Killinghall Primary School Newsletter Online w/c 13 January 2025 (fortnightly) A Message from Claire Can I start by thanking everyone for their support last week. The weather was treacherous and our school, along with many others in Bradford, was not able to open safely last week for pupils. I am sorry if this caused you any inconvenience, the weather really was unprecedented. Fortunately, pupils could continue with their learning on Seesaw. If your child had any problems with Seesaw last week and their teacher has not been able to resolve this for you, please speak to the office and make them aware of your problem. Many staff came into school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week and very early on Monday this week, clearing pathways in order to ensure that school could re-open safely on Monday at 10.30am. Thank goodness all the snow and ice has thawed quickly. Thank you to those parents who volunteered to help staff clearing the school site. Although I was not able to accept your offer, it was very much appreciated. Just a reminder that children need to be in school before 8.45am. The school gates open at 8.35am. Just a reminder to everyone to look at Ping on a daily basis for important information coming home from school. We had a great reaction to it during the bad weather with fewer parents having to call school asking whether school was open or closed. Thank you to all those parents of Year 6 Pupils who attended the meeting this week about Year 6 SATs. I hope you found it useful. The information discussed is available on our website. The SATs will be here before we know it. Parent Consultations are happening in school on Friday 31 January PM and Friday 7 February PM. Please make an appointment to speak to your child’s class teacher about the progress your child is making. I am pleased to let you know that your donations of food helped feed 618 families over Christmas. In total the foodbank fed 1492 people with emergency food provision, fresh fruit and vegetables in December, and they gave out thousands of toys for children. Thank you for your generosity. If you would like to complete the Local Authorities SEND Survey, please click on the following link. The closing date for the survey is the 19 January 2025. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrGEsg3okztMNR32ynoIfAiXG3- 1pjGwym1wcTOJ0p6pQQ4g/formResponse 2 Can Year 3 parents please look out for information coming home about the Bedtime Story Project on the 6 February at 4pm – 6pm. This is a lovely event being held at the Science and Media Museum. If you would like to join please confirm by Tuesday 21 January. The Storytime Reading Event for Reception parents that was due to take place on Monday 13 January has been rescheduled for Monday 20 January. Details have been pinged out to Reception parents. Please do all you can to come along, as the children love to read with their parents. Year 3 children are going to High Adventure near Keighley next week for a residential. We hope they have a fabulous time, and the weather stays dry for them. Please read the information pinged to all parents regarding our Faith Worship in school. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. The Carnegie Dental Clinic at 9-13 Leeds Road, Shipley, BD18 1BP have NHS funded dental places available for children. Please see the attached letter. You can express an interest at https://zfrmz.eu/BJMF0UfqLaXzTZfroM9I. Alternatively If you would like to find out more, please email schools@carnegieclinic.com I am pleased to let you know that the PCSOs will be working around school over the next couple of months during dropping off and picking up times. Please remember to park legally and not obstruct our neighbours when dropping off and collecting your children. Unfortunately, I have a couple of safeguarding issues to raise this week:- • Can I remind parents that you must not approach children in or outside of school to talk to them. Parents need to address any matters through school channels and not speak directly with other people’s children. • I need to request that parents do not shout/ talk loudly or swear on school premises. Some pupils have recently heard parents swearing outside of classrooms whilst waiting to collect their children at home time. I mentioned in my last newsletter about Year 4 and Year 5 pupils having work exhibited in Bradford College as part of the Bradford City of Culture Status for 2025. If you would like to see the work, please see the opening times below: ‘Our Bradford’ CITY OF CULTURE 2025 DYE HOUSE GALLERY LISTER BUILDING BRADFORD COLLEGE Work from our school and 60 other district schools are on display in a prestigious gallery. Please ring the Lister Building on 01274 088088 to confirm opening before setting off. SATURDAY 18.01.2025 10 AM – 12.30 PM No appointment or ticket needed. SATURDAY 25.01. 2025 10 AM – 12.30 PM No appointment or ticket needed. 3 THURSDAY 30.01.2025 Closing night viewing 5PM – 6.30 PM No appointment or ticket needed. Parental Involvement English speaking classes for Mums will now take place on Tuesday mornings from 9.00am to 10.30am starting on the 4th February. Sewing classes for beginners will be on Fridays from 9.00am to 11.00am starting on the 24th January. Reception parents will continue with Family learning sessions this term, you will be invited soon. Our Toddler Group takes place every Thursday afternoon from 1.30pm to 3.00pm with Shaheen, starting on the16th January. For more information and to register for classes please contact Shaheen on 01274 771166. Safeguarding Just a reminder, primary school children should not be on YouTube and posting comments to articles on YouTube. Please keep an eye on your children and what they are doing online. Children should not be using any social media sites e.g., Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp and Snapchat. The legal age to use these is 13. Please be vigilant as to what your child is accessing online. You can find advice and support around these issues on our website. If you need any advice about this, please call school. Reports from Year Groups: BrightStart In BrightStart we have started learning about dinosaurs. We have read the story ‘Stomp, Dinosaur, Stomp’, which the children have really enjoyed. We have also been doing our own dinosaur movements, such as stomping, chomping and flying! Nursery This week in Nursery we have started to learn about dinosaurs. We have enjoyed reading our interactive story '1,2,3, Let's do the Dinosaur'. The children have enjoyed learning repeated patterns and phrases together with actions while reading the story. We have also enjoyed digging in the sand and finding the hidden dinosaur fossils. Reception We were so proud of all the children who worked so hard completing our Seesaw activities last week during the bad weather. We loved seeing the children's ice paintings, writing about their pets and sharing in their lovely snow creations from snowmen, snow strawberries and snow animals. In English this week we are using the story 'Oi Frog' to explore rhyming. We have been writing rhyming such as cat, mat and parrot, carrot. 4 In maths we are subitising to 5. When we subitise instead of counting we look for patterns such as representations of numbers on a dice or the way numbers can be composed such as 3 and 2 = 5. Subitising is a key skill to help develop children's confidence when working with numbers. In provision the children have been sorting shapes by their properties e.g. triangles, 4 sided shapes, shapes with curved sides. We have also used playdough to make tracks with different vehicles and discussed their properties such as large wheels, has wings, 4 wheels. Year 1 Year 1 have worked hard in the first week on Seesaw. Well done to all the children who completed the holiday homework and work on Seesaw. In English we are beginning to look at our new class book ‘Dogger’ and reading the ‘blurb’. The children have completed a shared write using words from the original ‘blurb’. In maths we have been looking at measures and completing practical measuring activities using standard and non-standard units of measuring. In topic we have started our ‘Toys’ topic and have been thinking about our favourite toys and writing sentences about them. Year 2 In Year 2 we welcomed all children back to school after a late start to the year. Thank you to everyone who helped children access their Seesaw challenges during the week we were not in school due to the bad weather. This week in school we have been working hard to catch up on any lost time. We've been learning some new vocabulary from our new book, ‘Tyrannosaurus Drip’. In history we've been learning all about the Wright brothers and their significant achievements in aviation. In science we've been completing our last topic by exploring and making food chains. In maths we've begun to explore the different types of measurement and we'll be learning how to read different types of scales. Year 3 In English we have used dictionaries to define unfamiliar vocabulary from our new class text Oliver Twist’, we are now reading an adapted version by Benjamin Hulme-Cross. In maths we have been ordering fractions on number lines and counting on in tenths. The children have been finding fractions of amounts and sharing equally. In science we have conducted an experiment exploring how different surfaces affect the distance a car travels. In history the children placed the Roman Invasion on a timeline and explored the contributions they made to landmarks and transport. Year 4 In English we have started reading our new text 'The Explorer.' We have been making predictions based on the front cover and researching the author. 5 In maths we have been looking at addition and subtraction. We have been answering questions using the column method. In topic we have started our history topic ' How hard was it to invade and settle in Britain?' Children have been looking at when the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain and the reasons why. In science we have started our topic on 'teeth and the digestive system'. We have been looking at different types of teeth and their functions. Year 5 In English we have started a new book called 'Beowulf' which is an old Norse myth. We have linked the features of myths with the books and looked closely at the language used to tell the tale. We are also learning about how authors build characters and how they show their character through their writing. In maths there will be some revision of the arithmetic skills we have been looking at as well as learning about fractions. We have done a brief recap of what we should know and will be moving onto equivalent fractions and common denominators. In geography our topic this half term is 'Why do Oceans Matter?' where we are learning about all the different oceans, what they give the world, how we use them and also how we don't look after them. We have started by learning about trade routes across different countries. In science our focus is still on materials, and we have moved on to conductors and insulators. We have used micro-bits to test to see if different items and the materials they are made from are electrical conductors or not. Year 6 In English pupils have started reading The Jungle Book and are writing a diary in the perspective of Mother Wolf. In maths children have been converting fractions to make equivalent fractions. In history children have started the new unit on WW2 and are learning about why the war started. % Attendance so far this year, per year group There is an expectation from the Government that all pupils will have a minimum of 96% attendance. Year Group % Attendance Reception 88.45 Yr 1 90.67 Yr 2 91.53 Yr 3 94.66 Yr 4 93.88 Yr 5 94.92 Yr 6 95.56 Did you know that in Bradford our children have double the rate of absences due to unauthorised leave compared to other schools nationally? We need to reduce these absences at Killinghall to ensure that every one of our children maximises their learning opportunities and does not miss out on learning. We need your support to do this. 6 Holiday dates for you to remember Please do not book holidays or visits abroad for your children in school time:- • School closes for February half term on Friday 14 February 2025 and reopens to pupils on Monday 24 February 2024. • School is closed for EID on Monday 31 March 2025 and Tuesday 1 April 2025. School is open as normal on Wednesday 2 April. • School closes for Easter on Friday 11 April 2025 and reopens to pupils on Tuesday 22 April 2025. Follow the link below to view your children’s school holidays for 2024/2025 https://www.killinghall.bradford.sch.uk/bradford/primary/killinghall/site/pages/allaboutkillinghall/sch oolholidays2425 Follow the link below to view your children’s school holidays for 2025/2026 https://www.killinghall.bradford.sch.uk/bradford/primary/killinghall/site/pages/allaboutkillinghall/sch oolholidays2526 The Big Question of the Week Please take the time to discuss this question with your children. There are no right or wrong answers, just interesting conversation.

Dear Parents The Education Reform Act 1988 states that in a school the majority of acts of collective worship must be ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’ unless you have applied for a determination from SACRE (Bradford Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education). We have to complete this determination every 5 years and as we want to continue to deliver faith worship sessions the way we currently do, we have to reapply for this determination. This will allow us to hold separate faith worship sessions during the week that are not all ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’ and we will be able to provide worship for children of different religious groups. If you have any questions or comments regarding this please contact school before Friday 17 January and ask to speak to me. Thank you. Claire Spencer Headteacher

The school newsletter for December 9th is now available.