The best nativity we have seen in three years!

On Tuesday we were delighted by the retelling of the nativity story by our children in St. Andrew’s church, Aysgarth, in front of two very large audiences. Having been unable to come together for a Christmas production since 2020, this was a joyous occasion indeed, made even more special by the opportunity to mingle and chat over mince pies and drinks served by our wonderful PTFA.

The children excelled themselves. Having never seen a BAWB nativity before, our youngest children rose to the challenge and represented their characters with aplomb! That is until a few of the angels’ halos slipped and a modicum of mischief ensued (we wouldn’t have it any other way)!

The nativity was told through a story called ‘Angel Small’ – a book which was written and illustrated by local people, Karen Langtree and Gill McLean. The narrators were fabulous: clear, expressive, and confident. Traditional Christmas carols supported the retelling as children from Robins and Owls processed down the aisle to form a beautiful tableau on the stage.

Children in Y2 upwards should be congratulated on their singing which was beautiful and in an acoustically challenging environment (Aysgarth church is very large, the notes were high, and church organs are loud).

For me, the singing of ‘Away in a Manger’ by our youngest children marked the start of Christmas.
A truly festive occasion and very moving in the context of not having experienced anything like this for 3 years. Thank you to all involved!

Special thanks (in no particular order) to:

• Geoff Hirst, for accompanying the singing on the church organ
• Rev. Tom and the St. Andrew’s church team for welcoming us to use the church for our production (a fitting venue indeed)
• Our fabulous PTFA for wonderful refreshments
• Paul Carlisle, Gemma Gurden, Rob Stokes for moving the large and cumbersome stage from Askrigg school, assembling it, and then doing that all in reverse the next day
• Mr Scrafton, producer
• Mrs Johnston, director
• All staff, for supporting the children in their roles
• Our families, for helping your children with lines, lyrics, and costumes
• THE CHILDREN, for their exceptional performance

Click here to see a gallery of more photos.

PTFA – a quick round up!

The PTFA have been fantastic this Christmas, spending a great deal of time and effort in hosting the Christmas Fair which raised approximately a £1000 for PTFA funds! Click here for more information about all the incredible work they’ve done and how it benefits our wonderful pupils.

Christingle

A reminder that families are warmly invited to our Christingle service at 2:00pm in St. Oswald’s church, Askrigg next Friday. A fitting way to end the term. We look forward to seeing you there.

Christmas Shops!

This year’s Christmas Shops are taking place at West Burton and Askrigg on Monday, and Bainbridge on Wednesday (see calendar for more details). These shops give children the chance to pick out a small gift for an adult family member or friend. Gifts are priced between £1 and £2.50. A big thank you to Liz Tooley for organising them this year.

We are also looking forward to…

• Y4 Geography field trip on Monday morning
• Panto on Tuesday
• Christmas dinner on Wednesday
• Parties on Thursday

Calendar

Did you know you can synchronise our calendar with our school calendar? Click here to visit the calendar and click the link at the bottom of the page that says ‘subscribe to calendar’ – this will enable you to push events out to your personal calendars.

Robins

What a wonderful celebration we shared at St. Andrew’s on Tuesday. We were so proud of our Robins and very happy to all get together. And if that has not made you feel Christmassy then head over to Bainbridge after dark. The Christmas lights are spectacular!

Owls

The Owls made Miss Atkinson and co. very proud with their impeccable behaviour on Tuesday! They certainly succeeded in getting everyone into the Christmas spirit with their beautiful singing voices!

Swallows

This week the Swallows have been busy in class! They’ve been getting stuck in identifying, classifying and grouping materials that can be recycled. They have also been extra Christmassy this week by wearing their Christmas jumpers and creating a Nativity in a box to consolidate their learning on the nativity and understanding why Christmas is important to Christians.

Kingfishers

The Kingfishers have had fantastic week celebrating Christmas Jumper Day and the nativity at St. Andrew’s – their fabulous singing voices were on full show!

Golden Eagles

The Golden Eagles braved the chilly temperatures this week whilst getting to grips with their footwork and passing skills in PE!

Merlins

Merlins have had another busy week with a mixture of hard work and Christmas cheer. Thank you to all those who supported with the Christmas performances this week. The Merlins have been refreshing their netball rules and tactics in preparation for the cluster netball competition in January. 

They have also been busy doing lots of problem solving activities this week using pentominoes. Please ask us what these are and children challenge your parents to find all 12 pentominoe shapes! 

The Merlins also created some origami Christmas wreaths this week to help decorate the church tree. Some of us were able to make a second to put on our own trees at home. This was very fiddly, but we’re sure you’ll agree they look great!!

This Week’s Awards:

Pupil of the week
Robins (Nursery)					Ruby for focussing and engaging in all activities in EYFS.
Robins (Reception)					Seth for making kind and sensible choices.
Owls (Y1)					Rocco for making great choices during the Christmas nativity.
Swallows (Y2)					Myles for outstanding effort in all aspects of school life (learning, assessments, nativity, discussions, etc)
Kingfishers (Y3)					Douglas for his effort and confidence during the performance.
Golden Eagles (Y4)					Lydia for setting a good example to her peers during our Christmas production.
Merlins (Y5)					Arthur for a kind and thoughtful approach to all aspects of school.
Merlins (Y6)					Will S for taking responsibility doing our performance and being reliable.

Headteacher’s Awards
Bainbridge	Otis M and Lily-Ann P for their effort and enjoyment during the Christmas nativity production: beautiful articulation of their narrator sections – clear, expressive, and confident.
Askrigg	Jack T for the effort he has put in to coming into school confidently and independently.
West Burton	Ava H-W for increasing confidence and more active participation in lessons.

Good Samaritan Awards	For courage, care, compassion (for the children, from the children).	Nominated by
Owls	Connie for helping him with his clothes.	Jonathan
	Annie for kind sharing.	Max
Swallows	Archie for helping him up when he fell over.	Aidan
	Lizzy for helping with tricky words in phonics.	Aidan
Kingfishers	Anna for looking after her when she was lonely.	Olivia (Swallows)
Golden Eagles	Oliver for helping William when he was hurt at break time.	Lily
Merlins	Antoni for helping him in maths.	Archie
	Beatrice QB for helping her with something she was finding difficult.	Ava
	Toby for taking the time to teach him how to dribble the basketball more effectively in PE.	Archie

Other
Best Learning Space (classroom)	Ows
Most Effective learning Environment (school)	West Burton
House Point Winning Team	Red Squirrels
Best Class Attendance	Kingfishers – 96.19%