Principal’s Seesaw Messages
Please find below the messages that I have shared with our families via our Seesaw communication app.
Mrs Crowther, Principal
Principal’s Festive Message
I hope all our KS1 families enjoyed the pavement disco this morning! I cannot believe we have already done a whole term in school, and what a term it has been!
You should all have received your child’s first written report of the academic year on Friday last week as a follow up to your parents’ evening meetings in October. Please can we ask that you return a copy to us with your comments on for our records.
Today we say goodbye to Mrs Bennett who has worked at our KS2 site supporting in class over the past few year. She will be very much missed but we will still get to see her as her children still attend the school and she so kindly is one of our FOGS volunteers. Wishing you all the best Mrs Bennett!
You will have all received a letter at the start of the year on what clubs will be on offer. We really do endeavour to offer a broad range of clubs within the limitations of physical space, pupil numbers and the directed time of our staff who already do so much for our school and children. Next term you can expect to see clubs such as: KS1 Lego Club, KS1 Movie Club, Year 2 Gymnastics, KS2 Football (Dinnertime club), Year 3/4 Choir (Dinnertime club), Year 3/4 Girls Football ,Year 3/4 Computing, Year 3/4 Craft Club, Year 4 Gardening, Year 5/6 Choir (Dinnertime club), Year 5/6 Mixed Tag Rugby and Year 6 Dance Club.
We have had a very festive few weeks in school and we loved having our parents and carers attending our Christmas performances. Both Reception and Year 1 put on amazing shows for their loved ones- they are such a talented bunch. Our Year 5 children also led a fantastic Christmas Service at St Thomas’ Church for the rest of KS2.
Our Christmas project this year has required the children to use their oracy skills to be curious ( one of our school values). Each day the children have done various activities to develop their spoken language skills and vocabulary knowledge.
As you know, we have been unable to have a Christmas Fair this year due to the low numbers of volunteers for FOGS. FOGs did, however, organise a fantastic raffle and pop up shop which will help to raise vital funds for our school. This year FOGS are putting a contribution towards each year group’s school trip to ensure we can give our children some amazing experiences at a lower cost. We will be meeting again in the new year to discuss what events are able to be run with the number of volunteers we have. If anyone would like to help our school further, please watch out for information in the new year as to the time and location of the next meeting.
On Tuesday, we took a group of Year 4 singers to Woodfield Grange where they truly did spread the Christmas spirit to all the residents and workers. We really do have such talented children in school.
We have also made Santagrams again this year for Home Instead that are being sent to those who are alone this festive period. Home Instead’s message is as follows:
Family, presents, and a festive spirit; that’s what Christmas looks like for many of us. But for some older people, it’s a difficult time and a reminder of how lonely and disconnected from the community they are. As a care company that provides older people with a range of care in their own homes, we enjoy helping our clients get out and about in the community. But sadly, not all ageing adults are that fortunate, which means that when Christmas comes they don’t have fun activities to look forward to. We can all do more to help the older people in our communities, and Christmas is a better time than ever. Making even the smallest gesture could go a long way and help them feel special. A Christmas Carol taught us that this time of year is about charity. We want you to begin with the older people in the community! We’re delighted to carry out our Be A Santa campaign to give everyone the chance to help others this Christmas.
Our Christmas jumper and Reindeer Run day was a roaring success. The children and staff all looked amazing in their Christmas jumpers, antlers and noses running around our playgrounds, Lots of money was raised for Overgate Hospice, and you may have seen we had one child in Year 1 who manged to raise over £1000 for this very worthy local charity.
Today will be our first ‘Star of the Term’ assembly for the academic year and these are my favourite assemblies to host as the recipients are voted for by the rest of the class. Our children always make such intelligent and thoughtful decisions about who should be given the award based on who has been fulfilling our Greetland Values of being ambitious, brave, curious, healthy, respectful and united. A huge well done to all the Stars of the Term- we are very proud of you. There will also be the School Council Awards and the lucky recipients all receive a certificate from their class School Councillors again for embodying our values.
Today is also the day when a special visitor comes to visit the children at KS1. His sleigh is already packed high with gifts for the children, and they are all very excited to catch a glimpse of him. He will be joining them in assembly to give them their special gift (which of course is the gift of reading).
As I bring my festive message to a close on this last day of term, I would like to wish all of our community a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Your support, as always, is very much appreciated. We will see you all on Monday 6th January 2025.
See you in 2025!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
It’s the end of the first half term and what a spooktacular way to end it! The children, and staff, all look amazing in their Halloween costumes and their pumpkin entries for our competition are fang-tastic! I couldn’t be prouder to lead such an amazing school full of wonderful children and staff. This wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support we get from you as parents and carers so a huge thank you to you all for your ongoing support of the school.
It was wonderful to see so many of you in school over the last couple of evenings for the first parents’ evening of the year. We strongly value the partnership with parents and carers at home in supporting your child’s progress. Please do remember that you don’t have to wait until parents’ evenings if you want to speak to a teacher. You can always email the school office to arrange a call should you need to. It was also lovely to see so many of our reception families coming after school this week to choose their child’s first ‘reading for pleasure’ book from our library collection. They also got to take home a special gift- a pack of phonics flashcards donated by FOGS to help support our mission that every child will be a reader.
October is Black History Month and so we have linked this important topic to our Reading Rocks assemblies. Children have heard tales of the Windrush Generation and of famous icons from black history amongst others.
It’s that time again , always timed perfectly with the change in weather, where our KS2 children get to try out for the cross country team. We were blown away with how many children tried out and the resilience they showed in running a distance that I could not even walk never mind run! We can only take 6 boys and 6 girls from each year group but I am so proud of every child who tried out.
More Halloween news- to support our local community, we have again made sculptures for the Greetland Halloween Ghostly Trail as have our friends at West Vale Academy. If you walk the trail, please do send us pictures of our sculptures in situ through Seesaw. New for this year- there is a special selfie-frame sponsored by us and West Vale so make sure you take pictures of yourselves in it.
Today we say goodbye to our School Business Manager, Mrs Kaler, who is moving on to a promotion. She has made a real difference to the school in her time here and will be greatly missed. We have successfully appointed her placement, Mrs Bury, who currently works at another one of our trust schools. She will begin with us shortly after the holidays and will be a welcome addition to the team.
One final reminder, Friday 25th October and Monday 4th November are both training days and so the school will be closed to the children. The children start back in school on Tuesday 5th November for our favourite term of the year- the build up to Christmas where there will be so many wonderful things happening in school!
Bugs and hisses (terrible joke I know!)
Mrs Crowther
I can’t believe we are already 4 weeks in to the term! What a busy four weeks it has been.
Today is National TA Appreciation Day where we got the chance to thank our wonderful support staff for all that they do for our children. They were treated to tea and cakes in the staffroom as a small token of our huge thanks and appreciation for all that they do. It was also lovely for them to see the messages of appreciation from our families on Facebook.
As a school, we feel it is so important to develop leadership skills in our children and to give them a say in how the school is run. Last week, our new School Council were democratically elected for the year and what a great choice the children made! Their role will include a half termly meeting linked to our school values, supporting with charity and school events, greeting visitors to the school, giving out a School Council termly award and monitoring the class reward tokens.
As you may already know, we have a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) and have trained many teachers over the years, some of whom now work for us. We currently have four student teachers based with us and we welcome them to the team: Miss Stead in Year 5, Mr Taylor-Smith in Year 4, Mr Rafiq in Y2 and Miss Bradley in Year 1. In addition to this, all the SCITT students will be visiting our school in a few weeks to enhance their learning on the teaching of reading. During these sessions our children will benefit from extra reading sessions with the trainees.
A letter came out last week detailing the clubs we are running this year. https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Clubs-letter-24-25-for-parents.pdf
Separate letters will be sent out for requesting a place on these clubs and we have refined our processes to make sure that as many children as possible get to attend a club over the school year.
I am thrilled to say that our KS2 gym roof is now repaired and we are able to have all our KS2 children back together for assemblies. It feels like a life time ago that we were all together in this way!
This week our KS2 children have been given the opportunity to use the amazing team building equipment that FOGS purchased for us. I know some of you got to try the equipment out yourselves when you came to open afternoons last year and you may recall our teachers having a staff training session using them also! The equipment is being used a lunchtimes to support our children in play and has proved to be very popular. Please watch out for communication from FOGS shortly about the events this term and a call for more members to sign up to help out. Without FOGS we wouldn’t have our iPads, library books at both sites and the team building equipment to name but a few of the things they have funded.
Calling all Year 5 parents- our feeder school , Brooksbank, has advertised their open evening. If you would like to go along and see for yourself, the open evening is on Wednesday 2nd October from 5:30-8:30pm.
Finally, if any of you know someone looking for a place in Reception starting next September, please direct them to our school office to arrange a tour of the school.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Crowther
Welcome back to the new school year and welcome to our Greetland family our new reception parents! Your little superstars have settled in so well to school life.
For those parents who are new to school, I send out regular Principal’s Messages through Seesaw (usually every two weeks) to celebrate successes and keep you up to date with what has been going on in school. I also put a copy on the school website which can be found here:
https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/diary-news/principals-seesaw-messages/
The children have all settled back amazingly into our school routines and it is like they have never been away. It’s been lovely to hear all the things they’ve been up to over the summer and to meet our new reception children and their families.
You should all be able to access your child’s Seesaw account so that you can keep up to date with what is going on in school and what your child is learning. Just a polite request that parents do not send teachers messages on Seesaw in the evening and at weekends. The school office email should be used for this purpose. I’m sure you’ll all agree that our staff work extremely hard and they should not be expected to receive and respond to messages outside their working hours.
Today, we held our first celebration assembly of the year and I know the teachers really struggled to choose their first certificate recipients as all the children have been so impressive. If your child got the certificate, this will have been shared with you on Seesaw.
Whilst the children have been at home over summer, we have been busy developing the dining hall at KS2 with the help of some ideas that the children gave us. It really is looking fantastic.
The ongoing issues with our KS2 gym roof are nearly fully rectified and we are hopeful that we will be able to start using it again within the next couple of weeks, which is music to everyone’s ears
Today you will all have received the first Learning Launchpad of the year via Seesaw. These let you know what your child will be learning over the upcoming term and also highlight key dates. Copies of these can also be found on our website.
Over the next few weeks we will be working on our clubs plan for this year and you will all be sent a full year overview. Watch out for a letter in the future about our clubs offer and the details on how to request a place for your child.
On Monday our Year 6 children go on their residential trip to Robinwood and we know they are going to have an amazing time. There will be some photos on Facebook of all the exciting activities they got up to.
As the cost of living increases, I fully understand the pressures on everyone’s household budget. FOGS offer a pre-loved uniform service at most school events and we can also accept requests via email. You will see in our uniform policy that there is also no expectation that you purchase the jumpers and t shirts with our logo on- a plain red jumper or plain white polo shirt is absolutely fine. If you do have any issues with sourcing the correct uniform, please do let us know: we do understand that sometimes things cannot be avoided. I am aware that the YMCA also has excellent quality pre loved uniform. Please note that children should not wear any jewellery or watches (including fit bits). One pair of plain studs can be worn but the child must be able to take them out themselves for PE.
Wishing you a great weekend and hopefully some sunshine! I will see our KS1 families on the gate on Monday morning.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message
Firstly, a huge well done to all our Year 6 children who took their recent SATs tests in their stride. They are an AMAZING bunch of children who have made us all very proud. Next half term, our Year 4 children will do their national multiplication tables test and Year 1 will take their phonics tests and I know that they will all do us proud also.
This week we have enjoyed our third annual Health Week at The Greetland Academy, and what a success it has been! We have focussed on three areas of health and being healthy. Firstly, we have looked at our physical health and were visited for taster sessions from Health Rugby Club, The Chance to Shine Cricket Academy and The Strength School – who taught us how to appropriately use self-defence. We have also looked at our mental health and were visited by a yoga expert who came into our classes to show us the benefits of yoga and looking after our mental health. Finally, we have learnt about the importance of a healthy, balanced diet. We were visited by Phunky Foods who taught us how to effectively and safely prepare vegetables before also sharing some recipes with us for healthy, well-balanced dips for our vegetables. The children thoroughly enjoyed getting to taste what they had prepared! We are already looking forward to what we can bring to Health Week next year!
The Greetland Academy has become a member of Calderdale Valley of Sanctuary which looks at promoting a culture of welcome for refugees and people seeking sanctuary in Calderdale. As part of this, we have started the process to become a School of Sanctuary. On Friday 14th June, we will be celebrating ‘A Day of Welcome’ in school. A Day of Welcome is a day of solidarity and learning in schools that aims to build a culture of welcome and understanding for refugees and asylum seekers. We will share our learning and insights with you via Seesaw. For further information and updates please head to our ‘School of Sanctuary’ page on our website.
This week, we also had an exciting meeting with the new local care home ‘Fleetwood Heights’. We are very keen for our children to collaborate and work with our wider community. Coming up, we have lots of exciting opportunities planned to link up with older members of our community. The first begins with a competition to name the different floors at the care home. More information will be shared about this after half term.
We now have even more silverware to add to our trophy cabinet thanks to our dance squad and Y3/4 gymnastics teams. As always they represented the school with pride displaying our school values in abundance. We are all so very proud of them.
If you know of anyone wanting a place for their reception child in September, please do point them in our direction even if they do not live locally as we have some places left.
Wishing you all a relaxing (hopefully sunny) half term break and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday 3rd June for our final half term of the year!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message to our wonderful Year 6 children:
Next week, our Year 6 children will be sitting their national SATS exams. All of our children have worked incredibly hard and we are ever so proud of them all.
A message to them: what these tests don’t show is how special each of you are. They do not show your talents, what amazing friends you can be or how kind, thoughtful and mature you are. The scores from these tests will tell us something, but they will not tell us everything about you all. There are many ways of being smart and there is no way to test all the amazing and awesome things that make you unique. I want to wish you all the best for next week, but you have nothing to worry about.
So this weekend, your homework is to ride a bike, play with the friends, eat sweets and relax. If you want to do some revision, that is up to you, but it does not need to be for long. Just remember that you have all reached great heights during your time and our school and will continue to do so.
You are stars!
I will be up at Key Stage Two all week to help with administering the tests so I won’t be on the gate at Key Stage One.The weather forecast looks good for the weekend so hopefully you will all enjoy some sun.
Have a lovely weekend and good luck year 6-you will smash it!
Mrs Crowther
It’s been a busy few weeks since we returned from the Easter break.
I would firstly like to let you all know that I have taken on an additional role within the trust. First and foremost, I am still the Principal of our wonderful school ,but my new title is Executive Principal with responsibility for the Trust Designations ( the English Hub, Research School, SCITT and Medical Needs Provision for Kirklees). My priority will always be our school but this new role will bring in some extra funding for the school and professional development opportunities both for myself and the staff, which in turn will benefit our children. When I am not on site, Mrs Ashton and Miss Whiteley, as experienced Vice Principals, will always be available, supported by the wider leadership team.
Our sporting success has continued and over the weekend we took a group of gymnasts to the BSGA School Gym National Finals in Stoke. They were all simply amazing and I must give special thanks to Miss Wild for giving our children such an wonderful opportunity. Thank you also to Mrs Rylands and Mrs Bennett who have both helped out at the gymnastics events. I am so proud to say that we came away with a bronze medal in the U11 mixed pairs- third in the UK!
You may have seen on Facebook that Mrs Emmerson ran the London Marathon over the weekend for the charity VICTA. She completed this mammoth task in under 5 hours and we are all so proud of her. She has asked me to thank you all for your words of support and donations.
You may have noticed our new planters at our KS2 site along the front of the building. Our gardening club have been busy planting and they are already looking fantastic. We can’t wait to watch them flourish and grow and we are asking for any donations to help us continue to develop this area. Our plan in the future is to start an allotment at the back of school which links to the Food For Life Award that you have all received communication about. We will be growing our own vegetables and a herb garden.
On Wednesday, we took our 40 plus strong choir to the Halifax Minster to partake in the choir competition which you may remember we won last year. The children were incredible and sang their hearts out. The competition was significantly larger this year and had to be held in several stages but we found out yesterday that we won! That’s two years in a row and I couldn’t be prouder of them all. We have such talented children and we couldn’t do it all without the wonderful Mrs Smelt who works tirelessly to harness our children’s talents.
Next Thursday is polling day and 2A’s classroom will be in use all day. We have made alternative arrangements for them within school but please be aware that there could be more vehicles entering and exiting our carpark on that day.
And finally some more good news, I am pleased to say that work on the KS2 gym roof is due to commence in the next week or two and should take around 6 weeks in total. I will send out separate communication about this in due course including any changes to access as the works will be happening during school time.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend and I’ll see you all on the gate at KS1 next week.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message:
Well that’s the end of our second full term and hasn’t it flown by (they do say time flies when you’re having fun)!
This week was the second chance this year to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss their progress. Thank you for all your positive comments on their report cards.
I’m sure you will have seen from Facebook that we have had a very successful term with regards to sport. From football to dance to gymnastics to cross country, we have been able to compete at a very high level and give as many children the chance to represent the school as is possible. Whilst we do celebrate winning, what has been even more impressive is what great sportsmen and women our children are: cheering on the other teams, showing respect to judges and referees and behaving impeccably at the venues. I do, however, need to invest in a larger trophy cabinet after all the success that we have been having and I’m sure this will continue next term also.
Today is the KS1 Easter Bonnet Parade. What a creative bunch you are and the catwalk parade will be simply amazing! Just before the catwalk, a special visitor will have arrived at KS1- the Easter Bunny! If it’s anything like previous years, the children and staff will hardly be able to contain themselves – pictures will be posted to Seesaw shortly.
We have been rocking out in Reception today as the children were visited by several real-life musicians! They were treated to the drums, guitar, piano, flute and tuba. The musical extravaganza ended with the children holding their own marching band parade using instruments that they have made themselves.
You will also have received a letter via email about the clubs that will be on offer next term. Separate letters will be sent out in due course to book places on these clubs.
So that just leaves me to wish you all a lovely Easter break – hopefully in the sunshine! We will see you all again on Monday 8th April. A polite reminder that KS1 starts at 8:45 and KS2 at 9 so please make sure your child is there on time.
Happy Easter- have an eggcellent time!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
And that’s the end of another half term- a much shorter one than last term!
Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your support yesterday when I had to take the difficult decision to close school early. I hope the children got to enjoy the snow before it started to disappear.
Next half term we will be performing at the Great Big Primary Dance Off at The Victoria Theatre for the fourth time. Our dance club have been working so hard on an amazing Tik-Tok themed performance, which blew me away when I watched it this week.
As you will be aware, our Trust has a SCITT ( school centred initial teacher training provider) and over the years many of our staff have trained through them. This term several of our staff, as experts in their field, were asked to deliver training to the current SCITT students. Mrs Crowther, Mrs Ashton and Miss Whiteley provided a week of training into the teaching of grammar and Mr O’Shea and Mrs Walsh delivered a session on physical education.
Last week we held our first Art Showcase at St Thomas’ Church. The display of work that was on show was truly outstanding and I know everyone that came to look was so impressed. A huge thank you and well-done to our Arts Ambassadors who helped Mrs Walker to set up the gallery- they were all superstars!
We are currently taking up the offer of using Cross Lane’s Forest School provision for our Year 5 children and they are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to develop key personal and social skills that align with our school values.
Our Trust School Improvement Team also visited us recently to look at Music and Computing across the school and were yet again full of praise for our amazing children and staff and the curriculum that they are taught.
As always, we continue to give our children the opportunity to represent the school across a wide range of sports. This half term we have taken children to , boccia, new-aged curling and the KS1 Key Steps Gymnastics competition where our boys team came away with gold and our girls with sliver! We are so proud of all of them, not only for their sporting performance and achievements, but for their impeccable sportsmanship and behaviour.
After the half term, there will be a FOGS meeting at the Sportsman on 21st February and it would be lovely to see as many parents there as possible to plan future fundraising events.
I would like to wish you all an enjoyable half term break and we will see you on Monday 19th February ready for the next half term, which will end in a parents’ evening to update you on your child’s progress.
Happy holidays!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Welcome Back Message
I just wanted to send out a short message to say happy new year to our Greetland family.
The children have all settled straight back into the routines of school and continue to amaze me daily.
I am really proud to share that we are the top performing school in Calderdale for our KS2 results. Our children all worked so hard to reach great heights with the support of our amazing staff and their families, and I am so proud of each and every one of them. It was such a team effort and another example of how strong our Greetland family is. These tests are just one measure of how amazing and talented our children are however. What they don’t show is how special each of our children are. They do not show our children’s talents, what amazing friends they can be or how kind, thoughtful and mature they are. The scores from these tests did tell us something, but they did not tell us everything about our children. There are many ways of being smart and there is no way to test all the amazing and awesome things that make our children unique. Having said that, we are exceptionally proud of this achievement and feel we should shout about it from the roof!
You can read more about this in the courier:
https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/education/education-18-of-the-best-performing-primary-schools-in-calderdale-according-to-latest-sat-scores-4472666
Wishing you all a lovely weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Festive Message
I cannot believe we have already done a whole term in school, and what a term it has been!
Firstly, I would like to welcome Miss Khan to the KS1 team. She will be supporting in Year 2 as a teaching assistant and in a wonderful twist of fate, I taught her at primary school! She is going to be a real asset to the team. I’d also like to welcome back Miss Bailes and Miss Whiteley who have been greatly missed whilst they have been on maternity leave.
You should all have received your child’s first written report of the academic year on Monday as a follow up to your parents’ evening meetings in October. Please can we ask that you return a copy to us with your comments on for our records.
You will have all received a letter updating you on what clubs will be on offer next term. We really do endeavour to offer a broad range of clubs within the limitations of physical space, pupil numbers and the directed time of our staff who already do so much for our school and children. Next term you can expect to see clubs such as: Year 3/4 Choir, Year 5/6 Choir, KS1 Multi Sports, KS1 Judo, KS1 Singing Club, Year 2 Key Steps Gymnastics, KS2 Drama Club, Y3/4 Book Club, Y3/4 Computing, Y3/4 Basketball Club, Y5/6 Multi Sports, Y5/6 Key Steps Gymnastics, Year 6 Sewing Club, Year 6 Dance Club and KS2 Easter Craft Session.
We have had a very festive few weeks in school and we loved having our parents and carers attending our Christmas performances. Both Reception and Year 1 put on amazing shows for their loved ones- they are such a talented bunch. Our Year 6 children also delivered a fantastic Christmas Service at St Thomas’ Church for the rest of KS2.
Our Christmas project this year has required the children to use their problem solving skills to help Wink Wink Silverbells the elf save Christmas. You will all be glad to know that using their amazing maths and problem solving skills, the children of The Greetland Academy did save Christmas- phew!
We were thrilled to still be able to have our Christmas Fair despite the ongoing issues with the KS2 gym. A huge thank you to everyone at FOGS and the staff who volunteered. I know many people commented that they actually preferred the fair up at the Community Centre and it is certainly an option for us moving forwards.
I have also had the pleasure this week of joining our Year 3 Choir at Woodfield Grange where they truly did spread the Christmas spirit to all the residents and workers. We really do have such talented children in school.
On Wednesday, we had our Christmas Jumper and Christmas dinner day and what a festive day we had! The children and staff all looked amazing in their Christmas jumpers and our wonderful catering team did a fabulous job of feeding us all.
Today will be our first ‘Star of the Term’ assembly for the academic year and these are my favourite assemblies to host as the recipients are voted for by the rest of the class. Our children always make such intelligent and thoughtful decisions about who should be given the award based on who has been fulfilling our Greetland Values of being ambitious, brave, curious, healthy, respectful and united. A huge well done to all the Stars of the Term- we are very proud of you. There will also be the School Council Awards and the lucky recipients all receive a certificate from their class School Councillors again for embodying our values.
Today is also the day when a special visitor comes to visit the children at KS1. His sleigh is already packed high with gifts for the children, and they are all very excited to catch a glimpse of him. He will be joining them in assembly to give them their special gift (which of course is the gift of reading).
As I bring my message to a close on this last day of term, I would like to wish all of our community a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. Your support, as always, is very much appreciated. We will see you all on Monday 8th January 2024.
See you in 2024!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
We are well and truly getting in the Christmas spirit here now! We cannot wait to see you all at the Christmas Fair after school. As you know, this year we have had to make alternative plans with the KS2 gym being out of use, and so the fair is at the community centre. Thank you to all of our school community for their donations and to FOGS who have put in so much work to make tonight a huge success. Please do remember that your children will need supervising at all times during the fair as we expect it to be a busy one!
Our Christmas trees are up at both sites and are looking splendid. The children have all made a decoration to hang on the tree. Nativity rehearsals are well underway and I cannot wait to see their performance at St Thomas’ Church next week. Our reception children have also been practising for their first ever live show- it’s going to be a good one!
Christmas aside, we have had lots of sporting events over the past few weeks: from cross country to ten pin bowing, dodgeball to football. We are so proud of every single child who has represented the school as they have all displayed our Greetland values in abundance and have been ambitious, brave, curious, healthy, respectful and untied. At all the events we have attended, we received comments about the wonderful behaviour of our children- I couldn’t be prouder. I would also like to thank the staff who have made it possible to attend all these events, as many of them have given up their own time to attend.
Our choir perform at St Thomas’ Church on Sunday evening at their special children’s service and I know we are in for a real treat as Mrs Smelt has worked really hard with the children on their songs. I can’t wait to hear them!
Finally, I am thrilled to announce that Mrs Rothery had a baby boy over the weekend. Albie Elliot Rothery is absolutely beautiful, just like his mummy, and we all cannot wait to meet him. Mrs Rothery has asked me to pass on her thanks for all the well wishes, cards and gifts she received.
Have a lovely, festive weekend.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message
We have already been back two weeks and time has flown!
This week was Anti-bullying Week, which started with our Odd Socks Day where we celebrated the wonderfulness of difference. The theme of the week this year was ‘make a noise about bullying’, and the children have had lots of discussions both in assembly and class as to how we can share concerns with people in school and at home. We have combined this week with our Children in Need fundraising and today the children all look amazing in their spotty-themed clothing. All our work from across the week will have been shared on Seesaw for you to see.
Tonight we have our Children in Need Concert at St Thomas’ Church, which the wonderful Mrs Smelt has organised. I cannot wait to see our talented children performing. If you are coming along, please bring lots of loose change for this worthy cause- you may be in for a little treat from the staff ‘band’ also!
We had a visit from one of His Majesty’s Chief Inspectors (OFSTED) last week to carry out research into the provision for children in the Early Years and Key Stage One. Many of you will remember we had a visit last year as research into a report on the provision for Religious Education in schools, and so it seems we must be a favourite of theirs to be specially chosen again! We relished the opportunity to show off what we do, as both of these visits were optional, and I am immensely proud of our school and to be the Principal. The inspector was blown away with what she saw and how wonderful and polite our children are.
On Tuesday, we held the AGM for our Friends of Greetland School PTA. Thank you so much to those who attended as the money that FOGS raise for school has helped us so much, particularly with the current cost of living crisis and budget restraints in schools. Last year they funded all the new KS2 reading books which are simply amazing and will go a long way in supporting our mission that every child is a reader. They also funded resources for our KS1 library. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Chair, Diane Taylor, for her tireless efforts to support the school. We have elected new co-chairs- Caroline Lumb and Dani Moffat- but are still in need of someone to take over as secretary at the end of the year and would also really like to encourage as many parents as possible to join FOGS. Numbers have really dwindled and we are in danger of it not being able to run any longer, which in turn would be at the detriment of our children. If you are interested in helping out- no matter how small a contribution- please email: FOGS@greetlandacademy.org.uk. Watch out for information shortly from FOGS about the Christmas Fair which we are holding up at the Community Centre given that the KS2 gym is out of use.
It’s that time of year again when parents of reception age children for 2024 start to select their school for their little ones. Tours of the school have already begun and will run across the next two weeks. If you do know anyone who is looking for a school, please point them in our direction no matter where they live, as there is a growing chance that our catchment area is expanding as birth rates fall. We cannot wait to welcome our new families to our Greetland family.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend. Only 38 sleeps until Christmas!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message:
It’s the end of another two busy weeks and nearly the end of the first half term- time flies when you’re having fun.
Today is the two-year anniversary of the end of our Ofsted inspection. I couldn’t be prouder to lead such an amazing school full of wonderful children and staff. This wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support we get from you as parents and carers so a huge thank you to you all for your ongoing support of the school.
This month has been Black History Month. This year the theme is celebrating and recognising the amazing achievements and contributions of black women in various fields – from literature, music, science, politics, and social care to campaigners, nurses, and everyday heroes who have made a difference to our lives. The children have created some amazing pieces of work and held very mature discussions- check out Seesaw to see the work!
It was wonderful to see so many of you in school over the last couple of evenings for the first parents’ evening of the year. We strongly value the partnership with parents and carers at home in supporting your child’s progress. Please do remember that you don’t have to wait until parents’ evenings if you want to speak to a teacher. You can always email the school office to arrange a call should you need to.
It’s that time again , always timed perfectly with the change in weather, where our KS2 children get to try out for the cross country team. We were blown away with how many children tried out and the resilience they showed in running a distance that I could not even walk never mind run! We can only take 6 boys and 6 girls from each year group but I am so proud of every child who tried out.
On Tuesday we had the first visit from our Trust School Improvement Team to both sites. They were blown away with what they saw. They watched lessons, looked in books and spoke to the children and leaders. One comment from the team that sums up our school and makes me feel incredibly proud to be the principal was, ‘this is a very special place indeed’.
Today Year 6 had a visit from the police to deliver a workshop on anti-social behaviour. They even got to see the police van!
As you know, we are unable to hold our Halloween discos this year, but instead the children are invited to come to school in their costumes next Thursday for a donation of £1 and also bring in a pumpkin for FOGS’ decorating competition (again for a donation of £1). We cannot wait to see all those spooktacular costumes.
More Halloween news- to support our local community, we have again made sculptures for the Greetland Halloween Ghostly Trail. If you walk the trail on the 29th October, please do send us pictures of our sculptures in situ through Seesaw.
One final reminder, Friday 27th October and Monday 6th November are both training days and so the school will be closed to the children. The children start back in school on Tuesday 7th November for our favourite term of the year- the build up to Christmas where there will be so many wonderful things happening in school!
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
I can’t believe we are already 4 weeks in to the term! What a busy four weeks it has been.
Today is National TA Appreciation Day when we got the chance to thank our wonderful support staff for all that they do for our children. They were treated to a special assembly, personalised thank you videos, and tea and cakes in the staffroom as a small token of our huge thanks and appreciation for all that they do.
It was lovely to see so many of our newest parents for our Reception Curriculum Workshop on Tuesday and we look forward to welcoming them into school again in the future to see the children’s learning in action. A huge thank you to FOGS, who provided all our new families with a set of Little Wandle flashcards to support with their phonics at home.
As a school, we feel it is so important to develop leadership skills in our children and to give them a say in how the school is run. Last week, our new School Council were democratically elected for the year and what a great choice the children made! Their role will include a half termly meeting linked to our school values, supporting with charity and school events, greeting visitors to the school, giving out a School Council termly award and monitoring the class reward tokens.
Last week we welcomed our Chair of Governors, Peta Cocker, to KS2 to meet the children and staff. She was very impressed with what she saw and will be regularly visiting us over the coming year. As a retired headteacher, she brings a real strength to our governing body and will continue to provide myself with great support.
As you may already know, we have a SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) and have trained many teachers over the years, some of whom now work for us. We currently have four student teachers based with us and we welcome them to the team: Miss Campbell in Year 6, Miss Quddus in Year 5, Miss Rashad in Y2 and Miss Ahmed in Year 1. In addition to this, all the SCITT students visited our school last week to enhance their learning on the teaching of reading and many children benefitted from reading aloud to them and showing off their phonics skills.
A letter came out last week detailing the clubs we are running this term. As you will be aware, our KS2 gym is out of use for what may be quite some time and this understandably affects our ability to offer as many clubs as usual, so I do appreciate your understanding with this issue.
This week a group of twelve Y4,5 and 6 pupils ,who have been selected as our sports ambassadors , had their playleader training so that they can support the rest of the KS2 children at play and dinnertimes. Playtimes are certainly going to be even more more fun in the near future!
On Tuesday night our Y6 footballers represented the school against Holywell Green on the pitch at the Halifax Town game. The showed amazing sportsmanship and won the game which means they progress on to the quarter finals of the competition. Well done boys- you have made us all super proud.
Calling all Year 5 parents- our feeder school , Brooksbank, has advertised their open evening. Many of you attended the talk in our own school gym last year from the new Executive Head who shared with us all the huge progress the school has made since their Ofsted inspection. If you would like to go along and see for yourself, the open evening is on Wednesday 4th October from 6-8pm. I also believe the new Head of School, Mr Atkinson, is visiting all local primary schools in the coming weeks and so I will update you when he has visited us.
Finally, if any of you know someone looking for a place in Reception starting next September, please direct them to our Facebook page where there is information about how they can book a tour of KS1.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Crowther
Welcome back to the new school year and welcome to our Greetland family our new reception parents! Your little superstars have settled in so well to school life.
For those parents who are new to school, I send out regular Principal’s Messages through Seesaw (usually every two weeks) to celebrate successes and keep you up to date with what has been going on in school. I also put a copy on the school website which can be found here:
https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/diary-news/principals-seesaw-messages/
The children have all settled back amazingly into our school routines and it is like they have never been away. It’s been lovely to hear all the things they’ve been up to over the summer and to meet our new reception children and their families.
You should all be able to access your child’s Seesaw account so that you can keep up to date with what is going on in school and what your child is learning. Just a polite request that parents do not send teachers messages on Seesaw in the evening and at weekends. The school office email should be used for this purpose. I’m sure you’ll all agree that our staff work extremely hard and they should not be expected to receive and respond to messages outside their working hours.
On Friday, we held our first celebration assembly of the year and I know the teachers really struggled to choose their first certificate recipients as all the children have been so impressive. If your child got the certificate, this will have been shared with you on Seesaw.
Whilst the children have been at home over summer, we have been busy developing the entrance and office at our KS2 site (School Street). You may have already noticed a new hatch for Zoe and new doors. We still have some decorating and furniture to purchase and the entrance system still needs to be connected but I’m sure you will all agree, it is a huge improvement on what used to be there.
We currently have an issue with the roof of the gym at KS2 and so for the time being the gym is not in use. This may impact on the Halloween disco arrangements but we are currently looking at alternatives as we know how popular this event is.
Last week you will all have received the first Learning Launchpad of the year via Seesaw. These let you know what your child will be learning over the upcoming term and also highlight key dates.
Over the next few weeks we will be working on our clubs plan for this term. Watch out for a letter in the future about our clubs offer and the details on how to request a place for your child.
Today our Year 6 children go on their residential trip to Robinwood and we know they are going to have an amazing time. There will be some photos on Facebook of all the exciting activities they got up to. I am joining them on this trip and so I won’t be on the gate at KS1 until Thursday.
As the cost of living increases, I fully understand the pressures on everyone’s household budget. FOGS offer a pre-loved uniform service at most school events and we can also accept requests via email. You will see in our uniform policy that there is also no expectation that you purchase the jumpers and t shirts with our logo on- a plain red jumper or plain white polo shirt is absolutely fine. If you do have any issues with sourcing the correct uniform, please do let us know: we do understand that sometimes things cannot be avoided. I am aware that the YMCA also has excellent quality pre loved uniform. Please note that children should not wear any jewellery or watches (including fit bits). One pair of plain studs can be worn but the child must be able to take them out themselves for PE.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that over the summer Mrs Morgan had a little boy named Rory who is a gorgeous little brother for Arlo. I have passed on our congratulations as a school and I’m sure she will be bringing him in for cuddles soon.
I will see our KS1 families on the gate on Thursday morning.
Wishing you a great week!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
We are already two weeks in to the final half term of this academic year: time flies when you’re having fun! This half term is always packed full with event such as transition for next year, sports day, music showcases, end of year shows, trips, parents’ showcases and end of year assessments and reports to parents. Please do keep your eye on Seesaw and your email for any letters about upcoming events.
Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your support with our Summer Fair: it was such a fantastic event and the weather gods shone down on us. I am thrilled to announce the grand total that was raised… £ 2,019. This is over a £300 increase on last year and will all be used for the benefit of our children so I cannot thank you all and FOGS enough.
I shared with you all a few months back that we have become a Champion School for Little Wandle Phonics. We were so proud to have been awarded this accreditation in recognition of our excellent phonics provision. You may have seen from Facebook or Twitter that we held our first Champion School Showcase Event for 14 leaders and teachers from other schools this week and it was a resounding success. All the delegates gave such positive feedback about what they saw. Here is just an example from the feedback : ‘ What a fantastic, welcoming school. It was absolutely inspiring to see how you have embedded the Little Wandle Programme,’ and, ‘Today was really useful. Your children were fabulous, with lovely reading and learning behaviour.’
A huge thank you to our parents and carers who completed the parent survey and for the overwhelmingly positive comments about our school. Here ‘s an example: ‘Choosing Greetland for my son was the best decision I ever made. They have the balance exactly right between high standards and expectations with a very caring, supportive and nurturing approach.’
Whilst a survey provides a snapshot of parental voice, I do want to reiterate that if you have any concerns or something you would like to discuss , my door is always open.
There were also some lovely comments about how we have done further work on bullying across the school including, ‘I am so impressed by all of the anti-bullying that Greetland Academy has in place, the children all seem to be so kind to each other. Also, my son is very accepting of other people’s thoughts and beliefs which I think the Greetland Academy have helped with: he says things like “men can marry men and women can marry women”. Thank you so much to a wonderful school for this forward thinking which will really prepare him to be a kind adult in the future. We are so grateful.’ As always, we continue to support our children with friendships and there will be a video coming out shortly from our Princess Diana Award Anti Bullying Ambassadors and Mrs Graham.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you of how we communicate with you. This can be found here: https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/parents/how-we-communicate/ Again, if you feel you are experiencing an issue with communication , please do bring it to the attention of the class teacher, member of the leadership team or myself. The calendar on the website and the half termly launch pads, which are shared on Seesaw and on the website, should include all key dates for you to enable you to plan in advance.
Tomorrow afternoon it is the turn of our Year 4 parents to come and spend the afternoon in class- you are in for a real treat! I’m sure lots of photos will be shared on Seesaw also.
Next week we celebrate our ‘Diversity Week’ with the theme of ‘being different gives the world colour’. Alongside our anti-bullying and safeguarding policies, taking part in a School Diversity Week is an important way of actively demonstrating and supporting our commitment to an inclusive school environment where every child can thrive and be themselves. There will be a specific theme each day with a variety of activities planned. These have already been shared on Seesaw but are as follows:
Monday 26th June: Refugees
Tuesday 27th June: Disabilities with a focus on hidden disabilities
Wednesday 28th June: Religion
Thursday 29th June: RSE Day
Friday 30th June: We are inviting children to come to school in non-uniform. The theme for the day is ‘Our colourful world’.
We will share lots of photos etc of the week on Seesaw and Facebook and I can’t wait to see our school full of colour on Friday for the non-uniform day.
Wishing you all a lovely rest of the week.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message
Firstly, a huge well done to all our Year 6 children who took their recent SATs tests in their stride. They are an AMAZING bunch of children who have made us all very proud. Our Year 2 children have also been taking their SATs tests and Mrs Emmerson and Mrs Bakes have been thrilled with how hard they have all tried. Next half term, our Year 4 children will do their national multiplication tables test and Year 1 will take their phonics tests and I know that they will all do us proud also.
To mark the end of the SATS, and to provide a stimulus for their literacy work, Year 6 visited Blackpool Zoo last week. The sun shone and lots of fun was had by all. As always, the children behaved impeccably and were a credit to the school.
This week has been ‘Health Week’ across the school. Our children got to take part in an ‘Around the World Dance Workshop’, children made healthy recipes, we had whole class workout sessions, parent and child fitness sessions and even a visit from Halifax Town. You will have seen on Seesaw that we are encouraging our children to send in healthy selfies over the half term break also.
I had the pleasure of afternoon tea recently with our crown designing competition winners. We were blown away by all the entries- you certainly are a creative bunch! To continue our Coronation celebrations, this afternoon we hold our Commonwealth Dance Performance on the KS1 field and are bringing together the whole school again like we did last year. You are all welcome to join us after school on the field for our summer fair. A huge thank you to FOGS for all their hard work in making it possible. We are all very excited to celebrate together as one big family. One polite reminder though, please walk to KS1 wherever possible and be mindful of the local residents. I believe the police will also be coming long to monitor the roads around school.
Myself and the governors have recently met with the leadership team of The Together Learning Trust, the trust who now sponsor our feeder school Brooksbank. They shared with us all the improvements they have put in place since their OFSTED inspection. They also shared that Mr Dave Hewitt is now the Executive Principal over both Ryburn and Brooksbank with a leadership team sitting across both schools also. We are pleased to invite any Key Stage Two parents to a ‘Meet the Feeder School’ session in our school hall at 6pm on 14th June. This will be an opportunity to hear about the changes to the school since their last Ofsted and to meet those in charge.
I am thrilled to announce that we have been awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark Guilt Award in recognition of our outstanding provision for science.
Mrs Emmerson has worked so hard on creating a portfolio of evidence to put forward to the assessors and we are all thrilled with the outcome. Here is our feedback :
‘Well done. This is a comprehensive, well planned, and superbly presented portfolio and submission. It clearly reflects on and demonstrates the impact that PSQM GILT has had on all stakeholders in The Greetland Academy. It will be exciting to follow the journey of science provision as it continues to evolve beyond this year and becomes even stronger in the future. The children at The Greetland Academy are very privileged to have such hard working and reflective, conscientious staff who are always seeking the absolute best for the pupils. A very well deserved PSQM GILT through the hard work of the whole school.’
Finally I’m sure you will all join me in congratulating Miss Robertshaw who got married over the weekend- the sun was shining down on them! She will now be known as Mrs Taylor.
Wishing you all a relaxing (hopefully sunny) half term break and I look forward to seeing you all at the summer fair after school today at KS1.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message- Coronation Special!
It’s been such a successful few weeks here with trophies a plenty.
Our amazing, 60-strong choir, took part in the first ever Halifax Rotary Choir Competition at The Halifax Minster. I am thrilled to announce that we were crowned the winners. The children were simply amazing and a huge thank you goes to Mrs Smelt for preparing them so well to perform. We have even made it into the local news: https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/people/success-for-halifax-rotarys-first-choir-competition-held-at-halifax-minster-4126039
We took nearly 30 children to the West Yorkshire Cross Country Finals and yet again brought home a trophy to add to our ever-growing collection. Our Y5 boys’ team came first with our Y6 girls’ team also coming second. What an amazing achievement! Not only were we successful , the children behaved impeccably and were a credit to the school.
The winning hasn’t stopped there either. Our gymnastics teams competed in the Calderdale Gymnastics Competition which was held at Hipperholme Grammar School. Our girls’ team came a very respectable third place which was extra special given we had such a large team compared to other schools. Our mixed team came first with an impressive performance to ‘Revolting Children’ from the Matilda musical- but they were far from revolting!
Today we celebrate King Charles’ Coronation in style. Everyone is dressed in their finest red, white and blue and the party lunch is about to be enjoyed. The designs for our crown competition have blown me away and the judging is going to be so difficult. I can’t wait to share afternoon tea with the winners next week! I’m sure there will be lots of photos on Seesaw of our celebrations today.
As we have an additional bank holiday again this weekend we will see you all on Tuesday 9th. Our Year 6 children will be sitting their SATS exams that week and I want to say how proud I am of each of them for the hard work they have put in. What these tests don’t show is how special each of our children are. They do not show our children’s talents, what amazing friends they can be or how kind, thoughtful and mature they are. The scores from these tests will tell us something, but they will not tell us everything about our children. There are many ways of being smart and there is no way to test all the amazing and awesome things that make our children unique. I want to wish the children all the best for next week, but they have nothing to worry about. This weekend, their homework is to ride a bike, play with the friends, eat sweets, relax and watch the coronation. If they want to do some revision, that is up to them, but it does not need to be for long. I will be up at Key Stage Two all week to help with administering the tests so I won’t be on the gate at Key Stage One.
Finally, we still have some places left for reception next year so if any of you know of anyone who is reconsidering their choice, please do point them in our direction.
Have a lovely, extra, bank holiday and see you on Tuesday- fingers crossed for some sunshine!
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s message:
Well that’s the end of our second full term and hasn’t it flown by (they do say time flies when you’re having fun)!
It seems like ages ago now but for Comic Relief our children were permitted to break the rules for one day only and I was surprised to see how good they were at it! We manage to raise juts short of £500 for the charity and so thank you for your generous donations.
This term, our Year 4 children performed their own talent show for their loved ones and what talent they all have! They did two performances to a packed out crowd and blew me away with their confidence and skill. Thank you to the Year 4 team for all their hard work in getting the children performance ready.
This week was the second chance this year to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss their progress. Thank you for all your positive comments on their report cards.
I’m sure you will have seen from Facebook that we have had a very successful term with regard to sport. From football to dance to gymnastics to cross country, we have been able to compete at a very high level and give as many children the chance to represent the school as is possible. Whilst we do celebrate winning, what has been even more impressive is what great sportsmen and women our children are: cheering on the other teams, showing respect to judges and referees and behaving impeccably at the venues. I do, however, need to invest in a larger trophy cabinet after all the success that we have been having and I’m sure this will continue next term also.
Today is the KS1 Easter Bonnet Parade. What a creative bunch you are! I know you were all looking forward to coming down to watch the outdoor catwalk this afternoon but due to the weather we have unfortunately had to change our plans. Thank you for your understanding with this- we will record it and put the video on seesaw for you to enjoy at home. Just before the catwalk, a special visitor will have arrived at KS1- the Easter Bunny! If it’s anything like previous years, the children and staff will hardly be able to contain themselves – pictures will be posted to Seesaw shortly.
A date for your diary- we will be holding a Coronation party day on 5th May where children can come in dressed in red, white and blue. We will be having a party dinner which children who do not normally have a dinner are welcome to book and we are holding a crown making competition giving you the chance to get creative over the Easter holidays.
You will also have received a letter via email about the clubs that will be on offer next term. Separate letters will be sent out in due course to book places on these clubs.
I do need to give a polite reminder to you all about Seesaw. Please could parents and carers not message our staff outside of working hours. We have had a number of staff receiving messages on an evening or weekend. I know you’ll all agree that we have amazing staff who want you all to be involved in your child’s education, but they deserve their time away from work just like anyone else. If you need to make contact with a class teacher or other member of staff, please email the school office and they will respond within the working day.
So that just leaves me to wish you all a lovely Easter break – hopefully in the sunshine! We will see you all again on Monday 17th April. A polite reminder that KS1 starts at 8:45 and KS2 at 9 so please make sure your child is there on time.
Happy Easter- have an eggcellent time
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
Well I didn’t expect to be sending this message from my house whilst looking out at a snow-covered garden! I hope all the children are enjoying lots of fun in the snow. Thank you all for your support this morning. The decision to close was not taken lightly and I hope you appreciate that I wanted to wait and see what this morning looked like before making any decisions.
We’ve now been back from the half term break for three weeks and as always, we have been really busy in school!
Sadly, the current snowy weather scuppered our plans to take our cross country team to the West Yorkshire finals. There is good news however, as we have three children who will automatically go through to represent West Yorkshire at the next competition. I know the children will be disappointed as they have trained so hard, but there will always be next year.
This week we welcomed our new KS2 caretaker, Tom Dowie, to his role. He has already commented on how he has been made to feel welcome by children, staff and our families. Do say hello to him when he is on the gate at the start and end of the day.
Yesterday our Chair of Governors visited school and we gave her a tour of our new nurture room (The Safe Space) where Mrs Graham is based. She was so impressed with the fact that we can offer this facility to our children to support their well-being. Thank you to those parents who donated items for the room. We will share a picture soon once it is completely finished.
As you will be aware, we give our parents and carers the opportunity to come and spend the afternoon in class with their child through our showcase events. Last week was the turn of Year 3 and family members were treated to an assembly, computing session , sports and maths activities amongst other things. It was so lovely to see so many people in class sharing in the children’s learning.
Our Year 4 residential visit to Nell Bank in Ilkley was a resounding success. The children were an absolute credit to the school and got to take part in a river walk, team building activities, obstacle course, play on the adventure playground and den building in the woodland. The staff at Nell Bank commented on how amazing our children and staff were which is all I can ask and made me feel extremely proud.
We decided to keep our World Book Day celebrations a little more low key this year as at The Greetland Academy we always value and promote the love of reading. The children looked amazing in their book-themed costumes and we also had lots of children who brought in a book for the book swap.
You will all receive a letter on the 16th about our next parents’ evening which will be held across Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th March ( please note that for class 3G there are also a few appointments on the Monday). This will be your opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and behaviour with their class teacher.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend and enjoy the snow! Please do share any pictures of your snowy fun on Seesaw.
Mrs Crowther
Principal’s Message
And that’s the end of another half term!
Today we say farewell to Miss Whiteley who is starting her maternity leave. We will still get to see her, and the new baby, over the next two terms as she drops of her older son off at KS2. I know you will all join me in wishing her well and I will update you all once the baby has arrived.
This week we successfully appointed a new caretaker for our Key Stage Two site. Tom Davie will begin his post in early March and I know you will all make him feel welcome when you meet him on the gate. Tom has held several caretaking roles in the past and will bring lots of experience to the role.
Next half term we will be performing at the Great Big Primary Dance Off at The Victoria Theatre for the third time. Our dance club have been working so hard on an amazing pirate-themed performance, which blew me away when I watched it this week.
Last week we had a visit from an OFSTED inspector to look at our provision for RE. The purpose of this visit was to inform their research into the teaching of RE across the country. Whilst we won’t be named in their research report and there was no official judgement given, I was so proud of our children and teachers and would like to share with you just a few of the comments that the inspector made:
This school is exceptional like it says in the first line of your OFSTED report.
There is a fluency amongst your children about how they are talking about religion. They clearly have a deep understanding about religion and why they learn about it.
You should be really proud of what you have achieved and I would happily send my own children here.
You have taken children and turned them into little diamonds.
Our CEO , Mrs Bennett, and Trust School Improvement Team also visited us this week to look at English and maths across the school and were yet again full of praise for our amazing children and staff.
This week we have marked LGBTQ+ Month with a special assembly at KS2 and some new additions to the story time libraries for KS1. It was fantastic to hear our children talking with such knowledge, compassion and understanding about how wonderful our diverse world is.
I attended a FOGS meeting on Wednesday and they are putting plans in place for our Mothers’ Day shop, World Book day pre-loved costumes and the summer fair . More information will follow in due course.
I would like to wish you all an enjoyable half term break and we will see you on Monday 20th February ready for the next half term which will end in a parents’ evening to update you on your child’s progress.
Happy holidays!
Mrs Crowther
I cannot believe we have already been back in school for three weeks! The children came back from Christmas looking smart and ready to learn and have settled straight back into normal routines.
I know there has been lots in the press about possible strike action in schools throughout dates in February and March. As it currently stands, school will be open as normal on the intended strike days. Please note that this situation could change if other teaching unions decide to re-ballot.
Our holiday dates for 23/24, including training days, were shared with you all last week through email but they can also be found here: https://greetlandacademy.org.uk/diary-news/
The training days have been allocated slightly differently to the way we have done it in the past so please make sure you do check the dates. As you will all be aware, we also have an additional day this year where school will be closed for the Coronation. This date is Monday 8th May, which has meant the Y6 SATs tests have all been pushed on by a day and will run from 9th to the 12th May.
Last week we had the team from Little Wandle, our phonics scheme, in school to assess us for Champion School Status. It was a rigorous process which involved talking to leaders and observing practice across the school. I am thrilled to announce that we were successful and this is just further confirmation that we are highly skilled in the teaching of early reading. This status will generate further income for the school which in turn can be spent on our children.
Before the holidays, I informed you all that both Miss Bailes and Miss Whiteley will be leaving us shortly to have babies. Mrs Ashton and Mrs Walker will be the class teachers for 4A from February half term. I am pleased to inform you that we have recruited an excellent teacher to join our team to cover release time across the school. Miss Robertshaw will start with us after the half term break and will teach children across the school. She has a wealth of experience and will be a welcome addition to the team. She will be in school on the 6th of February for her induction and will meet all the children then.
You may have seen on Facebook that Monday was deemed the most depressing day of the year. To brighten everyone’s spirits, we had a special visitor at both sites- Martha the huskie!We also treated all of our staff to hot chocolate and brownies as a small token of our appreciation for the fantastic job that they all do.
Our Year 1 children visited Ilkley Toy Museum this week and had the most amazing time. One child even said, ‘this is just the best day ever’. The museum staff commented on how polite and articulate our children were which has made me super proud.
We’ve started the new term off with more sporting success- our Y5/6 girls football team won all their games in the Adam Heslop Cup and will progress through to the next round. Mr O’Shea and Mr Bade were blown away with the girls and their impeccable behaviour. They certainly proved that ‘this girl can’!
Finally, we are currently looking for a new KS2 caretaker after Mr Ali left us for a job closer to his home. Please do share the advert with anyone you think may be interested:
https://greatheightstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Caretaker-01.23-Advert-1.pdf
Wishing you all a lovely weekend (let’s hope it gets a bit warmer)!
Mrs Crowther