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Whitkirk News! 8th July 2022

A message from Miss Quarmby

What a fantastic week! An enormous 'thank you' must go to Mr Stout this week for organising two brilliant Sports Days for our children to enjoy. So much time and effort went into planning, setting up the activities, and then leading the day, and we really appreciate it. It was also lovely to see so many of you there - we are always blown away by the support from our families at Whitkirk.

From Sports Day, we went to Year 6's production of 'The Wiz'. This time of year is always one of mixed emotions as we're excited for the year ahead, but it brings with it goodbyes to our Year 6 pupils. They absolutely dazzled on Wednesday and Thursday evening, and we could not be prouder of them. One child has even decided he wants to be an actor rather than a footballer and can certainly see why! They were truly amazing: their dancing, their singing, their acting, the scenery, the tech-group - stars in the making!

We have even more to celebrate as we've now received all out statutory assessments, and in four our of five areas we have performed above the national average (YIPEEE!).

We are incredibly proud of our pupils for everything they've achieved this year, and we cannot thank our amazing Whitkirk staff team enough for their dedication and relentless efforts to ensure that every single child can achieve the best of their ability. This really shows the impact of our hard work, and we've been working so incredibly hard on our journey of school improvement.

Children will be coming home with their reports today, and transition arrangements for our 'jump up to new classes week' will be shared on Monday.

I hope you all enjoy a sunny weekend! We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Attendance

Our attendance winners this week are RLE with 99.2%! In second place it’s 2KDO with 97.6% and third place is 3RD with 96.6%. A big well done to all these classes. A special mention to RJS who are the most improved attendance from last week going from 86.7% to 92.8%. This is so great to see Reception. Our whole school attendance at Whitkirk this week is 93.5%. Let’s see if we can beat this next week! The only way to do this is for everyone to come into school as much as they can. See you all next week for another fantastic week of learning.

Let's see what's been happening in our classes this week

EYFS

This week in Reception, the children have blown the EYFS staff away with their incredible writing linked to the class text 'What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside'. The children have thoroughly enjoyed retelling the story using 'Talk for Writing' techniques which they will continue to develop in Year 1, and writing the story using their phonics spelling skills. Here are a few of the excellent pieces of writing that the children have written this week:

Once the children had written the story, we then innovated the text. The children changed the main character and setting of the story. Miss Emery's personal favourite was a new version of the text called, ' What the Bat Heard at the Zoo'. It was wonderful to see the children working together to adapt the text map. Reception children have amazing story ideas!

Key Stage 1

What an amazing week we have had in Year 1! We have been keeping our hearts and muscles healthy during Sports Day and the children simply blew us away with their teamwork and ‘sportsmanship’. We have been discussing what makes a good sportsperson and agreed that our Whitkirk Values complimented these traits fantastically. The children showed friendship through cheering, trust through helping and safety through their immaculate behaviour. They had lots of fun along the way too! In maths this week, we have been reviewing our learning on time! We have looked at telling the time to the hour and half past. We’ve even completed tricky challenges like ‘What is 2 hours before 11 o’clock?”. We are so ready for year 2! The children showed their musical talents in Music: they have been learning the song ‘Round and Round’! We have some expert singers, dancers, pulse makers and even children playing the glockenspiel! In Talk for Writing, we have been writing letters to our new class teachers, explaining how excited we are for Year 2 and letting them know all about us! Miss Dougall and Miss Dougan can’t wait to read them!

It’s been another exciting week in Year 2! We all showed fantastic sportsmanship cheering on our friends during Sports Day. In maths, we have been measuring in centimetres and metres. We thoroughly enjoyed drawing chalk lines in metres on the playground. In English, we have been writing letters to our new teachers. We can’t wait to meet them next week!

Lower Key Stage 2

Where is this half term going? It seems to be flying by! We have had another fantastic week in Year 3. In English, we have been looking at the features of a setting description. We used the short movie 'marshmellows' as our inspiration and have written some fantastic sentences using prepositional phrases and similes! We looked in detail at how we can change the mood of our writing as we want our setting descriptions to be spooky! We can't wait to write these on Monday. In maths, we have been learning all about capacity and have been comparing litres and millilitres. We are so excited for our school trip to Kirkstall Abbey next week, it will be a fantastic opportunity to compare Kirkstall Abbey to Whitby Abbey as we are becoming real experts on the history of monasteries within Britain! Our highlight has certainly got to be Sports Day, we were so incredibly proud of the sportsmanship shown by all children in Year 3! Well done Year 3 for another super week!

What a week it has been in Year 4! The children amazed us with their sportsmanship and determination during Sports Day! A great team! In Maths, we have been exploring symmetry with shapes and patterns. We were surprised to discover just how much symmetry appears in the real world and enjoyed investigating which flags of the world have more than one line of symmetry. In English, we have continued our journey of writing a biography for David Attenborough. This week, the children have developed their skills of using subordinate clauses to add more detail, ready for them to apply in their final piece of Year 4 writing next week! A super week Year 4, well done!

Upper Key Stage 2

A fabulous final full week of Year 5 before transition week, and the children have shown how ready they are for Year 6! During sports day, all of the children showed great sportsmanship, encouraging each other and cheering each other on; some children helped with KS1 too and were an amazing help, showing great maturity and responsibility too. In writing, we have been blown away by their writing - we can't wait to read their full stories next week! The children have also made excellent progress in maths, going from using the 4 operations to solving complex problems. The classroom has been filled with determination to do well and a positive attitude towards their learning this week!

The Year 6 team (and Miss Quarmby and Mr Sadler!) have been shouting from the rooftops this week! We are tremendously proud of our Year 6s. We received the results from their End of Year Assessments and these really do show how hard the children have been working, and the phenomenal progress they have made despite the turbulent last few years. The hard work (and numerous rehearsals!) paid off on Wednesday and Thursday evening when the Year 6s put on 'The Wiz' and what a show it was! Each and every child performed to produce a show which would rival some professional productions. There were many different elements which all came together: sound, technical team, backstage, props, choir, dancers, soloists and actors. A massive well done to all of the year group!

Stars of the Week

Have a lovely weekend. We will see you on Monday!

Created By
Natasha Walker
Appreciate