Newsletter Issue 32 |
Friday 25th May 2012
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Dear Parent/Carer,
Visitors in School
We have welcomed visitors from around the country and around Europe to our school this week. We have hosted visits from teacher colleagues from Brownhill Primary in Leeds who are doing serial visits to observe outstanding teaching in our classes and who will be spending a fortnight with us soon. We welcomed over twenty colleagues from around Europe to school on Wednesday. These visitors were members of our Comenius project that has been fantastically managed by Miss Thackeray. My sincere thanks to Mrs Nash for preparing a wonderful traditional English meal for our European visitors. On Thursday we welcomed a delegation of eleven Head teacher and Local Authority colleagues from North Lincolnshire who came to talk about school strategic leadership and curriculum innovation.
Every visitor, without fail, commented on how beautiful the school is, how clean and how very well looked after it is. This is a measure of an outstanding school and it is a fantastic testament to our children, staff and our cleaning team, led by Mr Reynolds. I tell all our visitors about Mr Reynolds’ tooth brush - not the one he cleans his teeth with – the one he uses to get into the nooks and crannies and keep even the smallest detail at the school sparkling clean. This attention to detail is a measure of Mr Reynolds quality and his commitment to the school. It is a commitment to quality shared by Mrs McGrail, Mrs Wyman, Mrs Butterfield, Mrs Nash and Mr Hey. It is a source of great pride to me that their outstanding work is recognised immediately by all visitors to our school, wherever they’re from.
100% Attendance
Congratulations to Daisy Hutchinson, Finlay Wade, Jodi Smith, Caitlin Surtees, Emily Young, Lucy Bond, Lauren Dawson, Matthew Trueman, Videet Vadalia, Tara Hughes, Amber Sharp, Laura Bond, Millie Booth, Joe Clark, Eleanor Dobson, Harry Hutchinson, Jack Kreczmer, Kian Wade, Jessica Charlesworth, Reece Davis, Jack Gillings, Owen Godwin and Charlie Thompson, all of whom have 100% attendance… at the time of writing… this year. This is a fantastic achievement and I hope that these children are able to maintain this proud record for the remainder of the school year.
Eighty two children – one quarter of the school population - have an attendance record of 99%+. Twenty nine pupils – less than one tenth - have an attendance record of less than 90%. There is a very clear statistical link between attendance at school and educational success.
Holidays during term time
You may be aware from the press that the Government is planning to require schools to take a stricter line on holidays during term time and to increase the number and the level of fines to parents for taking their children out of school. We have a clear, and very fair, policy on Holidays during Term Time that is available to download from our website.
James Driver
In Celebration Assembly last week, we were all amazed to see James Driver taking part in a courageous charity walk to help raise money for his life changing operation, which will potentially enable him to walk. Many of the children have been touched by James' determination and have been offering ideas to both myself and Mrs Dale all week on ways to raise some money in school. At the request of our children, we are holding a Jubilee-themed Non Uniform Day on Friday 1st June. The children can bring in £1 to dress up in something red, white and/or blue. At the suggestion of Laura and Millie, we will be selling buns in the playground during the morning playtimes, so please get baking your Jubilee-themed buns for sale. All proceeds will go to James' charity "James Wish to Walk". If you would like to make a donation to the charity, you can do so by visiting www.jameswishtowalk.org
Marks & Spencer Community Events
Marks & Spencer are hosting Community Events in May and June – a Jubilee Create-a-Cake competition in May and a Shoes Glorious Shoes event to celebrate Recycling Week in June. The workshops are on a Saturday and run from 11.00-1.00 and 1.30-3.30. See the website for more details. Company.archive@marks-and-spencer.com and http://marksintime.marksandspencer.com
Dinner Money
Could you please ensure that Dinner Monies are paid by the Monday of the week in which dinners are to be taken. We are currently wasting significant amounts of administration time that would otherwise be used in service of the pupils on chasing late and non-payment.
Parent Meetings
Our Nursery is closed next Friday to allow for our New Nursery Parents Open Day. Our New Reception Parents Evening Meeting takes place 6.00pm-7.00pm on Thursday 31st May. Mrs Dale, Miss Lambert, Mrs Steel and Miss Pyatt will be on hand to welcome our new parents and children and explain everything there is to know about next year.
Have a lovely weekend – the warm weather has finally arrived!
Mr Wilson
Nursery Newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The sun has been shining this week which has put an extra big smile on everyone’s face. Hopefully it will be here to stay so could we plus ask that you make sure your child is wearing sun cream on arrival into Nursery. The staff are unable to apply sun cream to the children, but if a bottle is labelled and in your child’s bag we will ensure they top up if necessary during the day.
THIS WEEK
We have continued our learning about dinosaurs and we started the week by taking a visit to the Museum with George! (Peppa Pigs brother!) The children have been learning about how palaeontologists use the bones they find as fossils, and arrange them as a structure to learn about what dinosaurs looked like.
Within number the children have been exploring different patterns, sorting and matching dinosaurs and also revisited making 10 by adding 2 numbers together.
NEXT WEEK
This will be our final week learning about dinosaurs. We will be taking a closer look at what the world was like when the dinosaurs roamed the land, looking at the environment and what happened to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Within number we will be revisiting our counting skills, and ordering objects by size.
How you can help us
· Practise writing for fun at home, sending letters, making lists etc.
· Play I spy games listening for initial (first) sounds in words.
· Encourage taking turns by playing board games.
Many thanks for your continued support
Have a super weekend.
Miss Bradshaw and the Nursery team
Reception News Round up
Well done to all our Reception superstars. We have seen some amazing reading and writing this week and we are very proud of your super achievements! Just a reminder as we have had a few people who have failed to bring in their super home learning on a Monday morning. Please don't forget it next week guys, we want to celebrate your amazing achievements!
THIS WEEK
We have continued to learn about dinosaurs and how experts have been able to recreate the dinosaurs from the bones and fossils that have been discovered. We read the story of Harry and the Dinosaurs and their visit to the museum. The children have been sharing their own experiences of trips to museums and what they have seen there, thinking about the functions of museums. In our topic sessions we have been drawing dinosaur skeletons and making our own dinosaurs from fimo modelling clay.
NEXT WEEK
For home learning we have asked the children to find out about what happened to the dinosaurs and share their extinction theories with their friends. This will give the children a head start in their learning as we move on to look at the terrain and conditions in which the dinosaurs thrived, the changes to this and ultimately what did happen to the dinosaurs. In our numeracy sessions we will be revisiting addition and subtraction so any mental maths problems you can challenge your children with over the weekend will be really helpful! We will also be working on our number formation and producing super number lines all the way to twenty or maybe beyond that!
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
- By ensuring your child completes their home learning and hands it in on a Monday morning. We have deliberately asked the children to write structured sentences this half term as part of the transition activities to prepare them for Year 1.
- By making sure you listen to your child read for five minutes every day and that books and reading records are in school every day.
- By working with your child to read and write our key words and tricky words. All children need to be able to read and write the 45 Reception words in and out of context. These words can be seen at http://www.greatlittleminds.com/pages/45-reception-key-words.html
Please ask us if you need a paper copy. Thank you for your continued support.
KS1 Newsletter
What a fantastic week of learning we have had in KS1 this week. We have been lucky enough to show off this learning to our Comenius visitors from Italy , Czech Republic and Norway
Due to the beautiful weather, please ensure your child brings a water bottle to school every day, along with sun cream clearly labelled with your child’s name. Please note your child will have to administer their own sun cream.
Literacy
During Literacy this week KS1 have been developing their understanding of how to write a successful story. Using the story mountain structure (Opening, Problem, Build-up, Climax, Resolution and Ending) your child has been creating fabulous stories based on their class story. Everyone in KS1 has been showing off their super use of capital letters, full stops, adjectives, speech and speech marks, and connectives (and, but, if, so because).
On Friday 1st June KS1 are having celebration Friday, so please to come into school and read through these fabulous stories. Thanks to Ella in Year 2, we will be accepting donations for these stories, so you can take them home and enjoy them. Ask your child how much a top author earns and I am sure they will give you an interesting answer!
Next week your child will have the chance to show off their story writing skills. They will be using the story mountain structure that they are now very familiar with, to plan and write a new story about anything they wish! Please continue to support your child in their writing by asking them to write you some super sentences that include all of the above features.
Numeracy
What a fabulous week we have had in numeracy this week! Your child has been showing off ALL of their learning from the entire year by tackling word problems, complex number sentences and interpreting all kinds of data. All of the children in KS1 have been drawing upon all of the learnt strategies to solve different numerical problems. Such strategies include; the malteser system to partition and recombine numbers, putting the biggest number in their head and counting on /back to solve simple number sentences, and column addition to solve more complex number sentences. Why don’t you give your child some number sentences and get them to teach you the strategy?
Next week is SAT week for the year 2’s. This is nothing for you or your child to worry about, but an opportunity for your child to show off their amazing learning! Please continue to support your child in their numeracy learning by giving them questions to solve using an appropriate strategy, for example;
Jack is making cards.
One sheet of paper makes 15 cards.
Jack uses 6 sheets of paper.
How many cards does he make?
Topic
Throughout this week in topic your child has been learning in teams of four to produce their own Disney animation based on their favourite Disney Character. Your child has produced a story board, detailing what their Disney character will do in the animation, designed a suitable backdrop for their animation, and created a title page on Smart Notebook to go at the beginning of their animation. Not only this, your child has moulded their Disney character out of play dough in preparation for filming using software called ‘I can animate’.
Next week, your child will be continuing the production of their Disney animation by adding backing music and narration over their start stop animation. This is sure to look amazing so make sure you check out the finished outcomes on Celebration Friday!
LKS2 NewsletterWe have had a super sunny week in year 3/4, in more ways than one! The children have been delighting us with their fantastic learning and have really enjoyed applying themselves to their fantastic tourist leaflets about Leeds as well as beginning some designs for their very own fridge magnets related to the Leeds attractions they visited earlier on this half term.
Numeracy
In Numeracy this week, we have been classifying 2D and 3D shapes according to their criteria (number of lines of symmetry, number of vertices, right angles, sides etc) as well as investigating what the nets of 3D shapes look like. The children have enjoyed sorting shapes into Venn and Carroll diagrams and have even been making their own 2DIY games and quizzes to show off their learning, which will be appearing on our blog soon so key your eyes peeled! Next week, we shall be assessing the children's learning from this half term. We have covered fractions, time and shape so why not ask your children what they have enjoyed learning about the most?
Literacy
This week in Literacy, the children have been continuing their understanding of traditional tales and story telling techniques by looking at the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The children have written some fantastic alternative versions, which were very exciting to read, one was even about her running away to the circus and living with seven acrobats! We have been very pleased with their efforts with their writing this half term and look forward to assessing this next week when they will be given the opportunity to write their own fairy tale from scratch. We have been encouraging them to use adverbs and powerful verbs in their writing, as well as continuing with VCOP and including a balance of action, description and dialogue. Please ask your children more about this and ask them to pick out any verbs and adverbs in the books they are reading with you at home!
We will be collecting the children's reading miles for the Jubilee Reading Challenge during the first week back after the holidays, so please encourage your child to read with you over the course of the next two weeks! How many times can they complete a full journey around the Commonwealth?
Year 3/4 Blog Success!
Many thanks for showing such support with our Year 3/4 blog, which was relaunched last month. At Robin Hood, we feel it is very important that the children can showcase their learning to the world and access the learning they need at home in an easy and convenient way. We also think it is a great way to keep you in touch with what is going on in our phase. Since it's relaunch, the blog has had a hugely impressive 2,793 page views! This even includes visitors to our page from America , Australia and Germany
Reminders
· Please ensure your child brings their indoor PE kits every Monday and leaves it in school all week.
· Year 4s will need to bring their swimming kits every Friday and remember to take it home to have it washed.
· Please make sure your child's belongings are clearly labelled
· It is very important that all children have a water bottle in school to ensure they remain hydrated throughout the day.
Spellings
Group 1
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Group 2
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can't
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done
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don't
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none
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they've
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love
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didn't
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breakfast
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couldn't
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money
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wouldn't
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honey
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hasn't
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front
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hadn't
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wonderful
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we've
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worry
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you've
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tongue
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Thank you. We hope you have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine!
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:
· This week's achievers are Laura Paul, Laura Bond, Lily May Marshall and Hollie Stone for their excellent advert for a notebook, which they hope the winning union jack design will be placed on and sold at Leeds City Museum
· On Monday we will be holding auditions for the Year 6 end of year production, Hoodwinked. It is a humorous take on the traditional story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men, with lots of laughs and plenty of songs. We would like every child in Year 6 to take on a role in this production. However, some roles are bigger than others. If you would like to audition for a part in the production, please prepare a short audition piece (no more than 1 minute). Please bring along any music that you may need.
· Year 6 children have been asked to write their profile for the Leavers' Book. Further details about this are on the information sheet given to everybody in Year 6.
Numeracy:
· This week, the children have been continuing to develop their mental strategies for addition and subtraction. The focus has been on using strategies such as identifying number bonds to 10 and 100, counting on, rounding and adjusting (e.g. to add 19, add 20 then subtract 1). The children have also developed visual recordings to help keep track of their calculations.
· In Numeracy next week, we will be learning all about multiplication written strategies, such as the grid method and partitioning, whilst continuing to use and apply our fantastic mental strategies learnt this week to help us improve our speed!
· Home Learning - Try the following interactive game for help with grid method and for games which help you practice the method:
Literacy:
· This week we have been writing and practising our persuasive pitches for our Topic unit. We prepared a presentation to persuade Jim (Head of Commercial Development for Leeds City Council) to place products, featuring the winning design, onto the shelves in Leeds City Museum
Next week:
· Home Learning: Please learn the spellings which were inaccurate from today's spelling test. There are videos and games to practise spelling rules and patterns at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic-group/spelling
Other areas of the curriculum:
· In Topic, the children have been developing their adverts using Smart notebook and iMovie to use in their pitch to Jim.
· In PE, we have taken a break from the Big Dance and have made the most of the lovely weather. We have been up on the field developing our throwing and catching skills for a game of rounders
· In ICT, the children have been using the amazing features of iMovie to create a compilation of the animations which we created during our Japan topic.
Visit our blogs!
Reminders:
· Now that the sun has finally arrived (let's hope it stays with us) please ensure your child has a water bottle and a sun hat for playtimes and lunchtimes. It would also be helpful for your child to have sun cream applied before coming to school.
· Due to the warmer weather, we will be holding PE sessions outside. Please ensure your child brings their PE kit with suitable outdoor footwear.
