Weekly Newsflash! Friday 3rd February 2023
The Wensleydale Tournament of Song
It is that time of year! All our entries are in and we have begun the exciting rehearsal schedule. Huge thanks to Sally Stone for accompanying on the piano and helping our children to learn the songs. Here is a flavour of what we have entered:
- Choral Speaking (Y4, 5, 6)
- A variety of individual poems and duets (please not that if your child has entered this class they must learn their poem off by heart – they cannot hold the poem on the day)
- Sight reading (a number of individuals)
- 4x song classes (unison, traditional British folk, hymn, and action song) for Swallows and Kingfishers
- 4x song classes (unison, traditional British folk, hymn, and action song) for Golden Eagles and Merlins
The speech classes will take place w/c 13th March in the Methodist hall in Leyburn. The singing will be held at Tennant’s on Friday 24th March. These dates are on the calendar.
Click here, or on the icon below to visit The Tournament home page.
Teacher Strikes
You will have realised that our schools were not affected by the national NEU strikes on 1st February. Please note the remaining strike days which could still potentially affect us. In the event of strike action within our schools, we will take all reasonable steps to keep our schools open for as many pupils as possible in order to minimise disruption to children and families. In the unlikely event of any disruption to our teaching arrangements on any of these dates, we will of course inform you as soon as is practicably possible.
- Tuesday, 28 February (Northern, North West, and Humber regions)
- Wednesday, 15 March (England and Wales)
- Thursday, 16 March (England and Wales)
World Book Day – Thursday 2nd March 2023
Amongst other book-related activity, the PTFA will be hosting the annual bedtime story and hot chocolate event. This year it will be in Temperance Hall in Bainbridge between 5pm and 6pm where a few members of staff will be on hand to read a selection of their favourite stories. We really hope you can come along! Pyjamas, cuddly toys, and blankets invited! Click here for more information and to let us know if you are intending to come along.
Nursery
Did you know that every 3 year old is entitled to 15 hours of free nursery funding?! Next month, we have a few taster sessions open 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 28th and 29th March – we hope to see you there!
Get into GOLF!
Catterick Golf Club are holding two FREE golf sessions for kids on the 4th March 2023 at 11am. All equipment is provided and no special clothing is required. More information can be found here.
Northern Youth Voices
Do your kids love to sing? The Northern Youth Voices Choir sing a range of pop and modern songs every week, offering fun, inclusivity and enrichment for all! Find out more here.
Warm Space Initiative
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.
Term Dates 2023/24
The academic calendar for 2023/24 has been released, for your convenience you can find it here.
Robins
EYFS have been getting messy this week! Exploring polar regions = indoor snow! Mrs Johnston isn’t entirely sure that they’ll remember that polar bears are in the Arctic and penguins are in the Antarctic but is sure they’ll remember how messy indoor snow can be! The Robins also visited Sycamore Hall again this week, and got their musical heads on – maybe a future Elton John is in our midst?! And if that wasn’t exciting enough, the Robins also had a little tea party – it seemed a shame to waste the party hats!
Owls
The Owls have been busy exploring mark making with watercolour, inspired by Emma Burleigh this week! I’m sure you’ll agree their paintings are looking fantastic!
The Owls also had an incredible opportunity when the mobile zoo came to Bainbridge! A special thanks to the PTFA for providing such a brilliant experience – the children loved it and were SO brave!
Swallows
As part of their work on the Magic Finger, the Swallows, created, rehearsed and performed a reader’s theatre script based on the extract of the story where the Greggs (who have been given duck wings) wake up to see the ducks pointing guns at them! Mr Scrafton captured this in a fantastic video. In Art, the Swallows have been put their painting skills into practise by creating expressionist still life paintings. They also identified different characters using their attributes and then went on to create pictograms of those attributes in computing! A busy and varied week, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Kingfishers
The new unit on length has seen the Kingfishers putting our place value skills to use measuring in millimetres, centimetres and metres. Some good problem solving, finding ways to measure when the object is longer than the ruler. The question is, did they remember to start measuring from 0 rather than the end of the ruler?! In Art, the Kingfishers are in the final stages of their artwork inspired by Hannah Rae and Alice Kettle. They added texture using a variety of different materials and are looking great, we can’t wait to display them for everyone to see!
Golden Eagles
The Golden Eagles have been learning about Maundy Thursday and the significance this day brings to Christians; they re-enacted the Last Supper and imagined how Jesus would have been feeling at this particular time.
Merlins
Some of the Merlins artwork this week. They looked at using mixed media to create their own interpretation of a local landscape. Lots are yet to finish, but don’t they look fabulous?!
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) | Jay for good listening in Yoga and joining in all the moves. | ||||
| Robins (Reception) | Rosie for working hard to produce fabulous neat writing. | ||||
| Owls (Y1) | Rocco for fantastic reasoning in Maths. | ||||
| Swallows (Y2) | Aidan for consistent effort and enjoyment in art. | ||||
| Kingfishers (Y3) | Alex for effort in English and beautiful presentation in all areas of the curriculum. | ||||
| Golden Eagles (Y4) | James for his increased efforts in writing and taking responsibility for his work. | ||||
| Merlins (Y5) | Layla being extremely helpful and showing a mature approach to all aspects of school life. | ||||
| Merlins (Y6) | Henry For being an excellent friend. Being reliable and responsible |
| Headteacher’s Awards | |
| Bainbridge | Callum P for effort and enjoyment: bringing his learning about similes into our poetry recital for the tournament. |
| Askrigg | Lily D for enjoyment: really embracing the study of the kings of the medieval period in history. |
| West Burton | Charlie G for effort and enjoyment, leading to improved confidence in swimming! |
| Good Samaritan Awards | For courage, care, compassion (for the children, from the children). | Nominated by |
| Owls | Emma for looking after her friends. | Jemima |
| Rose for helping her when she was finding something tricky. | Aimee | |
| Ed because he saw him helping the nursery children. | Rocco | |
| Swallows | Martha for helping hold her things at the end of the day when she had full hands. | Olivia |
| Aidan for helping Archie when he hurt himself. | Rosie | |
| Kingfishers | Rene for being a kind friend and Alex for helping her to complete a maths question. | Sylvi |
| Golden Eagles | Theo for being there for him when he was sad. | Harry |
| Otis and Jacob for helping him up when he fell over. | Isaac | |
| Merlins | Beatrice QB for helping her during a computing lesson. | Jo |
| Beatrice QB for helping another child feel better at breaktime on Thursday. | Ava | |
| Toby for helping him with his eye. | Tristan |
| Other | |
| Best Learning Space (classroom) | Kingfishers |
| Most Effective learning Environment (school) | West Burton |
| House Point Winning Team | Dormice |
| Best Class Attendance | Owls (98%) |
