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Tuck shop is back!

Our Key Stage 2 (Years 3 – 6) fruit and veg tuck shop regularly sells about fifty portions of fruit each week and it will be returning next Tuesday 17 September, during playtime.

Does your child sometimes forget their 20p to buy an item from the tuck shop and so misses out on getting one of their five-a-day?

From Tuesday 17 September 2013, for the remainder of the autumn term, we are offering you the option of paying in advance for your child to have a portion of fruit or veg from the tuck shop. We know that some children like to buy more than one portion of fruit or veg, either for variety or to top up their packed lunch and we can also offer the option of paying for two items.

The cost for one portion of fruit or veg from 17 September to 17 December 2013 inclusive (13 weeks) is £2.60 and the cost for two portions is £5.20. Please note that if you choose to pay in advance, your payment is non-refundable and must be made in cash with the exact money.

If you prefer your child to continue paying in cash on a weekly basis, that’s fine – we’ll continue to operate this system.

If you would like to pay in advance for your child to visit the tuck shop, please return the slip, from the letter sent home today, and money to the office by Friday 13 September 2013.

Thank you for your support for the fruit and veg tuck shop.

Year 2 PE days

Please make sure your children have their PE kits in school on Tuesday and Thursday as these are our days for PE.  This is an essential part of our curriculum so it’s really important that children have the correct clothing so that they can fully participate in these lessons.

Here is a reminder of what they should be wearing for PE (copied from our uniform policy):

PE: children should wear white t-shirt, black shorts / tracksuit bottoms and pumps

Thank you for your support.

PE Days

Please make sure your children have their PE kits in school on Monday and Tuesday as these are our days for PE.  This is an essential part of our curriculum so it’s really important that children have the correct clothing so that they can fully participate in these lessons.

Here is a reminder of what they should be wearing for PE (copied from our uniform policy):

PE: children should wear white t-shirt, black shorts / tracksuit bottoms and pumps

Thank you for your support.

A great start to the year!

Year 1 have made a great start to the new school year!  They have settled into new routines, listened to a lot of new information and have astounded us with their writing.  Everyone has come in smiling and ready to learn and this has meant we have been able to start the year with a great positive attitude.

Here are some photos showing how positively Year 1 have started the school year:

06 September 2013

The spellings this week are all words where you have to drop the ‘e’ at the end of
the word when adding ‘ing’. The children will be tested on the ‘ing’ words in the third column. However, it’s important that they also know the root words (second column) so they understand how the rule works.

06 September 2013

The first piece of homework in Year 2 is creative homework. Just to remind everyone, this means that the homework can be presented in a variety of different ways – it’s up to you and your child! The only rule is that you can only use one page of the homework book (but you can come up with your own sneaky ways of enlarging the space if you need to!).

Homework needs to be handed in on Wednesday 11 September 2013.

I can explain how five different materials change when you heat and cool them.

It’s up to you how you do this but if you’re stuck here are some suggestions;

• Conduct your own experiment
• Take pictures of your findings
• Create and information page / booklet
• Draw labelled diagrams

I’m looking forward to seeing what all our Year 2 professors find out.

Happy experimenting!

06 September 2013

The home work this week is Talk Time and is due in on Wednesday 11 September.

I can talk about what I’m going to do at home and at school to make sure I have a successful year.

Below are the guidance notes taken from the school’s Homework Policy for Talk Time homework:

Talk Time

Teachers have noticed that, in some instances, a lot of time has been taken on the presentation of the Talk Time homework. Children are welcome to do this although it is not necessary. The purpose of Talk Time homework is to encourage a conversation around their current learning. Any notes made in their homework book should simply be there to aid them as a prompt when it is discussed in class the following week. For this reason, teachers tend to give verbal feedback during their talk time session in class. We want our children to be expert talkers, using a variety of sentences and expressions, and able to back up their points or disagree with others in a polite way – this is more important than written notes for Talk Time. Simply: it’s hard to be a good writer if you’re not a good speaker, so Talk Times using ambitious words, useful phrases, interesting sentences is the best way to support your child.

06 September 2013

The first piece of homework in Year 1 is creative homework.  This means that the homework can be presented in a variety of different ways – it’s up to you and your child!  The only rule is that you can only use one page of the homework book (but flaps and fold-outs are sneaky ways to enlarge the space if needed!). 

Homework needs to be handed in on Wednesday 11 September 2013.

“I can show what things are made of in my house.”

This homework is linked to a mini topic that we are doing on “Materials”.  We have had a couple of lessons about materials so this is your child’s chance to think about what they have learnt so far.  Here are some suggestions of things he / she could do:

• photos of different materials in the home
• groups of objects all made of the same material – photos or drawings
• rubbings / examples of different materials
• lists of things made of certain  materials

Let’s be material detectives!

Attendance

A letter from Paul Brennan, Deputy Director of Learning Skills and Universal Services for Leeds Children’s Services:

Dear parent/carer,

I would like to advise you about important changes to legislation announced by the Department for Education (DfE) with regard to holidays in term time.

From 1 September 2013, schools are no longer allowed to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school for a holiday during term time.

Requests for leave can only be granted in exceptional circumstances, and a holiday would not be considered exceptional. Requests for leave must also be made to the school in advance, as the DfE have told schools that they cannot authorise any absences after they have been taken.

Parents may receive a penalty notice if their child is absent from school without permission. From September 2013 the cost of these notices will be £60 per child per parent if paid within 21 days, and £120 if paid between 22 and 28 days.

We appreciate the challenges that some parents face when booking holidays, particularly during the school holidays. However, regular attendance at school is vital in helping children and young people to achieve their full potential and get the best possible start in life.

Nationally, five million school days were missed in the academic year 2011/ 2012 because of family holidays in term time, which is 10.1 per cent of overall absence in schools. This high level of absence has led the government to make this important change to legislation.

We anticipate that all schools in Leeds will introduce firm policies, and we will work closely with them to ensure that this change to the law has a positive impact on rates of attendance in the city.

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the council and your child’s school to thank you for your full support in this matter.

Further information can be found at http://www.education.gov.uk/.

Yours sincerely

Paul Brennan

Welcome to Year 2

Hello everyone,

September is here and it’s time for a new year to begin! I know everybody is looking forward  to returning to school tomorrow, ready and raring to learn and have fun. We’ve got lots of exciting things planned for the coming term, kicking off with a mini topic on changing materials so make sure you pack your lab coats.

I’ll see your smiling faces at 8.50 tomorrow morning.