Week ending 28th June 2019
Year 6 enjoyed their transition to Kirk Balk this week. There are many photos on their twitter page so take a look to see what they have been up to. During this time, all classes shuffled up to spend a morning with their new teacher. All children enjoyed it and completed activities getting to know their teacher and vice versa. We also welcomed our new reception children into school - we hope they enjoyed their first visit.
The chicks have hatched! Year 5 have been carefully monitoring the eggs and we are proud to announce that 5 chicks have hatched. Nursery enjoyed having a look at them as you can see from the photos below. The chicks will be in school next week so all classes will get the chance to have a look at them.
The caterpillars have cocooned! These photos are of the caterpillars in Year 6 but all classes have some in their room. We await their metamorphosis over the next week or so.
Our playground breakfast bagels begun this week (replacing the bagels in the classroom as mentioned in a previous letter). They are available every morning from 8.40am so they can be eaten before school starts. Bagel monitors hand out the bagels to any child who wants one so no child starts the day hungry. Thanks again to the National Schools Breakfast Programme for all the free bagels! Please see our new 'Breakfast Club' tab on the left hand side for more information about our breakfast club (from next week).
Year 2 have been making puppets linked to their topic of rainforest animals. They have done an amazing job! Well done Year 2!
Some boys from Year 3 and Year 4 played at Oakwell on Monday this week and finished third in their group after winning the first game 7-0, drawing the second game 0-0, then losing 2-1 and 3-2. Well done everyone.
Year 5 and 6 played in a rounders match this afternoon. Everyone really enjoyed it (the weather was glorious).
Unfortunately we took the decision to cancel the Reception and Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and 2) Sports day on Wednesday and the Nursery Sports day on Thursday due to the weather and the subsequent wet field. We will be sending you the dates for one last attempt soon!
Year 1-6 enjoyed a visitor from the STEM team who conducted an assembly about how engineering is important in our lives and how some of them could be engineers of the future! Year 6 took the opportunity to ask lots of great questions afterwards too. It was a great morning and we have booked the STEM team to come and work with us in school in lessons next year!
A reminder that the last few tickets are available for the Key Stage 2 performances. They are £1 and available from the school office.
A group of Year 6s represented the school at an 'Imagination Gaming' event at Kirk Balk today. They played a series of games against 6 other schools that involve maths and a range of problem solving skills. We are so proud to say they won! Plus, one of our children won an award for the most points scored in the tournament (another of ours was second!). What an afternoon! Well done! They will show everyone their certificates and trophies in assembly next week.
Things to look out for next week...
Year 1 have a trip to Cannon Hall.
Year 5 have a trip to Creswell Crags.
Reception have a Pirate event.
Year 4 perform at the Barnsley Metrodome with their guitars.
Year 3-6 will receive Hockey coaching from a GB international player!
We are taking part in 'Yellow Yorkshire Day' on Friday to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Children can come to school in non-uniform/yellow and the suggested donation is £1.
Week ending 21st June 2019
Year 2 and Year 3 enjoyed a bug walk this week around the local area with the Tidy Team. Please see a few photos below of their time investigating plants and insects.
Year 6 enjoyed a trip to Barnsley Town Hall this week to look at the history of the town and completed activities based on debating, mutual respect and tolerance. Everyone was so well behaved and enjoyed the range of activities. Thanks to Barnsley Museum who organised and paid for the trip!
Year 5 enjoyed a trip to a mosque this week and had a great time. They were exceptionally well behaved and positive comments were made by the adults there about their detailed knowledge from their learning in class (they knew more than the Year 8 class from Sheffield who were there at the same time!). Well done Year 5!
Year 3 enjoyed their trip to the National Coal Mining Museum as part of their topic on the local area. They had a great time and enjoyed going down the mine!
Keep it up with the 'Beat the Street'. At the time of writing this, we are currently 5th and 4th in the leaderboards (3rd and above gets us a prize) so keep going everyone! Here is a picture of Rhys doing his bit at the weekend! Well done Rhys!
Children from Key Stage 2 represented the school at an athletics event at Dorothy Hyman this week. Year 4 came 3rd, Year 5 came 6th and Year 6 came 5th. We came 4th overall. Well done everyone!
Children have completed work on 'Send My Friend to school' which is a national campaign where children learn about what school life is like for children all over the world and the dangers some children face just to go to school. We will be sending the work to our local MP to share what we have done and ask for help in ensuring the Government delivers on its promise to ensure schools are safe places. Below are just a few examples of the work completed by different classes.
Things to look out for next week...
All classes shuffle up on Tuesday to spend the morning with their new teacher (children are to line up and register as normal).
Fingers crossed the weather is good for our Reception and Key Stage 1 (Year 1 and Year 2) sports day on Wednesday afternoon and Nursery sports day on Thursday morning.
A reminder that tickets are on sale for the Key Stage 2 performances and on Monday parents can come and get as many as they would like (everyone has had chance to get 2 per family). Tickets are on sale at £1 each from the school office.
Week ending 14th June 2019
We had a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) day on Monday with various activities taking place across Years 1-6.
Year 1 and 2 completed activities based on camouflage and adaptation.
Year 3 investigated 'Electricity and Circuits'.
Year 4 made their own baths bombs linked to work on materials.
Year 5 completed a 'Rocket Challenge' to link with their work on forces.
Year 6 dissected a heart as part of their topic on 'The Heart'
Unfortunately, the sports days had to be postponed due to the weather. We have set new dates (emailed out today) so fingers crossed they will go ahead later on this half term.
Tag Rugby was also cancelled at a local school so sadly, our team of Year 6 children couldn't go.
Caterpillars are present in every class! They are being carefully looked after until they make their cocoons and then hatch out as butterflies. At this point, we will release them onto the school field.
We have had some eggs delivered into school which we are looking after in an incubator until they hatch! Some children from each class went in to the hall to handle some chickens and find out information about how to look after the chickens. These children then shared the information with their own classes so everyone knows what to do when they hatch!
We invited Alan Macenzie (an ESafety consultant) into school this week to talk to the children in Key Stage 2 about being safe online. They children talked about the games/sites they visit and Alan gave them advice on how to keep themselves safe. A parents workshop was held but unfortunately only one parent (and a governor) attended. From the workshop, Alan mentioned a website that parents may find useful www.commonsensemedia.org.
Things to look out for next week:
Children will be completing work on 'Send my friend to school'.
Year 5 have a trip to a mosque.
Year 3 have a trip to the National Coal Mining Museum.
Year 6 have a trip to the Town Hall.
Weather permitting, children from Years 4,5 and 6 will be taking part in an athletics event at Dorothy Hyman Stadium.
Week ending 7th June 2019
It's been a busy first week back! Year 6 had a drug awareness session this week, teaching them about good and bad drugs and how to keep themselves safe.
It was our penalty shoot out this week! The children worked really hard to score goals past the 'Reds in the Community' team. The children had great fun! If anyone is bringing in sponsor money, the deadline for this is the 21st June. Thank you for all your support. Here are just some of the many photos taken!
Year 1 went on a bug walk this week with a member of the Tidy Team. They really enjoyed finding out lots of information and hunting for bugs!
Year 4 have been busy making some traditional Panama art this week called 'Mola'.
A reminder that the 'Beat The Street' competition across Barnsley started this week. If you need more information, please look at https://beatthestreet.me/barnsley/ where there is also a leaderboard where you can see how we compare to everyone. Good luck everyone!
Things to look out for next week...
Fingers crossed for our sports days! We are hoping to run Reception and Key Stage 1 on Tuesday, Key Stage 2 on Thursday and Nursery on Friday.
We have our ESafety day on Wednesday and we hope many parents will join us for a workshop at 2.30pm about ways to help keep your child safe online.
A Road Safety Officer is in school to speak to Year 6 about keeping safe on public transport as part of their transition to secondary school.
Key Stage 1 and 2 have a Science day on Monday.