Monday 21st January 2013

Hello everyone. I hope you have all managed to keep warm over the weekend.

Although it's cold it is lovely to see our children enjoying playing in the snow, making snowmen and generally having loads of fun.
The snow is also a great opportunity for our children to learn about freezing, melting, insulation and even capacity: I am hoping that a group of children will be going outside today to calculate the amount of snow in our MUGA!

Bad weather closure
At Copthorne it is very unlikely that we will close our school due to bad weather. However, if conditions are such that we do need to take the difficult decision to close the school and/or send children home early then please be assured that you will be informed of this by text message, through both our own website (www.copthorne.ngfl.ac.uk) and Bradford Schools On line (https://bso.bradford.gov.uk) and through local radio stations. For more details about these arrangements please see the Severe Weather Procedures explained in the blog on 3rd December. Please do not telephone the school office to ask if we are closed. Thank you.

This week at Copthorne

Road Safety Week
As explained in last week's blog and in the letter sent home, this week is Road Safety Week. There are lots of interesting and exciting events taking place to help everyone understand the ways in which we can keep our children and community safe when using the roads.The events include 'Teddy Takes a Tumble' - a show for Reception and Nursery Children, and Charlie's Accident - a show for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The week will begin with 20 children, chosen from amongst Year 5 and 6, working with the Council Wardens and police to ticket cars  which are illegally stopping or parking outside the school.

The Road Safety Team and police will be holding a Road Safety talk for parents on Tuesday 22nd January at 2.15-3pm in the school hall. I hope as many of our parents and carers as possible will attend so that the children will receive the same messages about Road Safety both at home and at school. I look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you all for your support for what should be an informative week for us all at Copthorne.

Bradford College Student Teachers
Today Mrs Whalley and myself will have the pleasure of providing training for a group of 30 students from Bradford College. The students are all training to be teachers and we will be showing them how we assess our pupils and how this information feeds back into lesson planning.
The training is part of our 'partnership working' with Bradford College which includes the college providing experiences for Copthorne pupils. At some point our Year 6 pupils, for example, will be visiting the College for a very special Science lesson.

Head Teacher Drop-in session
I will be holding another drop-in session for parents/carers between 10 and 11 am on Tuesday 22nd January. If you have ideas about school or concerns you wish to share then please feel free to contact the school office staff who will book an appointment for you during those times. I look forward to seeing you.

4 Poplar to the Industrial Museum
This week it is the turn of 4 Poplar to visit the Industrial Museum to learn more about life as a child during World War 2. I look forward to hearing all about what our children have learnt when they return to school.

Copthorne Stars
Last Thursday, 4 Beech spent the day at the Industrial Museum as part of their Creative Curriculum work on World War 2. Our very excited children set off with their 'gas masks' and spent the day learning about what life was like for children during the war.
Our children were an absolute credit to Copthorne and the staff at the Industrial Museum commented on how wonderfully behaved our pupils were, remarking particularly on their politeness and listening skills. Well done everyone! Thanks to Mrs Van Tol and Miss Shah for organising the trip. I am sure that 4 Poplar will have an equally good time and we equally great ambassadors for our school.

Training for Newly Qualified Teachers
On Wednesday 23rd January from 9-11.45am  some  of Copthorne's  staff will host and deliver a training session for the newly qualified teachers from the 7 schools in our LAP. This session will give these new teachers strategies to use to challenge our more able and talented learners. The training is part of the staff support and development offerered through our LAP. 

Next Week at Copthorne

A new prospectus
We are in the process of developing an exciting new school prospectus which will truly reflect what Copthorne is all about and help give prospective parents a clear view of our mission and ethos whilst demonstrating what we can offer for their children. As part of this exciting venture there will be a photographer in school for the official photo shoot for the prospectus on Tuesday 29th January. Children whose photos we plan to take will be sent home with a letter during this week asking for parental permission.We would ask  any parent/carer receiving a letter to please complete the reply slip and return it to school by Friday of this week (25th January 2013). Thank you. We will of course be putting our new prospectus in our entrance for everyone to see once it has been completed.

Wishing you all a warm week.
Mrs Shepherd