Another fabulous week in school. We have, this week, been visited by very important people – those judging us for the Stephen Lawrence Award. This Award – should we be successful in achieving it – is fantastic recognition for the many years of work invested by the school towards creating a culture of equality and global understanding. As Ofsted recognised, Cookridge really are at the forefront of what is happening nationally and internationally in this field, and we are very hopeful that – when we do get the letter in a few weeks from now – we are sharing some very good news! The visitors in school were absolutely blown away by the quality of work happening in school and commented very positively about the level of passion and enthusiasm that was evident amongst the children and staff whom they spoke to as part of the judging process. The children involved really were incredible ambassadors for our school... Fingers crossed!
Amazing things in Class 1!
I am staggered by the quality of the WRITING the children in Class 1 are producing! This week, I was visited by several of Miss Golia’s writers who very proudly showed me their story writing, based on the fabulous ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ book. Zak described his journey to his magical land.. “A private sweet car pulled up and the engine was made out of cotton candy and the horn was made out of marsh mellow...” Raj’s descriptions as his character arrived in the magical land were beautiful.. “It was so steaming that Raj had to walk on his toes and some camels pulled up. He hopped on. The camels were sparkling with stars because it was night.” As soon as Lilly arrived in her magical land, she spotted the fact that “Flower birds zoomed in the sky. The flower birds swooped into the chocolate. Chocolate drops dropped from the sky and splashed on the bubbles.” And Summer noticed “There was a trail of chocolate in the white snow which led me to a private chocolate sleigh with chocolate huskies. It climbed mountains and went round bendy corners. It went bump, bump, bump and took me to where the wild things are”. I am constantly amazed by the enthusiasm for writing our young writers present. Rightly so, they were SO PLEASED AND CONFIDENT about their writing that they spoke about wanting to be writers when they grow up. I told them that’s what I hoped to be, too, when I grow up! With talents like theirs, they really should keep that dream! Well done, Miss Golia and the Year 1 team for inspiring great things!Book news
This week’s ‘Book Banding’ fest was supported by some very dedicated parents who stickered and stamped for all they were worth. Thank you to them all. Mrs Harrison even came back yesterday for a few more hours – now that’s dedication for you! The new books will be an established part of the home reading scheme very, very soon and we will be very proud to share these fabulous resources with you – we know you will love them!
Advance notice of the need to find a costume!!
On Friday 16th March we will be holding a BOOK FESTIVAL. In celebration of the best books in the world, we are inviting all children (and staff!) to choose a favourite book character and dress up as them for the entire day!!!! Miss Fowler is thinking through the finer details of the day-long event and we will be sharing that with you next week... I don’t know much - but I know it will be a great day! Sports news
Judo kicked off with a vengeance this week! The children were very enthusiastic about their first session and their laughter could be heard a long way away from the hall as they got to grips with some of the basics. Mr Gamble is in the process of trying to secure a second 5-week session to commence after Easter for those children currently on the waiting list.Last night our Year 5/6 Football team played their first league home game of the season against champions Adel St John. Despite defending doggedly and tackling furiously, we succumbed to a 12-1 defeat with Jack Appleyard scoring an over-head bicycle kick with his left foot. The Man of the Match award goes to Faisal. Despite the score, he never gave up and was sweating buckets at the end, well done!
A reminder to our Netballers that Monday 5th March is the Year 5/6 Netball Competition at TASC. Good luck guys!
Walking Bus news
We are getting very near to launching our ‘Walking Bus’ in an effort to alleviate some of our parking difficulties and encourage children to walk to school in a safe but sociable way. We have had our visit from Mr Sadler at Leeds City Council, have planned the route and are awaiting the necessary CRB checks on our willing volunteers. The walking bus will set off each school morning from The Eyrie pub on Holtdale Approach. This provides a good ‘drop off’ point as the landlord has kindly agreed that we can use his car park. Children can arrive (and be left with our very generous volunteers) from 8.20am and the bus will set off at 8.30am promptly. Please note – any child joining the walking bus can only do so if they are registered. We will be sending out the registration forms to any interested families very soon and aim to get the walking bus launched after the Easter holidays. If you are interested, please let us know by calling into the office or emailing baileys06@leedslearning.net . Any parents who are able to ‘lead’ the bus in partnership with our other volunteers – we are also keen to hear from you! Enormous ‘thank you’s’ to Mr and Mrs Land and Mrs Colefax who will be leading the walking bus on its maiden voyage and whose determination to see the bus get going has been the driving force behind the fact that it is, indeed, coming soon!
Attendance
Our attendance this week was 96.7%. This is a great improvement on recent weeks and sees us back into a good position and above our target figure for the year. Thank you to all parents who are helping us to achieve our improving position in this area – your efforts really are making a difference. Last week, Class 1b won Cookie the attendance mascot AGAIN! Let’s see who it will be this week...Coffee morning – NEXT meeting 9am on Wednesday 18th April
This week’s coffee morning was a lovely event. We are now beginning to get a good number of parents coming along and a small number of little people who are using the hour to make new friends! Dog Fouling – Will parents bringing dogs to school please act responsibly and clean up any ‘poo’ deposited by their animals.
And finally, this week you are receiving letters for parent consultations to be held during the final week of this half term. Please return your slips giving your preference for an appointment time as soon as possible so that we can get ourselves organised! We really look forward to seeing you there.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Bailey
