Issue 38 2013-14

Dear Parent/Carer,

This week has been fun and emotional in equal measures. Today we say good bye to our wonderful Year 6 pupils who we will miss terribly- more about them in a moment! We have enjoyed a successful Sports Day and Golden Day. The Year 6s have had a wonderful time chomping on Fish and Chips, signing shirts and memory books, rocking out at their end of Primary School prom and today of course was the anticipated Leaver’s Assembly. If that wasn’t enough, Key Stage 1 have enjoyed their trip to Scarborough, complete with a trip to the Sea Life Centre, activities on the beach and ice creams all round- a very, very busy but fun week indeed!

Our art work in the city

I hope when you are out and about in the city this summer that you will be able to view some of Robin Hood’s art work on display. Our Pom-Pom owls remain at Armley Mills Industrial Museum until October and newly installed are our hanging Koinobori fish at Tropical World. My thanks again to Mrs Chin for helping to get these masterpieces into places where they can be appreciated by a wider audience.

Most of my newsletter this week is dedicated to our brilliant Year 6 pupils…

Farewell Year 6
It is with a sense of great pride that I wave off our Year 6s this year. I feel as though I have been on a real journey with these amazing pupils, having joined Key Stage 1 as phase leader and class teacher when they were into their first term of Year 1 (I know- I don’t know where it’s gone either!) The (almost) two years that I spent leading the phase and teaching at that time were amongst the very fondest memories I have as a practitioner, being constantly amazed by the progress made and the wonderful attitudes to learning and forever amused by their sense of humour and the way we could all share a joke at appropriate times. I hope that many of the Year 6 pupils will leave with memories of my “tales from Africa” and deliberations about the gender of my unborn baby at that time! But most of all, I hope that they leave our school with the happiest memories of great learning opportunities and magnificent experiences; of teachers who care deeply about them and how well they achieve; a love of learning; of friendships that will last well beyond these years.

To say that Year 6 have achieved well would be an understatement. They have excelled in their SATs but more importantly, they have excelled at being fabulous and brilliant learners, always up for the challenge, always seeking ways to better themselves and always with a spirit and infectious enthusiasm which has been a joy to be a part of. I wish each and every one of the Year 6 leavers the very, very best for the future- all deserving nothing short of the best in life. And parents who are coming to the end of your journey with us, I would like to say a huge thank you for all of your support and for sharing your amazing children with us. It’s been a pleasure. X

Love and best wishes to you all.

 

Mrs Dale

Key Stage 1 Newsletter

Home learning

Over the summer holidays please support your child by continuing to do quick mental maths problems together that include all 4 main maths. Try to give them questions that will keep their number facts fresh – like bonds to 10, 20 and 100 and build on their times table knowledge. This will ensure that they are ready to go come September! Your child’s teacher will send home the key words that are important for your child to read and/or write, so please keep revising them!

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

We had such an amazing time on our school trip! The children enjoyed walking around the Sealife Centre with an expert on sea creatures. We threw lots of interesting questions their way, like is coral a creature? How do the male seahorses carry the babies? And why do jellyfish sting you? We watched seals being fed and walked right underneath a shark! Even though it was raining and windy for the Year 1 trip we still had an amazing time; there were gasps and shrieks as we watched the waves crashing up against the wall of the harbour on our walk! This really aided our previous Geography learning and gave stormy seas a real life context. Keep your eye out for some pictures on our blogs!

Reports!

Well, they have gone out…end of year reports! We hope that you enjoy reading them and that you feel huge pride in your child’s achievements from the year. It was a joy writing them and a great opportunity for us as teachers to revisit each child’s accomplishments, triumphs, battles and proud moments from the year. Well done to all!

Sports Day and Football tournaments!

What a week! From sports day to football tournament and then bouncy castles for Golden Day…we have been active and had a lot of fun! Thank you everyone who managed to come and support Sports Day, and especially to those parents who took part in the parents’ race. Luckily we didn’t see too many people hobbling afterwards, unlike last year! Our football tournament was a great chance to see everything that the children had learnt about dribbling, passing and striking over the half term; it felt like our own mini World Cup! Golden Day sunshine made up for the rain and wind on Thursday’s trip and the bouncy castles were just such fun! Our children are so grown up, caring and lovely even when school is very exciting. We are so lucky to have them J

Literacy

As part of our poetry unit the children have started writing poems all about the seaside. We have continued our focus on rhyming couplets and are building up our learning by focusing on alliteration, then onomatopoeia and then personification. We have used templates to write our poems in, so the children are thinking about the structure and ‘look’ of their creations. We will feed this into Poetry Day next week, where we will be looking at performance poetry by using sounds, instruments and noises.

Have a lovely weekend.

The KS1 Team

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
What a busy and beautiful sunny week we have had in year 3/4! The week kicked off with our super Sports Day which was a huge success. Thank you to all of you that came to support your child as they challenged others in their class to a race. A fabulous start to the week, but it didn’t stop there! The children took part in an inter-form football competition which saw them play each other competitively. Golden Day was an amazing day and the children loved bouncing and sliding on the bouncy castles before they cooled themselves down with a refreshing frozen treat. To end the week, the Year 4’s had lots of fun at swimming during their final play day of the year. A big well done to all the swimmers, you have all been amazing in the water and have made some great improvements! Next Wednesday we will be holding our annual Robin Hood poetry competition. Each pupil from across the school will get the opportunity to perform a poem to their class. This might be one they have written during our literacy sessions next week or one they have learnt to perform. Then each teacher will select 3 finalists to enter the phase semi-finals, where three children will be picked to enter the final. We will be giving the children the opportunity next week to look at many different styles of poetry by different poets and a chance to write their own poem or they might like to get practicing for the competition at home.
Home Learning
Although we are coming to the end of the school year, we would still like to encourage all children to take some time each night to read, even if it is just for five minutes.
Sports Day
What an exhausting but exciting day! The children made us very proud by giving 100% and trying their best in every activity. They used their multi-skills from throughout the year to throw a Frisbee as far as they could, balance a quoit on their head, have skipping races, an egg and spoon race and lots more! We would also like to say well done to those parents who got on their running shoes and joined in our parent’s race.
Football Tournament
It was super seeing the children become footballers for the day, all of whom showed great passion towards the game and strong competitive streaks!  It was lovely to see the children working as a team to score as many goals as possible.

Golden Day

What a FABULOUS day! The children all kindly shared and had fun playing their games with their friends in the class. I’m sure the children came ‘bouncing’ home after the exciting time they had on the school field on the bouncy castles before treating themselves to a refreshing ice cream or ice lolly.

Literacy

This week in literacy the children have been writing their own play scripts in small groups before each of them put on a fabulous performance to act out their work. Next week as part of our exciting final week, we shall be looking closely at some poetry, having a go at writing some of our own and performing pieces to the class as well as to the rest of the school if anyone wishes to. We even have a poet to come into our classes and complete a workshop with us!

Spellings
As we are reaching the last week of term we shall not be testing spellings on Monday.
Y6 Leavers Assembly
Mrs Dale recently mentioned in the newsletter that siblings of Year 6 would be able to join in the Year 6 Leavers Assembly celebrations. All year 4 children will be expected to attend the final swimming session next Friday, which is also the last play day.  However, we will ensure that a space is saved for any siblings of Year 6s returning to school and that they enter the hall immediately upon their return.
Reminders

·     Transition Day and meet new teachers after school – Monday 14^th July

·     Poetry Day – Wednesday 16^th July

·     Last day of school year for the children  - Thursday 17^th July

·     As part of our history curriculum we will be going on a trip to watch the Horrible Histories production of ‘Barmy Britain’ on Thursday 17^th July.  We would like the children to bring a packed lunch and wear their school uniform. If you would like any information regarding the trip please see a member of the 3/4 team at the end of the school day or visit the phase blog.

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 weekend!
Team 3/4

Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter

Leaver’s Assembly
So the time has finally come. Our year 6 pupils now begin a new chapter in their lives and what a fantastic celebration their leaver’s assembly really was. Tears of both joy and sadness marked the end of an era for our year 6 pupils today. We have been immensely proud of all the children in year 6 and their attitude towards their learning and school life has been impeccable. Exciting times lie ahead for our pupils and we wish them all the best in a step that they are more than ready for!
Violin performance

We would like to give a special mention to all our year 6 pupils. They truly wowed us all with their exquisite playing skills during their violin performance on Thursday! I know that Mr Brown has loved working with our pupils and we would like to thank Mr Brown for taking the time to help our year 6 pupils showcase their phenomenal learning, which has taken place this year!

 

Home learning

Our current year 5 pupils have been given some information relating to some home learning. During the summer holidays, year 5/6 pupils are asked to read a fictional book that they have not read before. We would like pupils to reflect on their thoughts and opinions about the book, to help our first literacy unit in September- writing a book review. A planning sheet has been provided and we ask that this is completed in as much detail as possible. Pupils will need to bring their book and planning sheet into school on their first day back in September. We can't wait to hear about all the fantastic reading that has taken place over the summer holidays. Thank you.

Poetry Day:
On Wednesday 16^th July, we will be holding a Poetry Competition Day. The poetry day will be a full day event, starting at 8:15am with a breakfast morning on the playground. We will have a poet in school for the day, called Terry Caffrey.  He will hold a whole school assembly at 9:00 - 10:00am. Year 5 pupils will then enjoy reading and performing an anthology of poems and writing their own poems, either based on a set theme or a theme of their own choice. Class representivities will then read out their poems in a celebration assembly- where the winners, chosen by Mrs Dale, will receive a book voucher.   
School Captain Election:
Year 5 pupils have been eagerly awaiting the day that they can finally claim some year 6 responsibilities and they don’t come much bigger than the school captaincy roles! We would like to thank all the school captain candidates for their hard work and preparation of their manifestos. Listening to the different visions of each pupil was a real pleasure and the fantastic presentations have made the decision extremely difficult for the year 5/6 team.