Wow! A full term comes to an end and so does 2022. This year has been incredibly positive and we would like to thank all our staff, pupils, parents and external agencies for working with us to ensure the best possible experiences for all.
It is great to see so many pupils in school, on time daily with full uniform on. We are pleased to see so many pupils exhibiting our core values daily...
An interim school behaviour policy is in place in school. Our in school behaviour system is due to be reviewed during this half term but for now, we are using the Class Dojo system for instant rewards and points rewarded in class for showing our core values (above).
Proud of Barnsley Awards - School of the Year 2022
We were incredibly proud to be nominated for this award at this year's Pride of Barnsley awards. We were up against tough competition and are pleased to say we were the winners! A team of our staff attended the prestigious event at Barnsley Metrodome on Friday 18th November. We were so pleased to just get a nomination but to win was phenomenal. Well done to all staff, pupils and parents for everything they do day in, day out to help us win this award. All pupils were lucky enough to have a celebration cake to share in each class the week after this award. Let's keep working together to achieve even higher in 2023!
Attendance figures:
Half term 1 overall: 93%
Autumn term 2:
WEEK 1 - 94.5%
WEEK 2 - 93.3%
WEEK 3 - 92.7%
WEEK 4 - 92.8%
WEEK 5 - 91.8%
WEEK 6 - 87.5%
Attendance Advent
This month we ran our attendance advent and pupils received prizes based on the amount of days they attended in December. Well done to the children who managed to attend during December Children received sweet treats for 5 , 10 or full attendance throughout the month.
Attendance must improve in January ; Attendance Sweeps will be carried out and Home visits made to any children not in school on a weekly basis.
Uniform Swap Shop
Free uniform in school all year round for parents to come and take what they need. Available in main reception. If you would like to donate, please see Miss Jones.
Our annual food hampers. A massive thank you to all parents & staff who donated food for hampers. These were distributed to families in need this year.
Support available
Anyone struggling please get in touch with Miss Jones via email: leyan.jones@hcacademytrust.education I can refer for the foodbank if you require support.
Free School Meal recipients should have received a code through the post and this enables you to sign up to the Healthy Holidays club that is being run at St Lukes 19th - 23rd December.
Warm Home Officers are available at Grimethorpe Library Thursday 9.30 - 11.30 - help and advice on offer.
Apply for help / grants please call: 01226 773366
Struggling to pay Energy bills - National Energy Action - 08003047159
Barnsley Citizens Advice - 08001448848
Support for parents of pupils with SEND
Our Rudolph Run was a massive success and we would like to thank everyone for their kind contributions. We managed to raise £723 for the Blue bell Hospice.
PTA Christmas Fair
This year's was our most successful yet! We raised over £1,000 for our school PTA. We would like to thank the PTA for running this event and for the support from our parents and pupils and staff for making it a success! The PTA will use their funds to support future trips and events for pupils. Look out for future events coming in Spring term!
Other fundraising
At our Concerts we conducted a 50-50 raffle and raised over £350 - School's half of this will be donated to the Lady at another school in the Trust who needs lifesaving treatment. We would like to thank everyone for their generous donations.
EYFS
What a brilliant half term we have had!
Starting off the half term where we used Room on The Broom as our key text, where we explored Tales Toolkit and Talk For Writing in literacy. We also used this text to engage us in related maths such as capacity and number bonds within 5. I (Miss Greasley) think that watching you all find different ways of making 5, has to be one of my favourite memories from this half term.
After that, we dived into our history. Initially we discussed our families and how they are all different; we then explored our own past, for example the things which we may have done when we were babies or a toddler; and finally compared toys from the past to toys from present day.
A fabulous link to our final Christmas based focus texts The Jolly Christmas Postman and The Polar Express.
Other bits and bobs we have gotten up to:
• Christmas Singalong
• Christmas Jumper Day
• Christmas Party
• Rudolf Run
• Polar Express themed day
• Making Christmas cards, calendars and tree decorations
This half term has certainly been a good one.
Unfortunately, the end of this half term, means that it is time for us to say a fond farewell to Miss Till; we are all so grateful to have had her as a teacher and colleague and we are certain that she will continue to achieve great things in her new adventure! Good luck Miss Till.
Next half term our driver subject across school is Geography, can you guess what focus texts we might use to explore this concept? Here is a little clue… arghhhhh
Can’t wait to see you all back in school on Tuesday January 3rd me hearty.
KS1
Y1
What a fantastic half term we have had this Autumn!
In literacy, we spent two weeks becoming poets. I am sure lots of you heard our fantastic remake of the “I wanna be” poem on twitter. We then applied these new skills to create our Bonfire Night poem to help the RSPCA teach the animals what sounds they might hear on bonfire night next year. We were then pulled into a police investigation for a missing moon! After lots of research, we discussed what we could replace the moon with and found the culprits who stole the moon to begin with. We then wrote a non-chronological report to help our new friends Sidney and Stella learn cool facts about the moon so that they did not become confused again.
In maths, we have been working on multiplication, division, finding a half and quarter of 2D shapes, measuring and time chronology and, finally, coins! The children have thoroughly enjoyed each unit – particularly when we had to use a mirror to find out what whole shape each half belonged to – a favourite game sent by one of our galactic alien friends!
In science, we have continued learning about animals and had a blast during our trip to the Tropical Butterfly House, where we learnt even more about the different classifications of animals. We then became weather watchers and made windsocks to measure the strength of the wind and fill out our own weather report. Finally, we learnt about our 5 senses and engaged in a ‘5 senses Nature Scavenger Hunt’ on the school field and tried different kinds of ‘alien’ foods.
In RE, we have been learning about special places for each religion. We enjoyed comparing the different places of worship for each religion and were able to identify and talk about our own special places.
PD + RSHE this half term has been focused on positive relationships and families. The children enjoyed talking about the people that are important to them. We then focused on what it means to be a good friend and could identify the key characteristics of a good friend and what to do when they or someone they know feels lonely.
In History, we received a breaking news broadcast from King Charles II who was unsure how to be good monarch. So we decided to help by learning all about the history of our British Monarchs, all the way back to King Henry VIII. We then used this knowledge to create a video back to King Charles explaining the key roles of being a monarch, what might happen during his coronation and key facts from the different monarchs over the years.
I am so incredibly proud of all the progress that children have made, and I feel honoured to have been their teacher for their first term in Year 1! I am going to miss them all dearly when I start my maternity leave in the New Year, but I know that they will all continue to work hard and show us all what they are made of! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We have had a very busy half term!
LKS2
Y3
We have had a very busy half term in Year 3 and have achieved some great things.
• We had our first assessments, and all worked really hard to achieve great scores. We use these scores as a baseline to see where the children are and what they need to work on.
• We learnt about Sloths in literacy and produced non-chronological reports about these incredible creatures, which included lots of the key features such as sub-headings, facts, rhetorical questions, and fronted adverbials.
• We then moved on to write diary entries based on the book, ‘The boy who biked the world’, which we have been reading in LIRA. We have developed our emotive language to show our feelings, learnt about informal language and the use of contractions, looked at punctuation and tenses.
• In maths we have looked at measures with a focus on length and height. Shape, including horizontal, vertical, parallel, and perpendicular lines; right angles and identifying these in shapes. We looked at statistics linked to I’m a Celebrity and then Christmas related data. We plotted bar charts, pictograms and tables using the data. We revisited the four operations and built upon our knowledge of written methods for these.
• In Science we have been looking at forces including pushes and pulls. We have considered friction and gravity as forces and the impact they have on a moving object. We conducted experiments linked to this.
• In RE we looked at Why some places are special? We considered special pilgrimages taken within the different religions; Christians to Jerusalem, Muslims to Mecca to see the Ka’bah, The Buddhist Circuit, to see the places the Buddha visited along with places closer to home which are special for the Jews, the Hindus and the Sikhs.
• During this half term we have been studying History. Our topic was about coal mining. It was quite a political topic but the children have really got stuck in and proved their understanding. We started with a scavenger hunt, which gave us clues about our topic. We looked at Grimethorpe past and present, Margaret Thatcher, Arthur Scargill, the strikes of 1994, the pit closures and the Battle of Orgreave. We considered who we thought was right and had some positive discussions about this.
• In RSHE we have looked at different kinds of relationships, including friendship. Things that make a good relationships and what marriage is.
• We worked really hard on our Christmas performance about Queen Elizabeth II and made things to sell for the Christmas Fair.
• We are looking forward to our parties and the Christmas holidays!
Year 3 would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
UKS2
As part of our ongoing commitment to driving standards forward in all areas of our curriculum and providing a rich, varied, broad and balanced curriculum which helps pupils to know more and remember more, we create these front covers/ knowledge organisers which give an overview of your children's learning in each subject area. English and Maths are planned differently and more regularly. We teach wider curriculum lessons in the afternoon. Our driver topic in Spring 1 is Geography.
For your reference, Early Years follow the Development Matters and post their learning to Seesaw daily. Please see their posts for updates and speak to our Early Years staff if you have any questions.
Please remember, Key Stage One is year 1, Year 1/2 and Year 2 classes; lower key stage two is year 3, year 3/4 and year 4 classes and upper key stage two is year 5, year 5/6 and year 6 classes. Our wider curriculum leader is Mr McClure, any questions about the learning outlined below, please speak to him.
PE - Taught weekly - See class twitter for day of PE and children bring kits in Monday, take home Friday.
Personal Development and RSHE - taught weekly
Science - Taught weekly
Geography - Taught up to 4 hours weekly in Spring term 1
LKS2
UKS2
A massive thank you to everyone who completed our online feedback forms, your feedback is welcomed and appreciated. It helps us to continue to move forward for all our families and pupils.
EYFS
A massive thank you to everyone who took the time to feedback and help us keep improving. Another huge thank you for coming to see our show!
KS1
A massive thank you for such positive feedback and for attending our show! We look forward to seeing you all again next year...
LKS2
UKS2
A massive thank you to everyone who took the time to give us feedback, we will aim to keep improving and have already started to plan a new idea for each show in 2023!
Here are a selection of images from the range of KS1 & KS2 competitions our pupils have taken part in this term. Grassroots are running further competitions next term so look out for letters coming home with any pupils selected.
Upcoming Events - Spring term
Friday 16th December 2022 - Final day of Autumn term - school closes at 3.15pm for 2 weeks
Monday 2nd January 2023 - INSET Day - school closed
Tuesday 3rd January 2023 - School re-opens at normal time
Thursday 5th January - Young Voices - Sheffield Arena
Tuesday 10th January - Mayor of Barnsley visiting to meet School Parliament
Monday 16th January - World Religion Day
Thursday 19th January - PTA KS1 Movie Night
Monday 23rd January - Chinese New Year Celebrations
Tuesday 24th January - Y6 Charlie & Chocolate Factory Theatre visit
Thursday 26th January - PTA KS2 Movie Night
Week commencing 6th February - Safer Internet Week; Parents Meeting bookings open via Arbor only
Friday 10th February - KS2 SATs coffee morning (Parents); PTA Non-Uniform Day
1st March - Parents' Meetings
COMING SOON: Y5/6 Aspirations Day - 4th July 2023 - If you know anyone who could come and speak to pupils about exciting opportunities in the world of work, please pass on our contact number 01226710329 and ask to speak to Mr McClure.
Credits:
Created with images by PORNCHAI SODA - "Christmas present and pine tree with xmas decoration on blue background" • Photocreo Bednarek - "Christmas glass ball with a reindeer inside on snow." • Rawpixel.com - "Multiethnic People Discussing About Support Concept" • sulit.photos - "Cute and happy baby reindeer cardboard cutout with red nose peeking on a white background. Christmas is coming and hello december concept. Copy space." • Krakenimages.com - "Beautiful african american toddler sitting drawing using paper and pencils on desk at kindergarten" • Thapana_Studio - "2023 new year goal planning idea, wood block cube with new year 2023 and target icon, business vision." • aamulya - "Christmas concept, handmade eco friendly gift boxes" • Pixel-Shot - "Set of sport equipment on dark background"