Another great week in school! All teachers have now shared their curriculum updates on ClassDojo, so please take a look to see what your child will be learning this autumn. A little reminder that reading and TT Rock Stars are our home-learning focus, so please keep encouraging your children to read regularly and practice their times tables. Our school trips and visits for this year are now being booked, so watch this space for more exciting updates!
And finally, we’re delighted to be sending home Bradford City prizes with all our children today, we hope the children enjoy them and have a lovely weekend!
Reception 2027 Open Days
We are delighted to share that we have saved the dates for our Reception 2027 Open Days!
Thursday 26th November at 1:00pm and 2:00pm
Tuesday 5th January at 1:00pm and 2:00pm
If you have friends or family who are looking for a school place for September 2027, please do encourage them to come along and find out more about our wonderful school.
The Open Days will include a presentation from Mrs Gunning, followed by an opportunity to tour the school and see our learning environment.
Please save the dates and spread the word — we would love to welcome prospective families to our school!
The deadline is 15 January 2027
“Priestthorpe Pacers” Bingley Park Run
We are excited to announce that we are hoping to start a Priestthorpe Pacers Run Club! The club would take place on the second Saturday of each month, starting with, Saturday 10th October at 8:45am in Myrtle Park.
The sessions will be led by Miss Harps, with parents/guardians responsible for their own children throughout. We are currently gauging interest. If you and your child would like to take part, please email [email protected] by next Wednesday.
Reminders
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 96.4% and improvement on last week.
Infants 1 – 77%
Infants 2 – 100%
Year 3 – 96.3%
Year 4 – 98.9%
Year 5 – 95.6%
Year 6 – 96.1%
Pride of Priestthorpe
Well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Harry and Daisy
Infants 2 – Royce and Teddy
Year 3 – Mia and Adam
Year 4 – Quinn. O and Emily. H
Year 5 – Ume and Isaac
Year 6 – Joseph and Cooper
Kindness Awards
Introducing our new Kindness Award, well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Kayla
Infants 2 – Elsie
Year 3 – Jack
Year 4 – Eve
Year 5 – Reenie
Year 6 – Rose
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.
