Spring 2 Newsletter Knottingley St Botolphs

Introducing DOJO to improve communication and share learning.
Move the Newsletter to a half termly publication.
Added events onto DOJO for the year with reminders for these.
Not cancelling after school clubs, especially at the last minute.
Purchased additional resources for hands on learning.
Ran sessions for parents on phonics and areas of SEND.
Provided book bags and additional information about how we teach phonics.
Made sure that there are opportunities for working parents to see Christmas performances and attend events e.g. The Story Evening.

As the children and families of children in Yr.5 and Yr.6 will know we have been fortunate to have Mr Tuddenham work with us from the start of the year. He has worked closely with Mrs Fisher and this has meant that we can have smaller teaching groups to support children even more than usual with the impact of COVID and the end of KS2 SATS approaching. Unfortunately for us Mr Tuddenham will be leaving us on Friday as he moves to his next school as their Head Teacher. Obviously we want to congratulate him on this role and know he will be a huge success but we will be sad to see him leave.

On a personal level can I take this opportunity to thank the entire St Botolph's community for such a warm welcome in September and the incredible support you have offered to me and to the school. I have thoroughly loved my time working as a part of the St Botolph's family and have some great memories to take with me. I look forward to hearing how everyone is doing over the Summer term.

I know that Mrs Sennett is really excited as she joins the team as Executive Head next term and it has been a privilege to have worked with her over the year as she has supported the school in our journey. She has been working hard over the last half term getting to know the school, the staff, the children and what we are working on to make St Botolph's the best school possible.

If I don't get chance to see you on the playground before I leave on Friday, thank you all for everything. St Botolph's is a very special place and somewhere I won't forget.

Mr Ian Goddard

Safeguarding Leads

At St Botolph's the safety of our pupils is a top priority. If you ever have any concerns about a child in school please contacts one of our Safeguarding Leads. There are;

Mrs L Sennett - Executive Head
Mrs L Clipsham - Deputy Head
Mrs J Groves - Acting Assistant Head
Mrs A Howarth - Acting Assistant Head
Mrs H Shepherd - SENDCO

Diary Dates

All diary dates have now been added to the 'events' section on Class DOJO. As these events get closer further information will be added where needed.

Reminders / Updates

School gates / opening and pick up times

The school gates open at 8.40am for access into the school grounds with the class doors opening at 8.50am. Please can all parents ensure that children are in school by 8.50am so we can register promptly and start our lessons on time. Just 10 minutes late every day adds up to over 32 hrs / one week of school each year.

The school day ends at 3.15pm and the gates are open from 3.05 most days. If an outdoor PE session is still taking place they will be opened once this is finished.

Absence phone calls.

Any pupil absence must be reported by phoning school. Class DOJO must not be used for this as we cant guarantee these messages will be seen at the start of the day.

Parent Pay

Please can we remind everyone that Parent Pay should be in credit with any trips / dinners / clubs paid in advance. Please contact the school if you have any problems with Parent Pay and we will be able to help you.

Parent View

Please can we ask that you take a few minutes to complete the OFSTED Parent View questionnaire for us by following the link below? This will be really useful for school to see the results and will be something that OFTSED will look at when they carry out an inspection. School has come so far over the last few years and the entire community have been a key part of this so your feedback is welcomed.

If there are any questions you are not sure about please contact school and we can explain what our approach is for you. We know you have already answered some questionnaires for us and I would like to thank you for your positivity and support to the school.

https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/login?destination=give-your-views

Summer Term - school uniform

All children are expected and encouraged to wear academy uniform at all times, which consists of:

Jade green jumper, cardigan or sweatshirt (with or without logo).
Grey or black skirt, pinafore or trousers (not a fashion trouser or tracksuit).
White or jade green polo shirt or plain white blouse.
White, black or grey socks or tights.
Sensible black footwear.

In warmer weather, children can also wear:

Green gingham/striped dress.
Black or grey school shorts.

For PE children will need a pair of:

Black or navy shorts.
Plain white T-shirt.
Pumps or trainers (indoor PE is bare foot).
Sensible tracksuit is recommended for outdoor PE. (plain grey, black or navy).

For the summer term children should come to school in their PE kits on the relevant day.

Phonics and Book Bags

After a challenging few years with COVID and the restrictions this has had on many of us, school have been able to invest in some new high quality reading resources for our younger pupils. 135 brand new book bags, parent leaflets, speed sound sheets, common exception words , red words, and ‘book bag books’ have been sent home to all our EYFS and KS1 children. Reading matters!

What our classes have done this term.

We have been really impressed by all our children this term and here are just some of the things they have been doing.

If you would like any more information about our new curriculum please click on the following links.

Long Term Overviews - https://www.stbotolphsacademy.co.uk/curriculum/curriculum-long-term-overviews
Individual approaches to teaching each subject area - https://www.stbotolphsacademy.co.uk/curriculum/curriculum-by-subject-area

Early Years / Foundation Stage

Elephants

We have been doing 'That's not so scary' so we have been looking at scary things such as natural disasters, monsters and scary animals. We have done experiments (see photograph) to make our own natural disasters and we have done a tally on what we think is a scary animal - lobsters by the way because they will nip our feet with their claws. We have been looking at books with animals such as Dear Zoo and Brown Bear, Brown Bear where are you? and also our traditional tale Jack and the Beanstalk.

Lions and Tigers

During this half term we have taken part in science week, in which we took part in lots of different investigations and experiments. We investigated different foods and materials and whether they dissolved or did not dissolve. We found different objects and observed whether they were floating or sinking. We also experimented with corn flour slime and how it turns from a solid to a liquid. This half term we had lots of fun on pancake day! We flipped some pancakes and also got to eat them! In Maths we have been exploring number bonds to 10 and finding odd and even numbers. In Literacy we have explored the traditional tale of Hansel and Gretel.

Key Stage 1

Giraffes

In Giraffes class we are really blown away by the support for reading that our parents are showing. We have taken care of our new book bags, reading first thing each day. We have used our learning corridor to explore some of the key steps we have been learning in maths in a practical way. We have worked hard to use place value and find the tens and ones in numbers up to 50. We have learned how to use rulers carefully measuring using zero as a starting point and used what we know about number bonds to add and subtract.

In our RE lessons we have really thought deeply about our big question...Why is Easter important to Christians. We ending the term with an Easter celebration where we learned all about some of the preparations that Christians make for Easter based on the bible story.

We have used our bodies in fun and healthy ways in PE through our Sonic the hedgehog yoga and learned more about maps and the area we live in Geography. In English we have enjoyed exploring all our books of the month this term but our class favourite has to be our current book Superworm by Julia Donaldson. We have thought about the character of Superworm and written our own character descriptions

Gorillas

We have had a very busy half-term in Class Gorillas. In English, we have been learning to re-tell a traditional tale. Our focus was on Hansel & Gretel, which we broke down into sections using a story mountain. In Maths, we have been concentrating on place value to 50, including ordering and representing numbers in different ways. We have also completed our addition and subtraction unit, adding and subtracting a one-digit number to a two-digit numbers, as well as understanding the language of one more and one less.

Our topic has been 'Joyful Journeys' where our focus has mainly been around Geography and specifically mapping of familiar environments like our home, school and local area. RE has been about Easter and understanding the importance of Easter time for Christians. We have been creative making cards for Mothers Day and Easter and also created other pieces to link to special event days like our 'Support for Ukraine' day and our 'Autism Awareness' day. In PE, we have been developing our ball skills as well as participating in 'Cosmic Yoga' session, which we have loved especially as they were centred around Sonic The Hedgehog and Minecraft. Our science was all about investigations using our senses. We even had a lesson tasting crisps. Bonus!

Turtles

Turtles have had a very busy half term!

In Maths, We have been learning Multiplication and Division. The children have learned their two, fives and tens timetables. I am blown away with the effort they have put into this.

In English, We have focused on the Traditional Tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack left a mysterious letter so we decided to go an adventure to find the Giant (no luck!) but we found lots of exciting clues which really helped our story writing.

In science, the children were involved in many investigations and experiments. The first investigation was ' does the tallest child have the largest feet'. We can tell you that in our class, this was true, the tallest child did have the largest feet! We then used out senses and explored hearing, sight and taste. Turtles favourite was tasting crisp with a blindfold.

We have had fun baking, creating cards and crafts for Mothering Sunday and Easter.

In Geography, We have been using our map skills, to create our own aerial map views of our classroom and the school building.

I have seen a maturity in Turtles this half term. I am extremely proud of their behaviour and the attitude towards their learning. Keep up the hard work!

I am excited to see what our Summer Term will bring (hopefully lots of sunshine).

Lower Key Stage 2

Bears

What a busy term it has been for Bears class! The children have been working incredibly hard and as a result, have produced some fantastic work. Here’s a few snippets of what we have been up to.

As part of World Book Day, our children learnt and performed a poem called The School Kid Rap. The children did excellently and their performance in front of the school was fantastic. The children also buddied up with children in Nursery and Reception to read a chapter out of their favourite book. It was lovely to see how well our children worked with some of the younger children in school.

Another memorable day this term was Ukraine Day. In Bears we had a very mature discussion about what was happening in the world at the moment and children showed a lot of compassion towards those who are struggling at the moment. As a key stage, we created a Ukraine inspired Art piece to show our support.

Science week was very interesting! The children carried out a range of investigations including who could make the best slime competition and our parachute competition! Lots of fun was had by all (including the teachers!)

In the final week the children have been busy getting ready for Easter. During RE, the children have been learning about the key events in Holy Week and reflecting upon how each event may affect Christians living in today’s world. Their answers have been excellent and we have had lots of mature discussions in class.

Our Year 3 Samba band has been continuing every Thursday with Mr Ellis. The children have learnt a new samba called Solar System Samba where they have learnt some rather complicated rhythms and call and responses. The progression they have shown from September till now is outstanding!

It has been an amazing term with lots of learning taking place. We cannot wait to see what the Summer term brings for Class Bears. 😊

Zebras

Zebras’ class have had a busy half term, celebrating their love of books on World Book Day and memorising ‘Homework Stew’ – a poem that they learned by heart and performed in a fantastic, whole school poetry competition. They have also had great fun creating and testing out parachutes as a part of Science week. Throughout this term, Zebras’ have been showing off their skills, working scientifically, creating fair tests, measuring and recording changing temperatures. The science has been focussed around states of matter. We have also learned about the water cycle, which has been a revelation for some who learned that clouds were actually water vapour and not cotton wool!

As we move towards Holy Week in school, class Zebras’ have been reflecting upon the significance of events during this week and how Christians might mark these and how they might feel. As we reach the end of term, children have been learning about Rainforests in their geography lessons, both researching endangered animals and rainforests and testing their knowledge in an end of unit quiz. This showed us just how much they have and enjoyed this topic and how much they have learned – well done Zebras’! To complement their knowledge of the rainforests, Zebras’ have also written compositions in music, to re-create sounds of the rainforest working in small groups and using only their bodies to create the sounds.

If this wasn’t enough, Zebras’ have also turned their hand to needlework and have been working towards sewing a cushion in DT. This has been a really popular class and many of the Zebras’ have expressed interest in developing this skill further…watch this space!!

Penguins

This term Penguins class have really enjoyed learning about States of matter in Science. We have learnt about how different materials can change into a liquid , solid and gas, specifically water. We have participated in scientific enquiries, where we have learnt to accurately measure the temperature using a thermometer. We recorded our data, and was able to display this on a line graph - which was tricky, but we did an excellent job!

We have also been studying rainforests. We were very interested to learn how important rainforests are to the Earth and stopping Global Warming - we were shocked to learn how humans can cause so much damage, but we did discuss everything we could do to help save it. As we know every little bit helps. In between lessons we have also be participating in our Skills builder tasks, which is focussed on Teamwork. We have discussed how we can be a more positive team member, even when our emotions make it really hard. We are learning that by working together, we can achieve so much more and teamwork is a skill we need for our entire lives.

Upper Key Stage 2

Hippos

This term, Hippos have continued to develop as a responsible and supportive class, rising to challenges and striving to be the best that they can be. Some areas of work, completed during the term, has needed collaboration and a sharing of skills; everyone has had the chance to shine in their areas of strength and develop their expertise in other domains of the curriculum. Their positive attitudes and hard work set an excellent example to others, something that they should be proud of.

In science, it has been all about materials with a hands-on approach. They have evaporated, filtered, sieved, melted, bent, twisted, moulded, mixed and separated - all in the name of investigation!

We were delighted to welcome the Featherstone Rovers education team to support our delivery of PE in which they ran 6 weeks of Tag Rugby - always a popular sport in Knottingley! We have continued playing rugby in PE during the second half-term and are competing in a year 5/6 tournament at Knottingley Mustangs in the final week before Easter. Not only have our rugby regulars been on fire, but we have unearthed some hidden gems…watch out Super League, that's all I can say!

From everyone in class, have a lovely Easter break!

Wolves

This term, Wolves have been busy with lots of lessons and activities across the curriculum. They have been working on their cooperation and teamwork with group projects as well as individual tasks for them to tackle. They have found some areas of this challenging but have risen to the challenge well.

We have taken part in a number of special days such as; Ukraine Day and Autism Awareness Day. The children took part in mature discussions on some difficult topics and have done themselves proud with their attitudes towards these days. As always, we have been incredibly busy in school and Wolves class have been learning a wide range of subjects.

Our new history topic, Ancient Islamic Civilisation, has been approached with enthusiasm and interest. The children have explored and compared life in the Ancient Islamic city of Baghdad to our own lives, as well as the lives of people living in Europe at the same time. Alongside looking at the historical aspect of the Islamic Civilisation, the children have been studying the religion of Islam. They learned about the Five Pillars of Islam, Islamic traditions such as Hajj, a Muslim’s pilgrimage to Mecca. We have started learning about Incarnation – Christians believe this is when God became a man in Jesus. In Science, Wolves have been exploring materials and their properties, taking part in lots of investigations.

Golden Eagles

What a term it has been in Golden Eagles. It has been an absolute pleasure to see how the whole class has matured and grown together. As the oldest pupils in school, they have a responsibility to be role models and leaders; something they have all contributed to, and they have set a great example for all. They are a wonderful team and their approach to all aspects of school life has been outstanding.

Their mature and positive attitudes have been particularly noticeable during special days of learning when we have focused on some sensitive topics, such as Yellow for Ukraine, Autism Awareness Day and a live lesson from the Houses of Parliament (they all had questions to ask about a possible party!).

Across the curriculum, we have been learning a wide range of subjects and topics. Our history topic this term, Ancient Islamic Civilisation, was the first time that this has been taught at St. Botolph's and the class have enjoyed learning about the contribution they made to modern society. They particularly enjoyed the fact that they created the first hospital and health system; a banking system for all, and their contribution to modern mathematics - although the year six pupils who are about to take their SATs weren't impressed that they developed algebra!

Linked to our history topic, in Religious Education we have studied the religion of Islam. Alongside learning about the five pillars, we have explored Islamic traditions including an interactive tour of a Mosque. Pupils were also amazed by Hajj, a pilgrimage undertaken by Muslims to the holy city of Mecca.