Monthly Archives: February 2015

Hello everybody and welcome to our last week of half term. I cannot believe how quickly this half term has gone – we have had such a busy few weeks and I am sure you are all ready for a well-deserved break.

This week at Copthorne

R.E. Week

This week in school is R.E. week.  During the week, the children will have the opportunity to complete some in depth work driven by the theme ‘The Island’.  The children will be thinking about fairness and justice in relation to an island which is yet to have any rules.  They will also discuss ‘The Golden Rule’: to treat others how we would like to be treated.  Our pupils will think about why this is important to ensure that we live in a fair and peaceful world.

Wroot Travis Primary School Visit

Today, children and staff from Wroot Travis Primary School in Lincolnshire will be visiting our school.  Wroot Travis is a small school consisting of 41 children and we are delighted to welcome them  all to our school.  The aim of this trip is to create a link with another school in a contrasting locality and to support work in RE, PSCHE and geography.  During the morning the children will be joining in with classes in their own year group and  they will each link up with a ‘penpal’.  The school will then be joining us for lunch which will be an Asian main course followed by a British pudding.  After lunch the group will be visiting Hanfia Mosque.  I am sure that our children and staff will give them a warm welcome and we hope to maintain links with the school.

The pen-pals from Copthorne will be taking part in a visit to Wroot Travis School during the summer term  – about which we are all already very excited!

Billy Bob Buttons

We are very excited to welcome to Copthorne an author Edward Trayer (pen name Billy Bob Buttons).  He is the author of the 2014 UK People’s Book Prize Winner and UK bestseller, ‘I think I murdered Miss’.  Mr Trayer will be visiting children in KS2 on Tuesday when he will lead two workshops about writing adventure stories and planning for writing.  Parents and carers should have received a letter last week informing them that their children will have the opportunity to buy signed copies of his books at a discounted price.  I am looking forward to hearing from the children all about what they have learnt.

Parents Evening

Our annual reporting to parents meeting will take place on Thursday 12th February from 3.15pm – 6pm.   Please make an appointment to come and speak to the class teacher by completing the slip on the letters which you received last week. The class teacher will then send you an appointment. The appointments will each last approximately 5 minutes (10 minutes for Year 6) and it is important that parents and carers attend in order to discuss children’s progress and targets.  I look forward to seeing as many parents and carers as possible.

School Council Meeting

On Thursday 12th February, children from our  School Council will host a meeting for all School Council members from across the Exceed Alliance. Our visitors will have lunch with us and then they will share ideas and discuss projects with the other councillors. We look forward to hearing all about their new ideas.

I hope you have a lovely break next week.  School will re-open at the usual time on 23rd February 2015.

Mrs Shepherd

Welcome to another week at Copthorne.  I hope you all enjoyed playing in the snow last week. We rarely have to close school but unfortunately, last Thursday, we felt that it was the best thing to do for health and safety reasons.

This week at Copthorne

Comenius Visit to Spain

Today Miss Horton, Mrs Parveen, Mr Rizvi and I will be travelling to Spain to visit our Comenius Partners.  We are looking forward to meeting representatives from the 9 other countries in the project.  Whilst in Spain we will be visiting the Spanish school, Blas Infante, in Malaga as well as  learning all about the Spanish culture and visiting local landmarks.. On our return we will be sharing our experiences with staff and children and completing further work on our Once Upon a Time project.

Injury Minimization Programme for Schools

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, our Year 6 children will be visiting the Bradford Royal Infirmary as part of the annual Injury Minimization Programme for Schools.  The visit has been arranged in order to give the children some basic first aid training.  I am hopeful that we have several Mary Seacoles, Florence Nightingales and Alexander Flemings amongst our    children!

Year 4 visit to York

On Thursday 5th February, Year 4 will be travelling to York to visit both the Yorkshire and Castle Museums.  The visit has been arranged to support the children’s Copthorne Curriculum learning about the history of York.  The children will leave school at the normal time and will return to school at 4.15pm.

Community Hearts Awards

I am also delighted to announce that Copthorne Primary School is one of the two finalists in the Community Hearts Awards in the category: Schools Contribution to the Community.  Also, Mr A Khan is a finalist in the Inspirational member of support staff category. Congratulations to Mr Khan and, of course, to our whole school. Thank you to the parents who nominated us.  The results will be announced at the award ceremony which will be held on Friday 20^th March at Rio Grande in Bradford. 

Star of the Month Assembly

This Friday, 6th February, we will hold our Star of the Month Assembly. At the assembly one pupil from each class will be  rewarded for exceptional learning behaviour and work.  Staff working in each class  nominate the children they feel have displayed a no excuses, positive attitude. Well done to this month’s award winners – Copthorne is so proud of you all.

I hope you have a lovely week. I will miss you but look forward to seeing you again next Monday.

Mrs Shepherd