Weekly Newsletter
Friday 6th October 2023
This week in school
Open classrooms/meet the teacher Monday 2 October We hope you enjoyed joining your children in their classes on Monday, and seeing what they have been up to so far this term! We will be having our more formal parents' evenings after half term, when like last year we will be looking at the first set of assessments and how your child is progressing in their learning.
Harvest services at St Wilf's These will be happening on Tuesday 17 October, with details about the timings for the different classes below. The children in Nursery and Reception will be having their own in-school celebration so they will not be joining us in church.
If you are able to help with the walking down and back, please be on the Green 15 minutes before the start time.
If you would like to donate a Harvest gift of tinned or dried food, please send this with your child and we will make sure it goes down to the church. All the goods collected will be going to the Selby Food Bank.
Building works You may have noticed some works on the Victoria yard, including scaffolding and various equipment in place. This is for some roofing works across both buildings where there have been leaks! There is also a small digger on site ready for the replacement of a small and very worn area of astroturf. All the work is being managed safely and all access should be open as normal.
Starting school in September 2024 Applications will be open from 12 October. If your child is due to start school in September 2024 (if they will have their 5th birthday btween 1.9.2024 and 31.8.2025) then you need to apply for a primary school place for September 2024. Applications should be made online at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-admissions and the deadline is 15 January. You can still apply after this, but your application will be dealt with after all the others and you may not get your first choice school.
Even if your child already comes to our nursery, you still need to apply for a place in Reception.
Y6 applications for secondary school September 2024 Information has been coming out about applying for secondary school places, and the local schools are having their open afternoons and evenings. We would definitely recommend that you go along to these with your child so that you can make your decision. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2023: applications after this date are treated as 'late' after all the others, and may mean that you don not get a place at your first choice of school.
Term dates 2023-24 The term dates for this school year are on the school website at https://brayton-cofe-primary-school.secure-primarysite.net/term-dates/
We have had to make a slight change to the training days in 2024: children are now expected back in school on Monday 8 January 2024 after the Christmas break, and there will be a training day on Friday 24 May 2024 instead of this.
Jewellery No necklaces, bracelets, rings or other jewellery should be worn to school. If your child has earrings, these must be removed for PE sessions, or earrings can be left at home on PE days. Earrings for school should be small stud types so they don't get caught and cause any injuries.
Free School Meals
Free school meals: save up to £450 a year With so much in the news about the cost of living and now energy prices going up, you can check whether your child could be eligible for a free school meal, whatever school year they are in. All the information is on the NYCC website at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/free-school-meals Some of this information may be out of date, especially around eligibility, so please get in touch if you are unsure.
If you would like any advice or support with this, please contact the school office. We treat these matters with complete confidentiality and are always happy to help if needed.
Thank you for your continued support.
Allyson Buckton (Headteacher) & Mel Walmsley (Deputy Headteacher)
Whole School Attendance
Up to date attendance figures are now available every week, showing a decline for us again, which is reflecting the high amount of absence due to illness and holdays taken recently. The poster shared on Dojo has sound advice about whether your child should be absent, and how long for (in the case of illnessed such as chicken pox). Please remember, we will always contact you if your child is unwell during the day, so please make sure they are here as much as possible. With your help we made massive improvements in attendance over last year and this is now better across school than it has been in a very long time!
We would also remind you that, according to the new guidance for schools, ANY leave for holidays should be unauthorised: there is no longer the 'up to 5 days/10 sessions' which can be authorised at the Headteacher's discretion. Last year we put forward 38 requests for Fixed Penalty Notices to be issued, which the Local Authority have advised us that they have actioned.
DIARY DATES
Wednesday 11 October - School photographs (individual and sibling)
Thursday 12 October - Applications for Reception September 2024 open
Tuesday 17 October - Harvest at St Wilf's (am)
Thursday 26 October - School closes for half term
Friday 27 October - Training day (school closed to children)
Tuesday 31 October - Closing date for secondary school applications
Monday 6 November - School opens
Friday 22 December - School closes for Christmas
Monday 8 January - School opens
Friday 9 February - School closes for half term
Thursday 21 March - School closes for Easter
Friday 22 March - STAR MAT training day (schools closed to children)
Monday 8 April - School opens
Monday 6 May - May Day Bank Holiday
Thursday 23 May - School closes for half term
Friday 24 May - Training day (school closed to children)
Monday 3 June - School opens
Friday 19 July - School closes for summer
Monday 22 July - Training day (school closed to children)
Happy Birthdays!
Many many many many happy returns next week to.....
Abigail Lawlor
Isaac Winn
Zaine Hartnell
Alfie Butler
Jaxon Booth
Frankie Phillips
Thomas Rowley
Ayan Ciocazan
Samuel Jarvis
From St Wilf's
As autumn rapidly approaches it is time to think about the Autumn Fair.
The date has been set for Saturday 11th November between 10am and 1pm.
There will be time to set up late Friday afternoon or earlier in the morning.
The format will be very similar to last year.
If you are able to help in any way please let Pat Jarvis or Lis Middup know.
We will need volunteers for all the usual stalls; tombola, raffle, toiletries, nearly new children's things, along with a cafe.
If you have a new stall you'd like to introduce please let us know!
This week in classrooms
Nursery - Stars
The children have continued to enjoy learning about the changes that Autumn brings and what that means for animals too. We shared a story about a hedgehog who is trying to go to sleep for the Winter called ‘Ouch!’ We have been finding out about hedgehogs and have created leaf hedgehogs and given our hedgehogs spikes using forks to print with. We have even baked hedgehog shaped bread rolls. We have made lots of different soups in the mud kitchen with Autumn leaves, conkers and acorns. For PSD we have shared a book called ‘What I Like About Me’ which highlights that we are all different but special. We made our faces using collage materials, making sure we used the right colours for our hair and eyes.
In phonics this week we have continued to focus on our listening skills and have been listening to the sounds we might hear in our own homes. We have also continued to listen to lots of stories and sing lots of rhymes. In maths we have been learning about circles and have practised giving a small number of objects from a group.
The children enjoyed our open afternoon on Monday and were very excited to show their visitors around the nursery provision.
Star of the Week: Amiah Lea
Reception - Moon and Mercury
This week the children in Reception have read the story Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. The story explored the friendship of a duck, a cat and a squirrel and their fondness for pumpkin soup. By the end of the story the characters learned the important lesson of working together and why it is important to be a kind friend. Many of our challenges this week involved having ‘kind hands’ that could make something for a friend. Friendship cards and friendship bracelets were gifted to friends and even the teachers too. We explored the texture, shape, colour and smell of pumpkins first. Then we enjoyed scooping the inside of a pumpkin ready to make pumpkin soup. We watched the story this time and made our own. We chopped, sliced, mixed, cooked and then ate the soup. We also enjoyed re-telling the story with props and drawing our own story maps. In phonics this week, the children have been taught ‘ck, e, u, r’. We have continued focusing on the correct pencil grip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPg9qpq6Hhg
and the importance of forming letters correctly saying the rhyme from ELS to help us. In maths we have been practically comparing mass and learning how to use the words ‘ big, little, large, small, heavy, light, heavier, lighter, tall, short, wide, long correctly. There was a lot to remember!
Star of the week
Moon: Jesse Jackson
Mercury: Emily Simpson
Year 1 - Galaxy and Venus
What a great week we have had in Year 1 this week! It began with a visit from our families during our open afternoons; the children loved showing off their classroom environment and learning with you. As always, the children have worked hard and are showing effective characteristics of learning across the curriculum.
In English, we have studied ‘There’s a SUPERHERO in my book!’ by Tom Fletcher, exploring new vocabulary, imaginative description, story predictions, and even creating our own books. Across the maths curriculum, we have continued to study place value, and have also introduced the concept of the part, part, whole model- the children have amazed us with how quickly they have grasped this concept confidently. We have continued to study the work of artists using collage to express ideas and themes, creating superhero landscapes, whilst in science we have explored our sense of sound, and how we hear. Weather permitting, we continue to develop our football and hockey skills, and in phonics we have been assessing the children on their recent letters and sounds.
Thank you for your continued support. A big well done from us all here Year 1, keep up the good work Superstars!
Star of the week
Galaxy: Olivia Deakin
Venus: Sienna Mangan
Year 2 - Earth and Mars
The highlight of our week was our trip to York Mosque as part of our RE topic learning about Muslims and what they believe. It was brilliant to be able to see first hand all the things we have been learning about and we were really impressed with how all the children behaved. Thank you so much for your support in enabling us to go. We’ve loved learning about Neil Armstrong this week, linking to our Intrepid Explorers topic and providing us with our next writing project. We’ve begun sentence stacking helping us to work towards writing a recount of the first walk on the moon. In maths we have also begun a new topic looking at addition and subtraction. We enjoyed revising number bonds and are working on getting faster and faster at these. We’re also working hard on our handwriting and spelling. In science we experimented to find out how solid materials change through bending, squashing and twisting whilst in art we continued looking at the work of David Hockney and exploring colour and landscape.
You have impressed us this week, Year 2. Well done everyone!
Star of the Week
Earth: Alistair Howell
Mars: Lily Smith
Year 3 - Jupiter and Saturn
The Year 3 children have impressed us again this week with their resilience and high standards across all lessons! In English, we shifted our writing focus from the fiction of Stone Age Boy to the non-fiction content of ‘Skara Brae’ by Dawn Finch. During the remainder of this term, the children will be utilising the information in this new text to devise a holiday brochure that persuades ‘Stone Age’ families to take a well earned holiday at Skara Brae Holiday Village! In Maths, we began our new unit ‘Addition and Subtraction’, recapping adding and subtracting ones, tens and hundreds. In History, we learnt about the appearance and designs of the four styles of Stone Age dwellings discovered by archaeologists and how the materials used to construct the homes link directly to the Stone Age era. In French, the children really enjoyed learning how to ask and how to tell someone their age. Finally, on Friday afternoon, we began our new computing unit ‘Digital Art’ using the online software at: https://www.pixilart.com/draw?ref=home-page. Whilst creating a digital wrapping paper design, the children learnt to use line and fill tools, copy and paste and rotation to create pattern effects.
Keep up the good work, Year 3s!
Stars of the week
Saturn: Finlay Smith
Jupiter: Amos Barker
Year 4 - Neptune and Meteor
Another brilliant week in Year 4 has seen the children extremely busy. In English, we have started our sentence stacking and the children have been brilliant at identifying the different features and applying them in their newspaper reports. In Maths, we have moved onto our new unit of Addition and Subtraction and the children have been adding and subtracting 10s, 100s and 1000s. They have been brilliant at using their Place Value skills and identifying which value they need to alter. In Geography, we have recapped four figure grid referencing and have applied this knowledge at reading maps and writing down different symbols’ specific locations. In DT, we have begun planning our end of unit project, making the pizzas. With this, we have identified what ingredients we will need and have looked at the different equipment we will require whilst making them. In RE, we have explored aims of life in Hinduism and we have also spoken about our own aims of life and have noted 4 key aims down in our books. In P.E., we have continued to look at Hockey and Football. The children have been brilliant utilising key skills involved and using their eye hand coordination to really perfect key skills.
Keep up the good work Year 4. We look forward to seeing what amazing things you achieve next week!
Stars of the week:
Meteor: Logan Gibbard
Neptune: Oliver Pearce
Year 5 - Asteroid and Pluto
In Guided Reading this week, we have had a break from Viking Boy and been looking at non-fiction texts about Vikings. This has exposed the children to a different type of text and to help them improve their knowledge of Vikings, as we come to the end of our topic this half term. In English, the children have learnt about writing descriptive speech for their innovative narratives. While they were able to already write speech, the expectation is to add more detail about what the character is doing as they say it. Also, by adding detail in between speech, their writing does not look like playscripts. The children have been doing really well in our hockey and football lessons. It has been great to see that their skills in controlling a ball with a hockey stick and feet has improved over the past couple of weeks. They have started playing small games to show their ability and their teamwork. Finally, in History the children have spent the last two days looking at Primary and Secondary sources to answer the question “Does Alfred deserve the title Great?” There have been some interesting discussions and the children have been respectful, while listening to everyone’s thoughts and ideas. Well done Year 5, keep it up!
Stars of the week:
Asteroid - Ewan Leadbeater
Pluto - Bethany Horsman
Year 6 - Nebular and Constellation
This week in year 6, we have begun our new writing focus of recounts. We will be building up ideas for diary entries from the main characters in Dangerous Waters. In order to create amazing content, we have covered our use of subordinate clauses, determiners and standard English, the types of past tense, and relative clauses! What a busy week! In Maths, we have consolidated our learning of formal multiplication, solved problems with multiplication, short division and division with factors. It sounds tiring just reading the list of topics. We have begun to delve into the chronology of the Titanic disaster, and how the differences in class affected survival rate - it is absolutely staggering!
We have also begun our Art Deco focus in Art, by gaining knowledge of the fundamental elements that are at the forefront of this period. Dangerous Waters (our guided reading text) continues to keep us in suspense, with twists and turns aplenty, while we wait for the inevitable to happen!
Stars:
Constellation: Ella Larner
Nebular: Sebastian Draper