Monday 15th November 2021

The last 2 weeks in school have seen all of the children demonstrating their commitment and enthusiasm to the issue of climate change and it’s impact on the planet. The children have written letters to planet Earth and thought about all of the things that they can do to reduce the school’s carbon footprint. One of the suggestions from many of the classes was the introduction of a ‘meat free’ day in the school kitchen’s. Working with Jo, our wonderful cook, we have introduced this to our menu from next week. The children are also investigating the ways which we can reduce food waste in school.

There are lots of things to look forward to in school this week, we will be counting the votes for our new parent governors on Thursday and announcing the elected governors at the end of the week. There is still time to return your ballot papers to school, if you have not yet done so. Also, on Thursday the Friends will be holding their first, in person, fundraising event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are holding a Christmas Shopping Event up at St Johns Church which I hope many of you will be able to attend.

Friday is Children in Need Day. This year we will be giving the children the chance to wear yellow for Pudsey as we hold a special non-uniform day. If your child does not want to wear yellow, then any form of non-uniform will be fine, the brighter the better! The suggested donation to Children in Need is £1.

We were all very proud of the whole school on Thursday 11^th November last week when every child joined in the two minutes silence wonderfully at 11am. Two children from Coverdale Class laid a wreath of poppies in the school playground as we all observed the period of quiet reflection.

Thank you to everyone who attended our reading evening for new parents last Thursday, it was fantastic to be able to invite parents into school again. If you were not able to attend we will be e mailing out a resource pack and copy of the presentation.

This week is nationally designated ‘anti-bullying week’. This will be a focus for some of our worship and learning throughout the week. The school’s vision statement is clear in stating that; ‘Our school is a place where all know that they are safe and loved as children of God. We give children a voice and an opportunity to use it to make a difference in their school, community and world.’ We work hard every day to fulfil this statement and make sure that our children know that there is no place for bullying in our school community.

Finally, If you see the school’s Christmas tree take it’s place near the Bilton Lane gate this week please do not think that we have begun the festive season extra early this year at RTS. Getting the tree up and secure is a significant operation and we will not have Mr Gibbon’s, our site supervisor, available to complete the tricky operation for the next two weeks and so we are getting the tree in situ ready to light it officially on the 1^st December.

The photos below show some of the yellow jumper wearers from last week. Well done to everyone who was chosen! The 2^nd Photo shows the children from Nidderdale Class enjoying their stone age day last week. The Final photo shows Airedale Class enjoying the autumn soup which they made together on Friday of last week.