Friday 19 July 2013

Issue 39 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 39

Friday 18th July 2013
Dear Parent/Carer,
This will be my final newsletter for this academic year and as usual, this time of year is one of great reflection. Before I do that, I would like to share some of the successes of the past week.

Sports Day
Well done to all children who took part in the annual Sports Day last week. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend but the staff and children have advised me that it was very successful and that the support from parents was absolutely incredible. There was reference made to the number of Dads who took part in the Dad’s race and I can say I am delighted that our male representatives are so spirited and game for a laugh!! I am pleased that the children had an opportunity to show those in attendance, The Big Dance, as part of our opening ceremony. I must say thank you to the Active Team, led by Miss Mees with Mr Malley and Miss Pensom for their fabulous organisation of the event.

Nursery Graduation
Well done to all our littlest learners in Nursery who enjoyed a Graduation garden party this week. I was honoured to give certificates to our “first half of the week” children on Wednesday and I know that Mrs Steel did the honours for our other little learners on Friday. Everyone looked very smart indeed and of course, the sun shone!

Team Point winners
I never thought we would have to make such decisions because of the weather being too hot, however on Thursday afternoon our Green House Team enjoyed an afternoon of drinks, snacks and music in the cool of our shaded outside areas as their treat for winning the most points this half term. Well done everyone!

June Wood award
Well done to all of our children who were shortlisted for the June Wood award this year. You are ALL absolutely amazing young people. We welcomed members of June’s family, our Governing Body and MP, Mr Ed Balls to attend our special assembly to present our new award. I would like to congratulate once more, Lyla Barker in Year 2 and Rebecca Wright in Year 6 for winning the award this year, in recognition of their contribution to school life and consistently brilliant attitude to learning. Two VERY well deserved winners.

Miss Beckwith
Miss Beckwith will be leaving us on Tuesday. Miss Beckwith joined us as an apprentice Teaching Assistant almost 2 years ago and in that time she has grown to be a well-established and valued member of our team, loved very much by the children. She will be taking up a permanent Teaching Assistant post at a nearby school, where she will continue to develop her career. She will be very much missed by all of us and we wish her all the very best indeed.

Goodbye Year 6
Many of the Year 6 parents watched an incredible performance of the end of school production “Next Big Step”, this week. It was incredibly entertaining, funny and emotional all at the same time and really encapsulated the feelings that can be experienced when making that move to High School. It is a difficult time of year for many of our Year 6s and their parents as for some, their time and connection with the school comes to an end. It really does feel like yesterday that our eldest learners were bouncing into our Reception class; parents full of anticipation for what would be in store for their child during their seven years at Robin Hood Primary School. I have watched each and every one of our Year 6s grow from fledglings and have had the privilege of teaching some children when they were in my class in Year 2. I could not be more proud of what they have achieved and of the wonderful young, spirited learners that we now see before us. The children are a credit to each and every one of you and on behalf of everyone here at Robin Hood Primary School, we wish all of our Year 6 all the very best indeed as they fly the “Robin Hood” nest and face the next important chapter of their lives. We hope they take with them the happy memories, life skills and aspirations which will see them become very successful from this point going forward.

And to finish, I would like to just add a personal comment on completion of my first year in post. I feel that the school has this year, gone from strength to strength. Our learners continue to enjoy high quality learning and first class experiences. I feel that we have gained a strengthening sense of community, very much facilitated by the PTA and their organization of fantastic events but also by the school’s improved communication with parents. It’s been fantastic to work alongside you all and I very much look forward to seeing what together we can achieve for our children next year.
If you’re staying with us, please continue to access the school calendar on our website for key dates. We will be updating it as plans for the next year unfold and become confirmed.

If I don’t see you before the end of the term, have a MAGNIFICENT summer and see you all on September 4th.
Mrs Dale
Nursery Newsletter
I feel quite sad that this is the last newsletter that you will be receiving from Nursery this year! The whole Nursery team would just like to say a huge ‘’well done’’ to the children for being such a pleasure to teach over the year. They have all put in so much effort and have approached all tasks with great enthusiasm and determination. You are all stars Nursery, and we know that you will keep on shining as you move into Reception. We would like to say thank you to you too, for your continued support over the year. The progress and the achievements the children have made would not have been possible without all the wonderful and amazing support they have received from home. We will really miss the children next year, but look forward to hearing about how well they are doing from Miss Lambert and Miss Pyatt.
THIS WEEK
This week the children have learnt all about how to stay safe in the sun. They are now very knowledgeable about what they have to do to stay safe. We jetted off to the Caribbean on Tuesday and used their super speaking and listening skills to role-play the trip. Once there we heard some super Caribbean drumming…..!. In numeracy the children learnt about data handling and really enjoyed finding out about what their friends favourite flavours of ice cream are. In phonics the children learnt to recognise and write the digraph ss. They also really impressed us with their confidence and knowledge about the Phase 2 sounds we have learnt so far.
NEXT WEEK
We are only in Monday and Tuesday next week. Monday will be Golden Day, where the children will get a turn bouncing on the bouncy castles Mrs Dale has ordered, and they will also all get an ice-cream each. On Tuesday the children are allowed to bring in one of their own toys or games to play and share with their friends, please make sure the toy or game is clearly named and that it isn’t very expensive.
JUST A REMINDER
For the children who will be starting in Reception at Robin Hood in September just a quick reminder that if they are on Miss Lambert’s carpet they will be coming in on Wednesday 4th September and Friday 6th of September from 9am-3pm. If they are on Miss Pyatt’s carpet they will be coming in on Thursday 5th of September and Friday 6th of September from 9am-3pm.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR CHILD OVER THE HOLIDAYS
·        Encourage them to keep practising writing their name and their numbers up to 20 or even further.
·        We have stocked the children up with books for the holiday so that when they go into Reception their new teachers will be impressed with their fabulous reading.
·        Above all have a fantastic time with your children.
We hope you have a fantastic holiday and enjoy reading your child’s report! Have a lovely summer and we look forward to welcoming back the children who will be staying with us in Nursery.
Mrs Steel and the rest of the Nursery team.
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
I feel quiet sad that this is the last newsletter I will be writing to you this year. The whole Reception team would just like to say a huge well done to the children for being such a pleasure to teach over the year. They have all put in so much effort and have approached all tasks with great enthusiasm and determination. You are all stars Reception and we know that you will keep on shining as you move into Year 1. We would like to say thank you to you for your continued support over the year. The progress and the achievements the children have made over the year would not have been possible without all the wonderful and amazing support they have received from home. We will miss the children next year but look forward to hearing about how well they are doing from Miss Pensom and Miss Mees.
THIS WEEK
This week the children have learnt all about how to stay safe in the sun. The children are now very knowledgeable about what they have to do to stay safe and they wrote some fantastic poems about sun safety. We jetted off to the Caribbean on Wednesday and the children got to taste some fantastic Caribbean specialities which they were surprised to find that they really enjoyed. They have designed their own fabulous beach bags with Mrs Friar and have tried really hard to make sure that their colouring is super neat. We were also really impressed with how well the children managed to cut out the nets of their bags and assemble them. In numeracy the children learnt about data handling and really enjoyed finding out about what their friends favourite flavours of ice cream are. In phonics the children have learnt to read the words; fish, gave, mouse, something, bed and may.
NEXT WEEK
We are only in Monday and Tuesday next week. Monday will be Golden Day where the children will get a turn bouncing on the bouncy castles Mrs Dale has ordered and they will also all get an ice-cream each. On Tuesday the children are allowed to bring in one of their own toys or games to play and share with their friends, please make sure the toy or game will fit in their locker and that it isn’t very expensive. Also on Tuesday we will be hosting a Garden party to celebrate the children leaving Reception, which you and your family are invited to come to. The Garden party will start at 11am and will finish at 12pm and will take place on the field. We look forward to seeing you all there.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR CHILD OVER THE HOLIDAYS
·        Encourage them to write at any opportunity, maybe they could write a holiday diary or write lots of imaginative stories about their summer adventures.
·        We have stocked the children up with books for the holiday so that when they go into Year 1 their new teacher will be impressed with their fabulous reading. Remember that bug club is also available.
·        Practise their superb adding and subtraction skills.
·        Above all have a fantastic time with your children.
We hope you have a fantastic holiday and enjoy reading your child’s report!
Miss Pyatt, Miss Lambert and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1
Home Learning:
This week there will be no home learning. The children have worked so hard all year that we thought this week they could use the weekend to get ready for Golden Day and the last day of term!
Over the summer holidays it is extremely important that the children continue any weekly reading, writing or number learning so that your children are ready and raring to go for the new school year in September!






News
School Reports
Tonight you will receive your child’s school report for the past school year. As teachers, we love to share how absolutely fantastic all your children are. We hope you enjoy reading about the wonderful learning your children have taken part in and their personal achievements across the year. The children have enjoyed using their computer skills to write and reflect on their learning across the year and what they want to improve on in their new class. All of the children really are stars and deserve all the praise that comes their way.

Sport’s Day Thank You
We did speak about Sport’s Day on the newsletter last week but we thought it needed to be mentioned again. This time we really wanted to celebrate the fantastic involvement from you; the parents and carers. We were absolutely blown away by the amount of parents and family who came to support their children and who took part in the parent races. It was most definitely a Robin Hood record to have so many parent races and especially see so many Key Stage One Parents involved in the day. The children came back to class and were so excited to have seen their parent’s or friends of their parents racing. It was an amazing day and we are very thankful for your support towards the event.

Topic:
The children began the week by using Play Doh to design and create animals suited to their fantastic habitat back drops. After this the children were shown how to use a programme called ‘I can animate’ on an iPad where they had fun taking pictures and creating their own ‘David Attenborough’ style video animation of their animals moving around their habitat. The children have loved the whole process and if you have an iPad or iPhone at home it really is something worthwhile to do over the summer holidays. It is an excellent application that you can buy for £1.99 on the iTunes store. You can make an animation about absolutely anything!

Literacy
Miss Pensom paid a special trip to Doncaster this week to give in our posters to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We hope to hear soon about the results of the competition. They really were fantastic and the park staff were so impressed we were advised that these would definitely be shown within the classrooms for any children who visit to see how wonderful they are! This week the children have been continuing their poetry learning and focusing their attentions on Nursery Rhymes. The children have been learning rhymes such as “What shall we do with the grumpy pirate?” and have loved changing the words. For example “What shall we do with the scary spider?!” This learning has helped prepare the children for the fantastic poetry day held today where they have had so much fun rapping like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! The poems made have celebrated their learning within school and really are fantastic to read and listen to!  We can’t wait to decorate our rapping hats next week on Golden Day!

Monday and Tuesday next week….the last days before the Summer Holidays

On Monday the children will be partaking in the annual Golden Day. They will be enjoying the blow up bouncy castles, games on the field and sneak in a tasty ice cream too! All of the children fully deserve this day as they have worked so hard and had so many successes. It looks as though the lovely weather is set to continue so let’s hope the sun is still shining for this super fun action-packed day!

Across the two days the children can bring in any games or toys that they would like to play with. Please make sure your child’s belongings come to school in a clearly labelled carrier bag and if they want to leave these at school on Monday night they can do if they wish to play with them on Tuesday. Any electrical items such as Nintendo DS’s or iPods are allowed but at your own discretion. These also must be fully charged at home. These are the children’s responsibility so again, we do recommend for these to be clearly labelled. There will also be opportunities to watch DVD’s and any brought in to school must be of a U rating.

On Tuesday we will be having a party! This will consist of party games and party food! Your children can bring their own party clothes in a bag to wear at school. We kindly ask if you could provide your child with either savoury food if they are boy or sweet food if they are a girl. Any drinks of squash or juice would also be greatly received. We thank you in advance!

WOW – another year is nearly over! Time really does fly when you are having fun! We hope you all have a fantastic and safe summer holiday and look forward to seeing you all in September.
The Key Stage One Team

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
It has been our last full week in LKS2 and what a wonderful week it has been. The children have continued to learn about various artists as part of their Arts Award Discover Award, and have been adding wonderful detail to their art logs. The children have also been working well as part of a team to create board games that incorporate different facts they have learnt across the year.
School Report
Tonight you will receive your child’s school report for the past school year. As teachers, we love to share how absolutely fantastic all your children are. We hope you enjoy reading about the wonderful learning your children have taken part in and their personal achievements across the year. The children have enjoyed thinking about everything that they have enjoyed over the past year, and have spent a lot of time writing up their favourite memories to share with you. We are so proud of each and every child across the phase, and you should be too!

Poetry Day
This week we were very lucky to welcome a professional poet, Donovan Christopher, into LKS2 in order to teach the children various poems and support them in creating their own. We enjoyed sharing these with the school and were very proud of the children’s confident performances. 
Times table Challenge
This week saw the final timetable challenge of the year. This showed how far the children have come in learning their tables and we were so proud of the speed, accuracy and confidence of their answers. We were blown away with how many children were in the year 4 final, but after a tough heat we would like to congratulate our reigning champion Chitua Hani-Okoroafor. We were lucky to welcome a new champion for year 3; Ella Spence! Congratulations for all your hard work and determination.
Monday and Tuesday next week….the last days before the Summer Holidays

On Monday the children will be partaking in the annual Golden Day. They will be enjoying the bouncy castles, games on the field and sneak in a tasty ice cream too! All of the children fully deserve this day as they have worked so hard and had so many successes. It looks as though the lovely weather is set to continue so let’s hope the sun is still shining for this super fun action-packed day!

On Monday, the children are also allowed to bring in a toy of their choice.  Please make sure your child’s belongings come to school in a clearly labelled carrier bag and if they want to leave these at school on Monday night they can do if they wish to play with them on Tuesday. Any electrical items such as Nintendo DS’s or iPods are allowed but at your own discretion. These also must be fully charged at home. These are the children’s responsibility so again, we do recommend for these to be clearly labelled. There will also be opportunities to watch DVD’s and any brought in to school must be of a U rating.

On Tuesday we will be having a party! This will consist of party games and party food! Your children can bring their own party clothes in a bag to wear at school. We kindly ask if you could provide your child with either savoury food or sweet food. Any drinks of squash or juice would also be greatly received. We thank you in advance!

Well that’s another year almost over. We would like to say a big thank you to all of your continued support and commitment to your child’s learning.
We hope you have a lovely holiday,
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:

·        The last newsletter of the year and we would like to congratulate all pupils in year 5/6 on a fantastic year!
·        Congratulations also to our year 6 pupils on their end of year production. The children gave their all and it was clear how much energy and dedication they put in to every performance. We would also like to thank all the parents who attended these performances. Your support is greatly appreciated.
·        Next Monday and Tuesday pupils will be able to bring in a toy of their choice, including board games. Pupils can bring in electrical toys however mobile phones are not allowed in school. If electrical toys are brought into school, pupils must not use camera or videoing features. DVD’s can also be brought into school, although these must be genuine copies and have age related appropriate content.
·        Could parents and carers also check to see if any school books are currently at home. We appreciate that pupils often bring them home and forget to return them. Thank you.
·        On the last day of term, children will be allowed to bring in some snacks and drinks for a class party in the afternoon. Please can pupils not bring in fizzy drinks. Thank you.
·        All the year 5/6 team would like to thank all parents and carers for their support this year. We hope that you and the pupils have a fantastic summer and we look forward to another fantastic year in September.

Dates for your diary:

·        22nd July- Golden Day celebration.
·        22nd July- Year 6 leaver’s prom, Glitz & Glamour theme. (5.30- 7.30pm).
·        23rd July- Class party with snacks and drinks. (1.15- 3.15pm).
·        23rd July- Year 6 leavers’ assembly (2.00pm).

 

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Issue 38 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 38

Friday 12th July 2013
Dear Parent/Carer,
What an incredibly busy week we have had for all the right reasons. We have had such a lot of fun this week and seem to have had plentiful opportunities to welcome parents into school. I must say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to come into school and support the very many brilliant events which have taken place this week. Your support is invaluable to us and really does add huge value to the events that we hold.

Arts Week
The children in Key Stage 2 started the week with 3 days of incredible learning experiences, which saw them engaging with local arts practitioners of all kinds; from solo musicians, to photographers, to Shakespeare actors, to girl bands- it’s been incredible. The buzz from the children during the workshops, independent learning time and even after the event itself has been tangible. The feedback from the children has been incredibly positive. To make the whole event even more meaningful is that by hosting the arts week, our pupils will qualify to receive UCAS points, which would contribute towards a qualification in the arts. We heavily advocate the arts at Robin Hood so this opportunity is one that we have really embraced. Miss Thackeray must take the credit for leading the week, which culminated in a somewhat moving showcase of performances from the children. Thanks to the PTA for the funding.

Punch and Judy
Again, thanks to the PTA for funding and organising the Punch and Judy show enjoyed by our youngest learners in Nursery, which by all accounts was absolutely fantastic. I was very sad to have missed it but I know that an absolutely brilliant time was had by all.

Welcome Miss Bailey
Last week, we made an excellent appointment. In September, we will welcome Leanne Bailey to join our team of brilliant teachers. Miss Bailey will initially be based in Year 3/4 and will replace Miss Snowden when starts her maternity leave.

Oscar’s night
Thursday night was a perfect opportunity to get a little bit glammed up as our Drama Club hosted a fantastic Oscar’s night. This was a wonderful event, which really celebrated the fabulous singing, dancing and acting talents of our children who have attended each week. Miss Pyatt and Mrs Comstive have been a fantastic team in encouraging the children to take to the stage and in some cases to overcome some confidence issues. Another example of how our staff go above and beyond to put our children first.

Sweets in school
I have had reports that some children have had sweets in school this week. I must politely remind you that sweets are not allowed in school- tic tacs included! Thank you.

Mini Maestros
Tiny baby classes for babies 3 – 9 months will be running every Friday from September 2013, telephone 07976154890 for more information. We have a limited number of free session vouchers available in the office.

Dinner Money
Could all outstanding dinner monies up to Tuesday 23rd July please be paid in to the office no later than Wed 17th July.

Even MORE happy news
I have the pleasure to announce that Miss Darroch has this week, given birth to a bouncing baby boy. Huge congratulations to Miss Darroch and Robbie and we can’t wait to meet little William soon.

PTA News
All the children have had an exciting 2 weeks, with KS1 enjoying a circus skills day last week, KS2 learning all about the Arts this week and nursery who, along with their parents and carers, enjoyed a Punch and Judy Show on Wednesday. This is all due to you as parents and carers, from those who have helped out over the year to arrange and run fund raising events to everyone else who came along to lend their support and spend their hard earned cash. On Thursday next week we are having out last PTA meeting of the year where we will be celebrating our success, so please come along if you can and raise a glass to everyone's hard work. We will be meeting at Salute (just for a drink) at 8pm 18th July. Finally we would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us over the year and look forward to raising even more money next year for our wonderful, exceptional children.
Can I please add to the above message by voicing my heartfelt gratitude to the PTA for all the fantastic events they have both held and funded this year. I started the year wanting to get together a positive and proactive group of parents who would work together to create brilliant opportunities for the benefit of our children and community and my expectations have been surpassed. The PTA involvement really is making a difference to our school and I feel that our community is as positive as it ever has been, largely because of this. I can’t wait to see what we can all achieve together next year.

Have a great week end.
Mrs Dale
 Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
We love this time of the year as it is very busy and the children get to take part in lots of exciting activities. It has been arts week all week in Nursery, so our usual literacy tasks have been replaced by creative activities which the children have thoroughly enjoyed. On Tuesday we went on a trip to the seaside (into our outside area) and the children got the chance to take part in lots of seaside games and activities. Then to top off such an exciting week it was sports day on Friday. The children all really impressed us with their, stamina, determination and team work and they really were a credit to themselves and us. We felt very proud!
THIS WEEK
The art outcomes the children have produced have been fantastic and demonstrate just how much the children have progressed since September. They made some fantastic yummy ice-creams and beautiful beach scenes. They used lots of different resources including glitter, sand and extremely gloopy paint to achieve such fantastic effects. Outside we created a large scale beach scene which made our playground feel like we were really at the seaside. In maths we were learning all about symmetry and the children made some beautiful symmetrical butterfly paintings which no doubt you will have seen because the children were so excited to take home their paintings and show them to you. In phonics the children learnt the sound l and the digraph ll. They are becoming really confident with their sounds and now only have one more sound to learn before they have learnt all the Phase 2 sounds which is amazing!
NEXT WEEK
Next week we have another exciting week planned. In literacy we will be learning all about the importance of staying safe in the sun and on holiday. To help us with our learning we will be reading the story George the sun safe superstar. Following our lessons about sun safety we will all be boarding a plane and jetting off to the Caribbean where we learn about their culture and we will have a go at tasting their food. In topic the children will be designing their very own beach bag to put all their safety items in and they will also get to have a go at making an ice-cream sundae which they will pay for using the correct coins. In numeracy we will be learning about data handling and the children will get to question their friends about their favourite ice-cream. In phonics our final Phase 2 sound is the digraph ss and then we will be reviewing all of the Phase 2 sounds we have learnt over the term.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH THEIR LOVELY LEARNING
·        Please read with your child for 5 minutes every day.
·        Challenge them to show you how well they can write their name.
·        Please practise recognising all the letters they have learnt so far with your child and blending and segmenting at every opportunity!
Have a fantastic weekend.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin & Miss Fox
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
We love this time of the year as it is very busy and the children get to take part in lots of exciting activities. It has been arts week all week in Reception, so our usual literacy tasks have been replaced by creative activities which the children have thoroughly enjoyed. On Thursday we went on a trip to the seaside (in our outside area) and the children got the chance to take part in lots of seaside games and activities. Then to top off such an exciting week it was sports day on Friday. The children all really impressed us with their stamina, determination and team work and they really were a credit to themselves and us. We felt very proud!
THIS WEEK
The art outcomes the children have produced have been fantastic and demonstrate just how much the children have progressed since September. They made some fantastic sunbathing lizards, yummy ice-creams and beautiful beach scenes. They used lots of different resources including glitter, sand and extremely gloopy paint to achieve such fantastic effects. Outside we created a large scale beach scene which made our playground feel like we were really at the seaside. In maths we were learning all about symmetry and the children made some beautiful symmetrical butterfly paintings which no doubt you will have seen because the children were so excited to take home their paintings and show them to you. They then extended their learning even further and many of them drew symmetrical butterflies on our playground using chunky chalks. In phonics we learnt to read the words; first, work, lots, need, that’s and baby and we will learn the sounds that make the oo or u sound u (unicorn, use, unit) and oui (Louis).
NEXT WEEK
Next week we have another exciting week planned in literacy. We will be learning all about the importance of staying safe in the sun and on holiday. To help us with our learning we will be reading the story George the sun safe superstar and then we will be making our very own fact files to help inform the older children in the school of what they should do to stay safe. Following our lessons about sun safety we will all be boarding a plane and jetting off to the Caribbean where we will learn about their culture and have a go at tasting their food. In topic the children will be designing their very own beach bag to put all their safety items in and they will also get to have a go at making an ice-cream sundae which they will pay for using the correct coins. In numeracy we will be learning about data handling and the children will get to question their friends about their favourite ice-cream. In phonics there are no specific sounds to learn this week but we will be reviewing all the Phase 5 sounds we have learnt this term. The words of the week next week are; fish, gave, mouse, something, bed and may.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR CHILD
·        Help your child practise their letter and number formation.
·        Try to read with your child for 5 minutes every day and ask them lots of questions about what they are reading.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Pyatt, Miss Lambert and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1


Home Learning:
To tie in with our Stop Motion Animation learning in topic and to help them understand how small the movements and changes to an illustration need to be so that they look realistic as you move between them, we are asking for this week’s home learning that the children create a ‘moving picture’. They can use Sport’s Day as a stimulus for this and draw at least 8 pictures which show them running (with their legs and arms moving place in each picture), them throwing the javelin or maybe even them lifting the house winner’s trophy! They can set this out in boxes, akin to a story board or in a flow chart. Some might even choose to make a mini ‘flick book’ with one picture on each page so that it really looks like the animation is moving when you flick through the pages!

News:

Yorkshire Wildlife Park:
Well what an amazing (or as the children would say, “epic”) day we had on Monday! The children were bursting with excitement from the off and after a one hour coach drive, multiple games of eye spy punctuated only by cries of, “Are we there yet?”,  we arrived at the park! Each class took a different route around the park taking the time to visit the lions, giraffes, zebras, tigers, appax (a screw horned white antelope from Africa), capybara, lemurs and so on. As we walked around there were loads of really interesting facts that the children really enjoyed reading to themselves or as a group and we certainly all learnt a lot! Every class also had the opportunity to take part in a Park lesson that YWP had tailored to meet our specific needs and in school learning. We all went to their on-sight classroom and were able to hold some real life animal parts. These included a tiger’s tooth, a lion’s claw, an appax’s horn, a rather smelly camel hide and an enormous ostrich egg! This was such a novelty and felt so special for everyone involved, which was reflected in the children’s questioning and engagement. Luckily we left it to the end of the last group before we dropped the ostrich egg, oops! But I can tell you with confidence and evidence now, that that was the biggest yolk I’ve ever seen (it was the equivalent to 20 chicken eggs, otherwise known as a Big Breakfast!).

Sport’s Day:
Well Sport’s Day was a huge success! The children have really enjoyed taking part in our athletics unit throughout this half term. It has harvested a real sense of camaraderie and competition amongst the house teams, developed each individual’s sporting determination and drive as well as having introduced the children to new physical experiences, such as hurdles and javelin. Today certainly played host to the children’s new found competitive streak! They really enjoyed the morning; there were 11 different stations to move across and try to earn points for your house team. These included activities based around speed, strength and balance such as the classic egg and spoon, balancing a quoit on your head whilst running, javelin, jumping from spot-to-spot and the all-time favourite dressing up race! Whilst we have been encouraging the children’s sense of competition and celebrating this, it was also really lovely to see how supportive they were of one another.

Topic:
Our learning about animals continued this week as we introduced a 2 week project around Stop Animation to the children. The way we explained this to them was through reference to Wallace and Gromit productions – explaining that each tiny movement is captured as a still shot before the hundreds of photographs are merged to make a film. The children chose a group of 4 friends to work with and together elected their favoured habitat. They then used a piece of A3 card to create a backdrop suiting their chosen habitat using paints with rollers and sponges as well as brushes, glue, glitter and sand for texture. We explained to the children that next week they will be creating a short story about an animal that they would create that has adapted its features to suit that habitat. This task really showed the depth of understanding the children have gained throughout this topic; we saw scaled, cold-blooded creature features being amalgamated into the ultimate desert animal and we saw powerful and sharp extremities from lions and leopards merging into the carnivore to fear in Africa! Next week the children will use Play Doh to make their creature and will film their chosen story in front of their backdrop. We’re sure that everyone will really enjoy learning this new skill and becoming film makers! Keep an eye out on Robin Hood TV!

Literacy:
We have revisited our trip throughout the week in literacy in different formats. We were told by Yorkshire Wildlife park that they are running a poster competition at the minute to promote the themes, ‘Conserve, Share, Sustain’ to people everywhere. In order for the children to understand what these terms mean and why their message in so important we showed them images of the effects of littering, global warming and hunting for fur. These were strong and mature concepts to portray but the children did incredibly at understanding them and actually gained a real impetus and desire to change cruel or thoughtless acts and to share the importance of this with the world. Every class has made a group poster on a template of the world. The sea became the place where we wrote rhyming couplet poems outlining the sad events that we witnessed and the simple things that we can do (such as turning off the light) to start the change. The land was painted different colours according to climate and we added observational drawings of animals common to those regions. The outcomes are truly amazing and we are sure that one of us will be the YWP’s winning entry!

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
What an eventful week we have had in LKS2! The children have thoroughly enjoyed exploring a range of different arts during our Arts Week, and have documented all of their new learning in their Art Logs! The children have also really enjoyed sports day! It was great to see all the children being great team players and taking part in healthy competition.
Photography Workshop
The children thoroughly enjoyed learning a new range of photography skills this week, which I am sure they will show off during the summer holidays. The children have learnt to take photos at different angles, in different lights, and have also learnt how to take close ups a distance shots. We were blown away at how confident the children were when applying these skills. Well done guys.
Musicians
We have welcomed two great musicians into school this week; Voxe and Sian Fawcett. From watching these talented musicians, the children learnt about how to get into the music industry, and how important it is to follow their dreams. Voxe, a local girl band, taught the children a song and gave some children the opportunity to take on a solo role. The children had the chance to improve their singing skills by learning from the experts and showcased their learning by performing to parents and carers.
Drama
This week, the children have been learning about Shakespeare by watching some live performances of Romeo and Juliet.  The children have gained an understanding of this tragic tale, and were able to verbally retell the main events of the story. The children have studied the balcony scene very closely, and after watching a Shakespearean version of the scene and a modern day version of the scene, they were able to retell the events through drama. We were really impressed with their understanding of the story and their expression when performing.
Sports Day
The children thoroughly enjoyed sports day today! They all had the opportunity to take part in a range of games and races, and we were really pleased with how all of the children supported their team mates. It was a great event, and we would like to say a big thank you to the Active team for organising it!
      ·        Please ensure your child’s PE kit is kept in school from Monday-Friday every week.
      ·        Please remember that your child’s reading record is sent in every Monday    morning.
·        Please ensure your child has a water bottle with them every day, due to the hot weather.

Have a lovely weekend!
 Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:

·        Please can all year 6 pupils bring any old photos of themselves into school. These photos will be used for the year 6 leavers assembly at the end of term.
·        Please can parents ensure that they arrive before the designated time for the parent performances on the 16th and 17th July to ensure they can get a good seat!
·        Due to warm weather please can we encourage all pupils to bring a water bottle and hat into school. Thank you. 
·        Next Thursday, year 6 pupils will be having a fish and chip lunch. Please ask your child what they have ordered, as they will not require a packed lunch or school dinner on this day.

Dates for your diary:
·        16th July- Year 6 leavers production, performance for parents (2.00- 3.15pm).
·        17th July- Year 6 leavers production evening performance for parents (6.15-7.30pm).
·        18th July- Fish & Chip lunch- Year 6
·        22nd July- Year 6 leavers prom, Glitz & Glamour theme. (5.30- 7.30pm).
·        23rd July- Year 6 leavers assembly.

Arts Discover week
·        This week pupils have been learning all about the arts. Throughout the week pupils have taken part in a range of artistic workshops, including singing, acting and photography. Pupils have reflected on their learning in a portfolio which has profiled the artists and displayed their learning in a visual and creative way. Pupils then showcased all their fantastic learning at the end of the week. 

Literacy:
·        Next week pupils will be using a range of ICT resources to present their narrative stories. Our year 6 pupils will be rehearsing their end of year production in this time. 

Numeracy:
·        Next week our year 5 pupils will be problem solving a murder mystery challenge using a range of mathematical strategies. Our year 6 pupils will be rehearsing their end of year production in this time. 

Other areas of the curriculum:
·        In PE this week year 5/6 pupils have been practicing the Big Dance in preparation for our sports day performance.