Thursday 25th October

Dear Parents/Carers,

Another half term draws to a close today and it with great pride that I acknowledge what a great term it has been. Our children have really settled into their new classes, formed new friendships, got to grips with new teaching teams, routines and ways of working AND managed to have fun along the way. It is important to make time each day to reflect upon what is great about our school and, without doubt, out of 100 things I could choose I would say that the smiles on our children’s faces is by far the best feature of our school. Our children are happy, confident, caring and simply beautiful young people who make every day a pleasure. Congratulations and well done to all of you – parents, children, teachers, support staff, governors – for all your hard work on behalf of our school this half term.

 

Shakespeare Schools Festival

Last Friday night was possibly the proudest moment of my career. 28 of our Year 6 children performed Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ live at the West Yorkshire Playhouse – and they were truly stunning. It was the first time that Primary Schools had been invited to join in with the Shakespeare Schools Festival, a festival which celebrates Shakespeare by working with 700 schools who ultimately perform simultaneously in 90 theatres right across the UK – and this year we were a part of it! The children represented Cookridge incredibly well to give a loud, confident, funny and talented performance: well done to every single one of you. Miss Fowler is SO brave to volunteer for such a project, and SO talented to orchestrate it all. Three cheers for Miss Fowler! Hip hip.....

 

Ireland

So, last Thursday Mrs Speak led a delegation of children and adults to Ireland to meet, face to face, children and teachers at our partner school in Swinford. This visit was unlike any other – a residential involving air travel, staying in an Irish cottage with a real log fire and Mr Gamble burning custard as the teachers wrestled with catering for 14, I’m certain this was a very memorable experience for them all! The weather was fine for a day at the beach, there was bowling and days in school during which our children mingled with our Irish friends... This unique visit would not have been possible without the dedication of Mrs Speak, our very talented International Leader who is renowned across the UK for her innovative work in this field. Well done Mrs Speak.. I wonder if we know anyone is Australia, for next year?!

 

Parent Governors Elections

Apologies for last week’s posting which failed to give you the dates for the Parent Governor elections – I wasn’t aiming to shroud it in mystery but it’s all added to the momentous build up behind this election! This week I can finally share with you the results of the election process and am delighted to welcome onto the Governing Body Simon Bannister and Mounia Gazanayi. I am confident that both Simon and Mounia will make a positive contribution to a hard working and dedicated Governing Body and am very grateful to them for offering their services in this role.

 

Eid celebration

On Tuesday afternoon, all children were invited to an Eid party in school where they learned about this celebration first hand through games and activities. They enjoyed party food and each took away a gift bag... This entire event had been organised, funded and managed by a great group of parents, led by our newly elected Parent Governor Mounia Gazanayi. Grateful thanks to all mums and dads who got involved and created yet another memorable event for our children, and to Mr El Sayed who led a very informative assembly on Monday morning.. Happy Eid! 

 

Parent Consultations

It was wonderful to see so many of you in school across this week talking to teachers about your child’s learning and progress. I hope that you found these tiny pockets of time informative and valuable. The teachers have most definitely found them so and I am very grateful that so many of you took the time during these consultations to say a small thank you to the teachers – it really does ‘make a difference’!   If you have any feedback or suggestions about how we can make these even more useful, please let us know.

 

Sports News

Sports Clubs start the first week back and if your child selected one of these clubs they should be bringing home a letter today to remind them. The days and clubs are: Monday (KS2 Football) Monday (Y2 Active Club) Tuesday (Y3/4/5 Basketball) Wednesday (Year 5/6 Boxercise) Thursday (KS2 netball) Friday (Y1/2 Multi-skills)

 

Cricket In The Classroom! Classes 8 and 9 are venturing to Headingley for an exciting day on Wednesday 7th November. The day consists of classroom based activity linking cricket to Maths, English and ICT and work with PE and cricket activities. There will also be a tour of Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground and the Rugby Stadium included in the day. Again, children from those classes should be bringing home a letter today.

 

Friends of Cookridge – P.T.A.

Tonight sees our children celebrate the end of term in style with the school disco, the first PTA event of the year. We are very interested in increasing the number of social events the Friends group organise, are especially interested in family gatherings and are currently exploring a few leads – a magic show and a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ event, to name just a few. If you have ideas for things we could be doing, please come along to the next Friends meeting at 6.30pm on Thursday 15^th November. 

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shasheen for all her work on behalf of our school PTA. Shasheen has invested hours of her time over many years, has been one of the pillars underpinning the success of our ‘Friends’ and is a shining example of a committed mum, born organiser and great team player who will be missed. On behalf of the school community – thank you!

 

Attendance

Goodness me – we end the term with another 100% attendance secured by Class 7.. They have set the benchmark high and are the class to beat this year! Our attendance 8 weeks into the school year remains above our 96% target and I am pleased with our starting point. In line with the new policy, I have today sent out letters to parents of those children whose attendance has fallen below 90% during this term. Our intention in sending these early letters out is to raise awareness of the number of days absence your child might be totting up, sometimes without us realising. At the end of next half term (just before Christmas!) we will be producing our first set of attendance letters for each of you.. green for great, orange for ‘ok’ and red where attendance is a cause for concern. Go for green – and encourage your child to be one of the 100% attendees this year! Remember, the attendance policy is available to download on the school website http://www.cookridgeprimaryschool.org.uk/parents/policies.php

 

National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation			95%	Target 2012-13		96%		Attendance this week			94.9%		Year to date		96.1%
Class attendance figures for this week are:-
Rec	Class 1	Class 2			Class 3		Class 4		Class 5	Class 6		Class 7		Class 8		Class 9
A 93.8% B 97.3%	98.1%	92.3%			94.8%		93.0%		97.9%	94.7%		100%		92.4%		96.7%

 

Dates for next term...

As so much is happening next term, a heads up on the dates for your diaries...

Monday 5^th November – return to school.

Thursday 15^th November – Polling day. School open as usual....

Monday 19^th November – Year 5 Residential to Dobroyd Castle

Wednesday 21^st November – International Visitors in school for 3 days

Thursday 29^th November – Author Alan Gibbons working in Y56 all day

Wednesday 5^th December – Aladdin pantomime in school

Saturday 8^th December – Choir performance @ Cookridge Methodist Church

Tuesday 11^th December 2pm-3pm KS1 Christmas production

Wednesday 12^th December 2pm-3pm or Thursday 13^th December 6pm-7pm LKS2 Christmas production

Wednesday 12^th December 6pm-7pm or Thursday 13^th December 2pm-3pm  UKS2 Christmas production

Friday 14^th December 2pm-3pm Reception production

Tuesday 18^th December – Winter Gala (PTA Christmas Fair) – 3pm-4.30pm

Wednesday 19^th December (pm) – Reception and KS1 Christmas Party

Thursday 20^th December (pm) – KS2 Christmas Party

Friday 21^st December – 2pm Carols around the tree – parents welcome.... And then we break up!

 

Have a wonderful and well deserved half term break.. If you are looking for things to do, Councillor Bentley has flagged up this website which gives information about an incredible range of family activities including pumpkin carving, bonfire events, family theatre, craft workshops, film screenings and art trails , http://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/autumn-half-term. Have fun!

 

Mrs Bailey

Half term holiday activities

As the half term approaches, please use the Leeds Inspired website (below) to find activities and events taking place across Leeds to get involved with.. Have fun!

half term holiday activities

Shakespeare Schools Festival

Apologies for the late night newsletter post... I'm just home after a night at the theatre having watched possibly one of the best performances I have ever seen.

After a day of Ofsted training looking closely at the intricacies of the expectations under the new Ofsted framework I've had just the tonic tonight - a night where our children truly shone on stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Performing Shakespeares 'A Midsummer Nights Dream', a cast of 28 Year 5 children who have developed a love of 'the Bard' through their participation in the festival since September and their performance of 'Much Ado about Nothing' in the summer, have just wowed an audience on the Courtyard Stage. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any photos so you'll have to picture the incredible scene. Our children performed with passion, enthusiasm, confidence, flair and talent that was humbling to see. I'll be genuinely surprised if some of our talented individuals do not pursue this line of work in later life, and we better start looking out for their next opportunity to get them in front of an audience.

Miss Fowler must be recognised, celebrated and thanked for leading this project. There are many teachers across the world, but few as talented as she. Miss Fowler is an absolute inspiration and really does bring the best out of every child - we really are very lucky to have her!

Thank you Miss Fowler, thank you Year 6 and thank you to the Shakespeare Schools Festival for allowing Primary Schools to participate for the first time this year. I'm sure they will recognise that this was absolutely the right move - and hopefully we'll be back next year with our next Shakespeare production!

Friday 19th October

Dear Parents/Carers,

This really has been a proper “Cookridge” week – days full of fun, laughter and memorable experiences. We’ve had Y3 children visit Ralph Thoresby and enjoy a performance by incredible author and songster Julia Donaldson (she wrote the Gruffalo and is no ORDINARY author – she’s one of the best!). We’ve had a group of Y5 children FLY off to Ireland for 4 days. They are staying in a little Irish cottage not far from our partner school in Swinford, Co Mayo and are sure to have a ball... News from them next week! Tonight, our Year 6 pupils take to the stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse to perform their version of the Shakespeare classic ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – their dress rehearsal on Wednesday was much enjoyed by all our children and we’ve got everything crossed for them tonight! Our Y34 children are also visiting Lawnswood High School class by class over three weeks to enjoy sessions led by the teaching staff there and make use of their swanky cooking facilities.... All in all, it’s clear to me that there is no such thing as an ordinary week at Cookridge. The staff are committed to “getting the world into Cookridge and Cookridge out into the world”, and so our children enjoy a rich, diverse curriculum with the opportunity to meet many people and engage in new experiences. We are very lucky to have such a committed team who look out for great things and then have the energy and enthusiasm to make it happen.

Parent Consultations

Next week it’s time to ‘meet the teacher’ once again and this time for a 1:1 conversation about your child. If you haven’t yet had your appointment slip back, please see your class teacher ASAP to find out when it is – you don’t want to miss it! Can I please ask parents to respect the 10 minute time frame on appointments so that other parents are not kept waiting. In response to the matters raised through the parent questionnaires recently compiled, we have had a look at the information we share. Our partnership with you is key to your child’s success, and so we will be sharing information about your child’s current attainment, the progress we hope to see them make over the year and how you can help at home. Another matter raised was the lack of clarity about national benchmarks for children at each age, so part of the conversation will include explanation of the assessment system that guides UK schools.

Below is a summary of the assessment framework around which your child’s progress and achievement is measured. Using analysis of pupil data across the UK, the Government has determined ‘age appropriate’ benchmarks – the standard at which most pupils of that age are performing. The ‘average’ child makes 4 points progress each year, and so should be expected to jump 2 sub parts of a level from their starting point in September by the end of the school year.

The “average” child shares common skills, knowledge and experience with their peers across the country. When children demonstrate the skills, knowledge and experience attributed to each of the grades below, they are said to be secure at that level (e.g. 1) and grade (e.g. c, b or a). The “average” child begins the school year at the following level/grade.

“Working towards” Level 1

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

P5

P6

P7

P8

1c

1b

1a

2c

2b

2a

3c

3b

3a

4c

4b

4a

5c

5b

5a

6c

6b

6a

Y1

Y2

Y3

Y4

Y5

Y6

Y7

Y8

Y9

The “average” child secures 4 points – or two parts of a level – progress and should therefore reach the following age appropriate expectations by the end of the school year.

“Working towards”  Level 1

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

P5

P6

P7

P8

1c

1b

1a

2c

2b

2a

3c

3b

3a

4c

4b

4a

5c

5b

5a

6c

6b

6a

Y1

Y2

Y3

Y4

Y5

Y6

Y7

Y8

Obviously, children do not all fall within that “average” frame – some children exceed age appropriate expectations, and some children are below. This should not affect each child’s capacity to make 4 points progress each year – regardless of starting points, this is the expectation of a ‘good’ school and is very much our aspiration for your child. Together, we can do this.....

Please note – there will be no TEACHER LED after school clubs next week as all teachers are meeting parents after school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sports Clubs and Orchestra will go ahead as planned, as these are run by non school based staff BUT all after school clubs will be cancelled on Thursday for the school disco.  If you are not sure – please ask!

Sports News

There is no Key Stage Two Football Club on Monday due to parent consultations. Football Club will commence on the first Monday back after half-term, 5th November. All other after school sports clubs will run as normal.

The company led sports clubs are changing after half-term. Thank you to all the children who have attended these clubs so far, I have heard we have lots of talented sports stars throughout school! Letters will be sent out next week as to what the new clubs will be and which children signed up for them before the summer holidays. A list of all clubs are on the School Sports Blog, www.cookridgeschoolsport.blogspot.com

Parent Governors Elections

Thank you to all parents who have returned their votes for Parent Governor. If you haven't already, please hand yours into the school office. Votes will be counted in due course and I will let you know news of our elected members as soon as possible.

Friends of Cookridge – P.T.A.

Don’t forget – next Thursday is not only the last day of this half term, it’s a Friends day! It’s a non-uniform day in school and children are invited to wear their own choice of clothes for the day for a small donation of £1.00. The day ends with a disco - from 3.05-4.00 for Reception and KS1 children, and 4.00-5.00 for KS2 children, who for £1 will enjoy a DJ, drinks and a snack. Please return your slip if your child is coming along – no monies can be taken ‘on the door’.

Don’t forget, the next Friends meeting is at 6.30pm on Thursday 15^th November.  Please come along – we are looking for a new Chair, a new treasurer and new ideas for ways we can have fun as a community whilst raising money for school. I’m really enjoying some of the conversations I am having about different social events we might be able to organise across the year – and Christmas is only just around the corner so it’s time to get involved!

Harvest Festival – Thursday 25^th October at 9am

Please send your child with an item of food (tinned/packet/dried) next Thursday when we will be holding our Harvest Festival Assembly. All donations will go to ‘Caring for Life’. Thank you.

Attendance

Last week, Class 7 had our first 100% of the year – well done to them for this spectacular achievement. Our attendance across this half term has been better than ever before and we have maintained our position above 96% across 8 weeks of the 39 week school year. Please keep this up. As part of our work on attendance, we have been talking to the children about GERMS and how using tissues and washing hands can keep them well. Let’s hope all of our combined efforts lead to success in securing our target in 2012-13!

National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation			95%	Target 2012-13		96%		Attendance this week			94.9%		Year to date		96.1%
Class attendance figures for this week are:-
Rec	Class 1	Class 2			Class 3		Class 4		Class 5	Class 6		Class 7		Class 8		Class 9
A 92.4 % B 95.5 %	97.7%	94%			92.3%		96.3%		93.2%	96%		92.2%		97.2%		96.7%

School is closed for a school training day next Friday 26^th and so we have just 4 days together next week before the half term holiday. Already?! Have a great weekend,

Mrs Bailey