Primary Newsletter 1

Appleton Academy Primary Newsletter

Featuring: o Trips and visitors o Christmas Celebrations o Attendance update

Together with our community, we can achieve extraordinary things.

Welcome Welcome to our new primary newsletter where we will be sharing lots of information about the learning taking place in primary, events that are happening and other information.

This edition focuses on the enrichment activities the children have had this term and the Christmas events that have taken place.

This week has been incredibly busy with performances, parties and Father Christmas visiting. Thank you to everyone who came along to the performances; I’m sure you will all agree the children did a fantastic job remembering their lines, the songs and all the actions too.

From all of us in primary we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best wishes,

Miss Clayton Head of Primary

2

Autumn Term Trips and Visitors

EYFS Early Years have been reading Owl Babies in class and really enjoyed seeing the owls when they came to visit.

The OAA team have been working with some of our youngest children in schoolthey have been learning how to ride balance bikes.

Year 1 Year 1 have been studying the work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy. They went to Judy Woods to design and recreate some of their own art-work inspired by him and then they made their own sculptures using natural materials.

3

Autumn Term Trips and Visitors

Year 2 In Year 2 this half term pupils went on an interesting tour of Wyke to understand their local area. They also enjoyed visiting Bolling Hall to learn all about The Great Fire of London. Pupils learnt key facts about how and where the fire started and even got to look around the museum to see what life was like in the 1600s. In English, pupils discovered a giant beanstalk and mysterious footprints in the school which inspired them to write a newspaper report all about the incident.

Year 3 have started to learn Spanish this year and launched the unit with a Spanish Day!

Year 3 Some children took part in a golf competition against other schools in Bradford and came 2nd!

4

Autumn Term Trips and Visitors

Year 4 Year 4 went to Eden Camp as part of their history unit of work on WW2.

The children had the opportunity to look at army tanks and were able to get inside just like a real solider.

They investigated the different bunkers and experienced what life was like for people during WW2. They explored what houses were like at the time as well as the jobs people did.

Year 5

5DF have had OAA this term-they have been taking part in archery, ascending the climbing wall and cycling.

5JM started their swimming sessions this term and are all making fantastic progress.

Year 5 visited Saltaire as part of their geography unit on rivers.

5

Autumn Term Trips and Visitors

Year 6

Year 6 went to Herd Farm for their residential. They took part in many activities such as: a night walk, orienteering, bushcraft, zipline and crate stacking and had so much fun.

Some children in Year 6 took part in a frisbee competition against other schools in Bradford.

The children enjoyed listening to the author of The Fib – George Layton. He talked about the skills needed to be a great writer.

6

Festive Farm and Father Christmas We started the month with the Festive Farm visiting primary.

The children had a fantastic time petting and feeding the animals.

We must have all been very good as Father Christmas visited us again and brought a gift for every child.

7

Early Years Production Our First Nativity

Our early years children worked extremely hard to ensure our parents/carers came to see a wonderful show – and they certainly did not disappoint. From amazing singing to fantastic dancing, their final show was outstanding.

8

Key Stage 1 Production Magical Christmas Journey A wonderful production by all the children in KS1. Alongside their teachers, children worked very hard and spent time rehearsing, making sure the songs, lines and dances were perfect – and that's exactly what this performance was.

They told the story of a journey to find a star for the Christmas tree, and along the way was plenty of laughter and a sprinkle of Christmas joy.

For all the children and teachers who played a part in the show, it was a performance to remember and be proud of.

9

Lower Key Stage 2 Production Christmas Around The World Year 3 and 4 took the audience across the globe explaining important traditions which are celebrated in different countries.

Beginning the journey in Europe, 3EH explained the importance of stars in Poland at Christmas.

4MA then took us across to Germany where we learnt about the events of the Christmas Truce in 1914.

Travelling over to China, 3SA demonstrated their dance routine with paper fans, explaining how Christmas trees are decorated using paper and lanterns.

Heading south, 4II travelled to Australia and shared information about the traditions on the other side of the world.

10

Upper Key Stage 2 Production Panto Pandemonium Year Five and Six impressed the audience with a Broadway-worthy performance of ‘Panto Pandemonium’.

Four innocent children were deceived by a wicked witch and ended up being caught up in helping to find the lost magic of Pantoland.

All the performances were amazing. Thank you to everyone who came along.

11

Attendance As you may be aware, attendance is an issue that many schools are struggling to improve. Whilst we have seen some improvements across the term, we still have a significant number of children with attendance that is much too low.

January Attendance Challenges To support high levels of attendance in January we will be offering a free school dinner on Friday 5 January 2024 to any child who would usually pay and attends on both the Thursday and Friday of our first week back.

We are also launching two January attendance rewards. Any child who has 100% attendance for the week will have their name put into a draw to win a £5.00 voucher. There will be a name drawn from Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

Any child that has 100% attendance for the month will also have the chance to win a hamper and a £5.00 voucher.

12

Parental Involvement My name is Emily Chesterman and I am the Parental Involvement Officer at Appleton Academy. My role is to strengthen the partnership between school and home and show that your involvement is valued. It is important to have regular contact with school and be involved in your child's education as much as possible.

I also offer new opportunities for parents/carers such as social events and courses which may help you learn something new or support you to seek employment.

New courses for January 2024 include Functional Skills Maths and English and Adult Care. Please contact me for more information.

Emily.chesterman@appletonacademy.co.uk

Thank you for your kind donations for Wyke Food Bank. We managed to collect 320 items. Wyke Food Bank send their greatest thanks to Appleton Academy families.

I will be hosting a coffee morning on Friday 19 January 2024 8.30am-9.30am.

Please feel free to pop in to the community room.

If you would like to attend a zoom meeting to discuss 'Supporting your child's healthy lifestyle' on Tuesday 19 December 2023, please email Mhstparentsupport@bdct.onmicrosoft.com to secure a place.

StepChange- debt advice and money management – 0800 138 1111 www.stepchange.org Free housing advice – 0808 800 444 England.shelter.org.uk Free support and advice on energy costs, efficiency and heating repairs – 0300 303 3292 greendoctoryorkshire@groundwork.org.uk

13