Friday 23rd November 2012

Dear Parents/Carers,

In 15 months as Head teacher at Cookridge, I have yet to experience an ‘ordinary’ week,.. This week was far from that, and we really have found the ‘extra’ in ‘ordinary’ to enjoy an extraordinary 5 days in school. The first of our residential visits to Dobroyd Castle this year and a rather large convoy of International visitors have all made this week even more memorable than most... And a little bit more exhausting!

 

Year 5 Residential: Dobroyd Castle
On Monday morning - bright and early - our Year 5 children congregated in the hall for an experience of a lifetime. 31 children, Mr Maldonado, Miss Glendinning, Mrs Hawkins and I climbed onto the coach certain of only one thing: we were about to have a very good time! The three days spent at the Todmordon adventure centre did not disappoint... We’ve been caving and canoeing, have climbed walls and leapt from a giant pole towards a trapeze (a real leap of faith!), have built crate towers that we’ve teetered upon before ‘flying’ to the ground (fortunately suspended by ropes), swung from a giant swing from an abnormal height and have undertaken quests and solved mysteries using our teamwork and combined ingenuity – no muscle was left unturned... The highlight of the trip for many was working as a team to cross the piranha pool... With a limited amount of time before the piranha’s were released, we really were working against the clock to solve the puzzles and make it safely back across the pool before time ran out. The children worked incredibly hard during their three days, fortunately slept well each evening once lights were out at around 10pm, and each and every one of them conquered fears they didn’t know they had to succeed in every challenge set for them. Enormous thanks to the staff who accompanied the visit – without their generosity of time, lifelong experiences such as this one simply could not happen. Parents will be invited to a presentation event led by the children in the next few weeks to enjoy the photos and videos collated over the three days... Our next visit to Dobroyd Castle is in March when our Year 4 children will also ‘face their fears’!

Commenius Project – long awaited visit to Leeds

Last September, we began a new International project which saw us undertake partnership work with schools in Ireland, Slovakia, Finland and Birmingham.  During the course of the project, teachers from our school have visited Ireland, Slovakia and Finland and 2012 saw our first ever International residential, with children from our school boarding a plane and heading to Ireland to meet the children and teachers in one of our partner schools to see first-hand how different – and how similar – schools in other countries actually are.  This week, it has been our turn to host our visitors in Leeds and it was wonderful to hear the very positive feedback our visitors gave about our school. On Thursday afternoon, they were wowed with a celebration event which included a presentation led by the children who went to Swinford, a street dance, a Spanish song and a debut choir performance. On Friday afternoon, our visitors will enjoy the Shakespeare performance our Y6 children recently presented at the West Yorkshire playhouse. Mrs Speak, Mrs Riley and Mr El Sayed have organised a packed itinerary for our guests who will also be treated to some evening events. Once again, only because of the dedication of our staff are our children enjoying showcasing their talents to a world wide audience – thanks to all staff who have been involved in the organisation, the entertainment and the giving of their time to evening and weekend events to make this project a success.

Sports Clubs:

Next week's Football and Netball clubs are the last ones until late Feb/early March. This is due to the darker nights and poorer weather which ensures that the field is a mudbath, even on dry days (which are few and far between!).  Children will receive letters later in the school year to inform them when these clubs are resuming. Please note, ALL other clubs run by outside agencies (the paid clubs) will continue right up until Christmas and throughout January and February.

Authors at Cookridge!

We are very excited to be welcoming yet another author to Cookridge next week. Alan Gibbons (see www.alangibbons.com) will be in school on Thursday 29th October to lead a whole day writing workshop with our Year 5/6 children. He will talk to classes 7, 8 and 9 before launching into hour long workshops with each class, which we know will result in some outstanding writing. Alan is a well known children's author and having been in teacher training workshops with him before, we know just how excellent and engaging his teaching of writing is and how talented he is in eliciting the children’s hidden talents. There will be an assembly at 2:20pm, which parents are warmly invited to attend, where the children's work will be shared and celebrated. There will also be the opportunity to purchase one of Alan's books at the end of the day in the hall for a cost of £5.99 or £6.99. It is set to be a fantastic day and is part of our ongoing initiative to ensure children see themselves as creative and successful authors. Year 5/6 have been writing spy/mystery stories during this half term, and we are hoping to publish their adventures to the website soon – these stories are so good they have to be read!

Christmas Productions

This year, as last, each of our Key Stages will be inviting you to attend their Christmas play and the children are already working hard perfecting their singing, dancing and acting skills to ensure it is ‘alright on the night’. Staff and Governors are very keen that all children take part in the Christmas play, as this is just another opportunity for us to understand the many different cultures which make our school great. If any parent feels that their child should not participate in the Christmas production, can I ask that you make an appointment to come and speak to me personally – please do not assume that they will not be participating this year just because they have not in the past.
 

Friends

The Christmas Fair is almost here and it’s time to begin to publicise the event. We need a poster to get the word out, and for that we need YOU! You will remember the gorgeous poster produced by Sophia Clements to market the Summer Fair? This time, it’s all about Christmas and the winning entry will have their poster produced and distributed – as well as winning a prize for their efforts! If your child would like to submit an entry, please encourage them to hand in their posters to the school office by Friday 30^th November. Remember to include the name of the event (The Christmas Fair!), the date (Tuesday 18^th December from 3.05 till 4.30) and clearly write your name and class on the back of the poster. Good luck!
 

Attendance

Attendance continues to remain above the 96% target for this year – though we are skirting dangerously close to it at this stage. This week, over 60% of classes in school reached the target, with only 4 classes falling below. It would be wonderful if all 11 classes could exceed the target one of these weeks – it’s bound to happen sooner or later! Remember – we are only weeks away from our first 100% attendance awards for the year – do your best: it could be you! 

National Minimum ‘Good’ Expectation		Target 2012-13		Attendance this week				Year to date
95%		96%		95.7%				96.2%
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 97.7% B 87.7%	95.0%	97.7%	87.7%		99.3%	98.2%	98.0%		95.6%	97.9%	97.0%

Children in Need - Last Friday was a great success and the final total raised was £523.85!!! This was made up of £432.18 from wearing spotty clothes/bun sale and £91.67 from the playground Pudsey Bear.  Thank you to all parents for your generous donations towards a very worthy cause.

Data Collection Forms - You will receive today a sheet containing all the information we hold on record for your child/children. Please check this information and amend where necessary, sign the form and return it to school as soon as possible.

Dates for this term...

Dates for the term ahead are all available to view on the blog: don’t miss out – check the dates and be sure you know what’s happening across this term. http://cookridgeprimaryschool.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/thursday-25th-october.html

The next coffee morning will be on Wednesday 12^th December @ 9am – please come along if you can make it: the more the merrier and it’s always good to welcome new faces to the crowd that gather. As this one is so close to Christmas, I will be splashing out on some Christmassy treats to help our coffee go down! See you there.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Bailey