Hello everyone and welcome to our blog. As you will be aware, the Year 6 and Year 2 SATs tests are nearly upon us. The children and staff are working extremely hard to make sure that our children are ready for these important tests. Thank you to the parents and carers of children in those year groups for all the support you are giving to your children.
Delivery of Chicks
We were very excited last week to welcome the annual arrival of a set of fertilised eggs. I am delighted to tell you that the eggs have now hatched! We now have 6 chicks in school that we are looking after. We were asked to keep a special eye on one of the eggs as it was a rare breed from Belgium. Apparently this type of egg is really difficult to breed and it is identifiable because it has a purple spot on the egg. Once the chick has grown it will lay white eggs. The children have been really excited about our visitors and have been watching the chicks in the brooder box as they eat and sleep. We will keep the chicks for a couple of weeks so that the children can observe them growing and changing. Then they will be taken to a small holding where they will live a lovely free-range life. We will be kept regularly updated on their progress.
This week at Copthorne
Comenius trip to Romania
Today Mrs Whalley and Miss Richards will be travelling to Romania to visit our Comenius Partners. They will be meeting representatives from the 9 other countries in the project. Whilst in Romania they will be visiting the Romanian school, learning all about the culture and visiting local landmarks. We wish them both a safe and enjoyable trip and look forward to hearing all about their adventures on their return.
Linking Schools 
On Monday 20th April, 4 Poplar will visit All Saints Primary School in Ilkley as part of our Linking Schools project. The children have already met when we joined them for an exciting day at Cartwright Hall. Later on this year the children from All Saints will be visiting our school. I am sure this trip will be a great success and know that the children are very excited about meeting their friends at All Saints Primary once again.
Reception Visit to Pets at Home
Our Reception children will be making a visit to Pets at Home on Forster Square Retail Park on Tuesday 21st April. The visit forms part of their topic this half term which is called ‘Doing the animal bop’. I know the children are extremely excited about this visit and I am looking forward to hearing about all the different types of animals the children have seen.
Exceed Debating Competition
On Tuesday 28th April, Mr Khan, Mr Rizvi and myself will be taking a group of our pupils to Bradford University for a debating competition between all the Exceed schools. The schools will be debating aginst each other in sets of two teams and will be judged by a panel consisting of members of staff from the schools. The motions to be debated include: ‘This House believes that school summer holidays should be limited to 3 weeks’, ‘This House believes that school uniform should be banned’ and ‘This House believes that footballers are not worth the money they are paid.’
The aim of the event is to improve language and speaking skills. All participants will receive a medal and a certificate. I am sure it will be a very interesting and enjoyable afternoon.
I hope you have a lovely week and once again thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Shepherd