Newsletter Issue 11 Friday 25th November 2011
Dear Parent/Carer,
I read in an ofsted press release this week that only 4% of schools in the country are rated outstanding for teaching. I am firmly of the view that the true measure of a school is the quality of teaching in classrooms, day after day. We can all be very proud that Robin Hood is among that 4%... and very determined that it will remain so.
Year 4 residential
Our Year 4 residential visit to East Barnby last week was a fabulous success. Our children were fantastic… their brilliant behaviour and attitudes were frequently commented upon by Centre staff. My thanks to those staff members who made it possible; Miss Thackeray, Miss Nicholls, Mrs Cookson and Mrs Beckwith. Without the enthusiasm and energy of dedicated staff we would be unable to offer these great learning opportunities for our children.
Strike
A letter was issued to all parents/carers on Wednesday this week notifying that school would be closed to pupils on the National Day of Action, Wednesday 30th November.
Meningitis
We have had one confirmed case of meningitis in the school. A letter was issued to all parents on Thursday. Linked cases are very unusual. However, it is important for all parents to know the early signs of Meningococcal infection which include fever, headache, stiff neck, a dislike of noise, a dislike of bright light and possibly a rash.
www.meningitis-trust.org
www.meningitis.org
Charitable Donations
Pupils at Robin Hood raised a total of £398.90 for Children In Need last week… an increase on the figure announced at our Assembly, as some additional money came in after it. Sixty six shoeboxes were collected by the Operation Christmas Child charity on Tuesday this week. Thanks to everyone who made a donation, including online donations.
Holidays during term time
236 school days have been lost at Robin Hood in the two months since we returned in September to holidays taken during term. Last year 850 school days in total were lost to holidays. These are huge and very worrying numbers.
While I understand the pressures that families face in relation to holidays, I am duty bound to remind parents that: There is a very clear statistical link between poor attendance and low levels of achievement at school. The Department for Education has raised the threshold at which pupils are defined as persistently absent to 85% attendance. Parents do not have an automatic right to take their children out of school for holidays during term time and parents are required to seek the permission of the Headteacher before booking a holiday.
Our Attendance Policy is available to view on our website. Our Holiday Absence Policy is fair and is consistent with all other schools in Rothwell. We ask parents to respect and abide by school policies.
E-Robin Hood
Our newsletter has a facebook page, many of our blogs have a subscribe option, our PTA has its own facebook page. There are many ways of staying in touch with what’s going on at Robin Hood and we are constantly trying to develop innovative and convenient ways of keeping parents/carers informed about what’s going on at school.
Christmas Disco
As there will be no Christmas Fair this year, our newly developing PTA is keen to put on a Christmas celebration for children. Our PTA will be hosting Christmas Discos for all children on the evening of Friday 2nd December. Further information will be available from the PTA soon. Now is a great opportunity for you to make your contribution to the future direction of our PTA. The more voices that are involved in the conversation at this point, the more inclusive, representative and broad-based the PTA has the potential to become.
Bags 2 School
There will be a Bags 2 School collection on 5th December.
Friendly Faces
As of the New Year Friendly Faces will be operating as a Term Time Only Club. This means that we will no longer be offering Holiday Clubs or childcare on school Training Days. We have opened for seven consecutive School Holidays and Training Days. None of these clubs have come anywhere close to breaking even and we are unable to sustain a loss making part of the business. We apologise to those parents who have consistently used the Holiday Clubs.
Have a fantastic weekend,
Mr Wilson
Meningitis Letter to Parents, 24 Nov 11
Dear Parent
We have learnt today that one of our pupils has been admitted to hospital with
suspected meningitis which is likely to be caused by meningococcal infection.
I have spoken with the Public Health doctor who has advised me that meningitis/septicaemia due to meningococcal infection is a rare illness. Even where the diagnosis is confirmed, it is very unusual to see a second case. The immediate family has been given an antibiotic to help prevent further spread. There is no need for any other pupil in our school to have antibiotics.
It is extremely unusual to see linked cases of this illness. However, it is important for
all parents to know the early signs of Meningococcal infection which include fever, headache, stiff neck, a dislike of noise, a dislike of bright light and possibly a rash. If your son/daughter displays any of these signs, please have them seen by a doctor and show the doctor this letter.
Further general information about Meningitis may be obtained from:
The National Meningitis Trust Helpline Tel 0800 028 18 28
www.meningitis-trust.org
The Meningitis Research Foundation Tel 080 8800 3344
www.meningitis.org
I’m sure you will join me in wishing our sick pupil a smooth and very rapid recovery.
Yours sincerely
Mr M Wilson
Headteacher
Nursery Newsletter
ROUND UP!
The children’s response to the home learning activity set the stall for a fun packed learning week, as we continued to share our experiences of different celebrations!
Thank you for your continued support. Please also help your child at home to learn their lines from the Nativity. If you are having any problems sourcing costumes, please let me know.
THIS WEEK
Our focus this week has been Judaism and we have been looking at the traditions of the celebrations of Hanukkah. The children have created some beautiful artwork, including clay candle holders, stained glass Saint David stars and our very own drawings and collage pictures of Menorahs! The children are truly blossoming in their early learning journeys and we are proud of each and every one of them for their achievements!
NEXT WEEK
We will be preparing ourselves for Christmas as we learn about Advent. The children will be sharing the Nativity story and making links to our very own “Tip Toe Nativity” gaining a greater understanding of the characters and the meaning behind the performance. We very much look forward to seeing the outcomes of this week’s home learning as it will be a fabulous introduction to the meaning of the candles used on the Advent wreath.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
•Please continue to share stories at home with your children, taking turns to hold the book and turn the pages.
•Listen to the Nativity songs on our Nursery Blog.
•Please bring in any empty boxes and cartons (no egg boxes, or toilet roll tubes)for the children to use in our craft area.
Requests!
If you have any old pots and pans, spoons or Tupperware that you no longer require, please could you donate it Nursery for our musical junk yard!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Miss Bradshaw and the Nursery team
RECEPTION NEWS ROUND UP
We've had another fabulous week in Reception and are very proud of the way that the children are progressing in their reading and writing. Thank you for all your support at home!
Our Reception production is getting nearer....if you haven't got it already, please can you get your child's costume ready for Monday 5th December. Thank you.
THIS WEEK
We have continued with our theme of celebrations and have been doing some speaking and listening activities following up the children's fabulous home learning. We then moved on to find out about Judaism and some traditional Jewish celebrations. The children have really enjoyed finding out more about different cultures and religions and have made us really proud with their independent writing.
NEXT WEEK
We will begin the week by finding out what Advent means and then linking this to the Nativity and our own production - to help the children understand the Nativity story and see the relevance of our own production and their individual roles.
We will be making our own Advent calendars and our numeracy learning will be linked to these - thinking about recognising, matching and writing numbers as well as counting backwards - our own countdown to Christmas!
We will be asking the children to write the tricky words that they have been reading for the last couple of weeks - you, they, all, are, my, her
We will also be checking how many children are confidently reading and writing simple CVC words such as cat, hop, bat, pin etc to form part of our ongoing assessments.
ICT
This week the children have been playing some fun games on the Ipad with Miss Lambert. The children have been learning their sounds with Mr. Thorne and practising their letter formation with the Hairy Letters game. Why not try downloading these at home if your child has access to an Ipad.
HOME LEARNING
Please listen to your child's fabulous reading for five minutes every day. Our home learning task for this week is to make an 'Advent Candle' (see home learning sheet).
Please can you bring in your fabulous home learning on Monday? Thank you.
Have a lovely weekend.
Key Stage 1 Newsletter
This week has been yet another busy one here in key stage 1. The children have been continuing with their learning with eagerness as always.
Trip Money
Our annual trip to the Theatre is organised for Tuesday 6th December. Can you please ensure that a payment of £16.50 is received by the school office no later than Friday 2nd December. You can pay by cash or cheque. Please place your payment in an envelope with your child’s name and class clearly labelled on the front. This can be deposited at the school office or in the drop box by the main entrance.
Key Words
Please ensure that you are engaging weekly with the key word spellings that are stuck into your child’s reading record every Monday. Being able to spell these words is vital in order for your child’s writing to progress. Your class teacher is always available if you need any advice!
Home Learning
The home learning for the next couple of weeks is an on-going project all about castles. This is due to be handed in on Monday 5th December. We look forward to sharing all the amazing outcomes!
This Weeks Learning
Literacy
In Literacy this week the children have written and illustrated their second story based on the creations of Julia Donaldson. Across the last two weeks the children have been building up their story writing skills to include a greater level of detail as well as a growing range of skills such as text effects, adjectives, connectives, time connectives …. The list of what are children are capable of is endless! All the Key Stage 1 staff are looking forward to reading their latest accomplishment this weekend.
Next week the children will be writing a final story of their very own creation in order to showcase their many skills learned across the past 4 weeks. Year 1 will be looking at the story ‘Room on the Broom’, Year 1/2: ‘The Gruffalo’, Year 2: ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’.
Numeracy
Numeracy has really been testing the children’s brains this week with the children developing their subtraction skills even further. We have developed quick mental strategies for subtracting a multiple of 10 from a given 2 digit number (e.g. 45 – 20) alongside more complex paper methods when subtracting two 2 digit numbers (e.g. 57 – 32). Why not ask your child to explain to you the different methods and strategies we can use. I am sure you will be amazed!
Next week the children will be engaging with several Numeracy Assessments. This will be carried out in a very informal way with the children helping solve a few problems that Mr Wilson has been having with his Sweet Shop! (We will leave the children to fill you in on this one!). Assessment at this point in the year plays a vital part in supporting your child’s learning into the coming year.
Topic
We have continued our Castle theme into this week’s topic but with a closer focus on the location of the Royal Castles visited by our Royal Family. This has also provided the children with an opportunity to look at the United Kingdom and the Countries within it. We have also looked at the flags of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with the children using these as a starting point for creating their own flag to represent the whole of the United Kingdom.
Next week the children will be scientists as they investigate materials and their uses in hope of solving some tricky problems that we have been having!
LKS2 Newsletter
We have had another amazing week in Year 3/4! The children in year four excelled at East Barnby last week and we were delighted with the fantastic manners, teamwork and collaboration that the children displayed. We also received fantastic feedback from the centre staff, who said the children were exceptional. Well done to everyone who came, we had a very memorable time!
We were also thrilled with the children's performances in this week's Celebration Assembly. The children's trainers look really professional and their confidence on the catwalk was brilliant! Well done EVERYONE!
Literacy
We have been continuing with our persuasive writing this week, which has involved the children creating their very own theme park, for all the family. The children have been highly motivated by this stimulus and have been very creative in their designs. The children have also written an engaging magazine article, targeting families and their need for a fun, stress-free day out. Next week, the children will be using their designs to create a persuasive leaflet for their theme park.
Numeracy
In Numeracy, the children have been embedding their use of column addition and have been using column subtraction confidently to solve real-life problems. The children have also been developing their mental calculation skills, through the use of doubling numbers. Through the use of partitioning, the children are gaining confidence within this area. E.g. Double 65 = 120 + 10 = 130.
The children have enjoyed playing this doubling game within class. Perhaps you could challenge their thinking at home?
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/double.html
Reminders
This week we have started to learn the songs for this years Christmas production ‘Santa’s on Strike’. Can we ask all children with speaking parts to be practising their lines at home and make sure they are reading with lots of fantastic expression. All the children have been given the song words so please get rehearsing at home!
If your child has not been given a speaking part, they will all be participating in the production through singing and dancing. Each class will be performing their own dance.
Mrs Moore’s class = ‘Reindeers’. Please can they wear brown tights / leggings or track suit bottoms and a brown T – shirt. Please can they have ‘antlers-on-an-alice band’ headpiece.
Miss Thackeray’s class =‘Carol singings’. Please wear Christmas clothes, hats, scarves and gloves. Lanterns are optional.
Miss Nicholls’ class = Domestic jobbers. Please wear Christmas clothes, an apron, rubber gloves, hairnets and have a duster or feather duster at hand.
Santa = Santa should be portrayed in his traditional red suit and beard.
Mrs Santa = wearing red too, or perhaps a ‘homely’ costume including an apron, big slippers and a headscarf.
Rudolph = Please can they wear brown tights / leggings or track suit bottoms and a brown T – shirt. Please can they have ‘antlers-on-an-alice band’ headpiece and a red nose.
The elves = Colourful tunics/tabards, tights, pointed cloth hats and shoes, aprons etc are a good start, but feel free to experiment.
People playing the part of family members = Pyjamas, dressing gowns, coats and normal casual garments are all that is required. A bit of tailoring or borrowing from parents may be required for those playing adults
Thank you,
Team 3/4
UKS2 Newsletter
News Roundup
•This week’s Achiever of the Week goes to.... everyone in 5/6D for their fabulous sign language skills to our Celebration Assembly song ‘Proud’... you should all be very PROUD!
•The children should have brought home details of a planned trip to the theatre during the first week back after Christmas. We will be spending the whole day at the West Yorkshire Playhouse taking part in drama based activities in the morning and then watching a performance of Annie in the afternoon. Payment for the trip must be returned to school by Friday December 16th.
Numeracy: This week the children have been investigating the area of compound shapes as well as circles. We have applied our knowledge of the Grid Method to multiply numbers, including decimals. Next week we will be consolidating our knowledge around this and other calculation methods and then applying all of the skills we have learnt so far this year.
Home learning: Times Table Challenge will be taking place in a few weeks’ time so please continue to practise ALL of your times tables as well as other number facts (e.g. number bonds to 100, 1000, etc). These facts are fundamental to all areas of numeracy. Any additional resources related to specific strategies will be provided for those who wish to practise at home. These resources are NOT compulsory; however we hope that children will choose to use these to help them with their understanding of the units of work.
Try the following website to get you up to speed with your times tables... for a real challenge, why not try this at zero seconds!!!!:
http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/bingo/caller/caller.html
Literacy
This week we have been applying a personal touch to our persuasive writing by planning and drafting a letter to ask a celebrity to come and perform at our Christmas Party. We have also looked at using superlatives within our sentences to really make the celebrity feel like they are ‘the best!’
Home Learning: This week’s spellings are linked to our DT unit starting next week: construction, modification, improvement, prototype, structure, technicalities, dowelling, flexibility, life-sized, variety.
Other areas of the curriculum:
In Topic we have been preparing a speech in order to pitch our invention idea to the Dragons from Dragon’s Den. We have also created a persuasive poster to advertise the same products. They looked A-MA-ZING!!!!
In Music Mrs Brook’s class have been perfecting their performance of Silent Night on the recorders. Miss Gascoigne’s class have been continuing to create mash-ups of popular Christmas songs using Garageband. Miss Darroch’s class have been learning sign language to a popular Christmas carol. Look out for these performances in assembly over the next few weeks.
5/6D http://robinhood56d.blogspot.com/
Visit our Blogs! 5/6G http://robinhood56g.blogspot.com/
5/6B http://robinhood56b.blogspot.com/
