Lunchtime @ Cookridge...

Have a look at our lunchtime snaps! The children are enjoying a very structured lunchtime with a very talented team of 'play leaders' - a very different role to that of the archtypical 'dinner lady' who the children perceived to be adults whose job it was to police their sometimes questionnable behaviour! Things are really on the up in our playground, and we are getting to where we want to be - with the lunchtime period proving to be the highlight of many of our days in school.

Mrs Colefax supports a child learning the basics of balance... before she gets back on her own stilts and encourages the children to compete in a stilts race across the playground! This activity area is proving to be very popular.. with some (but surprisingly few!) wobbles from time to time - Mrs Colefax's, never the children's!

Our scooter area is attracting our youngest AND our oldest pupils in school! The children are practising the age-old art of queing, as well as showing their dexterity as they navigate the scooter course. Some are into tricks and enjoy the slight ramp that this part of the playground offers.. But Mrs Whitley is doing a fabulous job of leading our young stuntmen (and women) in scooting safely!

The full expanse of the playground. Can you see anyone who is not engaged with something or someone? This is what we were hoping to achieve.... Yay!

Practising the art of conversation, as all good women do...! These girls are keen to lead on a new area we have planned - karaoke! Singing and dancing led by the children for the children - I cannot wait for these girls to roll their sleeves up and get Cookridge dancing!

The trim trail is now OPEN FOR BUSINESS! Mrs Land is doing a phenomenal job manning this enormous area... The children are very daring in their climbing, but Mrs Land ensures their hands and feet are on the apparatus at all times!

Mrs Gibbs is leading the way in our skipping and elastics area. The children are very busy acquiring new skills in their skipping - individually with the short ropes and in teams with the long ropes. The elastics are proving very popular... we just need to learn some of those rhymes! Any mums who remember the rhymes.. leave a message and remind us! This area is attracting boys and girls... and keeping us all happy!






Of course there's football too! Not one, but THREE pitches... Keeping a lot of people very happy indeed. It has to be said - there have been NO incidents arising out of the football zone in all the weeks we have been operating three pitches - despite the fact that there is NO play leader who knows the rules nearly as well as all the children!

Our lunchtime team are doing a PHENOMENAL job transforming our playtimes! If you see these 'angels of the playground' around before or after school - do take the time to say 'thank you' for the very important role that they are playing in making Cookridge the greatest school on earth!

Friday 24th February 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

After a half term break, the children have settled beautifully into a new term – it’s like we’ve never been away!


Drop Everything and READ day!
During the final week of last half term, we had another Cookridge 'first' with a fantastic 'Drop everything and Read’ day. This was yet another part of the strong reading campaign that we are driving through school this year to encourage a real passion for reading amongst ALL our children.

The day involved a special box of books travelling mysteriously around school. When they reached a class, that class had to stop whatever activity they were doing to read for 30 minutes! The books were chosen by a group of children in school and were paid for by the money raised by you during our recent Scholastic Book Fair. So... the money you spent (buying books!) has been re-invested to buy more books for school, which is just brilliant!

The day was a huge success, with great feedback from children and staff alike. Classes read books together, in pairs or independently - but it was all about reading for pleasure. The books are now displayed in our school library and the children are desperate to take them out so they can read them in full!
 
This is the kind of enthusiasm we are trying to create so watch this space for our next reading event! Thanks once again to Miss Fowler for being the brains behind the operation..

Assistant Headteacher appointment

Yesterday, we successfully interviewed for the Assistant Head teacher’s position in school. We were blessed with a very strong field of applicants and were able to shortlist four current Assistant or Deputy Head teachers, all of whom made very strong candidates and all keen to join us at Cookridge. We appointed Mrs Smith, current Deputy Head in another Leeds school. Mrs Smith was delighted to accept the post and will be joining us after Easter. I am confident that she will form a powerful partnership with Mrs Speak and that both will have a very profound impact on our school in the coming years. On behalf of our community, I am delighted to welcome Mrs Smith to Cookridge.


Head teacher forums – Wednesday 21^st March – 2pm to 3pm and 5pm to 6pm
I would like to invite parents to attend an information and discussion meeting this half term. During the meetings I would like to provide information about our key school agendas, including post Ofsted developments and behaviour in school. This is a matter that I am keen to discuss with parents as it is crucial that we create the kind of community we want for our children together – so your views are a very important part of our shaping the future agenda. I am especially keen to engage with parents who have any concerns about aspects of school, as I am very confident that we are taking a very proactive approach to school improvement and your concerns feature in our plans. Please come along to one of the parent meetings and have your say.

Sports news
The judo demonstration in assembly on Monday morning was very well received and proved incredibly popular. We were inundated with requests to attend the after school sports club but, unfortunately, are limited to 25. Mr Gamble is busy collating a waiting list for the club, which runs for a 5 week period and will let you know as soon as a place becomes available.

Huge congratulations to our two Year 4/5 Basketball teams who played very well in the Leeds Basketball Qualifying competition last night at Horsforth High School. Both teams played with skill, teamwork and sportsmanship and finished 3rd and 4th respectively in their groups with Matthew Caines, Elliott Coultas and Dominic Purrell all scoring at least one basket. Unfortunately this was not enough to qualify for the Leeds Basketball Finals but every single player can hold their head up high - Mr Gamble was INCREDIBLY impressed with your skill, determination AND overall behaviour. If you are a basket baller... Come and see me for a HEADTEACHER’S AWARD immediately for being such super representatives of our school – that includes you Mr Gamble!

The Key Stage Two Football Club resumes next Monday and the Year 5/6 football league resumes next Thursday with a home fixture against reigning Leeds North West champions, Adel St John. Mr Gamble has bought himself a beautiful WHITE (!) trophy cabinet in which to store all our winners’ cups, so let’s hope it’s a successful year!

Finally, Miss Fowler and Miss Golia have spaces available at their Netball Club. Netball runs each Tuesday from 3.05. Boys and girls are welcome and any interested children should see either Mr Gamble, Miss Fowler or Miss Golia for more details.

Attendance
Our attendance this week was 93%. This figure is below the national benchmark for ‘satisfactory’ attendance and leaves us in an inadequate position once again. I once again appeal to all parents to do all that they can to ensure that children come to school when they are well enough to do so, and to ensure that when their child is absent from school that you contact the school office to give your reason for absence before 9.30am


Lunchtime staff
This week, we have increased our lunchtime staff by adding three new members to the team. My thanks to those parents who have responded to the opportunity to take up this very important role in school – Mrs Applegate, Mrs Whitley and Mrs Mwandoe are very welcome! These appointments are part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that lunchtime is an enjoyable sociable experience for our children and – for many– the highlight of the day! We continue to expand the range of play equipment and have some very exciting plans for playground developments which may start as soon as over the Easter holidays. I cannot wait to see the playground develop in what will be a 4-5 year project, and I am sure that the children will love what we do with the place. Without the right people to make the playground work, however, it could not happen. Our lunchtime ladies do a wonderful job and should be commended for their contribution to our school and your children.

Year 6 photograph – Tempest Photographers will visit school next Wednesday, 29^th February to take a commemorative photograph of our year 6 leavers which will be available for parents to purchase.

Coffee morning... and BOOK MARATHON!!!

The next Coffee morning will be at 9am on Wednesday 29^th February 2012. This is our monthly opportunity to get together and for you to talk to Mrs Laycock and I about anything and everything. In addition, Miss Fowler has been at it again! She is at risk of being buried under an ever increasing mountain of new books – and she needs your help! In order to get the new books into circulation quickly, she is looking for a working party of willing volunteers to help stamp, sticker and prepare the books for classroom distribution. If you are available for an hour or two on Wednesday morning, we would be very grateful to see you. Coffee, biscuits then book stamping... My ideal morning! I hope to see you there...

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Bailey

Wet play in Class 3...!

This week's wet play didn't bother Class 3 in the slightest... Instead of taking Miss Cowles up on her offer to dig into wet play games, children in Class 3 almost unanimously decided to carry on with their learning! The Bug Club books have gone down a treat.. just look at the team work, enthusiasm and interest captured in this photo, as all the children are intent on reading the e-books and answering the questions they need to earn their points and crack open the egg.

Remember your child can access the Bug Club e-books at home, so don't let the holiday get in the way!

Friday 10th February 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

And so this week we finally saw the snow! Unfortunately, this has rendered the playground out of use for the entire week. As the snow fell over the weekend, the frost had chance to get a grip so that by Monday morning the snow was no longer soft and squishy... It was icy, hard and hazardous. Mr Lucas does a great job making the site ‘safe’ for access only, meaning that he clears a pathway which allows staff, children and parents to access the school via designated pathways. Let’s hope that by the time we return for next half term, the cold spell is over and we get back use of our playground!

Mr Sharma, Parent Governor, has very actively pursued local councillors to secure gritting of the pathway leading into school. This led to some gritting by Wednesday and I – for one – am very grateful to Mr Sharma for his persistence in achieving this. The council resources are understandably stretched and the pathway will only be gritted where resources allow. As resources are partially allocated in response to demand, I would ask you to register your dissatisfaction with the gritting of the pathway with the highways department highways@leeds.gov.uk or  222 4407.

Half year anniversary

As we close for business today, I am able to reflect on half a year of Headship. It has gone very quickly indeed, and I am very pleased with the way we are shaping up as a team and the things that we have implemented since those first September days. Notably, we have done much work on reading. It was a delight yesterday to catch Miss Cowles class during a ‘wet play’. Given the choice of free play or continuing their reading using the Bug Club website.. The children unanimously carried on READING! If you haven’t already seen the Bug Club website, ask your child to log on and show you – it’s an incredible resource and is encouraging more reading than ever before, which is brilliant. There have been many additional ways to ‘win’ introduced, with attendance awards, Headteacher awards, team point awards, Learnatics and much much more. I am delighted by the high number of pupils who have secured their bronze and silver awards who are now working towards their gold awards – 250 team points! We have already begun a very intensive program to improve the quality of lunchtimes. With play equipment introduced, ‘playground friends’ appointed and advice taken from the school council about the additional playground equipment we need to install over the summer months – our playtimes look very bright indeed. I am currently consulting about fencing and alternative surfacing to the grassy banks, allowing us to use a bigger space even when the rain is falling.. Most importantly, we have worked hard as a talented teaching team to really think carefully about the way that we organise each and every lesson. We’re looking at a new way of organising our Literacy sessions, and have remodelled our guided reading. During the recent round of maths observations, I am very pleased to see increased paired work, speaking and listening and children ‘doing’ to secure their learning. I am also delighted to see that the lessons are getting tougher – with higher levels of challenge we are really seeing children’s brains itching... which can only be a good thing! All in all, it’s been a busy 5 months!

Next half term, I will be holding some information and discussion meetings with groups of parents. I am very keen to gather your views on everything and anything. We are here to meet the needs of our community, and we very much hope that we are doing that. If there is anything that you want to bring to our attention – cause for concern OR celebration! – then I very much hope that you will attend the meetings and be a part of the community shaping the future of our little kingdom.

After school sports clubs

Thank you to those parents who returned the sport questionnaire which is helping Mr Gamble plan some next steps regarding after school clubs. He has had some great responses... But he still wants more! Please take a few moments to return the survey if you still  have  it  to  hand,  or  leave  a  message  on  the  sports message board http://www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk/children/message-boards.php?board=7 .

 

Attendance
Our attendance this week was a dreadful 88.3% This was largely due to high levels of absence due to a winter vomiting virus which was seeing up to 5 children a day absent in some year groups. Please remember, the best way of minimising the spread of viruses such as these is isolation, and we therefore ask you to keep your child off for 48 hours after they have finished their bout of sickness.

The picture across the year so far is healthier overall. Our attendance from September-February is 95.4% compared with a figure of 94.4% at the same time last year. This improvement – though small -  is significant, as it sees us out of the ‘inadequate’ category and into satisfactory. I still believe it can be – and should be – better. Let’s continue to work together to ensure that this single factor does not affect the amount that your child is able to achieve during their crucial primary years. Those children who have attendance of 85% or lower have actually missed 3 entire weeks of school so far this year, and if they maintain that they loose 6 weeks – an entire term - of their school year. Put in these terms, I am sure that you cannot fail to see how significant a factor this is in your child’s future. Please continue to do everything that you can to get your child into school on time every day – and then expect US to do all that we can to ensure that they achieve magnificent things.

 

Staffing changes

After 17 years as a member of the Cookridge community, Mr Llewellyn has decided it is time for him to move on to pastures new. Having been a key member of the leadership team for the best part of a decade, he has been pivotal in shaping the school to this point and must be commended for his commitment towards Cookridge Primary School and the many exciting innovations he has led. I am sure that you would join me in wishing him all the very best for his future endeavours and will take the opportunity to do so when you see him about in the next few weeks. We will interview to appoint an Assistant Head during the first week of next half term, and that candidate will take on class responsibility for Class 7 in partnership with Mrs Smith.

Mrs Morrison returned from maternity leave on Thursday... and offered her resignation the same day! She has secured a teaching position in her ‘home town’ of Manchester which she commences at Easter.. So she’s back – but not for long!
 
We also, this morning, bid farewell to Mrs Gathercole. Mrs Gathercole has decided to retire and – whilst I am confident that she will remain a friend of the school – we wish her well for what are sure to be the best years of her life! Mrs Cullen left us this term to return down South, and Mrs Mole leaves us today having served as a lunchtime supervisor. Thanks to both ladies for their contribution to Cookridge over the years.

If any parents are interested in taking on the role of lunchtime supervisor, I would be very pleased to hear from you as we are aiming to increase the number of staff available over lunchtimes – as well as shifting the nature of the role towards ‘play leaders’. If this is of interest – please let me know.

 

Coffee morning

Apologies for the mystery date in last week’s newsletter! The next Coffee morning will be at 9am on Wednesday 29^th February 2012.

Have a great half term and we will see you all in a week.

Mrs Bailey

Cookie latest!

This week, Cookie has been out and about again and over the weekend made it all the way to Shania (and Ciaran's) house! It looks like he's having a ball here, snuggled betwen not one but two Cookridge superstars.. Lucky Cookie!

Tomorrow we will find out where Cookie is going to be spending his next week - and maybe even ONE of you will be looking after him for the holiday?!

Oh no - there's snow!

Good evening all.

As the weather has taken a turn for the worst, I thought it prudent to re-cap the snow procedures in place for all Leeds schools. Any decision for school closure will be motivated solely by Health & Safety considerations, and will be notified to you by 7.45am...

• Here on the school blog
• Via text message (for those of you signed up to Parentmail)
• On the news panel of the school website
• On the Leeds City Council website

And, once notified to Leeds City Council, the school would be mentioned in any subsequent bulletins issued on local radio stations - Radio Aire and Radio Leeds.

 

Please be aware - should an announcement NOT be made school is open as usual and children are expected to attend school as normal.

Further information is available on the school website.

After all that... We still hope to see you all on Monday! Please take care on your way into school. Let's hope for a warmer Sunday.

Mrs Bailey

School meals..

As half term approaches, you may be thinking about changing your child's dinner option. If any changes are to be made for next term (sandwiches to dinners or vice versa), please let Mrs Hyde know in the school office by Friday.  The school meals really are of a high standard. They are nutritionally balanced, offer a wide range of options and are a fabulous way to encourage our children to try new things with their friends. You can see the full menu on the school website or click here. School meals are very good value, with Rec - Year 4 £9.25 and Year 5/6 £9.50 per week. Cheques payable to Leeds City Council and can be paid weekly or termly. If you would like any further information, get in touch.

Friday 3rd February 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

More maths observations across school, an AMAZING performance and sensational art work in Class 2 and 3 with Lee Threadgold have made this week extra special for me – and a few others around the building! Lee made a return to school – having shown his talent in much of the work undertaken in last years’ ‘year of the arts’ - in the first of a series of visits arranged in support of our Olympics celebrations later this year. The outcomes in Year 2 were typically magnificent. And much fun was had by both children and adults.

Much Ado about the Grand

The eagerly awaited Class 8 performance took place on Wednesday of this week, and it was utterly sensational. There was obvious talent on display as the children confidently performed a play they had written which incorporated cameos of the Victorian characters attending the opening night of the Grand Theatre and a brilliant version of the Shakespeare play ‘Much Ado about nothing’. I cannot begin to explain how wonderful the evening was. A thoroughly professional outfit, a superb interval which made the evening really feel like a night at the theatre and dramatic performances worthy of Oscars – Christian Whitley you have a BIG future! The really good news is, after a month of business planning, marketing and plain old fashioned nagging, our talented performers have also made a profit – covering the £150 cost of their performance (costume hire, props etc) and MAKING a £140 profit! I am very impressed, and look forward to hearing how they intend to re-invest their money in the next venture. Miss Fowler is a very talented teacher who has orchestrated an incredibly memorable learning experience for our children. I cannot begin to thank her for her brilliance, but thank you anyway.

Learnatics

I have this week met the fantastic young people from across school who have been nominated as this half terms ‘Learnatics’. Each class nominates their own ‘Learnatic’ for their own reasons in recognition of brilliant people all over school. These are people whose class mates recognise just how wonderful they are. I will be lunching with my ‘Learnatics’ on Tuesday and I cannot wait! Well done to these special people – it’s not easy to be nominated: you have to be spotted doing the right thing every single day by 25 class mates..

Garden news
You may have noticed the enormous pile of poo in the school carpark?! That was kindly organised by Mrs Hawkins – thank you! – and her army of willing volunteers who spent a Saturday preparing the garden for the busy Spring season. I am confident things will grow well this year with that lot to help it along...! The children are now attending to the garden in small groups on a weekly basis. Gavin - who joined us only 3-4 weeks ago - was grinning so hard when he saw me today that I thought he was going to burst. The only thing he could manage to say was ‘I love gardening Mrs Bailey’ – having promised me a few weeks ago he wasn’t going to like it at all. The children working in the garden really do have immense fun and really work hard as a team to get the job done. Mrs Hawkins and Mrs Whitley are our ‘Garden Angels’ who make the magic up there – Mrs Whitley on an entirely voluntary basis, which is very humbling. We are very lucky at Cookridge to have such a fantastic community to draw upon. Any other adults who are interested in helping out in the garden for a few hours please let us know. In the meantime, Mrs Hawkins has very cleverly mastered the art of blogging all by herself (!) so you can now follow the garden news live at http://cookridgeschoolgarden.blogspot.com/


Toddler news
Mrs Warrior, one of our Reception parents, has asked me to make all parents aware of the Friday Toddler group at Cookridge Village Hall (Green Lane) for children from 0 - 5 years. The group meet in the main hall every Friday (during term time) from 1.15pm - 3.15pm. Admission is £1.50 for the first child and 50p for subsequent children. This includes refreshments for adults and a healthy snack for the children. There is a variety of inside toys (bikes, cars, home corner, books etc) plus drawing / crafts, singing and weather permitting outside play too.
There is no need to book, interested mums (and dads) should just pop in, settle down and enjoy the company. For more information please contact Becky on 0113 2672434 or http://www.cookridge-va.org.uk/mums_&_tots.htm


After school sports clubs
Mr Gamble is currently exploring the range of after school sports clubs we are providing, with a view to extending the range that we offer to our children. We are very interested in offering children sporting experiences that lead to a life long passion, interest and involvement in that sport, and also sports that help our children develop confidence, discipline, teamwork etc. etc. After half term, we have our first assembly visitors into school who will be talking to the children about a judo and martial arts club that will be starting during next half term, and we will begin talking to the children about other clubs they might like. We would also like to hear your views. Please take a few moments to complete the sports questionnaire to help us get these choices right for you and your children.  Please return completed questionnaires by Monday 20th February.

Funtime childcare – Unfortunately our February half term holiday cover has had to be cancelled due to insufficient numbers.

Attendance

Our attendance this week was a healthy 96% and is the third week we have had a whole school attendance figure above the satisfactory benchmark of 94% and above our 2012 target of 95.5%. Let’s keep this up! Cookie – our attendance mascot – has spent the week shared between Class 1a and 1b with Miss Golia and Miss Hobson, who both had astounding attendance figures of 99.1% I am looking forward to catching up with Cookie – and his diary – on Monday and finding out what he has been up to this week. We will find out on Monday which class has had the highest attendance and where he will be next week.

Please remember, we are legally obliged to make first day contact with the parents of pupils who are absent from school. This is a safeguarding measure to allow schools to ensure all children are accounted for – either safely in school or at home with an adult who knows their whereabouts. Please telephone the school office to notify us of a school absence by 9.30am.

Sickness – Please note: If your child is absent from school with sickness then they must not return until they have had 48 hours clear of vomiting in order to avoid passing the symptoms on to other children and staff.

And finally...

The next Coffee morning will be at 9am on Wednesday 29^th February 2012. If you haven’t already, please pop in and say hello. I am still keen to get to know you as soon as I can and am very aware that I have not met many of you yet! Bob in.. You don’t have to stay for the full hour!


Have a great weekend.

Mrs Bailey