Hello Everyone. I hope that, like me, you are all looking forward to another great week at Copthorne.

Well done to all our Year 6 pupils for working so very hard in their SATs last week. All the staff and I were so impressed with how seriously you approached the tests and how determined you all were to show what you could do. We are all very proud of you. Thank you too to all the parents, carers and family members for supporting the children so positively. We now look forward to the results which should be with us by the end of June.

It is now the turn of our Year 2 pupils to do their SATs which began last Friday with the writing test. I visited each class before the test began and it was wonderful hear the children telling me about how hard they were going to work. I am sure that they will be a credit to themselves and the school. In order to support the children throughout the tests it is really important that they get a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast. Breakfast Club will be available to our Year 2 children free of charge throughout this week  – I look forward to seeing them there. We know you can do it Year 2!

Ancient Greek Day          

 Last week our Year 5 children had another interesting experience – a visit from an ‘Ancient Greek Man’.The visitor dressed in clothing that would have been worn in the time of the Ancient Greeks and taught our children all about what life was like during that period of history. Part of the day involved the children acting out a traditional Greek play using authentic masks and costumes. The children had a wonderful time as the day helped to bring the learning to life for them. Thank you to our visitor.

This week at Copthorne

Canon Hall Farm                                                                                                            

Our Reception classes will be visiting Canon Hall Farm today as part of their work about animals and life on the farm. The children are all very excited and I know that they will have a wonderful day. I hope they manage to see the Little Red Hen and, if they do, I’m sure they will help her make her bread. I will be visiting Reception on Tuesday morning so look forward to hearing all about the trip then.

Cricket Competition  

Members of Years 5 and 6 will be taking part in a Drax cricket competition on Tuesday 21st May. We wish them well and know that they will continue to be great ambassadors for Copthorne.

Last week our team of Year 4 pupils came 2nd in the same competition. Congratulations to the team from Farnham Primary who came first. Well done to our team for playing brilliantly and being so supportive of each other and opposing teams.

Literacy Group Trip                                                                                                                     

Since September a group of parents from our community have been attending an adult Literacy class in school. The class has been a great success and all the parents attending feel much more confident as regards both written and spoken English. In order to celebrate their achievements the class have organised a trip to the new Trinity Centre in Leeds on Wednesday 22nd May. We are proud to be able to support our parents in their learning as we believe that Copthorne is a place where everyone can become a lifelong learner. I wish all members of the group a great day out.

Year 1 Assembly     

At Copthorne everyone looks forward to the year group assemblies. These are a time for our children to show us some of the wonderful things they have been learning about and to let us see the many skills they have such as speaking in front of an audience, acting, singing and dancing. This Wednesday, 22nd May, it is the turn of Year 1. They will be presenting their assembly on Toy Story which has been their Creative Curriculum theme this term. The children have worked very hard on their assembly and would be delighted if you could come and see it. The assembly will take pace at both 9.15am and 2.15pm. We are all looking forward to seeing you there.

Places of worship      

Our Reception pupils have another trip to look forward to as, on Wednesday 22nd May, they will be visiting both a local mosque and a church. The children are learning about places of worship and will be thinking about the similarities and differences between the two buildings.

Copthorne’s Got Talent           

This week it is the turn of our Year 5 and 6 class finalists to audition for a place in the Key Stage semi-finals. The auditions will be held on Thursday 23rd (Year 6) and Friday 24th (Year 5). Good luck to all the competitors and well done for getting this far in the competition.

Key Stage 2 Music Assembly          

This Friday, 24th May at 2.10pm, there will be a special assembly where Key Stage 2 pupils will be presenting several pieces of music that they have learnt in their instrumental lessons this year. This will include recorders and flutes. Parents and families are very welcome to attend and we look forward to seeing you there.

Spring Bank Holiday      

Copthorne closes for the Spring Bank holiday at the end of school on Friday 24th May. We reopen at the usual time (8am for Breakfast Club) on Tuesday 4th June. Have a lovely holiday everyone – I hope the sun shines for us all.

Thought for the week

“I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

Wishing you all an enjoyable week.

Mrs Shepherd

Hello everyone. I hope you have all had a restful weekend and are ready for another busy week.

This week is SATs week for our Year 6 children. They have worked really hard every day so far this year. Now it is their chance to show everyone what they can do as regards English and Maths. Our message to our children is that we believe that there are no limits to what you can achieve. We know that you can do it. Our thoughts are with you so keep calm, believe in what you can do and go for it!

This week at Copthorne

The timetable for the Year 6 SATs this week is as follows:

Monday 13th May AM: Reading

Tuesday 14th May AM: Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Wednesday 15th May AM: Mental Maths, Maths Paper A

Thursday 16th May AM: Maths Paper B

Thursday 16th May PM: Level 6 Maths

Breakfast Club will be free for all our Year 6 children from Monday to Thursday this week. We are asking all our Year 6 children to try to arrive at school at 8.15am in order to have time for a good breakfast and to chat with their teachers so that they go into their tests calm and happy. It is especially important this week for each child to go to bed in plenty of time for a good night’s sleep.

Year 2 SATs

These take place throughout the next several weeks beginning this Friday 17th May, with the Long Writing task.

We send all our Year 6 and Year 2 children our best wishes and lots of love. We believe in you!

Exceed Alliance Cricket Competition

On Tuesday 14th May a team of Year 4 and 5 pupils will be taking part in the Exceed Cricket competition. We wish them all the best and know that as usual, they will be great team players.

Copthorne’s Got Talent

This week it is the turn of our Year 4 children to take part in the first round of auditions for Copthorne’s Got Talent. These will take place on Thursday 16th May between 12 and 1 pm in the Year 4 classrooms. I am sure that the acts will be of a very high standard and that, as usual, our judges will be very impressed. Good luck everyone.

Mrs Bentley to visit

On Friday 17th May  a special visitor is coming to speak to the children in Reception: Mrs Bentley (the mother of Miss Bentley in Foundation Stage) is bringing in a very precious china doll to show to the children. This will help them to find out about what toys were like in the past compared to the present day. We look forward to meeting Mrs Bentley and are very grateful that she has taken the time to come and visit Copthorne.

Thought for the week

Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.
– David Bly

Have a great week, everyone.

Mrs Shepherd

Happy May Day everyone and welcome to another week at Copthorne.

We finally seem to be having some warm weather which is lovely for the children at playtime and generally seems to make everyone feel happy.

Last week was another busy one at Copthorne full of exciting and interesting learning activities, celebrations and sporting events.

6 Sycamore to Buddha Land

As part of their National Curriculum RE   work, Year 6 have been finding out about Buddhism. As you know, at Copthorne, we believe that it is very important for our pupils to learn about other religions and cultures so that they can develop mutual respect, tolerance and understanding. This helps each child to become a great citizen.

The pupils from 6 Sycamore visited a Buddhist temple called Buddha Land. Everyone enjoyed the visit and learnt a great deal. You will soon be able to read all about the visit in the pupils’ own blog on the subject.

Pod casting training

Last Monday evening all the teachers and our Digital Leaders (pupils trained to lead and develop the use of ICT throughout the school) were trained in the production of Pod casts. These are, basically, radio broadcasts designed and produced by pupils which are then transmitted via the Internet. The staff and children learnt how to create an audio advert, add music and layer sounds. Pod casting will be introduced to all classes and will be a great tool for developing our pupils’ speaking and writing skills as it gives them a real purpose for their work. We are hoping that we will be able to produce half termly pod cast news reports which we will post on our website – this will allow us to keep even more people up to date with what is happening in school.

Everyone enjoyed the training and the opportunity to learn alongside each other – we believe that it is vital for pupils to see their teachers as learners too. James Langley who delivered the training contacted us after the event to comment upon the positive attitude of our pupils and to say what a credit they are to Copthorne. Well done everyone – I am so looking forward to our first radio show.

Exceed Football Tournament

On Wednesday, a team of pupils from Years 5 and 6 took part in a football tournament against the other 6 schools in the Exceed Alliance. I am thrilled to report that Team Copthorne was victorious. The children played brilliantly and, even more importantly, were great team players and supported other teams well. Congratulations!

Copthorne’ Got Talent

Last week saw the first of the year group auditions for Copthorne’s got talent. At this stage the children perform in their classrooms in front of our select judging panel. The top 3 acts from these auditions will be put through to their Key Stage final later this term.  The first year group to audition was Year 1. The judges have told me that the acts were very impressive and lots of fun. Good luck everyone.

Music Concert

Last Friday we were fortunate to have a visit from Bradford Councils’ Music Service. A number of very skilled musicians put on a special concert for Key Stage 2 during which they demonstrated a number of instruments.

The concert was inspiring and enjoyed by all the children and staff. Thank you to the Music Service for taking the time to share their talents and love of music with us.

Off to the farm

On Friday our Nursery Children visited St Leonard’s Farm. I am looking forward to hearing all about it when we return to school on Tuesday as I know that the children were extremely excited before they left for the trip.

Assistant Head Teachers

On Friday, Mr Jacques, Mrs Hussain (our Chair of Governors), Mrs Whalley and I interviewed a very strong field of candidates for the 2 Assistant Head positions that were available. The candidates were put though a very rigorous selection process during which  their teaching was observed, they each had to give a 10 minute presentation and complete some data analysis and an in-tray task and then be formally interviewed by the panel. A particularly positive aspect of the process was that it included the candidates being interviewed by members of our School Council. This is the first time that our School Councillors have been involved in the recruitment process and it was a great success. The children wrote their own questions and then interviewed each candidate in the presence of an adult observer. This really helped us to make the right decisions for our school.

We have selected the 2 candidates we feel will be best for Copthorne and, as soon as references have been collected and all background check s completed to our satisfaction we will let you know who the successful candidates are.

This week at Copthorne

May Day

School is closed today, 6th May, for the May Day Bank Holiday. I hope everyone has a restful day and that the sun shines for us all.

The children have produced a beautiful display  in the hall about the customs associated with May Day. Pleae feel free to have a look at it when you are next in school.

Next Week

It’s SATs week Good luck to all of our pupils in Year 2 and Year6 – we know that you will work really hard and show just how wonderful you are. You can do it!

Tips for the week before SATs:

Get a good night’s sleep every night

Keep practising your Mathletics and Times Tables each day

Read as much as you can and, as you do that, think about the language the writer has used, how it makes you feel and why it has been written in a particular way.

Go over the features of different types of writing and see if you can recognise these in anything you read

Keep calm

Thought for the week

Be thankful for all the struggles you go through in life. They make you stronger, wiser and humble. Don’t let them break you, let them make you.

Have another wonderful week everyone.

Mrs Shepherd