Weekly Newsletter

Headteacher - Mr J Parkinson

Associate Assistant Headteacher - Miss L Whale

Associate Assistant Headteacher - Mr K Reynolds

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week at Larks Hill, pupils have enjoyed a range of learning opportunities, with a particular focus on British Science Week.

This week, pupils across the school celebrated British Science Week, exploring this year’s theme “Curiosity: What’s Your Question?” through a live BBC lesson about light energy and space featuring Tim Peake. In KS1, pupils investigated the properties of materials; in LKS2, they explored the work of Stephen Hales and how plants transport water; and in Year 6, pupils designed and tested foil boats to investigate how shape affects floating and how much weight a boat can hold before sinking.

A PSHE drop-down afternoon also took place on Thursday, focusing on aspects of healthy relationships. Pupils in KS1 and LKS2 learned about the PANTS rules, helping them understand how to stay safe and recognise appropriate boundaries, while pupils in UKS2 explored the topic of consent through age-appropriate discussions and activities.

As part of the Great British Spring Clean 2026, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, our Key Stage 2 pupils will be taking part in an anti-litter poster competition organised by the Junior Civic Society. Pupils will design A4, hand-drawn posters using bright colours, bold text and original slogans to encourage people to take pride in keeping our community clean.

Posters must be hand drawn (no computer images, collages or logos) and pupils should remember to write their name and year group on the back of their poster. Each class will select their best entries, with the final posters being submitted for display at Pontefract Library, where a winning poster from each school will receive a small trophy.

All entries must be submitted to the office by Tuesday, 17th March

Some parents find that children quickly move from YouTube Kids to the main YouTube platform because the content on the Kids app can feel too limited for them. However, YouTube Kids includes a useful feature called Parent Allowlisting.

This allows parents to keep their child within the safer YouTube Kids environment whilst allowing you to approve specific videos or channels from the main YouTube platform. It helps parents manage exactly what their children can watch while avoiding the wider recommendation algorithms.

A short video explaining how this feature works can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVYsgC7-6ZM

Charlotte - EYFS

Enzo - Year 1

Jenson - Year 2

Harry - Year 3

Spencer - Year 4

Olivia - Year 5

James - Year 6

Olivia - Year 5 For her great maths work this week! Well done Olivia!

Harry - Year 3

Fin - Year 6

Olivia - Year 6

Monroe - Year 4

Leo - Year

Harry - Year 3

Monroe - Year 4

Nico - Year 5

Monday 16th March - Thursday, 19th March - Year 6 Mock SATs Week

Thursday, 19th March - Easter Egg Competition Launch

Friday, 20th March - Comic Relief

Thursday, 26th March - Easter Egg Competition Deadline

Friday, 27th March - Easter Bonnet Parade

This week's CATS Spotlight goes to Jude - Year 4. Jude has been attending Pontefract Parkrun (5km) on Saturday mornings to improve his fitness. Last Saturday, Jude achieved a brand new personal best by knocking a whopping 4.5 minutes off his previous PB, running and smiling the whole course, and is excited to try to achieve even faster times in the future! Well done Jude!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Yours sincerely,
Mr Reynolds

The menu for next week is Week 3

Please see the new Summer lunch menus below which will launch the first week back after the Easter Holidays.

Please see some information below regarding an understanding autism course provided by Wakefield Council at the Pomfret Family Hub.

Are you having a New Year clear out? Have the children grown AGAIN?

We are pleased to be running a clothing collection to support The Clothing Bank and our local community in Pontefract.

We would be grateful for donations of clean, good-quality women’s, men’s and children’s clothing that you no longer need. All items should be bagged and can be brought to the school office or taken directly into your child’s classroom.

Donations will be accepted throughout this half term and next half term. Your generosity will help support families within our local area, and we thank you in advance for your continued support

Please follow this link if you would like to find out more about The Clothing Bank. https://theclothingbank.org.uk/mission/

Due to a recent increase in demand for our Wraparound After School club, we have taken the decision to increase our capacity from 15 to 18 children per day. We hope this will help out those families that need childcare either on a regular or ad hoc basis.

If you haven’t used our Wraparound After School Club before, please drop in to the office to sign the agreement form.

The Club runs from 3.15pm-5.45pm Monday-Thursday and costs £12 per session (or £10 each for siblings).

Children can take part in games, activities, crafts and more! We also offer a selection of snacks and light bites for them to enjoy.

From next week we will also be launching our new Friday offer! Friday club will run as the rest of the week but at a discounted price of £8 for the full session, or £5 for a 4.30pm pick-up. This could be an opportunity for parents to get ready for the weekend, do some shopping or run any errands that need doing without the children there.

Places should be booked on MCAS by Friday of the preceding week, please give us a call if you need to book after this deadline and we will see what we can do.

Featherstone Lions ARLFC are running Easter Holiday Camps for children aged 5–11 as part of the Wakefield Happy Healthy Holidays programme.

The camps will run Monday 30th March – Thursday 2nd April - 10:00am – 3:00pm each day

The programme includes multi-sport activities, games, crafts, and Easter themed activities, along with a healthy hot or cold meal provided each day.

Places are free for children eligible for benefit-related free school meals, with a limited number of paid places available (£10 per day).

They also have SEND places available and a sensory room to support children who may benefit from a quieter environment. Places can book now by scanning the QR code on the poster.

Barnsley FC Community Trust are running football camps throughout the Easter Holidays.

Places can be booked by scanning the QR code on the attached poster

Elite Kids Coaching Holiday Camps are open to children in the local area and provides a fun, safe environment for them to stay active during the school holidays. All key information, including dates, times and booking details, can be found on the attached poster.