Ripon Cathedral School Update
Week ending Friday 26th February 2021
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside..
Learning about the seaside in Reception
This week, the children in Reception were keen to take their learning journey to the seaside (great idea, Reception!). Of course, an actual trip to the seaside wasn’t going to be possible just at the moment so we set about exploring using books and online resources. We have had a lot of fun on the way, designing and making healthy sandwiches for a seaside picnic and found out about many animals that have made the seaside their habitat. We created our own seascapes using the work of the artist Renoir as our inspiration and we even set up our very own beaches so that we could enjoy an afternoon at the seaside!
Coming soon! World Book Day 4th March
As this year we won't be dressing up to come to school we are asking you to 'Dress a Potato' instead! Take the ordinary spud and transform it into a book character. Have a bit of fun and send your photo to your class teacher and to emccormick@riponcathedral.n-yorks.sch.uk This isn't a competition and is just for fun but we look forward to seeing your photos. We can't wait to see your super creations!
We have signed up to be part of a World Book Day event run by The Little Ripon Book Shop with the author Shane Hegarty. Shane wrote the fantastic book 'Boot- Small Robot Big Adventure' (see picture.)
In order to access the event you will need to go to littleriponbookshop.co.uk/the-event and enter the TOP SECRET PASSWORD which will be revealed by the class teachers on Monday.
The Little Ripon Bookshop have asked that any writings/drawings inspired by the event can be shared with them for their website.
Book Tokens
You will be sent a £1 virtual e-voucher that can be exchanged for any of the World Book Day books (see picture) or £1 off any book from a shop registered .
Little Ripon Bookshop will be open for doorstop collection after school on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th March and 10am-2pm Mon-Sat for orders or collections.
School Update
Dear Parents and Carers
I do hope that you had an enjoyable break over half term. It is lovely to be back!
Returning to school
As you are no doubt aware, the school will be fully open for all children from Monday 8th March. I know that all the staff in school are very happy that we will be back together again again and are hopeful that this is the end of lockdowns for the foreseeable future.
As a school we are currently reviewing our risk assessment for the transition to full opening. Next week we will email you key information about staggered start times and actions being taken to minimise risk.
Well-being
One of our first priorities, in the week beginning 8th March, will be around mental health and well-being; providing time for children to talk about worries, concerns and also aspects of life that they are happy about. If you do have specific concerns regarding your child's return to school, please do contact your child's class teacher and we will do our best to provide appropriate support.
Oscar's - Before and After School Care Provision
The government, in their announcement, stated that wraparound care will be open from 8th March 2021; however, our provision has never closed throughout the lockdown! A big thank you to staff who have helped keep Oscar's going for the families of critical workers. If you need care, it is bookable via the links on our school website. Please note, that up until the Easter break, after school provision will run from the end of school to 5.00pm. (More information about Oscars below).
Training Day - Friday 30th April 2021
As you may recall, due to the pandemic, the school cancelled the training day planned for 12th February. This has now been rescheduled for Friday 30th April 2021. Oscar's provision will be available should you need child care on this date.
Parent Consultations
We are planning virtual consultations for parents and carers to take place in the last week of this half term. Information about timings and arrangements will be emailed out in due course.
Kind regards
Steven Holmes
Headteacher
Double double toil and trouble
This week in Year 5, the children have enjoyed reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare. They used the opening scene of the play as an inspiration to draw or paint an atmospheric picture of the heath with the three witches!
Also this week, children in Year 5 and Year 6 joined a karate lesson zoom call on Thursday afternoon, which they loved!
Year 4 get cooking
Year 4 were set two challenges to complete at home. One challenge required them to practise their cutting and chopping skills and another was to create a tasty sandwich. Their creations needed to be tasty, fun, colourful and healthy. They made rainbow kebabs, scenes from their favourite stories and used cookie cutters to make their food really exciting.
Their next task is to improve their packed lunch by making a delicious dip. Children wrote a recipe for a dip after tasting different dips for ideas.
Taskmaster Week 3 The Condiment Challenge
Learning about our world and recycling
Year 2 have been busy learning about our world in geography. We have been looking at the different hemispheres, continents and countries. We've also practised our map reading by finding countries from around the world and working out which continent and hemisphere they belong to.
In Year 2 we are also super impressed with Dominic's recycling home project where he made some new friends. Our class favourite is the dog!
This week we did get some brand new chairs for the children in Year 1 and Year 2. If you would like any of the old chairs (for free!), for a playroom or to up-cycle like Dominic did with his boxes, do let us know.
Stars of the week
Nursery
Phoebe for her amazing enthusiasm when she moves to music and how she keeps the beat. She puts everything into her dancing.
Reception
Sophie W. Is our Star of the Week in Reception for the enthusiasm and effort she has put into her learning each and everyday. Her hard work has seen her make really good progress, especially with her phonics, writing and handwriting. Well done, Sophie.
Year 1
Ivy has been a superstar, showing kindness and helping others. Ivy has also been trying hard in maths, working with bigger numbers.
Year 2
Dominic honestly is a superstar every week, he is so enthusiastic and consistently gives his best. Dominic always contributes with interesting questions and points in our topic discussions. He is always thinking outside the box! Well done Dominic.
Year 3
Imogen for her fantastic attitude and hard work in everything that she does.
Year 4
Enrike for his great effort in school this week and his reading over Zoom that was fluent and confident.
Year 5
Artie for his fabulous attitude throughout the lockdown! He has also been a real support and friend to others in the class.
Alexa for her amazing effort. She has put 100% into all her remote learning!
Year 6
Hannah for her super progress in mathematics.
Zoe for her amazing effort with her remote learning. She ensures that all her work is finished to a high standard and has been so positive throughout the lockdown!
A huge well done to all our Cathedral Stars.
App aware
North Yorkshire recently shared concerns regarding a number of apps that teenagers might be using. Although children at the school may not be teenagers, they are using apps (not always age appropriate) and we thought it would be good to pass this information on.
The police are raising awareness about 10 less well-known apps and chat tools used to contact young people online.
Worryingly, these apps have featured in a range of recent investigations.
Apps such as Whisper and Kik are increasingly featuring in such cases, which require extensive enquiries by the force’s Digital Forensics Unit to secure key evidence.
For more information, support and reporting:
- Child Exploitation Online Protection command (CEOP) – www.ceop.police.uk/
- NSPCC Helplines: Help for adults concerned about a child – call 0808 800 5000; Help for children and young people – call Childline on 0800 1111; Go to www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
- Please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101. If you are in immediate danger, always dial 999 for an emergency response
- You can also contact Supporting Victims in North Yorkshire at www.supportingvictims.org or call 01609 643100.
Worship in Lockdown
You can access weekly worship resources from our website's 'Worship in Lockdown' page including one produced by the children in upper Key Stage 2 to introduce our value of Generosity. You can also access the worship by clicking on the link below.
Missing our School Family
Lily was a driving force behind sourcing and designing the coin. Thank you Lily for helping us send a message to our school family. We are so looking forward to all being back together on 8th March!
Oscar's Childcare
Booking is now open for wraparound care up until the Easter holidays. Breakfast club runs from 8am and costs £4 including breakfast. For now, the after school club will finish at 5pm at a cost of £8, including a snack and sibling discount if applicable. Please be aware that children will be in key stage groups at Oscar's (Nursery to Year 2 and Years 3 to 6). Assuming everything returns to something a bit more like normal after all children return to school, we will look at the club finishing at 5.45pm again for the summer term.
Easter Holiday Club
We are delighted to be able to offer an Easter holiday club this year. The dates we will be open are: Tuesday 30th March to Thursday 1st April (9am to 5pm). To maintain a safe, social bubble, we have decided not to have different children making up the limit on consecutive days. There is a charge of £50 for all three days with no option to book just one day at £20 as this would reduce our potential maximum number. Therefore, you only need to book (and pay for at £50) Tuesday and your child will also be automatically booked in for Wednesday and Thursday. We think this offers great value for money as usually three days costs £60.
The link below takes you to the Oscar's booking site.
Health and Well-Being Resources
If you visit the Health and Well-Being page on our school website, you will find some useful information and links, including access to a free e-book 'How to Stay Calm in a Global Pandemic'. This is an excellent, short, easy to read book with helpful ideas to keep us all feeling better. Please take a look!
In addition, Youth Mental Health Ambassador, Dr Alex George has shared his ‘top five tips’ for young people’s good mental health and wellbeing. This is live on the Department for Education’s YouTube channel.
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Email: admin@riponcathedral.n-yorks.sch.uk
Website: www.riponcathedralschool.org.uk
Location: HG41LT, United Kingdom
Phone: 01765 602355
Facebook: facebook.com/riponcathschool
Twitter: @riponcathschool