Rufford Park Primary School and Nursery

Weekly Update 31.3.23

Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog

Hi, 

I can't believe we are 2/3 of the way through the year! 

We finished the term with a Scholastic Book Fair in school which was a great success. We ran another Year 6 Book Fair Takeover with a great team of accountants, customer service advisors, browsing supervisors, and events, display and advertising specialists! The takeover team did a fantastic job of organising the running of the fair and promoting it in school. I would like to say a massive thank you to all of the team for giving up so much of their time to help run our fair. We couldn't have done it without them! Here are most (not all!) of the takeover team below! 

We also had some very exciting lessons taking place on Friday as all of the children in Ash and Maple class finished their DT "automata animal" projects they have been planning this term. We have learnt lots about CAM mechanisms and designed our endangered rainforest themed animals and on Friday we built our frameworks and put it all together!  

Finally, many of us enjoyed taking part in the Easter egg scramble today which was organised by the PTA so we would like to say a big thank you to them for this! 

Have a great Easter holidays and see you in two weeks! 

Miss Bairstow

P.S. I have set the children in Ash a little extra homework challenge starting now until the end of the year - we have been writing postcards as an Ancient Maya archaeologist this week so in the spirit of writing letters instead of the digital communication we rely on so much I have challenged the children to send a postcard to the school addressed to Ash Tree Class if they visit anywhere exciting in the near future! :) 

Weekly Update 24.3.23

Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog

Hi, 

I would like to start this week by saying a huge well done to all of the Year 5's for their performances of Joseph this week! The shows were absolutely fantastic and it was clear to see how much time and effort they (and the staff involved!) have put in over the last few weeks, and how much they enjoyed it! 

Aside from all the excitement of the performances, we have been completing assessments in class this week. Ash Tree have worked so hard and really given it their all. 

We have also had lots of UKS2 sporting activities this week with a home football fixture and a tag rugby event! All the children who took part in these events also did a great job of representing the school. 

Have a good weekend and have some well deserved rest UKS2! 

Miss Bairstow 

Weekly Update 17.3.23

Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog

Hi, 

This week we were very lucky to receive a visit from the U.K's only Maya archaeologist and expert - Dr Diane Davies. Dr Diane spent the morning with UKS2 and led a fascinating, interactive talk in the hall and also workshops in the classrooms. Ash Tree really enjoyed learning more about the Maya and busting some myths! The children were even able handle some very precious artefacts and practise their own archaeology skills. Dr Diane picked out a small handful of Maya experts too who she said were more than welcome to join her team in the future! 

We held a meeting for parents on Tuesday of this week about the upcoming Y6 residential. We have uploaded the PowerPoint we shared and the parent information booklet onto both the Ash and Maple Tree Class homepages under the "Useful Documents" section. If you did not attend the meeting, your child will also be sent home with a paper copy of the booklet this week. It is not long now until we go to Peat Rigg so if you do have any further questions about this trip please get in touch ASAP. 

Have a good weekend! 

Miss Bairstow

Weekly Update - 10.3.23

Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog

Hi, 

This week Year 5 have been busy practising for "Joseph" as their performance gets closer. I can't wait to see it myself! 

Year 6 have also been busy at home with their applications for the Book Fair Takeover Team. Each year we host a Scholastic book fair in school but last year was the first time Year 6 had been involved in the organisation of it. It was a great success so we are doing it all over again this time! 

In school, we have been writing balanced arguments about the use of palm oil - an issue which is often debated in the news and links well with out recent rainforest topic. Ash Tree have been given an extra piece of "homework" this week which is to look at products around their homes to see if they contain palm oil and if it sustainably sourced or not. We found out this week that due to palm oil production and deforestation over 25 orangutans are killed each day. Ash Tree Class now desperately want to "adopt" an orangutan with the WWF so look out for further updates to see if we succeed with this! 

In maths, Mrs Trotter's group have been learning about area, perimeter and volume. Miss Bairstow's group have been learning about equivalent fractions and decimals. 

Have a good weekend! 

Miss Bairstow 

Weekly Update 3.3.23

Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog

Hi, 

The highlight of this week was definitely World Book Day on Thursday. This year, we trialled a new whole school theme all the way from nursery to Year 6 (and even staff!) and decorated a t shirt like our favourite book cover. Ash Tree really enjoyed completing their t shirts and I was so impressed with their creativity and also the great selection of books they chose! Click the link to see more pictures of our great t shirts - https://www.ruffordparkprimary.org.uk/classes/year5-6ash/world-book-day-2023-ash-tree-class

All children also received a World Book Day token which can be redeemed at the following retailers from Thursday 16th February to Sunday 26th March 2023. The good news is Morrisons is a participating retailer for the first time which means it should be super easy for children at Rufford Park to exchange their token for their free book! 

• Your local independent bookseller
• Asda
• Blackwell’s (selected stores only)
• Morrisons
• Sainsburys
• Tesco
• The Works
• Waterstones
• WHSmith

Have a super weekend and hopefully some of you will enjoy reading your new free WBD books! 

Miss Bairstow :)