Category Archives: Headteacher’s Weekly Blog

Hello everyone. Welcome to another exciting week at Copthorne.

It was great to welcome you all back to school last Monday. It means so much to all the staff in school to see the children arrive with such happy, smiling faces. Many people believe that a smile is contagious and I agree.

One of the many special things about Copthorne is the way that children, staff and parents greet each other every day with a cheerful ‘Good Morning’ and a quick chat about the weekend or the day ahead – it makes each day start really  well.

Attendance

Once again I feel it is important to talk about pupil attendance. It is vital that our children attend school regularly. As I have explained on previous occasions, for every week of school that a child misses he/she can fall behind their classmates by up to a month. In addition, absence can affect a child’s friendship groups as he/she many find it very difficult to slot back into school after a period of absence. Although we are sympathetic to the fact that many members of our community have family living abroad I must remind you that – unless there are extenuating circumstances such as medical reasons –  no absence for a holiday or a visit here or abroad will be authorised. Anyone who does take their child out of school will, potentially, be liable for a Local Authority fine. I am sure that you understand that this policy has the very best interests of our children at its heart and I look forward to your support in this matter.

What’s happening this week?

Year 3 Residential

A group of children from 3 Larch and 3 Alder will be setting off after lunch today for a 2 night residential at the Kingswood Centre in the Peak District. The children will be accompanied by Miss Bradley and Mrs Robinson and are part of a larger group of Year 3 children and staff from our Exceed Alliance schools: Horton Grange, Princeville, Farnham, Lidget Green, Crossley Hall and St Oswald’s. The group will be taking part in a range of activities  including: quad biking, raft building, archery, circus skills, the giant swing and aeroball. It all sounds very exciting and I am sure that all the children will have a wonderful time and, as usual, be great ambassadors for Copthorne.

This residential is a great opportunity for our children to have their first experience of staying away from home in a safe and stimulating environment. It also gives them the chance to develop friendships with other children from their local community. There will be lots of opportunities for team and confidence building during their stay and I am looking forward to our children returning and telling us all about what they have done and  learnt.

We will send regular text messages to parents to let them know that the children have arrived safely and about how they are getting on. This information will also be shown on the notice board outside the Year 3 cloakroom.

I look forward to hearing all about this adventure when the children return to school on Wednesday afternoon.

Film Studio Training

We recently purchased a portable film studio for our pupils. This includes a full size, professional movie camera, lights, microphones and a green screen. This will allow our pupils to produce professional-style films such as  weekly news reports, reports of special events, and dramatic productions to support their work in all subjects but – particularly – in English. It is a great opportunity for pupils to develop their skills in speaking, listening and creativity.

During our staff meeting tonight we will be joined by a number of our pupils who are Digital Leaders. Together we will be trained on how to set up and use the equipment. The Digital Leaders will then support the teachers in teaching all pupils and support staff in the use of the equipment. Look out for our finished films – these will be shown on the TV in our main entrance and, where possible, on the Website.

School Council

On Tuesday 23rd April at 1pm, Copthorne will be hosting another meeting of the School Councillors from the Exceed Alliance Schools. During these meetings all the children from the School Councils are able to discuss and share ideas for their schools. The children also learn about the correct way to run official meetings. So far, these events have proved to be a really positive way for children to develop and take interesting and innovative ideas back to their schools.. We look forward to finding out about the ideas they bring from the meeting.

Egyptian Day

Year 4 have a very special day to look forward to on Wednesday 24th April. It is Egyptian Day. There will be a visitor in school and the children will be taking part in a wide range of workshops and activities. I am sure that there will be lots of blogging about this and I look forward to reading all about the new learning that will have taken place.

Jess the dog comes to visit. 

On Wednesday, 24th April Reception classes will have a very special visitor spending the day with them: Jess, Mrs Bentley’s dog, will be visiting our school. This is part of the children’s work on pets and how to care for them. I know that everyone will make Jess very welcome – we’ll just have to make sure we don’t spoil her too much!

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Remember, you can reply to and post your comments in the ‘Post a Reply’ section at the bottom of this post.

Mrs Shepherd

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Monday 25th March 2013

Welcome to another busy week at Copthorne. I hope you have all managed to stay safe and  warm over the past few days of heavy snow. Making the decision not to open school on Friday morning was difficult, but one which was made to keep our children and staff safe. I hope you were able to make the best of the day at home and I am looking forward to seeing some of your snowmen in our streets today. It’s hard to imagine that it is nearly the end of March and the start of
British Summertime! Let’s hope that we have some sunshine soon.

Easter holidays
We break up at the end of school on Thursday 28th March and return on Monday 15th April.  As usual, Exceed will be running a full programme of holiday activities for children of all ages. You can find information about these in the Exceed Holiday Booklet avaialble from the school’s main office.I wish everyone a peaceful and enjoyable break and look
forward to seeing you all again ready for an exciting term ahead.

Mrs Shepherd’s Holiday Challenge
This holiday we will be starting our first Holiday Challenge. Each holiday I will be asking our children to work at home on a particular theme. The children will be given a title, for example, Weather, and asked to go away and do some work on that subject. Children can work alone or with family members to create anything at all to do with that theme. It can be a story, a picture, a poem, a model, a photo story, a piece of film – it is absolutely up to each child to choose what he/she wants to do. The important thing is that our children will be involved in further learning at home in a way that allows them to follow their own interests and show their particular skills. Work should be returned to each class teacher on the first day back after the holiday – in this case April 15th. I will then visit each class to see what the children have done
and we will be celebrating the work in our monthly celebration assemblies. I am so looking forward to seeing what the children produce when given this opportunity and hope to be able to display some of the work done in our school
entrance.The challenge is voluntary and not a competition but I am hoping that as many of our children as possible will choose to take part.

The title of the Challenge for the Easter holidays is: Spring

Children’s Blog
Our children now have their own biog where they can respond to news items and post their comments and ideas about school. It was lovely to read the ‘SATs Chat’ section of the blog and see how brilliantly our children support one another, both emotionally and with great practical tips and ideas. During the Easter holidays I will be transferring my blog to the Head Teacher Blog section of the new bogging site. In the meantime please feel free to visit the site and enjoy our children’s comments: www.copthorne.j2webby.com

SATs

Once again, the SATs for our Year 2 and Year 6 children are almost upon us.SATs for Year 2 start at the beginning of May and last several weeks. For Key Stage 2, SATs week begins on May 13th. It is very important that all of our pupils,but particularly those in Year2 and 6, attend school every day so as not to miss important learning. As far as homework is concerned, each class teacher will be making sure that the children are given homework which supports them in preparing for SATs. However, parents and carers can also help by making sure that all homework is completed, Mathletics is used as soften as possible and spellings, times tables and reading are practised regularly. Above all, it is very important that every child has enough rest and a good breakfast at the start of each day. As in the past, we will be providing a free breakfast, at Breakfast Club, for all Year 2 and 6 children during SATs week. I know that everyone will do their best and be a credit to themselves, their parents, their community and Copthorne. Just remember to share any worries that you may have – we are all here to support you

Copthorne’s Chicks
Last week we had 6 chicks hatch at Copthorne. Each year we have a set of fertilised eggs delivered by a company called Hatch-It. The eggs are placed in a special incubator to hatch and, once the baby chicks have dried out, they are transferred into a larger incubator to be kept warm. Our children have, once again, enjoyed watching the chicks hatch and naming the new arrivals. Many classes are studying the chicks and keeping a diary of their daily progress whilst they are with us in school. In another week’s time the chicks will move to a new home from which we will receive news as they grow and the first eggs they lay.

This week at Copthorne

Reception visits to Peel Park
As part of the work that our Reception classes are doing about growing things each class will
be visiting Peel Park this week.
1R‘s visit takes place today – Monday 25th March and 2R’s on Tuesday 26th March. Each child will need a packed lunch and a warm coat, hat and gloves. Hopefully most of the snow will have melted by the time the children arrive. I am sure that our children will have a wonderful time and will tell us about all the things that grow in Peel Park.

Easter Assembly
Year 3 have been working hard to prepare their Easter Assembly and I’m sure that they will have done a great job. The assemblies will take place on Wednesday 27th March at 9.30 am and 2.30pm. We would love parents, carers
and family members to join us for the assemblies and look forward to seeing you at one – or both – of those times.

Star of
the Month

Each month we hold a special assembly to celebrate the hard work, great attitudes and achievements of our children. This month’s assembly will take place on Thursday 28th March at 2.30pm. During the assembly we will be presenting prizes to our Stars of the Month. These are the children who have been nominated by their class teacher for showing really positive learning behaviours. Will it be you this time?

Year 3
Residential Meetings
A group of our Year 3 children will soon be taking part in the residential at Kingswood Outdoor Adventure Centre in the Peak District, organised through Exceed. The visit takes place from the 22nd to 24th April during which our children, along with others from the Exceed schools, will be taking part in a range of very exciting activities and staying away from home for 2 nights. A residential like this one is a great opportunity for our children as it helps them to prepare for the Year 6 residential, develops their independence and self awareness and helps to strengthen teamwork between children.
This week we are holding 2 meetings for parents and carers  of the Year 3 pupils taking part in this residential. During the meetings parents will be given an outline of the activities the children will be involved in and details of travel arrangements and the items that each child will need to pack.The dates and times of the meetings are: :
Wednesday 25th March at 8.45am
or
Thursday
28tgh March at 2.30pm
We look forward to seeing you at one of the meetings.

Training Session for Bradford College Students

On Thursday 28th March Mrs Whalley and I will be running a workshop for students from Bradford College training to be teachers. The session will show students how we use a variety of data to identify our priorities for school improvement and plan effective teaching and learning activities for our children. It is very important for Copthorne to be involved in the training of future teachers as we this helps us to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge that we know they will need in the future.

Have a wonderful week everyone and a restful holiday.

Best wishes

Mrs Shepherd