Friday 24 May 2013

Issue 32 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 32

Friday  24th May 2013
Dear Parent/Carer,
We reach the end of a great half term and I can’t believe that we have literally just weeks until we come to the end of another year in our children’s school lives. Our last week has been as busy as ever.

Big Dance
The weather was kind last Friday as all the children took to the playground to take part in the national “Big Dance” pledge. The children from Nursery right up to Year 6 (and several teachers!) rehearsed a routine created by the English National Ballet. From where I was standing, the composition looked stunning and I felt so proud of every child who was putting their heart and soul into the dance. Well done to Miss Mees for her organisation of the event. We plan to showcase the dance once more at the opening of the Sports Day on 12th July. More details to follow.

Visitors from Sweden (WHISE project)
This week we welcomed Anneli, Erika and Hulda from Sweden as part of the WHISE project (Welfare and Health in Special Needs Education). They spent time in classrooms looking at the way we use technologies to enhance learning and teaching styles which benefit the needs of all learners. As is often the case when we have visitors, they left highly impressed with the behaviour of our children, their positive attitudes to learning and our innovative approach to teaching with high quality resources. Mrs Wathen and Mrs Cookson did an outstanding job of representing the school at the welcome and dissemination events held at Carr Manor Community School, where they contributed to discussions linked to educational agendas and classroom practice with school leaders from the city.

HLTA superstars
Following on from their contributions to the WHISE project, to prove just how talented and dedicated they are, Mrs Wathen and Mrs Cookson were recently entered into a competition to find Leeds’ most outstanding Higher Level Teaching Assistant in association with Leeds Metropolitan University. I am pleased to announce that both ladies have been shortlisted and will attend an awards ceremony at Carnegie Stadium on July 2nd. Well done to both of you!

June Wood Award
Many of you will remember June Wood, our fabulous and spirited governor, who sadly passed away last year. In her memory, the Governing Body has initiated an award that will be presented to children in the school at the end of the school year. The award will be presented to two children who have made a significant contribution to the school and have excelled in areas aside from academic achievement. June believed in recognising children’s passions and strengths and that is what the Governing Body and the school would like to replicate through this award, which will be presented during an extended assembly on July 19th. My thanks to our governors for the endorsement of this award.

Parent Numeracy workshops
Thank you to all parents who attended the Key Stage 2 Numeracy workshops on Tuesday. These are a great way to keep up to date with teaching strategies that we use. My thanks to Miss Gascoigne and Miss Thackeray who led the sessions. They will be holding another on Wednesday 12th June focusing on Multiplication. Please come along.

Deputy Headteacher appointment
I am delighted to confirm that following an intense Deputy Headteacher recruitment process, Miss Hinton has been appointed as the permanent Deputy Headteacher at Robin Hood Primary School. I have worked closely with Miss Hinton for 5 years and have met very few teachers who are as gifted and passionate about teaching and learning as she is, so I am thoroughly excited about what we, with our fantastic team, can achieve for the future of our school.

PTA NEWS
Plans are definitely underway for our Summer Fayre and our members are busy contacting and sourcing various exciting things to keep you all entertained on the day. We would still like your help however and would ask that you save your empty wine bottles (with caps attached), jam jars and newspapers. As our theme this year is a traditional village fete it would be lovely if we could decorate the stalls with lots of bunting, so if anyone has any lying around, maybe from last year’s Jubilee celebrations, we would love to take it off your hands. Hopefully the weather will be glorious and we would appreciate the loan of any gazebos or marquees to keep the sun off our stall holders and whilst you are having a drink or eating your lunch. After the holidays there will be a PTA member standing at the front of school every morning to take any of the donations off your hands.
If anyone would like a stall to sell their own products, or knows someone who would, please contact Mrs Mistry who can be found at the Year 2 door every morning. Alternatively, or for any further information, please email the PTA on robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com
Our next PTA meeting will be held on 12 June at 3:15pm at the school. We will be discussing the Summer Fayre so if you can make it your help would be very much appreciated. Have a lovely half term.

Please do remember that we have a school calendar now on the front page of the school website that will include all key dates for your diary.  In the meantime, have a brilliant half term break.
Mrs Dale
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Wow I can still see sparkles in front of my eyes from all the bling that was on display in our fashion designs this week. The children have really gone to town on designing their own clothes so that they were fit for the emperor to wear and their creativity was wonderful. We would also like to say a big thank you to all those parents that attended celebration Tuesday. It was lovely to be able to share with you all your child’s wonderful learning and for your child to be able to share their own learning environment with you.
THIS WEEK
Our story in literacy this week was The Emperor’s New Clothes. The children really enjoyed designing their own clothes this week and I think the Emperor would have definitely liked them more than the ones Slimus and Slick made for him! In numeracy the children had a great time getting themselves in the correct places in our classroom by following instructions using prepositional language e.g. ‘on top’ and ‘behind’ etc. In phonics our sounds of the week were ‘c’ and ‘o’. We are really impressed with how well the children are now able to blend and segment words and now their next step is to be able to look at the letters in a word, sound them out and then blend them to make the word.
NEXT HALF TERM
When the children come back after half term our classroom will have undergone a total transformation and it will resemble a bug hunter’s paradise. We will have a brand new garden area inside, a bug viewing area and a pond area. These new areas will help spark the children’s enthusiasm for exploratory play and provide them with wonderful and immersive learning experiences. Next half term will be the last half term in nursery for those children who will be going into Reception in September. So our learning sessions will be moving more towards the structure they use in Reception, to prepare the children for their transition into “big” school. In the first week back we will be reading the story ‘I love Bugs’ and the children will be drawing their favourite bugs and writing names underneath. In numeracy we will be counting to twenty and our main focus will be on one more and one less. In phonics we will be starting to read Bugclub books which contain the sounds in that the children have learnt so far. This will help to children begin to read simple cvc words. Our sounds of the week will be ‘k’ and ‘ck’.
A DATE FOR YOUR DIARIES
On Tuesday the 2nd of July Nursery will be closed to all children as it is the Robin Hood transition day. Those children who are attending Robin Hood Reception in September will go straight to their new class at 9am until 3pm on this day.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH THEIR LOVELY LEARNING

·        Please read with your child for 5 minutes every day over the holidays
·        Challenge them to show you how well they can write their name.
We hope you have a lovely and enjoyable half term break.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin & Miss Fox
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Wow I can still see sparkles in front of my eyes from all the bling that was on display in our fashion show today. The children have really gone to town on designing their own clothes so that they were fit for the emperor to wear and their creativity was wonderful. We would also like to say a big thank you to all those parents that attended celebration Tuesday. It was lovely to be able to share with you all your child’s wonderful learning and for your child to be able to share their own learning environment with you.
THIS WEEK - Our story in literacy this week was The Emperor’s New Clothes. In literacy we have really focussed on the structure of a story using the story mountain (beginning, middle and end) and each day they have written a bit more of the story. The stories the children produced were at a really high level and demonstrated the amazing progress the children have made over the past year. The children really enjoyed designing their own clothes this week for our fashion show with Mrs Friar and I think the Emperor would have definitely liked them more than the ones Slimus and Slick made for him. In topic the children also learnt about the Roman Emperor’s and they found out about the only surviving emperor who lives in Japan. In maths we continued to measure objects using 30cm rulers. The children are really enjoying this mathematical concept and are becoming more and more confident in measuring. In phonics the children have learnt to read the words; everyone, our, two, has, yes and play and have learnt to read and write the long I sounds; ie (pie, tie) and i_e (time, mine).
NEXT HALF TERM - When the children come back after half term our classroom will have undergone a total transformation and it will resemble a bug hunter’s paradise. We will have a brand new garden centre along with a cafe, a bug viewing area, a pond area and a mud area perfect for digging. These new areas will help spark the children’s enthusiasm for exploratory play and provide them with wonderful and immersive learning experiences. In literacy our main focus will be the use of amazing adjectives in their writing as our book of the week “I love bugs” is packed with brilliant ones. Our outcome in literacy will be the children’s very own book describing their favourite minibeasts. In numeracy we will be focussing on number bonds to 10 to reinforce the skill of counting on using their fingers. Our starter will be focusing on number sequences such as counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. In phonics we will be learning to read the words; take, thought, dog, well, find and more and we will be learning to read and write the long I sounds; y (by, fly) and i (find, kind).
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD
·        Please engage with the home learning over the half term to help your child reach their end of year target.
·        Please read at least 5 minutes every day with your child.
·        Please encourage them to write things when the opportunity arises (e.g. their own shopping list). Lillie T, Sophie C and Evie T have all brought in wonderful books that they have written at home to share with the class.
We hope you have a really nice and relaxing half term.
Miss Pyatt, Miss Lambert and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1


Home Learning:

Next half term our topic is going to be Animals! We’ll kick start this topic by looking at habitats and the fascinating ways in which animals adapt to their environment. We would love the children to research an animal of their choice and produce a poster about how they survive in their habitat. There doesn’t need to be lots of writing, just a lovely picture and a few simple facts.





Happy half term!
Can you believe half term is here already?! The past few weeks have flown by in the blink of an eye and we are so proud of all that the children have achieved. They blew us away with the incredible whole school ‘Big Dance’, created some wonderfully creative adventure stories and journeyed back through the ages to find out how music has changed. Check out some of our amazing Pop Art pictures on the KS1 blog which can be found at www.robinhood.leeds.sch.uk.  We hope you all have an amazing half term – fingers crossed for some long awaited sunshine!

Literacy:
This week we reached the end of our adventure story narrative unit. The children have produced some incredibly sophisticated writing incorporating all the skills they have acquired over the half term. All the children took so much pride in their stories – presentation has been amazing! It is incredibly impressive to see how the children have learnt to write a story in line with the five stages of the story mountain (opening, build up, climax, resolution, ending). They have effectively painted a picture in the reader’s mind with some well-chosen descriptive language. Their creativity is so inspiring and it has been an utter joy to share their ideas with them.

Next half term our focus is poetry. We will be performing a collection of poems and learning about a whole host of poetic devices: rhyme, alliteration, simile and repetitive structures. If the children have a favourite poem we would love them to bring it in to share with the class.  In order to support your child’s understanding of poetry please read some poems over the half term.  Remember to record this in your child’s reading record so we can celebrate this together.

Numeracy:
We couldn’t keep up with the rapid pace of learning in numeracy this week. The children are whiz kids at adding and subtracting ten, identifying missing numbers, ordering and sequencing. Their tenacity has been admirable, as we have really encouraged them to learn outside their comfort zone. It has been lovely to see their confidence grow in mental maths. They are really beginning to get to grips with the terminology of different question types. The support from home has helped with this no end - thank you so much for all the time you have devoted to this.

Over the half term it will be extremely helpful if you keep asking the children a few mental maths questions based on the ones we have sent for home learning, little and often so the vocabulary and metal strategies can really become embedded. There are some great games on the numeracy section of or website which you might want to spend a few minutes on.

Topic:
The Andy Warhol inspired T-shirts have turned out beautifully! The children took so much time over them and feel really proud of their final outcome. They loved learning about block colours that contrast and their colourful musical T-shirts are truly fantastic. Next half term we’ll be exploring Animals. The children will start by investigating habitats, improve their observational drawing skills, sew their very own stuffed animal and produce an innovative animation using the iPads. It is certainly going to be an action packed half term so make sure you enjoy your time off and come back well rested!

Have a fantastic half term.

The Key Stage 1 Team

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
The children did a fantastic job at representing Robin Hood and we are extremely proud of them. We have had another exciting week in 3/4 and had a visit from an Indian drummer on Tuesday afternoon, who showed the children some traditional Indian drumming and taught us all some exciting dance moves. We all had lots of fun dancing to the beats and some of us even won some prizes! We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the year 4’s on their wonderful behaviour during our residential at East Barnby last week. All of the centre staff commented on how mature and sensible the children all were and how well everyone worked together as part of a team.
Literacy
We have been looking at narrative story writing this week and the children have been describing different settings and characters using a wide range of adjectives and similes. When describing a different setting the children have used the four senses to describe what they can see, hear, smell and how they feel. The children then used these descriptions to write a fantastic opening to a story! We were really impressed with the great range of adjectives the children are using in their writing to describe. Why don’t you ask your child to write you a character description of someone in the family for you to guess who it is?
Numeracy
In numeracy this week the children have been learning about 3D shapes and their properties. We have had a great time making lots of different 3D shapes out of art straws for our shape museum and then recording how many edges, vertices, faces and parallel lines they have. Next half term we will be looking at how to solve problems involving money and position and direction.
Topic
This week the children have learnt all about the Taj Mahal and have had a go at sketching this into their art books. Why not ask your child to tell you a fact about the Taj Mahal? We have also used all of the new knowledge we have learnt about India to write a non-chronological report.
Home Learning
Next half term our new topic is Africa. For the children’s home learning we would like them to research something about this continent to share with the class when we are back after the holidays. They can present this any way they choose.
Spellings to be tested on Monday 10th June (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Please support your child in practicing their spellings every day to help them to achieve 10/10 in their spelling test every week.
Group One
Group Two
I’ve
country
she’s
busy
he’s
mystery
somebody
guess
nobody
instead
there’s
build
who’ll
enough
they’ll
language
you’ll
rough
you’re
pleasant

Reminders
·         Next half term our PE unit is athletics, please ensure your child brings their outdoor PE kit into school every Monday morning.
·         As the weather is getting warmer please make sure your child is bringing a water bottle to school every day.
Have a lovely half term!
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:

·        This week’s achiever is the whole of year 5/6! Last week pupils worked hard to plan and produce a piece of space art using a variety of new techniques including blending, flicking and templates. We could not separate any of the children’s work across the phase, as it is all astonishing. Well done to everyone, your creativity and artistic skill have impressed us all!
·        We would like to thank any parents who attended the numeracy parent workshop this week. It was great to have your support for these workshops and we welcome any more parents who would like to attend.
·        Any year 6 pupils, who have been given a rising stars grammar and punctuation book, please return this as soon as possible.
·        Dates for your diary:
·        5th- 7th June- Year 6 residential to Robin Wood. A letter regarding the final details of the trip and kit lists will be sent home with your child on Friday 24th May.
·        12th June- Multiplication parent workshop (16:30- 17:15).
·        13th June– Year 6 information evening for prospective Rodillian pupils (16:30-19:30).
·        1st, 2nd and 3rd July- Year 6 induction day for prospective Rodillian and Royds pupils (8.20- 14.30). Please can all pupils wear their Robin Hood school uniform.

Numeracy:
·        This week pupils have been recapping on division strategies and applying them into a variety of word problems. Pupils have also attempted to solve a range of logic based problems.  
·        During the first week back pupils will be readdressing addition and subtraction strategies. Pupils will also be learning how to develop rapid recall strategies to help them when mentally calculating addition and subtraction problems.

Literacy:
·        This week pupils have been developing their explanation texts on how to look after their alien creature. Pupils then published their explanation texts with developed paragraphs and diagrams.
·        During the first week back pupils will be getting creative and writing poetry. Pupils will be using a variety of descriptive techniques through figurative language. 
·        Spellings: Pupils will be tested on a selection of spellings from last half term.

Other areas of the curriculum:
·        In PE this week 5/6M and 5/6B have enjoyed some fresh air and enjoyed a game of rounders. 5/6G applied their previous learning of passing and receiving into a game of bench ball.
·        In our SCIENCE sessions this week pupils have been introduced to the various concepts of light, including shadows, rainbows and refraction. Pupils have explored this learning further through investigations and a poster to demonstrate how the eye works. 
·        This week in ICT the children have continued inputting procedures to program robots to manoeuvre over canyons, which the children have made.
·        In Spanish this week pupils have completed their Spanish fact files for a planet of their choice. This has included information relating to the size, location and the chosen planet.
·        In Music, 5/6M have continued to learn the Yellow Submarine by the Beatles on the recorder. Pupils have now combined all sections of the piece and performed this with great confidence. 5/6G have continued to explore several percussion instruments; including xylophones, and have continued to develop learning twinkle twinkle little star. 5/6 B have continued to develop their compositions on garage band. Pupils have been reviewing and editing and publishing their final compositions. 


 

Friday 17 May 2013

Issue 31 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 31

Friday  17th May 2013
Dear Parent/Carer,
What a successful week! Several key events have taken place this week and the children have done us so proud!

Year 6 Sats
Year 6 have now completed their Sats tests for this year and I have to say, the attitude of the children was exemplary on Monday morning. I greeted the children in the corridor as I often do and was delighted to see many of the children striding in with smiles on their faces and a real “lets show them what we’re made of” attitude; just lovely to see! Throughout the week, the children all kept a cool head and remained calm and focused as they tackled the tests with a great deal of maturity. As I said last week, we are proud of the children regardless of the outcome because as we all know (including the children), the Sats tests are a snap shot in time; the real hard work has taken place throughout the year in every lesson, every day. So well done everyone!

Y4 Residential
Whilst we’re on the theme of mature and well behaved children, I would like to congratulate the Year 4 children who are as we speak, returning from their residential trip. Miss Thackeray has been keeping me updated over the days, reporting to me about the wellbeing of the children and their excellent attitudes. We are so proud of our children at Robin Hood, who never let us down in conducting themselves so brilliantly. They have all faced challenges over the days, either through the activities they have done or simply making that break from Mum and Dad for a couple of days. Parents, they are a credit to you all.

Celebration Afternoons
We have 2 celebration afternoons next week. Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) will be holding theirs on Tuesday (21st) afternoon straight after school and the rest of the school (Years 1- 6) will hold their celebration afternoons at the end of the school day on Friday (24th). Everyone is welcome.

Friendly Faces spaces available
There are currently several spaces available at Friendly Faces starting in September for both the before and after school provision. Please speak to Louise Parker to enquire or contact her at louise.parker86@hotmail.com

Message Board
Now that the Residential is over, I would like to suggest that if you have any quick queries regarding school, you can post your query onto the message board and I will aim to reply as quickly as I can. This keeps queries away from the PTA Facebook page, which was set up for the benefit of the PTA and their events. Also, do keep referring to the School Calendar, which can be found on our website, for key dates. Speaking of which…..

Key Dates for your diary- Summer Term
Monday 10th June- Friday 14th June- Year 2 Sats
Week beginning 17th June- Year 1 phonic checks
Thursday 27th June- New Reception starter meetings 3:30 - 4:15pm   6 - 6:45pm
Saturday 29th June- Summer Fayre 11 am -3 pm
Mon/Tues/Weds 1st/2nd/3rd July- Year 6 transition day to Rodillian and Royds
Tuesday 2nd July- Transition day to next class and Nursery Open Day
Thursday 4th July- Reception Trip- Meanwood Valley Urban Farm
Thursday 4th July- Year 6 prom 5:30- 7:30 (details are being finalised)
Friday July 5th- Training Day
Week beginning 8th July– Arts Award “Discover” week for KS2
Thursday 11th July- Drama Club Oscars Night 6pm- 7pm
Friday 12th July- Sports Day (weather permitting)
Tuesday 16th July- Year 6 Leavers production 2pm
Weds 17th July 10:30- 11:30- Nursery Leavers garden party
Weds 17th July - Year 6 leavers production 6pm
Thurs 18th  July Y6 Fish and Chip lunch
Friday 19th July  Nursery Leavers garden party 2pm-3pm
Friday 19th July  poetry competition and presentation of the June Wood award 2pm- 3:15pm
Monday 22nd July- Golden Day
Tuesday 23rd July - Y6 Leavers assembly 2:00 pm


PTA NEWS
Congratulations to our quiz winners last week. A good night was enjoyed by all resulting in just over £200 being raised. Thank you to all those who attended for all your support.
We are now starting to organise and in some cases finalise things for the Summer Fayre which will take place on 29th June. We would like it if you could help us by saving any empty wine bottles (with the screw top attached), jam jars and newspapers. You can hand them to one of our lovely ladies who will be standing at the front of school every morning after the half term holidays. We are also planning a teddy tombola, so if you have any unwanted, good quality teddies please being them to the front of school. As we are hoping for lovely weather on the day we would appreciate it if anyone has any gazebos they could lend us for the day to protect our stall holders from the blazing sun. If anyone needs any further information please contact us at robinhoodprimaryschoolpta@gmail.com.

Have a great weekend.
Mrs Dale

Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children were really excited to find that we were learning about the story of Rapunzel this week and lots of them told us that they have got the DVD ‘Tangled’ at home. There was some terrific role play taking place in the areas as the children pretended to be Rapunzel letting down their hair so that the evil witch could climb up it.
THIS WEEK
This week I was astounded at how fabulous the children’s writing is, which they proved when they drew a picture of Rapunzel and wrote a sentence underneath to tell us what happens in the story. I was really excited to share with the Reception team how well the nursery children are doing. I told them how many children were using initial sounds in their writing and that others were writing beautiful letter shapes, showing us that they are definitely ready to go into Reception in September! In topic the children built fabulous towers which were even taller than they were; whilst they were doing this they really engaged and used the language taller and shorter accurately and consistently. In numeracy the children have tried really hard to learn how to count to 20 and back and they are becoming much more confident. Please continue to count to 20 at home whenever possible to help secure their knowledge. In phonics the children have done really well at counting the number of sounds they can hear in words and they are still impressing us with how well they are spotting the sounds that we have learnt so far.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be learning about ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. Yet again this will be a very immersive and exciting learning journey for the children to embark on. In literacy the children will be designing some clothes for the Emperor and labelling them whilst speaking to us about why they think the Emperor will like what they are designing. Following their designing session in literacy the children will make their clothes and at the end of the week we will show off our amazing fashions! In numeracy we will be talking about prepositions such as; behind, in front, on top of etc. In phonics our sounds of the week are ‘c’ and ‘o’. We will be continuing with blending and segmenting and thinking about the number of sounds we can hear in words, but we will be extending it by seeing if the children can tell us which sounds they can hear.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH THEIR LOVELY LEARNING

·        Please read your child’s books from Nursery as often as you can with them and share books that they like you to read with them.
·        Please help your child write their first name ready for Reception and if they can do this help them to start writing their second name.
·        Keep practising counting to 20 with your child
·        Please look at our wonderful blog so you can see for yourself how amazing the children are.
We hope you have a lovely and enjoyable weekend.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin & Miss Fox
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children were really excited to learn that we were learning about the story of Rapunzel this week and lots of them told us how they have all got the DVD tangled at home. The children spent lots of their time developing their motor skills by making braid for their hair there was lots of bling on them. Lilia Britten attached a very long piece of wool to her hair pretending to be Rapunzel and Jacob Wood made Miss Lambert a beautiful braid which she modelled in her hair all day on Monday. Most of the class are getting their sounds and words of the week certificates this week so keep it up Reception we are very proud of you!
THIS WEEK
Our story in literacy was the story of Rapunzel and the children’s focus in our literacy sessions was on the use of time connectives in their writing. The children started off by acting out the story and Miss Parker and Miss Friar were very impressed with the children’s acting skills. By the end of the week the children had written amazing star writes retelling the story of Rapunzel. Next week we will send these star writes out for you to have a look at and a slip to inform you of your child’s current level and what their next targets are to ensure they reach their expected end of Reception level. In numeracy the children were really confident in ordering objects by size and by the end of the week were also beginning to become more confident at using rulers. We have some lovely pictures of the children making their ladders for the prince to climb up and rescue Rapunzel from the wicked witch and their faces were a delight to see when they realised their ladders were long enough to rescue her. The children really developed their problem solving skills with Miss Friar in this activity. In literacy the children have learnt to read the words; long, things, new, after, wanted and eat and we learnt to read and write the long e sounds; ie (piece, field), y (happy) and ey (monkey, keys).
NEXT WEEK
Next week the story we will be learning about will be the Emperor’s New Clothes. Yet again this will be a very immersive and exciting learning journey for the children to embark on. In literacy our focus will be helping the children to understand the journey that an author embarks upon when writing a story so we will be using the story mountain help the children structure their story with a beginning, middle and end. Over the week the children will write their own version of the Emperor’s New Clothes and if the books are fantastic they will be displayed in our school library for everybody to enjoy. Next week all the Reception children will be the equivalent to Christian Dior and Dolce & Gabbana as they will all be transformed into high end fashion designers to create clothes fit for an Emperor. We will end the week on Friday by showcasing all of the children’s designs in a fashion show which will be shown in achievers assembly next week. In numeracy we will be continuing to consolidate our skills in and our knowledge of measuring with a ruler. The activities will be very practical and the children will get the chance to explore school and measure objects they find which they think are less than 30 cm. We will then move onto measuring time in simple ways and we will be thinking about how long it takes someone to write their name. In phonics we will be learning to read the words; everyone, our, two, has, yes and play and we will be learning to read and write the long I sounds; ie (pie, tie) and i_e (time, mine).
Reception will be open directly after the school day next Tuesday 21st May for you to come in and look at your child’s fabulous learning! Please come and have a look at their books, profiles and our wonderful displays.
Have a great weekend.
Miss Pyatt, Miss Lambert and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1


Home Learning:
Firstly, we would like to say thank you for all the wonderful alien words the children made. We have been using these in class and they really are quite something!

It was good to receive positive feedback from the Mental Maths home learning, so we have decided this week that the children would enjoy another opportunity to practise these skills at home.
Please see the attached sheet of 10 mental maths questions to answer. As an extension of this home learning you could also support your child in making up some of their own questions that they can share in class.

News:
It has been another action-packed week in Key Stage One! We would like to say once again, thank you for all of the t-shirts that have been handed in for our Andy Warhol t-shirt designing. We are just as excited as the children to design some funky music attire and can’t wait to see the final product!

Celebration Friday
On Friday 24th May there will be a Celebration Friday event after school where parents/carers are invited in to school to look at the learning your child may be particularly proud of. The Key Stage One team know that this will be a hard job as there are endless amounts of fantastic learning to share.

The Big Dance
We would like to say thank you to the children of Key Stage One for their hard work and dedication in learning and practising the big dance. You really have all excelled yourself and we hope that you are all part of breaking a world record.

Reading Records
It is extremely important that each week a record is kept in your child’s diary of reading that has taken place during the week at home. It is also where you can see your child’s spellings test result and look at any words your child may need additional support to learn. The reading records are also a useful place to share any other fantastic learning your child has enjoyed out of school. We love to read about children who have rode their bikes without stabilisers or enjoyed baking tasty buns. Please share as much news as you wish!


Literacy:
This week the children have been reading and stealing words from a range of stories to help them plan their own unique adventure stories! It has been wonderful to hear and explore the children’s different ideas. These have ranged between knights fighting fierce dragons, princesses who are lonely in their huge castles and even a story about Santa Claus who wants to get out of the North Pole! The children have continued to use the story mountain to help them write their own fantastic stories. If you choose to do any writing with your child at home, the story mountain is a really useful and good way to help your child write a wonderful story.
Opening – Describing the character and the setting.
Build up – The problem the main character has.
Climax – The problem is solved.
Resolution – What happens to the character at the end?
Ending – If it is a happy or sad ending.

Numeracy:
This week the children have focused their learning on interpreting and sorting different types of data. They have looked at the difference between tables, pictograms and bar graphs. The children have been finding what “the most” is “the least” and continued to practise “finding the difference”. For example: Which did the children like the most? Which did they like the least? What was the difference between the boys and the girls? Next week, the children will be revisiting their learning of place value and missing numbers. For example:
What is the number 35 made out of? 30 + 5
What is the missing number? 28 = ? + 8

Topic:
This week the children have begun their two week block of Art. They have had lots of fun exploring different art techniques using tracing paper, drawing pencils, pastels and felt tip pens. Next week is what the children have all been waiting for!  They will be designing and creating their own musical t – shirt. If you are free come and join us on Friday 24th May in Celebration Assembly to see our fantastic creations!

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
We kicked off the week by evaluating all of our fantastic news reports that were recorded the previous week. The children were great at giving positive feedback as well as constructive criticism. The year 3’s have conducted themselves brilliantly around the class, whilst the years 4’s have had a wonderful time on the residential. We look forward to seeing all the pictures!
Literacy
This week in literacy the children have been developing their understanding of newspapers. The year 3’s have been reading statements from Little Miss Muffet, Georgie Porgie and Dr Fix Me Up, in order to discover how Humpty Dumpty fell of the wall! All of the children thought of some great ideas and managed to write some really successful newspaper reports. We were really impressed with the great sentences written, which included amazing features like conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs and quotes.
Numeracy
In numeracy this week the children have been learning about the 24 hour clock and thinking about reasons why it is very useful. The children have also been learning how to read different timetables and solve worded problems related to time. The children have really impressed us with how confident they are becoming when telling the time. Next week in numeracy the children will be learning about 3D shapes.  
Topic
During this week in topic the children have been learning about the most common Indian festivals including: Diwali, Holi and Ramadan. In addition to this, the children have been learning about the battle of Rama and Ravanna, and have retold this story using shadow puppetry. We were really impressed with the children’s deep understanding of the story, and their great performances.
.Spellings to be tested on Monday 3rd June (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Please support your child in practicing their spellings every day to help them to achieve 10/10 in their spelling test every week.
Group One
Group Two
Can’t
Done
Don’t
None
They’ve
Love
Didn’t
Breakfast
Couldn’t
Money
Wouldn’t
Honey
Hasn’t
Front
Hadn’t
Wonderful
We’ve
Worry
You’ve
Tongue
Reminders
·    Please ensure your child’s PE kit is kept in school from Monday-Friday every week.
·    As the weather is getting warmer please make sure your child is bringing a water bottle to school every day.
·    On Friday the 24th May there will be a celebration Friday event where parents/carers will be invited into the classrooms to view your child’s learning. All the children have produced some great things over the course of the half term, so I am sure they will be very proud to show you a variety of things! We look forward to seeing you there.
Have a lovely weekend!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:

·        We would like to congratulate all the year 6 pupils on completing their SATS this week. The children have had a fantastic attitude to all their assessments and we have all been truly impressed with their enthusiasm and application this week. We would also like to acknowledge the fantastic support given from parents and carers, which has helped to give the children a fantastic confidence coming into this week.
·        This week’s achiever is awarded to all year 6 pupils for their commitment during their assessments. We recognise all the hard work that you have put in throughout the year! Well done again!!
·        Any year 6 pupils, who have been given a rising stars grammar and punctuation book, please return this as soon as possible.
·        Dates for your diary:
·        21st May- Addition and Subtraction parent workshop (4.30pm- 5.15pm).
·        24th May- Celebration Friday event. Parents and carers are invited into school to observe any outcomes that their children are particularly proud of from this half term.
·        5th- 7th June- Year 6 residential to Robin Wood.
·        12th June- Multiplication parent workshop (4.30pm- 5.15pm).  

Numeracy:
·        This week year 6 pupils have been completing their SATS assessments during their numeracy sessions. Year 5 pupils have been creating their very own lunar theme park, which has required them to design the park and calculate the profits/costs.
·        Next week pupils will be recapping on bus stop and chunking methods to divide. Pupils will also be completing a murder mystery investigation and applying a range of mathematical strategies to find the correct suspect.
·        This terms times tables challenge will be held on the last Friday of term, 24th May. We encourage all pupils to practice as much as possible as the current champions are certainly proving tough to beat!

Literacy:
·        This week pupils have been learning how to write an explanation text and applying features into a context for their own alien creature.
·        Next week pupils will be completing their explanation texts on how to look after their alien creature. Pupils will be learning how to develop their sentences by using commas to separate clauses.
Spellings: Next week pupils will be tested on the following spellings; negotiate, qualify, trauma, influence, sandwich, destroy, umbrella, particular, nocturnal, precaution.

Other areas of the curriculum:
·        In PE this week pupils have been continuing to learn the Big Dance routine that will be performed by the whole school. Children have still refining the whole section of the dance as a whole phase. The video resource is available online if pupils search Big Dance 2013.
·        In our TOPIC sessions this week pupils have been producing their own space art outcomes. Pupils have been taught a variety of techniques and applied different mediums to help them create their own space scene on black sugar paper.
·        In Music, 5/6M have continued to learn the Yellow Submarine by the Beatles on the recorder. Pupils have now combined different sections of the piece and performed a variety of notes effectively. 5/6G are continuing to explore several percussion instruments; including xylophones, and have continued to develop learning twinkle twinkle little star. 5/6 B have continued to develop their compositions on garage band. Pupils have been reviewing and editing their composition.