An Important Update from Mrs Gunning
You will have seen an important message from Mrs Gunning yesterday. If you haven’t had a chance to read the letter yet, please do take a moment to do so, as it explains Mrs Gunning’s decision to step down from her role and take up a new position as Assistant Headteacher. Mrs Gunning will also be holding an assembly with the children before hometime to explain the changes and what this will look like for our school over the coming months.
School News
Birthday Celebrations
To support the introduction of Benedict’s Law and the changes we are making around food in school, children will no longer be able to bring birthday sweets or treats into school. Instead, children can celebrate their birthday by coming in non-uniform, partywear or their favourite clothes! If their birthday falls at a weekend or during a school holiday, they can wear their party clothes on the Friday before. Children who have already had a birthday this September can have their partywear next Friday.
Drop in Sessions with Christina
Mrs Gunning is organising some informal drop-in sessions for parents and carers of children in our mixed classes (Infants 1 and 2). This will be an opportunity to have a chat, ask any questions and see how your child is settling into their class.
The sessions will take place on:
- Monday 28th September at 9:15am
- Thursday 1st October at 9:15am
Please come along to the school office. There is no need to make an appointment — simply drop in for a chat. We look forward to seeing you!
Keeping safe this Winter
As the colder months approach, please help us keep our school community healthy by encouraging good hand hygiene, and covering coughs and sneezes. For more information and winter health advice for your child, please see the link below:
Is my child too ill for school? – NHS
Reminders
Email to school
For any queries, questions, or information that needs to be shared with teachers, please email [email protected].
Please do not use the school office email address or Class Dojo for these messages.
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
Dates for your Diary
SEPTEMBER
Monday 28 September, 3:00pm – 4:00pm – FOPPS AGM and planning meeting – school library – all parents/carers welcome
OCTOBER
Tuesday 6 October, 5:30pm – 6:30pm – Read Write Inc. Phonics Event, led by Miss Harps – all parents/carers welcome
*NEW* Thursday 8 October, 4:15pm start – North Bradford Cross Country League (2026-27) – Northcliffe Park (see Eschools for details)
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
*NEW* Sunday 8 November, 10:40am – Remembrance Parade in Bingley – Email [email protected] if your child would like to take part
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
*NEW* Wednesday 18 November – Year 3 school trip to Nell Bank – details to follow shortly
Thursday 19 November, 3:30pm – 8:00pm – Parents’ Evening – all parents/carers must attend
Friday 20 November – SCHOOL CLOSED FOR DATA DAY
*NEW* Tuesday 24th November – Year 4 school trip to Leeds City Museum – details to follow shortly
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 94.7% and improvement on last week.
Infants 1 – 91.4%
Infants 2 – 95%
Year 3 – 94.8%
Year 4 – 97.5%
Year 5 – 97.2%
Year 6 – 94.8%
Pride of Priestthorpe
Well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Charlie and Rosela
Infants 2 – Emilia and Izaiah
Year 3 – Lewis and Musa
Year 4 – Mads and Emily. O
Year 5 – Max and Aeyla
Year 6 – Ollie and Lewis. D
Kindness Awards
Introducing our new Kindness Award, well done to this week’s winners!
Infants 1 – Willow
Infants 2 – All of the children
Year 3 – Juliette
Year 4 – Ruby
Year 5 – Reagan
Year 6 – Rosie
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.
