Daily Archives: March 22, 2015

Hello everyone and welcome to another week at Copthorne.  This week there will be lots of exciting activities taking place as we launch Copthorne’s Big Book Off.  Please read the information below to find out more.

This week at Copthorne

Year 1 Multi-Skills Activity Afternoon

We are delighted that some of our Year 1 pupils have been chosen to participate in a multi-skills activity at Grange Technology College on Monday 2nd March.  Mr H Khan will accompany the children and they will join up with other local primary school children.  We hope that our children enjoy the games and have a fun time as well as getting lots of exercise.

Key Stage 2 SAT Test Meeting

The Year 6 Key Stage 2 SAT tests will very soon be upon us.  I know that the staff are working extremely hard to make sure that our children will be able to achieve great results. There are a number of ways in which you too can help to support your child in attaining the best possible results.  These include:

• Listening to him/her read each day and asking him/her questions about what they are reading
• Encouraging him/her, if possible, to go on Mathletics daily and complete the tasks set by his/her teacher
• Practising the times tables daily with him/her – just 5 to 10 minutes daily can be very effective.
• Ensuring that he/she goes to sleep at a reasonable time each night

In order to provide you with more information about the tests and discuss our current concerns about Year 6 pupils’ work and attitude, we are holding a very important meeting for parents on Tuesday 3^rd March.   Year 6 teachers and the Senior Leadership Team will be delivering the meeting. There will be two meetings, one will take place at 8.50am and one at 2.30pm.  It is vital that Year 6 Parents’  attend either one of these meetings.

Year 5 Visit to Cartwright Hall

On Tuesday 3rd March, 5 Willow will visit Cartwright Hall as part of their current Copthorne curriculum topic ‘Arabian Nights’.  The children will be taking part in workshops and will be involved in lots of interesting activities.  5 Cedar will have their visit on Friday 6th March 2015.  I am sure the children will have a fantastic day!

Exceed Football Cup Game

Our school football team will be taking part in a cup game on Wednesday 4th March at Grange Technology College. They will be competing against Farnham Primary School.  It is always lovely to see the team setting off for their games as they are so excited.  Good luck Copthorne!!

Copthorne’s Big Book Off

As part of Copthorne’s Big Book Off which is taking place this week and next week, children will be involved in lots of activities designed to engage them in reading more widely and more often.The weeks include a visit from the author Andrew Newbound,who wrote the all action book ‘Demon Strike’.  There will be quizzes based around children’s favourite books, a Readathon reading challenge, a book swap event,competitions and lessons which will promote your child’s love of reading.  Thursday 6th March 2015 is World Book Day and we are asking all children and staff to dress up as their favourite book character and where possible bring the relevant book into school to share with children in their class. We are asking for a small donation of £2.00 towards the charity ‘Book Aid International’ which provides books to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps and schools in order to support literacy, education, training and publishing in over 40 countries predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.  Please help your child to choose their favourite book character rather than film character in order to help them celebrate World Book Day.

I hope you have a fabulous week – it certainly looks as though we will!

Mrs Shepherd

Welcome to our blog everyone.  I hope you have had a lovely weekend with your families.  The weather has been lovely this weekend and hopefully the warmer weather is not too far away.

Year 2 Football Tournament

On Monday 23rd February, pupils from Year two entered a football tournament at Grange Technology College and played against four other schools.  I am delighted to inform you that our team drew one match and won the other three matches.  They then went on to win the tournament and were presented with medals and certificates.  All the pupils played extremely well, were very well behaved and acted as great ambassadors for our school.  We hope to be entering more sports events similar to this one which will include more Key Stage One pupils. 

We also had good news from the Year 5 and 6 football team when they won 3-0 in a cup game against Farnham Primary School.  The team have now got through to the semi-final and are eager and ready to keep up their hard work.  Well done everyone!

Children’s Heart Foundation – Red Day

Last term we held a ‘Red Day’ to support the Children’s Heart Foundation.  Staff and children came to school wearing something red.  There was also a raffle and a bun and biscuit sale.  The total amount raised for the charity was £456.14.  Thank you so much to parents, carers and staff for making the day a huge success.

This week at Copthorne

Young Leaders Training Conference

Mr A Khan will be taking a group of year 4 and year 5 children to Grange Technology College on Monday 9th March.  The children will be trained up to enable them to lead sporting activities back at school during break times and lunch times.  This activity will help build up the childrens’ confidence and also encourage other children to keep fit and active during break time.
Year 5 & 6 Archery Competition

On Wednesday 11th March, Mr A Khan will be taking several Year 5 and 6 pupils to the Khidmet Centre where they will be taking part in an Exceed Archery competition. The children will be playing against other local primary schools in our area.  The competition will give the children the opportunity to put into practise the skills that they have been learning during the classes over the last few weeks.  Good luck children!

Comic Relief Day

Friday 13th March is Comic Relief Day. It’s the day, held every two years, when people across the land  get together and do something funny for money at home, school and work. Comic Relief helps lots of projects worldwide, helping people who are living tough lives in the UK and around the World. We will be holding lots of fundraising events in school as well as selling red noses. Parents and carers will receive a letter over the next couple of days with details of events. 

Wishing you a great week ahead.

Mrs Shepherd

Hello and welcome to another exciting week at Copthorne.  This week we have received some wonderful news this week regarding two year old provision at Copthorne.  Please see the section below for more information.

Two Year old Provision

I am delighted to inform you that we have been successful in our bid to develop provision for Early Education for two years olds at Copthorne.  This will comprise a purpose built new build of which will be an extension to our current building and will allow us to provide 48, two year old places. (24 morning places and 24 afternoon places).  The build will be overseen by Bradford Council’s Education Buildings team and we expect that this will be ready to open well before the end of the next academic year.  I know that many of you, like me, will be delighted by this news as it will allow us to provide two year olds in our community with a firm foundation for their future education.  I will keep you informed of all our building news as plans progress.

Facebook

We have recently had a number of our children trying to ‘friend’ members of staff via Facebook.  I would ask that you check to ensure that your child does not have access to Facebook.   Firstly, it is illegal for any child under the age of 13 to access Facebook or to have a Facebook account. School will have no alternative but to contact the police where we find out that a child at Copthorne has a Facebook account.  Also, it is important that children do not attempt to ‘friend’ members of staff, either when they are still at school or when they leave Copthorne.  Staff cannot be friends with children on Facebook and this rule exists in order to safeguard both our children and staff.  Thank you so much for your support in this matter.

Home Dinners

We are very pleased that the majority of our children now stay for school dinners.  Having a school lunch really supports our children’s social development and provides them with a healthy meal each day.  Please be aware that if your child does go home for lunch, he/she must be collected by an adult regardless of his/her year group.  This is to ensure the safeguarding of all our children.

Uniform

I would be very grateful if you could ensure that your children are coming to school in the correct uniform.  A number of children at present are wearing shoes that are not part of school uniform.  All shoes should be plain black school shoes.  Girls’ shoes should not have heels and sparkles etc and boys shoes should not be trainers.  Haircuts which involve ‘tramlines’ are not acceptable and the same blade should be used for the whole cut.  Children who come to school with unacceptable haircuts will be sent home until they come to school with a haircut that complies with school rules. 

Also, a number of our girls are coming to school wearing scarves in a wide variety of colours and patterns. The school uniform policy states that, if a child wishes to wear a school scarf then this must be short and plain (not patterned) and either royal blue or white. No other colour is acceptable. In addition, some girls are fastening their scarves with long pins which can be very dangerous. Please ensure that if a pin is needed this is a hair clip or a safety pin.  Scarves that are acceptable are available to buy from the school office.

Food Glorious Food!

Last week our Reception classes visited the local Asda as part of their current topic ‘Food Glorious Food’.  While they were there they looked at different types of fruit and were given information from the store’s staff about where the fruit comes from. The children had a fantastic time and asked lots of questions and were a real credit to our school.  They  were rewarded with cookies from the store. I would like to say a big thank you to the staff at Asda for their generosity and hospitality.

Archery Competition

Last week, our archery team took part in a competition at the Khidmat Centre.  The competition was a huge success with 6 teams of archers attending from 4 different schools.  Copthorne entered 2 teams.  All the archers that attended the competition had the opportunity to use the archery skills they have learnt in their schools and showed great sportsmanship on the day.  I am delighted to inform you that Copthorne won the overall competition and were also awarded trophies for the highest scorer, second highest scorer and third highest scorer of the competition.  Crossley Hall came in second place, Lidget Green third and St Oswalds fourth.  Well done to all the archers that took part in the competition, you are a real credit to your schools.

This week at Copthorne

Year 3 Visit to White Scar Caves

On Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th March, Year 3 are planning a visit to White Scar Caves at Ingleton, North Yorkshire.  This visit will link in with the science theme, ‘Rocks’ and the Copthorne Curriculum teme ‘Meet the Flintstones.  The children will be going underground and looking at different types of rocks.  This will be a very exciting day for the children and I am sure they will have an amazing time.

Year 6 visit to Headingley Cricket Ground

We are pleased to be taking the children in 6 Chestnut to a cricket education day at Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds on Wednesday 18th March.  The day will consist of a classroom session linking cricket, English and ICT, and a further session of cricket based activities as well as a tour of the Headingley Cricket Ground.  This visit is always a popular trip which the children enjoy and I am sure they will have a lovely day.

Dates for Your Diary

Fruit & Milk Money For Next Term

Fruit and milk money is now due for next term.  The cost of fruit for next term is £8.00 and the cost for milk is £10.  If you would like your child to have fruit or milk, please send your money in an envelope clearly labelled with your child’s name and class no later than Monday 23rd March, alternatively this can be paid via your parentpay account.

Firefighters Charity Collection – Thursday 26th March 2015

On Thursday 26th March, we will be carrying out a collection of unwanted or used clothes, shoes, belts and handbags in order to raise money for the Fire Fighters’ Charity and the school fund.  Over the next couple of weeks you will be receiving a letter and a collection bag which is to be filled with the items listed above – please feel free to fill as many additional bags as you can (bin bags can be used). We would be grateful if you could also ask other members of your family and our community to fill bags for us. Please ensure that only items on the list are included: no bric-a-brac, household items or toys please. The bags should be brought into school by 9:00am on Thursday 26th March. We value your help in raising funds which will allow us to provide even more stimulating experiences for Copthorne’s children whilst supporting the fire fighters who provide such a valuable service to us all.

I hope you have a lovely week.

Mrs Shepherd