Issue 14 2013-14

Newsletter Issue 14

Friday 13th December 2013

 Dear Parent/Carer,

Our Christmas celebrations started this week; the tree is up, a delicious Christmas dinner was served up on Wednesday, Christmas cards are being delivered and rehearsals for the festive performances are underway. Year 1 enjoyed a trip to the theatre to see The Jungle Book this week, which I heard was incredibly enjoyable and Miss Mees shared with me the multiple comments which came from members of the public at the theatre that (once more!) the children of Robin Hood Primary School have excellent manners and are very well behaved. One person even commented that it is clear that the children go to a lovely school; couldn’t agree more!

Road Safety Pantomime

We combined festive fun with road safety awareness this week. The children enjoyed a pantomime visit to school for the Monday assembly, which focused on how to stay safe when crossing roads and how to be aware of drivers. It was delivered in a light hearted and fun way with plenty of opportunities to make some noise! Hopefully, this will have helped our children to be more aware and to empower them with the knowledge of what it also means to be a safe and responsible driver.

Books for sale

Eli in Year 1 is very proud of his two sisters, Matilda and Tallulah and has asked me to share something with you. They have won a writing competition in their school, which has resulted in their festive story being published as a real book. If anybody would like to make a £2 donation to buy one of these books entitled, “Is it bedtime yet?” please go to the ladies in the office who will be able pass one on to you. All proceeds will go to Children In Need.

Reminder- Leeds Golden Owls

If your child would like to be a movie star for the evening and join a star studded cast at an awards ceremony at Leeds Town Hall in April then please remember to submit video entries for the Golden Owls Awards by 20^th December.

Here is a reminder of the rules 1. The film must be a maximum of 10 minutes, including credits. Films can be of any length up to 10 minutes. Even one minute films will be considered – longer is not necessarily better. 2. Only films made since January 2013 can be entered. 3. Previous submissions will not be accepted.

School will select a maximum of 3 entries and submit the videos to the judging panel.  You can submit your entry either by handing in a CD to your class teacher or via email to Mrs Dale. Thanks.

Milk

As from January we will only be supplying free milk to Nursery children. Due to the 3 fold increase in price for milk supplied to KS1 children and the large amount of milk thrown away, we are no longer going to offer milk to KS1 children. If parents would like to continue milk for their child they can obtain a form from the office to order & pay direct to the dairy. Thanks.

Public Drop In Consultation For Expansion

A reminder that this will be held on Monday 16^th December from 3pm – 6pm to give people an opportunity to speak to a representative from Leeds City Council regarding the building work and for them to provide an update.

Next Parents Coffee Morning agenda
Our next parents coffee morning will be on Monday 10^th February 2014 between 9 am and 10 am with Miss Thackeray in Friendly Faces. You are invited to come along with positive suggestions which are relevant to the agendas that we set. Any other issues can come directly to me. It is important that we use the limited time that we have together to best effect. The agendas for next time will be:

·         Home learning- Do you think the children get too much/too little? Is it purposeful?- ideas for improvement.

·         Holiday projects- what do you and your child think of them?

·         Just a question for discussion- what would we think of a shorter summer holiday but longer half terms?

If you cannot make it, we value your views so you can email me at gaynor.dale@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk

Have a great weekend!  

Mrs Dale

Nursery Newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

This week has been very busy and we are now all feeling very festive. Our classroom is fabulously shiny and sparkly because it is covered in glitter from all of our creative activities.  The children have made lots more wonderful Christmas gifts for our Christmas shop which will be open for you to visit after our nativity performances.

THIS WEEK

We have practised our nativity every day and the children are getting more and more confident by the minute. They look really cute in their costumes and the children are really getting into their roles. Please keep practising the songs (which can be found on our foundation stage blog) with your child as much as you can and practise their lines with them if they have them. The children’s calendars are looking beautiful and will be available to buy from our Christmas shop. We are hoping to use the money raised from the children’s shop to pay for an animal workshop, so the children will get a hands on experience to meet some exciting animals to kick off our topic of “Animals in their Habitats” next half term. In numeracy we have been using our maths skills to play bingo and a whole range of collaborative games.

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will be finishing off our Christmas goodies for our shop and practising our nativity so that it will be amazing when you come to watch. Please make sure your child has their book bag every day next week because we will be reading with the children as and when we can. We have a big surprise for the children next Monday as we will be getting Skyped from a very special person who lives in the North Pole!

CAROLS AROUND THE TREE AND THE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Next Friday (20^th December) we will be singing carols around the tree in the hall at 11.30 until 12 noon, so please feel free to come and join in with the festivities. Our parties will be held Wednesday and Friday mornings (straight after the nativity performances)

CHRISTMAS NATIVITY DATES

Our productions for the parents to watch will be on Wednesday December 18^th (for Monday – Wednesday children) and Friday December 20^th (for Wednesday to Friday children) the hall doors will open at 9.15am and it will start at 9.30 and end at 10am. Our Christmas shop will open at 10am where you will be able to buy some of the wonderful things your child has been making.  

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Steel, Miss Fox, Mrs Chin and Mrs Beckwith.

Reception newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

This week has been very busy and we are now all feeling very festive. Our classroom is very shiny and sparkly because it is covered in glitter from all of the creative activities we have been doing. The children have made lots more wonderful Christmas gifts for our Christmas shop which will be open for you to visit after our nativity performance.

THIS WEEK

We have practised our nativity every day this week and the children are getting more and more confident by the minute. They looked really cute in their costumes on Monday and the children are really getting into their characters role. Please keep practising the songs (which can be found on our foundation stage blog) with your child as much as you can and practise their lines with them if they have them. In literacy the children have made beautiful glittery Christmas cards. The children’s calendars are looking beautiful and will be available to buy from our Christmas shop. We are hoping to use the money raised from the children’s shop to pay for an animal workshop so the children will get a hands on experience to meet some exciting animals to kick off our topic of “animals in their habitats” next half term. In numeracy we have been learning all about money and the value of coins and how different coins can still add up to the same value. So the children will be fully prepared to serve you at our Christmas shop. In phonics they have learnt to read the Phase 3 sounds ur (turn), oi (coin) and ow (cow).

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will be finishing off all of our Christmas goodies for our shop and practising our nativity so that it will be amazing when you come to watch. We will be continuing to learn about money in maths and the children will be learning how to add up coins and give change. Please make sure your child has their book bag every day next week because we will be reading with the children as and when we can. We have a big surprise for the children next week as we will be getting Skyped from a very special person who lives in the North Pole.

CAROLS AROUND THE TREE AND THE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Next Friday (20^th December) we will be singing carols around the tree in the hall at 11.30am until 12pm so please feel free to come and join in with the festivities. We will then be having our Christmas party, so please can your child bring in some food to share with their friends on the last day. Please could the girls bring in savoury treats and the boys bring in sweet treats. Friday will be a non-uniform day for the Reception children, so please send them in in their best party clothes ready for our party. The children will also have time in the morning to play with toys from home so if they would like to do this they can bring in 1 toy clearly named but it must be able to fit in their locker.

CHRISTMAS NATIVITY DATES

Our production for the parents to watch will be on Thursday 19^th December at 9.30am. The hall doors will open from 9am where refreshments will be served by the PTA until 9.30am. The Christmas shop will open after the nativity has finished where you will be able to buy some of the wonderful things your child has been making.  

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the Reception team.

Key Stage 1

Home learning
With Christmas just around the corner it is only fitting that home learning should have a festive theme. I’m sure you are very excited about our Christmas Production ‘Prickly Hay.’ This week please can the children design a leaflet or a poster to advertise the performance. It should tell us what the play is called, where it will be held and when (next Wednesday 18^th December at 2pm and Thursday 19^th December at 6pm.) Make your posters bright and engaging. The best ones will be displayed around school.

Please help us make Santa’s workshop!

Continuing our theme of instructions we are going to set the children the challenge of present wrapping next week. If you have any empty boxes, containers or cartons (clean!) they would be very much appreciated. Hopefully the children will then be able to help you with any last minute wrapping at home!

Costumes

Thank you so much for bringing in your costumes. The children look beautiful. If anyone still needs to bring theirs please can you ensure they are in school no later than Monday for our dress rehearsal.

Christmas party

Our Christmas party is going to be held next Wednesday 18^th December. Here is a reminder of the details. Party clothes can be brought in a labelled, separate carrier bag. We kindly ask if your child is a boy to bring in some savoury food and if your child is a girl, sweets or chocolate. If anyone would like to provide any juice (not fizzy), then this would be gratefully received.

Toy day!

One more festive reminder… the last day of term is ‘toy day’. Children can bring in toys and games to play with in class. If there is anything electrical please make sure it is fully charged and labelled. It is the responsibility of your child to look after anything they bring in.

Fantastic Seasonal Calendars

You will be pleased to hear that you do not need to buy a calendar for 2014! The children have been busy little elves this week producing some beautiful season calendars. They followed instructions step by step and experimented with lots of fun materials like colourful felt, crepe paper, fluff and ribbon. I’m sure you will agree that the final outcomes are amazing. You will receive a pack containing some of the things your child has been making. These will be sent home this week.

Geography learning

To help the children understand what their seasonal calendars were all about we have started to learn about the seasons. This learning will continue into next week. Firstly we discussed what the seasons are, then looked at the difference between seasons and months. It’s tricky to remember which months fall in which season! We considered different events that happen in different seasons and talked about how the weather and the world around us changes. Next week there will be a competition for the best seasons poster. There will be a prize for each class and an overall winner for KS1.

We look forward to seeing you all at our production next week.

Have a lovely weekend.

The KS1 Team

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
What another fabulous week we’ve had in year 3/4. We are really getting into the festive spirit with our rehearsals for the production.  This year’s show is absolutely fantastic and we strongly recommend that you come along to see all of our amazing, talented children in 3/4. Our performances are on Tuesday 17^th December 2:00pm – 3:00pm and Wednesday 18^th December 6:00pm – 7:00pm. Doors will open 10 minutes before the show is due to start. Seats are available as well as standing space at the back of the hall. Could we please ask that parents and carers only attend ONE of the shows as we have limited space and would like everybody to have the opportunity to see their children perform? Parents and carers will be permitted to take photographs, but we ask that these are not shared via any form of social media. If you have any queries, please do contact us.

We would like to thank all parents and carers who came along to our showcase assembly on Friday. We were treated to a fabulous show of fantastic learning from the children this half term and were particularly impressed with the quality of design and finish given to the customised trainers. The whole assembly really did reflect the hard work and enthusiasm shown by the children over the half term and we are incredibly proud of them. Well done everyone.

Next week we will be holding our Christmas Party on Thursday afternoon. Children will be invited to bring in their party clothes to change into for the afternoon celebrations. They will also be asked to bring in a selection of snacks and drinks as they have done in previous years. On Friday we will also be having our usual toy day. The children will be able to bring in their own games and toys but MUST ensure they are clearly labelled with their name. Mobile phones are not permitted.

Home Learning

As well as the children reading daily and practicing their weekly spellings, we would like everyone to be learning their Times Tables. We will now be testing the children weekly on a different times table as this will help us all greatly when solving multiplication and division problems. Links to any on line games to support your child with this will be on our phase blog. The times table we will be testing next week is the 12 Times Table.

Numeracy

This week in numeracy the children have been applying their knowledge of times tables and problem solving skills to tackle some tricky Christmas-themed questions. From secret codes to Christmas dinner budgets, we have all had fun putting our mathematical minds to the test.   

Literacy

This week in literacy, the children have redrafted and rewritten their letters to Gary Barlow trying to persuade him to come and visit Robin Hood Primary School. These letters will be sent to Mr Barlow himself in the hope that he will pop in for a visit. Watch this space to see if we get a reply. We have also written a shared story entitled The Nightmare Just Before Christmas. The children discussed their ideas in pairs and wrote the rest of the story together. We were really impressed with the quality and attention to detail as well as the variation in sentence types to add effect to the stories.

Topic

This week the children have been working super hard to finish their customised design for their pumps. They have also been adding the finishing touches to their adverts to promote our products using lots of different persuasive techniques.

Spellings

These Spellings will be tested on Monday 16^th December. For this week’s spellings we are giving the children some of the trickier words from this half term.

Group 1: locking, sucking, rocking, ticking, picking, checking, shocking, ringing, banging, mixing

Group 2: thief, thieves, leaf, leaves, half, halves, wolf, wolves, knife, knives

Reminders

·     Please ensure your child has an art shirt in school at all times.

·     Now that the weather is turning colder, we ask that your child must bring a coat to school every day.

·     Just a gentle reminder to ensure all of your child’s belongings (especially PE kits, hats and gloves and school jumpers) are clearly labelled with your child’s full name. Children will be required to have an indoor and outdoor kit after the holidays.

Don’t forget to check out our blog where you will find lots more information about this week’s learning as well as important reminders and dates for forthcoming event. http://year34rhps.blogspot.co.uk/

Have a superb weekend!

Team 3/4
UKS2 Newsletter Week 6 Autumn 2 2013

News Roundup:

Another reminder about our Celebration Assembly:

As many of you may be aware the format for our Friday assemblies has now changed. We will now hold Phase Assemblies on a rota basis. These will continue to be celebratory and will help give parents who cannot attend every Friday, the chance to come along when it is their child’s turn to be involved. The forthcoming upper key stage 2 celebration assemblies have been scheduled for: Friday 10^th January, 2.30- 3.00pm followed by Friday 7^th February… we look forward to seeing you there!

Year 6 Parent Consultations:

All year 6 children have received a letter about Parent Consultations for these children only to discuss your child’s progress and targets, well ahead of the formal end of year externally-marked assessments. Miss Hinton’s class appointments are on Monday January 13^th, Miss Gascoigne’s class appointments are Tuesday January 14^th and Mr Malley’s class appointments are Wednesday January 15^th. Each parent will be allocated a 15 minute time slot, therefore we ask parents/carers to specify a time on the letter which is most suitable and hand it into your child’s class teacher, or to the office. We will try our very best to accommodate all parents/carers, so do not hesitate to contact us should there be any major concerns regarding this.

Times Tables Challenge:

Next Wednesday sees the return of our termly times tables championship. We encourage all children to practice and we look forward to seeing their dazzling times tables skills! A fantastic resource for pupils to practice is www.teachningtimestables.co.uk.

Christmas Party:

Next Thursday each class will hold a class party. Children will be able to bring in their own clothes for the party and will be allowed to get changed into these in the afternoon. Pupils will spend some time in class having party food (a contribution to this would be greatly appreciated). For the remainder of the afternoon pupils will be playing party games in the hall.

Core Subjects:

Numeracy:

In Numeracy this week pupils have been calculating discounts for a Harry Potter shopping spree! Pupils have applied a range of different strategies to solve multi step problems involving finding percentages and fractions of amounts. For the remainder of the week pupils have been solving a variety of Christmas based numeracy problems.

Literacy:

In Literacy this week pupils have looked at the key features of a travel guide. Pupils have applied these features into their own Lapland travel guide. Pupils have written some wonderful guides which have used fantastic description and audience engaging features. 

SPELLINGS: This week, the spellings are: unashamed, unemployed, unfortunate, unavailable, replace, reinvent, recycle, enable, entangle, enlarge. Your child has received a copy of these spellings which have been glued into their planner. They will be tested on these words on Friday January 10^th.

Other areas of the curriculum:

PE:

This week pupils have performed their own sequence routines by applying a range of key criteria including; rolls, balances, canon, flight and travelling. Pupils also combined their sequences with the use of the vault and trampette. All routines showed superb imagination, control and variation. Well done to all!

Once again, please ensure that your child comes to school with the appropriate PE kit each week. 5/6M and 5/6MO PE sessions are on Mondays and 5/6G PE sessions are on now on Wednesdays. As the PE unit this half term is Gymnastics, the children only need their plain white PE t-shirt and black shorts.

Spanish:

This week in Spanish, pupils have been getting in the festive spirit by learning traditional Christmas carols. Pupils have also been putting their knowledge of los objetos de la classe (classroom objects) by helping to design a fantastic classroom display.

ICT:

During our ICT sessions, the children have been challenging themselves this week to program their robot to perform a tricky procedure which was to go forward in a rectangle, and reverse backwards into a circle.