Friday 7 September 2012

Issue 1 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 1

Friday 7th September 2012


Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome back! I hope you all had a fabulous summer and managed to enjoy some of the sunshine whilst spending some quality time with your children. It always amazes me how grown up they seem to become in just 6 weeks! It has been my absolute pleasure to see the children back in school and my sticker bank already seems to be depleting at an alarming rate- That’s a good thing!

I would like to start my first ever newsletter by thanking those of you who have offered such kind words of support as I take on the challenge of leading this fantastic school. I joined the school exactly ten years ago this week as a Year 3 teacher and to find myself in this position is nothing short of a true privilege.  

Summer in school
My absolute thanks go out to the staff of the school, who spent a lot of their holiday time ensuring that the children came back to a beautiful and stimulating environment and that learning opportunities are more engaging and exciting than ever. A school simply cannot be outstanding without the passion and commitment from each and every member of staff and it has been a real joy to see everyone energised and excited about the next phase of our journey as a school. Mr Reynolds and his team have been in school almost every day, making sure that our school and grounds are maintained to the highest standards and I’m sure you will all agree that without their continuing and brilliant work, our school would be a very different place.
You may have noticed that our Nursery building now has an all- weather canopy shelter, which means that our youngest members of school can enjoy the freedom and space of our outdoor environment come rain or shine.

New members of our team
We welcome a number of new teachers to our team who are all new to the profession. I wish
Mr Malley (Year 5/6), Miss McSorley (Year 2), Miss Pensom (Year 1/ 2) and Miss Pyatt (Reception) all the very best as they experience the beginnings of what I am sure will be long and successful careers. We also welcome Miss Parker who joins us as an apprentice in Reception and Miss MacDonald who joins us on a part time basis in Nursery.


“Meet your Teacher” meetings
We will be holding information meetings next week, which will give you the opportunity to learn about the class systems and the way that we can maximise our partnership with you in order to support your child in the best way possible. Working with parents is extremely important to us as we recognise the impact that effective partnerships have on the children’s attainment. The meetings will take place as follows:

Monday 10th September Year 3/ 4 – 2:40- 3:10
Monday 10th September Year 5/6- 3:20- 3:50
Wednesday 12th September KS1- 2:30 – 3:00

Extra- Curricular Clubs
You should have now received a letter outlining the range of exciting lunchtime and after school clubs that we are running in the Autumn Term. Please note that after school clubs will begin from Thursday 20th September.

Collecting more than one child
As we start the new school year, can you please ensure that your youngest child is collected first. Foundation Stage (3:00 p.m), Key Stage 1 (3:10 p.m) and Key Stage 2 (3:15 p.m) have a slightly staggered end to the day to make the collection of more than one child easier to manage. Thank you.

Relaunch of the PTA
An Annual General Meeting to establish a new PTA will be held at the school hall on Friday 14th September from 15:30 to 16:30. It is my aim to relaunch a team who will work effectively together in order to organise fund raising events and provide the children with some memorable experiences. We will discuss an important name change and criteria for membership at the end of the meeting. If you think you can attend or have something to offer, please don’t hesitate to put your name forward by Wed. 12th September 2012 to Mrs Mistry who has already been proactive in driving this agenda forward-  ush.mistry@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk We look forward to seeing you on the day. Coffee and tea will also be available.

Further important dates for your diary

Tuesday 9th October “The Big Draw” after school community event
Harvest Festival- Lofthouse Church
Week beginning 22nd October- Parent Consultations
Monday 29th Oct- Friday 2nd November- Half Term
Monday 7th January- Training Day
Friday 5th July- Training Day

I look forward to seeing everyone next week as we enjoy our first full week of the new school year.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Dale
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The first two days in Reception have been fantastic! It has been lovely to meet the children and to start to get to know them. The children have settled in well and made lots of new friends. The whole team are looking forward to accompanying your child on the exciting learning journey that lies ahead of them over the next year. 
THIS WEEK
In phonics this week we have been practising writing our names and with the sound robot we have been thinking about the sounds in different words such as cat, man and tap. We have had our first P.E. lesson and the children are already fabulous at performing the warm up dance.  They have drawn fantastic pictures of themselves in their brand new uniforms and told us about all the amazing things they can do. We have been counting to ten and singing lots of number songs including 10 little monkeys and 5 little ducks. The children have really impressed us with their efforts and their learning over the past two days. Keep it up so we can achieve even more!
NEXT WEEK
This half term our topic is “All about me”. Next week we will be talking about the children’s favourite things. In maths we will be practising counting to ten and to challenge them even more by counting to 20. We will be starting to learn our sounds and key words. Next week’s sounds are; s, a, t, p and our words are; a, an, at, as, if and in. Please help your child to learn the sounds of the letters, read and spell the words and how to write them with fantastic formation.  
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·         Your child has been sent home with 2 reading books and their reading record.  Please listen to your child’s fabulous reading once a day and comment in their reading record. Their reading is already fantastic but with your support and encouragement the children will make rapid progress and become even more superb!
·         Your child has a designated reading day (which you will find on the first page of their reading record) where they will read one to one. Please ensure that your child has their book bag on this day. 
·         P.E. is on Friday please ensure they bring their kit.
·         Each week the children will be given a piece of home learning this will be stuck in their home learning book and published on the blog. Please encourage and support your child. We look forward to seeing the fantastic learning they are doing at home.
·         Please practice counting to 10 and 20 with your child and practice writing their name with them.
Thank you for your support and enjoy your weekend (fingers crossed the sun stays out)
Key Stage 1 Newsletter
Home Learning

This week in Numeracy the children have been busy showing off their counting skills and their understanding of numbers.  We would like you to continue to support your child in counting in 1’s starting from any number and counting beyond 100.  The Year 2’s can even try counting beyond 1000. What number can they count up to?

Please also support your child in counting in the following sequences: 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.  This can be extend further for the Year 2’s by counting in 3’s, 4’s, 20’s, and even 50’s!

 News
What an amazing two days it has been.  The children were very excited to be back in school, showing off their new school uniform and new shoes!  They were all eager to start their learning and show off their brilliant skills to their new teacher.
We would like to welcome Miss Mees and Miss Beckwith to the Year 1 class, Miss Pensom and Mrs Beckwith to the Year 1/2 class and Miss McSorley, Mrs Mistry and Miss Hinton to the Year 2 class.  The children have been introduced to the new behaviour system in school and have all been given a house colour.  This will be explained in more detail at the Parent Meeting which will be held on Wednesday  12th September at 2:30 in your child’s class.  We encourage you all to attend this as a time to learn more about your class teacher, the routines and our expectations for the year ahead.
PE
PE is a vital part of the curriculum, therefore every child needs to bring in their PE kit either on the day or it can be left in their locker for the half term.  At times the children will be using different apparatus and need to be dressed in safe and appropriate clothing.  Year 1 will have PE every Tuesday, Year 1/2 is on a Wednesday and Year 2 is on a Thursday.  If your child does not have their PE kit they will not be able to take part in the fun and exciting activities planned for their own safety. 
Reading
By next week your child will have a new Reading Record and have spent time with their class teacher reading and looking at their next steps.  Please continue to encourage your child to read on a regular basis and fill in the reading record.  We ask that your child hands their record in on a Monday so we can continue to support the reading at home. 
Literacy
This half term in Literacy your child will be looking at writing a Non-Chronological Report, looking at the features (headers, sub-heading, related  paragraphs).  They will continue to include CAPITAL letters and full stops within their sentences and develop their ideas using: so, if, but, because, when.  This year you will receive a copy of your child’s writing every time they complete a big write and the next steps which will continue to develop their writing. 
Numeracy
This half term your child will be looking and Counting, Numbers and the Number System.  Each week we will give you information about how you can support your child at home.  Please use the school website: Learning Zone, Numeracy and support your child playing the Number games.
LKS2 Newsletter

Home Learning
As part of the children’s home learning in 3/4, we ask that the children read as often as they can across the week. All of the children have now picked a new reading book and have received a brand new reading record. This is where they can evidence all of the amazing reading they are doing at home. Please continue to encourage your child to read on a regular basis and fill in the reading record. We ask that your child hands their record in on a Monday so we can reward them for each day they have read. If a child reads every day they will be rewarded with 5 house points for their new house team.  We will also be giving spellings out every Monday that will be written in their reading records.


News
We have had an amazing and exciting start to the new year in year 3/4 and we are extremely proud of all of the children for their sensible and mature attitudes towards their learning.  We are very excited for the year ahead! We have been blown away by the amount of holiday home learning we have received so far. The children have worked super hard to research an aspect of Victorian life which they have presented in many different ways such as: pictures, ICT presentations, fact files, time lines and lots more! There is still time for your child to bring in some home learning around our new topic Victorians that we can display in our classroom.
We would like to welcome Miss Snowden, Mrs Comstive and Mrs Brooks to the happy 3/4 team. The children have been introduced to the new behaviour system in school and have all been given a house colour.  This will be explained in more detail at the Parent Meeting which will be held on Monday 10th September at 2:40 – 3:10 in your child’s class.  We encourage you all to attend this as a time to learn more about your class teacher, the routines and our expectations for the year ahead.
Some children were given a cardboard folder with a keyword mat and an exercise book to practice over the summer. If your child had one of these packs, please can you ensure it comes back in every Monday morning to be marked by the class teacher. We will be sending some of these packs out to more children over the coming weeks with a letter. Thank you for your support.
PE
PE is a vital part of the curriculum, therefore every child needs to bring in their PE kit either on the day or it can be left in their locker for the half term.  At times the children will be using different apparatus and need to be dressed in safe and appropriate clothing.  3/4T and 3/4S will have PE every Tuesday afternoon and 3/4M on a Thursday morning. If your child does not have their PE kit they will not be able to take part in the fun and exciting activities planned for their own safety. 
Literacy
During Literacy this half term, your child will be looking at the features Non-Chronological Report and writing one all about the Victorians. The children will continue to extend their super ideas into compound and complex sentences using a variety of connectives such as: so, if, but, because, when. The children will also be grouping these super sentences into rainbow paragraphs using lots of engaging features to interest the reader.
Numeracy
This half term your child will be looking and Counting, Numbers and the Number System. Your child will learn to develop their independence around choosing appropriate strategies for solving mental maths questions, as well as develop their confidence in their times tables.  Each week we will give you information about how you can support your child at home.  Please use the school website: Learning Zone, Numeracy and support your child playing the Number games.

UKS2 News Roundup
  • Welcome back to the new school year! It’s going to be an exciting and busy half term!
  • Our Achievers of the Week are all the children who brought in and shared their home learning about the Tudors. We were very impressed with the standard and quality of the home learning. Highlights include Millie’s model of the stocks, Macy’s model of a house and her in depth research and Abigael’s canvas of Henry VIII. Well done to everybody.
  • On Tuesday, Year 5/6 are going to the Royal Armouries as part of our Tudor learning. Please ensure that the children have a packed lunch. Thank you.
  • There will be a meeting for parents and carers of Year 5/6 on Monday at 3:20. The meetings will be held in your child’s classroom and will provide information about systems and learning in the phase.
Numeracy:
  • This week, the children have been focusing on number bonds to 100 and 1000 and using these to add mentally. Next week, the children will explore decimal number bonds with a total of 1 and 10. A link to some games which are being used in class is available on Miss Gascoigne’s blog http://robinhood56g.blogspot.co.uk/p/mental-maths-2012-13.html
Literacy:
  • The children have been exploring the use of connectives in writing this week. These include however, despite, and although.  There are games available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/connectives to practise using connectives. The children also have also been gathering notes on Tudor law, money and headmasters to write a non-chronological report.
Other areas of the curriculum:
  • In Topic, the children have been sharing their home learning as well as learning about the Battle of Bosworth and the War of the Roses.


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