What a great week we have had in Key Stage one, performing our show for the school, then the parents and finally singing some of the songs outside Asda. We are so very proud of all the children and we’re sure you are too. Thank you for all your support in attending these events and helping your children to practise and prepare for them. Despite all the fun of the play, the children have still been working hard and have written some fantastic adventure narratives this week. They have been writing about an adventure their elves have taken and then […]

If you are having a clear out of any clean pants, socks and tights. We would really appreciate them donated to school. If your child does  borrow any clothes from school, please can you return back to us as we have run out of supplies. Please hand in to your class teacher or the office. Thank you in advance The Cookridge Team

What a misty day we have had for Forest School today! Our Christmas Elf Twinkle left us a note this morning to say they had hidden some clues to decrypt their secret message! some of the children chose to undertake this challenge and hunted around the field for pictures and letter to help decode the words and read ‘Twinkle the elf’. Elsewhere on the field we played hide and seek, sung ‘Santa’s in his den’ and took turns to hide and then search for hidden presents. We also worked together to decorate some Christmas tree pictures using natural materials.

Dear Parent/Carers We would formally like to invite Year 3 and 4 parents/carers to LKS2 Christmas Performance. The event will start at 2:00pm on Wednesday 18th December in the school Hall. 

There are still places available on the Year 6 residential to Newby Wiske Hall at the end of the school year. If you have not yet paid a deposit, please do so as soon as possible to ensure your child has a place on the trip. Please find attached the original letter that was sent out regarding this. Please ignore the deposit date on this as it has now passed. Parent Pay will be checked regularly over the next few weeks and any children who pay the deposit will be added to the trip.  If you have paid your deposit, […]

Here are some details for all the upcoming KS1 Christmas events. -Wednesday-11th Dec- 2.15pm-gates open- Prompt 2.30pm start. -Friday 13th Dec-10am-ASDA singing -fundraising. -Monday 16th Dec-10am- Grandparent event. -Tuesday 17th Dec- Disco- please bring disco clothes in a named bag. -Thursday 19th Dec-KS1 Christmas Party- please bring in a party ‘snack’ pack for your child. (This is an indivdual snack pack of food for your child only to enjoy during the party) -Friday 20th Dec-Break up. -Monday 6th Jan- Back to School.

Brody and Imogen LKS2 responded to the challenge of turning a big black dot into a picture with invention and humour. Well done !!

We are approaching the final two weeks of the term before Christmas and in true Cookridge Primary School tradition, we are inviting children to wear Christmas jumpers on any days that they choose. School trousers, polo shirt and shoes are still required but you may replace their school jumper with a Christmas one if you wish. This is not compulsory, and is just a bit of fun on the lead up to Christmas.  Please do not buy a Christmas jumper especially for the occasion, and please do not feel pressured for your child to wear one. If you have any […]

Christmas has well and truly arrived in Reception this week! On Monday we were greeted with a letter from Santa himself, and we found that he had presented us with clues to find a special delivery from the North Pole. Inside we found a cheeky elf, sent by Father Christmas to keep an eye on Reception in the lead up to the big day. Inspired by our visitor (named Twinkle in a democratic vote amongst the children) we had a go at drawing our own picture of an ‘Elf on the Shelf’ and, as you can see from the photos, […]

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU, to everyone who sent in items for the Christmas Fayre and who came along to support it. You are the ones who make it the great success it is and helps us to raise money for school funds. We really appreciate all your donations and support. With great excitement, we have welcomed three elves into KS1 on Monday morning. The children enjoyed thinking of and voting for their names. So we have Crackers, Jingles and Jingle Bells making themselves known in the classrooms. We hear many of you are having fun […]

As part of our work in the Iron Age, we have looked at the improvement of tools. Over the past few weeks, we have worked on using whittling knives safely and effectively and began honing our skills to create sharp, even points. Today, children also learnt how to use secateurs and loppers to cut larger pieces of wood before turning these into bows and arrows using whittling knives. There was lots of resilience, problem solving and teamwork on show in the session as children quickly learnt making a good, effective bow and arrow was a lot harder than it sounded! […]

Today in computing, we learnt all about emailing. To start with, we thought about why email is a good form of communication, but also discussed the dangers that come with it. After we had thought about the risks, we learnt all about how to email! We logged in to purple mash and practised finding our inbox, reading emails and then, replying. We received an email from Miss Nodding, asking us what we had been up to this week. We sent her a reply, remembering to include ‘to’ and ‘from’. After this, we sent an email to a friend in our […]

We loved making a party for our elves today in Forest Schools using a range of natural materials.

UKs2 were asked to be graphic designers in Art. They copied and ‘road tested’ a well known brand of confectionery and then created their own designs for a chocolate called ‘Snowflake’. Maggie created a wonderful design despite having her ‘drawing’ arm in a sling and Toby C responded fantastically. Well done , you two!    

Class One went exploring in the local area yesterday looking at the range of buildings-church, ASDA, doctors, nursery, swimming pool, library and schools. We loved the walk and nearly popped into lots of your houses for a biscuit!  

Pupils in UKS2 finished their sessions on tools today by completing the items they had been working on in their previous session. They found it tricky as there were lots of fiddly jobs left to do, such as weaving, threading, whittling details and sawing and cutting accurately for effect. Drawing on all their levels of resilience, problem solving and teamwork, pupils were able to overcome these challenges and were delighted with the finished product. To round off our session, we reviewed and reflected on the process which we began a month ago and celebrated successes and achievements as well as […]

This week in French, the children learnt how to order in a French restaurant. To do this, they learnt how to say ‘I would like…’ in French and different French foods. Then, they used their learning from last half-term to integrate greetings into their role-plays. The children engaged in conversations with each other by communicating in a real-life scenario. They applied their developing accurate pronunciation and intonation to this also. In Science, we have been learning about fossils and how fossils are formed. After putting the events of fossilisation into order we had a go at making our fossils. We […]

Another fun-packed week has come to an end and we wanted to share with you some of what we have been up to in Reception. We have continued with our topic of Toytown this week and focused on looking at ways that toys can move without the aid of battery power. The children have very much enjoyed playing with the wind-up figures and making them race against each other. We discussed how these toys involved interlocking gear-wheels and a coiled spring to power the forward movement and to explore further we took apart one of the wind-up walkers to get […]

What a fantastic week it has been in UKS2!  Today in English, the children used Now > Press > Play to further explore the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii. After jumping back in time, the children used the immersive experience to become a survivor of the disaster and how terrifying and hopeless they may have felt when the volcano erupted all those years ago. This week, the children in UKS2 participated in a Climate Change Day, aiming to educate our children on the urgent and devastating effects of climate change. Rising global temperatures, extreme weather […]

Thank you to all the parents and carers who came into school (or spoke to us on the phone) for parents evening this week. It was brilliant for us to be able to share how well your children have settled into school and show you some of what they have been doing. The children have enjoyed beginning to learn about adventure narratives this week and have listened to a variety of stories. They had a go at writing their own adventure story. They have also been working on their spellings and spelling patterns. Year One have focused on the phonic […]

Year 4 pupils built on their knowledge of whittling knives and how to use them safely by looking at different whittling techniques and being set two challenges in preparation for our sessions next week where they will be making their own Iron Age style bows and arrows. After a reminder and demonstration by the children on tool safety, they were set the challenges of whittling an even, sharp arrow head where the point was in the centre of the stick and to whittle a smooth, even and thick arrow shaft to create an arrow which flies straight and true. We […]

Continuing with our National Tree Week celebrations here at Cookridge Primary, Reception have spent the morning looking at the wonderful world of trees. We have played games using loose parts from trees, begun learning how to use sticks to make simple dens and invented our own games in and around the trees! Pupils also used different coloured pastels to create tree and leaf rubbings to help develop their artistic skills whilst others created trees (including their roots, branches and leaves) using loose parts on the grass. Children also had the opportunity to do some meditation in the trees using our […]

Yesterday, the children in Class 9 went on a local walk. During this, they focused on creating a sound map of our local area. First, we learnt what a sound map is. Then, they created their own sound map whilst walking around our local area. Finally, we made links and developed our reasoned understanding for the sounds we have found. To do this, they categorised sounds into: biophonic sounds, geophonic sounds and anthrophonic sounds.

This afternoon Year 3 pupils continued learning how to use whittling knives safely and effectively. After recapping the tool safety talk and correct use of the knife, pupils worked in pairs to replicate our Iron Age ancestors of whittling wood into a point. Pupils learnt how to refine the technique to ensure whittling became easier, discussing how the type of wood they were using was an important factor. Next week, we are going to use these skills to create our own bows and arrows before going hunting around the school grounds just like people did in the Iron Age! 

We have kicked off our National Tree Week celebrations here at Cookridge Primary with sessions aimed at promoting, using and celebrating trees! We have played games using loose parts from trees, created dens with imaginary fires and emergency exits and played in and around the trees! Pupils also used different coloured pastels to create tree and leaf rubbings to help develop their artistic skills whilst others created trees (including their roots, branches and leaves) using loose parts on the grass. Children also had the opportunity to do some meditation in the trees using our hammocks where they relaxed and tuned […]

Dates for your diary We add all the dates on the weekly newsletter but thought we would send one for the Christmas events. 5th December-3.30pm-Christmas Fair 11th December 2.30pm – KS1 Christmas play-(2 guests per child only due to space) 13th December –10am– Fund raising singing at Asda-everyone welcome 16th December 10am – Grandparent event 20th December – Finish for Christmas

Today the children in UKS2 participated in a Climate Change Day, aiming to educate our children on the urgent and devastating effects of climate change. Rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, and the loss of biodiversity pose significant threats to our world, making it imperative that younger generations are informed and engaged. We were honoured to have two representatives from the National Grid team visit us, where they facilitated an interactive Now>Press>Play experience, immersing students in the challenges and realities of climate change. This was followed by a discussion time, allowing the children to pose thoughtful questions and gain deeper […]

At the end of a frosty week we’d like to share with you some of what we’ve been up to in Reception.  As we continue our Toytown topic, we have gone back in time to look at toys from history and compared these to the more modern-day toys that the children are familiar. There has been a selection of traditional toys such as ‘Snakes and Ladders’, dominoes, marbles and a spinning top for the children to enjoy, as well as some more flashy (and loud!) toys like talking action figures, remote controlled vehicles and light-up transformer cars. We spent time […]

Cookridge Primary was taken over today! The Year 6 children took over a range of jobs- they worked in the office, held meetings, taught lessons and even ran the assembly! All the children were fantastic and it gave them a real sense of responsibilty. Thank you Year 6- You were amazing!    

Our Christmas Fair is Thursday 5th December 3.30 to 4.30. We rely on our brilliant families to help us make this a success.  https://www.cookridgeprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Christmas-Fair-2024.pub_.pdf

Across the week pupils have been developing their your knowledge and understanding of St Andrew, as well as the UK’s other patron saints. Students completed a small reading activity to help remind them who St Andrew was and why he is celebrated. Pupils then worked in pairs and created a presentation on one of the UK’s and Ireland’s other patron saints, including, St George, St David and St Patrick. Once this was completed they had the opportunity to present their work to the rest of the class.

It’s been a cold old week for Key Stage One, but the child have been on fire with some amazing work! We have all been writing about Mary Seacole in English this week, but in the style of acrostic poems. We have thought about the things she did and her different characteristics, to include within our poems and then we published them. Year One have been learning that a, i , e, o and u can make the long vowel sound on their own, for example in words like acorn and lion. Year Two have been focusing on suffixes and […]

Today, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths class braved the snow and went outside for their learning! They used their knowledge about perimeter to apply their developing skill of formal addition method. The children chose different rectilinear shapes from around the playground to calculate the perimeter.

At the end of last week, some children from Year 5 had the opportunity to attend a concert led by Leeds Lieder which followed the workshop before half-term. The children enjoyed performances in the style of art song. This included music composed by Schubert, Britten, Scarlatti and Bennett.  It was a fantastic afternoon, which concluded in the children performing the song they had composed during the workshop. They sang beautifully and with confidence – well done!

Two brilliant artists this week. Rhea D and Amelia L in year 5 have created these great collages in response to the UKS2 topic- ‘Natural Disasters’. Well done, you two !

Today Class 2 ventured out into our local area to discover the key geographical features. We noticed that lots of the houses look different to each other showing us that they were probably built at different times. We thought about if we knew when our own houses were built?  We saw the church, which we knew was a church straight away due to the Christian symbol – the cross – on the outside.  We saw all the local amenities which showed us that these are things in our community need.   

Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather tomorrow as it is due to snow. There is a chance we will be playing outside, therefore hats, gloves and waterproofs etc are advised.  Thank you 

Today pupils built on their knowledge of tools and of how to use them safely to begin making woodland inspired items. Children could choose from bill hooks, whittling knives, loppers, secateurs, palm drills and bow saws in order to use them for specific purposes. Pupils had to find the right tool for the job and, if unsuccessful, unpick the problem and put in place a strategy to overcome it. After our next session in two weeks’ time, the children will be bringing home their creations which so far include dream catchers, keys, necklaces and icicle inspired jewellery. 

Friday again, and the end of another fabulous week in Reception class. The children have been enjoying our topic of Toytown and this week our focus story was ‘Dogger’ by Shirley Hughes. We read and discussed the story in relation to our own experiences of our favourite toys. As part of our Personal, Social and Emotional curriculum we have been thinking about the perspectives of the main character Dave at different points in the story and using empathy to consider how he might be feeling throughout – and coming out with some amazing vocabulary as a result! Lots of children […]

As our autumn topic is ‘Nurturing Nurses’, yesterday we were visited by a very special relative – Mrs Pottage. She explained what it’s like to be a nurse in a hospital today. She talked about how cleanliness is still very important and she needs to wash her hand lots of times just like Florence Nightingale. She bought in bandages for us to practise dressing wounds, along with syringes, torches, stethoscopes and much more which meant we could all pretend to be nurses too! We LOVED welcoming her into our classroom and send her a big thank you for doing an […]

It’s been a lovely week in Key Stage One this week and we have begun the rehearsals for our Christmas play. All the children who have been given lines should have brought them home to practise and we would really appreciate your support in helping them to learn them. The dates for the play are at the bottom of the newsletter, along with dates for the Grandparents event and the children singing at Asda. Please note, that each child can only have two grown ups attending the play, as there is not physically enough room for more to attend safely. […]

This week, we starte to apply our knowledge of addition and subtraction to worded problems. At the beginning of the week, we learned how to, ‘Find’ information, ‘Reason’ and ‘Answer’ worded problems. We worked together in groups to answer questions and practise the new skills. Today, we helped Mrs Hunter to cost out the remodelling of the playground. She wanted to update some of the equipment in the playground but she didn’t know which ones to update first. She needed our help to work out the cost of some combinations and work within the budgets provided. Mrs Hunter wanted to know […]

This week in Science, we explored the properties of different rocks. We learned about the key words; durability, permeability and density. We then went outside to test the different properties of rocks. We recorded our observations onto a sheet and used this information to help us group the rocks that we had tested.   

This Monday, we used our text and debated the question: Are the roman tax collectors fair? To do this, we worked in groups to retrieve all the information and evidence from the text that could support both sides of our argument. We had to think about the role of a roman tax collector and it’s relevance to the story. We used sentence stems to help us formulate sentences with evidence to explain this. Then, we sat opposite each other and debated. We had to think carefully about how to counteract the previous persons argument, so that our responses formed a […]

Pupils in Year 4 spent the afternoon outside learning about whittling knives in their Forest School session this week. The session began with observing and participating in a tool safety talk and demonstration. Children then had to replicate the safety procedures before being allowed to use a whittling knife on their own. Working with a partner who was a safety checker, pupils independently used whittling knives safely and correctly, following the tool safety procedures to the letter. After a while, pupils swapped roles with their partner to ensure they remained safe whilst whittling sticks. Next week, these skills will be […]

It has been a delightfully sunny Autumn day for our fortnightly Forest Schools session and the children have relished being out in the school garden. Before heading out we read Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Gruffalo’ and talked about the different types of homes the animals made in the woods. Taking inspiration from this, we looked at how we could build homes for some woodland animal toys using sticks, leaves, logs and twine. So we got ourselves ready and took some animal toys (sadly, health and safety precludes us from using live snakes and foxes) up to the school garden where the […]

Yesterday in geography, Class 8 conducted a local walk to formulate and sound map of our local area. Before leaving cool, the children discussed what a soundscape is and the different types of sounds we hear in our environment: geophonic, biophonic and anthrophonic. Then, using their street map as a guide, the children walked around Holt Park, mapping the different sounds they could hear. Along the way, the children also considered their other senses, including sight, smell and touch. They then used their geographical soundscape to deduce what type of environment they were in. 

Today in Forest School, pupils in Year 3 began learning about whittling knives. The session began with observing and participating in a tool safety talk and demonstration. Children then had to replicate the safety procedures before being allowed to use a whittling knife on their own. Working with a partner who was a safety checker, pupils independently used whittling knives safely and correctly, following the tool safety procedures to the letter. After a while, pupils swapped roles with their partner to ensure they remained safe whilst whittling sticks. Next week, these skills will be used to make Iron Age bows […]

Year 2 have built on their understanding and use of loose parts by using them for a different purpose. Instead of creating art or building structures, children were set the challenge of filtering muddy water using a plastic bottle, a piece of cloth and loose parts found around the school field. After inserting the cloth to act as a bung, teams then had to fill their bottles with natural resources found around the school grounds. Pupils thought long and hard about the objects, including their colour, size, weight, and how tightly to pack their water bottles. We then tested our […]

We’ve had a great day today in Year 1 during our Forest School sessions despite a cold start to the day! Building on our skills in loose parts from last half-term, we began by looking at the school’s bug hotel. We discussed why it was there, what it’s used for, how it had been made and what might live in there. We then went on a bug hunt around the school field using our magnifying glasses. Turning over leaves, stones and logs, we were delighted to find a wide range of insects including spiders, ladybirds, beetles, woodlice, worms, slugs, snails […]

Micro installation by Tilly and Sophie HB year 4. Inspired by the installations of Yayoi Kusama, Sophie and Tilly created this work and called it ‘ Walk of Confusion’. Congratulations girls!

Today we learnt all about Remembrance day and why we wear poppies.  We made our own poppies to remember all the soldiers who fought in the First World War and other wars since.  We also had our own two minute silence at 11 o’clock. 

Today, we started our new Alternative PE options; noodle drumming, climbing, handball, fencing and yoga. The kids have had a fantastic afternoon learning the new sports and activities. Fencing is a sport that is new to everyone, including the staff, and we are all really excited to see the children progress. Today, we learned some of the footwork that we need in fencing like the, ‘En Garde’ position and how to move forwards and backwards.     

Well, our first week back after the half-term break has flown by! We have been so pleased to see the children dive back into school with energy and enthusiasm, with lots to talk about from their time off.  This term, our new topic ‘Toytown’ will see us looking at toys in all sorts of ways – from talking about why we love our favourite toys and how we use them, to how toys have changed over time as materials and technology have developed. We also have a very special toy-related mission over the coming weeks – but more on that […]

We hope that you all had a well-earned rest over half term, because we have been straight back into action in Key Stage One this week! Once again, our history lessons have been embedded into our English lessons this week. We have been learning the story of what happened in the Gunpowder plot. They have also been using pictures to ask questions and write sentences using exclamation marks. They used these skills to write a letter from Guy Fawkes in prison to his friend Robert Catesby. The children were able to write lots of good questions such as Where were […]

We have finished our first week back after a lovely holiday! We are all refreshed and what a busy week it has been for us.    This week in Geography we developed our knowledge of using a compass. First we identified the four cardinal directions of North, East, South and West and how we can locate these on the compass rose. We then used this knowledge to discover how the four intercardinal directions are formed by bisecting the above, giving: northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). We showed our understanding of this by using a compass to direct […]

Dear parent/carer, As part of our commitment to make maths exciting and high profile in our school, we are taking part in a friendly competition involving schools in England. The competition runs from 07:30 GMT Tuesday 12th November 2024 to 19:30 GMT Thursday 14th November 2024. It’s all done online via play.ttrockstars.com. Children can play in any gamemode with every correct answer to a multiplication or division question, earning themselves, their class and the school a point. The Times Tables Rock Stars platform will calculate the class average (the number of correct answers per pupil in the class who play […]

This week in Geography we developed our knowledge of using a compass. First we identified the four cardinal directions of North, East, South and West and how we can locate these on the compass rose. We then used this knowledge to discover how the four intercardinal directions are formed by bisecting the above, giving: northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). We showed our understanding of this by using a compass to direct our partner to the different compass points and then drew a compass on the playground in chalk. We also worked on our atlas and map reading […]

This week in LKS2 Reading lessons we used our retrieval skills to identify if statements about the text were true or false. In pairs, we began by dividing a piece of paper in two to sort the statements into. We then identified the key word in each statement and used this to skim and scan for the information within the text. We then discussed the information we had retrieved with our partner to identify whether if the statement was ‘true’ of ‘false’. 

This week in English, we started looking at prefixes, suffixes and root words. We discussed how prefixes and suffixes can change the meaning of a root word, and practised adding some prefixes and suffixes using spelling rules. Then we worked as a group to investigate lots of different words. We cut the words up to show the prefix/root word/suffix and labelled each part of the word.  

This week in Science, we started our new topic of, ‘Rocks and Fossils’. We discussed what rocks are, the different types of rocks and how they are formed. We learned about the terms, sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous. We then sorted different rocks into different groups and had a go at making our rocks out of starburst!  

Today, the children had a fantastic Natural Disaster Survival Day! Over the course of the day, the children rotated around four different activities to develop their understanding of natural disasters and how to stay safe in various situations. In Forest School, the children considered how to cook a meal using non-perishable foods in a survival situation. They used a range of different skills, including: fire building, using a bill hook and food preparation. As well as this, they took part in an orienteering activity. Here, they used geographical skills to navigate around the school premises. searching for clues to lead […]

Please find attached the Autumn 2 newsletter and optional homework grid. UKS2 – Autumn 2 UKS2 – Homework grid – Autumn 2

Dear parents please find the below link for booking your parent consultations: Parent Consultation Booking If the above link is not working please find the link via our website on the homepage or under the – Parents/Carers tab – Parent consultation:

Please find attached LKS2’s half-termly newsletter and optional homework grid. Thank you.  Newsletter – LKS2 Autumn 2 LKS2 Homework Grid Aut 2

Zakariya (year1) had great fun turning the first letter of his name into a monster! Well done.

Please can you send your child with pumps/inside shoes to stay in school. The children sit on the carpet and it is not nice for them to sit on mud brought in from forest schools/playground. Please ensure they are named or decorated so your child can easily identify them. Thank you for your support  The KS1 Team  

Over the course of this half-term, all UKS2 pupils will have the opportunity to go on a walk of the local area. All students will have a go at creating their own sound maps of our area to generate links to aspects of human and physical geography.   Please ensure that pupils wear school uniform and have suitable footwear on the relevant dates. Please see below the dates: Class 8 – 13th November 2024 Class 9 – 26th November 2024 Class 10 – 10th December 2024

Pupils in UKS2 have begun their new series of Forest School sessions which will focus on tools. Today was an introductory session where pupils learnt about the different tools we have, their purpose and how to use them accurately and safely. Pupils chose from whittling knives, bow saws, secateurs, loppers, hand drills and bill hooks to discover their uses and begin to think about an item or decoration they’d like to create in the weeks to come. 

Pupils in Year 4 travelled back in time for their Stone Age Day and became part of a prehistoric tribe who were tasked with surviving. Tribes created shelters, hunted and gathered food, created tribe symbols and standards to ward of rivals and created stores to protect their invaluable food. Pupils turned into hunter gatherers in order to provide food for themselves and sourced natural materials to create hunting weapons to catch their food or trade with other tribes. Tribes were also tasked with creating medicine and clothes to keep their tribe healthy as well as creating fire using flints to cook […]

Looks like we’ve made it! At the end of our first half-term in Reception, we have had a whale of a time with all things spooky in the run up to Halloween. The children have loved having a go at some creepy crafts like making faces on pumpkins and building skeletons from cotton-bud bones. A very popular activity was the potion making station. Children had to pick a potion bottle which showed them three letters that they had to use as clues to select their ingredients from the pumpkins. Once they had found the right animal ingredients to add to […]

It has been a brilliant half term in Key Stage One, but we’re sure everyone is ready for a break. Have a wonderful week together and we will see you all in November! In English we discovered some brilliant actors, as we role played scenes in a restaurant where they were not happy with the food! Together we then constructed a letter of complaint to the restaurant. We have also been working on asking questions, looking at question words and the sorts of things we could ask. The children then read sentences and decided whether they were questions or statements […]

Pupils in Year 3 threw themselves into our Forest School’s day and revelled in the chance to ‘survive a day in the Stone Age.’ Tribes worked together to create a shelter, tribe standard and solved a range of problems in order to be a successful and powerful group. Pupils turned into hunter gatherers in order to provide food for themselves and sourced natural materials to create hunting weapons to catch their food or trade with other tribes. Tribes were also tasked with creating medicine and clothes to keep their tribe healthy as well as creating fire using flints to cook the […]

In English, we practised our scanning and skimming skills with an extract from our book, ‘The Wild Way Home’. We played ‘fastest finger first’ to race our partner to see who could find key words or paragraphs first. We then used our retrieval skills to find out if statements about the text were true or false. We will continue to use these skills when retrieving information from the text. 

In gymnastics this week, we recapped our previous skills of jumps, balances and rolls. We practiced the three types of roll that we had learnt in the previous lesson – the barrel roll, straight roll and the forward roll and discussed how we can improve our technique with these. We then progressed our learning by incorporating all three of these skills into a routine using the apparatus. We performed a balance for 5 seconds, then a jump from the apparatus and ended with one of the rolls. We worked in teams to provide feedback to one another on our execution […]

Today we enjoyed a sunny Forest Schools morning in school garden. Inspired by the John Hegley picture book ‘ Stanley’s Stick,’ we asked the children to hunt for a special stick and think of what else it could be other than just a stick.  We had some fantastic ideas from from the children, such as using the stick as a musical instrument; as a unicorn’s horn or a light-sabre! As Halloween is fast-approaching and we have enjoyed reading Julia Donaldson’s ‘Room on the Broom’ together, we decided to have a go at turning a stick into a magic wand! After […]

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Today KS1 pupils have been celebrating National Apple Day which was is an annual event here in the UK and falls on 21st October every year. To begin with, children started with some team games using apples that helped to focus their listening, problem solving and teamwork skills whilst trying to finish quicker than the other team. Afterwards, pupils led their own learning by choosing from a range of apple related activities on offer. First, they could try the traditional game of apple bobbing. Pupils were eager to throw their faces into the buckets at first but, as time went […]

Today, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths class went outside for their learning about addition and subtraction! The children competed against each other in teams to throw a beanbag the furthest. To do this, they had to add at least three different numbers together. Then, they were challenged to find the difference between their total distance thrown with another group.

Esther year 2 Esther year 2 has been getting into the Halloween mood. Brilliant spider’s web Esther 

Today, the children investigated school uniform in France. This engaged with our topic including fashion and clothing as well as reflecting on different cultures. Over the course of the lesson, the children interacted with different articles about the French Education Minister’s plan to introduce a French school uniform, on a trial basis. The children discussed and made notes about secularism and the proposed uniform ban. Finally, they presented their research and their opinions, as part of a respectful and tolerant environment.

Today, the children were visited by two representatives from a company based in East Yorkshire, called Croda. They run a science workshop for the children based on their scientific practice! During the session, the children were challenged to decide which was the best product to produce bubbles. To do this, they run a series of fair tests by considering the independent, dependent and control variables. They had a fantastic time and were inspired by this real-life application of science.

The school Photographer will be in school on Monday 4th November. This year we will be doing Siblings together too. This will only be for siblings in school and not for children who do not attend.  If your child has PE or forest school that day please send them in uniform and with the appropriate clothes to change into. Many thanks 4th NOVEMBER 2024 flyer  

Dear Parents,  Please find attached the information regarding the flu vaccination programme for this year. The link to fill in consent for this is on the letter. If you do not complete this your child will not receive the vaccine.  The immunisation team will be in school on December 10th.  This is an external agency and the school office are not involved in the consent or refusal of the vaccines.  If your child misses the vaccine school can not rearrange this. You will need to follow the instructions on the letter attached.   flu immunisation letter

Friday again, and we’ve had a full and fun-packed week in Reception. As part of our ‘All About Me’ topic we have considered what it means to be individual. We’ve discussed how people’s interests, likes and dislikes are personal to them and we don’t have to like things to fit in with others. The children have enjoyed sharing their likes and dislikes with us and learning more about each other in the process. We’ve also seen children express their individuality by designing their own t-shirt in using their favourite colours, and sharing the different ways we travel to school. The […]

It’s the end of another fantastic week in Key Stage One. One more week to go before half term…..we can do this! There has been some great writing in Key Stage One this week. We have been pretending to be Florence Nightingale and have written a leaflet to help others know how to help people to get better in hospital. They have included a Title, subheadings and important information about cleaning and eating healthy food. In Phonics, Year one have been learning the split digraphs i-e and o-e and Year two have been learning how to add suffixes -ed and […]

Pupils in LKS2 had their last chance to practice and perfect their fire making skills before our Stone Age Days next week. Teams worked together to successfully build different types of fire lays using a variety of different size sticks. Remembering to place their cotton wool in the middle, pupils then had the tricky task of trying to set it on fire without knocking the fire lay over – if they did, they had to start again! If successful, children used kelly kettles to warm water to add to herbal teas. For this, pupils foraged in our herb garden using […]

Dear Parents Due to unforeseen circumstances we have to cancel the EYFS Phonics Workshop this evening. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We will try to book in another date for the meeting and a post will be sent out at a later date. Kind regards    Cookridge Team

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Parent Workshop yesterday on the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). For anyone who couldn’t make it, please find below the slides and information as well as links to two websites we use in school to help teach times tables. Thank you.  Parent Workshop Slides – MTC https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button https://play.ttrockstars.com/

Yesterday, a small group of children went to Otley to attend a cross country competition against other schools in the local area. Some of these children have been running cross country as an alternative PE option on Fridays with Miss Chambeers so it was a fantastic oppurtunity for them to experience a competition. The children ran  1500m around Wharfedale Meadows in Otley. After some light rain in the morning, it made some parts of the field particularly challenging for the children but they did brilliantly. Their enthusiasm, support and encouragement for each other was brilliant to see. We had lots […]

As part of ‘Natural Disasters ‘ topic in UKS2 we have created mixed media ‘Storms in a teacup’ posters in our sketchbooks. Scarlett G (year 6) has designed a beautiful image and incorporated her own poem into the mix. Well done Scarlett! 

Building on their knowledge of campfires, Year 5 were challenged in teams to use kelly kettles to create hot chocolate. Making a fire lay inside a kettle base is a tricky, complicated and delicate job but one the children persevered with and, some on their fifth attempts, were all able to start a fire. Teams also worked together to use a bill hook and mallet to split pieces of kindling to make them thinner for the delicate fire lays needed inside kelly kettle bases. Remaining safe in adding the kettle, feeding the fire and managing their risk, teams then heated […]

HP Hebocon 30.11.24 bw

The Year 6 pupils loved their second session of outdoor cooking by creating omelettes. After collecting three chicken eggs per team, pupils explored the herb garden for ingredients. Whilst foraging, children tested the flavours by rubbing the leaves in-between their fingers and taste testing some of the leaves from various herbs. After settling on their desired flavours, children picked from sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, chives and lemon mint. The eggs were then cracked and emptied into a bowl with the herbs and some added milk and whisked together. Pupils also used bill hooks to split pieces of kindling for the […]

Today we have enjoyed a slightly different Forest Schools session as it coincided with the school observing World Mental Health Day by enjoying a ‘Hello Yellow!” day. It was lovely to see so many children dressed in bright clothes as we headed out on a bright but chilly morning. The children were very interested in helping with a special mission to make our own natural dye to colour a T-shirt from white to yellow (just in case anyone needed any more yellow clothes). To do this, the children assisted in breaking up a lot of turmeric roots in a big […]

It’s been a short but wonderful week in Reception! As part of our topic of ‘All About Me’ we have concentrated on three key words: independence, responsibility and perseverance. To demonstrate their independence, the children have been mixing their own secondary colours to complete rainbow pictures (we only gave them the three primary colours so the rest was up to them!). The children have also been practising their independent serving skills as used in the dining hall at lunchtime – in an effort to reduce messy spillages! We’ll continue this on next week with cutting skills using a knife and […]

Remember tomorrow is a training day! We look forward to seeing all the children back on Monday. English and History have gone hand in hand this week as we read the book ‘Florence Nightingale’. We have listened to her story on ‘Now Press Play’ and acted out the things that she did and the ways she improved hospitals. They all became teachers, when editing sentences all about Florence. They spotted missing capital letters, capital letter ion the wrong place, missing full stops and finger spaces and had a go at correcting spellings. In Maths, Year One have been focusing on […]

UKS2 had a fantastic “Hello Yellow Day” for World Mental Health Day! Over the course of the afternoon, the children enjoyed various activities to explore how we can maintain good mental well-being. This included: yoga, bracelet making, gratitude drawing, and a Now>Press>Play experience about emotions.

We would like to say a HUGE thank you once again, for everyone who bought a book at the Book Fair. Due to the amount you spent, we were able to buy another great collection of books for the library. This time we have purchased the following: Lots of PSHE related books, Art books, other learning material, including phonics and a great collection of Barrington Stoke books which are Dyslexic friendly. We also bought lots of books we just know that you will love including: The Percy Jackson collection, all the Tom Gates books we didn’t already have, more famous […]

Lina K (year 4 )designed a pumpkin inspired by the artist/sculptor Yayoi Kusama. Well done Lina, a very original creation.

Today, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths group created their own number lines to place negative numbers accurately. This included different sequencing of negative numbers. Then, the children engaged with different styles of questions to answer questions where negative numbers are used in real-life.

Yesterday in French, the children learnt new vocabulary relating to fashion. They engaged with authentic texts by exploring Vogue France fashion articles. The children did a super job at identifying different the new vocabulary they had learnt as well as using bilingual dictionaries to define new words. Finally, the children wrote sentences to describe children’s clothing around the room. This included ensuring that the nouns and adjectives agreed based on French gendered grammar rules.  

On Thursday, it is World Mental Health Day 2024. To celebrate this, Key Stage One pupils have enjoyed a day of Forest School activities based on promoting the importance of mental health and wellbeing and how being outdoors in nature can help. We used loose parts to create colour kebabs using skewers and to make an Autumn Colour Hunt card to complete. We also put up the hammocks in the trees to focus on how important it is to stop, relax and listen at times and take time out of our busy schedules. Children also had the opportunity to do […]

It started off as a very wet week for us all, but that hasn’t put a dampener on Key Stage One! This week we have started to read a new book in English ‘Florence Nightingale’. She is one of our inspirational people for this half term. We then began to look a leaflets, what a leaflet it, what kind of information they hold etc.. We then began to write some structured sentences that could be used in a leaflet, having a go on our own for the first time. In Maths, Year One have been practising the skill of counting […]

As you are hopefully aware, the high school application process is open and will close on 31st October 2024. Applying for high school is the parent/guardian responsibility – not the schools. Failing to apply for a high school place could result in your child being placed in a school that is not local. Please read the attached information for further advice and guidance. Secondary School Admissions 2025 Secondary Frequently Asked Questions If you need support in any aspect of the process, please feel free to get in touch. Thanks, Mr Kershaw

Pupils in LKS2 continued their series of lessons on fire making. They revisited previous learning on using flint and steel to make sparks, how to build different fire lays and their benefits and disadvantages and how to maintain and grow a fire. Children then worked in groups to build a fire lay, light a fire and grow it. Along the way, they needed to use lots of resilience, communication and problem solving, particularly when their fire went out. If children were successful in creating a fire hot enough for cooking, children collected the eggs from the chickens and cooked themselves […]

Yesterday in English, the children engaged in ’hot seat’ roleplay. Their challenge, to interview a survivor from the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Initially, children watched a video of the aftermath, discussing the carnage and what they could see. They were then asked to explore the emotional impact this would have on the citizens of the affected regions. After that, the children came up with a series of interview questions they would ask a survivor. Finally, the children used the information from the session to role play an interview. They will use this to inform their viewpoint narrative about the 2011 Japanese […]

Friday again after another week of fun and frolics in Reception! We have really enjoyed learning more about our own bodies as part of our ‘All About Me’ topic and the children have has lots of opportunities to join in with activities related to the human body. Lots where interested to have a go at a map-reading challenge, whereby they were tasked with using map of out outdoor area to find different body parts and bring them back to build a complete body. We had activities in the creative area to build a face (we had some VERY strange faces […]

Your child has come home with a log in card and letter tonight, so they can access the following learning platforms at home.   Twinkl– has a range of books, games all linked to the sounds we are learning in school. Purple Mash – Work is set for them and they can access a range of subjects. Numbots– Maths challenges and games   If you have any questions about these platforms please speak to Mrs Koopman They are optional but do support your child’s learning in school. Thank you for your support  

Yesterday in PE, the children continued their basketball and gymnastics sessions. In basketball, the children developed their accurate passing and dribbling techniques. They, then, applied this to a game setting. In gymnastics, the children revisited the teddy bear roll and forward roll. Then, they learnt the dish roll.

Storm in a sketchbook! Toby C and Charlotte in year 6. As part of UKS2’s topic ‘Natural Disasters’ we have been exploring different mixed media techniques to create a storm. Well done Toby and Charlotte for beautifully annotated work.

Accounts have now been set up for the Reception children for some of the websites we use in school to aid children’s learning. Children will be coming home this week with their log-in details in case they wish to use these websites at home. This is NOT COMPULSORY and there is no pressure to do this at home however, we use the websites in school and in previous years children have asked to carry on with the games at home so we wanted to get the logins out just in case it was helpful.    The three websites are: Numbots […]

UKS2 were forced inside the poly tunnel for their Forest School sessions today due to the unrelenting torrential rain. Here, we recapped the knots we learnt last year. These included the bow line, Prusik, sliding knot and clove hitch and we practiced tying them onto sticks. Next, Mr Gamble challenged pupils to use the knots in creating something using loose parts. A loose part is any material that can be moved and carried and in Forest School we look to use mainly natural loose items. They’re objects with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or in […]

It’s been another fantastic week in Reception! All week we have been exploring our five senses as part of our ‘All About Me’ topic. The children have joined in with a topic session for each of the senses. On Monday we discussed what we can see and the children were encouraged to speculate on the properties of a mystery object using describing words (shiny, dull etc.); on Tuesday we explored our sense of touch with a mystery object in a feely box using words such as smooth/rough and heavy/light; on Wednesday children volunteered to take a smell test, sniffing the […]

Class One had the best time in their alternative PE session today! It was bounce-tastic!

Thank you for your amazing support with our Book Fair in school this week. Althogether, we took a staggering £1707.77 in sales, which beat the previous record by far, with school keeping a grand total of £1,024 of this amount to spend on new books for pupils across the school. Due to the volume of sales, we quiclky ran out of copies of books and have ordered more to be delivered to school in the next couple of weeks. If your child hasn’t brought home their book yet then please rest assured it has been ordered for them. The final […]

Thank you to everyone who bought a book from the book fair. If your child has not received their book yet, it means that we have had to order it and we will get it to them as soon as the order arrives. We have continued to use the ‘Funnybones’ as our inspiration in English this week. All of the children have planned their own version of the story, thinking of creative things that the skeletons could do. They then used their plans to write their story. This has now been published and put into their writing folder. In Year […]

This week in English, the children have been writing a free verse poem. We used the poem, ‘The Quarry’, to inspire our writing. To help us imagine the setting and hunt, we got into some groups and acted it out. We then used this to come up with ideas of exciting verbs and adjectives to include in our poem.  In Science, we conducted an investigation to help us answer the question, ‘Which stone is best for grinding wheat?’. We made a prediction, conducted the experiment and collect our results in a table.  In PE, the Year 3’s have continued to […]

Wear Yellow for World Mental Heath Day- Thursday 10th October

Today was Reception’s second Forest School session and we took our inspiration from this past weekend’s Autumnal Equinox. After a classroom discussion on what the children already knew about Autumn, we went outside and groups took turns to explore the garden and field for signs of Autumn’s arrival. The children gathered leaves of orange, brown, yellow and red; we found acorns beneath the oak tree and pine cones beneath the first; and we found berries in the bushes. The children loved getting into nature and seeing how the seasons are changing at the moment. We brought back a big bag […]

Dear parents/carers   Now that the children have had a chance to settle in the policy around dinners will need to be followed. To allow for the kitchen to order and prepare the correct amount of food and minimise food waste, children cannot alternate between school dinners and packed lunches. If in the future you wish to change from school dinners to packed lunches, or visa versa, please inform the office with at least a weeks notice. The three week menu is available on the website.   https://www.cookridgeprimary.co.uk/parents-and-carers/menu/    All the best The Reception team

Today, the children from Miss Chambers’ maths class went outside for their learning. They began to order and compare numbers to at least 1,000,000 by applying their skills to determine the value of each digit. To do this, they created their own place value charts and numbers using materials they could find outside. In pairs, they compared their made numbers using the place value chart to help them.

Today, the children continued imagining they were working for the British Red Cross. First, recapped what volcanoes are and what causes volcanic eruptions. Then, they attended a British Red Cross meeting. Here they presented arguments for why they believed either La Palma or Guatemala deserve £10 million of charitable support.

At Forest School today, Year 1 children harvested their potatoes which they planted in April whilst in Reception. Wearing gloves and using trowels, children carefully removed the soil from the tyre towers which had been left undisturbed for the last five months and were amazed to find lots of potatoes hidden within. After carefully removing them from the soil, children gave them a clean before putting them into storage for UKS2 to use in their food technology lessons next week. Finally, pupils took the soil no longer needed for the potatoes over to the vegetable beds where they grew onions […]

Pupils in Year 2 have continued their work on loose parts today with some wonderful sessions outside on the school field. First of all, we recapped the ‘Fire and Tarps’ game from last time which focusses on speaking and listening as well as tactical thinking and teamwork. Next, we looked more in depth at loose parts; discussing what they are, where to find them, how to use them and then return them to where we found the item. All the children were great in this activity and were confident in sharing what they had found and described characteristics of their […]

What a fantastic week it has been in UKS2! Pupils in UKS2 enjoyed a day basking in some later summer warmth and sunshine whilst doing Forest School today. As it was their first session with Mr Gamble and with this half-term’s unit of work all to do with fire, groups were tasked to create a fire and keep it alive in order to roast marshmallows. After some quick recapping of safety, children had to draw on their knowledge and skills from last year of fire lays, the ‘fire triangle’ and teamwork in order to achieve the set goal.  This week, […]

Everyone has settled really well into Key Stage One now and we are enjoying the beginning of our learning journey together. Our English lessons have again been focused around ‘Funnybones’. We have been practising handwriting, noticing which letters are ascenders and descenders. We began to do some guided writing, thinking about writing a story of where our skeleton characters might go and what they might do. They created their own word banks, thinking about key words they might need and struggle to spell. Year Two parents, your child will now have come home with a total of 3 lists of […]

Dear parents and carers, Cookridge will be joining thousands of schools across the UK and taking part in Hello Yellow in support of YoungMinds on Thursday 10 October (World Mental Health Day) where we’ll be holding a non-school uniform day and asking everyone to wear something yellow. (If you do not have anything with yellow, please just wear bright colours) There are days when all of us struggle with how we are feeling. Things can get tough, and it can be difficult knowing how to cope. For so many young people, when this happens, they don’t always get the help […]

Another wonderful week in LKS2 comes to an end!  This week in science, we learnt about George Washington Carver and his work as an agricultural chemist. He discovered that if the farmers planted a crop with lots of protein, the soil nutrients the cotton plants needed would return (as growing cotton took lots of nutrients from the soil). We then began looking at the investigation process of scientific experiments through conducting a test on melting ice. We were asked the question – ‘Which material melts ice the fastest?’ and then made a prediction and supported this with ideas and evidence. […]

Please see the attached letter below with details about next week’s Book Fair in school and a parent booklet about the books on offer. Thank you.  Book Fair September 2024 Parent Booklet September 2024

Today in science, we learnt about George Washington Carver and his work as an agricultural chemist. He discovered that if the farmers planted a crop with lots of protein, the soil nutrients the cotton plants needed would return (as growing cotton took lots of nutrients from the soil). We then began looking at the investigation process of scientific experiments through conducting a test on melting ice. We were asked the question – ‘Which material melts ice the fastest?’ and then made a prediction and supported this with ideas and evidence. We then placed our hands in the materials and observed […]

Today in Forest School LkS2 progressed their learning in fire making from last week. We learnt how Stone Age people used flint to make fire and we had a go at rubbing flint together and giving it a smell! We were amazed to find we could smell fire and smoke coming from the flint. We then learnt how to use new flint and steels and discussed and critiqued Mr Gamble’s fire lays, highlighting things he had done well and things he could have improved. Next, working in groups, teams had to combine their knowledge of fire lays, how to construct […]

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us for our Year 6 residential meeting yesterday afternoon. For those of you that were not able to come, please find attached below a letter that outlines some of the key information about the trip.  Newby Wiske Hall – Parent Meeting Letter You should now see a section on your Parent Pay account for paying off the residential. If you have any questions about the trip, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Thanks, Mr Kershaw

Keep an eye on the newsletter for key dates you will need to be aware of. They will always appear here at the bottom of the page. Our second full week in Reception has flown by! The children have settled into school-life so well, it feels like we’ve been together for longer.  This week we have gotten into a regular weekly routine, with us taking part in regular sessions in small groups for Phonics and Maths work. These subjects are key and underpin all learning as the children go through school, so it’s a first step on a long road […]

Today we had another Reading Buddy class swap. This time Class 10 came to join us on the reception playground to read and share stories together in the sunshine.   

Pupils in UKS2 enjoyed a day basking in some later summer warmth and sunshine whilst doing Forest School today. As it was their first session with Mr Gamble and with this half-term’s unit of work all to do with fire, groups were tasked to create a fire and keep it alive in order to roast marshmallows. After some quick recapping of safety, children had to draw on their knowledge and skills from last year of fire lays, the ‘fire triangle’ and teamwork in order to achieve the set goal.   

This term, KS2 will have cross-country as an alternative PE option. There have been lots of children who have chosen to do this, or who have done it last year and really enjoyed it. If you are interested in starting running, improving your running time or just want to get involved, there is a junior Parkrun at Bodington every week. The event is a free, fun, and friendly weekly 2k event for juniors (4 to 14 year olds) at 9:00am. On Sunday 15th September, I will be volunteering at Parkrun Bodington and would love to see as many friendly faces […]

This week, Year 4 have been looking at different partner balances in gymnastics. We thought about the different elements that make a balance good like tension, extension and control. We discussed ways of making sure we keep ourselves and our partner safe. Then we practised different balances. 

Our first week of full-days has been and gone! The children have done remarkably well and quickly adapted to school-life. Our first topic of ‘All About Me’ has seen the children exploring their 5 senses, drawing self portraits and creating silly faces with the Play-doh. We have also been talking about the people special to us and sharing photos of our families. Thank you so much for sharing your pictures with us, we’ve had a brilliant response and it’s been great to have a chance to get to know the children better. We have been giving the children opportunity to […]

KS1 Please find attached the optional homework grid and termly newsletter. Homework grid-Aut 1- 2024 (1) Newsletter – KS1-Aut 1 2024 Please speak to a KS1 staff member if you have any questions. Thank you The KS1 Team

This week, Miss Bourne’s maths class looked at place value and partitioning numbers up to 1000. We used resources to help us practice flexible partitioning. We were given a 4-digit number and then we had to use resources to find 5 different ways of partitioning the number. We then completed some practical problems involving place value of 4 digit numbers. We started by completing a sheet which challenged us to make different 4 digit numbers using the digits 0 – 9.  

Welcome to the first ‘proper’ news letter of the year! This week, we have all begun to read ‘Funny Bones’. We began the week by listening to the story and acting it out. We have created skeleton pictures and thought about what else could happen in their story. They also had a go at retwlling the story of ‘Funnybones’, remembering to use the repetition words. In Maths, Year One have been doing lots of counting ensuring 1-1 accuracy. They have also been finding different ways to represent numbers, using Numicon, cubes, dice, objects, counters etc.. and recognising what numbers have […]

Year 4 had a wonderful Forest School afternoon today where they revised their knowledge and skills in fire lighting. Linking in with our current topic on ‘Stone Age’ and after discussing the uses and dangers of fire and why and how our ancient ancestors used and harnessed it, children recapped the ‘fire triangle’ and different fire lays before setting to work. Groups worked together to organise themselves and allocate jobs such as fuel collecting, fire lay making, fire management and safety. Despite some setbacks, children persevered, problem solved and worked together to create successful fires which remained lit for over […]

Today, in Miss Nodding’s Maths group, we were exposed to a variety of number lines, both to and within 1,000 and with different start and end point values. We discussed what each interval was worth and worked out what various number lines were counting up in. We then made our own numbers lines counting up in 1s, 10s and hundreds. We completed a leap frog activity to carry on a number line and also created number lines in chalk outside.

Over the course of this week, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths class continued to explore numbers to 1 million. They used a part-whole models as well as place value charts to concretely make bigger numbers. By answering question cards, the children were able to partition the number and determine the value of each digit.

Today, we had our first trip up to the garden for Forest Schools! We had a super time exploring the space, using the swings and slack line and playing in the sand pit. Those that wanted to also had the chance to say hello to the goats and chickens.

Please find attached LKS2’s half-termly newsletter and optional homework grid. Thank you.  Newsletter – LKS2 Autumn 1 LKS2 Homework Grid Aut 1

Linking in with our current topic on ‘Stone Age,’ children in Year 3 began learning about fire lays this afternoon. After discussing the uses and dangers of fire and why and how our ancient ancestors used and harnessed it, children were introduced to the ‘fire triangle’ and different types of fuel needed for successful fires. Next, children learnt about the properties, features and names for different fire lays. They studied each in turn and discussed about the positives and disadvantages of certain ones. Finally, they had a go at trying to make some thinking about everything they had learnt this […]

Thank you to everyone who was able to make our Meet the Teacher event today; it was wonderful to meet you. For reference, and for those who couldn’t attend, please find attached the information slides and ‘Helping at Home’ guides and resources for parents.  11.09.24 LKS2 Meet the Teacher LKS2 Common Exception Words Reading Together at Home Times Tables Square Poster TTRS Parent Guide

Today, the children developed their own TV advert to persuade people to live near a volcano. They developed a script in their groups. They included: the reasons why to live near a volcano from their own research, a catchy and exciting story or slogan, and enthusiastic and emotive language. Finally, they performed their persuasive pieces to the class. Their performances were enthusiastic and believable. Finally, we evaluated the persuasiveness of each group’s performances.

Last year, as part of our PE curriculum offer, we introduced alternative sports for all children every other Friday. Through the alternative sports offered, we hope to raise the engagement, exposure and the opportunities for children to apply skills learnt in lessons, across a range of activities and not just the ‘traditional’ sports they are more familiar with.   We have offered many different sports in school so far including; Zumba, ultimate frisbee, boccia, curling, cross country, Aikido, noodle drumming, darts, yoga, cycling and many more! The feedback from the children has been extremely positive and memorable for children and […]

What a fantastic start Key Stage 1 made to Forest School today despite the torrential rain and strong, blustery winds. To begin the sessions, we developed our listening, communication and teamwork skills by playing a popular Forest School games ‘Fire and Tarps’ and ‘Ninja Sticks.’  As well as developing the skills already mentioned, pupils learnt about fairness, why rules are needed in games and respect. Next, children developed their understanding of loose parts and how to respect nature whilst working in it. Using their creative skills, imaginations, loose parts and paper plates, children recreated themselves and added in objects such […]

LKS2 have had a fantastic return to school! We have all been so impressed by how they have thrown themselves back into their work and routines.   On Tuesday, we had a carousel of activities for children to complete in teams. One of these included trying to stack some cups using rubber bands and string. They were not allowed to use their hands and had to use their teamwork skills to communicate with each other and complete the task.   This week in science, we learnt about Archimedes and how his work thousands of years ago still impacts our lives […]

What a lovely week we’ve all had in Reception. The children have all blown us away with how they have come in and settled into school life so quickly.  Our time has mostly been spent getting to know one another and allowing the children to get familiar with our school and its routines.  The children have loved exploring the different activities and equipment in Reception both indoors and out. We’ve had shopkeepers selling groceries in our role-play shop; bike-riders cruising the track; builders constructing amazing towers; artists painting self-portraits and lots of children climbing, jumping and balancing over obstacle courses.  […]

Welcome back to Key Stage One Year Two and a warm welcome to Year One!  Each week, there will be a newsletter, with photos and information, of all the things we have been doing in Key Stage One .  Unfortunately, we have had some website issues this week and unable to upload photos at this point. Apologies for this. We have focused this week on ‘The colour monster’ book, discussing our feelings and when might experience each of the emotions. We have done this through discussions, making pictures and writing tasks. We have of course ended this week with our […]

Good afternoon, Thank you for the positive responses regarding Camping @ Cookridge. Based on the majority, it will be taking place and we are excited by this new venture. However, due to the availability of various activities and so that we can capitalise on better weather, Camping @ Cookridge will take place later this academic year. This means that we can organise an on-site residential that matches our vision and provides your child with a memorable and fun-filled experience.  Further information (including dates, costs and arrangements) will be released as soon as possible. Thank you, UKS2 Team

Good afternoon, We hope you all have had a fantastic summer break and we are looking forward to welcoming children back tomorrow (03.09.24). Please see below some relevant information: Classes We have an excellent teaching team in LKS2 who cannot wait to get stuck into our new topics with the children. Please see below the classes and teachers: Class 4 – (Year 3) – Miss Nodding Class 5 – (Year 4) – Miss Bourne Class 7 – (Year 3/4) – Mr Gamble and Mr Kerr We work and teach very closely as a phase so pupils will be taught by […]

Good afternoon, We hope you all have had a fantastic summer break and we are looking forward to welcoming children back tomorrow (03.09.24). Please see below some relevant information: Arrival Children will arrive at school between 8.40am and 8.50am via the top gate and walk down to enter their classrooms.  Phones Children who bring in mobile phones must turn them off before entering school premises and put them in the designated basket for the teacher to store away safely. Children bring in phones at their own risk, and school are not responsible for any damages. Also, please remember that children […]

Well… Reception year has come to an end! We’ve had a lovely last week with the children and got up to all sorts of exciting and fun things. At the start of the week, we invited the class to draw a self portrait picture and then compared them to the self-portraits they drew at the start of the year in September.  To keep up the practice of Phonics and Maths this week, the children have all been working through some Summer-themed booklets packed with different activities to help apply all the amazing skills they have learned this year. On Wednesday […]

On Monday and Monday 8 and 15th, a group of Year 5 /6 and 3/4 children were invited to take part in the North West Trust Cup football tournament at Ireland Wood Primary School with several schools from the local area. Each game consisted of 7 minute matches with points that were awarded depending on the outcome. As a team, their communication, enthusiasm and support for each other was fantastic and they represented Cookridge brilliantly. We were very proud of all of them.  The overall results were superb with the Year 3/4’s coming 3rd overall and the Year 5/6’s coming […]

Monday’s ‘Inflatable Day’ was a huge success and a whole lot of fun! This was the school’s way of thanking the children for a fantastic year and we hope they had as much fun as we did. Please enjoy the photos below.

On Friday (19.07.24), our Year 6 children will be leaving Cookridge Primary for the final time and we want to send them out in style! As all Year 6s have permission to walk home alone, they will be leaving 5 minutes before the end of the school day (15.15). The rest of the pupils of Cookridge will line the playground and clap and cheer them out to send them on their way to high school. This means Year 6 pupils will be leaving from the main playground gates just before the rest of the schools’ usual hometime routine. We would […]

Today we had our final visit to Cookridge Court care home. The children were so excited and couldn’t wait to share, read and listen to stories with the residents. They were incredibly well behaved and everyone had a lovely time.

As we didn’t win the Disney cruise competition Mrs Koopman had promised Class One a special Disney day. We made Mickey ears, went on a parade around the school, Disney artwork, and even had a crafting session and created catapults. Not quite a Disney cruise but a happy day together in Class One.

As you may be aware, over the last few years, Year 5 have visited Lineham Farm in September. We have decided not to re-book this year as we felt like it didn’t offer the children the step-up in expereience that we would hope for following their Robinwood residential. This year, we are hoping to have a ‘Camping @ Cookridge’ residential, where children would camp on the school field (18th to 20th September 2024) for two nights. They would build and set up their tents (provided by school), go out on trips (something similar to Go Ape and/or water based activities), […]

From September all classrooms will be therapeutic spaces.  Part of this process involves moving the pupils trays into the cloakroom areas and removing the old bench seating.  As a result we will not have space for pupils to bring in large rucksacks/bags.  Currently they clutter up the cloakrooms and create a potential trip/fire hazard.  As the children do not need to bring anything into school other than their reading books and logs please only send them into school with a book bag (any book bag is fine) which can be stored in their individual trays. Children who bring in packed […]

Dear Parent/Carer, I am writing to inform you of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, which come into effect from the 19 August 2024 following publication of the DfE’s Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) . Click here to view the document The changes are summarised in the link below. I wish to stress that the changes are being applied to all schools across the country and we want to ensure that all parents understand the changes, especially around the unauthorised absence as this does include arriving after registration has closed and not informing […]

This summer, our school is taking part in Serial Mash Summer, a fantastic summer reading challenge, aimed at getting children excited about reading. Serial Mash is an online library of over 200 age-appropriate children’s books with bright pictures and exciting story lines.  Children will have access to the online library until September. More information is in the letter below. https://www.cookridgeprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Serial_Mash_Summer_Parents_Letter.pdf 

We had a fantastic afternoon enjoying our inflatable day! We had a bouncy castle, a bouncy slide and bouncy basketball. We did axe throwing and made smores before zooming down the slip and slide!

What a fantastic day we have had in Class 1 – the inflatable day was so much fun. As you can see from the pictures- lots of giggles. Especially when Mrs Koopman flew down the slip-and-slide! A great start to our last week together Please don’t forget to send a plastic bag in on Wednesday.  The children will be bringing home their books and report.  

Our final day at the Great Yorkshire Show was another huge success with our final group of Year 6 pupils. With the weather staying dry for us, the children got stuck into a lot of activities including learning about bee hives and how the colony work together to provide honey for every bee, meeting three alpacas, learning about birds of prey and visiting a number of stalls and tents in the discovery zone. Children also had the opportunity to make their own wands in a free workshop or have a go at making sausages to take home! After that, children […]

The UK National Read-Aloud Challenge is a fantastic way to cultivate a love of reading from an early age. This initiative involves using the Award Winning Fonetti app, which offers a range of engaging stories and factual books. By participating in this challenge, your child will build confidence in reading, develop speech and comprehension skills, and enhance vocabulary – all while having fun with the app over the summer. This is free and children can win certificates of achievement, prizes, gift cards, and a trip to the Amazon HQ. Please click on this link which is our unique code for […]

What a fantastic few days Year 6 had on their residential at Newby Wiske Hall! Our children showed determination, resilience and behaved impeccably throughout! They did us all proud – take a look at some of the pictures below! We are currently having an issue uploading some pictures of the residential to the website – we apologise if your child is not on any of the below. We are working on getting the rest up next week!

We have had a wonderful three days in our new class! Not only do we have a new classroom but we have also got to meet our new class teacher (Miss Mehboob) and we still have Mrs Wiliams with us!  We have been creative and crafted our very own ‘Rainbow Fish’, completed lots of team activities and had lots of choosing time! We have re-told the story of ‘Rainbow Fish’ and shown Miss Mehboob our fantastic acting skills! She was very impressed! We have also listened to an under the sea ‘Now > Press > Play’ and we particularly enjoyed […]

This has been an amazing year in KS1. The children have been outstanding learners and we have loved getting to know them all and seeing them make some fantastic progress. Thank you to all parents and carers who have supported us and your children over the year, partnering with you is invaluable to the children’s learning and successes. Please have a look at the dates for your diary section, that has some key dates for next year. This week has been a very different week for them all, as they have had three days doing transition. They have all had […]

We had a great few days in our new class! We have got to meet all the adults we will be working with (Miss Devine, Mrs Harrisson and Mrs Pattison) and make some new friends.  We played lots of team games and completed some team challenges. Miss Devine read us lots of stories but we especially looked at ‘The Rainbow Fish’. We crafted our own special fish, re-told the story and listened to an under the sea ‘Now > Press > Play’. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

What a lovely few days getting to know the new Class One. They have enjoyed a range of activities based around the story of the Rainbow fish. See you in September for more fun and friendships. Dates to remember Back to school- Tuesday 3rd September Meet Mrs Koopman on Thursday 5th September-3.20pm Colour day- Friday 6th September-wear your favourite colour  

Welcome to Year 3 and 4! We have had a blast over the last three days with the new classes in Year 3 and 4.  In maths, we have been practising our 3 and 4 times tables through a carousel. One of the activities included painting arrays for the times tables and completing some times table revision sheets. We also used multilink cubes to complete bar models for different calculations. Our final task was a role play task where we were given receipts for the number and cost of items. We had to use our times table knowledge to work […]

On Saturday 20th July 2024 Leeds Rhinos are hosting their annual family fay at their match against Hull KR. Tickets for children (aged 16 and under) are just £5 for this match, in both seated and standing areas of the stadium. There are also a host of activities available for children to enjoy that are all included with the price of entry. Please click here to book or scan the barcode below.   

On Tuesday, a group of Year 2 students were invited to play a friendly benchball competition with Ireland Wood. The team were fantastic and showed some brilliant communication, throwing and catching and thought about their tactics carefully. Everyone had a brilliant time and we look forward to playing some more friendly competitions like this in the future.   

We have enjoyed a second day at the Great Yorkshire Show with another group of Year 6 pupils. Despite the cold and dull weather conditions, the children got stuck into a lot of activities including learning about bee hives and how the colony work together to provide honey for every bee, meeting three alpacas, learning about birds of prey and visiting a number of stalls and tents in the discovery zone. Children also had the opportunity to make their own wands in a free workshop or have a go at making sausages to take home! After that, children had lunch […]

What a fun day in Class 4! We began the day by creating our own ‘all about me poster’ and then completed some maths challenges to test our 3 and 4 times table knowledge. We used cubes to complete bar models, applied our times table knowledge to work out how much Miss Nodding spent on her shopping trip and painted our own arrays.   

Please find information about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge – Marvellous Makers. The challenge is a national scheme run by libraries in conjunction with The Reading Agency that encourages children to keep up the reading habit during the summer holidays. Children can join for free at Holt Park Library and will be challenged to read six books before mid-September. They will be rewarded with collectable stickers as well as a medal and certificate for completing the challenge. You can find more information and a promotional video which might be useful here. A brilliant 41 children from Cookridge Primary took part […]

The first group of Year 6 pupils visited the Great Yorkshire in Harrogate today and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. The day began by watching a sheep shearing competition where farmers were shearing a whole sheep in under a minute! Next, the children ventured down to the pig and goat area where they watched farmers show their pigs and receive awards in certain classes before going to the goat shed. After that, they were all amazed at coming across a robotic milking machine for cows where the cows line themselves up to be milked! The pupils then visited the horses […]

Today, the children learnt about what life is like for a French girl called Amelie. They learnt about her daily routine and what school is like in France. This included learning new key vocabulary in French to describe different parts of the day. Finally, the children drew a similarities and differences table to compare life in French and English schools.

Following the success of inflatable day last year, we are once again having a whole school celebration event which will include inflatables, slip ‘n’ slide, axe throwing (the pastic one from the summer fair!) and even s’more making. This event is for school children only on the 15.07.24. Pupils can come to school in non-uniform but they must bring swimwear – with a t-shirt and a towel for the slip ‘n’ slide. They will also need a change of clothing (including footwear). We have put an optional £2 donation on all Parent Pay accounts to help cover the cost of […]

Tomorrow evening (09.07.24), Beehive will be located in the Art Studio so please use the main office gate and walk round towards Reception class for collection. This is due to the Year 6 Leavers’ Disco taking place in the hall.

      River journey by Nadyne- year 6 We were exploring our thoughts about transistion and moving on to high school

It’s been apocalyptic in Reception this week as we’re nearing the end of our Dinosaur topic! We have learned about the popular theories that scientists have for the end of the Dinosaur era 65 million years ago. We watched videos that explained the theory that a large meteor strike caused a chain reaction of disasters that caused mass extinction. The children also learned of a second theory that supposes a huge increase in volcanic activity caused the environment to become hostile to most life. To link with this learning the children have had a lot of fun creating some amazing […]

We’ve had another great week in Key Stage One, learning and growing together. We are always so impressed with how the children behave and the work they produce. We have seen some fantastic writing across KS1 this week as the children did their final writes based on a viewpoint narrative. Year One, were writing about what they did and what they saw at Cannon Hall Farm. Year Two, were writing as though they were an alien that landed on Earth by accident and what they saw on the farm. There have been some brilliant, creative ideas and interpretations and we […]

Today, Year 6 pupils were lucky enough to have a workshop with Leeds City Council, which introduced them to urban planning. Students worked in groups of approx. 8 per table where they were asked to create their ideal city, town, village or neighbourhood. Groups had to use post-it notes to write down their justification for why they’re choosing what they had and feedback their choices to the Leeds City Council visitors. 

A massive thankyou to everyone who supported us with the Summer Fair.  It was a huge success raising £7,200!  We will be using this money to install an additional Forest School space in school (further information to follow). Over the next week we will be continuing with our fundraising and selling items that were left over from the Summer Fair at the Tuck Shop.  If you do not want your children to buy sweets, crisps and ice lollies please do not send them into school with any money as our usual tuck shop will be temporarily be replaced with these […]

This morning pupils have been busy little Vikings preparing for our parent event this afternoon. Children have cut and split firewood, made and cooked soup and bread, whittle writing implements for parents to try writing using runes and lit and maintained two fires suitable for cooking on. On the field, children were trained in how to fight like a Viking warrior; learning the art of combat and battle tactics. We are all very excited to showcase our Viking crafts, skills and knowledge to parents this afternoon!

This afternoon, Year 5 pupils have enjoyed a session in which we finished our series of lessons on knots by applying their skills and knowledge for different purposes. To begin with, children practiced the four knots they have been working on this term; Prusik, Bowline, Clove Hitch and the sliding knot. Once they had reviewed these skills, children then applied them correctly to make shelters using tarps, guy ropes, float lines and pegs, attach hammocks to trees for some relaxation or create first aid stretchers using two long poles and a piece of rope.   

On Thursday 11th July, our current Year 5 children have been invited to Ralph Thoresby High School for a morning to experience elements of what going to RTHS would be like. They will be taking part in music, drama, art, DT and science activities up until lunch time. Pupils should arrive at school as normal. As we are only completing a local walk, permission is not needed. We will be back at school for lunchtime so their usual lunch procedures can still be in place. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. Mr Kershaw

Over the past two days, pupils across LKS2 have taken part in Viking experience days in school. One of these activities has been in our Forest School area which had been transformed into a Viking settlement  – classes became villages; pupils became villagers. Working together, they had to take on some of the roles Vikings did which included crafting and cooking. In our fire pit area, villagers worked together to light and maintain a fire using bill hooks for splitting the wood. Once hot enough, the fire was used for cooking and the villagers prepared and cooked a traditional Viking […]

What a fantastic week from LKS2! Miss Chambers maths group have been looking at statistics and using their skills and knowledge to interpret different types of graphs.    We have also had a fantastic time during the Viking days.  Over the past two days, pupils across LKS2 have taken part in Viking experience days in school. One of these activities has been in our Forest School area which had been transformed into a Viking settlement  – classes became villages; pupils became villagers. Working together, they had to take on some of the roles Vikings did which included crafting and cooking. […]

Over the past two days, pupils across LKS2 have taken part in Viking experience days in school. One of these activities has been battle tactics with Olaf. Olaf was a wordsmith from the Viking era who came to Cookridge to share his stories and knowledge about Vikings with the children. During his time with them he shared knowledge about cloths, family, Viking gods, traditions and of course battle tactics. Children were given spears and shiels and enjoyed role playing different tactics that were seen during Viking battles. The children had a fantastic time with Olaf.

As part of our Viking Days, LKS2 children took part in the Viking longboat challenge. First, they designed their longboat. This had to be inspired by their historical understanding of longboats. Then, they made their longboat. They had to work as a team to create something that is worthy of your Viking army! Also, they had to write a speech that would rally their army.

Our Dinosaurs topic has continued to interest and excite this week. We took a look at just how long ago the dinosaurs lived on Earth and how that time was split into three eras. The children were surprised to realise that not all dinosaurs lived at the same time as each other, but also that many creatures that lived at that time are still around today! We also used Google Earth to compare two sites known for being fossil-rich: the Gobi desert in Mongolia and Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. Safe to say they were rather different in many ways! […]

What a fantastic start to the week we have had with our trip to Cannon Hall Farm. The children all had a fantastic day and were really well behaved throughout. Our trip led into our work in English this week. Firstly, Year One looked at lots of photos from the day and wrote captions for them. They discussed which things happened first, next, then and ordered them. They read some statements about what they did during the day and drew a corresponding picture to show understanding. Year Two have also been writing descriptions of the animals and have been planning […]

We are experts at animation now in Class One. The children ahve loved this topic so much they are creating their own animations at home. I am very impressed-some computing stars of the future! Please ask your child to log on and show you their saved work on Purple Mash.

Information from Leeds City Council   Please promote this to your parents/carers who are eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals.    We have launched a website that parents/carers can access that brings together Healthy Holidays activities across the city: https://healthyholidays.leeds.gov.uk/   Over the summer holidays, children who are eligible for benefits-related Free School Meals can access a fantastic range of exciting activities, alongside a delicious meal, for free.    The available activities will be shown on the site from the 1st July, and parents/carers can browse events and book on to activities that are appropriate for their child.   Parents will need […]

Good afternoon, We are just a few days away from our residential to Newby Wiske Hall and we are all very excited! Below I have outlined some key information that you need to be aware of before we go – some of this has been sent out previously. Packed Lunch On the Monday that we go (01.07.24) your chid will need to bring a packed lunch with them as they will eat this on arrival at Newby Wiske Hall. Please ensure no items within the lunch contain nuts. This includes Nutella chocolate spread and Kinder Bueno bars. Any items containing […]

This afternoon, Year 3 pupils have been learning all about tools in preparation for their upcoming Viking Days. The first tool we looked at was the bill hook. Children were taught its purpose, how to use it safely and watched a demonstration before having a go themselves. The second tool they spent time practicing was the bow saw. Again, after a safety talk and demonstration, children were able to use it appropriately to complete desired tasks. Both of these tools will be used over the next few days in our Viking sessions as we will be lighting and maintaining fires […]

Today in Forest School, the group reaped the benefits of what they’d been working on since last September. Way back in the autumn, the children designed a brand-new strawberry bed for our school kitchen garden. Once completed, they set to work with installing the wooden edges before shifting what seemed like a never-ending pile of rotting grass and compost to fill the bed. In the spring, the children carefully bedded in numerous strawberry plants and have been watering them and delicately weeding around them as the summer has progressed. Then today the pupils experienced the reward and satisfaction of a […]

This week, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths group started their learning about pictograms. This included analysing data (ranging from top goal scoring countries in Euros 2024 qualifiers to sales in our school’s tuck shop). Then, the children created their own pictograms and designed questions for other children to answer.

In PE, we put our basketball skills to the test! We began by warming up with a dribbling version of ‘stuck in the mud’ to practice this skill. Then we completed our own team warm ups, stretches and ‘tactical discussions’. We then competed in 6 a side basketball matches to use our defence, shooting and dribbling skills that we have learnt throughout this topic. 

It is our last hot write in Year 3 and Class 4 and 6 should be immensely proud of the grown independence and resilience to include their own ideas and utilise the resources around them. They have incorporated many facts about The Battle of Stamford Bridge to make their writing both informative and entertaining! It has been wonderful to witness their confidence blossom as they have become newspaper reporters and showcased their learning from throughout this topic. 

Thank you to everyone who came this afternoon to the meeting on next year’s Robinwood residential. Please find attached the slides from the meeting for those who couldn’t attend and an electronic copy of the letter that all pupils in Year 3 brought home today. Thank you.  Robinwood Letter June 2024 Y4 Residential Meeting Slides For Parents

KS1 have spent their day celebrating summer with a Forest School party! Like all good parties, there were lots of things to do like playing Forest School games and making party hats using card, glue and loose parts which children found around the school grounds. If children needed a break, they could spend some time in the hammocks or doing a bit of outdoor yoga to exercise their minds as well as their bodies. To end the party, some children performed songs they wrote using loose parts as instruments. They were so catchy we were all still humming and tapping […]

Class One had a wonderful day at Cannon Hall farm where we explored and learnt so much! We had a guided tour in which we visited all the farrowing barns. We were surprised at how tiny the piglets were- some were only 2 weeks old!. We saw many animals including donkeys, alpacas, and cows. Even saw a baby highland cow called Aurora! Then we went for a tractor drive around the field with a range of animals. The farmer was impressed with how much we knew.  After that, we visited the reptile house and were amazed by the snakes, turtles, […]

Yesterday was a fantastic day! We loved our visit to Cannon Hall farm where we explored and learnt so much! We began by watching the ferret race and we also played in the tunnels. Then it was time for our guided tour in which we visited all the farrowing barns. We were surprised at how tiny the piglets were and we were delighted to feed the goats. We saw many animals including donkeys, alpacas and cows before we had our lunch. After that, we visited the reptile house and were amazed by the snakes, turtles and iguanas. We also visited […]

We had the most wonderful day at the farm yesterday. We began by playing in the tunnels and visiting the ferrets and the meerkats. Next we had a tour of all the farrowing barns and saw all the newly born piglets. We had chance to feed the goats and saw the donkey’s, alpacas and cows before enjoying our picnic lunch. After that we went to watch the sheep races. We each had a colour sheep we were cheering on and the red sheep was the winner! We then played on the huge adventure playground, some of us even dared to  […]

Thank you again for all your contributions to the Summer Fayre. We are very grateful for each and every one, which will help us to raise funds for school. We really hope to see as many of you as possible, along with friends, family or neighbours, to what will hopefully be our biggest event ever! Class One have been getting the goats trained up ready for you to take them for walks! We have all been reading the story of ‘Beegu’ this week and Year One have completed a reading comprehension about it. They have also been practising using suffixes, […]

This week, was one of our favourites, because we had Sport’s Day!! Miss Bourne did a fantastic job organising different races and field events for us to compete in. There were so many activities to showcase our sporting abilities which we have developed this year and to help our team win points. Thankyou to all the adults who were able to come and support us for this exciting day, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!                                            […]

What a fantastic week it has been in LKS2! In preparation for our Viking Days next week, children have been perfecting some of the Viking crafts we have been learning about in Forest School. Pupils had the choice of weaving, plaiting or braiding material together for different purposes. First, children tried weaving using a loom created on a Y-shaped stick to practice the movement of over/under which is how the Vikings made items of clothing. Second, children continued to develop their plaiting skills in order to make bracelets and other items if jewellery whilst others took on the challenge of […]

Well done to all the children on Wednesday for a fantastic Sports Day! The effort, enthusiasm and engagement from all the children was wonderful to see. What a brilliant display of athleticism and skill! There was some superb long jumps, mighty throws, knock out goals and plenty of nail-biting runs (from the adults as well!) Thank you to all the family and friends of the children who came along to support and take part! We will be announcing the results in assembly early next week. 

It’s been a rollercoaster week of fun in Reception this week! The children are continuing to enjoy our Dinosaur topic and this week we have been learning about fossils and how these have been key to scientists and palaeontologists learning about the lives of dinosaurs all those millions of years ago. We have drawn ammonite fossils and used plaster of Paris to create our own replica fossils of shells.    Phonics work was great fun this week, as the children loved retelling a favourite story – ‘Supertato’. With costumes and props the children acted out the story as a way […]

On Thursday this week, we took another visit to Cookridge Court care home. As always, we had a lovely time reading books and sharing stories with the residents.

Our fantastic Summer Fair is on Saturday!  Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far. Tomorrow is the last day to donate any last minute items, cakes, buns and home produce. The weather is looking good so we will be operating the slip and slide – you will get wet if you choose to ride so please bring dry clothes to change into. We still have a few slots for gel nails so it you you would like to get your nails done by the lovely Benita at a bargain price of £10 please book on asap. This […]

In preparation for our Viking Days next week, children have been perfecting some of the Viking crafts we have been learning about in Forest School. Pupils had the choice of weaving, plaiting or braiding material together for different purposes. First, children tried weaving using a loom created on a Y-shaped stick to practice the movement of over/under which is how the Vikings made items of clothing. Second, children continued to develop their plaiting skills in order to make bracelets and other items if jewellery whilst others took on the challenge of braiding using a trollen craft wheel. Using a wheel […]

Our Year 6 Class of 2024 are nearing the end of their primary school journey! We would love to invite parents and carers of our Year 6s to join us for our Leavers Assembly on Thursday 18th July 2024 at 2pm.  This is the day before our final day. We ask that no more than 2 family members attend per child as we have all of KS2 in the hall and space is limited. We look forward to seeing you all for a great celebration!

This afternoon in science, Year 5 finished off their series of lessons about the circulatory system. After previously discussing, the heart and blood vessels, today they explored the blood. After learning about the four components of blood: platelets, plasma, white blood cells and red bloods cells, the children took part in a practical session. Using food items and food colouring to represent different components, the children created their own batch of blood. Then, using scenarios, discussed which components of blood are useful for targeting different situations within the body.     

  No artist of the week this week . We have been creating Bunting for the school fayre. See you there!

Friendly reminder it is Sports Day tom- Wed 19th June  On Wednesday 19th June, all children will be taking part in their sports day.  KS1 and EYFS will be participating in their events between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. Please can you ensure your children come to school in their P.E kits (including trainers) and a jumper labelled with their name. During the day, children will have access to refreshments and will not require any additional water bottles. You are welcome to bring grandparents and other family members to the sports day. In order to ensure the safety of the children, please […]

Year 5 took their series of lessons on knots to a new level today – first aid! After reviewing the previous three knots they’d learnt, children were introduced to a fourth – the clove hitch knot. After a demonstration, children experimented with this new skill around sticks; perfecting the knot and checking it was secured tightly. Next, children were introduced to some of the uses of the clove hitch knot before being given this sessions brief – to use clove hitch knots in order to make a stretcher to rescue someone who’d fallen and broken their leg. After tying a clove […]

Year 6 enjoyed another Forest School which they planned themselves last time. To begin with, we recapped different fire lays and which ones we’d use in differing scenarios and situation, critiquing them all in turn. After an indepth discussion, pupils then carried this knowledge into the main session where groups were challenged to light a fire to create S’mores. As well as the on-off showers, children also faced a number of challenges with damp sticks but through their determination and problem solving skills, and a lot of patience at times, every single group lit and maintained a fire in order […]

  Nail Manicure – Summer Fair

As you know, we have our Climate Action Day on Wednesday 26th June. As part of the day, we have asked if parents/carers could let school know whether they will be dropping their child at Leeds Trinity or whether they will be coming to school and using school provided transport/walking. Thank you to those of you who have filled the form in giving permission and letting us know. If you haven’t done that yet, please clink the link at the bottom of this post. For those that have, please could you fill out the following form letting us know who [...]

Today, we recapped on our spellings and homophones. On the tables we had a range of activities for us to practise your homophones/near homophones. We also got a passage of writing that has both spellings and homophones spelled incorrectly. We had to correct the spellings using our spelling strategies in the margins.

After last week’s exciting visitor, all eyes have been on the dinosaur egg left in Reception. The children have been checking regularly and often seeing signs of movement or hairline cracks that the teachers have missed! Many children this week chose to have a go at making their own dinosaur egg with paper-mache – a messy task that required a bit of care and a lot of patience. We’ve also continued to enjoy our new topic of Dinosaurs and have investigated the different diets that dinosaurs ate as well as their genetic relationship to modern day birds. On Thursday we […]

What a busy week it has been in UKS2! It feels like the weeks are just flying by and we can’t believe we have already had two weeks of Summer 2! There has been lots going on across school but especially for Year 6 who have been completing their Bikeability sessions this week. For the first time ever at Cookridge, all children successfully managed to get out on the roads where they learnt how to safely ride amongst traffic. This included where and how to check at junctions. The instructors had nothing but compliments for the attitude and behaviour of […]

Thank you to those people who have begun to send things in for the fayre. We would accept any contributions at any time (this week has been chocolates, bottles etc..) but next weeks specific focus is on good quality toys and games, entertainment – books, CD’s etc… and gifts. In Maths, Year One have continued learning about fractions this week. Their focus this week was on recognising and finding a quarter of a shape and a quantity. One group in Year Two Have continued learning about fractions and this week have been finding fractions of amounts. The other group have […]

Over the course of this week, Miss Chambers’ maths group have engaged with various activities to develop their understanding of shapes and angles. This has included the students learnt about the properties of polygons. We discussed each property as a whole class as well as what makes a polygon regular. Next, the students used their knowledge of polygons and their properties to play polygon Bingo. Statements about the properties of a certain polygon were read to the students, who then would cross the polygon out on their Bingo sheet if they had it. Also, the students learnt the properties of […]

This week, LKS2 joined our French pen-pal programme with our local schools. They received a letter from a pupil in either Year 3 or Year 4 from our local community who is also learning French. It was fantastic to see their reading skills applied to be able to understand the letter they had received. Then, they wrote their own responses back, which will be passed onto their pen-pal!

Pupils in Year 4 continued to develop their weaving skills in the build up to over Viking Days at the end of the month. We revisited two different techniques from last session which the Vikings used for weaving bracelets, jewellery and clothing. First, children tried weaving using a loom created on a Y-shaped stick to practice the movement of over/under. In addition, pupils had the opportunity to continue their development of using Viking trollen craft wheels to create braids meanwhile some pupils became the teachers and taught others to plait using three different colours to make bracelets.

Reception have enjoyed a wonderful morning of Forest School fun! Linking to their topic of ‘dinosaurs,’ pupils had a range of activities linked to the creatures who ruled the Earth millions of years ago. In the mud kitchen, children had to cook for a dino; thinking very carefully about the ingredients they were putting in their dishes based on which dinosaur they were cooking for and whether it was a herbivore or carnivore. Using the tuff tray, children had to use loose parts and natural materials to create images, models and collages of dinosaurs whilst in the sand pit pupils […]

On Wednesday 19th June, all children will be taking part in their sports day. KS2 will be participating in their events between 9:30am and 12:00pm whilst KS1 and EYFS will be participating in their events between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. Please can you ensure your children come to school in their P.E kits (including trainers) and a jumper labelled with their name. During the day, children will have access to refreshments and will not require any additional water bottles. You are welcome to bring grandparents and other family members to the sports day. In order to ensure the safety of the […]

This afternoon Year 3 pupils continued to develop their weaving skills in the build up to over Viking Days at the end of the month. We revisited two different techniques from last session which the Vikings used for weaving bracelets, jewellery and clothing. First, children tried weaving using a loom created on a Y-shaped stick to practice the movement of over/under. In addition, pupils had the opportunity to continue their development of using Viking trollen craft wheels to create braids meanwhile some pupils became the teachers and taught others to plait using three different colours to make bracelets.  

Today in our Wellbeing Wednesday Forest School sessions pupils have been working on our kitchen garden. Children have learnt about plants, their root systems and what we class as ‘weeds.’ We then began to do some ‘weeding’ and bedded up our developing strawberries by putting dry straw underneath them to stop them rotting on the damp soil. Another job we completed was pruning the hedges and supporting our growing raspberries and blackcurrants by attaching them to canes. Finally, children completed their gardening tasks by clearing the weeds from the onion bed in order for them to grow strong and healthy […]

Today in our Forest School sessions Key Stage One pupils had their own summer party (if only the weather had turned up for it)! Drawing on their knowledge of loose parts, children were set the challenge of creating what every good party needs – songs and music! Children used their imaginations to create bands, instruments and then added lyrics to sing at the end. We played some Forest School games, such as ‘animal tag’ and ‘fire and tarps’ which were great fun. Every party needs guests so we invited the trees to come along and, using clay and natural resources […]

    Dear Parents/Carers, Our fantastic Summer Fair is only 9 days away! As ever the success of the fair is down to the support of you, our amazing parents. With school budgets increasingly challenging, it’s more important than ever to raise funds to ensure we can continue to offer our extensive additional curriculum offer such as forest schools, cooking, wood working and alternative PE. This year promises to be the biggest and best fair we have ever hosted. From  fair rides, gel nail bar,  goat walking to axe throwing.  Independent sellers to a cheap professional photographer to take family […]

We learnt that to create an animation we have to create a series of pictures. We had a go at making our own animation of a finger squishing some playdough. We had to move the fingers closer to the playdough with each picture to make the finger look as if it was moving. 

Lyra, year 6 has produced a wonderful image inspired by the Graffiti artist ‘Banksy’

Hello! Please forgive this uninvited contact from Abbey Juniors Running Club. We hope you won’t mind us sharing the details of our annual Eccup 10 Junior events and kindly asking you to please share this with your students and running club members as we would be delighted to welcome them with their families to join our event.    All participants will receive a medal and trophies are awarded to the first 3 Female and Male finishers in the following categories: Primary Yrs 3&4; Yrs 5&6 and High School Yrs 7&8; Yrs 9 and above.   What: Races for school years 3 to 6 (1 mile) and 7 […]

We have had a fantastic first week back! There has been lots of hard work, science experiments and historical roleplays!   Today, the children were historians to answer our sub-historical inquiry question of: “What was the relationship between the Vikings and the Anglo Saxons?” The children learnt that the Anglo Saxons and Vikings became neighbours in Britain, but they did not always get along peacefully. The Vikings were focused on conquering all the English kingdoms rather than just raiding. Though, King Alfred the Great is a key individual in history who defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington. Over […]

Our first week back from the holidays has been packed with fun as we kicked off our final Reception topic of Dinosaurs! We have discussed what we already know about Dinosaurs and what we would like to know more about. The children have shared their favourite dinosaurs and we’ve begun discussing the habitats and diets of different dinosaurs. The children have taken advantage of lots of dino-themed activities around Reception this week, with dinosaur artworks, puzzles, egg-sharing and commerce in our dino-toy shop! Maths this week has introduced the concept of division, by sharing objects equally. The children have been […]

We hope that you have all had a great week off together and that everyone has come back ready for the big count down to the Summer! We are continuing our topic on Space this half term and have some new inspirational people to learn about. We began by reading about ‘Helen Sharman’ in the book ‘Helen Sharman’ and watching interviews etc.. about her on line. We have also been learning about what a newspaper is and what features it has. Everyone had a go at writing an initial newspaper and will be working on finding out more facts about […]

Yesterday we had our third visit to Cookridge Court care home and once again the children made us incredibly proud. Both the children and residents alike had a super time chatting and showing off their brilliant reading skills.

Today, UKS2  enjoyed the warm Yorkshire weather on their trip to Eden Camp! The children enjoyed their informative and interactive trip around the museum, immersing themselves in all aspects of World War Two. They explored the beginnings of the war, the Home Front, and even some modern warfare too. As always, the children were polite, respectful and a credit to the school.

Today, the children were historians to answer our sub-historical inquiry question of: “What was the relationship between the Vikings and the Anglo Saxons?” The children learnt that the Anglo Saxons and Vikings became neighbours in Britain, but they did not always get along peacefully. The Vikings were focused on conquering all the English kingdoms rather than just raiding. Though, King Alfred the Great is a key individual in history who defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington. Over the course of the lesson, the children learnt about the battle and gathered as much information as possible to learn about […]

Introducing the 2024 Cookridge Primary Poetry Slam. We invite all children to learn a poem of their own choice.  (This is optional) All the children will have an opportunity to perform in front of their class and the winners will be invited to perform at the Summer Fayre on  Sat 22nd June. There will be prizes! You can choose one from the list below or write your own. Please encourage your child to learn it from heart. They can learn one verse or the complete poem.  The class performances will be starting from the 12th June till 19th June-check with […]

Dear Parents/Carers, As part of our English/Science work next term, we are going on an educational visit to Cannon Hall Farm on Monday 24th June. Cannon Hall is an award-winning attraction sitting in the beautiful Pennine foothills. The children will have the opportunity to see the day-to-day workings of a modern farmyard including tractors and farm machinery during the working day. Other attractions include a milking parlor with regular milking demonstrations and a Rare Breeds barn. There is a variety of activities for them to enjoy including a huge playground, plus sheep and ferret racing. The trip will provide the […]

Please find attached LKS2’s half-termly newsletter and optional homework grid. Thank you.  Newsletter – LKS2 Summer 2 LKS2 Homework Grid Summer 2

Reminder: please see below On Wednesday 26th June, we have been given the fantastic opportunity to take part in a Climate Action Day at Leeds Trinity University. The pupils will be taking part in three workshops in order to answer a ‘Big Question’ about the the world and climate action. The day is completely free of charge and lunch is provided by the university for all pupils! Ordinarily, we would organise transport for the day but we haven’t been able to do this as there are no coaches available. The one quote we have had, has come back at over […]

Today, we started our new topic in Science this half term which is Forces and Magnets. We learned that a force is a push or pull acting on an object as a result of the object’s interaction with another object. After discussing different surfaces, we worked in groups to set up our own investigation into the amount of friction created by different surfaces. We recorded our findings in a table and then used these findings to draw simple conclusions about forces.   

        Good Morning, We know lots of parents and carers buy stickers and labels for school items to try and prevent them for getting lost. We have teamed up with a well known reputable company called MY NAMETAGS this year to help you with that! If parents order through here and use the school ID  43120 the school receive a small amount of commission for each order. These little amounts go a long way to helping the school provide the lovely extra provisions that we are so proud of. (Especially our forest school area!). So if you […]

Year 5 have spent their sessions today revisiting the three knots learnt last half-term – Prusik, Bowline and the Sliding Knot. Using these three skills and working together to solve problems, children were able to pitch hammocks and tents around the school ground to apply their knowledge of knots into real-life contexts. Over the next few sessions, Year 5 are going to be building on their knot tying skills and they’ll have to apply this new learning into a range of different scenarios. 

    Our Class photographs will be taken on Friday 14th June. We are hoping these can be done outside and are aiming for a fun relaxed feel.  Please just send your children in to school that day wearing whatever they need to wear for that day’s schooling, even if its forest school.

I have managed to extend the shop to Sunday 9th June for a few parents who have missed the deadline.  The hoodies are priced in the region of £21 (depending on the size ordered) and the pupils are able to choose a colour of their choice. We have used a company called ‘School Leavers Company’ which is one we have used previously and the hoodies were of excellent quality. If you would like to order a hoody for your child please click the following link. You will then need to input the below username and password and that will take you […]

Good Afternoon, We are now rolling out the places for new starters for our wrap around care facility ‘Beehive’    You will be able to block book for the entire school year and pay this monthly (in advance of the coming month), and add ad-hoc bookings as required. Ad hoc bookings need to be made 24 hours in advance online, but if you find yourself in an emergency just ring the office and we will do our best to accommodate your booking.  These spaces are on a first come, first served basis although as a general rule of thumb there […]

This half-term, Year 6 have designed their own Forest School sessions before they leave us at the end of the term for high school! Today, they chose to increase their repertoire of outdoor cooking by trying to make pancakes outside on an open fire. Combining their fire making and food technology knowledge, pupils worked in teams to follow a simple pancake recipe, light a fire and then cook pancakes for the entire group. After adding a topping of their choice (either chocolate, strawberry, sugar, syrup or lemon, they all tucked in and the consensus about outdoor pancakes was a resounding […]

Today in English, the children investigated different sentence types by exploring the introduction to our class text. For each sentence, they identified co-ordinating or sub-ordinating conjunctions. Then, they debated to consider and justify the main and sub-ordinate clauses in each sentence.

Lovely to see all of Class One back, they have shared their highlights in our check-in today. Ready and excited for their last term in Year One.

Reminder: If you haven’t yet completed the below form, please do so as soon as possible as the first group will be attending next week.  Over the last few years, in the summer term, Year 6 have worked closely with DWF (a city centre law firm) where we aim to inspire children, raise aspirations and give them a taste of what working in the real world is like. The trip, which includes tours of the office, meeting solicitors and judges, and even carrying out their own courtroom debate, is a great opportunity for children to explore what they may want […]

On Sunday 19th May some of the children who attend Cookridge Primary School took part in the fun run.  Congratulations to all of you – you were amazing!

WOW, what a fantastic day the whole school has had! It was wonderful to see all the children dressed up in their patterned clothing today – there were some super creative ideas including children using hair bobbles to create a pattern, decorating of their own clothing  and even some faces were painted! Thank you for all of your efforts! Today, the children across school have explored pattern and spatial reasoning through a huge variety of activies from biscuit decorating, fruit kebab making, lego challenges, jigsaw races, dance compilations, loom bands and much, much more! Children have been able to spot […]

      One half term left for our year 6 team!   Hoodie Shop closes on 2nd June 2024.  We have used a company called ‘School Leavers Company’ which is one we have used previously and the hoodies were of excellent quality. The hoodies are priced in the region of £21.50 (depending on the size ordered) and the pupils are able to choose a colour of their choice. You are also able to add a nickname/personalisation/emoji’s to the left sleeve at an extra cost of £4.95. If you would like to order a hoody for your child please click […]

It’s been a lovely week to end our half term in Reception. The weather hasn’t been amazing but that has least meant that our radishes in the Reception garden are growing well! Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll be able to pick some and taste our crop!  On Wednesday, Reception class joined the rest of the school to watch a performance of Alice in Wonderland in the school hall. The children sat beautifully and had a great time joining in the singing, dancing and madcap fun.  As we approach the end of the children’s first year in school, we are […]

What a fantastic week and half-term it has been in LKS2! We are so proud of all the children’s hard work, determination and joy for learning! Today, we have enjoyed Pattern Day! Over the course of the day, the children have engaged with various pattern related activities, which has challenged their understanding of patterns and how to apply them to different scenarios. This included: loom-band bracelet making, creating intricate jigsaws and creating dances, raps and poems! Also, this afternoon, the children worked with their class to create their own version of the book “Pattern Fish”   In mathematics this week, […]

It’s been a great final week of the half term in Key Stage One! Both Year groups have been writing historical narratives this week in English. Year One, have written theirs about Opportunity, the space rover who went to Mars. Year Two have been writing theirs about Neil Armstrong, using all their knowledge to create a story. In Maths, Year One have bene learning about sharing and the principle that ‘when we share it must be fair’. They have looked at good methods of sharing to ensure each group is equal. Year Two have been completing some assessments to show […]

We have had a great time in our Forest School sessions today with lots of skill, determination and creativity on show by all the pupils! Children led their own learning and had a range of tasks, challenges and areas to use. There was the slackline, tree house and mud kitchen for children to manage their own risk and play whilst in the sandpit children created a wonderful sand town including a train station, school and McDonalds! Pupils could also practice their whittling skills using our potato peelers, kneeling pads and safety gloves to sharpen sticks. The final activity involved managing […]

Good Afternoon, Please note this is for current pupils, not new starters. Our Beehive bookings are now open for the 24-25 school year. We use a system called MagicBooking, where you can book, cancel and pay for all of your bookings.  Even if you do not use Beehive, it is always useful to have an account as we now accept ad hoc bookings, as we know parenthood likes to throw us a curveball! You will be able to block book for the entire school year if you wish and pay this monthly (in advance of the coming month) and add […]

We are happy to announce we achieved a new award-The Four Wing Well Being and Community Award for our commitment to well-being in school. Cookridge has piloted this new award all year and has been presented with the highest level of GOLD. We are proud to be recognised for the support we give both pupils and staff. Other recent awards of our Beacon Health and Well-being status, Mindmate friendly, PSHE friendly and School Food friendly       

Viking chess piece by Lili S. year 3

Today we put our coding skills to the test and had to code our own fairy tale all about the princess and the frog. We had to move the characters as well as turn the frog into a prince. 

This week has been a fantastic week in LKS2.  Today in Maths we practiced adding and subtracting with capacity and volume. We used practical stories about Miss Nodding having 1 litre of coffee and Miss Wilson-Hill giving her different amounts of coffee – to begin adding amounts using both litres and millilitres. We then were given a litre of water and as a group we had to transport it along a line, between each group member. First, we did this by carefully carrying the litre and then by hopping with the litre! We used our subtraction and measurement skills to […]

This week in cricket, we have been looking at our fielding skills. We used our tracking skills to catch and block the ball from going over the boundaries. We also had a think about how we can use our fielding to help stop the batter from scoring.   

After last week’s sunshine, the weather has been a bit more unpredictable – but that hasn’t slowed Reception down! Our focus story this week has been The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and we’ve used that as a stimulus to learn about life cycles and in particular that of the butterfly. Children have demonstrated their understanding by ordering the stages of the life cycle and created some beautiful butterfly artworks. A lot of children also took the challenge to build silly sentences modelled after the ones in the story and read them back to a friend.  Maths this week […]

Dear KS1 Parent/Carers,  Here are some TWINKL GO Rhino Readers books for Year One this- this is an opportunity to share online books. Click on the link and add the code for the level of the book. You do not need a learner sign in – just the code then click on I don’t have a username. This will take you to the online books, which will help support your child for the Phonics screening test in June. https://www.twinkl.co.uk/go  Year 1- Level 5a PA9105 Year 1-Level 5b SC4273 Year 1-Level 5c ZU5472 Level 6 NF3875 Guidance twinkl.co.uk/blog/a-parents-guide-to-twinkl-go-games-and-videos Thank you for […]

Today in Maths we practiced adding and subtracting with capacity and volume. We used practical stories about Miss Nodding having 1 litre of coffee and Miss Wilson-Hill giving her different amounts of coffee – to begin adding amounts using both litres and millilitres. We then were given a litre of water and as a group we had to transport it along a line, between each group member. First, we did this by carefully carrying the litre and then by hopping with the litre! We used our subtraction and measurement skills to work out how many millilitres we had remaining and […]

It was another funny start to the week, with the water being off, but thankfully no more dramas for the rest of the week. In English, Year One have continued to read the book ‘Hello Opportunity’. They have been learning about joining two simple sentences together using ‘and’ and have been writing some plans for their story. Their phonic focus this week has been /ear/ as in pear and /are/ as in bare. Year Two have been reading the book ‘You are the first kid on Mars’ and using this for their reading comprehension tasks. They have also been working […]

We just wanted to say how proud we are of our Year 6s who have completed their SATs this week! They have worked incredibly hard all year and they have displayed this through their resilience, determination and positivity all week! Here’s a few snaps of our SATs breakfast club, ice pop afternoon and boardgame day! Well done Year 6 – you smashed it!

  SATS are officially over, which really does mark the final countdown to our year 6’s last half term with us at Cookridge! In order to mark the occasion we have designed a leavers hoody which you are able to purchase and the children will be able to proudly wear in the final weeks of school. There is just over 2 weeks left to order a leavers hoodie. Once the shop closes I am unable to add on any late orders.  Shop closes on 2nd June 2024.  We have used a company called ‘School Leavers Company’ which is one we […]

Year 4 have been looking at time. Last week, we recapped reading time to the nearest 5 minutes and the nearest minute. First we had to make our clocks by adding on the different parts of a clock such as the minute hand and hour hand. Then, one person chose a card which had a time written on it, then had to make the time with their own clock. Over the week, we then looked at writing analogue and digital time.   

On Friday, we had a fantastic trip to York to visit the Jorvik Viking museum. Whilst there, children participated in two workshops. The first was called ‘Dig.’ It was an exciting attraction which enabled learners to engage with archaeology in a hands-on way. Pupils tried their hand at becoming archaeologists and also learned how we use our discoveries to learn more about life in the past. The second workshop was called ‘Battle tactics.’ This workshop immersed pupils in Viking battle tactics and how this impacted their struggle to invade and maintain rule in Britain. We also visited the Jorvik museum […]

Today, the children investigated OS maps and identified different symbols using 4-figure grid references. Then, the children used compasses to direct themselves around the classroom using the 8 compass points.

Sketchbook study of Henry Moore as part of WW2 topic. Well done Hakije!

School will be open as usual tomorrow   Regards Cookridge Primary 

In Miss Nodding’s maths group we began our new topic! The children began by exploring capacity and volume. They can find the concept of capacity and volume confusing and often use the terms interchangeably. We used practical conversations to understand that capacity is the maximum amount of liquid a container can hold when full, whereas volume refers to the specific amount of liquid in a container. We also addressed the common misconception that taller containers always have a greater capacity. We had time to fill and pour liquids from a range of containers to support us in this, as well […]

In English, we have conducted a research project in a small group to support us in our Historical Narrative. In each group, we explored a key area that is essential in becoming a Viking warrior, such as weapon training or building a longboat. Within our group we researched our focus area and then noted key facts in the form of a mind map. We then worked together to incorporate these facts into a paragraph which uses description, emotions and our grammar goal of speech. We shared our individual areas with the rest of the class to inform them of our […]

On Wednesday 19th June,  KS2 will be taking part in sports days. They we will be taking part in the Sports Day events in the morning. We are excited to invite you to join in and celebrate your child on the day. Please find attached the information about the day.  

On Wednesday 19th June,  EYFS and KS1 will be taking part in sports days. They we will be taking part in the Sports Day events in the afternoon. We are excited to invite you to join in and celebrate your child on the day. Please find attached the information about the day.  

A lovely warm and sunny week had us outdoors a lot this week, smelling the flowers! As part of our Let It Grow topic we talked a lot about the role of bees and other insects in helping plants to pollinate and reproduce. To help bring this process alive, the children were invited to become bees and visit a flower to gorge on nectar (in this case Cheesy Wotsits) and see how the pollen (cheesy dust!) clung to their fingers and was transported with them as they visited other flowers! We talked about how we can help bee and insect […]

After the crazy weather on Monday, we were grateful to have some lovely weather to enjoy this week! Please can we encourage you all,  to check your child’s hair for headlice. We are aware that despite some parents treating their children’s hair, this is becoming a repeated problem. If everyone checks and treats their children’s hair, as appropriate (at the same time) hopefully, we will be able to get rid of them once and for all! In English, Year One Have begun reading the book ‘Hello Opportunity’. They have had a go at writing their own story about a space […]

On Thursday this week, we took another visit to Cookridge Court care home. A group of Reception children went out in the sun on the minibus to read books and share stories with the residents. The children were wonderfully polite and friendly as they sat and talked with the residents, happily showing off their fantastic reading skills and talking through some favourite picture books.   

Tomorrow (10th May) is our LKS2 trip to Jorvik. Children will need to be in school uniform.  Please remember if you pay for your child’s school dinners, they will need to bring a packed lunch with them for the trip. Children who have packed lunches in school will also need to bring their usual packed lunch. If your child receives Free School Meals, they will be provided with a packed lunch by school.  Also, we are due to leave the centre by 2.45pm. Therefore, our estimated time of arrival back to school is approximately 3:45pm – traffic permitting. Please be […]

We’ve had great weather today for our session in the Forest School area. Building on our skills and knowledge of risk and risk management, children discussed the risk, danger and how to manage this safely across all the equipment we have in our garden area to ensure we keep ourselves and each other safe. We then used the slack line and tree house safely, adhering to the rules and measures we put in place. We could also use the mud kitchen and sandpit for imaginative play which opened up a lot of conversation and discussion around different ideas and things […]

Today, in computing, we coded programmes on Purple Mash. We moved fish in different directions using algorithms.  Please encourage your child to work on these challenges at home, I would love to see what they produce.

What a wonderful session we’ve had this morning! To begin with, we linked our learning from our topic of ‘Let It Grow’ to assess the quality of soil on our school field. After a discussion about why soil is important, what function it plays and the important jobs worms do above and beneath the soil, we split into teams to dig up a piece of turf to see which had the most worms in. In order to help us, we jumped up and down on the spot to replicate rain as these vibrations draw worms to the surface. When we […]

This afternoon Year 3 have had a wonderful time exploring our Forest School area and working on a range of skills. Following on from our previous session with the equipment, we discussed risk, danger and how to manage this safely across all the equipment to ensure we keep ourselves and each other safe. Pupils used the mud kitchen and sandpit for imaginative play which opened up a lot of conversation and discussion around different ideas and things they could create, including castles with underground dungeons and sand animals! Children also had the opportunity to practice their fire skills by using […]

Class One have started their coding journey on Purple Mash. Please encourage your child to work on these challenges at home. We think you will be impressed by how well they can code.  

We’ve had a great morning as the warmer weather has definitely helped lift everybody’s mood! Both groups spent their sessions in our small wooded area on the field and we talked about the importance of mental health in the lead up to Mental Health Awareness Week next week. We discussed what it is, why it’s so important and things we currently do to help maintain and improve our mental health. Pupils then spent the morning leading their own learning through a range of different activities. Some chose to pitch hammocks using the sliding knot and spent time cloud gazing and […]

Well done artclub for creating Errol. Did you see him on Cookridge scarecrow trail ?

Today pupils in KS1 have enjoyed a lovely day outside in our Forest School area. Looking in detail at the Forest School principle of ‘child-led’ learning, pupils discussed the various activities on offer to them and how each one offered a different challenge and how each activity provided learning opportunities. Across the sessions, children explored the tree house and slackline where they managed their own risk and worked together to complete different scenarios. Children also used the sandpit and mud kitchen where they participated in numerous tasks where role-play, communication, teamwork and imaginative play were fundamental. Groups also took part […]

Finally, Spring seems to have arrived at Cookridge with some lovely weather helping to bring along all of the plants we have been growing this term! As part of our topic we’ve looked this week at where our food comes from and how some crops can be very versatile and made into lots of our favourite foods. After starting off last week. we have spent lots of time building and decorating a scarecrow to add to the upcoming Cookridge Scarecrow Festival (this Bank Holiday weekend 5th and 6th May). The children helped to dress and stuff out scarecrow and many […]

It’s been all about Neil Armstrong in Key Stage One this week! He has filled our history lessons, as we researched facts about him and the moon landing on the ipads. We watched videos, looked at photographs and read about what happened. We have also been writing about Neil in our English lessons. Again, we gathered information and used it to write about him in chronological order, in the past tense including as many facts as possible. Year One have been learning the /tch/ trigraph in phonics and spelling words such as stitch and witch. Year Two have been focusing […]

Please find attached below a letter that was given to our Year 6s yesterday regarding the upcoming SATs. SATs Letter 2024

What a fantastic week it has been LKS2! This week your children have transformed into Viking warriors during their Forest School session; investigated complete and incomplete circuits; and continued to work hard across all other subject areas. In science this week, the children investigated different complete and incomplete circuits. Their task was to identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit based on whether it is part of a complete circuit with a battery. Over the course of this week, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths group found different rectilinear shapes made out of tape […]

This week in science, the children investigated different complete and incomplete circuits. Their task was to identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit based on whether it is part of a complete circuit with a battery.

Over the course of this week, the children in Miss Chambers’ maths group found different rectilinear shapes made out of tape on the carpet around our room. First, they measured each side carefully. Then, they worked out the perimeter of each rectilinear shape.

Pupils in LKS2 have had a fantastic time in Forest School as they were transported back to Viking times! Each Viking village appointed a Lord and Lady who oversaw a team of ship designers and warlords reponsible for carrying out a raid on Britain. Working as a team, villagers had to venture out into the woods of Scandinavia to chop down only the best trees for our Viking longship before bringing it back to the docks for the ship designers to piece it together. Once compelte, they were given a crash course in how to row and power a Viking […]

Please be advised that there will be no swimming on Wednesday 22nd May because a theatre company are coming into school to perform ‘Alice in Wonderland’. We did not want Year 4 to miss out on this unique and entertaining opportunity of seeing the performance. Therefore, we will not go swimming on Wednesday 22nd May. 

Today we coded computer programmes. We moved different fish in different directions using algorithms. 

This morning we have had animal themed sessions with both groups. First, the younger pupils recapped on their session last week and put this knowledge into practice when feeding the animals their breakfasts and visiting their enclosures. We then focused our attention on the goats and checked their enclosure for hazards to make sure it was safe before letting them out. Next, we walked around the field armed with litter pickers and a plastic bag looking for litter and other hazards along the goat walking route to check it would be safe enough to walk the goats. After this, the […]

KS1 had a fabulous Forest Schools day today with Mrs Koopman taking them on a Moon Landing. They created their own flags, walked ‘Moon/mud’ steps and found some hidden gems in space using a metal detector! The sun was shining and they all enjoyed linking our space topic with Forest Schools. 

Today in PE Tom, our external cricket coach, came in to work with the children once again. To recap on the last session, children practiced their fielding skills in pairs. They were then given an introduction to batting, focusing on making contact with the ball and striking accurately. 

Today in maths, Miss Barnicoat’s maths group were looking at capacity. They were challenged to estimate the capacity of different containers, and then test how close they were by filling them with water. 

Thank you to all who were able to make the Year One workshop today. We hope you found it useful. Attached is the presentation and information. If you have any further questions please see Mrs Koopman Thank you for your support Phonics-screening-2024 Parent workshop Twinkl sound mat Check-A-Guide-for-Parents Twinkl-phonics-glossary-for-parents-and-carersPhonics-glossary-a-guide-for-parents

Today pupils in UKS2 built on their knowledge and skills from their previous session by learning how to put up and use a hammock safely. To begin with, children revisited the sliding knot by practicing the technique and process in order to ensure the knot would be secure and support the weight of a person whilst in the hammock. They practiced this skill around rope and sticks correctly before moving onto using a hammock. After a quick demonstration where we discussed safety, the process and steps needed to erect the hammock and how to enter, exit and use it correctly, […]

Lucia Biondo designed her viking chess piece ready to make out of clay next art lesson.

Another fantastic week comes to an end in LKS2!  We have enjoyed a range of new PE activities. On Tuesday, Year 3 started their new PE topic of Basketball. They started the term by learning and practising their dribbling skills. We discussed what the best technique for dribbling is, and after some practise, we did some relays in our teams. Year 4, had their first cricket session with Tom Garman. They practised their catching and throwing skills, including improving their accuracy of throws,  and then worked on some bowling skills in their groups.                […]

It’s been a full and fun-packed week again in Reception! We have continued our topic of ‘Let it Grow’ by tending to our plants and checking on their progress, despite the Spring weather proving reliably unreliable. The children have added to their bean diary booklets to record the progress since planting their bean last week, and we are starting to see small seedlings from the radish seeds we planted outside too. We also built a small-world play set up to roleplay the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. To create a meadow of ‘fresh green grass’ the children all […]

We’re fully back into the swing of things in Key Stage One and the children have had a great week. We have been learning about Neil Armstrong in English this week. We have found out lots of facts about him from video clips, fact files and books. We have hot seated a member of our class pretending to be ‘Neil Armstrong’ so we could ask them questions. They then wrote lots of facts about Neil Armstrong and ordered things that happened in his life.  Year Two have been gathering information, ready to write a recount next week. In Maths, Year […]

Over the course of the year, myself and Miss Nodding have been conducting some research into the importance of pattern and spatial reasoning and how this corresponds to being a successful mathematician later in life. A key piece of research has found that young children’s ability to spot mathematical patterns can predict later mathematical achievement, more than other abilities such as counting (Rittle-Johnson et al, 2016). Pattern spotting can take place in a whole variety of environments and ways. This varies from spotting patterns in nature, board games, drawings and even the pattern of the day. The Early Years curriculum […]

On Tuesday, Year 3 started their new PE topic of Basketball. They started the term by learning and practising their dribbling skills. After some practise, we did some relays in our teams. Year 4, had their first cricket session with Tom Garman. They practised their catching and throwing skills, including improving their accuracy of throws,  and then worked on some bowling skills in their groups.   

This week, Year 6 started afterschool cricket. It was their first session with Tom Garman and they focussed on hitting the ball with their bat. The children had a great time and are looking forward to next week!  

Today, the children started their learning about length and perimeter. They went outside to measure different 2-D shapes and worked out their perimeter. After having carefully measured each side of a shape, they wrote down their number sentence and worked out the perimeter.

Today, the children continued our topic of electricity in science. We focused on circuits and the different types of components that can be used. The children investigated components like buzzers, fans, motors and blubs by creating their own circuits. Then, they drew their own circuits and learnt some basic skills for drawing accurate electrical circuits.

Class Three have started Coding this term and have started ‘Coding a Classmate.’ They designed their own actions and carefully followed the instructions of their computer friend. This term they will be using these coding skills on Purple Mash.

Today was Reception’s first visit to Cookridge Court care home. We took a group of children in the minibus to read books and share stories with the residents. The children did us proud with their behaviour and both the children and residents alike had a lovely time.

Class One have started Coding this term and have started ‘Coding a Classmate.’ They designed their own actions and carefully followed the instructions of their computer friend. This term they will be using these coding skills on Purple Mash.

For the past two weeks, Class 2 have been lucky enough to have some special guests in their classroom. Last week, some eggs arrived and we waited in anticipation and a few days later they hatched and we were the proud parents of seven new born chicks! We’ve been watching them grow and looking after them and we have loved every minute!

It has been a brilliant week in UKS2. On Monday in Forest School, UKS2 constructed their own ‘Anderson Shelters’. After discussing the features and function of an Anderson Shelter, the children used all the resources they could find to create their own ‘bomb resistant’ shelter. There was some excellent shelter building skills on display, as well as some superb teamwork. Well done! This week in English, Year 5 used Now>Press>Play to engage with an immersive WWII experience. After hearing the news of the declaration of war, the children were evacuated to the countryside. Here, they took part in the dig […]

This week in maths, Miss Barnicoat’s class have been focusing on the skills of calculating the area and perimeter of composite rectilinear shapes. After ascertaining which operation they should use for each calculation, the children then progressed to more complex shapes; finding missing side lengths and splitting shapes in order to solve the problems. Well done Year 5!

This week in English, Year 5 used Now>Press>Play to engage with an immersive WWII experience. After hearing the news of the declaration of war, the children were evacuated to the countryside. Here, they took part in the dig for victory. Upon their return to London, they were caught up in an air raid experience from the Blitz. The children will be using this experience to inform their upcoming recount about the Battle of Britain. 

    Somehow our Year 6’s are reaching the end of their Cookridge Primary School Journey and have a fun exciting few months ahead of them.  In order to mark the occasion we have designed a leavers hoody which you are able to purchase and the children will be able to proudly wear in the final weeks of school. We have used a company called ‘School Leavers Company’ which is one we have used previously and the hoodies were of excellent quality. The hoodies are priced in the region of £21.50 (depending on the size ordered) and the pupils are […]

Today Year 3 have enjoyed exploring our Forest School area where they have been presented with a couple of activities to complete as well as imaginative play. Pupils had a chance to develop their whittling skills by using knives instead of potato peelers which they have used before in Key Stage One. Following the same set of instructions and safety rules, children were able to use the whittling knives effectively for their desired purpose, focusing on the technique and safety more than the finished product. Groups also managed their own risk on the tree house whilst creating games which encouraged […]

Today we have had two great sessions despite the unusually cold weather for this time of year! The older pupils began my playing a couple of getting to know you games as there were lots of new faces in the group before beginning our first challenge of the day – making a picture frame! Using seceuteurs and loppers, children sourced sticks from the Forest School area and cut them to size. Next, they used string and a variety of methods, including ‘frapping,’ for attaching the sticks together to create a frame. Once completed, children took their frames and took photos […]

Please see below the letter children in LKS2 were given today regarding our trip to the Jorvik education centre. Jorkvik Trip Letter to parents