Thank you to those of you who joined us, Rev Rob and Rev Lizzie to light a candle at the start of advent on 1st December. It was a lovely moment of quiet reflection before the busy-ness of Christmas.
Reception have had a wonderful end to their first full term in school. They were incredible in their nativity show; learning all their lines as well as the words and actions to 8 songs! Well done we are all very proud of you! We have been making Christmas cards for our loved ones and calendars for 2024 to give as gifts. We have had fun decorating Christmas bags which were a gift from the Friends of Calverley. We have been partying and having party games on our Christmas day and we even met Santa! The Boogie Bugs have worked so hard that we have made sure Santa have put you on the nice list! We have been having fun wrapping presents in our very own grotto role play too. We want to let all the children know just how proud we are of their first term in big school. They have learnt so much and worked very hard. Thank you to all the parent's for your continued support, helping your child to settle so well. We can’t wait to see what the new year will bring. Merry Christmas Boogie Bugs!
Year 2 enjoyed visiting St Wilfrid’s last Tuesday – exploring the Church and taking part in a workshop called, ‘What’s the story?’. The children were captivated by the interactive retelling of the Christmas story- with different parts of the church being sectioned off for each of the scenes. After, the children made bracelets which had charms signifying key parts of the story and they had a drink and biscuits! The staff had a great time too, being treated to a refreshing cup of coffee and a mince pie!
On Monday 11th December, Year 6 welcomed a visit from Tom Palmer, a British author of children's books. Tom delivered an interesting and inspiring presentation about his life and what led him to develop a love of writing. He shared some of his many projects and explained the whole process from research to publishing. The children then queued up with copies of his most popular novels to get an autograph. We thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and left feeling that any dreams and aspirations are possible, no matter your start in life.
4HA Christmas Day
4HA thoroughly enjoyed a day full of Christmas crafts on Tuesday. They started the day by designing their own Christmas cards using a technique called ‘pointillism’ by French painter Georges Seurat. They then made their own Christmas wreaths using paper plates, tissue paper and ribbon. In the afternoon they were super excited to visit Santa and had lots of interesting questions to ask such as ‘how many mince pies do you eat in a year?’ and ‘have you ever forgotten to deliver a present?’
4HA have had a fantastic term and would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
Hearing impairment team Christmas party
Last week some of our children attended the DAHIT (Deaf and Hearing Impairment Team) Christmas party. They joined in a range of games and activities with children from across Leeds who also have a hearing impairment. The children had a great time and were thrilled to meet Santa, who joined them in signing Christmas songs. Follow the link to learn Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with British Sign Language (BSL): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pt6DUn_mkQ
Outer West Youth Summit
Our Y6 School Councillors recently attended the Outer West Youth Summit at the Civic Hall in Leeds. The consultation event was organised for young people from across the Outer West area to share their views about youth activities and our community, with the feedback received from the event influencing how the youth activity fund will be spent. The children took part in an exciting programme of events including a Democracy workshop, a question and answer session with Children’s Champions and Councillors, a Youth Activity Fund discussion and they also visited the Council Chamber to meet the Lord Mayor. Our school councillors had a fantastic time, made excellent contributions and represented our school brilliantly!
Toy Appeal
A big thank you to everyone who generously donated a gift to our toy appeal. They were collected by a representative from Leeds Children’s Charity, Megan Phillips, last week. She was thrilled to see how many children they will be able to distribute gifts to across Leeds this Christmas. Some of our school council members are pictured with Megan receiving the school’s donations.
Thank you to those of you who joined us, Rev Rob and Rev Lizzie to light a candle at the start of advent on 1st December. It was a lovely moment of quiet reflection before the busy-ness of Christmas.
Green Team at Christmas
This Christmas can you do your bit to care for planet Earth and reduce, reuse or recycle?! Perhaps you are lucky enough to receive new clothes or toys, can you donate some of your old things to a charity shop? When unwrapping your gifts could you save and reuse gifts bags, tags and bows for next year?
Leeds council has delivered a leaflet to each house which explain clearly all the things you can recycle in your green bins too. The children have been very interested in looking at the green team display and are ready to do their part to recycle any boxes and wrappings that get used this Christmas. If you have any photos of your child or family getting involved, please email them to the office with the title Green Team Christmas and we can add them to our school display. Wishing you all a very green Christmas!
Parking and road safety around school:
Please could parents continue to be aware of considerate parking and driving around our school entrance. Parking on Thornhill St is discouraged as this is a private road and access in and out is very difficult and potentially dangerous. Turning onto or off Towngate can also be hazardous and we have had recent complaints about drivers not taking due care of pedestrians who do have right of way. It would be awful to have an accident and also awful to find the journey to school stressful due to dangerous driving and parking, so please do take care and consider parking further away from school and walking as much as possible.
Our school choir have been very busy this festive period. They have been to sing at Champion House and St Luke's care home and did a fantastic job leading us all for our first carols in the playground, we hope you enjoyed their singing. They have been a credit to the school on their various excursions.
w/e 15.12.23
KS1 - Reception Butterflies & 1VE - 98.3%
KS2 - 3OB - 97.3%
We have been reviewing the Attendance Procedure in line with DfE and local authority guidance, there is going to be a new page on our website with a link to the new policy please do have a look at the page on the website. You can view your child's attendance at any time on the Gateway app and we will be reviewing all children's attendance at the start of term and will be in touch with you if we have concerns. Our school target for attendance is 96% this year.
Friday 22nd December - Training day (school closed)
Monday 8th January 2024 - School opens 8.50am
Monday 22nd January - Year 6 Parents' evening
Tuesday 9th January - Year 6 Young Voices
