Dear Parents/Carers,
This week, after a long period of illness, we
welcomed back into school Mrs Brookes. It was wonderful to see Mrs Brookes brilliant
smile back in the building, and Mrs Brookes clearly enjoyed being back amongst
the staff and children who adore her… Welcome back: we’ve missed you!
Pinnacle partnership
On Monday morning, I had an extra spring in my step
as I left the car and spotted the fantastic ground work completed by a willing
team of volunteers last Saturday. First, I noticed the brilliant tidy up of the
pathway adjacent to the allotment – complete with a brand new batch of shrubs.
As I made my way into school, the fantastic sight of the work in the Reception
playground struck me: a new planter (more new shrubs), a facelift to the
shelter and some new turf made for a tidy transformation Alan Titchmarsh would
be pleased with. It was a little while later Mr Lucas drew my attention to the
incredible installation of THOSE giant pencils in the playground! These have
drawn much intrigue this week as the children have worked out quite what to
make of them. Also in the playground, several areas which presented us with a
muddy problem through the winter months have also benefitted from some matting
and turf which should alleviate the problem going forward. The remarkable thing
about all of this, besides just how wonderful it all looks, is that this work
was undertaken by a team of key people (aka top bosses!) at Pinnacle and school
governors Vijay Sharma and Keith Horsley who gave up their own time,
volunteered the services of family members and toiled on our behalf to create a
little bit of magic for us. It was also completely
free of charge with all materials donated.
Thank you to all involved, but in particular to Chris Sledding and Sean
Hancock who were the pioneers behind the project.
I rarely comment upon the school building, as it is
an element of school we tend to take for granted. It is, however, an aspect
that visitors to school often pass comment about. It is due to the daily
dedication of Mr Lucas, our wonderful superintendent, that our building
sparkles like the jewel on the hill – thank you Mr Lucas… We do appreciate all
that you do!
Across the course of this year, Mrs Fletcher has
worked tirelessly to make a very strong music provision in school even better.
She has brought to school the wonderful inter-generational choir and whole
class steel pan and samba provision and maintained a range of small group
instrumental sessions, orchestra and
music workshop (undertaking a crash course in ‘voices’ training to
quickly establish her own expertise in eliciting this hidden talent!) Next
year, Mrs Fletcher extends the range of whole class teaching so that all pupils
will – for the first time – be given the opportunity to learn to play a musical
instrument. Further details of the improvements to the music provision are
outlined in Mrs Fletcher’s letter, also sent out today. Please have a look at
the music offer in school – its rather brilliant and far from an ‘ordinary’
primary music curriculum!
After school clubs
We really are ahead of ourselves in terms of
organisation for the year ahead! Today, we send out the after school clubs for 2013-14
– and it is an impressive list which will only extend throughout the year.
Please consider which clubs your child would like to attend and return your
slip to school by Friday 12th July. Clubs will be allocated on a
first come, first serve basis so please don’t delay! We aim to get club
allocation letters out to you before the end of the school year so that you can
coordinate your collection times, with all clubs due to start during the second
week back in September.
Sports news
The final Key Stage 2
Football Club of the year is next Monday, 1st July. Mr Gamble would like to
thank Mr El-Sayed and James Palmer for all their help this year in making the
club fun and enjoyable for the children attending. He would also like to thank
all the children who have taken part and the parents who have helped to support
and transport the teams to matches and competitions this year. Football Club
will return in September.
On Wednesday, Year 5/6
ventured to Leeds Met to take part in a racket-a-thon day. The children had the
opportunity to play tennis, cardio-tennis, table tennis, squash and badminton.
Despite looking tired on their arrival back to school, all the children enjoyed
the day and behaved impeccably. Well done to you all!
Earlier this week your
child brought home a letter regarding Sports Day this year. It is being
held on Monday 1st July with Reception and Key Stage 1 in the morning, starting
at 10am, and Key Stage 2 in the afternoon, starting at 1pm. You are – of course
– very welcome to come along to the field and cheer them on. All children need
to try and wear a coloured t-shirt for the day that corresponds to their team
point team. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather. Without wishing to jinx
our chances, if the event is cancelled, we will let you know via text, twitter
and the blog as soon as possible. If the heavens do open, we have a ‘back up’
day for Sports Day on Friday 12th July.
Now seems an opportune
moment to express my thanks to Mr Gamble for all his work in making PE a strong
aspect of our school experience during this year – and for your weekly
contributions to the newsletter!
Opportunity NOT TO BE MISSED!
This year, from 19th July 2013 – 12th January 2014,
Leeds City Museum is hosting a major exhibition of Anthony Browne’s work. Most children at Cookridge will, at some
point, have studied the incredible books by Anthony Browne and will have been
fascinated by his powerful drawings and the many hidden meanings in them. In
fact, Years 3 and 4 are currently doing an 'Anthony Browne writing unit', using
his books to inspire their own storytelling and they are loving it! This
exhibition would be a fantastic opportunity to see some new and some familiar
drawings of this amazing artist and author. I hope you'll be able to get there
and see them for yourself - I know I will!
Attendance
With just three weeks to go, we are holding our
nerve and this week sees a rise overall, with a 0.1% increase on our year to
date figure as a result. Keep it up!
National Minimum
‘Good’ Expectation
|
Target
2012-13
|
Attendance this
week
|
Year to date
|
||||||||
95%
|
96%
|
96.2%
|
95.3%
|
||||||||
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 96.8%
B 94.3%
|
90.0%
|
98.7%
|
99.1%
|
96.9%
|
95.6%
|
97.3%
|
97.0%
|
97.6%
|
93.6%
|
||
On Friday 12th July, we will be having
our final ‘themed’ lunch of the year – a picnic, hopefully up on the field! All
children who have school meals will be provided with a picnic lunch which
includes a range of sandwiches, pizza, sausage rolls, sparkle buns and juice!
Children who normally have a packed lunch can opt for a ‘teddy bears picnic’
for the day – just return the slip below to school by Monday 8th
July.
Reminder
Children will spend the morning with their new
class next Tuesday, 2nd July. In addition - as we did last year -
there will be a ‘meet the class teacher’ session straight after school for
parents to pop into the new classes, pick up a brief information sheet about
the year ahead and ask any questions you might have.
Coffee Morning
Hard to believe, but it’s time for the final coffee
morning of the year! Come along on Wednesday 17th July @ 9am for a
catch up – it feels like a long time since the last one! I can share news of
next years’ plans to make use of the Funtime room for a playgroup, so if you
might be interested in making use of that come along and find out more.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Sam Bailey
