Weekly Newsletter
Friday 19th May 2023
This week in school
Access to school You will have seen that the barrier has been installed and should have its lock by the start of next week. It will be closed to all except emergency vehicles between 8:30-9:15am and 2:45-3:30pm. The barrier will NOT be opened within these times for any reason.
Since the barrier has been in place we have had reports of unsafe and inconsiderate parking in other areas such as on the yellow zig-zag markings, blocking Dawson's car park and, on one occasion, actually parking on a resident's private drive! Please be considerate: it may only add an extra 30 seconds to the journey to park carefully.
Staffing update In July we will be saying 'goodbye' to 2 members of staff as they leave us to enjoy a very well-earned retirement. Mrs Jane Berzins is the longest-serving member of the teaching team, having been here since we were separate infant and junior schools; and Miss Elaine Rushworth has had a long and varied career including secondary and primary teaching. We wish them all the very very best.
We are currently recruiting for both posts and will keep you updated.
SAVE THE DATE Summer Fair Our Summer Fair will be on Thursday 6 July, running straight after school from 3:30-5:30pm. We are planning for lots of stalls and activities, with each class taking charge of a stall, as well as visiting stalls, refreshments, bouncy castle/inflatable and the ice cream van.
Drinks in school As the weather is finally getting warmer, please remember to send your child with a water bottle to school. We do ask that children only have water to drink during the day, as this is the best way to stay hydrated as well as saving their teeth! We also don't want anything that may be sticky or coloured being spilt on any books or equipment.
OMG Healthy Start Scheme for families This is a scheme to support families who are expecting a baby or have a child aged under 4. It includes financial support to help with buying healthy foods and milk. You can find out more at https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/what-youll-get-and-how-to-shop/
Term dates 2023-24 The term dates for the next school year are now on the school website at https://brayton-cofe-primary-school.secure-primarysite.net/term-dates/
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
Attendance figures for last week showed this picking up again to being above national and regional figures.
The DfE's attendance target for schools is 96%, and as a school we need to be working towards this. With your help there have been massive improvements in attendance over this year and this is now better across school than it has been in a very long time!
As we get into the summer term there has also been an increase in requests for leave due to holidays: we will be putting a much higher number of these forward for Fixed Penalty Notices in May and June than any months so far. Taking your child out of school has a significant impact on their learning, especially where we have seen requests for leave at the very start of the new school year. At this time, children need to be settling into their new classes and routines, and getting to know their new teachers.
DIARY DATES
Thursday 25 May - School closes for half term
Friday 26 May - Training day (school closed to children)
Monday 5 June - School opens
Wednesday 28 June - Sports Day (details and timings TBC)
Thursday 6 July - School Summer Fair, 3:30-5:30pm
Tuesday 25 July - School closes for summer holiday
Happy Birthdays!
Many many many many happy returns next week to.....
Evalyn Rushton
Gracie Alderman
Agnes Heslop
Amelia Scott
Jasmine Whitby
Emily Holmes
Everly Dos Santos
Finlay Smith
Sienna Craft
Ciara Chamberlain
This week in classrooms
Nursery - Stars
Star of the Week - Harley Berridge
Reception - Moon and Mercury
Moon - Olivia Deakin
Mercury - Blake Shaw
Year 1 - Galaxy and Venus
In Year 1 this week, we have looked at a new text called ‘The Curious Garden’ and have focussed on this across all aspects of our lessons during the week. In writing, we have explored a story retelling of this text and have included lots of fun imaginative language throughout, with a specific focus on what the main character is thinking and feeling. In Maths, we have started a new unit of position and direction and have explored the use of directions and understanding turns. The children have been fantastic at differentiating their lefts from their rights and we have cemented this by playing some games involving the use of directions. In PE, we have had a bumper week doing lots of cricket. We have started to use cricket bats for the first time and have looked at how to hold the bat properly. The children have been fantastic persisting with the basics of throwing and catching. In RE, the children have created their own artwork based on the creation story and have used lots of fantastic ideas to depict what happened on each day of this. In Music, the children have continued to look at graphic notation and are now becoming increasingly confident on performing their own work using this concept and using instruments.
Another fantastic week for all of Year 1. We are all very proud of you, keep up the good work!
Galaxy-Thea Platts
Venus- Willow Laverack
Year 2 - Earth and Mars
In Year 2 this week we have been working extremely hard in our ‘Secret Agent Training!’ and the children have been AMAZING!
In English, we looked at a poem by Judith Viorst and have started to plan to write our own poem - ‘If I were in charge of the country’! The children have some great ideas for their poems and I can’t wait to read them.
We have been continuing with our scientific enquiry skills in science to discover whether a bean needs soil to sprout, as well as observing and recording the results from our experiments last week.
In music, we have enjoyed listening to pieces of music from China and learning about the pentatonic scale, before composing and performing our own pieces.
We have been learning about the importance of dental hygiene in PSHE and the need for our different types of teeth.
In RE we have been identifying special objects and symbols found where people worship and we have been learning about what they mean and how they are used.
We loved making and tasting our healthy salad faces in DT that we designed last week.
We have also loved getting outside in the fabulous weather to build up our fitness and playing Cricket.
Another brilliant, fun packed week in Year 2 - Well done everyone, you have made us very proud!
Earth - Maisie Webster
Mars - Sienna Bell
Year 3 - Jupiter and Saturn
We’ve finally had the chance to be at school for five days this week and luckily due to the quality of the children’s work it’s not been such a shock to the system as we expected. In English we have started our new class text ‘Flood’ by Alvaro F.Villa. We have started developing our plot points and have focused this week on adverbial phrases, complex sentences and use of short sentences for effect.
In Maths we have been looking at how to tell the time to 5 minutes and the nearest minute as well as read time on a digital clock. We’ve got our fingers crossed that the children shouldn’t be late for anything again.
We took our learning under our tables in science this week when we used torches to investigate what shadows are and why they are formed and in computing the children have completed their Document editing and Creation unit of work and this week they learnt how to use bullet points to make a list in Microsoft word.
Finally in RE we discussed people in our local community and thought about why they are good samaritans.
Saturn: Scarlett Mead
Jupiter: Kian Bird
Year 4 - Neptune and Meteor
Where has this term gone? We kick started the week by launching our first young leaders task with the character Archie Bishop. The children worked well as a team to explore the first aspects of leadership and consider what changes they would want to make to the world. It was such an exciting start to the week. In English, we realised that everyone's planning and hard work was well worth the wait. The level of description and research informed information has really shown in everyone’s writing. All of the children should be really proud of their hard work and effort. In P.E we had a nice change of plans thanks to the Year 6’s. We were invited to join the year 6’s and be their willing students as the Year 6’s demonstrate and teach a range of sports skills to the children, ranging in sports from netball to rugby.
Meteor - Ruby Cooper
Neptune - Amber Kilmartin
Year 5 - Asteroid and Pluto
Well, four more days to go! The children have started their balanced argument for their final assessed piece of this half term. They have been discussing whether the campmates at Camp Green Lake should be digging a hole every day. The positive arguments discussed are it builds character, they get stronger and it is a punishment. The negative arguments discussed are the hot, hostile environment, they are forced to dig and there are no breaks. In Maths, we have moved on from shape to coordinates. In PE, there was another Year 5 cricket match, as the children did so well last week. It has been really enjoyable for us to go out as a year group to play a competitive match against each other. Finally, we have nearly finished Holes! Stanley and Zero have survived their trip across the lake, they made it up to Big Thumb and back down again. Now they have made it back to Camp Green Lake, but what will happen now to the two runaways?
Asteroid - Oliver Manning
Pluto - Peter Vickers
Year 6 - Nebular and Constellation
This week in year 6 we have continued to work hard following last week’s intensity. Maths has covered all things statistics. We have worked on dual bar charts, line graphs, interpreted pie charts and worked with percentages to draw our own pie charts. The outcomes have been excellent and this year's prior knowledge has been effectively applied to achieve the learning objectives, so well done everyone. Our English has focussed on the creation of the building of the pyramids, and the story of Nacht, a farmer who was drafted in to create the greatest pyramid of all - the great pyramid of Khufu! In guided reading, we are piecing together the two tales within our text Dog Head. Will our mysterious stranger appear in the present and support Jack with his little problem - the fact he is turning into the God of the Underworld? In Geography we have investigated and identified the distribution of resources and settlements within Egypt to create layered maps.
A good week everyone; it’s great to see you still pushing yourself to make even more progress.
Nebular: Cuinn Stubbs
Constellation: Riley Lee