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Welcome to
Park Spring Primary School

‘Achieving Together ● Inspired To Be Successful’

Mr B’s Week

Week 23

Our Book day on Friday was amazing, I got to read my FAVOURITE BOOK (Holes by Louis Sachar) to Y5A – for a whole half hour!

This is what Miss Brearey our Reading Lead wrote in this weeks newsletter.

Wow! What a brilliant World Book Day Park Spring has had! Children have had a fantastic time sharing their favourite books and listening to their teacher’s recommendations. They have participated in book-themed fun and enjoyed lots of ‘bedtime stories’ throughout the day. All classes even had the opportunity to listen to a story read by a teacher from another class! Each teacher across school visited different classes to share one of their favourite books. As I walked round school listening to adults reading aloud, it was amazing to see how calm and engaged all of the children were. All children, no matter how old they are, really do benefit from listening to adults reading to them, because this gives them the opportunity to experience what fluent *reading sounds like, and how enjoyable it can be! Staff will be posting their own ‘bedtime story’ onto our school website over the next few weeks as part of our World Book Day celebrations. Please do take some time to watch the videos with your child as part of your reading routine at home. All children in school have the opportunity to bring a library book home to share with you. They may want to read this independently, but this can also be a great opportunity for adults at home to read aloud to children. We want to develop a love of reading in all of our children, and listening to stories is just as important and children having the opportunity to read books themselves.

Happy reading! Miss Brearey (PSPS Reading Leader)

 

WORLD BOOK DAY – Getting ready for it# with the support of our local business partners.

During our ASPIRATION week earlier this year we forged a partnership with WILMOTT DIXON CONSTRUCTION. They are the builders that will begin building 89 homes on the Hough Top Site later this year. Vickie Thornton who came to tell us all about careers in the construction industry returned with a MASSIVE CHEQUE (massive in more ways than one!). WILMOTT DIXON came to donate £500 for us to purchase new books ready for WORLD BOOK DAY! The school council team are working with their respective classes to choose the best books possible. Thanks to Vickie and of course WILMOTT DIXON for their generosity.

Week 22

Last week we had a focus on Mathematics in EYFS and KS1. We wanted the children to really enjoy maths and begin to use their on line learning accounts for NUMBOTS. Independent practice of basic number sense is SO IMPORTANT for the children’s future success and we want to help families support them in this. We provide the accounts in order that the children can practice this fundamental knowledge to AUTOMATICITY. WE also wanted to highlight what a brilliant resource the BBC’s NUMBERBLOCKS programme is for children and their parents. A REALLY SUCCESFULL week saw all the children logging onto their online accounts and practising lots! Thanks to the amazing teams from EYFS and KS1 who made the week so much FUN as well as ensuring all the children gained lots more KNOWLEDGE!

 

Week 21

This week Y6 with the help of Miss Benson our Computing Learning leader have been doing some amazing things with new technology that we have recently received. They were using MICROBITS – programmable cards that the children can code to make them perform functions. This week they were making animations (we even had a Valentines version!) . Lots of knowledge gained. Lots of FUN had by all. Just the way we like it at PSPS!

What a fantastic way to start our half-term holiday! Mrs Horan, Miss Glastonbury, Mrs Newnes, Mrs Lawton, Mr King, Mr Hansen, Mr Woods and Mr Barker were in attendance with 18 of our AMAZING Y5 pupils as they began a year of charity fundraising. The children were packing bags for the customers in return for a donation if they so wished. We had SO MANY positive comments from the staff of Morrisons and the customers about how SMART and POLITE our children were. We were very proud of them all. They also managed to raise over £400 which is an amazing start to them raising their own funds for their Y6 Hoodies!

Week 20

Mrs Horan led 2 amazing assemblies on our last day of half-term. The children pictured all were recognised as OUTSTANDING members of their respective classes, completing lots of learning and fulfilling our pupil aims of showing resilience, kindness, happiness and being confident learners. Just look at how proud they are. Thank you to all the family members that kept their invite secret from their children and thank you to GREGGS BAKERS for another amazing donation of treats for all the winners to enjoy at the end of the assemblies.

The children officially had their Y6 Hoodies presented to them by our official sponsor Yas, the owner of  LifeCycles Bike shop on Stanningley Road. The children have raised ALL of the funds for their hoodies again this year with the help of one of our Governors Barbara Glastonbury. She has led charity bag packs and bun sales along the way! She also worked with Yas to once again get a local business to sponsor our school. The LifeCycles Bike shop logo looks amazing. The children quite rightly are very proud of themselves. The children in the picture below received their hoodies 2 days ahead of their class mates as they were noted to have put a great effort into our fund rasing activities. Well done them. Thanks Ms. Glastonbury and a VERY BIG THANKYOU to YAS and all the team at LifeCycles Bike shop Bramley.

Week 20

 

On Tuesday Year 4,5 and 6 children took part in a BBC LIVE LESSON on internet safety which provided an insight in to the world of AI (artificial intelligence) in the future. It was an interactive lesson full of quizzes, AI truth and lie, how microbits work and the risks of AI. The children found it really interesting. Thank you to Miss Benson our Computing Learning, Lead teacher for organising this for us!

Week 17

On Wednesday night after school staff spent the evening putting up wonderful new displays to brighten our corridors and provide a stimulating and informative environment for the children to experience everyday. Everyone whom visits always comments on our lovely building and how our school ‘feels!’ How it looks is really important to us too. Smart and proud! Thank you to all our creative staff.

 

Well we are in January now! We hope you had an amazing holiday and were able to spend some valuable time with those that you love and care about. We had an amazing run up to the festivities here at PSPS. We had performances from EYFS and KS1 that were the BEST EVER and on the last Friday of term KS2 held their Carol Concert. We had to move it from outside in the playground to inside due to the windy weather but for those of you that could squeeze in – we hope you enjoyed hearing the children singing. We have a new choir Mistress – Miss Firmin who has done an amazing job with the whole of KS2 singing and with the new school choir. Mrs Horan led a song where the children in her group snag and provided Makaton hand signing! AMAZING. We also fitted in two RECOGNITION ASSEMBLIES and the BEST CHRISTMAS DINNER we have ever had (well done and thank you to Chef Cindy on your debut!)

If you came to support any or all of these events – then a MASSIVE thank you – the children love you recognising their achievements and watching them perform.

Happy New Year to you all!

Christmas Week

 

Week 13

A great school is ALL about its community – and we have the BEST COMMUNITY at PSPS. Santa came calling this week to see all the GOOD children and hear what they were wishing for Christmas. This was an amazing event and ALL put on by our friends THE FOPS (Friends of Park Spring) . Thank you to them all and the staff that stayed very late on a Friday Night  to ensure the children had a fabulous and special time. If you would like to help MAKE A DIFFERENCE just like they do – please contact the school office for how to get involved!

Week 12 – Cooking Week!

Miss Wolfe is now our Lead Teacher for Design Technology (Cooking and Food). She has introduced our FIRST COOKING WEEK, where ALL Y groups had a chance to rustle up some tasty treats. It looked and smelt amazing. It was really great seeing our children HAVING FUN and GAINING KNOWLEDGE. Well done and thanks to Miss Wolfe for organising! Ask you child/ren what they cooked – you might be able to get them to make it again for YOU!!

Week 11:

Mr Singh came to visit Y6 and discuss their new topic all about Sikhism in RE. He discussed some of the core values of Sikhism and shared the 5 Ks of the religion. The children showed great care, respect and interest towards Mr Singh and the Sikh religion. As you can see they were LEARNING LOTS and HAVING FUN #Britishvalues #TeamPSPS. Thanks to Miss Wykes our new R.E. Subject Leader for organising this visit for Y6.

 

Week 10

TTRS: PSPS ROCKS … ENGLAND ROCKS

So after the success of our intra school TTRS competitions last week we have followed up by entering TTRS ENGLAND ROCKS. All the schools that provide TTRS to their children were able to enter – that was 4,357 schools in all. We came 258th when looking at AVERAGE CLASS SCORE and 113 when looking at TOTAL SCORES. That puts in the TOP 3% of schools NATIONALLY! We answered an AMZING 189.454 questions between us!

Thank you parents again for encouraging your children to take part and practice their TIMESTABLES AT HOME – remember PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT – and TIMESTABLES are the key to being a great MATHEMATICIAN!!!

If you could continue to support your child by helping ensure they complete 30 minutes of TTRS each week for Y2 to Y6 and or NUMBOTS for YR to Y2.

 

Week 9

So what a TTRS week we had! Despite losing our school internet link for 2 days the children of PSPS absolutely SMASHED it their times tables learning. Y2 through to Y6 children managed to answer a STAGGERING HALF-A-MILLION CORRECT multiplication and DIVISION ANSWERS! What a lot of great learning. 6A and 6B were overall CHAMPIONS and Jason, Zubby, Chijo and Toby H were the FASTEST GUITAR HEROES in the whole school. Toby being ROCK LEGEND answering an AMAZING 116 answers in just one minute. Thank you for all your support – the children looked, learnt and behaved amazingly. ROCK ON!

 

Week 8

The last week of half term was INCREDIBLY BUSY!

We announced the new school councilors!

We had the SCARIEST SCHOOL HALLOWEEN DISCO … EVER (Thankyou FOPS – we raised over £700!

And on the last day we had KS1 and KS2 RECOGNITIONASSEMBLIES. Well done to all who were recognised by their class teachers. We hope you enjoy reading the books you won that were by your ‘AUTHORS of the HALF TERM’!

…and … there’s more … Miss Firmin led her BRAND NEW SCHOOL CHOIR to sing ‘SING’ for us all at the assembly. They sounded AMAZING! Well done Miss Firmin and well sang children!!!

Week 8

Carnival Time – with Boomchikkaboom!

We began our Black History Month STUDY WEEK in style on Monday, when Faye from Carnival company BOOMCHIKKABOOK came in to tell us all about the history of Carnival and the history of Carnival in Leeds. We learnt that the original carnival was to celebrate EMANCIPATION from SLAVERY. We learnt that Arthur France and his friends missed carnival so much after moving to England that they decided to create their own! We learnt that Leeds Carnival is the oldest and biggest in EUROPE! And we learn that CARNIVAL is made up of four important parts:

… and then Y5 and Y2 learnt that they loved CARNIVAL!!! Thank you to Faye from BOOMCHIKKABOOM – she did a brilliant job of bringing our studies to life. I hope some of you make the journey across Leeds next summer with your families to celebrate in style and look out for Faye and her troupe next summer! We look forward to welcoming Faye back next year during our Black History studies.

 

We are getting reading for the next half term already – so watch out for TIMES TABLES ROCKSTARS WEEK!

TTRS week!!! (Y2 to Y6) 

To add the FUN back into our basic skills mathematics learning (x Tables) we will be having a TTRS themed week to RAISE the PROFILE of TTRS. WE will have a launch assembly on the Monday morning 9:10  for Y2 to Y6 

Classes will be involved in competitions where the children will compete with each other and other classes across the week. Eventually we will end up with winning classes and an overall SUPREME TTRS Champion! You never know we might even have a teachers competition! 

To note for your diary: FRIDAY 10th November will be TTRS: Dress like a ROCKSTAR day – we will be holding a celebration of the progress the children have made across the week and of course crowning the champions! 

In preparation you need to ensure all children KNOW or HAVE EASY ACCESS to their PASSWORDS and help support them get access and spend AT LEAST 30 minutes PER WEEK practising this key knowledge.

 

More details to follow yours … (Frankly Ghettoblaster! AKA Mr B) 

Week 8

Black History Month – Black History week.
Our timetable of events has just been finalised. We start our special study week with a workshop company called ‘Boomchickaboom’. They will lead a whole school assembly to celebrate ‘The History of Carnival’ looking at Leeds Carnival in particular. Year 2 and Year 5 will have time with the workshop group learning to ‘dance – carnival style!’
On Monday afternoon all children will study their planned units of Black History.
On Tuesday – KS2 classes will follow a ‘livestream link’ where they will access learning and activities and take part in an interactive lesson packed full of interactive drama and poetry activities that will use the story of black history to help build the children’s core development skills (confidence, oracy, literacy and creativity) as well as highly important personal social and cultural topics.
Wednesday –
2 – 2.30 – KS1 assembly to watch Y5 drumming performance and Y6 dance performance.
2.30 – 3.00 – KS2 assembly to watch Y5 drumming performance and Y6 dance performance.
The children will be playing the Djembe drums (a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying “Anke djé, anke bé” which translates to “everyone gather together in peace” and defines the drum’s purpose).
Thursday –
Class assemblies  with the theme of ‘History of Black Music’ – looking at how music has been influenced.
Our children in RECEPTION class will be studying the theme of ‘DIVERSITY’ all week too!

Week 7

For the last 3 weeks we have been studying and CELEBRATING the lives of people in the Black Community that are making / have made a significant POSITIVE DIFFERNCE to the lives of us all.

We have studied: John Kent (the first black police officer in Britain); Serena Williams (Tennis star); Lubaina Himid (British Artist); Ella Otomewo (Poet and Author); Michelle Obama (Former first Lady); Dr Shirley Thompson (Classical composer and musician); Ade Adepitan (Paralympian and TV star);Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1 racing driver) and Lilian Bader (one of the first black women to join the armed forces). Can you put a name to a face from the pictures below?

Next week is our study week. Look out on our school newsletter for details of events throughout the week. We will use this time to continue to honour the achievements of black individuals and to also reflect, appreciate and understand the struggles of the black community.

 

Week 6:

Very excited about the work Miss Wood and Mrs Fotherby have been working on over this last few weeks. Miss Wood has now taken the role as PE leader as Mrs Fotherby is now working part time (she is still heavily involved in all things active though – and you will be hearing from her directly as she is organising all the after school clubs and events).

They have been working with other schools on further improving our PE lesson provision. Last night before we left school we decided which new scheme we are going to subscribe to. Watch this space for future PE developments – but in the short term – be sure to ask your children how they are enjoying their PE lessons.

Week 5:

Another VERY BUSY learning week here at PSPS! We launched our BLACK HISTORY MONTH STUDIES with 2 assemblies this week. We will celebrate the lives of those people in the black community that are making / have made a positive difference to ALL of our lives in our class assemblies and discussions over the next three weeks and will have events across Week 8 to study what we can learn from how the black community has been treated throughout history. Please ask your children all about what they are learning this month!

Learning and Having FUN! Y3 ROCKing the STONE AGE

Our aim this year is to LEARN LOTS, gain LOTS OF KNOWLEDGE and HAVE FUN DOING IT. Just look at Y3 today. They are on a ‘drop down’ day. This is where our classes are allowed to ‘go off timetable’ so that they can concentrate on getting really immersed in their topic learning. They all looked amazing this morning. Very scary – we can’t wait to see what they have learnt!

 

And finally from me – I am so glad that we have relaunched the school choir. As Mrs Thorson is away on maternity leave at present we have had to search the staff for more singing talent – and guess what we have a HIGHLY TRAINED musician in our MIDST! Miss Firmin who work with classes in Y3 and Y4 has set up a new choir and we already have 22 members!! We are learning 2 songs that we will perform to the whole school before half term. Here they are in action – using their lunch times to get extra practice in.

Week 4:

To ensure we deliver an absolutely amazing curriculum experience here at PSPS we have built DROP DOWN DAYS into our timetables. This allows teachers and children to spend the while day getting really immersed in their topic themes without having to stop to do spelling, handwriting or reading! Here you can see a selection of the amazing things that have been happening this week!

Wreath making

Week 3: Aspirations Week.

This week with the help of Mrs Glastonbury I led a series of events to support our pupil personal development. It has been a long time in the making and has taken lots of emails and phone calls to arrange – thankyou Mrs G! But it really was an incredible week. We met so many creative, intelligent, hard working and very kind people – it has restored my faith in humanity!

 

What a week. This was our first ASPIRATIONS week. We wanted to get pupils thinking about future careers and opportunities that they might be interested as they progress. We had 22 amazing visitors who delivered 27 superb assembly aspiration sessions here at PSPS. We hope your children have been coming home all week and telling you all about it! What was really special was the return of three of our former pupils. Jess who is studying Maths at Manchester University. Cian who has a pro contract with Leeds United and Nick a pro first team player for Hull Rugby League. We had Ellie’s mum, Jensen’s dad , Nia & Logan’s dad and Ella’s mum speaking as well as new friends to the school. Oh and Miss Bacchus invited her mum to speak to us too!  It felt like we were learning lots and having fun last week! Please find time to speak to your children about their own aspirations!

Week 1: 2023 to 2024

Welcome back to another school year – how fast the holidays go! How annoying that the weather was not that good  – but at least it was perfect for the start of term and we were able to get onto our amazing filed and play at break and lunch time.

We have had a busy start to term with 2 trip g0ing out in the first 2 days!

Week 2: w/b 11th September

Leeds Rhino prop forward Tom Holroyd very kindly found some time this week to come and visit us here at PSPS. He spent some time with Y5 during their PE lesson and met all our rugby fans across school, signing everything that the children had to sign – including a plaster cast! He talked about working hard and staying resilient. The children loved it! Look out for messages from our office about discounted tickets for upcoming Rhino games.

2022 to 2023

SUMMER TERM

Week 39

And a final farewell …

We made it just – the weather held fair just long enough for us to have a final picnic and ‘blue folder’ celebration for our leaving Y6 cohort. We even managed the now traditional ‘whole school clap out’ – and then the heavens opened with a biblical downpour of rain! If we missed saying a final farewell – then you know you are always welcome back and we love hearing how you are getting on at high school – Good luck in Y7!

 

 

End of term is always one of mixed emotions. There is always so much to celebrate and be thankful for yet at the same time we are saying goodbye to some very special people. Pictured are the children with the best attendance from across this school year being celebrated – an awesome achievement – as we say you can’t learn if you aren’t here!

Also we can see part of the goodbye assembly for the staff that are moving on to pastures new. Good luck to Mr Shaw, Mrs McWhinnie, Mrs Macnaboe, Mrs Houghton, Mrs Moakafi, Mr Sharp, Mr Powell and Miss Clarkson – we will miss you lots – thank you all for helping make Park Spring such a wonderful place to learn and work.

 

I love the traditions of Park Spring particularly at this time of year. This lunch time I pitted my Y6 teams against Mr Shaw’s Y5 teams. A 3-3 draw. Lots of respectful play and spectating and a couple of absolute net-breaking goals! Well done teams.

 

Weeks 36 to 38

PHEW … its been a busy couple of weeks here at PSPS! First up was the AMAZING Year 4 camp. Thankyou to ALL the staff that helped make it happen. The children had the most amazing time and to be fair were the BEST EVER at sleeping. A good job too as this year we camped on Thursday night! Fire making, cooking, tent pitching, singing, marsh-mellow eating and then sleeping were all on the menu – and we even sneaked in a tasty BBQ, Miss Hartley, Miss Wood you did a great organising job and Mr Sharpe, Mr Hansen and Mrs Eden – thanks for sleeping out with us all.

Then we had the Y6 play. Well done to everyone involved in the Y6 production of ‘Jungle Book’. Miss Haigh and Mr King worked tirelessly to get the production on stage in less than 5 weeks. A mix of the show’s classics mixed with some more contemporary hits, combined with great dancing (great coaching Miss Haigh), some wonderful lead acting (well done Mr King) and THE BEST EVER set we have EVER SCENE (I mean seen) (well done EVERYBODY) – gave us a series of sold out shows.

And then we had STARS of the YEAR!

We had our STARS OF THE YEAR assemblies early this year. Family members were invited in as surprise guests to hear how their children had been chosen as the OUTSTANDING pupil from each class YR to Y6. As usual GREGGS kindly donated cakes for us to celebrate after with. The BIG news this year is that ALL the winners will go with Mrs Horan and Mrs Houghton to Bradford Waterstones to each have a book purchased for them and rumour has it a drink in the cafe! WEll done to ALL our outstanding pupils, especially the pupils that STAND OUT!

Week 35

SPORTS week – wow great events all week organised by our PE team. Thank you to Mrs Fotherby, Miss Wood and Mr Sharp for organising a a full calendar of events and experiences over the week. We have had goal keeping coaching, girls only rugby provided by Leeds Rhinos , tennis coaching at Pudsey tennis club, everyone took part in a penalty shoot-out with Leeds United Foundation, Early years pupils took part in Nystagmus Awareness awareness activities, we had a day of dance, and on Friday night we capped the week with 16 children joing Miss Fotherby, Miss Horner, Mrs Houghton and Mrs Horan being part of the 777 dancers in the pre Leeds Rhinos match dance spectacular! An unbelievable week.

Week 32

I love it when teachers send children to my office to see good work and it was GREAT to see Christopher and Miss Wood this week at my door with this mazing learning. Miss Wood tells me that Christopher has improved the presentation of his work so much over the course of this year. What do you think??

Week 31

Y6 worked very hard at their National Tests – and were rewarded this week with some fresh air after all that classroom time. They all took part in their cycle training and it was sunny. The best riders progressed out to ride with the trainers on the roads around school. Lots of smiles, lots of learning and lots of safe travel. Brilliant. Well done Y6!

 

Week 30

 

Well after the rain last week I finally got to deliver the prizes for Best Crowns and of Course the Great Park Spring Bake off. Just look at that trophy – Summer in Y4 deserved it with an amazing bake – worthy of a hand shake I hear!

Well done Y6 team – we survived SATs week – a culmination of lots of hard work across the whole of KS2. The children have had lots to deal with along the way – including of course the various lockdowns. But our focus on resilience kept us going throughout and I look forward to seeing pupils getting their test results from Mrs Horan before the end of the Summer term. Hard work always pays off!

Week 29

We really hope you enjoyed the Coronation Garden Party. You were spared another of my speeches when the rain started – but whilst the sun shone – we had an amazing time! Thankyou for supporting your children – they love you all coming in to school to be with us!! Oh and I got to meet the new King … it was him wasn’t it!?

The FOPS as ever were amazing at this event – but it was a bitter sweet moment. Two of our amazing FOPS are stepping back from leadership duties, we are so grateful that they are part of the PSPS family and have helped us achieve so much – thank you Kirsty and Sally – GOOD LUCK!

Week 28

Mrs Horan let me escape my desk and paper work this week as I set off to join TEAM Y5 on their Geography residential to the Yorkshire Dales for their 1 night, 2 day residential. Our core learning is River study and also looking at a contrasting locality. We stay at the Youth Hostel, Grinton Lodge, do lots of walks, eat lots of food and learn lots and lots. This trip was exceptional in terms of pupil attitude – their care and support for each other was outstanding – this was probably the BEST residential we have ever led – there were so many compliments from members of the public that commented on the pupils manners and their behaviour. I was a very proud teacher this week!

Week 27

Welcome back to school. I hope you all managed to get some nice time together as families during the break. If you were lucky enough to go away – or you were having a ‘staycation’ that you managed to find SOME good weather and had a relaxing time.

Wow! We are in SUMMER term. Unbelievable! This year is going faster than ever. A big part of our school is going on the field – and now the sun is shining a little more – the ground is drying out we had our first go back on it since Autumn. To say the excitement was high – is an understatement.

Thankyou to ALL of the Park Spring Family. Times are not easy financially for many of us and finding spare pennies and pounds is not as easy as it once was. But we really want the children to understand the gift of giving – and you have made this possible today. You have helped us raise at first count over £600 (and still counting!). This money goes to provide school places for the children in India at our designated International Charity – ‘Love the One School’. It so important for our children to see how lucky we are having free education and considering just how much – even in tough times that we have. Mrs Munton who volunteers at the school each year along with her family is a true inspiration and organised everything that happened today. It was wonderful to see so many grown ups join us – the children thought that was amazing! If you were able to give a little money, ran or came along and cheered – THANKS!

Week 25

On Monday we were lucky enough to have 2 very special visitors from Leeds Rhinos. Park Spring does a lot of work with the Rhinos and recently they have rewarded us with discounted and free tickets to Super League matches. In order to get all this information out to families takes a lot of organisation and technical know how especially as it allows you to sign up and pay for tickets. Miss Beverley as ever is SUPER organised and showed Gareth how other schools could use their own IT systems to make this all work. To say thanks Gareth brought down new Rhinos player James McDonnell who also played for Ireland in the recent Rugby League World cup. As a special thankyou he presented Miss Beverley with a signed shirt!

Week 24

Another great day of fundraising here at PSPS. Here are 3 of our Y6 pupils looking fabulous in RED! We will announce the grand total of all your donations in next weeks newsletter. Thanks so much to you all for your continued generosity!

Everyone from KS2 that went on the trip to the Alhambra signed a lovely THANK YOU card this week that we finally delivered to our sponsors GLENTROOL Estates Ltd. We can’t say how much we appreciate your support.

Week 23

We made the news. Very, very proud of this learning that we have created in school. ASPIRATION and INSPIRATION. Working hard, being smart – making things happen … this really does sum up Park Spring Primary School.

I love the efforts our staff go to bring new learning to life. This week Y2 paid a visit to Armley Mills to bring Victorian schooling to life. It looks amazing.

Week 22

VERY, VERY PROUD of this piece of work we have been doing since July with current Y6. On Tuesday this week our Year 6 children met with Dan Pearce from Dan Pearce Sells Homes™
Danny Peat from Synergy FM Ltd together with a representative from Glentrool Asset
Management Ltd, who together with ICH Limited, organised by Natalie Carter made some very
generous donation  to our Year 6 pupils towards raising money for their Year 6 Leavers
Hoodies.
The pupils in year 6 had to pitch to each of the companies as to why they should support this
cause and in turn they have developed some useful business acumen, the knowledge of how
business works and also the important life skills of being confident when aspiring to be
successful.

This week we had a professional skateboarder in school working with some of our lucky Y5 pupils. Along with some children from Calverley C OF E Primary school they had an hour of free coaching – and it was AMAZING. We fell over a few times but our RESILIENCE got us through to the end of the session. It was so good we are going to ask Mrs Fotherby to ask for more SKATEBOARDING SESSIONS – we might even ask if we can go to a SKATEPARK in the minibus!

 

Week 21

Another great week of sporting endeavour this week. We had an unbelievable start to the term for 10 of our Y3 and Y4 pupils whom attended the Leeds Schools Football competition.

Week 20

Another action packed week of learning at PSPS! It all started with a group of children attending an Ice-Skating experience at PLANET ICE,

and then Y2 went back in time to experience a day of VICTORIAN teaching and learning. Miss Bashem was very scary indeed!

Y5 had a local and very successful author Kate Pankhurst in for the day , inspiring their writers and developing their skills as illustrators!

and finally we had a very generous donation of notepads from our friends at TNT. I hope you managed to grab one – we were given 800 – if you missed out – there are a few still left outside my office!

 

 

Week 19 to 20

You will have seen in this weeks Newsletter details of how PSPS will be participating in the NSPCC’s ‘Speak out, Stay safe’. This is an online programme that consists of an online assembly and supporting classroom-based
activities. Speak out. Stay safe. is a safeguarding programme available to all primary schools in the UK and
Channel Islands. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of
abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult
or Childline.
In the online assembly, the Speak out. Stay safe. messages are delivered in a fun and interactive way with
the help of their mascot Buddy as well as special guest appearances from Ant and Dec.
We have studied the content of the materials and are extremely confident that they are appropriate for
primary-school-aged children. By the end of the programme, we’re convinced children will feel empowered
– knowing how they can speak out and stay safe.
If you would like to know more about the Speak out. Stay safe.  programme you can find information on the
NSPCC website or we would be happy to discuss any questions that you may
have.

Week 18

As you all should know by now I absolutely love maths and truly believe that EVERY child can really do maths and do it well! So I had great fun with children from Y3 and Y4 celebrating their successes in TTRS (Time Tables Rock Stars) – our online software that helps the children master their times-tables knowledge. They each outperformed their classmates by working hard and practising both at home and at school. Well done guys – effort is always rewarded!

 

Week 17

Wow! What a great day KS2 had on Tuesday. We took 280 children and adults on 5 coaches to the Bradford Alhambra to see the pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. As a school we had planned to take the children once during their KS2 career largely due to costs, but again this year we have benefitted from having great links with the business community. Glentrool Estates Group which is owned by Jeremy Nolan and his family once again showed amazing generosity to our school. Glentrool paid the full cost of all the tickets, all the coaches and even bought us all an ice-cream during the interval. A massive thanks once again to the Nolan Family.
There were lots and lots of really happy children leaving school at the end of the day! Some fantastic manners and appreciation was shown as well. Thank YOU if you took the trouble to thank the staff for taking them – those words really do mean a lot. Kindness really does help the world feel a better place!

Week 16

Just a reminder that we have once again amassed A LOT of lost property. You are free to access it at any time as it is stored in the ‘old entrance / entrance for Inclusion area). If you need any clothing labelled to avoid further loss please just ask at the office as we have purchases some lovely new marker pens!

Week 15

Well a very Happy New Year to you all. I trust you are rested and ready for another year of learning fun at PSPS! This week has been a busy one and we have already had our first trip with Y5 travelling to York and BACK IN TIME to the JORVIK museum. The children had an amazing time. I was given this card by a little friend of mine who we rushed to catch the coach as she had missed it due to a late taxi. Thankyou for your THANKYOU – I hope you had a wonderful day of learning with your friends!

Week 14

What a week to end an AMAZING YEAR here at PSPS! Our YEAR pupils went on residential to ROBIN WOOD ‘DOBROYD CASTLE’ – I had to stay to clear my pile of paper from my desk … so the closest I got to the action was waving the coach off! I have heard that Y6 teachers will be posting some pictures and videos on their YEAR 6 page very soon. Lots of smiles and lots of tales from all the children that went this year!

Y3 musicians enthralled their families with their drumming skills this week. After a term of weekly lessons they showed their rhythm and skills and wowed everyone watching!

And then came Christmas Dinner … wow … just wow … We served nearly 350 super tasty meals. A massive thank you to Chef Shirley and her brilliant team!

 

And finally, finally it was recognition assembly today. These amazing pupils were recognised by the staff that teach them. They have shone and we are REALLY, REALLY proud of ALL of them!

Week 13

Now that was a busy week. Concerts for the Lower school, and Songs around the tree for the Upper School. Santa’s grotto with FOPS and on Saturday Y5 began their fundraising efforts for their Y6 hoodies! Lots of fun. Lots of learning! Amazing – very proud of our children and all those involved making their education here at PSPS so fantastically rich!

Week 12

A big week for Y6 this week! The children have been completing their assessments in order that we know how to help them achieve their best in the run up to their formal tests in May. Never an easy week for some – but we were all really pleased and proud of their efforts and attitude to their learning this week.

But this was not all that they achieved! This year Y6 have been tasked with raising their own funds for their leavers hoodies. Mrs Horan had told them back in September that as soon as they had raised the money they could wear their hoodies (rather than waiting to the last weeks of school as we normally do). Well with the help of Barbara Glastonbury the children reached the target of £1100 ahead of even their own ambitious target of a January completion. There are more details to follow about the business partners that we are working with, which we will share in the next few weeks. But we just wanted you to know what amazing children we have. Pictured below are 3 of our pupils delivering a sales pitch to representatives of a local company! Watch out for our hoodie colour choice – and watch out Sir Alan Sugar!!

 

Week 11

Yesterday we had the BEST TEACHER TRAINING DAY … As you know the school was closed on Friday for a teachers training day. But it was no ordinary day – in fact is was SO EXTRAORDINARY that I DO NOT have SECURITY CLEARANCE YET to tell you all about the SPECIAL MISSIONS that all the teachers went on … but watch this space … YOU WILL ALL FIND OUT SOON – and I know the children are going to LOVE IT!  End of message.

Week 10

Week 10 already!? Wow, time sure flies when you are having fun at PSPS. Two things really made my week …

The first was the NOISE coming from the corridor outside my room on Thursday evening! TWICE I had to go to see what the excitement was and it was … the Park Spring Junior Lionesses getting ready and coming back from the teams first ever session at Crawshaw. They had such a good time and had LOTS of fun. Thanks to Coach Fotherby and Coach Sharp.

I also loved Children in Need Day. It is always a very special day in a primary school. Mrs Martin our Charity Lead arranged for us all to come to school in ‘something spotty’. We raised over £250 in donations for avoiding wearing our PSPS school uniform and we LOOKED amazing!

More from Week 9!

We had a great afternoon in Y6. We are running our ASPIRATION and INSPIRATION programme. In Y6 we are working with a local business man to help us raise money for the Y6 hoodies. He is giving us tips from the business world and ideas for how to attract funding. Here we are in a ‘business meeting’.

Jeremy helped us with the next idea for fundraising by telling us what made a good ‘SALES PITCH’. So far we have raised over £300!!! Keep going Y6 – RESILIENCE is required …

 

Week 9

I spent Saturday morning with a hardy band of children, families and staff for the return of the BIG DIG! Mrs Ward and Mr Hammerton, enticed us with the offer of hot chocolate, tea and juice – but before we could enjoy a rest we were put hard to work clearing borders, weeding, sweeping and digging over!

Thank you to the teacher whom organised led and joined us and thank you to the families whom attended – it was lovely spending time with you all.

Week 8 (w/b 31 October)

Lots has been happening this week! EYFS had the ‘Owl man in’ and Y5 had the WHOLE UNIVERSE in! Y4 had a great day celebrating the writing of Roald Dahl as they dressed up as characters from ‘James and the Giant Peach’

Awesome fun and awesome learning!

RECOGNITION ASSEMBLY

On the final Friday of last half term we held a BRAND new style assembly! 2 children from Y1 to Y6 were ‘recognised’ by the teaching staff for being role models of our AIMS and ETHOS. Family members were SECRETLY invited into school and were waiting for the children as they entered the assembly. The first the children knew about it was that they saw their loved ones!! Here are a few pictures.

The children had a drink and a biscuit with Mrs Horan and myself along with their families and Chef Shirley even provided us with ICE CREAM CONES to help us celebrate. Even better – for the next half term these children are allowed to take a friend and go directly to the FRONT of the dinner queue!! Well done all,

 

Autumn Term – Part 2!

Welcome back – I hope you all had a wonderful half term. Below you will see pictures of our Halloween Disco that we had on Thursday before the holiday. This was a really important event for us as it was our First Disco since 2019! It was REALLY important in that we have our Friends of Park Spring (FOPS) back together – and what a job they did! The hall looked SPOOKTACULAR and we raised lots of money for FOPS fund and for developing THE HIVE – our new provision space in the old caretakers bungalow. If you would like to join FOPS then please have a word with Mrs Martin our charity lead, myself or in the office and we will pass on your details!

I also love the fact that we are still celebrating Halloween – we discovered its history in whole school assembly this morning and Chef Shirley has gone halloween crazy in the kitchen today.

You will also see our ECO WARRIORS after school club. They are led by Miss Haigh and they have been making BUG HOTELS – that they were lucky enough to take home and place in their gardens or near where they live!

Week 6 (w/b 10th October)

Like Cinderella I had to stay at home (well my office actually!) whilst my friends from Y6 wen on an ART and DESIGN themed trip. They went to the Yorkshire sculpture park – all paid for from our Art and Design budget! The children spent the morning studying the art installations and from the photographs that I asked Adam Y to take on my camera – it looks like they had an amazing time. Well done Mr King for organising, and for Ms. Hartley for putting such a great CULTURAL CAPITAL opportunity into our amazing curriculum. I am looking forward to seeing the results in your Art work Y6!

 

Week 4:

By the end of week 2 we were all up and running with whole class lessons and during week 3 we have been putting the finishing touches to some of our extra learning. Very pleased to announce that we received 72 new headsets for the children accessing 3rd space tutoring. The families we are working with have all been contacted for this half term – but if you  would like to find out more and if your child is eligible please do contact me via the school office.

Week 3: (w/b 19.09.22)

So we begin our week at a point of reflection for the country with the passing our Queen Elizabeth II. I have been very grateful to the staff for the manner we as a school have covered this issue with the children. It has been led so well by Mr Hansen our ‘Personal Development’ leader- he has provided us all with appropriate and thoughtful materials that have helped children across the key stages understand current events and the teachers as ever have delivered it with great care and thought.

Week 2: (w/b 12th September)

Good luck to the new Y6 in their fundraising events this year. They have been set the challenge of raising the £1000 to pay for their hoodies. Mrs Horan has said that as soon as they raise the money they are able to wear them! You will see them selling ICE-POPS over the next week – if the sun continues to shine!

Oh my days! Where did week 1 go? Where did the whole of the SUMMER go!? Well let me say a belated but sincere WELCOME BACK to you all. In fact for some its a brand new WELCOME – as we have had a number of families join us after moving to our area, and of course we welcome into the main school COHORT ’22 – our RECEPTION CLASS CHILDREN. I hope the summer treated you all well and that you managed to enjoy the hot weather we had this time!

Summer term ended with a new format of good-bye celebration for our departing Y6. The children showcased their learning in Y6, were presented their blue folders and we also had a BBQ for all the families, to say thank you and good bye! The clap out of Y6 was the BEST YET! Good luck in Y7 – come back and say hello whenever you are passing!

SUMMER TERM 2022

Week 6 (w/b 11th July)

Another amazing week at PSPS. The highlight this week was seeing the children participating in the early rounds of our annual Reading Mastermind! Children are taking part in intra class competitions with the winners going through to the whole school Grand Finale on Tuesday 19th July. I can’t wait to see who wins.

 

Week 5 (w/b 4th July)

Another amazing week. Sports week was kicked off with Nile Wilson, Olympic Gymnast and medalist joining us for an assembly to tell us all about working hard, being resilient and having confidence. All the children ALL got to touch Nile’s Olympic Medal too. It was very inspiring!!

 

 

Mr King and Mr Shaw also organised a Y5 v Y6 football match. It was lovely to see Y6 children wearing the school team kit – it’s been such a shame that die to COVID their sporting experiences have not been as full as we would want. But it was a great match, hard fought and competed in a vey sporting and respectful manner. Y6 prevailed with a close 1:0 win. Well done teachers for organising this and well done to everyone from Y5 and Y6 who tok part or cheered the players on!

Week 4 (w/b 27th June)

Inspiration and Aspiration Program

So as part of developing our pupils and preparing them for life after Park Spring we are really keen that pupils are INSPIRED to be successful – each and every day at school and that we open up the world of careers that they may wish to pursue once they leave education.

We are now working with Glentrool Estate management a Leeds based company that is run by Jeremy Nolan and his family. You might know that each year Glentrool pay for children to attend Nell Bank outward bound centre in Ilkley and at Christmas paid for all of KS2 to go to the Alhambra to watch the panto.

8 Y5 pupils won the competition of writing a letter to Jeremy in order that they could attend a business lunch and visit his head office. During our lunch Jeremy gave the children guidance and advice on how they can reach their own business goal. You will hear a lot more about this – but Y5 have been set the challenge of raising ALL the money required to pay for their Y6 hoodies. The reward being that AS SOON as they have raised the funds they are able to wear their hoodies!

Below you can see some pictures of our amazing day!

Week 3 (w/b 20th June)

WOW … WOW … WOW. What a lucky school we are to have such; AMAZING STAFF, ADVENTUROUS CHILDREN and BEAUTIFUL grounds. Y4 camp on Friday and Saturday was the BEST YET. So much hard work went into planning, preparing and delivering this experience for the children. Thank you families for supporting this event so well with your contributions (as many of you told us – YES amazing value for money!)

 

Week 2 (w/b 13th June)

So very proud of our CARING aim at PSPS. School council chose our NATIONAL CHARITY of the YEAR as the British Heart Foundation / National Defribulator Network. Over the half term holiday our was installed after we raised the money to have it installed. We deliberately located it on our perimeter fence to ensure that the WHOLE community have the chance to access it, should they need to even when school is closed. We will be having a pupil training session before the end of term to explain to the children what to do in case of an emergency!

Thanks to Councilor Simon Seary for his help, patience and guidance on this project.

 

Week 1 (W/b 6th June)

A fabulous day celebrating the Platinum Jubilee. It was SO AMAZING to see families back in school – and in such gtreat nmbers. The weather worried us for a while but as ever fortune favours the brave and our RED WHITE and BLUE themed Garden Party was a great success. Thanks to everyone who helped organise and got so involved on the day. We are very proud of our tree dedication and our ‘TIMECAPSULE’ that is buried right next to it.

Week 6 (w/b 23rd May)

Lots of amazing learning across the school this week. Was great to see Y6 return to a full and broad curriculum. Here they are being visited by the BBC’s Amanda Harper. She kindly visited us in her own time to explain hoe to be a great newsreporter! AMAZING LEARNING!!!

I really enjoyed helping out in Y2 MAths SATS this week too, with Miss Carey and Miss Horton. The chidren were so focussed in trying to do their best – I saw so much RESILIENCE! I am a very proud subject leader of Maths.

Week 5(w/b 16th May)

Well done Y6 – BOTH the staff and the children. Never an easy week – but the attitude and commitment of everyone was an absolute pleasure to see. It made me very proud of our school and the people that make it sucha a special place. I hear Miss Roberts baked an excellent celebratory cake!

I missed the cake and cookies as I was with Miss Bachus and Mr Shaw in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales doing our preparation and risk assessments for the Y5 Geography residential at YHA Grinton Lodge in Swalwdale, North Yorkshire. Y5 … it is going to be amazing!

Week 4 (w/b 9th May)

Well this we we see the start of SATs. For Y2 and Y6 the children set exams for the children to assess their standardds of learning in Reading and Mathematics (Y2) and Reading, Mathematics and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (Y6). The children and the teachers have worked ever so hard to help the children prepare the best they can and make up for all the lost learning time we have had over the last 2 years. Good luck everyone!

Welcome Back: (w/b 18th April)

Well that was a busy end to the Spring Term! We had a visit from OfSTED as it had been 5 years since our last inspection in March 2017. How time flies when you are having fun, learning lots!

We will be able to share the official report in the next week or so, please look out for this on all our usual communication channels.

A big step forward came this week with the end of the requirement from the Government and local authority to have a COVID risk assessment plan. We are continuing to keep everyone safe with our increased and improved cleaning schedules, hand sanitisation and ‘catch it , kill it, bin it’!

The flow chart for action to take if your child has a respiratory illness is found below:

Look out also for more details of the planned QUEENS@S PLATINUM JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS now confirmed for Monday July 6th (first day back after half term).

Week 6: (w/b 04.04.22)

Well as you know we had some very important visitors from OfSTED this week. We are not able to share the official outcome as we have yet to recieve the final written report. We should be able to share this with you soon after the Easter holidays. What I can tell you is the the inspector thought our school was a ‘wonderfully warm and welcoming environment’ and that the ‘children were a credit to us all’! The children were really good all week and spoke very confidently about their learning and our school, he was really impressed by their honesty and friendly natures!

So we are really looking forrward to a rest but are sad at the same time as it is time to say good bye to Mrs Winstanley (Y2) and Miss Moore. BOth are moving on to new challenges and we thanks them for everything they have done for us and wish them ALL the luck in the world for their futures!

 

Today we are wearing hats for ‘Brain Tumour Awareness Month’ – a cause dear to our hearts as we have a member of staff that is fighting this at present. WE are wearing our hats to help us understand this NAtionally important event and by donating £1 we have raised some money to give to the charity as well.

And finally – I see that the EASTER BUNNY visited the EYFS children this morning … Have a great holiday everyone. Can’t wait to see what exciting thisgs we have got planned for Summer term!

Week 5: (w/b 28.03.22)

Wow – now that was a QUICK half term! You know what they say … TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE …a)Having fun b)Learning lots c)Having fun AND learning lots.

First job is to include this amazing picture of Miss Carey who wanted me to include it as she had worked so hard on her outfit last week!We are still counting the proceeds!

This week has seen some amazing developments in PUPIL VOICE and our PUPIL PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.

Miss Haigh and Mrs Wilson have been leading the ‘Planet Patrol Club’. In conjunction with the SCHOOL COUNCIL and Mr Hammerton our site manager – we now are turning GREEN. We are now recyling our waste paper, card and plastic. This is a fantastic initiaitive that helps the children understand how and why we need to look after our planet. I just love our new recycling points that are around our school!

 

We have also LISTENED TO OUR PUPILS VOICE and recognise that they want to come to a school that they are proud of and feel safe in. Very important to them was the amount of litter that we seem to have on our school grounds. So this week saw the start to our ‘Litter picking squad’. Here they are in action – just have a look at how much they have collected. I hope you agree – school is looking amazing this week!

I also hope you enjoyed the Flowers ALL families were sent courtesy of the FOPS (Friends of PArk Spring). We hope they made you smile and feel valued. They are a sure sign that Spring is here too!

Week 4: (w/b 21.03.22)

Our CARING sides were out in force and on full display on Friday when we joined in RED NOSE COMIC RELIEF DAY 2022.

Here you can see my friends from Y6 looking FABULOUS and AWESOME in RED. They, like hundreds of children across our school donated £1 each to AVOID the BLUE of our school uniform for the day … hmmm RED as a school colour – what do you think!?!?

If you want to make a DONATION to the RED NOSE CHARITY, click HERE

We strive to ACHIEVE TOGETHER and this is SEB from Y6. He LOVES MATHS SO much that in the run up to the Y6 Assessments (SATs) he is doing EXTRA HOMELEARNING to get the BEST SCORE he possibly can. H comes to show me his learning EVERY TUESDAY and FRIDAY morning. Seb I love doing maths with you – you make me THINK!! Keep going you are going to be BRILLIANT!

 

Week 3: (w/b 14.03.22)

Now last week REALLY was a great week to be a part of PSPS! It was SOOOOOOOO lovely to welcome family memebers back into the school building and be involved with the childrens’ learning. The READING TEAM continue their amazing work and ROLL UP and READ returned. An amazing turn out in all the classes that I saw. Thankyou families for coming and supporting and for the teachers for organsising and opening our doors once more. It was very special to see – this contact has been very much missed.

Fantastic series of assemblies that our new LEADER OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT designed for class teachers to deliver. Pupil voice had suggested we had a number of children that were aware of events in Ukraine, and so in a very appropriate way Mr Hansen put together some information and explanation about the current situation. A big piece of advice that we passed on to the children was to talk to a trusted adult at home or at school if they were ever worried about anything. Thanks Mr Hansen.

And finally a BIG WEEK for Y6. Well done to all for giving their final MOCK SATS a really good go. Lots of RESILIENCE and CONFIDENCE being demonstrated by our oldest pupils – which makes us all very PROUD.

If you want more information about Y6 or Y2 SATs please go to the SATs page on this webpage in INFORMATION.

Spring Term 2: Week 2 (w/b 07.03.22)

I am hoping this week is just as good as last weeks. Just LOOK at ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE being gained by our children!

Cooking in Y6 and Y1 (the potatoes were amazing – thanks to Lucas for giving me some of his!). The bread smelt amazing Y1, and to say I was super impressed by the READERS in YR is an understatment. Miss Horner was doing a great job delivering our new phonics learning. Oh and before you think I had gone off maths, Mrs Barrett was helping her group CATCH UP with some amazing NUMBER work and KNOWELDGE!

Spring Term 2: Week 1 (w/b 31.02.22)

Now you all know I love mathematics but recently I have been getting into my READING! My friends in Upper Key Stage 2 have been telling me all about their authors of the half-term. Y5’s is currently Louis Sachar. I borrowed a copy of HOLES to read over my half term holiday. WHAT A BOOK. This is the BEST STORY I have ever read! What a clever ending! I would suggest you give it a read – it is great for ages 10 to adult – just concentrate at the start of the book as the links to the ending are all there.

 

Not to be outdone Y5 have suggested I have a go with their author of the half term Phillip Reeve. They have kindly lent me a copy of PUGS OF THE FROZEN NORTH. As soo as I have finished my work I am going to settle down with a cup of tea and get stuck into it!

Well done to MISS CAREY this week. What a great idea to celebrate WORLD BOOK DAY and very accesible for all our children. Rather than dress up, we decorated a POTATO, turning it into a character from our favourite book.

I just loved MR TICKLE. I remember being a child in YEAR 1 when I was at school – and this is the first story book I EVER REMEMBER! Well done to everyone whom took part and congratulations to all our winners who get to choose a book to keep. Looking at the order Miss Carey was putting in I think David Walliams is going to be even richer!

Week 7 (w/b 14.02.22)

Appologies for the lack of news last week, but I was one of the 40% of staff that have been off over the last 7 weeks through COVID and associated isolation. Thankyou for your understanding and thankyou to every member of staff that has covered, taken on extra duties and come back to work well before you felt really well enough to do so!

Thank you to Mr King who has done an incredible job getting our ctach-up programme of 1:1 Maths Tuition support up and running. Over the last 5 weeks he has delivered our children 108 sessions of tutoring free of charge. He sets EVERY lesson individually, assessing each childs performance in their sessions and setting the next lessons targets as a result. We do have a couple of spare spaces, so if you wish your child to attend please do get in contact with myself or Mr King.

We are HALF-WAY through the year! I know how did that happen? We have lots to look forward to next half term. Mr Hansen has taken over a newly created role and will move from leading our Religious Education to leading all of our PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT curriculum. This is the part of our curriculum that extends beyond the academic. The aims we have is for:-

  • developing responsible, respectful and active citizens who are able to play their part and become actively involved in public life as adults
  • developing and deepening pupils’ understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance
  • promoting equality of opportunity so that all pupils can thrive together, understanding that difference is a positive, not a negative, and that individual characteristics make people unique
  • promoting an inclusive environment that meets the needs of all pupils, irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation
  • developing pupils’ character, which we define as a set of positive personal traits, dispositions and virtues that informs their motivation and guides their conduct so that they reflect wisely, learn eagerly, behave with integrity and cooperate consistently well with others. This gives pupils the qualities they need to flourish in our society
  • developing pupils’ confidence, resilience and knowledge so that they can keep themselves mentally healthy
  • enabling pupils to recognise online and offline risks to their well-being – for example, risks from criminal and sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, substance misuse, gang activity, radicalisation and extremism – and making them aware of the support available to them
  • enabling pupils to recognise the dangers of inappropriate use of mobile technology and social media
  • developing pupils’ understanding of how to keep physically healthy, eat healthily and maintain an active lifestyle, including giving ample opportunities for pupils to be active during the school day and through extra-curricular activities
  • developing pupils’ age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships through appropriate relationships and sex education
  • supporting readiness for the next phase of education, training or employment so that pupils are equipped to make the transition successfully

Good luck Mr Hansen – I know you are going to be great in this role and look forward to seeing you have your own page on the website to.

To you all – have a wonderful holiday. Rest, get well, stay well and see you on Monday 28th February for the start of another amazing 5 weeks of learning fun!

Week 5 (w/b 31.01.22)

Wow lots to report on this week. Mrs Martin (Nursery teacher for Wednesday to Friday) is our Charity lead this year. She is doing an amazing job. She started the year by consulting with the children and their families with a view to ‘nominating’ our charities for the year. We now have an INTERNATIONAL CHARITY – ‘Love the one’ (Sponsoring 4 Indian children to attend school). We have a NATIONAL CHARITY ‘Public access for defibrillators’ and our LOCAL charity where we will support our neighbours at Swinnow Community Centre.

The BIG new from last week is that we are on our way to getting a defribulator places in our main school entrance – just outside the gates so that any one in the community that needs access has it! Mrs Martin will let us know more very soon – but we are all very excited to be part of such an important project #PSPScaring

Well done to all the children that have been attending out of school 1:1 tuition through our THIRD SPACE tuition programme funded by government grants. We had over 100 pupils recieve an hours tuition last week. The early lessons stat at 8:00 on a MOnday morning with the last session fonihing at 3:45 on a Friday. Thanks to all staff, families and of course children involved. If you would like to enquire if your child could join us please contact me via the school office.

And finally looking forward to Week 6 which is Internet Safety week. Here you can see the selection of lessons that your childrens class will be choosing from. Fun ways to engage them in how to use the INTERNET safely. Be sure to ask them what they have learnt this week!

Week 4(w/b 24.01.22)

Maths news this week!

 

   

 Click this link to find out MORE
For parents of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 parents. Have you seen his app?
  • It is FREE
  • It works BRILLIANTLY on a phone or tablet
  • It supports the learning your children are currently experiencing in their daily ‘MASTERING NUMBER SESSIONS’
Games take a minute – the app is very simple and intuitive. All the children that we have trialled it with – absolutely love it.
We suggest:
  • You download the APP from your preferred APP STORE
  • Support your child’s access to the app. Daily and for 5 minutes each day would be perfect!
Any questions or help needed please contact your child’s class teacher or Mr Barker our Maths leader.

Week 3 (w/b 17.01.22)

I was very excited this week to extend our 1:1 maths tutoring. Currently we use a company called ‘Third Space’ for  providing extra maths to children to help them ‘catch up’ on the learning they lost becuase of the COVID pandemic. Up to Christmas we had 32 places allocated to our Y5 and Y6 pupils. By utilising Government funding in the form of catch-up premiums and grants we have now offered 1 x 1 hour maths sessions to 72 MORE pupils across KS2 for the remainder of the schhol year. If you would like to enquire about this for your child please conact me via the school office. Click here to fin out more. THIRD SPACE LEARNING

Really looking forward to seeing Y6 back in the building on Monday after  days of remote learning. Y6 it has been quiet without you!

Week 2 (w/b 10.01.22)

A really tough decision this week to move Y6 to remote learning. We so desperately are doing everything we can to keep everyone healthy and school open to all. With cases starting to accelerate we took advice from the Local Authority and temporarily closed Y6. I really enjoyed seeing them all on Friday at our celebration assembly which we did as normal (I loved all the clapping hands!). The Y6 team are doing an amazing job and we have the majority of pupils learning online. Fingers crossed for this week!

Thank you to all the Y4 Parents and Families that joined us for the briefing regarding the Multiplication Check that the majority of Y4 children will complete in Summer. If you weren’t able to attend here is the powerpoint of information that you will find useful.

A really useful site for Y4 children to use to practise their Multiplication facts is HIT THE BUTTON. Hit is free and easy to use!

 

Click here for the link.

Happy 2022!

 

I really wish you all a safe and happy new year. I trust you all made the most of the holiday and managed to have some great times with your families and friends!

A great first week back at PSPS.

Y5 had an amzing day on Wednesday with their HIstory trip to Jorvik (York), an amazing buzz of learning enthusiasm the day after their trip when I caught up with them whilst they were planningn their writing tasks!

I also really enjoyed working with staff and pupils, further strengthening what being at Park Spring is ‘all about’! We created the ‘Golden Thread’ document – letting you know what we are ‘all about’! You will be hearing a lot more about this over the course of the Spring Term – hopefully your children will have mentioned it!

 

End of term is here:

Well it is Friday afternoon and what an amazing week to end an amazing year here at PSPS!

I was lucky enough to join Y6 on their residential this week and saw a wonderful group of children achieving together – pushing themselves to new limits. Their behaviour and attitude – particularly their CARING support for each other was AMAZING. I was very proud!! Very strange that the squirrels are still living in the NIGHT LINE ZONE though…

Was also fabulous to have our simple gatherings in the playground where every class sang a selection of Christmas songs to friends and families. COVID wasn’t going to stop us 2 years in a row!

Week 14 (13th December to 17th December)

Y6 are off to ROBIN WOOD – DOBROYD CASTLE for their outward bound residential for the next 3 days. We had our fingers crossed that they would all be well and government rules would let us all attend. I can’t wait to go and visit them tomorrow!!

We all absolutely enjoyed Chef Shirley’s FIRST EVER CHRISTMAS DINNER since taking over the leadership of the kitchen following Aunty Joan’s retirement. It was delicious! Here you see all the team that made it possible and also 2 of our new FOOD AMBASSADORS that helped seat the children, give them a CRACKER each, pour their drinks and then tidy up before the next sitting. Amazing young people, HAPPY, CARING and CONFIDENT!!

Week 13 (6th December to 10th December)

Another great week of MATHEMTICS learning at PARK SPRING. We are very proud of the 18 pupils from Y5 and 14 pupils from Y6 that have completed a term of THIRD SPACE 1:1 maths tuition. The children have all worked extremely hard. They have become more RESILIENT and CONFIDENT in their maths in the tuition session and in their whole class lessons.

YR, Y1 and Y2 have all been completing new maths learning with our friend from the West Yorkshire maths hub. They have been learning all about NUMBER in our ‘Mastering Number’ programme. The children and the staff have loved every lesson!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A fabulous way to start the last 2 weeks of term. Mr Hammerton, Miss Beverley and lots of friendly little elves have decorated the school over the weekend – so ‘It’s beginning to fell a lot like Christmas’. Thank you to everyone who helped over the weekend.

This  coming Friday will see us all taking part in the annual SAVE THE CHILDREN Christmas Jumper day. In Key Phase and class assemblies we will learn how by wearing our amazing jumpers we are able to help children that are perhaps, not quite as fortunate as ourselves.

Week 11 (22nd – 26th November)

A great week of learning and persevering this week at PSPS. My personal highlight was becoming a YouTube star (check out my 13 hits) where you will see my BRILLIANT acting for our WACKY HAIR FUNDRAISING day promotional video, for our chosen INTERNATIONAL CHARITY ‘LOVE THE ONE’.

You can see the location of INDIA, me being famous and the 4 children that we as a school sponsor (Shankar, Satiya, Rohit and Chinky) saying a BIG THANKYOU for continue to sponsor their education! Well done everyone – for having WACKY HAIR, having FUN and making a massive difference in our world!

In MATHS news we came 386th … not bad considering there were 1,624 schools that entered! We will strive for a higher position next year and are planning a class tournament to sharpen our mathematics skills further!

Week 10 (15 – 19th November 2021)

Another amazing week at Park Spring to reflect on. We had a fantastic set of whole school, key phase and class assemblies studying ‘Anti-Bullying week’. I even wore my best ODD SOCKS!

Really proud of the children from Y5 and Y6 that are currently receiving mathematics tuition 1:1 through our partnership with THIRD SPACE TUTORING. Just look at the procedures they are using independently to solve their mathematics problem.

And finally I JUST LOVE Children In Need Day. What a great charity. This year we have an International (Love the One), National (Defribulators)  and a Local charity (Swinnow Community Centre) that the children have helped us identify, but we are still carrying on with our favourites such as Children in Need and Save the Children Xmas Jumper Day. We are still adding up all our donations from Friday – so watch this space for the PSPS GRAND TOTAL! Mrs Houghton and Mrs Ash you look AMAZING!!

Week 10 (15th November 2021)

Very proud of 2 of our UKS2 students this morning. Jacob in Y6 shared in last weeks UKS2 assembly his home learning planner, that has helped his learning independence and the completion of all his learning. Inspired by this Mackenzie from Y5 has also made one. Awesome work!!

Week:10 Live Mathletics Challenge 15 -21 November 2021

Good morning Park Spring Matheletes. We are ALL SYSTEMS go! The competition is up and running. Please send as much of your Maths e-learning time this week developing your mental maths skills. The more you do, the more points we earn as a school. The more points we earn, the better we will do in the world-wide competition. The better we do – the better chance we have of winning BIG PRIZES!!!! Go on give it a go …

Just over a week to go until Park Spring enters a WORLWIDE mathematics competition. The competition will run for 1 week from Monday to Sunday. The top schools will win a special prize. We need to get the highest average total of participation points possible within the week!

Why not have a practice this week? You will have your passwords in your reading records.

C’mon Park Springers … we can ACHIEVE TOGETHER!!! …are you INSPIRED to help us?

Y3 Sleepover 4th November

Remember remember … if you have a sleepover on the 4th of November you will be really tired on the 5th of November!!!

Well done to all the staff and pupils that gave us a real sense of returning to normality … a fabulous night and a very early morning. Great pizza’s too!