Friday, 23 May 2014

Issue 32 2013-14


Dear Parent/Carer,
And so we finish another half term; this one seems to have gone quicker than any other this year. It’s been a very busy one and I look forward to the last stretch leading to the summer holidays.

My thanks again to those parents who came along to the Parent’s Coffee Morning on Monday and who emailed me to give their views on the effectiveness of websites and blogs and the quality of school’s parental engagement. Some very valid and useful points were raised to enable us to move even further forward as a school. We aim to continue these meetings into next year as we have found them really helpful to form part of our school evaluation. Thanks to all who contributed.

Early Years moderation
We received a moderating visit at the start of the week which involved external practitioners validating our teacher judgments of children’s achievements in the Early Years. It was a very successful visit with the moderators agreeing fully with the team’s judgments and giving us some very positive and complimentary feedback about the Foundation Stage provision more generally. My thanks and well done to the Early Years team.

Visitors
The week after half term, we will be welcoming several visitors to our school. On Monday, three teachers from Manor Farm Primary School in Buckinghamshire will be coming to observe our pedagogies and carry out some writing moderations. This visit is on the recommendation of a Headteacher who has had links with the school through the Developing Outstanding Schools project. I took his comments as a compliment that he couldn’t think of a better school to send his teachers in order to see good practice.

We will also welcome four Finnish visitors on the Tuesday to learn about how we engage with parents, promote inclusive practice and assess using the 2buildaprofile app.

Staff update
I am able to share some updates regarding our staffing structure for next year. Although the final teacher class allocations are still being finalised, I can confirm that three appointments have been made for next year. Kirsty Harley, Eddie Knight and Jodie Marriott will all be joining us as new members of staff. We will sadly be saying goodbye at the end of the year to Miss Pensom, who will be relocating to Manchester, Miss Bailey and Miss Kaye. More specific details will follow early next half term.

Red Team
Well done to the Red Team for being this half term’s house point winners. It was a close call but someone had to win! The children in the Red Team enjoyed an afternoon of team games in the hall with Mr Knight and Mrs Mistry, with crisps and a drink for extra energy!

Cereal boxes
Year 6 need cereal boxes for a project after half term. Please don’t throw your empty boxes away but bring them in for our teachers to use- Thanks.

PTA News
Thank you to all who attended the meeting last night.  A lot of the organising was discussed for the shorts and shades disco.  If anyone is able to help out on that night at either disco please would you contact us at robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com.  The more parents/carers we have to help on the night the better the time the children have.  As half term is next week, I'm sure lots of you will be visiting places of interest or theme parks. Could we ask that if you visit somewhere others would enjoy, please enquire if a donation could be made to our raffle, whether it be for tickets or vouchers etc.  We have a letter that the company may require that we can forward onto you if it is needed.  Have a lovely week.

Have a great half term break.

Mrs Dale
 
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
We can hardly believe that we are coming to the end of another fabulous half term. This week I have been assessing the children and have been amazed at the fantastic learning that has been going on. We have also had some lovely weather and we were pleased to see so many of our children wearing sun hats and sun cream. If you haven’t done so already, it may be worth bringing a hat and a bottle of sun cream to Nursery and leaving them in a bag on your child’s peg. Please keep looking on our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Nursery at http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We have been learning even more about dinosaurs and have shared the story ‘Dinosaurs love Underpants’. This story has some fabulous rhyming couplets and it has been great to see the children picking up on the rhyming words and adding their own. We have decorated our own pants using a variety of mediums and these will be displayed on a washing line in Nursery very soon!
NEXT HALF TERM
We will start our new topic of ‘Journeys and Growing’. In the first week, we will be learning about the country of Spain, talking about their cultures and experiences as well as going on a (pretend) plane journey in the hall with our Reception children. We will be thinking about the things we might want to take on our trip and sending some postcards home. To support the children’s learning we are hoping to have a traditional Spanish party with flamenco dancing on Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US – Holiday home learning
Please could you bring in some traditional Spanish food/drink for your child to share at our parties. Thank you. In addition we are sending home a few activities to complete over the week which will consolidate the sounds we have been learning and prepare the children for next half term. Tricky words should be ‘read’ on sight without any sounding out. The other words will need to be decoded by blending the sounds to read e.g. m-a-n (man). If you need any help or support, please let me know. Thank you.
PLEASE NOTE the following diary dates:
Nursery will be CLOSED on Wednesday 2nd July 2014
We will be holding Garden Parties/Graduations for the Nursery children on Wed 16th July times to be confirmed.
Thank you for your continued support, have a lovely week, let’s hope the sun shines!
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin, Miss Fox and Mrs Beckwith.
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children have wowed our socks off this week in their assessments! Their progress this half term has been incredible and this is all down to the children’s determination, motivation and desire to achieve! They have worked so hard and have definitely made the whole team break up for half term with huge smiles on our faces! Well done you are superstars!
Please keep looking on our blog for the latest information and to see what has been happening in Reception at http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We have been reading the story dinosaurs love pants. In numeracy the children have made their very own pants for the dinosaurs making sure they used a repeating pattern. In numeracy the children have been on an exciting dinosaur hunt and we have watched our very own dinosaur egg hatch! They also completed some amazing star writes about what they had learnt about dinosaurs. The children’s writing has really progressed, which is fantastic to see. In topic the children have made some yummy dinosaur fossil biscuits and Miss Abbey reported back saying they were amazing at measuring the ingredients and following the instructions.
NEXT HALF TERM
Next half term our topic will be all about journeys. Our classroom will be transformed into a summer wonderland! In the first week back we will be going on an aeroplane to the sunny country of Spain! We will be involved in lots of Spanish activities including having tapas (inspired by Oscar) and enjoying flamenco dancing. We will round our Spanish week off with a Spanish party so please can your child bring in some Spanish food on Friday the 6th of June. Next half term is also guaranteed to be very sporty and we will be going out onto the field for our PE lessons, so please ensure your child has a pair of trainers with their PE kit. The children will also need their sun cream, hats and water bottles in their lockers every day next half term.
PLEASE NOTE the following diary dates:
Please note that our Reception assembly for next half term will be on the first Friday after half term (Friday the 6th June) at 2.30pm in the hall. Please bring your binoculars to see if you can spot any ferocious dinosaurs.
We will be hosting a Reception Seaside Party on the 20th of June from 11am-12pm. The children will be selling all of the wonderful summer items they have made and then we will all be going for a picnic together on the field.
Finally to celebrate the children finishing Reception, we will be holding graduation parties. Miss Lambert’s graduation will be in the hall from 9am-10am on the 15th July. Miss Pyatt’s graduation will be held from 2pm-3pm on the 15th of July.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·         Please ensure your child can write their first and second names.
·         Please read and engage with the home learning as this informs you of what your child must be able to do to reach a good level of development.
·         Please read with your child for 5 minutes every day and please share all their holiday adventures with us using the learning log.
Have a fantastic bank holiday weekend and May half term break.
 Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1 Newsletter

Home learning 
Over half term please continue to spend 10 minutes or so a day reading, spelling and doing sums with your child around all four functions. Have conversations about the equals sign meaning that both sides of the sum are balanced (whether that be with one number or another sum, i.e. 2+5 = 4+3). Can your child balance such sums? The Year 2 children also have brought home a SATs style booklet so that they can continue to practise worded problems over the holidays in preparation for the SATs in week 2. Please do one or so a day to help your child to understand what the question is asking them to do and talk about which strategy they would use to help them to figure it out.
The children have new spellings in their reading records this week but please make an effort to practise the spellings from across the half term. These spellings are selected to ensure your child is operating at the age related level within reading and writing. We will be testing the phase phonics spellings again in week 2 (your child’s teacher sent a copy of the words specific to your child home at Easter).
Water bottles
Thank you!! We might just have cracked the water bottle fiasco. Keep sending your child in to school next term with a water bottle for their lunch box and one for class – remember though that their classroom water bottle can’t have juice in it!
PE kits!!
After a note of congratulations, unfortunately there are still children who aren’t equipped with an appropriate PE kit for indoor and outdoor PE. This past week has been so warm that it is not practical or hygienic at all for them to do PE in their school uniform. Every child needs: shorts, a white t-shirt, socks (so many children don’t have socks and sprinting/running is painful without socks), sports trainers, leggings or tracksuit bottoms and a jumper for if the weather is colder. Our PE sessions are still on a Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning. It is not fair for children to miss their PE lesson because of not having a kit.
Literacy
Well our narrative unit is almost over (we are having one more week on it next half term because we’ve enjoyed it so much!) and the children have produced some beautiful and imaginative stories! We have spent this week thinking about the climax of our stories, where either something happy and exciting or something scary happens! Alongside writing this final section the children have also spent time copying their stories up into their very first ‘published’ novel, which they have brought home with them for you to read and enjoy forever!
Numeracy
Our unit on measurement has drawn to a close. We have been revisiting find the difference and taking away alongside looking at scales related to weight (Year 2), length (Year 1-2) and capacity (Year 1). The children are reading and drawing scales with more and more accuracy and are even working with addition/taking away/find the difference problems with half measures. Do keep on using scales at home over the half term…and feel free to bring the produce in!
Topic
The children have really enjoyed using their D&T model cars to conduct scientific experiments. We have learnt all about forces this week and how nothing can move without a push or a pull. We thought about our daily routine and play times and categorised everything into a push or a pull, like brushing our teeth, getting dressed and riding our scooter to school. The children then got into groups and thought about a question that they wanted to investigate about the speed of their car and what might affect it. We had questions around the gradient of a ramp and some that looked into what would affect the speed more, going over fluff or felt. We measured the distances of the cars each time and have really started to think more about fair tests – by sending the car from the same place every time and making sure that nothing other than the material from our experiment touches the car on its way.
Have a lovely half term together!
The KS1 Team
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
A super week to finish off our half term! The children have continued to work their hardest right up until the last day – what a fantastic attitude! We hope you enjoyed our showcase assembly and felt as proud of your children as we are seeing all their incredible learning! We wish you a lovely week off and look forward to see all the children back refreshed and ready for the final half term!
Home Learning
Once again, we have been inundated with learning logs jam packed full of extra home learning. We hope you enjoyed seeing a selection of the children’s work displayed during the showcase assembly.  It has been wonderful to see so many children taking a lead in their own learning and completing such a variety of tasks during their own time. We cannot wait for next half term for another influx of fantastic work! Just a gentle reminder that we are no longer sending home photocopied resources for home learning. We have saved many resources onto the phase blog for you to download at home along with links to games and activities that we have been using in class. There are also paper copies of resources from in class often available daily for the children to take home. We would also like the children to continue to read daily and ensure they are recording this in their reading records so we can reward their efforts with stickers! In addition to this, the children should be practising and learning their spellings and Times Tables as this is a key still that the children will require for next half terms learning. The times table we will be testing the first week back after half term is the 8 Times Table. We are really impressed with the children’s continued effort with learning their times tables and all the children who are getting 12 out of 12 are celebrated on our  blog ‘Wall of Fame’ on a weekly basis. We had great fun during our times tables challenge, the children all tried their best to beat their previous score and it was, as always, a close call between the finalists. Well done to the Winners!
Numeracy
This week the children have been focussing on telling the time using analogue clocks, before writing them in digital format. The children were really eager to show off their new time telling skills as they repeatedly came and told us what the time was. We looked into AM and PM, 24 hour time and even looked at timetables similar to those we would need to read to catch a bus. It would be fantastic if you would please continue to ask your child the time at home for some extra practice. First week back after half term we will be revisiting the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and applying these to real life problems, including money!
Literacy
This week in literacy, the children have planned and written an exciting story based in Temple Newsam. The children have tried super hard to include conjunctions, action (verbs), dialogue (speech) and description (adjectives). Next half tem, we shall be focussing on biographies based around famous sports personalities.
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 2nd June.
Group 1: can’t, don’t, they’ve, didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, hasn’t, hadn’t, we’ve, you’ve.
Group 2: done, none, love, breakfast, money, honey, front, wonderful, worry, tongue.
Topic
This week we have been finishing off our super letters. The Year 4s have been writing thank you letters to the wonderful staff at East Barnby to thank them for such a fantastic time and for taking care of us so well. The year 3’s have been writing to Mrs Dale to persuade her to let them go on a residential when they are in year 4. We hope you enjoyed hearing a small sample of some of our Year 3 and 4’s fantastic work! Next half term, we shall be looking at a variety of sports personalities to correspond with various sporting events around the world!
Science
In science this week the children have finished writing up their friction investigations from last week and have been analysing the results to form a conclusion. We have looked at magnets and have sorted materials depending upon whether they are magnetic or not. Next half term, we shall be looking at the human body!  
PE
This week we have been practising our multi-skills by doing some circuit training! The children really enjoyed this, completing sprints, hurdles, side-stepping, ladder work, skipping and more! We are so impressed with the children and are excited to start training for sports day next half term!
Reminders
·    A residential meeting for Year 3 parents will take place on Tuesday 17th June at 3:30pm in the hall.
·    Please ensure all of your child’s belongings (especially PE kits, hats and school jumpers) are clearly labelled with your child’s full name.
·    Year 4’s, please remember to bring your swimming kit every Friday!
·    Remember the children have two PE units a week now, one indoor and one outdoor so please ensure they are bringing the correct kit each week.
·    As the weather is getting warmer, can all children please be provided with a named water bottle, especially on PE days?
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 events. http://year34rhps.blogspot.co.uk/
Have a fabulous half term holiday!
Team 3/4
Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Year 6 Residential
All children who are joining us on the Year 6 residential have received a letter with a few reminders..... Don’t forget to meet us in the hall, with your luggage and any urgent medication which is clearly labelled, at 8:30am on Wednesday June 4th. The teachers will take a register, so please make yourselves known. All the children will receive a luggage label which they will need to attach to their luggage whilst they are waiting. We are going to have such a fantastic time!
Year 6 Bikeability Training
All the Year 6 children have received a letter regarding some cycling training. The children are invited to participate in a cycle training course which will teach them techniques for riding safely on the road. We therefore ask that the form sent home is returned back to school by Tuesday June 3rd.

Year 6 Leaver’s Assembly
We are approaching that time of year already where we are preparing to say farewell to the current Year 6 pupils. In preparation for the assembly, we are asking the children to bring in one of their cutest photographs of themselves when they were younger. If they can be handed in to their class teacher, we will scan them in and hand them back to you as soon as possible.
Year 6 Dates for the Diary:
·         Fish & Chip lunch Thursday 10th July
·         Year 6 Prom – Thursday 10th July (5:00pm – 6:30pm).
·         Leaver’s Assembly – Friday 11th July (2:00pm).
Year 5 Printing
The Year 5 children will be printing whilst the Year 6 children are on residential. We will be printing some arty images onto t-shirts which support the Grand Depart, whilst also incorporating features of Leeds. The children will need a plain white t-shirt to print their design onto by Wednesday June 4th.

Core Subjects:
Numeracy:
In Numeracy this week, the children have been applying all mathematical operations to solve puzzles and problems to enable them to solve the clues to crimes! The children have proven to be very good detectives!
Literacy:
In Literacy this week, the children have been writing their own horror stories! Figurative language and punctuation for effect has been used so incredibly well, to create some very scary and thrilling horror stories!
ICT:
This week, the children have been finalising their iMovie projects to create a high quality advert or documentary to promote their chosen place in Leeds. The children have successfully used many of the features that the software has to offer and the final projects have been to a very high standard!
We hope you have a fabulous half term holiday!
 

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