Newsletter
Issue 2
|
Friday 12th September 2014
|
Dear Parent/Carer,
We have had a brilliant first full week back.
It has been lovely to welcome our 60 Reception children into school; they
certainly have settled wonderfully into our new Reception unit. We will welcome
our Nursery children to school next week on a phased entry. WHISE
Next week, Miss Pyatt and Mrs Steel will spend 4 days in Sweden on a visit to complete the WHISE (Welfare and Health in School Education) project. Along with 8 other members of staff from schools in Leeds, they will be sharing our good practice and focusing specifically on holistic whole child pedagogic approaches, parental engagement, professional development and Special Educational Needs.
Clubs
Please note that after school clubs will not be
starting until at least after half term. Thank you for your patience on this
matter. We will be sure to let you know when they are all to be up and running
again.
Blogs
Please do access our blogs. The Key Stage blogs
are an absolutely brilliant way to see what is happening in your child’s class.
Miss Darroch and Mrs Moore are doing a great job of updating them regularly so
that you can access some of the fantastic learning going on in school as well
as see newsletters and home learning for the week. You can also see the
fabulous new lunchtime arrangements which we are all very pleased with. Blogs
can be accessed easily via the front page of the school website http://www.robinhood.leeds.sch.uk/
and pressing on “Our Blogs”.
Lunchtimes
We had a few children in KS1 changing from
sandwiches to lunches without notification this week. Of course, I am delighted
about this as they are taking up their free school meal and are excited to be
part of our new family meal service. We do ask, however, that you let the
office know with ideally a few days notice. We have seating arrangements which
mean that extra pupils will need to be considered in order for the lunchtimes
to run smoothly. Thank you.
Bikes and scooters
We can now allow children to cycle or scooter
to school as the bike stand will be relocated at the far end of the playground
next to the pergola. We must ask that they are stored orderly and properly so
as to minimise disruption to the playground space. Although this is a well
accessed space, I must stress that they are left at your own risk. Once again,
we can rehouse the stand when we have space in other parts of the school but
for now we see this as the best solution.
PTA news
Welcome back!! Hope you've
all had a fabulous summer? We may have been on holiday, but our School
Lottery has still been raising funds! Already the school is guaranteed a
massive £1,000 this academic year. If you haven't joined yet, click on
the link in the flyer sent on Parentmail or enter www.yourschoollottery.co.uk/robinhoodprimary/ in your browser - it takes seconds!!
Our first meeting is
on Wednesday 24th September at the Gardner's Arms, 8pm. We always aim to
be finished by 9.30 - please join us if you can as it's our main planning
meeting. If you can't send apologies/ideas, etc. to robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com
We hope to see you on the
24th.
Have a lovely weekend, everybody.
NEWS ROUND UP
Welcome back! As you will
have noticed we have an amazing new Reception classroom and a new team who were
all eagerly waiting to welcome the children back this week. We were amazed at
how confident and grown up the children are and we are giving lots of praise
and stickers for children who are showing super sharing skills and learning
independently. Please look on our blog for the latest information and to see what
has been happening in Reception at http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
Our children have had an
amazing first week and have enjoyed exploring our exciting new areas. They have
taken part in phonics carpets, guided reading sessions, literacy activities and
shared stories as well as getting their new reading books and reading record
sent home. We have introduced the sounds s,
a, t and p and the words at, an, in, a, as, if as a heads up
for the sounds and words we will be teaching next week. We have shared the
story Little by Little and talked about things we can do easily and things we
find a bit trickier.
NEXT WEEK
We will be reading the story ‘I am absolutely too
small for school’. The children will be engaging in lots of activities which
will develop their confidence, support them to make new friends and allow us to
find out a little bit more about them. The home learning task has been planned especially
to support this, so please make sure all home learning comes into school on
Monday morning - clearly named. Thank you. In phonics we will be practising
reading and writing the sounds and word listed above in bold and we will be
playing some blending games where we teach the children to read words by
blending the individual sounds together. During our numeracy sessions we will
be assessing the children’s skills in numbers and shape, space and measures.
PLEASE NOTE:
This is the Reception team
for 2014/2015
· Miss Lambert – Assistant Headteacher,
Foundation stage leader and Reception teacher
· Mrs Steel – Reception teacher
· Miss Friar, Miss Fox, Mrs Chapman, Miss
Bayliss, Mrs Beckwith and Mrs Butterfield – Reception team
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· Please engage with the home learning and the learning logs - these are the yellow books that have been sent
home. These are for the children’s own use if they want to share anything with
their friends. If you have been on a special trip, they might like to stick in
a postcard, photograph or train ticket. Please
make sure they are brought in every Monday and during the week we will make
time for the children to show us the amazing things they have done at home.
They will be sent home on Fridays ready for your child to use to share their
next exciting weekend!
·
Please read for 5 minutes daily and help your
child learn their spellings.
·
If you have any spare boxes please bring them
in for our D.T. area.
Thank you!
Miss Lambert, Mrs Steel and
the Reception Team
We have had another action packed week in Key Stage 1 and it is lovely to see how well all of the children have settled into their new classes with their new teachers.
Home
learning
As stated in last week’s newsletter, 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)
You will find this
week’s spellings in your child’s reading record. Those children who have
achieved 10/10 and those who have tried exceptionally hard will receive one of
our brand new certificates. It has been lovely to see so many learning logs
being brought into school this week and the children have come in beaming with
pride. We cannot emphasise enough how important your input is and it will have
an incredibly positive influence on your child’s progress. Have fun! Please
make sure you write in the reading record at least 3 times per week. Your child
will receive a sticker in their reading record the following week for any
documented learning. Thank you.
Numeracy
Key Stage 1 has been
full of chanting this week as the children have been practising their counting
skills. Miss Hinton was so impressed by Year 1’s fabulous counting that she
gave the whole class a sticker. Well done you counting superstars! Please practise
your child’s counting with them at home as your child is expected to be able to
do the following;
Year 1 – Count to and across 100, forwards and
backwards, beginning with 0 or 1, or from any given number. Count in multiples of 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
Year 2 – Count in steps of 2,
3, and 5 from 0, and in tens from any number, forward and backward.
Extension - count from 0 in
multiples of 4, 8, 50 and 100
If you feel your child
can confidently do what is expected of them please practice the next step with
them. Any number can be made more difficult by using hundreds! J Next week we will be concentrating on
odd and even numbers and place value.
Literacy
This week the children
have been writing a non-chronological report all about themselves. They have
used different sub-headings including; their family, their favourite summer
activity and their pets. Our sentence challenge focus this week has been
conjunctions please practise using conjunctions with your child (e.g. but, and,
because, so, however, then, if, even though, whilst and when). Please help your
child practise their handwriting and ask them if they think their handwriting
deserves a love heart.
Topic
Our topic this half
term is animals and the children have been learning all about the different
classifications of animals including; mammals, reptiles, birds, fish etc. They
have also been thinking about omnivores, herbivores and carnivores. Ask your
child if they know the differences between them!
Have a lovely weekend.
The Key Stage One Team
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
There
have been a few questions about changing books and whether there are set days
for children to do this. The children can get a new book to take home whenever
and as often as they like. There is no set day and we encourage the children to
take responsibility for changing their own books whenever they have finished
one, as well as recording their daily reading in their reading records. Reading
at home will be rewarded in school with stickers and, as we have all seen, the competition
for team point champions this half term has been extremely tight. It could be
your sticker that wins it for your team!
Numeracy
This
week we have been learning about place value and have been solving some tricky
number problems using our knowledge of partitioning. We have also been using
the symbols < = > to order and compare numbers. Please see the blog for
details of this week’s learning. Next week we will be looking at negative
numbers and extending number sequences by finding the rule. We will be testing
the children on their 4 times tables on Thursday. Please use the following link
to access a really useful game to support their practising. http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Literacy
This
week, we have been planning our very own non-chronological reports all about
ourselves. We have been completing daily tasks to help us extend our sentences
from very simple sentences into more developed and descriptive ones. Please see
the blog for further details of this week’s learning. Next week we will be
continuing to write our reports making sure we include all of the exciting
adjectives to describe our family, favourite food and our friends.
Spellings
These
Spellings will be tested on Monday 15th
September. Please support your child in practicing their spellings every
day to help them achieve 10/10 in their spelling test every week.
Group 1:
rain, jail, tail, snail, daisy, maid, train, paint, brain, rainbow
Group2:
pretty, listen, large, college, rigid, family, conduct, river, nothing, column
Other areas of the
curriculum:
In
PE we have been practising our
throwing and catching skills both indoors and outdoors. We have used a variety
of apparatus including balls and bean bags.
In
Topic we have begun to investigate
what life was like during the Iron Age. We have studied the clothes they wore,
the houses they lived in and the forts that they built. We also became
archaeologists for the day using metal detectors to search for interesting
artefacts out in the school playground.
In
music, 3/4B have begun composing
their own musical masterpieces using the instruments available on the iPads. 3/4T
have been practising their recorder skills when learning to play a new song and
3/4M have begun their percussion sessions using a variety of instruments.
In
Science we have begun to study the
scientific process and have looked at the different types of investigations
that can be carried out. We have also looked at how we can ask scientific
questions.
In
ICT we have started looking at the
programming software Scratch. The software will be used in the following weeks
to develop our very own animations complete with moving pictures, sound and
music. These will be uploaded to the blog and the school website at the end of
the half term.
In
RE on Wednesday, we will be sharing
and discussing books which are special to us. Please think of a book that is
special to you and be prepared to talk about it in the lesson. You can bring it
in if you wish!
Reminders
· Please can all Year 4 children remember to
bring their swimming kit and goggles if needed every Thursday in a bag large enough to fit their entire uniforms
and shoes in – we don’t want to lose any belongings. Children may also bring a
snack to eat on the coach on the way back to school. This can be a cereal bar or
a piece of fruit – no crisps.
· Please ensure your child’s PE kit is kept in
school from Monday-Friday every week.
· As the weather begins to turn that little bit
cooler and wetter, please ensure your child has a suitable outdoor coat/jacket.
· Our first Showcase Assembly of the year will be on Friday 3rd
October at 2.30 – 3.00pm – we look forward to seeing you there.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Don’t forget to check out our blog: http://robinhoodprimaryyear34.blogspot.co.uk/
Team 3/4
Upper
Key Stage 2 Newsletter
First
week back!
Congratulations to our year
5/6 pupils on completing their first full week back! All of the year 5/6 team
have been truly impressed with how easy our Year 5 pupils have settled in. Equally,
our Year 6 pupils have come back setting a wonderful example to their Year 5
counterparts and everyone seems raring to go for another exciting and fun
filled year!
Parent
meeting
We would like to thank all
parents who attended the parent meeting on Tuesday after school. It was great
to see such a great show of support. For parents or carers who were unable to
attend, don’t worry- all of the procedures and expectations have been outlined
in an information sheet, which all pupils have received. Alternatively, feel
free to catch your class teacher at the end of the day. A query that some
parents did have was when the KS2 SAT tests would be: We can now officially
confirm that the SAT tests for the Year 6 children will take place during the
week commencing the 11th of May, 2015, so please avoid booking any
holidays during that week. Thank you.
Numeracy
In numeracy this week,
pupils have worked hard to recognise sequences using decimal tenths, hundredths
and even thousandths! Pupils have also
enjoyed learning all about Roman Numerals; which have made a comeback in the
2014 National Curriculum! Next week, pupils will learn how to estimate and
round when multiplying decimals. The remainder of the week will concentrate on
reading scales, as well as sequences involving square and triangular numbers.
Literacy
This week pupils have worked
hard to write their own book review. Pupils have reflected wonderfully on their
thoughts and opinions of their chosen book. We have really enjoyed reading
positive and even highly critical book reviews! Superb writing to kick start
the year! Next week pupils will be learning key spelling, grammar and punctuation
rules. Specifically, we will look at; homophones, contractions, tenses, commas
and word classes. For year 6 pupils who have a Rising Stars SPAG book, please feel
free to refresh your knowledge on these areas before next week! Spellings for
next week include; stretch, castle, island, answer, climb, debt, solemn,
should, wrench, muscle. Your child has received a copy of these spellings and
will be tested on Friday 19th September.
Topic
What an action packed week
we have had in our Geography sessions this week. Pupils have really enjoyed
identifying the 7 continents of the world and facts relating to them. We have
also spent time looking at major oceans and seas of Europe. We have been hugely
impressed with pupils’ knowledge of Europe and we hope that all pupils should
be able to explain the key differences between an ocean and a sea.
ICT:
This year we are very lucky
to begin a brand new unit called ‘We are bloggers’. The children discussed what
a blog was, what should and shouldn’t be included when creating a blog and the
children browsed a selection of blogs to evaluate the features of them.
Science:
This week in science we have
discussed the different types of living things, including; animals, plants and
microorganisms. Pupils then worked in teams to discuss and classify a number of
different living things based on key criteria.
PE:
This week pupils have
enjoyed developing their throwing and catching skills. Pupils have practiced
techniques when catching smaller balls in isolation and applied these into
small sided games which apply attacking and defending principals. Another quick
reminder- PE kits need to be brought into school on a Monday and taken home on
a Friday. Robin Hood stringed bags should be used for PE kits. Thank you.
