Monthly Archives: June 2014

Hello to all our visitors and thank you for looking at our blog.   I hope you all have had a restful weekend and are ready to begin a new and busy one.

Aspiration Week

Last week’s Aspiration Week was an overwhelming success. We are all so proud of the children who ‘took over’ the school for the day. Each one of them took their roles and responsibilities so seriously and worked really hard. I spent a large proportion of the day with Isa who took on my role as Head of School. He observed lessons, carried out a Learning Walk of the school environment, gave feedback to staff, directed our PA: Mrs Rice and met a representative from a learning resource supplier to review new products and help decide which ones would be of benefit to our children and which we could afford from the budget. All the children who took part  in the day were an absolute credit to our school and we are looking forward to hearing their views about the experience.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff who shared their jobs for the day and, especially,  to all the visitors who came in to school during the week to teach us about the jobs they do. The children were truly inspired and each visitor remarked on how interested, enthusiastic and well behaved our children were. Thank you, everyone!

A special thanks must go to Miss Kneeshaw and our School Council for organising such a super event. I know that between them they reviewed hundreds of job applications and carried out hours of interviews. It was well worth all their time and effort. Thank you.

Copthorne this week

Exceed Sports Event

Our group of Exceed schools will be holding a sports event which will be held on Monday 23rd June.  Eighteen children from Years 3 to 6 will be taking part in a sports day which will be held at Bradford Park Avenue.  The children will compete in activities such as javelin, long jump, shotputting, hurdles and sprinting.  I know that the children will be wonderful ambassadors for Copthorne and will have an enjoyable day meeting the other children from our LAP.

Copthorne’s Got Talent – Final

On Tuesday 24th June at 10am, we will be holding our annual Copthorne’s Got Talent Final.  The talent this year, as always, has been spectacular and I am extremely proud of all our children who have taken part this year.  If any parents/family members would like to come to watch the event we would be delighted to welcome you into school. If you are attending, please ensure that you arrive in school by 9.50 am.

The winners of the competition will then go on to take part in a grand final against our other LAP schools on Friday 27th June. I would like to wish all our finalists the very best of luck. Go Copthorne!

City Park – “Mad Day 2”

The Music & Arts Service and the PE & School Sport Service have joined together to create a unique extravaganza for schools to celebrate the 2014 Grand Depart through song, dance, music making, cycling and environmentally friendly power generation. I am pleased to announce that  on Thursday 26th June, our school, along with 4 other schools across the Bradford district have been chosen to take part in this extravaganza.  The children have spent the last couple of weeks practicing a ‘zumba’ dance with their teachers which they will perform on the day.  The children and staff are very excited and I look forward to hearing all about the activites they will be taking part in.

I hope you have a wonderful week

Mrs Shepherd

Hello everyone. I hope your weekend was a good one and that you are ready to begin a new week. 

Last week Mr Jacques and myself,  along with the other Head Teachers from the Exceed Alliance, joined colleagues from across the country to attend the Inspiring Leadership  Conference in Birmingham.  This was a wonderful opportunity to hear a range of inspirational speakers and attend workshops to find out about outstanding practice and innovations in school leadership. It was also a time to share ideas and consider the priorities for the improvement of our own schools. The event was truly inspiring and we have returned to school refreshed and with lots of ideas to share with staff, pupils, parents and governors.

Bringing creativity outside

I am delighted to inform you that our new Early Years outdoor provision has now been completed and looks fantastic.  A superb beach area has been installed where the children can build sandcastles with their friends along with a flow wall to enable children to experiment with water.  We have a wigwam so that the children can take books outside and look at them quietly as well as using their imagination to play.  Now that the nice weather is finally here our children can enjoy a picnic on the new artificial grass area or our little footballers can have a game of football.  There is also a perspex board where children can paint which will also help them with their creativity  and expression.  In addition, a low level climbing frame has been built to complement the existing challenging climbing frame.  Last but not least we have an amazing story teller’s chair and 4 mushroom stools which are ideal for children to listen to and tell their stories in the fresh air. It is delightful to see our Early Years children playing in and gaining so much from their new environment.

This week at Copthorne

Aspiration Week 

It will be a very exciting week at school this week as many of our children ‘take over’ Copthorne for a short time. On Wednesday 18th June the children will be working alongside and in the role of a number of members of staff. In this way, the children will experience what a range of  job roles entail.  The children will be applying for whichever job they are interested in by completing an application form on  Monday 16th June. This will then be followed by interviews on Tuesday 17th June which will be led by the School Council.  After the “takeover day”, children will be expected to review the week. Throughout the week we will also have several inspiring visitors in school such as a policeman, a paramedic, a nurse, an architect, a games developer, a badminton player and a Care Assistant.  These visitors will be visiting classes to answer any questions that the children may have regarding their profession.  This is all part of our work on Investors in Pupils through which we aim to develop our children’s understanding of what different jobs involve, show them the range of jobs that exist, develop their leadership skills and help to raise their aspirations. I know that the staff and children are really looking forward to this experience. Staff are hoping that we will still have jobs by this time next week as we think there is a very strong chance that we may have been replaced by our amazing children!

 Diversity in the Woods

On Tuesday 17th June our Key Stage 2 New to English children will be visiting St Ives Wood in Bingley. They will be joining other children from the other schools in the Exceed Alliance  to develop their  use of language.  The children will have lots of fun team building with the other children.  This will be a great opportunity for them to meet other pupils and will help greatly with their confidence.  Have fun everyone! 

Year 4 Bookworms

As mentioned in last week’s blog, we have arranged for our Key Stage 2 children to visit the City Library. As part of Bradford Libraries commitment to supporting the literacy needs and development of children within the Bradford district, they are operating a children’s library ticket amnesty.  On Wednesday 18th June, it will be the turn of Year 4 to vist the library and see the vast range of books that the library can offer.

Nursery Welcome Celebration Evening

On Wednesday 18th June we are holding a very important meeting for parents and carers of children who will be joining our nursery in September.  At the meeting parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet the members of the Senior Leadership team and our Nursery staff and to find out about routines and expectations for their child’s time at Nursery.  It will also be an ideal chance to get to know the parents of the other children who will be attending and to celebrate getting a place at our over-subscribed Nursery.  The meeting will start at 6pm prompt and light refreshments will be served.  I would like to congratulate all the parents and carers whose child has secured a place at our Nursery.  I look foward to welcoming you all!

The Sound of Music

We are delighted that the Music and Arts Service will be coming to school to deliver a concert for our Key Stage 2 pupils on Friday 20th June.  The theme of the concert is the history of dance and they will be playing music showing the pupils different styles of music with moving images of the dances.  The group will play a variety of instruments from the string, woodwind, brass, percussion and keyboard families. Children will hopefully recognise some of the music that the group will play and they will be encouraged to answer questions throughout the concert.  This should be a wonderful, stimulating and educational morning for the children. 

Wishing you all a lovely week

Mrs Shepherd

Hello everyone and I hope you have had a lovely weekend.  Mrs Whalley, Miss Armitstead, Mr A Khan and I have just returned from an amazing time in Rhodes with our other Comenuis colleagues. I am looking forward to seeing our children and staff today to tell them all about our wonderful experience.  We have a very busy week ahead with lots of classes going on trips – I hope we have brought the sunny weather back from Rhodes with us so that everyone stays nice and dry on their visits.

‘Once Upon a Time’ in Rhodes. 

Well, what a fantastic week it was. After arriving late on Monday evening and meeting up with all of our colleagues from the other 9 schools in the project, our first official activity was to visit the Greek school – Dimotiko Scholeio Pastidas – and meet the children. We received an heart warming welcome, with the children waving flags from each of the countries involved in the project and chanting ‘Welcome to Rhodes’ in all the languages of the project. After a great presentation by pupils of some information about each of the project countries, each team visited a classroom to teach a 45 minute lesson based on a traditional tale from their country. We were delighted to be able to teach a Grade 1 class (6 year olds) the story of Goldilocks and the 3 bears. The 4 of us presented the story as a role play whilst the class teacher – Elina – translated it into Greek for the children. We then taught the children the song ‘When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears …’ which the children loved and then sang with us. To finish off there was a question and answer session where the children asked us lots of questions about Copthorne. It was a pleasure to work with such keen and happy children who have clearly spent a lot of time learning about the UK.

Our Comenius planning meeting took place on the same day after a beautiful lunch at the school. The meeting allowed us to share the work we have done so far and to decide on the dates for the next visits which include a joint Netherlands and UK visit during the week beginning 8th December. So, we are really looking forward to hosting our visitors and showing them as much as possible about our amazing school and Yorkshire.

The remainder of the week was spent on cultural visits to deepen and strengthen our understanding of Greek history, way of life and the education system, during which we were guided and accompanied by school staff. A Comenius festival took place on Wednesday evening at the school and was a credit to the hard work of the staff and children. After the performance we were also able to meet the children’s parents and hear about how valuable they believe this project to be both to their children’s learning but also to their own cross-cultural understanding and knowledge.

Before leaving, each team was resented with beautiful gifts from Rhodes and, for the school, a book showing photographs of Rhodes taken by a famous Rhodean photographer. The pictures are stunning and show many of the places we were fortunate to visit during the week. It will be a valued addition to our library.

On behalf of the four of us and the whole of Copthorne, I would like to say a great big thank you to Vicky, the Head Teacher, and the whole of the Rhodes team for giving us a week that we will treasure in our memories for always and which has taught us so much about each other and our schools. We look forward to seeing you all again in the future.

Thank you also to Miss Armitstead, Mr Khan and Mrs Whalley with whom it was a pleasure to spend the week and who were wonderful ambassadors for Copthorne and the UK.

The next Comeniu visit takes place in Lithunia in September

This week at Copthorne

Internet Safety for Parents

On Monday 9th June at 2.30pm there will be an E-Safety meeting at school for parents to attend.  The meeting will explain issues relating to the use of the internet at home and school.  It will also make parents aware of the dangers of being unaware of what children are looking at when they use the computer at home and the precautions that can be taken to ensure that children are safe when they are online.  The meeting will address concerns that we as parents have for our children’s use of the internet and ensure that our children are able to use the internet safely.  I hope that as many parents and carers will be attend this very important meeting.

Year 3 in the woods

As part of their Creative Curriculum theme: Habitats, 3 Larch will  be visiting Nell Bank on Monday 9th June.  The children will be looking at how plants and animals are suited to and adapt to their environment. They will also study mini-beasts and take part in an orienteering  activity.  3 Alder will be visiting Nell Bank on Friday 13th June.  I am sure the children will have a fantastic learning experience and lots of fun.

Linking Schools

4 Poplar will be joining their Linking School partners at All Saints Primary school in Ilkley on Tuesday 10th June.  The children from All Saints have already visited Copthorne and the children from both schools also enjoyed an exciting day together at Nell Bank in Ilkley.  I am sure the trip will be a great success and know that the children are very excited about meeting their friends again! 

As an extra treat, our children have been fortunate to be one of the classees chosen to attend an extra event: Routes to Peace, which is taking place across Bradford this month.  During the visit, the children will meet their linking partners again for a picnic and carry out a range of activities led by members of the Peace Museum in City Hall alongside a singing group.  Well done 4 Poplar for being such great ambassadors for our school.

Diversity in the Woods

On Tuesday 10th June our New to English children will be visiting St Ives Wood in Bingley. They will be joining other children from the other schools in the Exceed Alliance  to develop the children’s use of language.  The children will have lots of fun team building with the other children.  This will be a great opportunity for the children to meet other pupils and will help greatly with their confidence.  Have fun everyone!

Library Visit

As part of Bradford Libraries commitment to supporting the literacy needs and development of children within the Bradford district, they are operating a children’s library ticket amnesty.  This will mean that children who have any outstanding fines or lost items on their library ticket will have their ticket cleared and their borrowing rights restored.  We have arranged for children in KS2 to visit the library over the next few weeks.   The joining form, which was sent out last week with the children, should have been sent back to school by today in order for us to send them off to the library so that the tickets can be ready for the children when they visit the library. Year 3 visited the library last week and Year 5 will go on Wednesday 11th June.  I am sure you will agree that this is a great opportunity for children to return to using the library and have access to thousands of wonderful books.

Year 4 Egyptian Day

As part of Year 4’s Creative Curriculum topic centred around Eygpt, they will be having an ‘Egyptian Day’ in school on Thursday 12th June.  The children will be learning all about the various Egyptian Gods and looking at what mummification is and the meaning of this. The children have already performed an Egyptian assembly in school which was very interesting and factual and was an absolute delight to watch.  Keep up the good work Year 4 and we look forward to learning lots more from you!

Meeting of Minds

On Thursday 12th June School Council members from our school will be joining other members from the Exceed schools at Farnham Primary School.  They will have a tour around the school and, after having lunch together, they will  exchange ideas about how they can improve their schools and discuss projects that have already taken place. I am sure that, as usual, the children will come back with lots of ideas to keep making Copthorne even better.

We do like to be beside the seaside 

Our Reception classes are very excited to be visiting the seaside town of Scarborough on Friday 13th June.  The visit is part of their Creative Curriculum theme: Journeys and Holidays. Whilst there, the children will have the opportunity to enjoy the seaside and Peasholm Park.  Once back at school the children will talk about why Scarborough is such a good place for a holiday and this will support the children’s writing. I am sure the children will have a fantastic day by the seaside and we hope the sun shines down on them.

Have a lovely week everyone.

Mrs Shepherd