Dear Parents,
Welcome to the latest addition of our newsletter.
As you will be aware we recently held an election for the role of parent governor. The candidate who gained the most votes and therefore will become our new parent governor is Nicola Spalding. A big thank you to all the candidates who put themselves forward as potential parent governors.
You will also have received today a copy of school's Ofsted Report. It does seem to have been quite a long wait, but we are very happy with the outcome. As I said in my letter, thank you to everyone who completed the Parent View questionnaire and for the messages of support we received.
On Wednesday, 22nd March we will be holding a second open morning of the year. We invite you to join us for some time in class with the children and to stay for a presentation on Online Safety. More details to follow soon.
I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter. Mr Curran.
Reception
We have had a busy and exciting first couple of weeks back after the half term. We read Mama Panya’s Pancakes last week and wrote lists for our pancake ingredients which we then made and ate up in class. They were delicious!
This week we have been reading The Three Little Pigs and investigating which material builds the strongest house. We have been painting and collaging with different materials to make the houses from the story. We have been sharing our favourite reading books and on World Book Day we dressed up and buddied up with year 6 who read a story to the Reception children.
We have a new role play area which is a castle and the children have enjoyed dressing up and creating parties, feats and battling dragons!
We have also been for a visit to our beautiful church, St Winifred's and learnt about ‘What is inside a church’ from our Reverend Rob Denton. The children were very curious, and we had a lovely time!
Next week we are beginning preparations for a very special Family celebration class assembly!
Year 4
Lifeboats
On Thursday afternoon of this week we had a water safety presentation by Martin from the RNLI. He talked to the classes about being safe, in and around water and what to do if something goes wrong. The children enjoyed learning about lifeboats, flags and water safety and some even volunteered to get dressed up and take part in some role play.
Many thanks to those parents and children who made a donation to the RNLI – we raised around £30. The RNLI are volunteer led and rely solely on charitable donations so every penny helps. If you’d like to learn more about the RNLI or make a donation please take a look at RNLI.org
Year 5 have been learning about famous artists this week. The children have created some amazing art work based on the work of Banksy! They have ‘borrowed’ the ideas from the famous pigeon work and created their own versions. We hope you enjoy the pictures we have showcased here!
Year 6
This week, Year 6 had a marvellous World Book Day! It was brilliant to see so many children joining in by dressing up as their favourite character from a story or in their cosy pyjamas. The day was filled with lots of lovely activities including: the children creating contemporary Pop Art to illustrate one of the Grimm Tales (which they have loved reading as part of guided reading), sussing out who was each masked reader, sharing stories with Reception and creating their own World Book Day raps inspired by Mc Grammar. A fantastic day was had by all!
It has been a very busy few weeks for Sport in Calverley C of E since our last newsletter.
Before the holidays, boys and girls in Y6 and Y5 took part in small 5-a-side football tournaments during lunchtimes to celebrate Schools Football Week, an initiative run by the ESFA.
When we returned after half-term, we worked with Edgar from Northern Ballet who ran through various stretches, positions and skills with the children in Y3-6. The children had heaps of fun, many remembering Edgar from the last time he came in. As part of these sessions, Edgar got a chance to see all our fantastic dancers at Calverley and has passed on his praise and that many of them would be welcome at classes run by Northern Ballet if they wished to continue.
On Wednesdays after school, we have another new group of students taking part in Kickboxing, practicing the various strikes with both their hands and feet against the pads. As well as learning these techniques, children have fun through various games throughout the session and it is great to see so many children from different year groups learning together.
After our success last half term at the qualifying round of Sports Hall Athletics, we progressed to the semi-finals. Against tough opposition, the children handled themselves superbly as they were cheered on by parents, Mr Harkins, Miss Hall and Mrs Emmott. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the grand final, but our finish in the top twelve schools in Leeds out of the seventy-two who first entered is a massive achievement and testament to the children’s fantastic attitude and ability.
Some children also took part in our SEND Panathlon event this week. Our team gained points in various activities based on basketball, hockey, bowling, curling, boccia, darts and many more sports over the morning. It was absolutely brilliant to see all these children get involved and all left with a smile, a medal and a certificate to celebrate their achievements.
Outside of school, please don’t forget about our fantastic offer in partnership with the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. They are offering reduced price tickets for the Leeds Rhinos rugby league game on Saturday 25th March at 1pm at Headingley for both adults and children. Brad (who has worked with Y3 for Basketball and now Y5 for Orienteering) will be in school next Wednesday to speak with the children in KS2 in an assembly. The deadline for ordering tickets is next Friday (10th March) and can be done through ParentPay.
Finally, a big thank-you to all parents who have helped/will help with transport to events. It is a massive part in helping the pupils at Calverley C of E try new sports, make friends, develop skills, compete and foster a positive relationship with exercise so again, thank-you for your help in making that possible.
Tuesday 21st March - Class photos