Today we announced the winners of our mural competition!  See the names of the winners further in the newsletter.  The children will start work on the murals soon with Mrs Middleton.  I would like to say another huge thank you to Mrs Middleton for giving her time and skills so generously to the school.

FOSFS have another fundraising event coming up.  It is a sponsored event and is called Get Active, you and the children will find out more next week. Please help support this fundraiser.  FOSFS are tryin raising money to cover the costs of the new school pond.  The pond will be developed soon and will really help the children develop their scientific understanding. You will have seen the reports in the media about cuts to school funding.  We are no exception.  Our school budget has seen a substantial reduction in the last 4 years.  In the next 3 years we will see further substantial reductions in the funding we receive.  This is why we need your support so much, it now ensures, rather than supplements, that the children’s experience at school is enriched with lovely resources and activities.

Year 3 and Reception have enjoyed day trips to Cliffe House and had a really enjoyable time learning new skills and acquiring new knowledge.  Year 5 will be taking part in our first ever camping trip at Cliffe House on the 24^th and 25^th May.  We are all really looking forward to our camping adventure!

Year 4 have had an amazing trip to Magna in Sheffield where they enjoyed  investigating the museum and attended two workshops. They were very well behaved and were a credit to the school.              

The children looked wonderful for their class photos earlier this week.  Our photographer is very good at making them laugh so your children should all have lovely smiles when you receive the photos!

Some of our Reception and Year 1 children took part in a pyramid cross country competition recently.  They ran really well and showed real determination and in some cases real strategy!  Well done to everyone who took part.  A big well done also goes to the KS2 children who took part in the pyramid cycling event.

Year 5 are busy rehearsing songs for the annual pyramid Year 5 music festival.  All their rehearsals will culminate in a fabulous evening performance at the Town Hall.  Some of the Year 5 children will also be performing a dance to one of the songs.  I would like to say a huge thank you to Miss Nightingale at Shelley college and some of her students who choreographed a routine for the children. We took them for a two hour dance rehearsal in the dance studio at Shelley College.  The children had a great time at Shelley and were really enthused by their visit.

We are continuing to build links with schools within the pyramid.  We are working more closely with   Shelley College in many ways, including sharing good English and Maths practice.  Mr Wadsworth, the Principal at Shelley College has visited Shepley twice now and he popped down to see our dancers in the dance studio  this week.  On one of Mr Wadsworth’s visits he was joined by Mrs Watson, the Headteacher from Scissett First School who undertook a teaching and learning review.  They were both very impressed by the school and were extremely complimentary about the quality of the teaching and also by the caring, nurturing atmosphere and the relationships between staff and children.

Next Friday the Mayor of Kirklees will be attending our mentions assembly.  The Mayor is coming to thank the KS2 children for their help in raising money for Dementia UK.  If the children haven’t brought their pots in yet they have a few more days to find as many 10p pieces as possible!

Sponsor forms will also be coming home soon for our Forget Me Not Trust walk.  Your support and generosity with all our current events and trips is very much appreciated.

Mrs Bowman