Much Ado About... Fantastic Learning!
Class 8 are coming to the end of an amazing project which has seen them undertake a series of visits to the Grand theatre to learn about the history, architecture and drama of this incredible venue. Across the course of the project, the children have written their own play which they intend to perform for you! The children are now on the final leg of the project, devising a marketing campaign and business plan which will hopefully see them cover the costs of the project AND make small profit which I have assured them is theirs to re-invest in their next venture.. A piece written by Class 8 on their forthcoming production:-
Come to see a Cracking Comedy at Cookridge!
On Wednesday 1st February, Class 8 will be performing an exciting extravaganza called Much Ado About the Grand. This extraordinary show combines Shakepeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing and some Victorian characters to re-create the opening night of The Grand Theatre in 1878. This performance is the final product after all our hard work and workshops at The Grand Theatre and is a unique play created by us. It will take place in the school hall and will start at 7.00pm. It will undoubtedly be an evening to remember so buy your tickets either at the office or look out for sales in the playground. Tickets will be available from next week. Don’t miss out!
Comenius project
As you know, this year we have begun a new International partnership project with partner schools in Birmingham (Jervoise), Ireland and Slovakia. Mrs Speak, Mr Llewellyn and Mr Gamble got the project underway with their visit to Slovakia back in October, and across the course of this year and next more of our team will travel to our other partner schools to meet staff and pupils and learn about learning in other places. We need your help to get the project underway... Please complete the attached questionnaire to help us in planning out our project to reduce the school’s carbon footprint and attain ‘Green Flag’ status.
As you know, this year we have begun a new International partnership project with partner schools in Birmingham (Jervoise), Ireland and Slovakia. Mrs Speak, Mr Llewellyn and Mr Gamble got the project underway with their visit to Slovakia back in October, and across the course of this year and next more of our team will travel to our other partner schools to meet staff and pupils and learn about learning in other places. We need your help to get the project underway... Please complete the attached questionnaire to help us in planning out our project to reduce the school’s carbon footprint and attain ‘Green Flag’ status.
Nappy news!
Miss Cowles shared some exciting news with her class last week – the fact that she is expecting a baby! As this is Miss Cowles first baby, it is an especially exciting time for her, and her class are delighted to be sharing the excitement of her pregnancy. I am sure they are looking forward to meeting ‘baby Cowles’ almost as much as mummy and daddy are.. Miss Cowles will be taking Maternity leave from Easter.
Home school agreement and permission slips
We are still awaiting a small number of pupil information and permission slips. We recently sent out an update form for all pupil contact information which incorporated permissions for local trips, use of the internet in school, use of photos in school publications, the website and blog and a home-school partnership agreement. This information will be kept on record for the lifetime of your child’s Cookridge career - you will NOT be required to complete it every year, so it is well worth investing the time. If you have not already returned yours, please do so as a matter of urgency.
Garden news
Plans are well underway for 2012! Mrs Whitley has been VERY busy securing small grants and donations of materials from far and wide and the garden developments this year will include completion of the pond area, seating, fencing as well as crops aplenty! If there are any builders amongst you who can donate any bags of gravel, please let us know. If you have skills or expertise and can donate your time in helping us erect a fence – don’t be shy! We want to hear from you. Likewise, if you work for a company that is still able to support community projects in these trying times, let us know. We are also always on the look-out for parents or grandparents who can offer us a few hours in the allotment.. Please get involved with this fabulous community resource.
Plans are well underway for 2012! Mrs Whitley has been VERY busy securing small grants and donations of materials from far and wide and the garden developments this year will include completion of the pond area, seating, fencing as well as crops aplenty! If there are any builders amongst you who can donate any bags of gravel, please let us know. If you have skills or expertise and can donate your time in helping us erect a fence – don’t be shy! We want to hear from you. Likewise, if you work for a company that is still able to support community projects in these trying times, let us know. We are also always on the look-out for parents or grandparents who can offer us a few hours in the allotment.. Please get involved with this fabulous community resource.
Attendance
Whole school attendance from Thursday 5th January 2012 to Wednesday 12th January was 96.5% This figure is well above the satisfactory benchmark of 94% - WELL DONE TO EVERYONE, as this marks a huge improvement on recent weeks! Our Leeds City Council target for whole school attendance this academic year expects improvement on our prior years at 95.5% - please help us to achieve this by ensuring your child is in school every day. Holiday requests in term time will not be granted and all absences of this nature will be classed as unauthorised. Can I also ask parents to ensure that they telephone school to advise of any absence by 9.30am that day.
Remember, all pupils who achieve 100% attendance each week will be entered into our weekly ‘chance’ draw and may be the lucky person in each class who secures a coveted prize!
Coffee Morning
Our next Coffee Morning is happening on Wednesday 18th January at 9.00am. We are looking forward to welcoming back some familiar faces and – hopefully – having the opportunity to listen to your ideas for our school. We are very keen to initiate some more parent groups during the course of this term and would love to hear the kinds of things you would come along to and possibly even enjoy... Weekly parent/toddler groups, toddler art/craft groups, adult learning clubs (maybe computers, art...?), shopping mornings (!) – whatever you fancy we will do our best to get it right for you... but we won’t know if you don’t tell us! If you haven’t already, please come along and meet Mrs Laycock and myself for this informal get together – we always make sure the biscuits are good!
Have a wonderful weekend,
