Letters Home

Weekly Updates – 27.1.23
 
Good morning,
Please see below for any updates for the week ahead.
 
In school next week
 
Swimming  
Swimming lessons on Thursday for Palm Class.   
Children will need:  
Swim cap (These can be bought from the swimming baths, please send £1.00 in an envelope labelled with your child’s name)  
One-piece costume for girls and shorts for boys (no baggy board shorts please).  
Towel   
Goggles (optional)  
Long hair tied up  
  
Reading Books  
Just a reminder that Oak and Acorn Class readers need to be returned every Friday please.  
  
Music lessons  
Cedar Class continue their whole class music tuition on Monday
  
Forest School  
Acorn class continue forest school sessions each Friday until half term. Children should wear old, comfortable clothes and wellies or trainers for this along with waterproof trousers and coats.   
 
Strike Action
School will remain open next week for all classes. There will be some changes to timetables and class structures on the day. Children should be dropped off and collected from their classes as normal.
 
Busy End
Due to strike action the busy end for Key Stage 2 has been cancelled and rescheduled for Wednesday 1^st February.
 
Other information:
 
 
Young Voices
Less than 2 weeks to go! We're all getting very excited. Keep practising the songs at home. 
If you haven’t managed to access the myclassmate.ai site, you can find all the resources on the website for Norbriggs Primary school if you search for Norbriggs and Young Voices: https://www.norbriggs.derbyshire.sch.uk/children/young-voices-1 
 
A letter outlining details of the day is attached and should come home in a paper copy too. 
Young Voices arrangements letter 2023  

 
Winter Mini Reading Challenge
A reminder to keep logging your winter reads on the 'Mini Winter Reading Challenge' website (summerreadingchallenge.org.uk) you have until February 20^th to log your reads. So far nationally 1,837,200 books have been read! I wonder how many of these have been logged by Children at our school? Keep reading and don't forget to recommend a good read to a friend or a teacher- we love to hear all about your reading for pleasure. Have a look at the Reading For Pleasure tab on our school website for ideas and let Mrs Pawson know if you want to add any recommendations! 
 
National Storytelling Week takes place from the 30^th January -5^th February
 
National storytelling Week takes place every year and celebrates the power of sharing stories. 
In school we will be taking part in lots of different storytelling, developing all of our storytelling and listening skills. On Monday we will take part in a live online event with professional storyteller Wendy Shearer. 



The Little Ripon Bookshop 
We are looking forward to welcoming Gill and her team from the Little Ripon Bookshop into school on Thursday afternoon. She will be reading and sharing stories with each class during the afternoon then running a book sale after school. This will be a great opportunity to spend any remaining Christmas money or pocket money on a new reading for pleasure book to enjoy. Gill has lots of recommendations of things that we know you will love to read. As a school every book sold will help us to raise money towards buying new books for our class and school libraries. We are really looking forward to sharing our love of reading with everyone please come along and support us!

The Big Schools Bird Watch
Acorn Class have started their work on spotting and identifying the birds that we can see in our school grounds. The RSPB runs a Big Bird Watch every year to gather information and to monitor our garden birds. This weekend you can take part at home in the Big Garden Bird Watch, taking part is easy, follow the link on the RSPB website.
 
Makkah Mosque
All of the children have now had the amazing opportunity of visiting the Makkah Mosque in Leeds, we would like to thank the community there for their warm welcome and the opportunity to experience a living faith. Listening to the Muezzin calling and looking up at the beautiful Islamic art in the dome will, we are certain, stay with the children and adults forever. We would also like to thank all of the helpers that made the visits possible. We will continue to explore living faiths and cultures throughout the school year with lots of further opportunities ahead.
 
Parent and Family Book Club
Mrs Pawson is starting a book club for the adults within our school community. Each half term we will be reading and sharing ideas on a book which focuses on helping us, as adults to know and understand how our children might think and learn! Anyone is welcome to join and can read along. We are reading our first book next half term, please look out for more information next week but if you have any ideas or questions in the meantime, please email Mrs Pawson or see her in person gpawson@kirkbymalzeard.n-yorks.sch.uk 
 
Settle Stories author visit
On Tuesday 7^th February, as part of our Golden Thread of being lifelong readers there will be an author visit to school.  Sita Brand is a published author and will be reading the whole school a story before holding workshops for KS1 and KS2.  We are so excited to have this opportunity!  Her book, The Dragon's Pearl, will be available to purchase after the workshops - more information to follow when it has been received. 
 
Cedar Class String Project
We would celebrate the String project that is happening in Cedar class this year and share this with the rest of the school and Cedar parents, to give Cedar chance to perform.
Helen Moulds, the string teacher will lead a mini performance during the Monday 6^th February during lesson time, with an introduction to the instruments and short selection of pieces they've learnt so far. This will take place at 2.30pm in the school hall.
 
Drinks bottles
Please can we remind people that drinks bottles are in school everyday. Drinks should be water not juice, bottles need to be drinks bottles rather than sippy cups. Please can we help children to carry bottles rather than add them to book bags as they can leak and ruin books.
 
Outdoor clothing 
Please can children all come to school warmly dressed for outdoor learning, all of our children spend time outside everyday. Children need warm hats, scarfs and gloves as well as a warm waterproof coat.
 
 
Safeguarding, Health and Wellbeing Updates 
 
Finding games for children which are appropriate for their age, which work on the devices the children use and the children will actually enjoy playing can be a minefield, particularly when parents are being bombarded with the 'but everyone else is playing this game' guilt trip. Game Finder is a new (free) service available from Taming Gaming which walks parents through various aspects, such as how old is your child? What devices do they have? What types of games do they like to play? And then gives a list of recommendations of suitable games. You can find Game Finder HERE. This can also be used to search games that you have heard your child(ren) mention to check if they are suitable.
 
Have a wonderful weekend