Loading

Whitkirk News! 13th may 2022

A message from Miss Quarmby

I have got to start this newsletter by saying the BIGGEST well done to our Year 6 pupils! They never fail to amaze us, and this week has been no different. They've started every assessment with a smile, and given each one their absolute best. We've got to remember that these assess their knowledge of the KS2 curriculum, and they've had two disrupted years due to the pandemic, so for them to attempt them with such resilience, we are hugely proud of each and every one of them! I'd also like to thank the Year 6 team and all the other staff across school who have helped this week from covering displays, to opening up early for breakfast, to reading questions - we have such a fantastic team.

This week, we've been able to hear Backstreet Boys, S Club 7, and the Greatest Showman playing down the corridors just to name a few! We've not been having a party, it's because we're looking forward to celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in school on Friday 27th May. Each year group is learning a song, one from each decade of the Queen’s reign. We will open our gates at the earlier time of 2:30pm, and you are welcome to join us around the perimeter of the large playground to enjoy our performances. Children are also invited to come into school wearing red, white or blue on the day. Weather depending, we intend to hold a Royal Picnic over lunchtime. Children can either bring a packed lunch, or order our ‘big picnic lunch’ via ParentPay. We would really appreciate being able to borrow any picnic rugs. If you do have one that we could borrow, please will you tell your child's class teacher, and it will be used by their class and returned to you afterwards. Have a fantastic weekend, and I look forward to seeing you on Monday - where are the weeks going?!

Attendance

Our attendance winners this week are 6JC with 99.2%! In second place it’s 2KDO with 99% and third place is 4CO with 96.7%. A big well done to all these classes. A special mention to 4AR who are the most improved attendance from last week going from 90.8% to 93.3%. This is so great to see Year 4. Our whole school attendance at Whitkirk this week is 94.5%. 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.

Summer Fair

Our Summer Fair will be held on Saturday 25th June! Please keep up to date with all the events on our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/FriendsOfWhitkirkPrimaryPta. Please also keep hold of any potential raffle or tombola prizes as we will be collecting soon!

After School Clubs

It's great to see our pupils extending their curriculum experience with our After School Clubs. From sports clubs to Spanish Club to Illustration Club, there is a wide range of opportunities for the children to take part in. A special mention goes to our Sewing Club, led by Mrs Hart and Mrs Eamonson. The children have shown great determination and resilience when designing and creating their cushions and the finished products look fantastic! Well done!

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

EYFS

We have exciting news in EYFS this week... our caterpillars have now made their cocoons! The children enjoyed observing them as they travelled to the top of the tub and started to spin their silk to hang from the top. They were amazed as they started to shake and create their chrysalis around their bodies. We are now making predictions on how long it will take the caterpillars to emerge as butterflies!

In maths this week, we have continued to explore teen numbers. We have been identifying them in terms of ' tens' and ' ones'. The children have blown staff away with their understanding of number composition, and the different ways in which amounts can be represented. It was wonderful to see the children independently accessing the Numicon and creating their own representations of amounts, using mathematical language and building upon their knowledge of doubles!

Key Stage 1

This week, Year 1 have been working hard as mathematicians to solve subtraction problems in lots of different ways using counters, number lines and even solving worded problems! In Talk 4 Writing, after learning and writing all about the Arctic and the Desert, we wrote a setting description for the rainforest. We definitely know lots about different extreme climates! In Geography, we looked at the human and physical features of Africa. The children loved looking at the Sahara, Cape Town Stadium and the Giza pyramids, and they can’t wait to build on this next week by looking at how these features differ from those found in the Polar Regions. In Art this week, we found out all about the artist Barbara Hepworth. To begin our topic on sculptures, we experimented with clay and all the different ways we can manipulate it into different shapes using just our hands and fingers. We have managed to fit in so much learning in this week, and had lots of fun along the way. Well done Year 1!

This week, Year 2 have been exploring 2D and 3D shapes in maths. We have written fantastic recounts of our amazing school trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. In music, we have we have learnt ‘The Friendship Song’ and have moved to the rhythm. In Geography, we have continued to learn about Yorkshire and have identified Yorkshire’s physical features on a map. We have also had lots of fun practising our underarm throwing in P.E.

Lower Key Stage 2

We have been so excited to begin our new block of writing this week. We are going to be writing our own portal stories, inspired by Lewis Carole's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland! We created our own portal in the classroom and imagined where it would take us- we can't wait to publish our final stories and place them in Whitkirk Waterstones for everyone to read! In Science, we have been looking at the function of leaves in plants. We set up our scientific experiment to see what affect removing the leaves from a plant has on its growth. We thought carefully about the variables we would change, measure and keep the same. As geographers, we have been learning about how the coastline changes over time and what makes every coastline different! Another fantastic week Year 3!

This week in Year 4, we have become travel agents! We have looked at what it means to persuade and how we can persuade someone at home to visit a scenic, unique retreat in the mountains. We can't wait to read them all in a couple of weeks. On Thursday, we have become scientists by using our classification skills to identify minibeasts in our local environment. Everyone was fantastic at using their classification keys and thought carefully when answering the questions. 4AR had their first swimming lesson and all adults were incredibly proud of everybody and how brave and supportive each child was towards one another. 4CO have entered the Eurovision spirit by learning a performance from the decades, in preparation for our jubilee celebrations. 4AR will be learning this in the coming weeks. A fantastic week everyone, keep it up!

Upper Key Stage 2

A fantastic week of learning! It's been hands on this week in Year 5. We've been learning about how decimals and fractions link together and we've also learnt what percentages are too. To make the learning stick even more, we made our own fraction, decimal and percentage domino cards. In English, we have continued learning how to write a formal letter of complaint, and are also studying The Highway Man poem and practicing reading aloud. Stand and deliver, your money 💰 or your life! In Art, we have been honing our painting skills using water colours.

What an amazing week it has been in Year 6 – we could not be any prouder of how each and every one of you approached your SATs. Your resilience, determination and incredible perseverance all paid off as you put everything you had into each test. With the last assessment finishing on Thursday morning, we have quickly turned our focus onto our creative side auditioning for the summer performance, rehearsing songs for the jubilee and preparing our brains for some creative writing next week. Each of you should be so proud of yourselves for your hard work this week and enjoy a weekend off knowing that you’ve tried your best – well done!

Stars of the Week

Have a brilliant weekend everybody, take care!

Created By
Rachel Martin
Appreciate