Ripon Cathedral School Update

This week has been British Science week. The 2026 theme was 'curiosity' and across the school we have been investigating, asking and answering some big questions.

To celebrate Science Week Year 2 asked the question: Does the way food looks change the way it tastes? We tasted wonky looking fruits and vegetables and perfect looking fruits and vegetables to see if they tasted differently. We analysed our data and found that we couldn’t tell the difference between them. We learnt that lots of fruits and vegetables go to waste because they don’t look perfect and we agreed that this was not right because we couldn’t tell the difference when tasting them. We are going to try to eat more wonky fruit and vegetables to stop them going to waste!

For British Science week in Year 3 the children investigated how a paper aeroplane, glider or helicopter falls to the ground much more slowly and gracefully than a scrunched-up piece of paper. This is because of the forces generated by air pressing on and moving over the surface of the paper.

In Year 4, children investigated 'Does toast always land butter side down?' We took turns dropping buttered toast from different heights and angles and recorded how it landed. We found that the biggest influencing factor was the orientation of the toast when it was dropped. When dropped on the side, the toast did seem to land more often than not butter-side down. We later thought about other questions we could ask to further our investigation.

As part of their Evolution topic, Year 6 took part in an exciting investigation called Battle of the Beaks. The children explored how different bird beaks are adapted to help birds survive in their environment. Using a range of tools to represent different beaks (such as tweezers, spoons and scissors), pupils competed to collect a variety of “foods” including raisins, pasta and rubber bands. They quickly discovered that some “beaks” were much better suited to certain foods than others! Through the activity, the class discussed how birds with beaks better adapted to available food sources are more likely to survive and reproduce. This helped the children understand the idea of natural selection, adaptation and how species can change over time through evolution. The investigation was great fun and gave pupils a hands-on way to experience the challenges animals face in the wild while developing their scientific thinking.

On Wednesday, the Nursery and Reception children proudly presented a special worship to celebrate Mother’s Day. They sang two lovely songs and shared some of the many things their mums do for them, which brought lots of smiles from the audience. The children also showed some of the crafts they had made to give to their mums. It was wonderful to see so many families come along to watch and support the children, making the assembly a very special celebration for everyone.

On Monday, Year 5 and Year 6 had a great afternoon visiting Bethel Church to take part in a special “Journey” experience, all about the life of Jesus. Through live actors, the children watched and listened to key moments from Jesus’ life and then took part in recreating some of the stories themselves through mime. The interactive activities helped bring the stories to life and encouraged everyone to think carefully about their meaning. To finish the session, the children worked independently to complete a quiz to test what they had learnt. Thank you to Bethel Church and all the volunteers.

Following on from our report about the children’s success at the Sporting Influence Cross Country festival last week, we are proud to report that Ripon Cathedral School were the overall winners and will progress to the finals of the competition! The date and arrangements for this are currently being finalised, but well done to our Cross Country team members.

Regular school attendance is vital for children’s learning, wellbeing and long-term success. Guidance from the Department for Education emphasises that pupils with high attendance are more likely to make strong academic progress, feel confident in their learning and develop positive routines and friendships at school. Even missing a small number of days can lead to gaps in learning that can be difficult to catch up on.

The Department for Education defines Persistent Absence as attendance below 90%. This means a child is missing the equivalent of around one day of school every two weeks, which can have a significant impact on their education over time.

Recently, we have sent attendance letters to families where a child’s attendance is currently below 90%. For some of these families, we will also be inviting parents and carers into school to discuss how we can work together to support improved attendance. Our aim is always to provide help and remove any barriers that might be affecting a child’s ability to attend regularly.

We have also written to families whose children currently have attendance in the 90–95% range. This is intended as an early step to raise awareness and provide support before attendance falls into the persistent absence category.

If your child is finding it difficult to attend school regularly, please do get in touch. We are here to help and would welcome the opportunity to work together to support your child in achieving the best possible attendance.

Well done to this week's Stars of the Week who were presented with their certificates in Celebration Worship this morning.

Nursery – Luca, for coming into Nursery with a smile on his face, for trying new things and exploring all areas with more confidence.

Reception – Millie, for her wonderful independent writing this week. She has also done amazing reading in her reading groups.

Year 1 – Layla B, for her fantastic effort at Forest School. Layla has shown great independence while creating her own obstacle courses and really got stuck into each activity this week. She used tools safely, hammering nails into wood and carefully wound wool around them. She showed super fine motor skills.

Year 2 – Malachi, for working hard to write a fantastic opener for a traditional tale, including interesting adjectives, a question and an exclamation mark.

Year 3 – Aurora, for showing enthusiasm in her work especially taking pride in her handwriting and presentation.

Year 4 – Evelyn, for demonstrating excellent perseverance with challenging maths and always having a go!

Year 5 – Skye, for always coming in with a smile on her face and showing great enthusiasm when asking questions to deepen her knowledge.

Year 6 - Arlo, for always working to the best he can; for sharing knowledge in science; and for being a great role model.

Next Friday is Red Nose Day and we are taking ourselves funny for money! Children (and staff, visitors, parents and carers!) can come to school with wacky hair and/or a silly hat and encouraged to donate at least £1 to Comic Relief via ParentPay. We can't wait to see all your wonderful creations!

Thank you, most parents have booked an appointment to meet their child's teacher. Please remember that the parents' evenings will be held on Monday 16th and Wednesday 18th March, in the school hall. if you have not yet booked, please note that you can only book one appointment per child, so please choose your preferred day. A booking guide is available on the button below. This is the link to the booking site https://riponcathedral.schoolcloud.co.uk/

For parents of children in Year 4 only: Mrs Perkins is unavailable to work beyond 6pm. In order to provide enough slots for all parents to book, she is also offering appointment times on Tuesday afternoon. If you are able to book one of these consultations instead of after school on Monday or Wednesday, that would be helpful, thank you. We will let you know the location of Tuesday's appointments separately as the hall will be in use at that time.

For parents of Nursery children: we apologise that we are currently unable to offer appointments due to Mrs Powell's absence.

Email: admin@riponcathedral.n-yorks.sch.uk
Website: www.riponcathedralschool.org.uk
Location: HG41LT, United Kingdom
Phone: 01765 602355
Facebook: facebook.com/riponcathschool