A message from Miss Quarmby
It may have been wet and miserable outside, but it's been far from miserable at Whitkirk! So many children have been to show me their work this week as their teachers have been blown away by their progress and effort. I've had the treat of seeing amazing modelling by Perry in Y6AS of how to order fractions on a number line, outstanding writing from Darcy in Y3NT using ambitious vocabulary, and unbelievable maths from Sofia in Y3NT who was able to show me how to use the formal written method of subtraction. I love seeing children's learning and being able to see children flourish right in front of our eyes is what makes our job so special! A big thank you must go to Miss Tomlinson who is leading on Century across KS2 to support children their learning. Thank you to everybody who came to our parents' session to find out a little bit more. We're already seeing huge progress from the children who have begun to engage regularly with this.
It's been a busy week for our School Council (led by Miss Emery) and Eco Warriors (led by Miss Richardson). Children have been busily planning assemblies on how our school keeps us safe (School Council) and on what to do with our waste (Eco Warriors). We are unbelievably proud of them, each and every one of them is an exceptional Whitkirk role model, and I can't wait to see the positive impact that they are going to make on our Whitkirk community. A special thank you must also go to Bella, Lexi and Esme in Year 2KD who have been spending their break and lunchtimes litter picking to help our school environment. They are another example of children who are a credit to our school.
Thank you! (Safeguarding/ PSHE donation)
Road Safety Week
You may have seen our Year 5 road safety patrols on and at the bottom of Templegate walk at the end of each school day this week. Unfortunately, they reported some extremely dangerous parking with no consideration for local residents, pedestrians or other drivers. This is what they found.
- Parking on double yellow lines. This is prohibited at all times.
- Parking across resident’s driveways.
- Double parking.
- Parking on the pavement. Pedestrians, including those without a pushchair, had to walk in the road.
- Parking on the grass verge.
- Parking across a corner.
- Non- permit holders attempting to enter Templegate Walk to park.
- Parking across the dipped curb designated crossing point.
- In an emergency, fire vehicles and ambulances would struggle to get through or park outside a property.
After completing their patrols, the children came together to discuss ways to improve the situation.
- It would be best to ask parents/carers not to drive to school, or at least not to drive all the way.
- Park at a suitable place at least a 5-minute walk away - Templenewsam has free carparking and there is a path across the field.
- Children are able to bring their scooters or cycle to school.
- Always park in accordance with the Highway Code.
Children's safety is everyone's responsibility. Thank you for parking sensibly.
PTA Christmas Fair:
We can't wait to see everyone at our Christmas Fair on Saturday 26th November from 11am - 2pm. We will have external stall holders with plenty of gift options for you to get started on your Christmas shopping as well as PTA games, pocket money stall and refreshments. There are some great prizes to be won on the raffle including 3 Lenovo Chromebooks - look out for your child bringing home a book of tickets for you to buy before the fair. We are still looking for any tombola prizes - please drop any donations into the box next to the school office by Wednesday 23rd Nov. If you can help out in setting up on the Friday after school or on the day (even if just for half an hour on a stall) please let us know via Friends of Whitkirk Primary PTA | Facebook or WhatsApp chat (https://chat.whatsapp.com/LGlhTPqT89n1CQ1hcPM2RZ ).
Christmas - dates for the diary
- Tuesday 13th December - Reception's nativity - further information to follow
- Wednesday 14th December - KS1 nativity - further information to follow
- Thursday 15th December - Visit to St Mary's church - KS2 only
- Thursday 15th December - Christmas lunch in school for children
- Friday 16th December - Christmas jumper day in school
- Friday 16th December - School closes for Christmas holiday
RKLT Social Media
Introducing our RKLT social media! We have designed a super helpful QR code to make it easier for people to follow, like and share by simply scanning on a mobile phone. This QR code links to all our social media platforms, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. The use of RKLT social media is one of the strategies we use to support recruitment across your schools, so please help where you can. Please like, follow and share for all RKLT news!
Money Information Centre (MIC):
Times are extremely difficult at the moment, and sometimes finding the right help can be a problem within itself. MIC offer free, confidential and impartial advice to people in Leeds. More information can be found below, and please remember our Haven team (Mrs Hart and Mrs Audsley) are always available to offer support.
Attendance
This week the class in first place with 99.23% are RJS, in second place are 3/4CO with 97.13% and 5JC are in third place with 97.04%. The whole school attendance for Whitkirk this week is 93.95% which is still lower than our whole school target of 97%. 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.
- Remember school officially starts at 8.45am the doors close at 8.50am.
- Once the doors are closed your child needs to enter through Reception.
- Arriving after 9.05am - your child will receive a late (L) mark for the morning*.
- Arriving after 9.30am – your child will receive a late (U) mark for the morning*.
5 minutes late to school every day = 3 days lost in a school year. 15 minutes late to school every day = 2 weeks lost in a school year. 30 minutes late to school every day = 4 weeks lost in a school year.
*Unless they have a medical/dental appointment, and proof of this has been shown to Office and will receive a M code. M codes count towards authorised absence. Therefore, where possible please arrange appointments out of school hours.
Let's see what's been happening in our classes this week
EYFS
We are writers in Reception! This week, the children have blown staff away with their mark-making, initial sound writing, and CVC word writing! We have learned the 'Crocodile Snap' song and always remind our friends to make sure that when they are writing at a table, we 'tuck in, (tuck your chair in), keep your feet flat, and use your crocodile snap' (tripod pencil grip). It is wonderful to see the children learning that you can write for so many purposes: a birthday invitation, a shopping list, or a map to name a few! Children are using the sounds that they have learned in their phonics sessions and applying them confidently in their own writing through the use of the rhymes that accompany each letter in the Read Write Inc scheme. Well done, Reception, keep up the hard work!
This week the children in RLE had their very first Secret Reader visit! It was wonderful to welcome Joseph's Mummy into class on Thursday to share a story with the class! The children were in awe as the story was shared and at the end of the day, said that Secret Reader was their favourite part of the day! We are very excited to welcome more members of the community and families into the Reception classes throughout the year!
Key Stage 1
This week in Year 1, we have been detectives: our detective skills have ranged from finding the missing number in subtraction calculations, to exploring photographs, as sources of evidence, to discover what school was really like in the past! We were shocked to find out that children sat at wooden desks and wrote onto a chalkboard. We sorted photographs into past and present.
In Talk For Writing, we used feely bags to think of adjectives to describe what we could feel. We thought of powerful adjectives such as; mammoth, crinkly, lumpy and muddy brown! We discovered inside were lots of vegetables. We used these ideas to inspire the titles for our new narratives, based on The Enormous Turnip!
In DT (structures), we practised our cutting skills to cut out the net to our project: building a windmill. We can’t wait to assemble them next week!
What a fabulous week we have had in Year 2! In Maths, we have been learning all about symmetry in shapes. We used our new knowledge to draw the other half of a range of 2D shapes. In English, we have been writing our independent stories, using some spectacular verbs and adverbs! It has been a pleasure to read all of the amazing stories, based on Jack and the Beanstalk. In History, we recapped our learning from Year 1 all about toys in the past. We deepened our understanding of toys from the past by placing toys on a timeline from 1837 to the present day and exploring the materials they were made from. Well done Year 2!
Lower Key Stage 2
This week, Year 3 and 4 were all very excited to begin designing our bird box in D&T. After exploring a range of existing products, the children used this knowledge to design their own bird box. Taking into consideration the user and purpose, they thought about what it could be made out of, the shape it could be and how they might join the different pieces together. They can't wait to put these designs into practise over the next couple of weeks! In English, the children have been busy writing diary entries in role as a Roman soldier / general. The detail the children have included and the use of a range of engaging vocabulary has really impressed us. In Maths, the children have been focusing on times table fluency by investigating different patterns between the times tables. Another fantastic week... great work Year 3 and 4!
Upper Key Stage 2
An amazing week in Year 5 as we came to the end of our unit in English and ventured further into our understanding of fractions! In History, we explored who the Anglo-Saxons and Viking were as people, verifying the reliability of different sources including images and even Horrible Histories! DT really saw our creative side as we brought out the iPads and designed our picture frames using new software and we cannot wait to start honing our practical skills next week - bring on the saws!
Year 6 have been energetic and creative this week as they have embraced the subjects in our wider curriculum. The children are really into our DT project where they are currently trying to design the most effective bridge to withstand an earthquake. As seen in the pictures below, Year 6 are fully immersing themselves in their dance unit in PE this half term. They are mastering the moves and now want to challenge themselves by adding to their routine. We are loving the World War 2 topic, learning more about life on the home front in History whilst finding out what life was like as an evacuee by reading our class text (Letters from the Lighthouse). In Science, this week we have been discussing both the short term and the long-term effects of smoking. We have been thinking about these risks and discussing how we could encourage others to not get into the habit. The children have completed some Maths assessments this week where they demonstrated excellent resilience, and we are also continuing our challenging fractions unit.
