Welcome Back! Our first newsletter of this school year…
What a lovely start we’ve had to the new school year! The children have settled straight back into school life, enjoying their learning, catching up with friends and getting back into those familiar routines.
We’ve been getting used to our new daily assemblies with Mrs Gunning, and the children have already been enjoying coming together each morning. There’s been lots happening in classrooms too, Infant 1 have been sharing their summer diaries and telling us all about their adventures, while Year 6 enjoyed a full day of Design and Technology with Mr Hepp.
We’re also excited to introduce our new Kindness Award, celebrating those little moments when children go above and beyond to show kindness to others. This will sit alongside our much loved Pride of Priestthorpe.
And finally, don’t forget to have a look at our ‘Dates for Your Diary’. We’ll keep adding more dates as the term goes on, so there’s plenty to look forward to! It’s been a great first week, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings.
Kick Back to School Penalty Shoot-Out
A huge thank you to all our children, parents and extended families for your incredible support and sponsorship of our Kick Back to School Penalty Shoot-Out. Drum roll, please…
We are absolutely delighted to announce that we have raised over £3,500!
Our final total is still to be confirmed, but we already know that 50% of the money raised will come directly back into school. We’ll be asking our children, families and school community for their thoughts and ideas on what we should use this money for, so keep your eyes peeled on our social media channels for your chance to have your say.
We’re also delighted to announce that Jack in Year 4 raised the most sponsorship money and has won the fantastic prize of a signed football. Well done, Jack, and a massive thank you once again to everyone who sponsored, supported and took part. What an amazing achievement for our school community!
Reminders
FREE SCHOOL MEAL CHANGES FROM SEPTEMBER 2026
Check each of you children’s eligibility here: Check | LGfL FSM
All families now need to use the eligibility checker above in order to receive free school meals. You need to complete the checker for each of your children individually. The check only takes a few minutes, and both you and the school will be informed immediately if your child is eligible. We are aware Bradford Council have also asked for these details. We will pass this information to Bradford Council so please make sure you have completed the eligibility tracker below MONDAY 14th SEPTEMBER at 8:00am even if you have already applied to Bradford Council.
Once everyone has applied, we will be able to sent our a further communication to families.
Dates for your Diary
SEPTEMBER
Monday 28 September, 3:00pm – 4:00pm – FOPPS AGM and planning meeting – school library – all parents/carers welcome
OCTOBER
Thursday 1 October, 4:15pm start – North Bradford Cross Country League (2026-27) – Northcliffe Park
Tuesday 6 October, 5:30pm – 6:30pm – Read Write Inc. Phonics Event, led by Miss Harps – all parents/carers welcome
Tuesday 13 October, Reception – Year 6 Flu Immunications – see eschools for more information and provide your consent
Thursday 15 October, 4:15 start – North Bradford Cross Country League (2026-27) – at Baildon
Thursday 22 October – Infants 1 and Infants 2 school trip to Eureka – more details to follow
Friday 23 October – SCHOOL CLOSES FOR HALF TERM
NOVEMBER
Monday 2 November – SCHOOL REOPENS
Monday 2 November – Individual School photographs
Thursday 5 November – Reception and Year 1 children Fluoride Varnish visit – see eschools for more details
Thursday 12 November – Year 5 Design and Technology day with Mr Hepp from Hepp DT Education
Monday 16 November – Wednesday 18 November – Year 6 Residential to Robinwood
Thursday 19 November, 3:30pm – 8:00pm – Parents’ Evening – all parents/carers must attend
Friday 20 November – SCHOOL CLOSED FOR DATA DAY
Thursday 26 November – Year 4 Class Assembly – all Year 4 parents/carers are welcome
Attendance
Attendance
Thank you to everyone for your commitment to attendance last week — our whole school attendance was 94.1%
Our Attendance Protocol has been updated, please see Eschools for more information.
Infants 1 – 90.2%
Infants 2 – 100%
Year 3 – 94.4%
Year 4 – 94.6%
Year 5 – 94.4%
Year 6 – 93.9%
Pride of Priestthorpe
Well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Lucas and Matilda
Infants 2 – Mahnoor and all of the children
Year 3 – Benjamin and Juliette
Year 4 – Xander and Elladie
Year 5 – Jessica and Reagan
Year 6 – Milo and Harper
Kindness Awards
Introducing our new Kindness Award, well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Bohdi
Infants 2 – Betsy. G
Year 3 – Elliott
Year 4 – Brodie
Year 5 – Archie
Year 6 – Alicja
What have children been doing this week?
Check Class Dojo, teachers will regularly share updates and photos from your child’s class. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see highlights of what’s been going on across the school.
Pride Beyond School
We love seeing what our children are achieving beyond the school day! Whether it’s sporting success, music and dance achievements, community involvement, or personal milestones, it’s wonderful to celebrate the talents and efforts our pupils show outside of school. Please email [email protected] if you would like us to share anything on the
Home Learning
Our homework expectations, or ‘home learning’ as we prefer to call it, have been carefully planned to develop children’s foundational knowledge whilst not being too onerous for parents.
We have two learning platforms we use in school and the weekly expectations for home learning;
Read Write Inc. Phonics for Infants 1 and Infants
We use Read Write Inc as our Phonics Programme. Phonics helps children learn the sounds letters make, while Read Write Inc. teaches children to read and spell confidently through sounds, blending and practice.
Accelerated Reader Year 2 upwards
Once children have completed the Read Write Inc. phonics programme, they will have access to Accelerated reader. This is where children read books and then answer questions to check their understanding. Children choose books from their personal reading range in school and then read the book at home. They then take a quiz on what they have read, and when they pass the quiz they choose another book. Through reading and quizzing they are developing their word reading skills alongside an understanding of what they have read.
All children in school should read at least 3 times a week but daily would be even better!
- Please record the reading in their record book which their teacher will check weekly.
- Please help them to access the online quiz if required
Numbots and Times Table Rockstars
We use an online platform to help the children learn vital number facts whilst playing fun games. These number facts are the essential building blocks for their maths learning. To get the best out of Numbots or TTRS, we recommend that children play regularly for short bursts of time, aiming for 3 minutes, five times a week.
- Please encourage your child to log on as often as possible and meet the minimum weekly goal of 15 minutes.
- Their class teacher will check their engagement with the games weekly to keep them on track.
We recognise the need to support a balanced use of screen time, so there is a maximum time limit set of 15 minutes a day and a curfew of 7.30pm.
We really value your support with home learning, and it will have a huge impact on your child’s progress in school. Please help us to support your child by helping them to engage with their homework each week. A text will be sent home if your child has not met their weekly target so you can help them to stay on track.
