Message from
Mr Richards
These 5 weeks (4weeks and 4 days) have flown by!
As always, the 2nd half of the summer term has been the most busiest of the year so far! As I am sure you will see!
Trips to Conkers for year 2; Stonehurst Farm for year 1; Bradgate P{ark for year 3; Hamerton Zoo for year 4 and ‘argggghhh’ Pirate trip for foundation stage to name just some of the events this term - the photos below show just how eventful this half-term has been.
It was fantastic to welcome so many parents to sports days this half-term. The days were action-packed and each event had a competitive element to it (especially the parents’ race)
A big thank you to the FCS sports coaches for their major role in organising these special events.
The ‘Sport @ Rothley’ section of the newsletter runs through the phases winners - but I can reveal the overall standings.
- 1st - Beacon
- Joint 2nd - Swithland and Beaumanor
- 4th - Bradgate
Congratulations to Beacon house on this overall win - and yes Swithland and Beaumanor for the exact same points! What are the chances!?
A huge well done Bradgate who really did compete so well in every event - I do remember the 2014-2017 era where Bradgate were so dominant at Sports days.
It was great to see so many parents take the opportunity to come into school this week for the open afternoon. It was fantastic to have so many of you on site again and I hope you enjoyed meeting your new class teacher and looking through this year’s books.
I would like to sign off by celebrating with you the school’s recent external attainment achievements at Foundation Stage, KS1 and KS2 SATS.
Foundation Stage and KS1
- 76% of children in Foundation Stage achieved a Good Level of Development
- 82% of children in year 1 passed the phonics screening
- 81% of children, in Reading, met the expected standard and 33% Greater Depth by the end of Year 2
- 79% of children, in Writing, met the expected standard and 21% Greater Depth by the end of Year 2
- 84% of children, in Writing, met the expected standard and 30% Greater Depth by the end of Year 2
These results are nothing less than outstanding given the amount of time that these children have missed during the all important early years of primary school.
A massive well done to Mrs Meadows and Mrs Walton and their teams.
National data will be released in the new year to help us benchmark these achievements - but I am positive these will exceed national averages once more!
Key Stage 2 (Year 6) SATS results
- 95% of children, in Reading, met the expected standard (national 74%) and 44% achieved greater depth/high score
- 95% of children, in Writing met the expected standard (national 69%) and 39% achieved greater depth
- 95% of children, in Maths, met the expected standard (national 71%) and 46% greater depth
- 89% of children achieved the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Maths (national 59%)
As you can clearly see, these results are simply 'outstanding'. Despite the disruption of education for these children in years 3 and 4, the children have achieved some of the best results we have ever achieved at Rothley!
A huge well done to Mr Clark and Mr McLugash and the Year 6 team for achieving these results! And also all the teachers and staff at Rothley that have worked with the children throughout their time - all the way from Foundation Stage to Year 6. You have all contributed to their success. In addition to this: thank you as parents and carers for all the support during the remote learning provision over the last 3 academic years.
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a fantastic summer break over the next weeks and I look forward to seeing the children on Wednesday 24th August - ready to start their next chapter at our wonderful school.
Mr Richards
PTFA
The PTFA AGM will be held on Tuesday 27th September at school and positions to be filled will include Chair and Secretary.
As parents and carers at our school you are all members of the Rothley PTFA. An elected committee is essential for the association to run and if there aren’tenough people to form the committee then the PTFA will sadly have to close.
We would love to hear from you if you would like to find out more about what’s involved! Get in touch with Siobhan Thomas (current PTFA Chair) or any other members of the committee if you would like a chat about what it is that we do! Alternatively you can message us via ptfa@rothley.leics.sch.uk or our Facebook page Rothley PTFA Noticeboard
The PTFA achieves great things for the children at our school, in the last 18 months we have funded:
- Year 6 SATS breakfasts
- Year 6 end of term pizza party,
- Platinum Jubilee commemorative pin badges
- Christmas gifts for the Foundation Stage pupils on the steam train
- Hundreds of pounds worth of lots of play equipment right across the school
- Donated a whopping £5,000 to the fabulous music garden installation
We’ve had great fun with beanstalk competitions, and a Smarties “chores for change” challenge, we’ve designed tea towels and Christmas cards, supported library events and held a car boot sale!
We would love to find some enthusiastic parents willing to take the PTFA forward and continue providing fun activities and resources for the children at our school, so please do get in touch if you think you can help!
There will be a planning meeting for the PTFA’s involvement in Library’s scarecrow and cinema event on 6th September at 8pm in school which would be a great opportunity for you to meet some of the team.
Everyone is welcome!
Foundation Stage!
This term has flown by and we cannot believe how quickly time has passed.
We are so proud of all the children in Foundation Stage this year.
It has been so amazing to see them blossom and grow into the children they are today. We wish them all the very best in moving forward into Year1.
This term the children have enjoyed celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee. The children created their own crowns and proceeded through the school. They learnt about the Queens crown and why it is special.
We have been learning about pirates and sea creatures. The children enjoyed a fantastic day out at Beaumanor Hall.
Everyone dressed up as Pirates and enjoyed lots of pirate activities including treasure hunts, throwing cannon balls at targets and listening to old Pirate stories in the Pirate cabin.
The children had the best time.
Foundation stage had their first sports day in school. All the children took part in a variety of activities and races.
It was lovely to welcome all the parents to the event and there were some fantastic fun parent races too.
We hope you all have a fabulous summer break.
Year 1
What a busy final 5 weeks we have had in Year 1!
We had a blast on sports day! We really enjoyed seeing our family and were really happy that they got to watch us run in our races!
Our trip to Stonehurst farm was one of our best days at school this year!
We got to go on a tractor ride, pet lots of animals, learned how to look after animals and played in the barn and on the playground with our friends.
Our trip helped us to think about what we have been learning in science!
We have been practicing our handwriting this term, making sure we have beautiful neat letters, ready for Year 2!
We wrote a lovely piece of writing based on the story of ‘Dougal’s Deep Sea Diary’ for our Year 2 teachers to show them what brilliant writers we are. We have explored an underwater theme and have learned lots of new interesting vocabulary too!
We have learned to tell the time, using the language of half past and O’clock, and have thought about the passage of time.
We have finished the year off with position and direction and have used language such as, quarter turn, half turn, above, below, left and right.
We have started our new unit looking at animals including humans and have thought about the different animal groups and how to identify which group an animal is part of.
We have thought about our body parts and what they can do. We also explored our senses and the jobs that they have. Our experiment was lots of fun!
In ICT we have been continuing to strengthen our knowledge on mouse control.
What a wonderful year we have had in Year 1 – and we know the children are fully ready and raring to go on 24th August, when we will be in Year 2!
Year 2
This term, the children have really enjoyed their experiences outside of the classroom.
The children loved their school trip to Conkers. The journey there was made even more exciting by the fact that they travelled on a double decker bus.
At Conkers the children were able to extend their learning from their plants topic in science.
They went on a woodland walk, where they were able to identify the names of a range of plants and a ranger taught the children more about seed dispersal.
They also enjoyed playing with their friends in the large adventure playground and riding on the ‘Conkerchoo’ train.
They also had the opportunity to watch a 4D movie all about an ant’s journey through the forest. It was a wonderful sunny day so the children all enjoyed their ice lolly treat. The children’s behaviour was exemplary and it was a pleasure for the staff to take them out of school.
At long last the children finally got to take part in a school sports day this term. The children competed in an obstacle race, an egg and spoon race and a running race.
They all had great fun and it was wonderful to see so many of you there supporting the children. They thoroughly enjoyed watching parents take part in the races so a big thank you to those of you who participated.
We wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the children for working so hard this year. It has been their first full year in school and the progress they have made under the circumstances of the last few years has been excellent. They should all feel very proud of themselves as we all certainly are.
Thank you for all the support you have given them with their learning at home.
We hope you have a relaxing summer and that the children are well rested to return to school ready for their new adventures in Year 3.
Message from the Midday Supervisors:
Firstly, to all our year 6 children that are leaving us, we wish them happiness and the best of luck as they more forward onto the next part of their journey. You will all be greatly missed at lunchtimes. Finally, we wish all the children at Rothley School and their families a fantastic Summer break, filled with happiness, laughter and memories to cherish. We'll see you again soon. Take care everyone - from the Lunchtime Ladies!"
Year 3
It’s hard to believe we are in the final term of this academic year- where did it go? Despite only being a short term, we have continued to be amazingly busy, learning lots and having fun!
In Literacy, we have produced some fantastic pieces of writing based on the book Leon and The Place Between by Grahame Baker-Smith, imagining that are Leon and we have stepped into the magician’s box.
The children have come up with some super ideas to describe what it is like inside the box (in ‘The Place Between’) so we are looking forward to reading them!
In maths we have been learning lots about shape and time. The children have been telling the time using the 24 hour clock and working out durations of time.
The children have been learning about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, including describing the number of vertices, faces and edges. We have also been learning how to tell the difference between regular and irregular 2D shapes.
In Science we have finished our topic about plants and have learnt about pollination and seed dispersal.
We had a fantastic trip to Bradgate Park where we had some very fun (and not at all competitive!!) games of rounders: 3JG vs 3CA.
We had a lovely walk through the grounds, enjoyed a picnic, had a look at the ruins and finished the day with an ice cream by the reservoir.
The Year 3s showed fantastic sportsmanship during Sports Day this year, and it was wonderful to see how encouraging and supporting the children were to not only the children in their own houses, but to everyone taking part.
We are so proud of our wonderful Year 3s and all the hard work they have produced this year. We will miss them all and hope that you all have a wonderful holiday.
Year 4
What a fantastic end to Year 4 we have had!
The children all participated in Sports Day – the children all really enjoyed the races and had a great time cheering on their houses and friends.
Our trip to Hamerton Park Zoo will go down as one of the highlights for our year. We had the chance to see up close and personal some incredible animals: from tigers and cheetahs, to birds of prey and parrots, all the way to camels and even brown bears.
The trip taught the children about animal adaptions and how to classify animal species based on their features. What a fantastic day!
As well as this, the children have had a fantastic time learning our Science topic: Living Things and Their Habitats. The children learnt new vocabulary such as: deforestation, climate, adaptions. These words have helped us to debate about animals habitats and informed our writing for this half-term.
We wrote a newspaper report based on The Creature. This is a story of an unknown creature, discovered on a beach with its stomach full of plastic pollution. Various members of the local community try to save the creature, however the plastic has already caused too much damage and the creature dies.
From this story, we were inspired to write about an appeal from Sky Ocean Rescue, who used single-use plastic bottles to create a sculpture of a whale. Our writing aimed to inform people about the impact of plastic pollution and how we can all make a change to the way we think about our planet.
In Art, the children learned about willow patterns. The children painted on paper plates mixing colours.
In Design Technology, the children made torches using batteries, tin foil, plastic bottles, crocodile clips and wires. This applied the skills we learnt in science earlier in the school year.
We wish all the year 4s a fantastic summer break and we are positive they will go onto year 5 and continue to flourish!
Year 5
Y5 have enjoyed a pacy final half term with plenty going on in and out of the classroom. The children have continued in their attitude and spirit to end the year on a high, ready to soar in Year 6.
Sports Day, Transition Day, and a Music Day (which you can read about in the music section of this newsletter) punctuated a rambunctious half term leading into the summer break.
In maths, we have been learning about Position and Direction, which includes skills such as co-ordinates, reflection, translation, and working within all four quadrants of a grid.
The children's superior understanding shone through as they completed their end-of-unit assessments.
In English, 5EB finished off R.J. Palacio's "Wonder" whilst 5JP/DD attempted to make it as far through Onjali Q. Raúf's "The Boy at the Back of the Class".
The children worked incredibly hard with their final piece of assessed writing this year - a non-chronological report based on an endangered animal.
They are so passionate about animals, and were angered by the unfairness of humanity's actions destroying habitats across the world.
In the wider curriculum, the children learned lots of very important information about changes that will happen to their bodies through our Sex and Relationships Education sessions. The children dealt with this in a mature manner and hopefully took away some key learning to help them through the next stage of their lives.
Geographically, we finished our"Mountains" unit, resulting in a comparison between the landscapes and climates of different mountain ranges across the world, and learning about the economic hardships farmers in the Welsh Cambrian Mountains face in their daily lives.
We wish all the families of the year 5 children a restful Summer break and I am sure the children will be a credit to the school in year 6.
Year 6
And just like that, we reach the end of the year! It seems to have gone in a blink of an eye! It has been a busy term for the Year 6 children.
In English we have been writing our final piece called The Applause which the children have thoroughly enjoyed and showcased everything they have learnt in writing this year.
In science we have been learning about Evolution and inheritance and learning about how living things are adapted to their environments.
In history we have been learning about WWII and the Battle of Britain unpicling why Britain won the Battle of Britain and why it was such a significant and important part of the war.
The children also had a WWII Day where they had the opportunity to look at artefacts from the war and they had the chance to do some army training completing an army assault course. See some of the photos below.
The children have also had sports day this term with each house competing against each other. The children have also been busy on their transition days to Rawlins and other secondary schools. The big treat for the Year 6’s this term was our trip to London.
The children experienced watching a live show at the theatre – The Lion King. They also visited Harry Potter studios which they absolutely loved! Take a look at all the photos below.
The children have also had a pizza party and an end of term water fight to celebrate finishing Primary school.
So this is the time when we say farewell to our Year 6 pupils.
They have worked incredibly hard this year in everything they have done and they should be exceedingly proud of themselves.
We wish them all good luck at their new schools
Little Bunnies
Little Bunnies have had lots of fun ‘Under the Sea’ this term. They have particularly enjoyed being pirates and going on pirate adventures, we even learnt to talk like pirates!
We have been lucky enough to have some new outdoor equipment which has enabled us to really enjoy our time outside. We have designed and built dens to hide in and we even built a swimming pool to cool us down on the really hot days!
We have been busy exploring letters and letter formation ready for school and had fun mark-making in the sea foam. The seaside counting and sorting tray was very popular too.
The Little Bunnies have had a fantastic year and have made us very proud! We wish them well on their next adventures at school and know they will all be amazing!
Wishing you all a fabulous summer,
Little Bunnies Team
Collective Worship
These last 5 weeks have concluded are collective worship for the academic year. The children really have had a fantastic experience this year - we have introduced phase assemblies in the hall and kept some virtual assemblies that worked so well over the last few years.
Roots and Fruits:
Over the last few weeks the children in KS2 have explored the themes of:
- The wise and the foolish builders (Matthew 7.24-27)
- The Sower (Luke 8.4-15)
- The good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37)
- The mustard seed (Matthew 13.31-32)
Year 1 Church Visit:
This term Year 1 have been studying a topic in their RE lessons called, ‘Places of Worship’. As part of this unit of learning the whole of year 1 visited Rothley Parish Church.
They were met by Revered Gladstone who led the lesson within the Church and shared the religious artefacts with the children. The year 1 children explored:
- The font
- Organ
- Bells
- The importance of the bread and wine
- Lectern
- The eagle lecture with the bible on
- War memorial
The children had a great morning learning more about the church as a place of worship.
Christian Values:
We have rounded off out Christian values with the value of respect. The children had such a fantastic knowledge of 'Respect' as this is in our Bee Code!
Mr Dooley has been streamed across classrooms this term teaching us all about 'Respect and Reverance' - concluding with an excellent assembly by 5DD/JP at the church with parents and the local church community!
The children who were awarded the stars across the school were:
- FS: Olivia B, Grace B, Isabella L-N, Alice M, Rohan R and Isabella M-F.
- Yr1: Theo B, Cameron W, Jodhveer D, Kylan C and Henry R
- Yr2: George R, Seb C, Charlotte S, Hannah V and Harry W.
- Yr3: Teddy T, Isla B, William E and Charlie C
- Yr4: Isaac A, Sofia H, Jacob S and Nancy G
- Yr5: Abraham M, Ivy B, Tyrese T and Brooke L-N
- Yr6: Mia S, Oscar A, Skye I and Harriett M
Well done to all the children who achieved the stars for Respect!
We will look to keep on improving our 'excellent' collective worship next academic year!
Sport @ Rothley
Quadkids Athletics:
On Thursday 9th June, some very lucky children from Year 3 -6 were pulled from a hat to join in Quadkids Athletics at Wreake Valley Academy.
This was a full day of Athletics in which all children competed in the 4 disciplines; 50m Sprint, 400m Run, Vertex Howler Throw and Standing Long Jump!
Rothley did extremely well and respresented the school brilliantly, winning the Spirit of the Games Award (again!) by showcasing determination, honesty, respect, passion, teamwork and self-belief.
Overall, the UKS2 children placed 2nd winning themselves a Silver medal and LKS2 placed 9th, out of 12 school! A big pat on the back to all the children involved!
KS2 visited by professional cricket players:
Children in KS2 were treated to a very special assembly by professional cricketers Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths. They play for Leicestershire County Cricket Club and generously gave up their time, missing part of their day’s training to be with us.
Callum and Gavin spoke to us about what it takes to be a professional cricket, what their daily life is like, and the experiences they’ve had in life as a pro.
Amazingly, some children were then chosen to have a bowl at Callum and Gavin, which was a fantastic experience. A huge thank you to Callum and Gavin for coming into school, and also a massive thank you to Mr Patel for arranging it.
There is a palpable buzz about cricket around the school at the moment. I would love to encourage everyone to look at visiting Grace Road to watch Leicestershire.
Year 2 Shooting Stars Festival:
Some of the Year 2 girls were lucky enough to attend a Shooting Stars Festival of Football at Wreake Valley.
It was the hottest day of the year and the girls did a great job taking part in all of the activities despite of the heat.
The activities were aimed at trying to get more girls involved with the sport.
Sports Day:
Sports day was a smashing success this year! A lovely day which wasn’t too hot or too cold meant that all the children from every house were able to compete! It was also great to welcome parents back to Sports Day as well and even better to see them taking part in the races!
The overall scores were as follows:
- EYFS Winners: - Beacon (189 points)
- KS1 Winners: Beacon (388 points)
- LKS2 Winners: Beaumanor (305 points)
- UKS2 Winners: Swithland (321 points)
Year 6 Swimming:
This year, after 2 years of absence due to COVID, the Year 6s have been able to get back in the pool at Loughborough Leisure Centre and have been taking Swimming lessons.
All the children have enjoyed this and in the process have learnt a vital life skill! Next year, we are aiming to have Year 4 swim in the Spring term and Year 6 in the Summer term.
Tennis at Ivanhoe Rothley Tennis Club:
A group of year 5/6 walked down to our local tennis club for 2 hours of fun and games! We were fortunate enough to have the whole of Rothley Tennis Club and their coaches to ourselves, which meant the children were able to participate and learn for the whole afternoon.
After a brief warm up, the coaches reminded the children how to hold a tennis racket properly before embarking on a series games. With the support of the young leaders from Martins High, the children thoroughly enjoyed improving their skills and playing at a decent level - even some of the Rothley children beat the secondary school kids!
Thank you to Rothley Tennis Club for hosting us. The club have a whole host of activities and events happening during the summer holiday, so be sure to check them out on Facebook to get involved!
Team Rothley look forward to competing in many different tournaments next year!
Cricket Competitions
Wednesday 29th June 2022 saw Rothley CE Academy’s Y5/6 cricket team compete in the County Finals at the home of Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Grace Road. This involved eight other teams, who had each won their local competitions to qualify. Rothley were the winners of the South Charnwood local competition.
Despite a couple of vengeful showers, the sun shined through the clouds most of the day to set the scene for a brilliant day of cricket.
There were four other teams in our group with 1st place qualifying for the final, and 2nd place qualifying for the 3rd/4th playoff. Rothley started strongly with a convincing win over Brownlow (Melton & Belvoir).
Our second match was an agonisingly close contest. Three runouts in our batting innings meant that we had a mountain to climb. Some incredible bowling and fielding helped us claw it back, but it wasn’t enough and we lost by an excruciating three runs to Avenue (West Leicester).
Our final two group games against Glenmere Primary (Oadby & Wigston) and Ashby Willesley (North West Leicester) both resulted in victories thanks to brilliant catches from every player (catches win matches!). Thomas, Jacob G, and Harriet took blinding catches. Finley W added key runs with the bat and fielded excellently. Isla bowled a double-wicket maiden, and Cora was a force to be reckoned with in batting, bowling, and fielding.
Three victories and one loss meant that we finished 2nd in our group, qualifying for the 3rd/4th playoff: this was to be played against Hall Orchard (North Charnwood). Hall Orchard were a very good side, who posed a significant challenge to us. Rothley bowled first and bowled well, but Hall Orchard were equal to it and managed to smash 81 runs. However, we took crucial wickets, which meant we needed 67 to win.
Against a number of formidable Hall Orchard bowlers and an organised field, our batting started slowly-but-comfortably. We were unlucky on two decisions, which set us back ten runs. At a key moment of the match, with Rothley staring down at defeat, needing about 55 off 20 balls, Zach H and Seb came in and put Hall Orchard to the sword.
They biffed 40 runs from their 10 balls with no wickets lost, leaving us with 15 to win from our final 10 balls. With Mr Phillips’ and watching parents’ hearts firmly in their mouths, Darcy and Thomas arrived at the crease a picture of tranquillity and belief. They batted stoically to keep out a particularly good bowler in the last over, secured the required runs, and Rothley won the game!
This result means that Rothley achieved 3rd place, the 3rd best team in the county of Leicestershire, and won a bronze medal. What an incredible achievement! I won’t be forgetting that last match for a while. One thing I really have to mention is the spirit in which the Rothley cricketers played the game. Being respectful of umpire decisions and your opponents is a very important part of the game.
Rothley fist-bumped all players and coaches after each game, encouraged their team from the side-lines, and applauded other teams when they played great cricket. They were the epitome of how cricket should be played, and I am incredibly proud of them, the way they played, and the way they represented the school.
Rothley were represented by Y5 children Isla, Jacob G, Darcy, Thomas, Cora, Seb, and Zach H with Finley W and Harriet from Y6.
Music @ Rothley
In the blink of an eye, the academic year is over but what an amazing year we’ve had making music! This is the first time since before Covid that we have been able to fully teach the music curriculum and offer more extra-curricular opportunities and we have loved every minute!
This half-term children across the school have continued to enjoy a wealth of musical opportunities in their lessons, looking at music technology, pitch, structure and form and different genres.
Children in Year 4 have now finished learning the ukulele and they have done SO well with it. A massive pat on the back to them all! We are looking at ways to offer children who would like to continue with the ukulele this opportunity, so watch this space!
A Lovely Jubbly Jubilee Summer Prom Concert:
For the fortnight before our Summer Proms concert, ‘A Lovely Jubbly Jubilee’ on 17th June, we were checking the weather forecast every day, praying it didn’t rain. We definitely didn’t need to worry on that front, as it was the hottest day in June on record!
Our doors opened at 5pm and we welcomed about 250 people onto the school site to watch our KS1 and KS2 choirs, Year 3 ocarina players, Year 4 ukulele players and musicians learning an instrument in KS2 perform. The children did everyone proud and performed amazingly in the sun- it was a truly wonderful atmosphere and happiness radiated throughout the evening. Unfortunately, we don’t have many photos of the evening so if you have some you would like to share with us, please feel free to email them to:
- music@rothley.leics.sch.uk.
On the evening we had various stalls including a raffle and tattoos which enabled us to raise nearly £1300, nearly double the amount we have made in previous years!
We have used this to buy many exciting new instruments including djembes and samba percussion to further diversify the music the children learn. We would like to give a huge thanks to parents who sent prizes into school and to companies in our local community who so kindly donated prizes towards our raffle- Bradleys, The Co-op, Brooklea, East Goscote Nurseries and Derrys. An enormous thank you too to Sarah Ward, who owns The Brewery in Sileby, for generously donating 50% of her profits from her cake stand (the best in Leicestershire!) to our music fundraising. All the children across the school will benefit from this!
Year 5:
On the 30th June, we took half of Year 5 to The Big Shed in Leicester for a Music Technology day, run by Leicestershire Music.
The children learnt many new skills including beatboxing techniques (this made us all laugh a lot!), more advanced turntable skills following on from their learning in school, looping on GarageBand and how to create sound effects for film and television.
The children were impeccably behaved all day and all the staff at Leicestershire Music were incredibly impressed by the musicianship of our pupils. It was a really fun day and I know all the children left inspired.
The other half of Year 5 spent the day at school with a dance instructor (Rhiann) leading a brilliant session for them in the morning. The children learned a wide range of moves and rhythms, resulting in a bouncing samba and a quick-paced cha-cha-cha.
Channelling South American and Latin vibes, the children threw themselves into intricate choreography. The effort and engagement from all the children was excellent to see; we have definitely got some young people destined for the stage here!
In the afternoon, the children focused on a different musical medium by composing musical pieces on GarageBand, an iPad app allowing the children to experiment with different instruments, sounds, and musical composition.
Each child was given the opportunity to share their creations with the rest of the class, and there was a fantastic appreciation shown for the efforts.
KS2 Drumming Assembly
We are incredibly lucky to have the most enthusiastic child drummers on the planet in this school! On Friday 1st July, all children who learn the drums in KS2 performed to years 3, 4 and 5 and their parents and grandparents, who had been invited in to watch. And WOW, did they perform!
Considering that some of these children have only been learning the drums for a few short months, they were absolutely incredibly. Everyone was so impressed with their rhythm and sense of pulse and it was the most wonderful way to start a Friday. Everyone walked out the hall with a smile on their face. It is a very daunting task to perform to such a large audience and all the performers should be incredibly proud of themselves. Well done!
Musician of the Month
This month, the children have been learning about Buena Vista Social Club. It has well and truly set us all in holiday mode, listening to the inviting Cuban sounds. As with all Musicians of the Month, not only do we spend time listening to their style/genre of music we also research about the musicians and culture behind the music. This has been fascinating and we cannot wait to introduce another 10 successful musicians from all of the world next academic year!
Instrumental Lesson 2022/2023
A letter was sent out to parents of all pupils in years 3, 4 and 5 about instrumental lessons next academic year. If your child would like to learn the clarinet, flute, oboe, piano, guitar or singing, please email us at music@rothley.leics.sch.uk.
Summer Sounds
An email was sent out last week to children in years 4, 5 and 6 with details of music technology sessions in Leicester during the summer holidays in partnership with Leicestershire Music. It looks fantastic and we know so many of our children would love it! Be sure to check it out!
Farewell
We have both worked in this school for many years (Mrs Johnson since 2007 and Mrs Warburton since 2010.) During this time, we have both seen music go from strength to strength and feel incredibly privileged to have had such a prominent role in this journey.
Mrs Riley has made us the teachers we are today. She is the driving force behind the outstanding music that we have as she knows that a school is more than just Literacy and Maths and that every child should have the opportunity to have high quality music education as a central part of their schooling.
Music is a huge success here- it binds our community and is pivotal in creating a happy, dynamic and vibrant school. We would like to thank Mrs Riley for everything she has done and for her endless passion.
We will miss her!
Diversity Across the Curriculum
As the term winds in, we have continued to celebrate differences and promote diversity across the curriculum at Rothley.
The majority of the Year 6 children watched the critically acclaimed film 'Remember the Titans' (available on Disney+)
This was amazing! It is good for children to learn about how bad racism is and how everyone is equal - I think the whole school should watch: Remember the Titans' Sianna Year 6
Remember the Titans is a film from 2000 displaying a true story of a racially divided American football team from the 1970s. The movie highlights the relationships of the black and white people, and how they learned to interact with each other in a time when this was not the way of life.
It brings up a number of questions throughout, of what is right and what is wrong, and really challenges the characters,
This film was so educational. This is because it shows us about how racism in America was overcome by young sportsmen brining together a community who had certain views' Phoebe Year 6
In year 5, we watched the short film 'Ian' (as part of our DERIC sessions) which celebrates diversity.
'Ian' is an animated film inspired by the real-life story of a boy with cerebral palsy determined to get to the playground despite his playmates bullying him. Throughout our DERIC session, we discussed the fact that people can overcome adversity when working together and that it is not our differences that define us but our actions. All of us in Year 5 would highly recommend the film to anyone - it is a real tear jerker!
We have also been focusing on various poetry texts. One of which is called 'Variety is the Spice' which tackles the idea of stereotypes and celebrates people for their differences. We find there is often so little time to explore poetry, so the children really enjoyed getting to grips with this one.
We also managed to finish our class novels which highlighted differences and certain stereotypes and how to overcome them: Wonder by R.J Palacio and The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf
We look forward to continuing with celebrating our differences and diversity across the currculum next academic year.
Out of school Achievements!
This has proven to be a very successful section of the newsletter. It allows us to celebrate the children's achievements out of school.
Following the postponement of Joe’s Jog in 2020 and 2021 it was all systems ‘go’ for the return of this popular family fun run mile in June.
'Joe's Jog' is a mile long fun run in memory of Joe Humphries, a 14 year old Rothley boy who loved running.
Families, carers and young children of all ages are invited to join a charity mile-long fun run to support the work of the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust,
We had well over 50 children from the school completing the jog, with our very own Jaxon in Year 5 finishing 4th overall.
We have two very proud Year 1 boys that have been awarded some very special certificates at Beavers.
Oliver was awarded the 'Beaver of the Term' for being such an outstanding friend to all the other children that attend.
Jackson was also awarded the 'Beaver of the Term'. Jackson received his for showing how much he had grown over the term, from being very unsure of the activities and the group to getting involved and enjoying every minute!
Both boys achieved 8 badges so far for: outdoors, animal care, camp craft, creative, explore, sports, community impact and hiking.
We are very proud of the boys' achievements this term and it sounds like they are a credit to: Babington 1st Beavers:
It's not only children that we can be very proud of here at Rothley. A number of Mum's took part in the Stamford Pretty Muddy Race a charity run in memory of Jo Regan who's children Alex and Ellie attend Rothley.
They have raised over £1400 between them all for Cancer Research UK.
We would love to continue this section of the newsletter and would encourage anyone to send an email to the school office in readiness the first Autumn newsletter in October.
Term dates:
Previous Newsletters:
If you would like to suggest any addition to this newsletter please free free to email. jrichards@rothley.leics.sch.uk