Welcome to this week’s blog. I would like to say a big thank you to all parents, carers, children and staff for taking part in the Children’s Heart 
Foundation ‘Red Day’. Everybody looked amazing in their red clothes and the children thoroughly enjoyed their juice and biscuits. I will let you know at a later date how much we raised for this wonderful charity. Once again thank you for your generosity and support.
This week at Copthorne
Hockey Competition
On Monday 10th February several members of our Hockey Club from years 3 and 4 will be taking part in a mini-hockey competition. Mr Khan and Mr Afzal will be taking the children to Grange Technology College. They will competing against other schools in our Local Area Partnership: Exceed. We wish them lots of luck and I am sure they will do our school and themselves proud.
Leeds City Museum
Lucky 3 Larch will be visiting Leeds City Museum on Tuesday 11th February. This is in connection with their Creative Curriculum theme: the Rotten Romans. The children will be finding out what it was like to be a Roman soldier. I am sure this will be a very interesting and informative day for our children and I look forward to hearing all about it.
Internet Safety Day
Tuesday 11th February is Internet Safety Day. Safer Internet Day in the UK is run by the UK Safer Internet Centre. The theme for this year is ‘Let’s Create a Better Internet Together’. This theme was identified by the INSAFE network as highly relevant in today’s every changing technologically-capable society. This year, children are being encouraged to think about how their behaviour and actions can contribute to making the internet a better place. The children are encouraged to celebrate the positive aspects of the internet and think about what more can be done by themselves, adults and the internet industry to continue to make things better. Our children will be talking about how to stay safe on the internet and how to be good digital citizens. During this week there will be a chance to enter a competition which involves designing a poster or leaflet and the children will be completing questionnaires to help us gather their views on cyber safety. If you would like further information please look on our blog under the heading e Safety.
Money for My School Bag Collection
On Wednesday 12th February we have organised a clothing collection to raise money for school projects. Families should have already received an envelope containing a letter about this which included a plastic bag for them to fill. Items that are acceptable are resuable clothes, linen, handbags, hats, belts and paired shoes. Black refuse sacks are also acceptable if you need more bags. Please can you let other family and community members know and return your bags to school by 9:00am on Wednesday. This is a great opportunity to start early ‘spring cleaning’ whilst raising funds for our school.
School Council Meeting
Our School Council members will be visiting Crossley Hall Primary School on Thursday 13th February with Miss Kneeshaw. They will be meeting other School Council members from Exceed to exchange ideas and to talk about what projects they have been working on in their own schools. The children will have a tour around Crossley Hall and also have their lunch there. I am sure that they will return with lots of new ideas that we will be able to read about through our blog.
Forest Schools
This week marks the turn of 4 Poplar to take part in Forest Schools at St Ives Woods with Mrs Robinson. Like 4 Beech, I am sure that 4 Poplar’s children will have a wonderful time in the fresh air, developing their investigative and team work skills whilst caring for the environment.
Resident Inspector Training
On Monday and Tuesday this week I will be attending training delivered by a lead OFSTED inspector. The aim of the training is to give school leaders an insight into the school inspection process from the point of view of an inspector. During the two days, we will be developing a deeper understanding of the processes involved in arriving at secure judgements about a school. I am sure that the course will be extremely useful in helping us to evaluate Copthorne even more effectively and accurately.
I hope that, like me, you are looking forward to the week ahead.
Mrs Shepherd