A message from Mrs Stout
Dear Parents and Carers- the words which spring to mind now are 'Looks like we made it!' A huge well done and socially distanced hug to everyone for pulling together during this year and the last year. I am leaving Whitkirk today in my capacity as Executive Headteacher but returning approximately one day a week in September to support Mr Dawson and the leadership team as they continue and accelerate their journey towards 'Good'. It has been a strong old time since I joined Whitkirk (I think 9 non pandemic days) but the team here are truly wonderful. Not everything has gone smoothly as we work towards an improved and improving school, but we have learnt from our mistakes and are forward looking and very optimistic (and realistic) about the future for Whitkirk.
Mr Ian Foy, our chair of governors, also sends a short message: 'just wish everyone a relaxing and safe summer plus thank everyone for their patience in an incredibly challenging year.' I am very much looking forward to being a small part of the progress I know Whitkirk will make next year!
We say goodbye to many staff members today and wish them well in their next stages of their lives and careers but we also say goodbye to our Y6. A Y6 group of pupils who have had a tough time - and we are so proud of them. I wish them love, luck and for them to remember they started at Whitkirk and to be proud of this and what they are going to achieve in their futures. Go and change the world for the better Y6! We believe in you!
To everyone else- enjoy your break and Whitkirk will see you on Tuesday 6th September bright and early ready to begin again! We cannot wait.
Attendance:
Seeing as we've changed our 'Star of the Week' to 'Star of the Year' this week, we also thought we would celebrate the highest attendance of the year and it is very impressive! In first place, with 97.5% attendance is Mrs Diop's class! Well done Y1KD! Closely followed by Miss Tomlinson's class with 97.1% and in third place with 96.2% is Miss Sanderson's class. Well done everybody!
Let's see what our classes have been up to this week:
Reception:
We began the week with the last day of online home learning. Children continued to be amazing and engaged fully both during the live lessons and with their independent challenges at home. We then returned to school with a smile on our faces for the last week in Reception. We have continued with the topic ‘Where can we travel’ and have read ‘Emma Jane’s aeroplane’. She travelled to far away places around the world and we have investigated different forms of transport in different countries such as Tuk tuks in Thailand and our favourite the sea plane which we saw fly over the Maldives. In Maths, we have continued with understanding the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and have moved onto investigating length and height. We all enjoyed drawing around our feet and measuring using cubes to see whose feet where the longest and whose feet where the shortest. With the fabulous weather we have had a pool out for paddling and we loved our fish and chips lunch followed by ice-cream.
KS1:
What an amazing last week of Year 1 it has been in 1KD! We have had happy tears (teachers), fabulous work (the whole class) and many laughs along the way! This week, like every week, the children have all tried their best and done some brilliant learning. We have written some fabulous character descriptions of George, from The Smartest Giant in Town and retold the story really well. We even managed to make him a new tie and some eye-catching socks! In PE, we learnt how to play rounders and saw some super throwing and catching skills! You have been a pleasure to teach 1KD and we (the KS1 team) wish you a happy and fun-filled summer!
What a wonderful final week of term and the year for Year 1/2! We had a fabulous time this week going on our woodland walk to Temple Newsam! The children became real scientists, exploring and observing the plants in their environment. It was superb to see them applying all the knowledge about plants through their discussions! The children definitely did Whitkirk Primary School proud on their out of school visit! In our wider learning, we are preparing for transition through focusing on the story “Rainbow Fish”. The children have weaved their own rainbow fish in DT, sequenced the story in English and created friendship scales in PSHE. We have truly loved watching the children in Year 1/2 grow this year. Their progression in both their learning and their little personalities is beyond amazing and we are so proud. We will miss their little smiles, however we are extremely excited to see their futures at Whitkirk and watch them soar!
Year 2 have had an amazing last week in Year 2. They have enjoyed thinking about our favourite memories and recapping on some of their favourite learning. The children have remembered SO much from learning about Ruby Bridges to their first piece of artwork based on Piet Mondrian! The children never fail to wow us! Year 2 also completed some lovely writing based on the ABC advice challenge. They thought long and hard about the advice they would give to the future Year 2s and the thoughts and ideas they came up with were truly heart-warming. The children that make up the class of Year 2RW are extremely special. They are filled with kindness, take on any challenge, and always strive to be the best they can be. They are marvellous little humans! We have thoroughly enjoyed teaching them this year and we are SO proud. We hope you all have a wonderful summer.
LKS2:
We have come to the end of a wonderful year! Miss Baker, Miss Tomlinson, Mrs Kirrane, Mrs Hart and Mrs Lambourne are so incredibly proud of all the fabulous children in Year 3! We have made so many amazing memories together throughout the year and have certainly ended on a high this week! Here are a few wonderful memories from this year. We hope you all have an amazing summer holiday and we can't wait to welcome you back in September!
An enormous well done to Year 4 for an incredible year. No matter what challenges you have faced, you have all shown an endless amount of resilience. You have achieved so much together and we can't wait to see how much you fly as you move up into Year 5. It's been great to spend time this week reflecting on our year and sharing our memories. Some highlights of the year have to include -
- Whitkirk Biscuit Bake Off - we can't wait to see some of you make an appearance on the real one one day!
- Gruesome mummification (of an orange) - we loved grossing you out!!!
- Roman shields and putting them into use in a Whitkirk battle!
- Swimming - you have all done absolutely amazing
- Constructing giant mountains as part of our Geography theme
An amazing year Year 4! Well done!
UKS2:
We've said it before and we'll say it again, Year 5 are the BEST year group in the entire universe!!! This year has been fandabidocious and it is hard to believe that it is come to an end. All the teachers in Year 5 wanted to say how exceptional all the children have been throughout this semi-normal school year. It has been an absolute pleasure to teach each one of you and we are so happy that we've has a chance to grow so close this year-whether that has been in school or online. From dressing up as Vikings and Victorians, to captivating creepy crawlies in the classroom and everything in between, we have had way too much fun! Thank you for making all the teachers laugh no matter what may be happening outside in the world. We are so jealous but it's true, the Year 6 teachers are all in for a treat. We will miss you all like crazy like and can't imagine the school without you and your antics, humour and sweet gestures. Have a lovely break this summer and take this time to celebrate all the wonderful things you have achieved this year! Remember to be kind, be brave, be honest, be thankful, be humble, be creative, be happy and be you! We wish you all the best of luck in Year 6! Here's to the class of 2022!
The Year 6 team cannot quite believe that we are at the end of an incredible year. As Mrs Stout said in the show, 'Proud' is the word that we all continue to use. Proud of how resilient the children have been; proud of the hurdles they have overcome, but mostly proud of the kind, young children they are: more than ready for their next step in their education😊. We kept our fingers and toes crossed that we would get to Wednesday without any closures and rainfall, and we made it! It was lovely to be able to have our al fresco singalong performances of Whitkirk Will Rock You this week. A special thank you to all the family and friends who came along to support our amazing young people. We were blown away! After a week of swimming, pjs, pizza, shows, INCREDIBLE writing and team games, we have seen so much friendship and encouragement towards each other! There has certainly been memories to last a lifetime this week. We will miss them immensely! Here's to the Class of 2021! The Rockstars!! 🙌✨
Credits:
Created with an image by Agence Olloweb - "Il s’agit d’une photographie réalisée pour illustrer notre page des offres de création graphique de l’agence web Olloweb Solution"