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Welcome to Term 5! This term is full of promise and we can't wait to get started! This video also contains the events of the last week of Term 4. We make the most of each day and experience that we have. We can't wait for the days to be sunny and warm so we can explore our learning not only within the buildings of the academy but also within our wonderful grounds.
Welcome to the final news item of the Spring Term. For such a short term, it has definitely been full of experiences! Our children continue to work hard in all aspects of their learning and have really embraced this term’s personal development focus of Trying New Things! Our 31 extra curricular clubs have been well attended and Mrs Duxbury-Mead is already rallying the staff for ideas for next term. I have even had several requests from the children not only of clubs they would love to attend but also offers of clubs that the older children might run. Letters containing the club offer will be sent out at the start of the Summer Term.
There have been several incredible experiences since the last Tower Times. Year 5/6 visited Beth Shalom, the Holocaust Memorial Centre whilst Y/2 visited the Space Centre. Our children were, as expected, wonderfully well behaved and a credit to us. They also gained valuable experiences and understanding that they will take with them for many years. In addition to these experiences, pupils from Years 3,4, 5 and 6 took part in the Rock Challenge. Performing with both Primary and Secondary schools, our pupils showcased their hard work and commitment in their dance. It was a truly spectacular event and we deservedly earning several awards for excellence. Well done to all who took part and many thanks goes to Mrs Bensley, Mrs Dilloway, Mrs E Smith and Mrs Kightley who have worked so hard on the project. Thanks also goes to the parents who attended the event and cheered very loudly for our wonderful Rock Challenge team.
We wish you a very happy Easter holidays full of warm Spring weather and sunshine! We look forward to seeing everybody refreshed and back at school on Monday, 16th April 2018
We have been a really busy school, this week. They children were keen to participate in British Science Week activities that we had planned including trying to win the STEM challenges (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) set by Miss Widdison, our science leader. Working with others, we were impressed by their ingenuity with their designs as well as their resilience when testing their ideas. Please watch the weekly video to find our more!
Amazingly, next week is the last full week of term 4 and it’s another really busy week; Throughout the week, we will be thinking about Sport Relief, starting with a whole school assembly on Monday morning and culminating in a busy sports activity day on Friday. For a small voluntary contribution, children can wear their favourite sports wear as well as take part in a range of activities. Sports bands will be on sale from Monday and children from Y5 will be visiting the classes to allow children to purchase bands if they wish. Please look out for a letter on Parent Hub to find out more.
Well done goes to the academy’s Gymnasts as well as our KS2 Choir. Both groups have represented the academy brilliantly and the adjudicator of the Music Festival described them as “the pride of our school”!
It has been great to be back at school after the challenges that we faced from last week. We would like to thank you for your understanding when we had to close due to extreme weather conditions. This lead to several disappointments including our planned for World Book Day. However, we have enjoyed spending the day this week with the majority of our World Book Day activies taking place. Thank you for supporting the raffle and quiz, we raised £239 which goes towards replenishing our book stocks. The enforced closures also meant that we didn’t get to say goodbye (albeit temporarily) to Mrs Dewhurst and Mrs Maxwell who have now begun their maternity leaves. Unbelievably, we are pleased to announce that Mrs Dewhurst has already had her baby, a healthy baby boy! In addition to this, we are also pleased to announce that Miss Anderton has also had her baby – another boy! We will keep you posted as to when our final baby of the trio arrives!
Hopefully with the colder weather behind us, we are beginning to get excited about all of the possibilities that come with longer, warmer days. We are aware that with 3 weeks until the end of term, there are many events yet to happen including trips for Years 1,2, 5 and 6, the music festival, Rock Challenge and Sports Relief. Please keep an eye on your Parent Hub for the latest updates as well as in the Tower Times newsletter, FaceBook and Twitter.
As I have mentioned before, our focus for our personal development this term has been to Try New Things. Over the last few weeks, we have been able to observe many examples of children embracing the spirit of endeavour and we were impressed by the number of children who took part in the Grantham Rotary Swimarathon who hadn’t done it before as well as the number of children who represented the academy in the gymnastics competition. The children’s enthusiasm is overwhelming and they can’t wait to share it with others. Increasingly, our young leaders are keen to share their learning with the younger pupils and a special thank you has to go to the children who have run clubs this terms as well as our Sports Ambassadors and Gymnasts who not only looked after our younger gymnasts during the competition on Tuesday, they also looked after other schools’ pupils too!
As we reach the end of Term 3, we have say goodbye to Miss Anderton for a while. With her baby due in March, Miss Anderton is looking forward to spending time with her family before welcoming their new baby in a few weeks. We can’t wait to meet the addition to her family and I know she’ll be watching the videos every week to find out what we’re doing at school. During her absence, Miss Lamb will be teaching the Year 5 Gazelles. We wish you all a very happy half term break and look forward to seeing you back at school on Monday, 19th February 2018.
As you are aware, we have challenged our pupils to try new things this term. Whilst this could be that they try a new club or choose a lunch they’ve never had before, it could be something more subtle such as working with someone new or making choices about how they would like to demonstrate their learning. We are pleased to report that the children have risen to this challenge brilliantly and we have been really impressed with their resilience and creativity as a result. Thank you for your continued support at home as it seems as if recently and more than ever, their learning is overflowing into continued research and practice beyond the school day!
Next week is the last week of term before half term and one of our favourite weeks – Spring Term Parents’ Evening. Having met with you in the Autumn Term, we look forward to catching up with you on Wednesday and Thursday evenings to discuss your child’s progress. You will also be able to look at their learning in their various books. We encourage KS2 pupils (Years 3-6) to attend the meetings with their parents and younger children are welcome to stay with staff in the studio where they can either watch a film or look at the books in the book fair. Mrs Cradduck, our SENDCo will also be available on Wednesday evening.
In 2017, the government announced that they wanted primary schools to increase the amount of activity that children have to partake in to include an additional 30 minutes a day. At Huntingtower, we love to be active and always love to rise for a challenge. Watch the video and you’ll see that the teachers have become very creative as to how we can include more activity in our learning. Mrs Duxbury-Mead works very hard to coordinate our extra active minutes and we thank her for her hard work. If your child is active out of school too – at a sport or club, let us know!
It is a really special moment when you open a letter to reveal a surprise! This is what happened to Mrs Kightley our music leader, this week. We have achieved the Music Mark for our efforts and activities with music. Music is such an important element of our school day and the children gain a lot of pleasure from taking part. What made this award so special was that it was given to us after we were nominated by a music specialist who visited the academy. We look forward to building upon this mark in the future.
January quite often poses challenges including cold days, biting winds and limited sunshine. These factors do not deter our pupils who continue to make the most of every moment. They have particularly embraced their continuous provision afternoons, where they have the opportunity to make decisions about what they learn and when. This links really closely with our personal development curriculum, Try New Things and staff are keen to discuss how motivated the children are within these sessions.
We are now coming to the end of the third week of term and we are half way through this half term. Look out for a letter inviting you to meet with your child’s teacher just before half term. These Parent-Teacher meetings will provide you with the opportunity for you to find out about the progress that your child has made as well as look at their work.
Happy New Year! It has been great to welcome everyone back to our Academy, refreshed and ready to learn. After a really successful training day on the 2nd January, the children were keen to start the next day and instantly demonstrated their curiosity for their new projects. Look out for your child’s curriculum letter in their book bag.
We have also started our new focus for our Personal Development curriculum – Try New Things! This is really exciting and will build upon our ongoing focus of Never Give Up. With this in mind, we have structured some of the wider curriculum to encourage children to explore their learning in different ways. So far, the children have really enjoyed the Continuous Provision element of the curriculum. You’ll be able to see examples of their work when you come to meet with their class teachers just before half term at Parents’ Evening. Please check on the class Twitter feeds to find out more!
Welcome to our final news item of 2017! What a week it has been! Three Christmas Presentations, two dress rehearsals, a Yukele concert, a 375th Birthday Celebration, a Christmas part AND a Pantomime! In all that the children have done, they have made us immensely proud. Whilst we can see that the children are ready for a holiday with their families, they have continued to try their best, aim high and throughout, been resilient. With two days left, there is still much to experience – KS2 (Years 3-6) will have their Christmas Lunch and Party and on the final day, we will hold both our Endeavour assembly and a final assembly of the year. Parents are most welcome to attend the Endeavour Assembly where we celebrate pupils in every class who have given that little bit more. Our Endeavour List will be published in the final Tower Times of 2017.
We would like to celebrate the fantastic efforts of the Friends of Huntingtower and the Classes at the Winter Fayre. Without your support, we would not have been able to raise so much money. Huge thanks again go to the Friends of Huntingtower who also paid completely for the Pantomine. The children had so much fun and it really is a special time for them.
All of the staff would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and a relaxing break with your families. We look forward to seeing the children back at the academy on Wednesday, 3rd of January 2018. The first Celebration Assembly will be on Friday, 12th January 2018 with KS1 as the focus for Shining Light.