A big Thank You to you all for your wonderfully kind donations of Christmas Decorations. School is definitely looking festive and we will keep adding over the next few days, ready for the start of Christmas events next week. Hopefully the Christmas music on a morning is also getting you in the Festive spirit, despite the drizzly weather. A big Thank You for all of your donations so far for the Backwards Advent Calendar. These items really will help people in the local community. As well as all of this, there has been some amazing work in school (as well as some superb singing!)
housepoints
School life
Y2 have been learning about writing instructions. They enjoyed working together to make changes and innovate the model text this week.
Over the past few weeks in nursery, we have been exploring light from torches and shadows. The children have enjoyed exploring how colour can be changed on a torch and mixing these colours. We even had a go at recording the colours we made with the torches. The children also used torches to identify whether objects are transparent or opaque. We have lots of little scientists in nursery! As we know the story of the Little Pigs well, we told our own versions using shadow puppets. The children enjoyed taking on the role and, using different voices for the characters they were playing.
This week Reception have been sharing Stick Man and learning part of the Stick Man story. We have a new Christmas workshop where the children are designing toys for Santa and writing about them. We also have a Christmas post office where the children can design and write their own Christmas cards. In maths, we are exploring number facts up to 5 using a part/ whole model. On Monday we had a visit from a P.E coach and the children had lots of fun as well as lots of exercise. We would be very grateful if the children could practice their cutting skills and coat zipping. Please can everyone remember to bring their dressing gowns in on Monday.
Year 1 have been doing some amazing observational drawing!
This week, Year 6 conducted a science experiment linked to their unit on evolution and inheritance. The children tested which ‘beaks’ would be best to pick up three different ‘seeds’ and then linked this to Charles Darwin’s study of finches on the Galapagos Islands.
We are pleased to announce we have another Rock Legend in school – Elliot. Check out Twitter page next week to see him in action. All children in KS2 are encouraged to play Times Table Rockstars regularly to improve their fluency and rapid recall of times table facts. We have weekly battles to engage the children and celebrate the most valuable players in our Celebration Assembly. If your child needs their reminding of their login details, please ask their class teacher.
School social media accounts
Whilst we have our school Facebook account - we have a couple of new Twitter accounts. This lets us communicate and collaborate with people in a much easier way and allows the children to share their work with Authors and people of interest, giving them a further purpose and wider audience to share their thoughts and ideas. This week saw replies from Pie Corbett and David Almond (Author of Skellig). It's wonderful to see the children's reactions when they hear back from people they have been reading or studying. If you would like to see more, then the three main twitter accounts are @Galley_Hill , @GalleyH_english, @GalleyH_Maths
wraparound - breakfast and afterschool club
If you would like to book a place, visit the school website for more information on how to book. https://galleyhill.eschools.co.uk/web/wrap_around/494827 or e-mail wraparound@galleyhillprimary.co.uk
We also have a new Facebook group for the Wrap Around club as well. this can be found here. Sign up and see what wonderful things the Wrap Around are getting up to.
THANK YOU AND GOODBYE
It was Miss Williams last day at Galley Hill today. She has been a wonderful asset to the school over the past few years, and I know you will all join with me in wishing her all the best for the future.
MYSTERY READER
As we continue to look at how we promote the love of stories and story telling, we are going to start a Mystery Reader.
This is where Mums, Dads, Grandma's, Grandad's, any one in the family, can nominate themselves to be the 'Mystery Reader' for a class or Phase in school. The children won't know who is about to appear on the screen in front of them to read them a story.
You will have the opportunity to read one of your favourite children's books with the children in school - Via Teams or Zoom. It would be great if you could explain why it is one of your favourite books and read the book (or a couple of chapters) to the class. Expressions and character voices are encouraged!
If this sounds like it would be something you would be interested in, please fill out this form: Mystery Reader - Application of Interest and I will get back to you early next week to discuss.
Thank you and happy reading!
Local news and support
If your child was off school on the vaccination day, or you still need one, there are some Flu Catch Up Clinics:
COVID
The latest guidance for schools that was released on 4th November can be found here:
Galley Hill Primary School COVID-19 Help and Report an Absence
If anyone tests positive over the weekend please also use this form as I can then put in place any action plans that are needed, ready for Monday
The form can be found here: https://forms.gle/x3VtLfAix19hYjsq5
Finally
Have a great weekend and see you all next week when the Christmas Festivities really start (including more music on a morning).
Mr McGeeney