Yarrells School & Nursery Page 1 of 9 Friday 12th February 2021

Friday 12th February 2021

Dear Parents, Well, we have all made it to half term intact! It is a significant achievement and as I write, the sun is shining through my office window bringing signs of Spring and some much-needed warmth into the room. The last 6 weeks have been another unexpected journey for us all, and I am keener than ever to see the children return to their natural learning environment. Learning in isolation, even with the live online connection from teachers, friends and family, is manageable temporarily, but I believe they need more than ever to see their friends in the real world, to relax in each other’s company, and to re-start their learning with others in real time and space. Your children have been extraordinarily resilient in the face of this challenge and we are so proud of them all. I spoke today in assembly of the phenomenon of ‘Too-Muchery’, when there are simply too many challenges coming at once, and I hope the days ahead bring you all respite from the juggling of your many varied tasks. I hope the weather remains dry and you are all able to take some time away from work so that stress levels can be reduced and recuperation from the intensity of online learning can begin. I know we have at least two weeks’ more of school lockdown to navigate, but for me, the February half-term is always a significant one. By the time it comes to a close and we return to school at the end of the month, there will be a remarkable difference in the amount of daylight in which we are living and it really will feel as if we’ll have left Winter behind. In my mind's eye, I keep sight of the summer term beckoning us ever closer, with its glorious scent of outside activities in our gorgeous grounds, the fabulous Spring Fayre, masses of sports days, summer concerts and trips galore – it's like thinking about a bygone age at the moment! But, no, this time will be upon us soon, and fresh, lively air really will breathe its way back into Yarrells before too long! I hope you all have a well-deserved rest in the week ahead. As I wrote yesterday, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to you all for your continued support and we look forward to seeing your lovely children again on Monday, the 22nd of February bright and early! All the very best,

Ms Sally Weber, Head

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Head’s Commendations

awarded to Coby Y for your wonderful English story.

Well done!

NUTKINS Zak S Alice H

SQUIRRELS: Bonnie S Imogen A

RECEPTION: Imogen McP George M-J

YEAR 1: Sebastian O Arabella P-B

YEAR 2: Marcy L-B Louie L

YEAR 3: George M Jack V

YEAR 4: Mo A Nicole B

YEAR 5: Halle F Hope J

YEAR 6: Isla C Ibby A

YEAR 7: Ollie B Felix W

YEAR 8: George B

Yarrells February Challenge

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/yarrells-school-and-nursery

Awarded to Arabella P-B (Year 1)

Arabella was feeling sad as a result of working hard at home and not being able to seeing any of her friends and also because her Daddy is due to go offshore again soon. She thought that perhaps a few of her friends might be feeling the same way so she decided it would be nice to bake some cookies at the weekend and deliver them to her friends to put a smile on their faces. Once the cookies were baked, Arabella helped to compose a little message and wrote labels for each friend. Mid-way through the delivery, Arabella took a tumble running down a friend’s driveway and grazed both knees and her hand, despite this she was super brave and quickly told us through the tears she wanted to continue delivering cookies instead of heading home to clean up her injuries. We felt not only did this show amazing resilience but also courage and kindness as she chose to put her friends before herself.

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Happy Chinese New Year everyone! We have been busy celebrating this week with dancing, drumming and a variety of arts and crafts. Nutkins have been making lanterns and fans to decorate their homes with and we all made our own dragon masks. On Wednesday, we braved the cold and treated the school to a performance of a dragon dance in the courtyard. This is believed in Chinese culture to bring good luck and get rid of bad spirits for the new year. We also made red good luck envelopes to give to our loved ones, which also brings good luck along with wearing our best clothes. So, we all came dressed in our favourite red and gold outfits; we all thought we looked fabulous! All the teachers in Greenwood are so proud of all the children and the resilience, determination and enthusiasm the children have displayed in all aspects of school life as well as to their learning. Next half term we will have finished our journey around the world and will start a new topic learning about the natural world around us. Our welly boots are about to get very muddy!

Reception News Mrs C Tucker & Mrs T Wilson

This week we have been off to China! The children learnt all about the culture, schooling and food and created some incredible Great Walls. They then spent time celebrating the Chinese New Year, learning all about the gifts they give, the animals and the decorations. The children then created their own. In dance they loved learning a dragon dance and performed it with their own masks.

Early Years & Pre-Prep

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Year 2 Celebration Days Ms Robbins

Felix dressed up for ‘Scout Day’ on Monday.

River did a dance for ‘Umbrella Day’ on

Wednesday.

Alivia sang a song whilst her brother played the guitar for ‘Guitar Day’ on Thursday.

Year 3 – Launching Eggs! Mrs L Ing & Miss E Paterson

Year 3 had great fun this week launching eggs from a height of 2m or more. Their task was to not let the egg break! Brilliant work Year 3!

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Art Mrs K Richmond

Coffee Spill Art Senior Prep produced artwork this week in response to German illustrator Stefan Kuhnigk. He turns random coffee stains into all sorts of weird and wonderful monster characters. Adding some literacy to their artwork we looked at Ricky Gervais’s ‘Flanimals’ books and they had to create funny names and character descriptions for their monsters. ‘It was lots of fun flicking coffee onto the paper and seeing what emerged!’ Examples:

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Maths Mr T Lewis

In maths this week Years 6, 7 and 8 have made clinometers to measure slope and using their knowledge of geometry have calculated the height of buildings, trees, bamboo and tried to find the tallest trees to help them with this. Dipping internet was overcome, extendable mops became metre sticks and they have shown creative flair. A Scott's pine was measured at 25m tall by Eliza M in 6FS. When children come back to school we can use our clinometers to see if we have any higher ones on the school grounds. What do you think?

Year 6’s creative task last week was to create some top trumps based on their own theme. My particular favourite and a brilliant example were these rugby players created by Freddie E. He took the time to include some of the all-time greats and ensured all his scores were in either decimals, fractions or percentages meaning we will continue to learn whilst playing each other after half term. A huge congratulations to all the senior mathematicians who have worked so hard this half term. Mrs Cunningham, Mr McClelland and I have been very impressed with your hard work in such strange times. Keep up the good work. Our battle of the bands reached a buzzing climax at the end of last week and all TT Rock Star players should be congratulated in their fantastic efforts in this competition. Be ready for some head-to-head battles next half term!!!

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CLASS COMPETITION

Most valuable individuals

STEAM – Challenge 3 Mrs E Barnes

1st 2nd 3rd

1st 2nd 3rd

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Years 7 & 8 Excelsis Award Mr T Lewis

As part of their Excelsis personal development award, Year 7 and 8s have been researching and constructing a project to make a difference to one of the UNICEF Global Social Goals. We now have four groups with excellent ideas and you will be hearing about each of them in the coming weeks!

Hello! We are: Marnie, Arthur, Freddy, Scarlet and Saffie from Years 7 & 8 and we are trying to raise money to help refugees settle in the UK. Our goal is to raise money so that the helpless refugees who are coming out of a terrible situation, receive a better quality of life. This will be done by giving money for food vouchers and mobile credit. You can also donate old smart phones and essential items (clothes, blankets etc.) to help them feel more human again. The reason we decided to raise money for the refugees is because in our English lesson we were reading a book about the Syrian crisis; we learnt so much about how their lives have just been tipped uPsiDe DoWn. This really hit us hard and made us realise how tragic it all is for them. As a result, we are doing a series of events to raise money and help people rebuild their lives. In half term we would like you to camp out...please join us!! You can sleep anywhere...just not in a bed! Maybe you could even eat Syrian food and learn some phrase in Arabic?

Our event will run on Wednesday 17th February, but you can sleep out any day in half term.

GROUP 1 – Marnie, Arthur, Freddy, Scarlet & Saffie

Winner – Fallon D

Disqualified (too much paper)

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To take part please give a donation on our JustGiving page:

Yarrells School is an eco-friendly community which puts lots of effort in to helping the sea life around the world.

Oliver Blemings is shaving his hair off during half term to raise awareness about how important the world's sea life is. With the money raised we will sponsor a Beluga whale.

Help us to achieve this great goal. We will be able to monitor the journey of the whale and we will get our own adoption certificate. We can update the school with regular updates on our sponsored whales progress. We also want to buy a lovely cuddly whale so the little children can see what we have achieved.

GROUP 3 – Ollie, Felix, Bella, Charlotte & Lili

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/justgivingrefugeeaiduk

Help Yarrells school adopt a beluga whale

Please help us, donate on this gofundme link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-yarrells-school-adopt-a-beluga-whale?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1

Here is your chance to show off your choreographic talents and create your own dance, in your favourite dance style, to win our ‘Dance Choreographer of 2021’.

You will need to create, film and submit your dance by Monday 22nd February 2021 and the winners will be announced at the end of the Spring term.

All entries should be emailed to: office@yarrells.co.uk

Your entry will be judged by a panel of teachers, including Mrs May, Mrs Weber and… he of the legendary Olympic Ribbon display, Mr McClelland!

Please could we ask that you record in LANDSCAPE orientation.

Age Categories: Juniors Years 3 & 4 Seniors: Years 5-8

Time limit: Please make your dance 1 to 1 ½ minutes long. If your music has lyrics, please ensure these are appropriate.

Why not add a costume or dance with a prop? HAVE FUN AND GOOD LUCK!