We are continuing our whole school programme with Happy Minds, helping children understand how their brains work and creating a culture that helps children to build resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. Since we have returned to school, we have been focusing on the module ‘celebrate’, understanding our own unique strengths and learning to celebrate them. Children are learning about 5 Character Strengths that make them unique and special and will spot these in themselves and others.
We have lots of amazing trips and visitors coming up this term so be sure to check our diary dates below.
Dates for your diary
JANUARY
*NEW DATE* Monday 27th January – Tuesday 28th January – SCARF visit to school for all children
*NEW DATE* Tuesday 27th January – 2:30pm – SCARF session for parents and carers in the school hall
*NEW DATE* Tuesday 27th January 9:30am / 2:30pm – Mental Health Support Team coffee sessions for all parents and carers
Tuesday 28th January – Year 5 school trip to Saltaire (see email for details)
FEBRUARY
Tuesday 4th February – Year 5 Author Visit – Emily Parkin will be speaking about her book based on the life of Titus Salt
Thursday 6th February – Year 2 Class Assembly 9:00am
Thursday 6th February – Year 5 school trip to the Industrial Museum (see email for details)
Friday 7th February – Year 3 school trip to Cliffe Castle (see email for details)
Friday 7th February – NSPCC Number Day (more details to follows)
*NEW DATE* Friday 8th February – Sunday 23rd February – Grue, Interactive Fantasy Exhibition at Damart Mill in Bingley Free and open to the public
*NEW DATES* Tuesday 11th February – Friday 14th February – Years 1 – 6 visit the Grue Interactive Fantasy Exhibition
Tuesday 11th February – FOPPS DISCO (see Class Dojo Events for details)
Wednesday 12th February – Mexican Day Lunch
Thursday 13th February – Year 3 Class Assembly 9am
Friday 14th February – 3:05pm – SCHOOL CLOSES FOR HALF TERM
Monday 24th February – SCHOOL REOPENS
*NEW DATE* Thursday 27th February – NCMP and Audio Screening for Reception (see email for details)
Attendance
We achieved our target of 97% last week for our whole school attendance, well done!
Year 1 – 96.2%
Year 2 – 96.2%
Year 3 – 96.5%
Year 4 – 93.7%
Year 5 – 100%
Year 6 – 100%
A great achievement by Year 5 and 6, both achieving 100% attendance.
Pride of Priestthorpe Awards
Early Years – Betsy and Logan
Year 1 – Darcy and Keisha
Year 2 – Lilly and Myles
Year 3 – Aeyla and Noor
Year 4 – Finley. L and Ralph
Year 5 – Dheyon and Liyana
Year 6 – Sofia and Evie
Thank you to all those parents, carers and extended family and friends that joined us in our Friday assembly.

Early Years
Early Years have been learning about people who help us. This week we had a visit from PC Kane and PC Dan who told us about the role of the Police. We then tried on some police uniforms!

Year 1
Year 1 have been innovating our journey story and thinking about different settings our beast could travel through. Collaboratively, we mapped out three new sections and used our creativity to bring the story to life.

Year 2
This week Year 2 have been describing the mood of a piece of music and responding creatively.

Year 3
In art, Year 3 are putting together ideas to create an Egyptian Scroll about themselves.

Year 4
In PE, Year 4 are learning and choreographing a dance to the song “September” from the Trolls film.

Year 5
Year 5 have been planning their space artwork in preparation for a larger piece. They experimented with sketching and shading, continuous line drawing, oil pastels and watercolours. We also looked at examples of textiles and computer-generated images and how they can be used in creating art.

Year 6
Year 6 have been exploring electricity. Week 1 we created simple electrical circuits to understood the flow of energy within the circuit. This week we focused on voltage, and understood that voltage is pressure. The more pressure, the more power. We then did fair testing by adding or removing extra batteries, bulbs, motors or buzzers. We logged our findings down and then explained what we now knew about voltage.
Important learning information
We use a range of Learning Apps in school, which can also be accessed at home. Please use the links below to practice key skills.
Times Table Rockstars is an award-winning maths learning platform where children can practice their times tables like a rock star! Certificates can be achieved every Thursday for the children who have made the most progress in terms of the biggest increase in accuracy that week. We also run in school competitions.
Times Tables Rock Stars – Times Tables Rock Stars
Accelerated Reader will allow children to read a book and then take an online quiz to test their knowledge and understanding of the text, and receive immediate feedback. Students respond to regular feedback and are motivated to improve their reading skills.
Spelling Shed uses the science of spelling to teach it to pupils. Using phonics as a base and drawing upon proven approaches such as teaching morphology, etymology, and orthographic mapping, as well as teaching spelling patterns. Children are set new activities on here each week.