Friday 28 November 2014

Issue 12 2014-15


Newsletter Issue 12

Friday 28th November 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,
We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the Christmas Craft Fayre on Saturday. It promises to be a fabulous event and conveniently takes place just before another community event, which I hope you will be able to support…..
Robin Hood Residents Association Christmas Carol Concert 
This event takes place on Saturday afternoon, (29th Nov) between 4-6pm at the Community Orchard on Copley Lane opposite the post office. Santa will be there with presents for children, the Christmas tree will be lit up, there will be a craft stall, festive refreshments and Lofthouse Brass Band will be playing Christmas Carols for us all to sing along.
Assembly
We started our week with a visit in assembly from Reverend Mandy, who taught the children all about the patron saints of Great Britain and how they link with the colours in the Union Jack. This was part of our assembly theme this term about what it means to be British.
Skipping Days
On Wednesday and Thursday KS1 and KS2 took part in Robin Hood's first ever skipping event! Skipping is a difficult skill for children to master and demands a great amount of co-ordination. Chris and Jodi from “Skipping School” helped develop children’s skipping skills and also showed the children some fun games they could use at play time when skipping with their friends. KS2 were treated to an assembly which showed some of the fantastic skippers we have in school. The staff also enjoyed an hour CPD after school developing their knowledge and skills of skipping. Well done to all of the children and staff for showing determination and enthusiasm in this event!
Final sums
Well done everyone- we managed to raise £387.03 for the Poppy Appeal and £419.80 for Children in Need.
Christmas Performances
We are looking forward to welcoming you to our Christmas performances this year. We are now operating a system of ticket allocations to ensure that everyone, including the children is safeguarded during these times. With the added issue of restrictions to space outside of the hall because of the building work, it is essential that we follow the advice from the Fire Safety team and keep numbers within the safe guidelines. I am not prepared to compromise the safety of anybody during these performances so therefore hope that you are supportive of the decision around this. Each phase is putting on an additional show this year so that all families can continue to support this magical time of year.
Christmas non uniform day
We would like to support the PTA’s idea of a Christmas non uniform day on Wednesday 17th December. Children are encouraged to come in a Christmas jumper if they have one, otherwise anything Christmassy that you have at home (e.g. a touch of tinsel, a Santa hat) to get in the mood for the pending parties! A donation of £1 will go to the PTA funds. There may even be a special surprise for the children…
For reminders of Christmas event dates, please remember you can refer to the school website “School Calendar” section.
PTA news
Thank you to everyone, parents and teachers who have come forward offering their help for tomorrow's Fayre.  It starts at 12pm and runs until 3pm.  The entrance will be round the left hand side of the school next to the reception entrance.  We have a cafe full of food, including pies, hotdogs and cakes, in The Friendly Faces building and some lovely music from our very own Rockin' Robins at 12:30pm.  To keep the children entertained we have two competitions and the Reptile Rangers visiting, giving you plenty of time to peruse over 30 craft stalls and purchase all your Christmas Presents.  If you haven't yet had the chance to purchase your raffle tickets or have yet to bring your money into school, this needs to be done before the draw which will take place on Saturday at 2:45pm.  We hope you have a wonderful time tomorrow and look forward to seeing you all.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Dale
REMEMBER! THIS MONDAY (1st December) 8:15 a.m.  “Moving forward and learning together”
·    Our website- what isn’t there that should be?
·    The use of Twitter – ways to take this forward and engage more parents
·    Our blogs- How we can get even more use out of blogs? What blogs should we keep/not keep?
Those who cannot attend are encouraged to contact either myself or Miss Hinton as everyone’s opinion is valuable. gaynor.dale@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk                         claire.hinton@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk

Friday 21 November 2014

Issue 11 2014-15


Newsletter Issue 11

Friday 21st November 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,
Well done to Lower Key Stage 2 who did a marvellous assembly this afternoon. I must make a special mention to Mrs Moore this week, who has organised that our Year 4 pupils can receive certificates and badges for their swimming achievements. This is something that is new for us and I feel that recognition of children’s achievements in this area of our sports curriculum is really important.

Welcome trainees
This week we have welcomed our Trinity University trainees who will be carrying out their final year placements this year. Aylish Brady, Chloe Darby and Alice Johnson join us under the supervision of Miss Mees and Miss Gascoigne, our Key Stage 1 and Upper Key Stage 2 leaders.

Thank you to Dip
Last Friday in Reception, we had a special visit from Mrs Beckwith’s son-in-law, Dip. He very kindly gave up his time to come in and teach the children about the traditional story of Rama and Sita as part of the children’s learning about Diwali. As well as the story, he also gave the children experience of playing traditional Indian drums and dancing.

Operation Christmas Child and other charities
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the school community very much for your generous contributions to the charities that we have supported this term. As well as the Poppy Appeal and Children in Need, many families have also taken the time to create a shoe box of goods which will be shipped to give children in severely deprived areas of the world something to open at Christmas. The School Captains Lewis and Lia helped carry and load the 82 boxes into the collection van earlier this week. We're looking forward to finding out where the boxes are sent to.

My assembly on Monday touched upon the amazing work of all these charities with a focus on the 100 year celebration of when the First World War started and the real life story of the Christmas Day truce.

Phase 2 building update
The building work continues to go well. Providing the work stays on schedule, we should be able to access our new staffroom and my new Headteacher office on Monday December 15th. At this point, access through the school from the mall to Year 3/ 4 will be possible. From December, the school office will be rehoused in the temporary unit outside of the school (currently the temporary staffroom) whilst work is completed on the space which currently houses the office, reprographics room and staff toilets. At this point, work will also start on the expansion of the school hall to knock through to where my Headteacher office is currently located. We will hope that disruption to the hall will be kept to a minimum but we will aim to keep you informed every step of the way. We will keep you updated with new access plans for January before we break up for the Christmas break

PTA news

 We are busy putting the final touches to the Christmas Craft Fayre which promises to be a massive success with over 30 stalls attending, food and things to keep the children entertained.  A huge thank you needs to go to one of our lovely Mums Emma Womersley, she has worked so hard over the last few months getting everything together to ensure that this year’s fayre is one to remember.  Unfortunately despite Emma’s best efforts we haven’t had any response to our request for help in last week’s newsletter.  The success of the fayre (not forgetting the money we raise for your children) depends solely on volunteers, like yourself.  If you are able to offer any time whatsoever on Saturday 29th (it doesn’t need to be all day) then please contact us in the usual ways.  Visit our Facebook page (Robin Hood Primary School PTA), e-mail us (robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com) or follow us on Twitter (@robinhoodpta).

Could I please second the plea for helpers on Saturday 29th November. It is through the good faith and commitment of our parents and community that we can have these fantastic events. Just an hour or two would be a help so please do come forward if you can help. Drag along any other friends and family; the more the merrier. I find teenage ex-pupils are particularly accommodating!

Have a great weekend

Mrs Dale

REMEMBER! Moving forward and learning together

Monday 1st December at 8:15a.m. and will be focussed around the agendas of:

·    Our website- what isn’t there that should be?

·    The use of Twitter – ways to take this forward and engage more parents

·    Our blogs- How we can get even more use out of blogs? What blogs should we keep/not keep?

Those who cannot attend are encouraged to contact either myself or Miss Hinton as everyone’s opinion is valuable. gaynor.dale@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk                         claire.hinton@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children have had another fabulous week as we have enjoyed finding out about other celebrations such as weddings, christenings and birthdays. The children have been really enthusiastic to share their own knowledge and experiences and alongside their celebration photographs; this has really helped the children to make sense of their new learning. Have a look at our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Reception at: http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We learned all about general celebrations including weddings and christenings. We have practiced our mark making skills in literacy and have been looking at bumpy lines, zig zag lines and straight lines. We have also practiced making circular marks to develop pre – writing skills. We have enjoyed building different sized towers and counting in maths and the children have really enjoyed creating their own flowers cards in our topic activity. We have been very busy and have had lots of fun!
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning about Advent and the things Christian people do to prepare for Christmas. We will be preparing a class advent calendar in our creative sessions and will be looking at numbers in our maths sessions. Our home learning task this week is to make a Christingle for your child which we will use during our literacy sessions to form the basis of our speaking and listening activities. 
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·       Learning logs need to come into school every Monday for beginning of week children and Wednesday for end of week children.
·       Please continue to engage with the home learning and ensure you listen to your child read for 5 minutes every day. Thank you
·       Please make sure that all clothing is clearly named and if your child comes home in spare clothes, please could you wash and return them as soon as possible.
·       Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and a coat every day.
Thank you for your continued support
Mrs Harley and the Nursery Team
 
Dates for your diary.
Wednesday 17th December 10:45a.m. – ‘Christmas singing’ (Beginning of week children)
 
Friday 19th December – 2:15p.m. -  ‘Christmas singing’ (end of week children)
 
 
 
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children have had another fabulous week as we have enjoyed finding out about other celebrations such as weddings, christenings and birthdays. They have been able to use their own photographs and experiences to make sense of their new learning and have really impressed us with their knowledge. Have a look at our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Reception at: http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We learned all about general celebrations including weddings, christenings, anniversaries and birthdays. There has been lots of busy baking going on and the children enjoyed selling their buns to raise money for Children in Need.  During numeracy sessions, we have looked  at one more/one less and in phonics we have focused on qu as well as recapping on all the letters and sounds we have taught in Phase 2 and 3 since September.
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning about Advent and the special things Christian people do to prepare for Christmas. Our home learning task this week is to make a Christingle for your child which we will use on Monday to introduce the topic to the children and will form the basis of our speaking and listening activities.  In our topic sessions the children will be working collaboratively on making a class advent calendar for each Reception class and will all make an individual window that will then be numbered and opened on the appropriate day. In Phonics will introduce the sounds ch sh th ng.  The Key words are the Tricky words: you, they, all, are, my, her. In our numeracy sessions we will be learning about ordinal numbers and number sequencing to 20.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·       Learning logs need to come into school every Monday along with reading bags and home learning. Please engage with the home learning and ensure you listen to your child read for 5 minutes every day and help your child learn their spellings.  
·       Please make sure that all clothing is clearly named and if your child comes home in spare clothes, please could you wash and return them as soon as possible.
·       PE kits need to be in school every Friday.
·       Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and a coat every day.
·       Please support your child to write their full name and give them lots of praise and encouragement.
·       If you have time to do some extra practice on phonics, have a look at Mr Thorne http://www.mrthorne.com/ and Phonics Play http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm for some fun activities which will support the teaching and learning in school.
Head lice - You should have all received a letter about head lice last week. We are asking ALL parents including those with boys to check their child’s hair daily.
Thank you
Miss Lambert, Mrs Steel and the Reception Team
Dates for your diary.
Friday 12/12 Performance 9.30-10.15
and 2.15 – 3.00 (ticket only – more information to follow)
Thursday 18/12 Christmas shop in Reception 2.45 – 3.00
Friday 19/12 Christmas party – wear  party clothes/bring food – more information to follow
 
Key Stage 1
What an amazing week we have had, full of learning! Thank you so much for all the boxes you have brought in so far. The children have made some amazing models of stages using them.
BOX PLEA!!!!!!!
Please keep bringing any boxes, yoghurt pots and kitchen rolls into school rather than the recycle bin, so that the children can continue to make amazing model theatres.
Home learning
The compulsory home learning each week is:
·    10 spellings per week (5 mins X 3 times a week)
·    Recall of number facts (5 mins X 3 times a week) – Please continue to practice number bonds for 5, 10 and 20. E.g 3 + 2 = 5 What other ways can your children show this?
·    Reading and/or using Bug Club. (10 mins X 3 times a week).
·    5 times tables.
Numeracy
Next week in Key Stage 1 we will be moving on to subtraction. We will be giving the children number sentences to work out. First we will start with small numbers up to 20 then as the children become more confident we will use higher numbers. We will be using the following methods to work out subtraction number sentences.
·    Counting objects by moving objects away.
·    Counting backwards on a number line or a number square.
·    Putting the biggest number in their head and then counting backwards (15 - 3 = 12)
·    Counting back in tens from any number e.g. 32, 22, 12, 2
·    Using partitioning. (This is where you split the number in to tens and units and then put a line through what you are subtracting).
Literacy
Next week we will be continuing to read the same book as last week. In Year 1 this is “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”, in Year 1/2 this is “Gorilla” and in Year 2 this is “Where the wild things are”.  Next week the children will be writing their own stories based on the stories we have been reading, but they will be changing either the characters, the setting or the plot of their story. They will be trying to incorporate the different punctuation that we have concentrated on this week. This may include: Capital Letters, Full Stops, Exclamation Marks, Question Marks, Ellipses, Brackets, Commas and Speech Marks.
Christmas Play Dates
Dates for your diaries:
Monday 15th December – KS1 Afternoon performance 2:00 - 3:00
Tuesday 16th December – KS1 Morning performance 9:30 - 10:30
Tuesday 16th December – KS1 Late night performance 5:00 - 6:00
Your child will have been given their part in the Christmas play this week. Please make sure that their costume is brought into school by Monday the 8th of December. The Year 2 children have all been given speaking parts to learn so please practise them with them as much as possible.
Trip to see the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Thank you to all parents and carers who have paid for our up and coming trip to the Theatre. Please can you return any permission slips with monies in to Mrs Holland and Mrs Smith at Reception. The cost of the trip is £15.00. Without the permission slip your child will not be able to attend the trip.
Outdoor PE kits
Now the weather is turning colder please ensure your child has the correct outdoor PE kit. They need the following; long jogging bottoms, trainers and a warm hoodie or jumper. We are happy for their PE kits to be left in their locker all week.
Have a lovely weekend.
The Key Stage One Team
 

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Well, what a fun and exciting week we have had in year 3/4. Tricky sums, dancing, persuasive speeches and lots of fact finding has meant the children have been working extremely hard.  The children have been engrossed in our British Monarchy topic and have thoroughly enjoyed finding out about all about the Tudor times.  
Literacy
This week in literacy the children have been learning all about the positive and negative aspects of King Henry VIII’s life.  This was to help the children to write a persuasive speech to the nation in order to try and convince the people of Britain to replace King Henry with themselves. We began the week by watching videos and recording facts about King Henry VIII. We then sorted facts out into positive and negative to ensure we gave a balanced argument. The speeches sound really good and the children have been working hard to include a variety of persuasive techniques including superlatives and comparatives. We are looking forward to finishing them off next week and performing them to the class.
Numeracy
The children have been tackling some tricky multiplications this week using the grid method. For the Year 3’s, this will have been the first time they have been taught this method and they have all tried extremely hard. Year 4’s have been practicing the grid method and also applying it to a range of different contexts, including money and finding the area of shapes. It has become evident this week that many children are still not secure with rapid recall of times table facts which are fundamental when multiplying and dividing numbers. We would therefore appreciate your continued support in helping your child to learn all of their timetables. If you would like any support, please ask your child’s class teacher or visit the blog as we would be more than happy to offer any assistance.
Topic
This week during our topic lessons the children have been conducting their own research into the Tudor period. They found out all about the Tudor monarchs, Battle of Bosworth, Henry VIII and Tudor life. The children were highly motivated to research lots of facts using a variety of sources. We then had a class debate to decide whether Henry VIII was actually as bad as he is made out to be. The children did very well to make their points for and against and did well to back up their opinions with valid reasons.  
Christmas Play Costumes
The year 3/4 Christmas play is just around the corner and by now all children that have expressed an interest have been cast their parts.  To make the play even more of a success we would like children to come dressed in costume suitable for their part. Please don’t feel as though you need to go out and spend money on costumes. If you need any assistance, come and speak with your class teacher and we will be happy to assist you.  We would like to invite children who are narrators and also the year 3 children to come dressed Christmassy. This could be anything from a sparkly jumper to a christmas pudding!
Spellings
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 24th November. 
Group 1:  zoo, food, boots, moon, roots, broom, spoon, shampoo, tooth, balloon
Group 2: happened, exclaimed, suggested, whispered, manufactured, stated, questioned, explained, identified, recalled
Reminder
 
·    Please can we remind all parents that children are required to bring reading records into school every Monday for class teachers to see. We ask that children read as much as possible at home and a minimum of three times per week.
·    Please ensure that your child comes to school every day with a water bottle.
·    PE kits, both indoor and outdoor, should be brought into school on Monday and remain in school until Friday.
·    Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing an appropriate coat and that all clothing has your child’s name labelled clearly.
·    The dates for our Christmas performance are;
           Tuesday 16th December – 2:00-3:00 pm
           Wednesday 17th December – 5:00- 6:00
           Thursday 18th December – 9:30- 10:30
 3/4 Team
Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Celebration Assembly
Our Autumn 2 Celebration Assembly will be on Friday November 28th at 2:30pm. The children will be showcasing some of their fantastic learning from this half term and the classroom will be open afterwards if you would like to look at even more! We hope you can make it!
Planetarium
On Tuesday November 25th, a planetarium will be visiting the school. Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 children will have the pleasure of experiencing the magic of the solar system inside an inflatable dome, which will take them on a journey through the galaxy in keeping with our Space science unit. 
Leeds Junior Maths Challenge
Another huge congratulations to Amelie, Chitua, Eva and Videet for taking part in the Leeds Junior Maths Challenge final on Monday. The children competed against many other schools from the Leeds area to tackle some challenging problem solving activities. The children worked so well as a team to investigate the problems and their mental maths skills were so quick and accurate. Although they just missed out on being placed in the top three schools, we are still very pleased with the children for their attitude, effort and commitment to this and we are proud to have had them represent our school! Well done!
Skipping Day
On Wednesday 26th November pupils will enjoy a skipping day. Here pupils will experience skipping workshops from specialist providers. Throughout the day pupils will also research and present their findings on the body’s response to exercise. Pupils need to come dressed in appropriate sportswear for the full day. Thank you.
Numeracy
In numeracy this week, pupils have been learning all about percentages. The children have been very busy finding various percentages of amounts, before increasing and decreasing prices in the Far, Far Away restaurant from the film, Shrek! Next week, the children will be developing their learning about percentages even further, by using knowledge of 10%, 1% and 50% to find harder fractions, such as: 35%, 22% and 9%. The children will be applying these strategies to some shopping questions associated with purchasing some of the toys featured in the film, Toy Story.
Literacy
In literacy this week pupils have worked hard to write their newspaper article based on a climate change story. Children have really enjoyed being news reporters for the week and wrote some really detailed and formal articles- which explained the story well. Next week, pupils will be spending time practicing using high level connectives and conjunctions, as well as developing their proficiency around using wider punctuation marks, such as: colons, semi colons and dashes. The spellings for next week are: interrupt, language, leisure, lightening, marvellous, mischievous, muscle, necessary, neighbour, nuisance. Your child has received a copy of these spelling and will be tested on Friday 28th November.
Topic
This week, the children have been continuing to explain how Global Warming occurs, by using key geographical vocabulary. Pupils have worked hard to explain the relationship between Global Warming and the effect that this can have on our environment through Climate Change.
Science:
In Science this week, we have been learning about the orbit of the Earth and the Sun and how this impacts life on Earth. Children were then challenged to work in groups to create their own demonstration to show their understanding of these concepts. This challenge involves working as a team, creating a script and creating or researching pictures and diagrams that would help their audience visualise these presentations. This project will run into next week’s science lesson and we look forward to viewing all the finished presentations.
 
 

Friday 14 November 2014

Issue 10 2014-15


Newsletter Issue 10

Friday 14th November 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,
We started the week presenting the winners of the Health and Safety poster competition, which recognised and celebrated children’s knowledge of building site safety. I hope all children who received their prizes were pleased with their success. Well done to all of the children for their brilliant outcomes. Choosing winners was a very tough process.  
This week we have also taken some time to think about all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. We observed a minute’s silence across school at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day (Tuesday) and it was lovely to see some children wearing their poppies with pride.

Teaching Assistant
This week we have appointed a new teaching assistant to join our fantastic existing team of support staff. Rachel Hobson will join us in Year 1/ 2 (Miss Mees’s class) from January.

E-Safeguarding
In school this year, we are doing a lot of awareness around how to stay safe online. Our children have access to the internet through all sorts of devices these days and it is important that we know we are educating them in how to protect themselves. In order for us to do this effectively, we require a little help from you. We would be very grateful if you could spare 5 minutes of your time to complete an anonymous questionnaire about your child’s usage of technology outside of school. The survey is online- you can find the link on our phase blogs and it will soon be on the e-safety section of the website. You will be required to type a password, which is: WF3. We will keep the survey open until the 5th December. Many thanks for your help. The survey can also be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RQ26RRN  

Parent View
Whilst on line, we would appreciate some more responses to the Ofsted Parent View questionnaire which you were informed of via a letter on Wednesday. We have had a trickle of responses; thank you to those who have offered their views. The more responses we receive, the more accurate our evaluation can be. Thank you. Please visit: https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/

Milner Lane parking
We would appreciate it if you could observe respect for the residents on Milner Lane at drop off and pick up time. It has been brought to our attention that parents parking on the lane is proving problematic. We continue to ask for your patience and cooperation whilst the building work continues.

PTA News

Thank you to everyone who dropped off their unwanted clothes at school on Monday morning.  Thank you also to everyone who has ordered Christmas cards etc. with their child’s beautiful art work on.  So far there has been a massive £1,664 worth of orders.  I will post a profit figure once we have it.
The raffle tickets have been issued and the winners will be drawn at the Christmas Craft Fayre on the 29th November.  A big thank you to Rebecca who has organised the printing and collecting of the monies for the raffle tickets, this is quite a big job so her help is appreciated.  Please return stubs, monies and any unsold tickets to the school office.

We do require a number of helpers for the Christmas Craft Fayre so if you are able to help out in any of the following areas please contact us…

·  Helpers required to unload the stallholders’ cars 10a.m. until 12p.m. (Due to    limited parking this will really help).

·  A volunteer to collect the stallholders fee and donation 12p.m. until  12:30p.m.

·  Helpers to set up, Friday evening 3:15p.m. until 5p.m. and also Saturday morning 10a.m. until 12p.m.

·  Helpers to clean and tidying away after 3p.m. until 5p.m. on Saturday.

·  A volunteer to look after the balloon stall 12p.m. until 3p.m. (this job could be shared).

Contact us at robinhooprimarypta@gmail.com, Facebook; Robin Hood Primary School PTA, Twitter; @robinhoodpta.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Mrs Dale

REMEMBER! Moving forward and learning together

Monday 1st December at 8:15 a.m. and will be focussed around the agendas of:

·     Our website- what isn’t there that should be?

·     The use of Twitter – ways to take this forward and engage more parents

·     Our blogs- How we can get even more use out of blogs? What blogs should we keep/not keep?

Those who cannot attend are encouraged to contact either myself or Miss Hinton as everyone’s opinion is valuable. gaynor.dale@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk                         claire.hinton@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk
 
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you for coming to our assembly, I hope you all enjoyed it!  We are very proud of all of the children, they work really hard in nursery and it was a brilliant chance for them to show you all of their amazing learning! Have a look at our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Nursery at: http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We learned all about Diwali –sharing the story of Rama and Sita. We have dressed up and engaged in some really good role-play. The children have had fun with the clay and made some wonderful ‘Diva Lamps’ to celebrate Diwali. We have even had a fabulous Diwali party - thank you for your generous food donations. In Maths we have been looking at ‘Rangoli Patterns’ and using our knowledge of shapes.
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning about general celebrations such as weddings, christenings, anniversaries and birthdays. If you have any family photographs of these celebrations, please feel free to send them in to school with your child and we can share them. We will be practicing our mark making skills and looking at different kinds of marks – bumpy lines, zig zag lines, swirly lines etc. In maths we will be talking about size and building towers of different heights.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·        Learning logs and any home learning need to come into school every Monday (beginning of week children) or Wednesday (end of week children).
·        Please continue to talk to your children about the sounds they can hear – this is really helping with their phonics and their ability to identify sounds – thank you.
·         Where possible please include numbers, shape and colour in your conversation.
·         Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and a coat every day.
Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Harley and the Nursery Team
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
We had a great week last week with our author visit and Bonfire party and this one has been just as much fun as we have celebrated Diwali! The staff in Reception have set up some Diwali areas and Miss Fox has been producing fabulous mehndi patterns for the children. We enjoyed a super Diwali party with drumming and delicious food – thank you again for your generosity! Have a look at our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Reception at: http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We learned all about Diwali – sharing the story of Rama and Sita and retelling it using lots of puppets, props and role-play. The children celebrated on Friday with a Diwali party and we had a special guest to show us real Indian drumming as well as our own Miss Fox who created Mehndi patterns on hands using washable face paint. This week we have been focusing on the sounds x, y, z and zz and the words see, for, now, down, look and too. In numeracy we have built on the concept of addition by introducing subtraction and the children have enjoyed showing us their counting and calculation skills!
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning about general celebrations such as weddings, christenings, anniversaries and birthdays. Each day in our topic sessions the children will be baking buns to sell in order to raise funds for Children in Need. You should receive an invitation from your child telling you which day they will be baking. In literacy we will be focusing on writing shopping lists and party invitations – again encouraging the children to show us how many sounds they can write. During numeracy sessions, we will be focusing on one more and one less and will be using these skills in a practical way. Our phonics will focus on qu and then recapping on all the letters and sounds we have taught in Phase 2 since September. Ideally we will then be moving the children on to the Phase 3 letters and sounds so please can you ensure you do some extra practising at home over the weekend. Thank you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·        Learning logs need to come into school every Monday along with reading bags and home learning. Please engage with the home learning and ensure you listen to your child read for 5 minutes every day and help your child learn their spellings.  
·       Please make sure that all clothing is clearly named and if your child comes home in spare clothes, please could you wash and return them as soon as possible.
·       PE kits need to be in school every Friday.
·       Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and a coat every day.
·       Please support your child to write their full name and give them lots of praise and encouragement.
·       If you have time to do some extra practice on phonics, have a look at Mr Thorne http://www.mrthorne.com/ and Phonics Play http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm For some fun activities which will support the teaching and learning in school.
Thank you
Miss Lambert, Mrs Steel and the Reception Team
Dates for your diary.
Friday 12/12 Performance 9.30-10.15
and 2.15 – 3.00 (ticket only – more information to follow)
Thursday 18/12 Christmas shop in Reception 2.45 – 3.00
Friday 19/12 Christmas party – wear  party clothes/bring food
Key Stage 1
What a fantastic week we have had, full of learning! The children are really enjoying their new topic of the Theatre and we would like to thank all the parents and carers who have brought in puppets and dressing up clothes. Any donations linked to the theatre are greatly received, thank you!
Home learning
The compulsory home learning each week is:
·       10 spellings per week (5 mins X 3 times a week)
·        Recall of number facts (5 mins X 3 times a week) – Please continue to practice number bonds for 5, 10 and 20. E.g. 3 + 2 = 5  What other ways can your children show this?
·       Reading and/or using Bug Club. (10 mins X 3 times a week).
·       2 times tables. We have decided to spend more time on the X2 table so please continue to do this up to 2 X10. Any counting in 2’s is also a good skill to reinforce with your child.
We have acted upon parent feedback from Parents evening and last week introduced our first Numeracy based learning worksheet linked to the number facts and skills the children are learning at school. This learning is not compulsory and is entirely up to you as a parent if you wish your child to do this. If you would like any extra support or have any questions about this learning task please speak to your class teacher. 
Numeracy
Key Stage one will be continuing to practice their addition skills next week. The children have been practising and using the following skills:
·         Counting objects and joining two different groups together.
·         Putting the biggest number in their head and then counting on. (16 + 3 = 19) 
·         Breaking up numbers (partitioning) and putting them back together.
·         E.g.  25 + 14 =    39     20 + 10 = 30  5 + 4 = 9          30 + 9 = 39.
·         Working it out mentally in their heads.
·         Some children have begun to use column addition.
Literacy
The children have been really enjoying writing stories! Next week each class will be changing what book they will be using to help them in their learning. In Year 1 this will be “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”, in Year 1/2 this will be “Gorilla” and in Year 2 this will be “Where the wild things are”.  The children will be focusing on different punctuation such as Capital Letters, Full Stops, Exclamation Marks, Question Marks, Ellipses, Brackets, Commas and Speech Marks. When reading with your child see if you can spot where these may be used and talk about why the author has used them.
BOX PLEA!!!!!!!
Next week the children will be starting a two week unit of Design and Technology. They will be working in groups of four and making their own stage out of wood! We would like the children to also try to design stages out of different materials such as boxes, yoghurt pots and kitchen rolls. So if you are planning on putting any of these in to your recycle bin please bring them in to school instead. We thank you in advance!
Christmas Play Dates
Dates for your diaries:
Monday 15th December – KS1 Afternoon performance 2:00 - 3:00
Tuesday 16th December – KS1 Morning performance 9:30 - 10:30
Tuesday 16th December – KS1 Late night performance 5:00 - 6:00
Next week your children will be given their part, what costume they will need and any lines they may need to learn.
Year 2 Residential
Next year we are planning on our first 24 hour adventure camp school! This will involve the Year 2 children sleeping over at school on the school field! We have planned for a company called ‘Compass Adventure’ to come in on Thursday 4th June at 3pm until 3pm on Friday 5th June. The children will take part in a range of activities such as Bush craft (Making bread and eating bugs), Camp craft (Marshmallows on the fire and sleeping in tents) plus lots more interesting things to do! We are holding a meeting about this residential on Thursday 11th December at 3:15pm.  It would be great to see as many parents as possible to see how many children would be interested in taking part. It should really be a fantastic opportunity for your child!
Have a lovely weekend.
The Key Stage One Team

LKS2 Newsletter
What an action packed week it has been! The highlight has got to be the incredible portraits produced by the children. We looked at a variety of portraits from the Tudor and Victorian times and then the children created a portrait of themselves as a monarch! They were so patient and persistent when learning how to accurately draw a face (no easy task!) After several attempts it’s fair to say they cracked it! We are so proud of what they have achieved and very soon they will be on display. We’ll be sure to put lots of pictures on the blog too.
Numeracy
This week we have been tackling subtraction problems using mental and written strategies. We have practised quickly counting back in tens and units, worked on identifying several shortcuts for speedy mental subtraction and practised column subtraction to tackle bigger numbers. Next week we’re moving onto multiplication. Next week we will be testing the children on their 12 times tables however we would appreciate your time and continued support in helping your child to learn ALL of their tables. Thank you.
Just a reminder that our Parent Workshop based on Subtraction will now be held in Miss Gascoigne’s room on Tuesday November 18th at 4.15 – 5.00pm.
Literacy
We have finished our persuasive letters and they will be in the post imminently! Let’s hope we get lots of replies – or better yet, a visit! Next we are going to go back in time and persuade Henry viii to change his ways through a persuasive speech!
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 17th November. Please support your child in practicing their spellings every day to help them achieve 10/10 in their spelling test every week.
Group 1: bowl, crow, snow, arrow, window, elbow, throw, blow, snowman, rainbow
Group2: picture, temperature, nature, future, mixture, leisure, measure, treasure, signature, pleasure
Topic - Learning on display at Leeds City Museum!
Some of the children’s posters are now on display at Leeds City Museum in the Learning Space (we’d have loved to display them all but space was limited – we squeezed on as many as possible!) If you’re in Leeds, pop in and ask to have a look. You might have to ask someone to let you into the room but I’m sure they would be more than happy to oblige. There are lots of craft sessions on a Saturday morning so the room will definitely be open then. Lots of workshops, classes and learning sessions take place in the Learning Space and our learning will be seen by many schools from around the city! You should all be very proud of what you achieved! Take a look on the 3/4 blog to see the display.
Reminders
·       Please ensure your child’s labelled PE kit (indoor and outdoor) is kept in school from Monday-Friday every week
·       Please ensure your child has an appropriate coat to wear that is fully labelled. Thank you.
·       Operation Christmas Child boxes will be collected next week on Tuesday 18th November.
·       Our next Showcase Assembly will take place on Friday 21st November at 2.30pm. We hope you will be able to join us as we share some of the children’s amazing learning. 
·        Christmas performance dates:
Tuesday 16th Dec – Afternoon Performance – 2.00 – 3.00pm
Wednesday 17th Dec – Evening performance – 5.00 – 6.00pm
Thursday 18th Dec – Morning performance – 9.30 – 10.30
 
More details will be shared with you shortly in terms of acquiring tickets, etc.
Have a lovely weekend.
Team 3/4.
Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Fire talk
This week, our pupils were paid a visit from firefighters based at Rothwell Fire Station. Firefighters discussed the importance of creating a fire plan in the event of a fire at home. In addition to this, the fire service discussed road safety and the significance of wearing a seatbelt. We hope all our pupils now recognise the importance of such valuable messages. 
Numeracy
In numeracy this week, pupils have been learning all about fractions. It has been an action packed week full of amazing learning! We have covered many different concepts, including; simplifying, ordering, converting and adding or subtracting fractions! Next week the children will be learning about percentages, including how to use knowledge of 10% to find other percentages, for examples doubling to get 20%, halving to get 5% etc. the children will also be converting fractions into percentages and finding percentages of amounts before increasing and decreasing amounts by a given percentage.
Literacy
In literacy this week pupils have worked hard to plan a newspaper report based on a story all about Climate Change. In lessons this week, pupils have looked at researching the main character in the story, developed their understanding of the 5 w’s and practiced writing both reported and direct speech. Next week, pupils will begin to write their report, which documents the rescue attempt of an African boy in a flood triggered by Climate Change. The spellings for next week are; forty, frequently, government, guarantee, harass, hindrance, identity, immediately, individual, interfere. Your child has received a copy of these spelling and will be tested on Friday 21st November.
Topic
In topic this week, we have continued to research the concepts of Global Warming and Climate Change. Pupils have used their research from the past two weeks to draw a flow chart diagram, which helps to inform the reader of the concept of Global Warming. Pupils have worked hard to create a visual outcome which uses key Global Warming vocabulary and definitions.
ICT:
This week the children have been experimenting with the software ‘Scratch’, which enables children to create their own animations. They have explored how to insert characters, backgrounds and audio, ready for when we start creating our own animations.
Science:
In Science this week, we have focused in on the Earth, Sun and Moon. Pupils have worked hard to sort selected statements about the Earth, Sun and Moon. They have then used video research to produce a written outcome, which can educate the reader all about the Earth, Sun or Moon with exciting vocabulary and interesting statistics.
PE
In PE this week pupils enjoyed some fun competition in PE. With a focus on static balance and core development, pupils enjoyed a sit down volleyball mini tournament. It was great to see pupils having fun and developing new ways to outwit their opponent!