Weekly Newsflash! 19th January 2023
Coming up next week…
| Tuesday | – Y3 & Y4 Swimming Please can children come into school with their swimming gear underneath their uniform, along with a towel, water bottle and goggles if they wish. Children are also welcome to bring a piece of fruit with them 🙂 |
| Wednesday | – After School Sports @ Askrigg |
| Friday | – Celebration Assembly – NO Science Club |
Calendar
General Teaching Assistant Vacancy
Are you passionate about high-quality education?
Would you love to work as part of a fantastic team within a thriving federation?
…then this job may be for you!
Please take a look at the advertisement here, where you find more info about the role, and how to apply!
Nursery Taster Sessions
Did you know that every 3 year old is entitled to 15 hours of free nursery funding?! Next month, we have two taster sessions for our fantastic nursery! Why not come along and get a ‘feel’ for what we offer – our nursery boasts a free-flow outdoor area together with the latest facilities and equipment indoors across two rooms.
Our open days are due to take place on the 6th and 7th February between 13:30 – 15:00, we hope to see you there! If you plan on coming along, please email or call the office with your details so we can be ready to welcome you!
PTFA Updates
Don’t forget that the next PTFA meeting is next Thursday 25th January at 7:30 at the Falls Coffee Shop, Aysgarth. Please take a look at the agenda here. We also have to say a BIG thank you to The Wheatsheaf Inn for donating the proceeds of their annual Christmas quiz on 22nd December to the PTFA. It was a lovely evening and we raised £364.50!
Stage1 Cycles – Pizza Planet Trail – Thursday 15th Feb @ 3pm
Start your afternoon with us with a planet pizza making session in our Firebox Cafe. Whilst your pizza is cooking work up an appetite on your bikes following a trail of stars and seek out the planets on your bikes. Suitable for beginner cyclists, all activities will be undertaken in a traffic free site. It is recommended that parents accompany their children on foot. Bikes/helmets available to loan but must be booked at the same time as your place £12. Part of the YDNPA Dark Skies Festival. Please book on the Stage1 cycles website here.
Stories That Explain – Social Stories for Children with Autism
Parents/ carers are invited to attend a training Event on Social Stories, a powerful tool in supporting children on the autistic spectrum. YES@ Areté Learning Trust is hosting a half-day training event on Social Stories on Friday, 26th January at Richmond School, led by Lynn McCann, the esteemed author of “Stories that Explain,” a comprehensive book of Social Stories specifically designed for children.
Lynn McCann’s training session will cover a wide range of topics, including the development of self-care skills (e.g., teeth cleaning, handwashing, getting dressed), enhancement of social skills (e.g., sharing, asking for help, expressing gratitude, managing interruptions), and academic abilities. Social stories can also serve as a behavioural strategy, guiding individuals on what to do when angry or how to cope with obsessions.
Booking Deadline: Tuesday, 23rd January. £10 per place (bursary places available). First come first saved! To secure your spot at this valuable training session, please email: yes@aretelearningtrust.org
Safeguarding Item
Peppa Pig at Leyburn Arts & Community Centre
Join us at Leyburn Arts and Community Centre on Thursday 15 February at 2pm! Tickets (£5/£3) available here or call 01969 624510.
Robins
The snow and ice has provided lots of “wow” moments in Robins this week. The children have particularly enjoyed making their own sledges for the ice and have loved collecting different materials into bowls filled with water, to see what happens when they freeze. The children have been investigating what they can do to break the ice quicker to reach the objects and thinking about where to place the ice so it melts faster.
We have been learning to “subitise” in Maths this week. This means the children can recognise amounts of numbers to five without counting. The children are getting good at understanding that the same amount of objects can be arranged in different ways, but still be the same amount.
Owls
The owls enjoyed music with Mrs Park this week, exploring improvisation.
In PE the children ended their lesson with the ‘tidy your bedroom’ game, working as a team to clear their zone…..maybe it will work in their bedrooms at home!
Swallows & Kingfishers
In Art this half term, our work is going to be inspired by the artist, Alice Kettle. She is a painter who uses canvas/ calico material to paint then stitch to add more detail and create texture. We learnt all about Alice Kettle and looked at her artwork to make an introductory page to our topic!
Every Friday morning at West Burton, we change our library books. The children enjoy going to choose from the range of books on offer. It’s lovely to hear the children discussing the books and giving each other recommendations!
In Geography we have started our unit all about North America. This week the children used map skills to locate some of the countries and capital cities of North America.
This week the Swallows and Kingfishers played some dodgeball in PE. This was in preparation for an upcoming competition. They picked up the complex rules very quickly and there were some fantastic examples of: respect, encouragement and self-management on show.
This week in Maths the Kingfishers were tasked with continuing the Fibonacci sequence. They worked really hard on this and quickly worked out what was happening within the sequence
Golden Eagles
In spite of the drama of the snow on Tuesday, the Golden Eagles have had another busy week of learning!
This half-term in computing, the Golden Eagles are looking at repetition in shapes, creating pictures using https://turtleacademy.com/playground already, the children have been programming their turtle to draw a number. Over the next few weeks, the Golden Eagles will develop their coding and create fantastic repeating patterns.
Investigations into sound have continued in science with the Golden Eagles testing the sound insulating effect of different materials. Should anyone wish to repeat these experiments at home (or if you would like to know how noisy or quiet your house is), decibel meter apps are freely available.
In PE, the Golden Eagles have started a unit on dance and have been practising their line dancing, why not ask for a demonstration at home!
Herons
In Maths we have finished our fractions unit and have moved onto multiplication and division. We have been using base 10 to model multiplying 2 x 2-digit numbers.
In art we have started a unit on ‘Identity’. Inspired by the artist Mike Barrett, we are creating our own self-portraits. We have started the first step this week, and will build up our portraits over the next two weeks.
Merlins
In history, the Merlins have been discussing and learning about WWII. We looked at the impact that taking responsibility for WWI had on Germany and the key events such as the Great Depression, Hitler becoming chancellor and the invasion of Poland that forced Britain to war. In groups, the Merlins started to create a timeline of events from 1919-1939.
This Week’s Awards:
| Pupil of the week | |||||
| Robins (Nursery) | Heidi – for settling so well during her first full days at school, and for being so helpful and friendly to our new nursery starters. | ||||
| Robins (Reception) | Jack – for talk: showing super listening and contributions during group discussions – especially through ‘Talk through Stories’. Jack can always be counted on to share his ideas. | ||||
| Owls (Y1) | Annie – for enthusiasm for learning, she is always ready to learn and contributes her thoughts and ideas in every lesson. | ||||
| Swallows (Y2) | Ada – for politeness during lunchtimes. Ada went out of her way to complement Mrs Chapman on how excellent she thought her flapjack is. | ||||
| Kingfishers (Y3) | Theodore – for overcoming a challenge, showing determination and self-management. | ||||
| Golden Eagles (Y4) | Fearne – for outstanding effort all of the time and being willing to try new things. | ||||
| Herons (Y5) | William – for putting 100% effort into the content and presentation of written work. | ||||
| Merlins (Y6) | Arthur – for effort and enjoyment in RE – taking work home to do more research and reading. |
| Headteacher’s Awards | |
| Bainbridge | Gabriel – for being a mature learner and learning 10 new spellings at home each week. |
| Askrigg | Thomas – for having an amazing first week at school: he has shown independence and has settled in very well. |
| West Burton | Sidney G – for a real wow moment in maths this week! It has been lovely to see him enjoying his learning. |
| Good Samaritan Awards | For courage, care, compassion (for the children, from the children). | Nominated by |
| Swallows | Archie for helping people make good choices on the ice. | Rocco |
| Golden Eagles | Nico for helping Doug with his maths. | Maisie |
| Herons | Rory for helping him in maths. | Tristan |
| Theo for lending him his gloves. | Charlie |
| Other | |
| Tidiest Classroom | Golden Eagles |
| Best School Library | Askrigg |
| House Point Winning Team | Otters |
| Best Class Attendance | Robins, Owls, Swallows, Kingfishers – 100% |
| Class | RESPECT Ambassador |
| Robins | |
| Owls | Seth |
| Swallows | Charlie |
| Kingfishers | Archie |
| Golden Eagles | Florence |
| Herons | Theo |
| Merlins | Dylan |
