We’ve gone pancake flippin’ crazy in Y2!

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:29:42 +0000

Today is Shrove Tuesday so we have been making pancakes in Year2. In science we have been learning about how materials can be changed. The pancake mixture started as a liquid and then we heated it until it turned into a solid. We talked about having them with ice-cream because then the ice-cream would melt into the hot pancake. When we tasted them, we used adjectives like ‘scrumptious’ and ‘sweet’ to describe them! We know that shrove Tuesday is in preperation for lent, which leads up to Easter. A lot of us want to give up chocolate for lent – but I doubt very much that we’ll all stick to it!

Pictures to follow

Will you be having pancakes tonight?

Spring Term 2 in Year 3

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:21:10 +0000

We hope that everyone has had a good break and are refreshed and ready for the second half of the spring term!

In literacy this half term we will be learning how to re-write adapt and develop narratives. We will be using the text ‘The Mousehole Cat’ to link to our topic of natural disasters.

In numeracy we will be learning secure written methods for multiplication and division, as well as looking at time and towards the end of the term fractions.

Our science topic will continue investigating and evaluating the properties of rocks and soil. The class trip to ‘Magna’ will help to support and reinforce our learning.

During our creative curriculum subjects we will be investigating, describing and evaluating natural flood disasters in Barnsley and comparing these with other countries who have suffered floods. We will use drama and discussion to understand how communities support each other when faced with challenges.

The art topics this half term will investigate how shapes and lines are used to create emotive images and we will be evaluating and recreating ‘Tsunami Grief’ by Tim Brinton. Whilst our design and technology topic will involve investigating, designing, creating and evaluating a storm shelter.

As you can see we have a busy half-term ahead and I would like to thank you for all the support given to the children, as always if you have any queries or questions please feel free to ask at the beginning and ending of the day.

Art Attack…

admin — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:51:37 +0000

For our next Pupil, Parent, Teacher meetings, all children at Bank End have created wonderful self-portraits to show as part of an Art exhibition! All Art has now been taken away to be professionally framed so that they can be sold to parents and carers during the meetings. Although they are all self-portraits, you will see that they are far from boring, as each class have tried to incorporate their current creative curriculum theme into their Art to make every one unique. Here are a few sneaky previews to get you ready…

We can’t wait to show off all of our hard work! We hope to see you all there!

Welcome visitors in EYFS

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:11:06 +0000

This week we invited all of the parents in to ‘stay and play’ and we would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for the fantastic responce that we had from you! I hope that you enjoyed it as much as the children and the staff did.

Well done to all of the children who achieved 100% attendance for this half term, we had 16 children in Nursery and 7 children in Recpetion. These children were able to go into the hall for a DVD and treats! They also recieved a sticker and a certificate. Next half term I hope that we can have even more children achieving 100% attendance as it really does make a difference to the children’s attainment.

We hope that you enjoy the break and we will see you back on Monday 20th February.

Newsletter : 9th February 2012

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:08:03 +0000

We are closed for training on Friday 10^th February 2012
We reopen to children on Monday 20^th February 2012
Breakfast Club and the Motor Skills Programme start as normal again on that day

Learning and Progress
For us to do our job really well we need your children in school. The classes that have made the most progress since December have had the BEST attendance. We have 102 children who have 100% attendance this half term and that is better than it has ever been. Thank you so much to all those parents who have committed so much energy into getting their children into school.

Y6: 98.4%
Y5: 92.6%
Y4: 96.4%
Y3: 93.8%
Y2: 97.8%
Y1: 94.1%
Y Reception: 94%
Y Nursery:90.2%

The class with the most improvement is: Year 1, this time last year they were at 87%- Fantastic! You get Lucky for a week! So in Y1 children have made 1 year and 1 terms worth of progress in 12 weeks.

E-Safety
On Wednesday of this week it was National E-Safety Day. On Monday Miss Bowers talked with the children about how to stay safe online, and what ‘online’ means. Have a discussion with your child about what they decided the 4 top tips are. If you would like any information regarding e-safety or to get advice and support on issues relating to keeping children safe on line, the website we recommend and shared with children is www.thinkuknow.co.uk

Weather-Be in the Know!
If school is ever to be closed we will text, so, please make sure we have your current up to date mobile numbers

A journey to a by-gone age with Year 5

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:17:54 +0000

Heres what Y5 had to say:

“On 7^th February our class, Y5, went on a trip to Haworth. We travelled by coach in groups of five, and when we arrived we split into two groups. Some children went down to the drama workshop and dressed up as Victorians to do a small play of Jane Eyre. The other half went to the Bronte house museum to find out about the Bronte family, Emily, Charlotte and Anne”.

“We got to see Charlotte Bronte’s own bedroom!”

“The museum was full of really interesting things.”

“We had a picnic in the snow. It was really fun!”

“Inside the museum were the rooms in which the Bronte family lived. The only things in the house that were replicas were the beds. Everything else was real! We had a great day out!”

“The drama workshop was fun!”

Today in Year 1 we had a very special surprise.

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:48:54 +0000

A man called Andy came into our class and taught us how to use an iPad. We had to plug our earphones into it and turn it on. We then had to learn how to use an app called Junior Jam. It was so much fun!

We were composers for the morning and we made our own music. We had to choose which instruments we would like and then record them playing in a rhythm of our choice.

We really enjoyed using the iPads and we hope that we can use them again soon.

Here are some of the things that the children said;

“It was cool and fun with the iPads”.

“I liked using the iPad because I liked playing the keyboard. It was fun”.

“I liked playing the instruments and listening because it made me feel funny”.

iPads in Year 2

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:59:14 +0000

Year 2 learned how to use an iPad app called Junior Jam! They created their own pop song by playing and recording individual instruments. Here are some of the things the children said:

“The drum gives the song an introduction! It is called the rhythm or the beat.”

“It keeps tinging. I can hear the symbols, they are shaking!”

“One sounds bumping, one sounds rocking, one is loud and one is quiet. They’re all different!”

“It sounds like BOOM BOOM BOOM!”

“When I play it, I can hear all of the instruments together.”

Y1 Star of the Week

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:14:04 +0000

Dear Alyza,

It’s fantastic to say that you are star of the week in Year 1 this week. I bet that you are very proud to be stood up in front of our school listening to all the wonderful things that I have to say about you .

First of all I would like to say how fantatstic your writing is. Your writing this week was brilliant and I just had to let you share your hard work with Mrs Thorpe. She too was very proud.

Secondly I would like to mention what a fantastic artist you are. I can tell that you really enjoy art and your work is always very well thought through. The detail that you add to your work is outstanding and I always love to see the outcome when I have watched you plan and practice during art lessons.

I also want to comment on how polite and kind you are Alyza. You have a lovely group of friends in our class and I know that everyone enjoys having you in our team.

Finally it is important for me to say how much progress you have made so far in Year 1. The reason that you are working at such a high level is because you are always listening in lessons and you are always keen to move on to the next step. You listen to advice and work hard towards your targets. These attributes can only lead to success Alyza so keep it up.

Lots of Love From Miss Smith x x x

Little Red Riding Hood in EYFS

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:12:32 +0000

This week the children have been focusing on the book ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. We made our own story books by retelling the story as part of our Communication, Language and Literacy. As part of our Problem Solving Reasoning and Numeracy and physical development we made a healthy picnic, counting out food to go into it. We also made our own sandwiches and cut them in half so that we had enough for everyone. At story time we have read alternative versions of the story where the children thought that the wolf was nice! The children accessing the outdoors played ‘What time is it Mr Wolf’.

Next week we have invited the children’s grown ups into school for a ‘Stay and Play’ session on Tuesday.