Monday 25th March 2013

Welcome to another busy week at Copthorne. I hope you have all managed to stay safe and warm over the past few days of heavy snow. Making the decision not to open school on Friday morning was difficult, but one which was made to keep our children and staff safe. I hope you were able to make the best of the day at home and I am looking forward to seeing some of your snowmen in our streets today. It's hard to imagine that it is nearly the end of March and the start of British Summertime! Let's hope that we have some sunshine soon.



Easter holidays
We break up at the end of school on Thursday 28th March and return on Monday 15th April.  As usual, Exceed will be running a full programme of holiday activities for children of all ages. You can find information about these in the Exceed Holiday Booklet avaialble from the school's main office.I wish everyone a peaceful and enjoyable break and look forward to seeing you all again ready for an exciting term ahead.



Mrs Shepherd's Holiday Challenge
This holiday we will be starting our first Holiday Challenge. Each holiday I will be asking our children to work at home on a particular theme. The children will be given a title, for example, Weather, and asked to go away and do some work on that subject. Children can work alone or with family members to create anything at all to do with that theme. It can be a story, a picture, a poem, a model, a photo story, a piece of film - it is absolutely up to each child to choose what he/she wants to do. The important thing is that our children will be involved in further learning at home in a way that allows them to follow their own interests and show their particular skills. Work should be returned to each class teacher on the first day back after the holiday - in this case April 15th. I will then visit each class to see what the children have done and we will be celebrating the work in our monthly celebration assemblies. I am so looking forward to seeing what the children produce when given this opportunity and hope to be able to display some of the work done in our school entrance.The challenge is voluntary and not a competition but I am hoping that as many of our children as possible will choose to take part.
 
The title of the Challenge for the Easter holidays is: Spring 

Children's Blog
Our children now have their own biog where they can respond to news items and post their comments and ideas about school. It was lovely to read the 'SATs Chat' section of the blog and see how brilliantly our children support one another, both emotionally and with great practical tips and ideas.
During the Easter holidays I will be transferring my blog to the Head Teacher Blog section of the new bogging site. In the meantime please feel free to visit the site and enjoy our children's comments: www.copthorne.j2webby.com

SATs
Once again, the SATs for our Year 2 and Year 6 children are almost upon us.SATs for Year 2 start at the beginning of May and last several weeks. For Key Stage 2, SATs week begins on May 13th.
It is very important that all of our pupils, but particularly those in Year2 and 6, attend school every day so as not to miss important learning. As far as homework is concerned, each class teacher will be making sure that the children are given homework which supports them in preparing for SATs. However, parents and carers can also help by making sure that all homework is completed, Mathletics is used as soften as possible and spellings, times tables and reading are practised regularly. Above all, it is very important that every child has enough rest and a good breakfast at the start of each day. As in the past, we will be providing a free breakfast, at Breakfast Club, for all Year 2 and 6 children during SATs week. I know that everyone will do their best and be a credit to themselves, their parents, their community and Copthorne. Just remember to share any worries that you may have - we are all here to support you

Copthorne's Chicks
Last week we had 6 chicks hatch at Copthorne. Each year we have a set of fertilised eggs delivered by a company called Hatch-It. The eggs are placed in a special incubator to hatch and, once the baby chicks have dried out, they are transferred into a larger incubator to be kept warm. Our children have, once again, enjoyed watching the chicks hatch and naming the new arrivals. Many classes are studying the chicks and keeping a diary of their daily progress whilst they are with us in school. In another week's time the chicks will move to a new home from which we will receive news as they grow and the first eggs they lay.
 

This week at Copthorne

Reception visits to Peel Park
As part of the work that our Reception classes are doing about growing things each class will be visiting Peel Park this week.
1R's visit takes place today - Monday 25th March and 2R's on Tuesday 26th March. Each child will need a packed lunch and a warm coat, hat and gloves. Hopefully most of the snow will have melted by the time the children arrive. I am sure that our children will have a wonderful time and will tell us about all the things that grow in Peel Park.

Easter Assembly
Year 3 have been working hard to prepare their Easter Assembly and I'm sure that they will have done a great job. The assemblies will take place on Wednesday 27th March at 9.30 am and 2.30pm. We would love parents, carers and family members to join us for the assemblies and look forward to seeing you at one - or both - of those times.


Star of the Month
Each month we hold a special assembly to celebrate the hard work, great attitudes and achievements of our children. This month's assembly will take place on Thursday 28th March at 2.30pm. During the assembly we will be presenting prizes to our Stars of the Month. These are the children who have been nominated by their class teacher for showing really positive learning behaviours. Will it be you this time?





Year 3 Residential Meetings
A group of our Year 3 children will soon be taking part in the residential at Kingswood Outdoor Adventure Centre in the Peak District, organised through Exceed. The visit takes place from the 22nd to 24th April during which our children, along with others from the Exceed schools, will be taking part in a range of very exciting activities and staying away from home for 2 nights. A residential like this one is a great opportunity for our children as it helps them to prepare for the Year 6 residential, develops their independence and self awareness and helps to strengthen teamwork between children.
This week we are holding 2 meetings for parents and carers  of the Year 3 pupils taking part in this residential. During the meetings parents will be given an outline of the activities the children will be involved in and details of travel arrangements and the items that each child will need to pack.
 The dates and times of the meetings are: :
Wednesday 25th March at 8.45am  or
Thursday 28tgh March at 2.30pm
We look forward to seeing you at one of the meetings.

Training Session for Bradford College Students
On Thursday 28th March Mrs Whalley and I will be running a workshop for students from Bradford College training to be teachers. The session will show students how we use a variety of data to identify our priorities for school improvement and plan effective teaching and learning activities for our children. It is very important for Copthorne to be involved in the training of future teachers as we this helps us to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge that we know they will need in the future.

Have a wonderful week everyone and a restful holiday