Weekly Newsflash! Friday 13th January 2023
Spelling Homework
Our current spelling homework software (Spellzone) has expired. Until the beginning of next half-term when we explain our new homework plans (parents’ meeting on Wednesday 22nd February), our children will be using the spelling section of Sumdog to complete spelling homework. Sumdog is an adaptive programme which means that once they have completed a diagnostic test, it will auto-pitch their activities. If children have not yet completed this in class, then spellings may not be well pitched. This problem will resolve once the initial diagnostic test is complete and this can be done within their homework session. The spelling homework won’t ‘complete’ at a set time so we would recommend that your child spends around 10 to 15 minutes on it, which is the equivalent of two or three of the spelling games that they play while doing it.
Early Years and Sycamore Hall
There is a lot of research to show that there are many mutual benefits to the young and elderly working together. Confidence, communication, empathy and general wellbeing can all be boosted spending time with each other. Some of you may have seen the Channel 4 documentary: Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds.
From next week, our EYFS team (Robins class) will be making regular visits to Sycamore Hall where they will read, sing, play games, and interact with the residents there. We will share news of this experience here with you and very much look forward to building this positive relationship. Please speak to Mrs Johnston if you have any questions.
Warm and Welcome Spaces
Richmondshire District Council’s Corporate Board have committed to supporting the establishment of Warm and Welcome Spaces, which provide a warm space where anyone who is cold can go to:
- stay warm
- socialise
- enjoy some additional activities and hot refreshments
The closest warm spaces to our federation are:
Hawes Library, The Neukin, Market Place, Hawes, DL8 3RA
Hudson House, Kings Arms Hotel, Reeth, DL11 6SY
Leyburn Arts Centre, The Old School House, Richmond Road, Leyburn, DL8 5HN
Uniform supplier
We haven’t forgotten! Mrs Martin is investigating options for changing our uniform supplier as per your feedback over time and at parents’ forum. Thank you for your patience.
Assessment Results
We hope you have found it useful to receive your child’s assessment results this week (Y1 upwards). Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Junior Badminton
Junior Badminton is due to be held on Wednesday evenings between 5:30-6:30pm at West Burton Village Hall. No experience required and all those over 5 welcome! £3 for the first child, and £2 for any sibling thereafter, parents are required to stay. All equipment provided.
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
This week the Robins shared some of their favourite books and special stories. They looked at our very special King James Bible that lives in the front of our school. We talked about stories we know from the Bible. The Robins also got their science hats on this week, leaping with joy as they got the chance to do a ‘spermiment’. This experiment was about freezing things – they wanted to choose lots of different things to freeze but they nearly all wanted to mix their substance with water.
Owls
This week the Owls have been learning about the Great Fire of London and re-creating it in Lego!
Swallows
Power of Reading – inspired by the Magic Finger, the Swallows researched fox hunting to prepare for a class debate. In RE, the Swallows roleplayed tax collecting in biblical times to find out why tax collectors were not liked and learn that Christians believe that God loves everybody.
Kingfishers
In science the Kingfishers have been exploring light. This week they were looking at how light reflects from surfaces and which surfaces were the most reflective. In English they enjoyed creating tableaux of parts of our new text ‘Pugs of the Frozen North’.
Golden Eagles
The Golden Eagles have thoroughly enjoyed constructing a simple series circuit in their Science lesson and investigating what happens when you add extra components to a circuit.
Merlins
The Merlins have had a busy week! They’ve been developing their strength, flexibility and skills in Gymnastics themed PE this week . There was some real progress made in this lesson, which was great to see! In Art they tried their hand at drawing cityscapes in the style of Shoreditch Sketcher. Geography this week included some research and comparions of the DRC and South Africa, whilst in Music the new saxophones got their first outing!
This Term’s RESPECT Ambassadors
| Robins | Owls | Swallows | Kingfishers | Golden Eagles | Merlins |
| Lexi M | Oscar H | Joey T | Maisie M | Lily D | Grayson A |
This Week’s Awards:
| Pupil of the week | |||||
| Robins (Nursery) | Faye for engagement and enjoyment, discussing her learning and encouraging and helping others to participate | ||||
| Robins (Reception) | Otto for fabulous phonics work. | ||||
| Owls (Y1) | Libby for working really hard on her sun, boat and sea letters! (handwriting) | ||||
| Swallows (Y2) | Archie for taking increased responsibility for his learning. | ||||
| Kingfishers (Y3) | Sylvi for responsibility, always ready to learn and ready to help others. A great start to the new term. | ||||
| Golden Eagles (Y4) | Tristan for effort and enjoyment in science and for his informative contributions in lessons. | ||||
| Merlins (Y5) | Dylan for high levels of enthusiasm across the curriculum. | ||||
| Merlins (Y6) | Henry for excellent effort in PE, demonstrating good skills and being a role model to others. |
| Headteacher’s Awards | |
| Bainbridge | Theo L for having the courage to talk about challenges in order to overcome them. |
| Askrigg | Sylvi C for speaking confidently and maturely about diversity: in what ways can we be different and how much diversity do we have in our community? |
| West Burton | Martha W for speaking confidently and maturely about diversity: in what ways can we be different and how much diversity do we have in our community? |
| Special Awards | |
| Harry B | Chief Scout Bronze Award – WOW! |
| Good Samaritan Awards | For courage, care, compassion (for the children, from the children). | Nominated by |
| Robins | Rosie for helping him to find his bag. | Otto |
| Joshua J for helping him put his shoes on | Ollie | |
| Swallows | Lizzy for helping her find her missing badge. | Rosie |
| Aidan for helping when he fell over. | Archie | |
| Kingfishers | Charlie for looking after her when she was feeling a bit sad. | Lizzy |
| Golden Eagles | James because one day she was feeling lonely, and he asked if she wanted to play with him. | Lily-Anne |
| William, Tristan and Oliver for helping him while he has a fractured hand. | Caleb | |
| Merlins | Sam for helping him to fasten his shoelace and various other tasks. | Archie |
| Other | |
| Best Learning Space (classroom) | Owls |
| Most Effective learning Environment (school) | Askrigg (check out the library!) |
| House Point Winning Team | Red Squirrels |
| Best Class Attendance | Golden Eagles and Swallows (100%) |
