Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Yorkshire Museum visit

  Wed 15 Feb 2017 Mr Phoenix

  Dinosaurs became reality as our children explored all things extinct at the Yorkshire Museum! Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had a super day in York, learning about and experiencing pre-historic life.

  We took part in workshops to learn about fossils, and the difference between dinosaurs and ancient reptiles. As 'palaeontologists', the children searched for fossils and created their own out of plaster of paris. We also completed puzzles, read books, made playdoh dinosaurs and had a race on dinosaur stilts!

  In the museum, we saw lots of interesting extinct animals and learned about skeletons and more fossils. We weighed ourselves against a dinosaur and found out it took 8 of us to balance a Velociraptor. We even dressed up as cave people from the stone age!

   

  Have a look at more of our photos from the day in the Gallery.

   

  http://www.hampsthwaite.n-yorks.sch.uk/yorkshire-museum-visit-2017/

  

• Team Phoenix at Henshaws and Harlow Carr Gardens

  Mon 13 Feb 2017 Mrs Borchard

  Last week, Team Phoenix had a visit to Henshaws Art and Craft Centre. It is always a pleasure to introduce children to the art-makers in the various workshops. Most of the art-makers have some difficulty with their sight and some also have mobility and cognitive difficulties.

  Many love to chat with the children and love it when we visit. The children loved meeting Simon and admiring his colourful drawings. Layla remembers another workshop: "I liked the jewellery workshop and meeting Dolly, who has lots of keyrings." As part of our topic work at school we are thinking about environmental art and reusing materials to make art, so a walk around the Knaresborough centre gave us all an ideal chance to see what wonderful art can be created from junk materials and gather some ideas to bring back to school.

  We look forward to collecting our individualised bird feeders and pottery plaque which we have commissioned the art-makers to produce for us. The art-makers are so proud of their work - seeing Jenna's face light up, as we chose her own pottery owl to bring back to the classroom, was the highlight of the day for me.

  The centre is free to visit and there is a super café if you fancy a coffee and a bacon sandwich over half term.

  In the afternoon, we had a super trip to Harlow Carr Gardens. Three activities - a sculpture hunt, sketching plants and labelling their parts and an eco-friendly building tour - kept us focused and busy. The children loved exploring the gardens and noticing aspects of the building which were made from recycled materials. There are fantastic examples of environmentally friendly energy sources too.

  What a super day!

  

• 30 hours nursery provision

  Wed 08 Feb 2017 Mr Phoenix

  We are currently carrying out a survey to assess the likely level of demand for 30 hour nursery provision under the new government 30 hour entitlement for working families.

   

  Results from the survey will help us understand the level of need for 30 hour provision in this area. We can then look at possible ways this could be implemented. This could, for example, mean that we consider opening our school nursery for longer hours so that children can continue on from the morning session into the afternoon. 

  If you live in the Hampsthwaite area, and you have a child who may be eligible for 30 hour funding in the near future, or you would wish to pay for up to 30 hours at our nursery, please complete the online survey here on our website (on the 'Have your say' page under the 'Parents' menu)

   

  Many thanks, Mr Phoenix.

• Hampsthwaite becomes an Academy

  Wed 01 Feb 2017 Mr Phoenix

  1st February 2017 marks a key point in the history of Hampsthwaite CE School, as the school converted to Academy status, to join Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust (YCST).

  As an Outstanding school, we had been looking for some time for opportunities to collaborate and work with other schools. When the opportunity arose to join YCST, the governors held a full consultation which had very positive responses, and then resolved to join the Trust.

  A special assembly marked the occasion of Academy Conversion. We looked back at the history of the school, from 1861 to the present day, and reflected on the changes in our world over time. After a crossword quiz to see who could recall the names of all the schools in YCST (which was a draw with the children and adults scoring 4 each!), children from the School Forum shared their thoughts and ideas about future work we might do with the other YCST schools. Staff also described some of their experiences of working with staff from the other schools so far, and things that may happen in the future, as this new chapter in the school's history unfolds.

  Unveiling a new school sign, school governors were delighted to take part in the celebrations.

  We look forward to many new and exciting opportunities in the future to share, work and learn with and alongside the other schools, and to build many new and lasting relationships between us all.

  

• Special visitors to Team Dragon

  Tue 31 Jan 2017 Mrs Elleker

  Team Dragon have had a very exciting time learning all about people who help us. Mrs Fisher came in to tell everyone about her job as a midwife. She brought in her baby Emily to meet us too. We all thought Emily was very cute!

  Mrs Fisher told us how she looks after mums and their babies and she showed us some of her equipment. Mrs Fisher read us a story called 'What's in you tummy mummy?'. We have had a super morning and now we busy writing about Mrs Fisher's visit, and looking after the babies in our hospital role play area. 

  

• Super Skipping Starts in Y3/4

  Tue 24 Jan 2017 Mrs Borchard

  Today, Leanne from 'The Skipping Festival Project' ran a fabulous training session which was fully inclusive and most enjoyable. A variety of skills were taught in readiness for their participation in a Skipping Festival Event on Wednesday 22 March. Different skipping challenges included: 'double bounce', 'speed bounce', 'side swing', 'cross over', 'pretzel', 'face-to-face' pairs, 'butterfly' pairs, 'run-jump-out' and 'keep the pot boiling'.

  The children were credited for their perseverance skills and it was super to observe how well our children listened and took on board what they were taught, despite some of them not finding it easy at first. During reflection time, the children realised just how many of our school values were being addressed - belief in themselves and others; respect for their peers and coach; support for others; friendship - being able to transfer skills into the playground; and creativity - seeing what can be combined to make new skip challenges.

  As a school, we have now invested in new skipping ropes, and the children will be encouraged to use them at playtimes as well as having specific training sessions during P.E. and at other opportunities over the coming few weeks.

  Let's skip for good health, to train for the competitive festival and of course, to have some fun!

  

• KS2 Perform at Young Voices 2017

  Fri 13 Jan 2017 Mr Phoenix

  Well done to Team Phoenix for sharing their Young Voices experience in assembly this afternoon.

  All of our Key Stage 2 children enjoyed travelling to Sheffield on Tuesday for the Young Voices Concert. It was a brilliant concert, and it was amazing to have the opportunity to sing as part of a choir of over 5000. Singing to a sell-out crowd at the Sheffield Arena, and joining in with famous and award-winning musicians and artists, the children had a great time. The pop medley was certainly a firm favourite, and live beat-boxing was one of the favourite performances we saw on stage, and the whole of the children's choir 'Sing' track was performed to live vocal beat-box sounds. I'm sure this concert will be something they will remember for many months to come.  

  Thank you to Mrs Borchard for all the hard work that she has put into helping the children with rehearsals and learning the dance moves in school over the last few weeks, and thank you to all the parents who have helped the children to learn their words. Very well done, everyone!

  Have a look in the gallery for more photos of the concert.

  

• Kings and Queens Year 1 and 2 celebration day

  Thu 15 Dec 2016 Mr Phoenix
  The Year 1 and Year 2 children had a super celebration day to conclude the work they have been doing on monarchs. Dressing up as kings and queens, the children had a 'royal party' which concluded with a banquet in the classroom. The children have really enjoyed their topic, learning about castles, the lives of different monarchs, and even bringing their painted king and queen portraits to life with 'ChatterpixKids' on the iPads to create 'guess who' talking video clips!

  

• Team Titan VE Day Party

  Mon 12 Dec 2016 Mrs Tennant
  Team Titan have had a great ending to their World War II topic today with a VE Day Street Party. The classroom was set up with long tables and red, white and blue bunting. The children had busily been baking delicious rationing biscuits, carrot cookies and homemade digestives, which the parents then enjoyed with a cup of tea. During the party, parents were able to watch the children's short animations remembering our heroes from WWII and look through their child's topic books, which were full of fantastic work they had done and showed how much we had all enjoyed our learning about World War II. A great party, just a shame there were no biscuits left for Mrs Tennant!

  

• Night adventures for Team Dragon and Unicorn

  Tue 06 Dec 2016

  The 'light and dark' science curriculum really comes to life outside at night time! We started our evening back at school by making puppets which we used to cast shadows using the projector in the hall. We then got our coats on and enjoyed looking at the light cast by our torches outside. We played a game of hide and seek where some of us found a hiding place and then turned off our torches and then the seekers came to find us using their torches. This was great fun in the dark and we realised the importance of staying quiet! The weather was perfect, as the slight fog meant we could see the beams of light from our torches. We then finished the evening by listening to The Owl Who is Afraid of the Dark and having a snack while talking about light sources.

  Thank you to all those who were able to join us for our night-time adventure!