Welcome to another week at Copthorne. It was lovely to see everyone coming back to school last Tuesday after a well-earned rest. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and are looking forward to another busy and exciting half term. Hopefully the weather will stay fine for us all.
As some of you will already have seen, we unveiled our beautiful wall art last week. We have worked with a company specialising in designs for schools, QBED, to create two beautiful intallations which we believe truly represent our school and which will inspire and motivate all our pupils, staff and stakeholders. Please feel free to have a look when you are next in school and let me know what you think.
In my job as Head of School I am lucky to be able to see our children both at work and at play very day. Each time I go into a classroom I am proud to see the way the children behave and are so keen to learn and take part in all aspects of the lesson. During playtime and lunchtime last week I saw that same wonderful behaviour and, especially pleasing, children helping each other and encouraging each other in their play. I know our Befrienders do a great job but it was also wonderful to see everyone playing so nicely and being great friends to one another. This is one of the many things that make our school so very special. Keep it up Copthorne!
This week’s events
Special surprise
Something very special will be happening in our school today which will help our Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 to become even better writers but… IT’S A SURPRISE! I look forward to telling you all about it in next week’s blog, although I think you’ll be hearing about it from the children when they get home after school today!
Transition Week
This week all of our Year 6 children, along with their peers from the Exceed schools, will be taking part in a range of transition activities. Children will be working alongside their new classmates on a range of team-building, challenge and sporting activities. Mr A Khan is leading the events and will be transporting our children to and from Grange Interlink Centre each day where they will also meet and spend time with members of staff from the secondary schools they will be attending. We wish you all an enjoyable week and hope that you will make lots of new friends and feel confident about moving from Copthorne.
Fire Fighter’s Charity Clothing Collection
Just a final reminder to bring any unwanted clothes, shoes, belts, handbags and soft toys into school today as we are having a collection on behalf of the Firefighter’s Charity which helps to support serving and retired firefighters and their families when this is needed. I know that this charity was touched by the generosity of your support in the past and hope that you will be able to donate as many bags as possible so that we can help the men and women who protect us and our homes. Thank you for your support in this matter.
Visit from Staincliffe CE Junior School
At Copthorne we believe that we must always be willing to share our practice with and learn from other schools. This is one of the ways in which we ensure that the school is constantly improving and moving forward.
This afternoon we will be welcoming visitors from a Dewsbury School. I was contacted recently by a member of the senior leadership team from Staincliffe Junior School in Dewsbury. Staff had been looking at our previous OFSTED report and our most recent Key Stage 1 and 2 results and were interested in finding out how we secure such high levels of pupil progress and attainment. Our visitors are particularly interested in the way we teach reading throughout the school. I am looking forward to welcoming Ms Dobson and Mr Thornton to Copthorne and I hope that they have an informative and useful afternoon.
Miss Fuller returns
Today Miss Fuller -one of our teaching assistants from Foundation Stage -is returning to work after a year of Maternity Leave. Miss Fuller gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last June. We are so pleased to welcome her back to Copthorne.
We do like to be beside the seaside
On Tuesday, 11th June, Year 2 are off to the seaside. The children and staff will be travelling to St Anne’s where they will be spending the whole day by the sea. Children will be playing in the sand, paddling in the sea (under very close supervision and if the weather allows!) and having an ice cream after their packed lunch. This visit supports the Creative Curriculum theme that the children are studying at the moment and I know that it will help to make the sights, sounds, smells and experiences of the seaside to life.
Remember to be outstanding ambassadors for Copthorne and have a great day . I am looking forward to hearing and reading all about it when you get back.
School councillors interview Head of School
This Tuesday afternoon, 11th June, the Chair and Vice Chair of our School Council will be interviewing me about my vision for Copthorne. We will also be discussing the School Council’s ideas for making Copthorne even better. This is the first time we have arranged a meeting of this sort but I hope that it will become a regular occurrence from now on. Bring on the questions and the ideas!
Horton Park
Our Reception classes will be visiting Horton Park on Wednesday, 12th June, as part of their unit of work: Where We Live. I know that they’ll have a great time exploring the park and learning about all the things there are to do there. The children will also be able to demonstrate all the things they have learnt about Road Safety whilst walking there.
Jorvik
As part of their Creative Curriculum theme: Vicious Vikings, Year 3 will visit the Jorvik Museum this Thursday, 13th June. The Jorvik is an amazing place and it will definitely help to bring all the learning to life. There will be lots of photos taken and we will ensure that these are posted on our website as soon as possible after the trip. Have a great day everyone and remember: Look after each other.
Thought of the week
‘The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.’ BB King
Have another wonderful week.
Mrs Shepherd