Tuesday 27th March

Welcome to another week here at Copthorne. Spring has well and truly arrived and our children are enjoying the opportunity to play outside in the sunshine.

Sports Relief
This week we are enjoying a number of activities organised by Mr Robinson in aid of Sports Relief. On Monday a Soak the Teacher event was held at lunchtime. This involved Mr Waddington, Mr Robinson  and, later, Mrs Whalley and myself having soaked sponges thrown at us. There was such a large queue of children waiting to sponge us that the event is being continued on Wednesday lunchtime! Having experienced the skill with which many of our children were throwing those sponges I think that we may have some potential world class cricketing bowlers in our school!! Luckily for us the sun was shining so we didn't get cold!
On Monday afternnon all of our Key Stage 2 children walked up to Horton Park to take part in our Run a Mile activity for which a large number of our pupils had been sponsored. All of the children ran the mile, behaved well and were a credit to Copthorne and their families: we are very proud of them.
It looks as though the total raised is going to be a very high one and, once we have completed the final calculations, we will let you know. Thank you for all your help and support in helping us to help others less fortunate than ourselves.


Year 3 LAP Residential
A group of very tired but happy Year 3 children returned from their two days of adventure at Bewerley Park Outdoor Education Centre last Thursday. The children, accompanied by Mrs Robinson and Miss Parveen, had a brilliant time canoeing, rock clinbing, doing bushcraft and going on a night walk. Once again, our children made a very good impression on everyone there. Thanks so much to the staff who gave up their time to take the children away.


The Copthorne family is growing
Last Wednesday morning Mr A Khan, one of our learning mentors, welcomed a baby daughter to his family. She was born at approximately 6.15am. The whole family are happy to welcome their new arrival. Congratulations from everyone at Copthorne!


Sustainable Schools
By 2020, all schools in the UK should be 'sustainable'. Sustainability is about finding ways of living and working that support a high quality of life without compromising the future of generations to come. It involves thinking about how we need to change our lifestyles and habits to ensure that we take the very best care of our planet and its resources. 
At Copthorne we want our children to be caring UK and global citizens. We believe that the whole idea of sustainable schools supports this and provides even more opportunities for our pupils to enjoy and engage further with their own learning and so achieve even higher standards of attainment and progress.
How are we making Copthorne a sustainable school?
As you will be aware, we have been working for a long time to develop our links with schools in a range of communities within both the UK and the rest of the World. At the moment, we are part of a linking schools project with All Saint's Primary in Ilkley, Eastoft Primary in Lincolnshire, Doha College in Qatr and Westfield Community Primary in York. Where possible, our children have spent time at each other's schools and are writing to each other. This is helping to form friendships, foster mutual respect and understanding and give our pupils a clearer understanding of other cultures.
Caring for each other has always been central to Copthorne's ethos and we continue to promote this on a daily basis through the high standards we set for behaviour and through events such as Sport Relief. We have also introduced a range of ways to encourage pupils to become actively involved in caring for each other through schemes such as  befrienders, form leaders and administatrive assistants.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, we have managed to secure an allotment which is helping to give a children a hands-on view of how to look after their environment amd how to grow their own food - along with the benefits of such activities to their health and to the environment. It's been really interesting to hear the children talking abour the poor state of the allotment when they first went there and how this has impacted on their attitude to litter and the care for their local area. Our weekly visit St Ives Woods at Bingley is also helping to develop our children's environmental awareness and responsibility for environmental protection.
Our creative curriculum is another way in which we are promoting sustainability. Every creative curriculum theme has 4 'drivers' thrunning right through it. These are the issues that pupils, staff and parents have identified as being of vital importance to Copthorne's children: Environmental Awareness, Cultural Awareness and Understanding, Outdoor Learning and Community. Each time our teachers plan a new theme of work they consider the activities, content and skills that they can include in order to address these drivers. E.g. In Year 1, they have been studying 'Transport through time' - As part of this our children investigated the environmental issues arising from the overuse of cars on our roads and thought about more environmentally friendly solutions. The children also looked at the amount of traffic near our school and thought about ways of staying safe.Our curriculum is one of the most effective ways in which we are beginning our journey towards sustainability.

Each week I will be giving you a bit more information about our work towards sustainibility. If you have any ideas that yopu feel would help us in this area please donot hesitate to add them to the co ments section at the end of this blog or talk to me at school.
Visiting HaworthThis week both our Year 5 classes will be visiting Haworth. This is part of their creative curriculum theme 'We are not amused' which is all about life in Victorian times. This work has also included both classes baking and holding a traditional Victorian afternoon tea.
The RangeReception classes are visiting the Range superstore this week in order to learn more anbout growing plants. The children will be looking at all the different plants and gardening equipment which are sold there and learning about what the equipment is used for.
Easter Egg decorating competitionAs part of our fundraising for Sports Relief,  we are running an Easter Egg decorating competition. In exchange for 50p children will receive a polystyrene egg to decorate. These will be judged by Dame Naila Zaffar and prizes awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each class. I'm sure that with our pupils' fabulous imaginations we will have some excellent entries. Good luck everyone!
Saturday Club Celebration.This Saturday saw a very special celebration held in school. We were celebrating the achievements of all of the children who attend Saturday Club. We were joined by 2 very special guests Sajawal Hussain the councillor for City Ward amd Masood Gondal the Ward Officer for Toller and City Wards. The occasion gave us the opportunuity to say thank you to the council for the £3000 funding we received. This funding allowed us to purchase new archery and cooking equipment and means that our Saturday clubs will be able to continue after Easter. Our special guests helped to present the many awards to the children for a wide range of activities including best Wii player, best cook and best archer. The children were very pleased and excited about the event and, once again, made us all very proud.

Easter Holidays
This Friday (30th March) will be the last school day before the school holidays begin. We return to school on Monday 16th April. I would like to wish everyone an enjoyable holiday and hope that you all enjoy lots of Ester Eggs!

Mrs Shepherd