Welcome to Calverley CE News issue #1. Here you will enjoy finding out what exciting and stimulating learning activities have been taking place throughout school. You will find other useful stories and have insights into other news items from this term too!
Testing Times and Thanks!
As we move towards the end of term and the Christmas Holidays, I would like to thank you all for the many messages of encouragement that we have received since we re-opened in September.
There is no doubt this has been a testing term with us striving to return to a sense of normality whilst the continuing pandemic has meant that rates of absence of children and staff have been much higher than normal due to Covid-19. We are also continuing to work under national and local guidance which restricts some of the activities we would carry out in normal times.
The children have been amazing and adapted to the many changes in routine with resilience and respect and they are a genuine credit to you all.
Christmas Break...
Over the last week or so, we have been approached by a number of parents about school on Monday & Tuesday. We realise that we are open later than most schools and therefore closer to Christmas. We also understand concerns or worries you may have regarding Covid-19, especially in the run up to Christmas, and particularly if you are intending to spend Christmas with older or more vulnerable relatives. School will be understanding in the circumstances whatever decision you decide to make. However, school will be open Monday and Tuesday as planned.
Good news
We are very happy to announce the arrival of Mrs Myers and Mrs Dixon's new arrivals. Both Zac Myers and George Dixon are doing really well, as are their mums!
Mrs Wilkinson Returns!
After the Christmas Holidays we are all looking forward to welcoming Mrs Wilkinson back to school after an extended period away. Mrs Wilkinson has previously been a Year 4 class teacher and our Special Needs Co-ordinator.
Mrs Wilkinson is happy for me to share with you all that very sadly her daughter passed away during her time away from school.
But in much happier news, a healthy son arrived for Mrs Wilkinson and her husband in February this year.
We are all really looking forward to welcoming Mrs Wilkinson back into school and she is looking forward to catching up with the children and parents in school. Mrs Wilkinson will be working with children from various year groups when she returns to school in January.
Classroom News...
I hope you enjoy reading about some of the learning that the children have undertaken this term. You’ll see food technology, science, art, design technology, computing, history – that’s just a sample of the subjects the children have been following across school.
Toys, Toys, Toys!
This term in Year 2 we have compared old and news toys and investigated the materials that they are made from. We were lucky enough to be visited by an amazing Victorian circus where we were introduced to Mr Cornelius and Miss Lily. Over the course of two days, we played a range of games and made Victorian peg dolls, a Mr Potato Head and a 'Forky' character from Toy Story. The children had so much fun in this practical workshop which helped them to understand how toys have evolved.
Nativity In Reception!
Boogie Bugs have worked very hard this month on their nativity show. Learning all about why we
celebrate Christmas and the story of the first Christmas. They put on a fantastic performance and have continued to learn about some of the traditions of Christmas for Christians. They have also learnt about the joy your experience from giving gifts and that the most precious gift god gave us was his son, Jesus.
Playground Designers - Coming to a park near you!
In Design and Technology this term Y6CK have looked at structures. The children have designed playgrounds with a variety of features, ensuring that they met the design criteria agreed upon. They had to be fun, safe and contain different apparatus. Using a variety of materials, the children then created their playgrounds using a range of techniques. Finally, they evaluated their playgrounds based on the original criteria.
Cave art and exploring the Stone Age.
In Year 3, we have been learning about prehistoric art. We started our unit of work by looking at examples of cave paintings. We discussed the types of animals that were depicted and we described the patterns, colours and textures of the images. We then used our sketchbooks to draw a picture of our favourite animal, trying to replicate the prehistoric style. Once we had sketched the basic outline of the animals, we then tried to add more details and patterns using charcoal. For our final piece of art work, we used a variety of materials to create our own cave wall and we used natural paints to paint the prehistoric animal that we had previously drawn.
What makes a computer work?
In Year 3 we have been learning about what is inside of a computer and how it works. We started our unit learning about what parts of the computer were inputs (keyboard and mouse) and which were outputs (screen). We displayed our new knowledge of inputs and outputs by creating an informative poster in small groups on “sketchpad”.
We then moved on to learning the technical names of the parts inside a laptop. We made our very own paper laptop which included parts such as the Hard drive, CPU, RAM, ROM and GPU. We had to cut and stick all of these parts in our paper laptops which was quite tricky but we did really well!
The final part of our unit on computing was about algorithms. To understand how algorithms worked, we worked together as a human algorithm. We worked in teams and had different parts to play in the algorithm. The tricky part was listening to our teacher to know when to “run” and when to “stop”.
A Walk In The Woods...
Year one have been for an autumn walk in the woods, to observe the seasonal changes which occur. We each had a bag to collect autumn treasures, such as fallen leaves and seeds. Whilst on our walk, we bumped into Miss Dunn who was confused about the weather. She was still dressed for summer! We explained to her that the cold temperatures and rain meant that she must dress appropriately for the season. We helped her to get dressed properly. We then had a cup of hot chocolate, whilst listening to autumn stories in the woods. We had a lovely time in the woods!
Can Cook, Can Cook!
Both Year 5 classes thoroughly enjoyed their food technology project... and why wouldn't they? They got to eat the results! The children planned their own version of the classic Bolognese dish... some adding the flourish of a dash of red wine, an extra clove of garlic, oregano and finely grated carrot! After creating the recipe, the ingredients were sliced, cooked and taste-tested until the meal was ready. All the children created their own brand labels and packaging... The wonderful smell of frying onions, garlic and tomatoes filtered through the school building, attracting hungry teachers to the door throughout the day... All left empty handed (and empty bellied)!
Bright Lights In Year 4
Pupils in Year 4 have been lighting up the school with their electrifying work in Science and Design Technology. Using a range of components, they created circuits to illuminate lights and set off buzzers. This practical work helped them to identify successful circuits and allowed them to test materials to see if they were insulators or conductors. Later in the term, they utilised this knowledge to design and construct an amazing array of torches, which were thoughtfully planned to suit a particular user. As you can see, there were lots of bright ideas!
STOP! Videos in motion...
Year 5 have been exploring their creative computing side by filming short animated stories using stop motion photography. The results of this have been excellent - there are many budding Speilberg's and Lucas's. From the intial imagining, making the characters to filming, all the children have completely enjoyed the experience.
Future News Letters
We aim to produce a newsletter on a regular basis starting from January to help keep you all in touch with what is going on in school. I wish I could say that we look forward to welcoming you all in to open days and events but sadly with the Omicron variant that does not look likely to be the case for the foreseeable future.
We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Best wishes from everyone at school to you all. We look forward to seeing you all back in school in 2022 on Thursday January 6th.