Friday, 17 October 2014

Issue 7 2014-15


Newsletter Issue 7

Friday 17th October 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,
We approach the end of our first half term, unbelievably and in Monday’s whole school assembly, the children will find out which House Team is the winner for this half term…..and what treat is in store for them.
Big Draw 2014
Our week got off to a very creative start with a whole day of “Big Draw” on Monday. Visiting the classrooms, it was clear to see how much the children loved working collaboratively and individually on the magnificent pieces which were then displayed in our hall. The community event on Tuesday was a roaring success with so many of you taking some time to come into the hall and see the wonderful outcomes in our school gallery. Thank you for supporting this brilliant event and joining us in a celebration of the Arts.
Building work
You may have noticed that some steel frames have been delivered this week and the new external building is starting to take shape. This is an exciting time as we can start to see some real progress in terms of our building development. Over the course of next half term, the new staffroom should near completion, as well as a number of toilets for staff and children. By January, we should regain access from the Mall to the Year 3/ 4 corridor.

Harvest Festival
Well done to all of our Key Stage 1 pupils, who did a brilliant Harvest Assembly today, firstly for the children of the school and secondly for the parents. Reverend Mandy helped to lead the proceedings. Thank you all who came along to support this important Christian festival.
Volunteers
A measure of a fantastic school must be when ex-pupils decide that they would like to enter the teaching profession and what’s more, to come back to where it all began to gain some experience! Over the next couple of weeks we welcome back Dan Blacker and Max Hobson who will be volunteering on a Thursday in Year 5/ 6JM and Year 3/ 4M respectively. It is wonderful to be able to support our ex pupils through their journey as young adults.
Assessments
Well done to all of our pupils who carried out their first round of assessments of the year this week. As usual, it was all taken in their stride and with very positive attitudes. Teachers are looking forward to meeting with parents at the Parent Consultations next week in order to share some of these successes.

We all can’t wait to attend the Halloween Disco set up by the PTA. It promises to be a spook-tastic time so please support it if you can!

PTA news
Thank you to those who attended last night’s PTA meeting.  It was mostly spent discussing the Halloween disco to be held next Wednesday.  Please remember all monies need to be handed in to the school office by 3pm on Monday 20th so we can purchase sufficient food for you all.  We will also be selling buns from the cafĂ© and would ask if anyone is able to donate any homemade or shop bought buns for this then it would be wonderful if you could drop them off at school on Wednesday.    Due to the timescale of the nursery, reception and KS1 disco, it has been agreed with Mrs Dale that if you wish you are able to change your child in their classrooms before the first disco.  If anyone would like to contact us to find out how to get involved please email robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com.

Have a lovely weekend, everybody.

Mrs Dale

REMEMBER! Moving forward and learning together

Monday 1st December at 8:15 am 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?

If you are unable to come along but have some points you would like us to consider regarding any of these, then please 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 week

NEWS ROUND UP
The children have had another fabulous week in nursery and we have seen lots of children visit the Head teacher for a special sticker! Wow! If your child manages to get three stickers for making good choices then they will be able to visit the Head teacher for a very special sticker!
Please remember that we are having a ‘drop in’ session for Parents consultation on Monday 20th October for the beginning of the week children and Tuesday 21st October for the end of the week children (between 3.30 and 5.30). We are looking forward to sharing all of the wonderful things we know about your children. 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/
SCHOOL ADMISSIONS 2015
Please be aware that “You will be able to apply for a 2015 school place in November 2014.” Some of you may have already had letters about applying for a place in Reception September 2015.  Even if you already have sibling in Robin Hood Primary School you must still apply for a place. Please visit http://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/Pages/Admissions-Primary-School.aspx or contact the Admissions Team on 0113 2224414 for further information on how to apply.  Robin Hood Primary School is extremely popular and is often over- subscribed. 
THIS WEEK
In our literacy sessions this week, we have shared some stories about ‘Our families’ and the children have used their family pictures to speak confidently about members of their family.  We have discussed what our own families like to do and hung the beautiful family photos on our family tree. In numeracy we have been focusing on 2D shapes - squares, circles, triangles and rectangles. We have been looking at the different shaped objects we can see all around us.

NEXT WEEK
We will be reading one of our favourite books – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. We will be focusing on verbally retelling the story using drama to retell the story outside (weather permitting!) To support our topic please can you send any conkers, leaves, twigs or stones that you may find when you are out on autumn walks. In Numeracy we will be counting groups of objects and matching.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US

·      Home Learning needs to come into school every Monday/Wednesday.

·      Please continue to engage with the Learning logs - the children really enjoy sharing information with their friends! Please feel free to add any information. (picture/drawing/receipt/leaflet/photo of any activity/experience that the children have taken part in outside of Nursery)

·      Please ensure you read with you child for 5 minutes daily.

·      Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and a coat every day.

Thank you

Mrs Harley and the Nursery Team
 
 
Reception newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you for continuing to support your children to learn our weekly words and complete their home learning tasks. It is wonderful to see how proud the children are when they receive a certificate for getting a hundred percent. This week we had an increasing number of children achieving six out of six in their words and all received a Head teacher’s sticker. 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
In our literacy sessions this week, we have shared the fabulous story ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen. We enjoyed lots of hands on activities including sensory activities and have made fabulous story maps to retell the adventures back to our friends. Miss Lambert and Mrs Steel have been busy recording video clips that we intend to share with you at our Celebration Assembly. We continued to use our senses in numeracy where we have been picking bears out of the gloopy mud and counting them, then seeing if we can match the number of bears to the correct numeral. In our phonics sessions we have been practising reading the sounds h b f and the tricky words I, no, go, to, the, into.

NEXT WEEK
We will be reading one of my favourite books – Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. We will be focusing on verbally retelling the story using drama which we hope to share with you at our Celebration assembly on Friday 24th October. The building company responsible for creating our fabulous new school have invited all children to produce and submit a health and safety poster (please see this week’s home learning) so please encourage your child to create a fabulous piece of artwork! In phonics we will be practising reading and writing the sounds ff, l, ll and ss and all the phase two words (see home learning sheet). Please help us by continuing to give your child lots of opportunities to practice reading the sounds and words every day, as we will be moving on to a new set next half term. In Numeracy we will be introducing sequencing of daily events and looking together at analogue clocks. Prepare to be impressed!

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
Our Celebration assembly is on Friday 24th October at 2:30p.m. – 3:00p.m. in the hall – all welcome.

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 read for 5 minutes daily and help your child learn their spellings.  

·       Please make sure that your child has a PE kit in school; it can stay in their locker and come home every half term holiday.

·       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
 
 
Key Stage 1
We have had such a busy but exciting week in Key Stage One! The week started with ‘The Big Draw’ and all the children had so much fun working as a class to create large scale pieces of artwork by Vincent Van Gogh, Matisse and Leonardo Da Vinci. We hope you got to see the final pieces in the hall on Tuesday. We thought they all looked fantastic!
Home learning
It has been lovely to see so many Reading Records full of learning. It is also brilliant to read about all the learning that is taking place including, reading, numeracy and out of school achievements. We are also enjoying the comments that children are writing about the “best bit of their week”. Many are school related which is always so nice to hear but it is also so great to hear about fun things that have happened across the week. J
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)
·         Reading and/or using Bug Club. (10 mins X 3 times a week).
If you would like any extra learning or have any questions to help support your child in learning at home please speak to your class teacher. In preparation for next half term it would be useful to practice addition facts to 10 and 20.
E.g. 6 +4 = 10                         8 + 2 = 10                    15 + 5 = 20                  19 + 1 = 20
Assessment Week
We would like to say a MASSIVE well done to all the children for showing how amazing they are in all of their assessments this week. The children have shown they have already achieved some great new learning in their new classes and most importantly retained learning from their previous class. These assessments will be used to inform your child’s next steps in Numeracy and Literacy.
Harvest Festival
Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended the Harvest Festival this afternoon. We hope you enjoyed the performance and the lovely singing by the children. Early next half term we will share with you the next performance for Christmas…..Yes it’s nearly that time again! We will give you plenty of notice in terms of parts and if any costumes are needed.
Parents Evening
We look forward to seeing you all next week! If you haven’t yet made an appointment or are unable to attend on these days please see your class teacher who will be happy to arrange an appointment time with you.
Thank you
We would also like to say thank you to parents and carers for your patience at the end of day when the children leave school. With the building works, the situation of two classes leaving from one door is not ideal and we are proud of the fact that we are making sure 60 children are getting out of school quickly and safely to the right people. We are regularly ensuring the children are out within a five minute time frame and our main motivation is always to ensure your child is leaving school with the correct people.
Butterfly Update
All the butterflies have hatched and have now been released into their natural habitat. The children have loved having these in the classroom and it really has brought our topic of ‘Animals’ to life.
Have a lovely weekend.
The Key Stage One Team
 
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
This week has been an extremely busy assessment week and we are extremely proud of the effort and hard work the children have put into all of their assessments.  We look forward to sharing their current progress with you in our parent consultations next week.
Literacy
This week the children have been assessed in both reading and writing. For the writing assessment, children have had to create a non-chronological report all about a combo pet. What’s a combo pet? A combo pet is two pets that have been joined together to make a new pet. We have been blown away by the children’s amazing ideas and they have worked really hard to organise their ideas into paragraphs whilst including conjunctions and purposeful adjectives.
Numeracy
The children were also assessed in numeracy this week. This involved tackling both the written paper and mental maths.  Both tests involved some pretty tricky sums however we have been so impressed by the mature attitudes the children have shown. Examples of mental maths questions will be sent home with every child before the half term holidays so that they can brush up on their quick thinking skills. Next week we will be testing the children on their 9 times tables. Visit our 3/4 blog for some really useful games to help your child practice and get 12/12!
Christmas Play Auditions
Next week, auditions will be held in year 3/4 for speaking parts in the Christmas production.  We ask that children who would like to audition for one of the main speaking parts prepare a short presentation lasting no longer than one minute. The presentation can involve singing, dancing, acting and anything that shows off their amazing talents. Although we cannot guarantee every child will get the part they audition for, we will do our best to ensure every year 4 child has a speaking part in the production, as we have done for many years. Year 3’s will still be very much involved with the production through singing and dancing. Dates and times of performances will shared be with you once we have them finalised.
Other areas of the curriculum:
In PE children have been playing a variety of games focused on developing their throwing and catching skills.
In Topic this week we have begun to make Iron Age artefacts and models. Children are making a wide variety of objects from Iron Age round houses to Iron Age swords and shields. We are looking forward to sharing pictures of the finishing articles with you on the 3/4 blog.
In music this week we have been practicing a number of harvest songs ready for the festival on Friday. 3/4B have been making music on the iPads using the loops in the Garage band app, 3/4TK have been learning some new tunes on the recorders whilst 3/4M have been learning to play a variety of percussion instruments.   
In Science we have continued to develop our knowledge of scientific experiments by looking at all of the different ways in which results and data can be presented.
In ICT we are making the finishing touches to our jokes using the Scratch software and they will be published next week on our Year 3/4 phase blog.  
Spellings
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 20th October. 
Group 1: sigh, sight, high, light, night, tight, fight, fright, slight, right.
Group2:  friction, invention, persuade, exaggerate, exhibition, momentum, weight, resistance, movement.
Reminders
A reminder that extra-curricular clubs will start up again the first week back after half term. A letter has been sent out this week detailing the clubs which we will be offering. If your child would like to attend one of the clubs and has not yet returned their reply slip, could we please ask that you return completed slips by Monday 20th October at the latest.
The KS2 Halloween disco will take place next Monday 20th October, starting at 4.45pm and finishing at 6.00pm. If your child wishes to attend the disco, please fill in the reply slip and return it to school with £1.
With the weather turning colder by the day, please could we ask that your child comes to school every day with a suitable coat which has their name clearly labelled?
Please ensure your child’s PE kit is kept in school from Monday-Friday every week.
Have a fantastic weekend!
3/4 Team
 
Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Year 6 Numeracy SAT Workbooks
All of the Year 6 children have been given a Numeracy Study Guide and a workbook. The Year 5/6 teachers just wanted to remind all children that if they wish to bring this in to school to share what they have completed, then they will be rewarded with a Head teacher’s sticker after every five pages they complete. The children are more than welcome to bring this in to school, to practice during quiet reading sessions and at registration time. However class teachers will stamp them and reward stickers on a Monday morning when planners are also checked.
The Big Draw
This year, Year 5/6 were focusing on ‘North America’ for our contribution towards the Big Draw with the whole-school theme of ‘Our Great World; we looked into some of the famous landmarks and decided upon Central Park and New York skyline as a stimulus. We were inspired by American artist, Jackson Pollock and his technique of flicking paint to create fabulous backgrounds for our iconic American artwork – they looked stunning!
Assessments:
It has been that time of year where the children have undergone some assessments in Literacy and Numeracy. The Year 5/6 team wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate the children, as they have all tackled their assessments with maturity and dedication; we are very proud of them!
Numeracy
In Numeracy next week, the children will be learning about multiplication and division facts, such as; common multiples, common factors, prime numbers and brackets. For any additional support with the pencil and paper multiplication methods, visit - www.mathszone.co.uk and select ‘Calculating Multiplication and Division’ and then ‘Pencil and Paper’ strategies for a whole range of interactive resources to support children with these methods.
Literacy
This week in Literacy, pupils have been organising research about the Great Barrier Reef to enable them to write a structured and persuasive piece. Next week, pupils will begin to experiment with persuasive features in order to motivate and encourage the reader to visit. The next batch of spellings to be learnt are: accommodate, accompany, achieve, aggressive, amateur, ancient, apparent, appreciate, attached, available. Your child has received a copy of these spellings and will be tested on Friday 24th October.
Topic
During Topic this week, the children have been working together to research a natural wonder of the world: Victoria Falls, The Great Barrier Reef and Mount Everest to name but a few. They have been organising their research into a coherent plan for a persuasive leaflet, which the children will begin to write next week.
Science
In science this week we have been learning about micro-organisms. The children have looked into the various types of micro-organisms there are around us and if they are helpful or harmful. The children have also written some detailed explanations with supporting diagrams to illustrate what they have learnt.
 
 

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