March 2005

This is the last Newsletter for this term. I have enjoyed meeting the many parents and carers I have met at events at school and look forward to meeting more of you during Parents’ Evenings. I hope you will take the time to look at the displays around school. The children have been busy producing the work and I hope you will appreciate the way it has been displayed.

Please note a couple of amendments to information in the last Newsletter:

The Rhyme & Reason book fair in school will not now be happening on 17th March.

The Easter Fayre competition will include: Decorated Eggs, Easter Bonnets and Easter Gardens. Children can enter either one, two or all three of these competitions.

Opportunities for Children to Perform

It has come to my attention that some parents have strong views about the changes - both in support and against. I am interested in a representative view about what parents would like from the opportunities we can provide and would be grateful if you would take the time to complete a short questionnaire and return it to school.

Hunter’s Bar Junior School Website

I am grateful to two parents who responded to the request for help in the last newsletter. As a result good progress is being made towards school information being accessible on the web, giving some level of interactivity. We aim to set up weblogs; one as the main site and two others, one for staff and one for pupils. This will allow a facility within school similar to an intranet and will be password protected for restricted use, There is still some work to be done and assuming certain permissions, we hope to launch this as soon as possible in the summer term. Of course more details will be available in the new term. Watch this space!!

School Priorities

As well as developing ICT the whole school is currently working on other areas of the curriculum:

Developing children’s writing skills,

Raising standards in Mental Maths

Assessment for Learning: involving children more clearly in their own progress. Children will be involved in the process of identifying what they should do to improve and should have opportunities to check against how they are doing.

Improvements to the learning environment

New blinds will be fitted in every classroom over the Easter holiday. This should mean that the children will not by affected by the bright sun which  streams into some of the rooms and will be a start to improving the look of the classrooms.

Staff Changes

We say goodbye to Mrs Stephenson at the end of this term. She has been an excellent member of the Teaching Assistant team and we wish her luck in her new post. We also wish Mrs Khan, one of our Midday Supervisors, good luck in her change of direction and thank her for the service she has given to the school.

Midday Supervisor Vacancies

Can you help??

We have two vacancies for a Midday Supervisor, to start as soon as possible. Lunch time begins at 12:05 p.m. and ends at 1:05 p.m. The role of the Midday Supervisor is to supervise the children while they are having their meal and it also involves making sure the children play safely and happily. If you are interested in receiving details about the post, please complete the attached slip and return it to school.

X Country Spring term

We have had a very rewarding term both in effort and achievement. All runners have tried hard and their supportive attitude to other runners, both from our school and others has been a credit to them all. They have also continued to smile in the very cold weather and mud!

Individual top 20 places were achieved by Sophie Taylor, Rebecca Moran, Louise Barker, Charley Morrell, Ciera Hunter, Naomi Yeger, Matthew Godden, Max Gardener, Matthew Nice, Eddie Joe Robinson, Louis Gardener, Matthew Barker and Peter Fleischman. Eddie Joe Robinson (Y5) finished 2nd overall in the Spring League.

Individual top 50 places were achieved by Abigail Mody, Lydia Hide, Jessica Davies- Webster, Isabel MacInnes, Ashley Atkinson, Molly Gregson, Sarah Willis- Worthington, Chloe Schooling, Scarlett Petty, Emma Holliday, John Fleischman, Naomi Cooper, Bryn Watkins, Connor McCormack, Haydn Cornish Jenkins, Joshua Furnival, Paul Crawley, Mikey Moseley, and Johny Campbell.

Calvi Thompson and Livvy Friend Spencer (both Y5s) have continually improved their performances whilst running against girls a year older. Improved performances have also been achieved by the dedicated running of Finn McKay, Sam Baddeley, Adam Baldwin, Zoe Wilkinson and Phoebe Atkinson. Danielle Battersby and Holly Renwick also deserve credit for running their first race at the relays so that we could enter a full girls’ team.

City Championships(notable results)

Sophie Taylor came first and is therefore the Y4 City Champion

Matthew Nice and Max Gardener came 6th and 10th respectively in the Y4 race

Eddie Joe Robinson(Y5) came 3rd in the Y5/6 boys race.

The Y4 girls’ teams were 3rd, 4th and 5th.

The Y4 boy’s team and the Y5/6 boys’ team were also 3rd.

Cross Country Relays

Again fantastic results and effort. The Y5/6 boys teams came 1st, 10th and 17th. The girls team were a commendable 12th.

Thanks to all parents for their continued support and encouragement.

Access to school

Please help us by remembering to use the correct procedures for gaining access to the school by using the main entrance. Parents and carers are still trying to gain access at the Kirkstall Road entrance and by the girls’ cloakroom entrance Members of staff will need to challenge visitors on site without a visitor badge. I hope you will understand and appreciate the reasons for this.

Disco Reminder: Tuesday March 22nd

Y3 and Y4       6:00 - 7:00 p.m.                        Y5 and Y6      7:15 – 8:15 p.m.

Water, bottled pop, crisps, fruit and squash will be on sale. More details nearer the time.

Pop Quiz Reminder: Saturday 23rd April 8:00 – 10:30 p.m.

Tickets for this event will be on sale at the Easter Fayre and during Open Evening.

Teams of six can be arranged before the event or on the night There will be a bar (no spirits, sorry) and crisps and nuts will be provided.

Standard Assessment Tests and School’s Annual Testing Weeks

A further reminder about end of year tests. We do ask that parents and carers avoid taking holidays during this time or, as far as possible, arranging medical appointments. If a Y6 pupil misses one test in a particular subject, no level is awarded. For the other year groups it is very helpful if the children take the tests at the same time.

Test Weeks:

Y4 Week beginning 25th  April

Y5 Week beginning 2nd May

Y6 Week beginning 9th May

Y3 Week beginning 16th May

Dates for your diary:

The last day of the Spring Term is Thursday 24th March

Summer Term begins Tuesday 12th April (School is closed for INSET on 11th April)

Wednesday May 25th : Musical Evening (Children’s performance)

Friday May 27th : School photographer (Class groups)

Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd June: School closed for half term holiday.

Monday 5th June School closed for INSET (for polling and still to be confirmed)

Tuesday 5th July: Sports Day

Wednesday 13th July: Performance Evening for Y5

JILL HALLSWORTH