
- Or dress as a phonics sound (for example, “P” for Pirate)
- bring their favourite book to share with their class.
We can’t wait to celebrate our love of reading together!
Celebration Parties
Below are some lovely photos from our Platinum and Diamond celebration parties at the end of last half term. We are so proud of everyone who achieved one of these postcards - such a fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved. As we head into next week, we’re really looking forward to celebrating reading across school on World Book Day and continuing the brilliant start we’ve made this half term.
Attendance
This week, finishing in first place with 100% are 3RD. In second place are 1VM, with 98.61% and in third place are 6WS with 98.44%. A shout out also goes RLE and RJS who have also finished the week above our school target of 96.5%. The whole school attendance this week is 95.78%: 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
This week in Pre-school we launched our new Big Idea, focusing on traditional tales and nursery rhymes, starting with Goldilocks and The Three Bears. On Monday, we made and tasted delicious porridge, topped with honey or jam! Throughout the week, our pre-schoolers have been superstar mathematicians, spotting groups of “1, 2, 3” around the classroom and exploring small, medium and large items. Each day after reading Goldilocks and The Three Bears, children have brought the story and characters to life throughout our areas of provision. Miss Tree and the Pre-school team are so proud of the children’s storytelling and imagination!
Reception have had such an exciting start to the new term. This week, the children discovered our new Big Idea, ‘Was it a happily ever after?’ and began exploring traditional tales. They baked gingerbread, learning how to follow a method using our sequencing words, first, next, after that and finally. The children especially enjoyed decorating and tasting their delicious gingerbread - luckily none of them ran away like in the story! We also had a fantastic visit to Temple Newsam House, where the children discovered traditional rhymes in different rooms, joined in with the songs and used a range of props. Their listening skills and behaviour were wonderful, we are so proud of them. What a brilliant and exciting start to the term!
LOWER school
This week in Year 1, the children have loved learning about the Great Fire of London. In English, we have been reading Vlad and the Great Fire of London and using it to inspire our writing. In History, we are exploring timelines and learning how this important event fits into the past. In PE, we have been dancing to London's Burning, using movement to retell the story. We can’t wait for our learning to grow even more this half term!
This week, Year 2 have launched their new topic on Mary Anning. We learned about her role as the first female palaeontologist in the UK and had great fun fossil hunting in the classroom. In science, we also began exploring our new topic of habitats and discovered what different animals might need in each one.
What a great first week back we have had in Year 3. In English, we started our new text 'How to Train Your Dragon' and used word cards to experiment with sentence structure and form imperative to help us write instructions. In Science, we investigated if we need light to see. We used dark bear caves and when we saw objects after we used a torch, we saw that we needed a light source to help us see! We can't wait to learn more about light and shadows this half term!
UPPER school
Year 4 have had a brilliant start to the half term. Their positive attitudes and determination to 'be the best that they can be' has really shone through. In English, the children have particularly impressed us with their vocabulary choices when writing character descriptions. Using our class text, Charlotte's Web, they have been building sentences, focusing on using expanded noun phrases and powerful adjectives. A fantastic week Year 4, well done!
In English, Year 5 have begun our new topic of Macbeth. As a class, we learnt the witches’ potion poem and explored new vocabulary, such as toil and cauldron. We loved creating our own spells using rhyming couplets inspired by Shakespeare. We also used role play to help us understand the hierarchy in Shakespeare’s time. The children stepped into the shoes of kings, servants and commoners, exploring how power and status affected the way characters spoke and behaved. It was fantastic to see everyone confidently acting, debating and bringing these roles to life!
Year 6 have come back to school full of enthusiasm, ready to learn! We've spent a week immersing ourselves in the Industrial Revolution in our History lessons, learning all about working and living conditions in that era. We've also begun our new Science unit all about classification: we had a great time classifying and grouping sweets in different ways!