Ripon Cathedral School Update

Year 4 had a fabulous time at Bewerley Park on Tuesday. Half of the day was spent at Brimham Rocks where the children had the opportunity to climb and go through very tight gaps between rocks. They were brilliant at encouraging and helping each other. The other half of the day was spent raft building. The children were given wooden poles, barrels and rope and worked together as a team to build a raft. They used a lashing knot to tie everything together and then worked together to paddle around the lake.

"Squeezing through the gaps at Brimham Rocks was fun and easy for me because I'm small." Amelia

"I liked learning about Bewerley Park's history and finding out more about deltas at Brimham Rocks." Scarlett

"I learnt how to tie knots which was important for raft building and I saw different rocks including sand stone." Boaz

"I really enjoy going to Brimham rocks and going in tight spaces and climbing the rocks. I was quite nervous at first, but all my friends encouraged me, and I had a great time in the end." Olive

"I enjoyed the raft building and I learnt at Brimham Rocks that when you are climbing up vertical rocks you need chalk to get a better grip." Thomas

"When we went raft building my arms hurt from building the raft, but it was fun to paddle around the lake. Mr Holmes fell in and it was so funny!" Katherine

On Monday Year 3 visited Bewerley Park for a day of adventure. They took part in canoeing activities and learned the skill of orienteering. On the lake, the children had to row as a team, playing games and competitions. They all got very wet including the teachers! Back on dry land, Year 3 worked in teams to map read and find their way around the site, navigating around the orienteering control markers. They enjoyed it so much, this week in English lessons they have been writing a persuasive leaflet to encourage others to go to Bewerley.

"It was such a good day out at Bewerley Park, I was so excited to go. The best part was when we went canoeing and I got soaked. We were pirates and we played canon balls, I splashed Mrs McIlmurray, it was so funny!"

Skylar

"I really enjoyed the orienteering because it was fun finding the markers. We had to read maps and it was sometimes tricky to find where we needed to go. I worked with Lottie and Gabby we explored the whole of Bewerley Park."

George E

On Year 5's last day at Lindisfarne, they left the island and travelled down the coast to Seahouses. The children had a great time on a trip around the Farne Islands. They saw seals resting on rocks and swimming in the water. Thy also saw the lighthouse where Grace Darling lived. After the trip on the sea the children were glad to be back on dry land and they enjoyed fish and chips at Hook Restaurant. The final stop was at Alnwick Castle. After looking around the castle, the children learnt how the castle inhabitants defended the barbican. The class split into an English team who were the defenders and a Scottish team, the attackers. The Scots fought their way into the castle and took their English prisoners to the jail. A great day to end a great trip!

This week Year 1 have been experimenting with different media. After looking at abstract artworks by Kandinsky and Renata Bernal the children were asked to select several shapes to draw around in pencil. When they had done this, they filled in each shape (and separate shape segments) using the different mediums and colours provided. If two shapes overlapped, they coloured the overlap using a different medium/colour. They then continued to experiment with media by creating their own versions of 'Circles' by Kandinsky.

At Ripon Cathedral School, we have five curriculum pillars that help to drive our curriculum and ensure that children encounter a broad learning experience that helps them to think, explore and apply their learning and knowledge in the world in which they live. They are:

Vocabulary

Enrichment

Creativity

Big Ideas

Purpose

At Ripon Cathedral School we believe it is essential that children are introduced to good quality literature to enable them to build a wide and rich vocabulary. We do this through focusing on vocabulary and language in all our lessons. For more information about our Vocabulary pillar click on the picture below.

In Reception, we love to learn about the jobs of people we know and people in our local community, so we were delighted to have Henry's mum come and talk to us about her job as a GP. We were all fascinated by the weird and wonderful things in her doctor's bag and were especially excited to be allowed to use some of them. Atticus (Reception's very own doctor) and David delighted in using the stethoscope to listen to their heartbearts. We were all very relieved to see that Zog's heart was super healthy too!

A very big thank you to Henry's mum for such an engaging visit.

This week we had our annual Key Stage 2 Football Tournament. We were very impressed with the excellent skills on the field and the sportsmanship shown. Dragons, Sharks and Tigers played one another in each class and at the end of the afternoon Tigers were announced as the winners. Well done to everyone who took part!

The children in Nursery have been reading the story the Rainbow Fish. They were inspired to make their own amazing fish!

At our celebration worship we announced our Stars of the Week. Well done to all the recipients.

Reception

Arjun for super effort and concentration in phonics and for independently investigating floating and sinking.

Year 1

Eric for being a creative chameleon! He has shown so much focus creating his beautiful abstract art work.

Year 2

Isla for always trying her best, working really hard in all areas and creating a perfect pet in English.

Year 3

Tobias for his enthusiasm in all aspects of school life, particularly in geography, Great focus in class and doing extra research at home.

Year 4

Jeffrey for being kind, encouraging and supportive to his peers on the trip to Bewerley Park.

Year 5

Harry for his excellent problem solving in maths as wall as brilliant presentation in all areas of his learning.

Year 6

Olivia for showing great sportsmanship at the football festival and incredible concentration and effort in art!

All first contact parents should have received an email today about the nasal flu vaccination being administered in school on Friday 20th October. Please let us know if you have not received the email. You can also use the link button below to register.

A core group of parents met at the pub on Wednesday evening for the AGM of the Friends of the School. The location should give you a clue, this really is a group which it is enjoyable to be part of! They do understand that not everyone can commit a lot of time, but meetings are only once a term or so. They would love new people to come along to inject some fresh ideas, both for fundraising and community events. Your participation would, of course, benefit the whole school. However, you might also find your own child will feel like a very special part of school when they see you in action and will be proud of what you are doing, which will improve their own self-confidence and participation levels. This is based on the testimony of a member of the Friends' committee!

Last year was successful both in terms of fundraising and getting families and friends together socially (but new ideas still welcome!), particularly at the Christmas and Summer Fairs. A £4000 cheque was presented to school, which funded the leavers' hoodies and some of the fantastic, new outdoor gym equipment. There is still a good working balance in the bank account as well.

Please get in touch with the committee on rcpsfriends@gmail.com and follow them on Facebook (Parents and Friends of Ripon Cathedral Primary School).

Collective Worship is a very important part of our school. Over the next term there are a number of worship sessions that parents and carers are welcome to attend.

Wednesday 11th October 2023 - Year 6 Class Worship at 9am

Wednesday 18th October 2023 - Year 5 Class Worship at 9am

Tuesday 24th October 2023 - Year 4 Harvest Service in the Cathedral at 1.30pm

Wednesday 8th November 2023 - Year 2 Class Worship at 9am

Wednesday 15th November 2023 - Year 1 Class Worship at 9am

Wednesday 22nd November 2023 - Year 3 Class Worship at 9am

Friday 22nd December 2023 - Key Stage 1 Nativity in the Cathedral in the afternoon.

We do our best to let parents know dates in advance. Sometimes we do need to change dates and times so please do check the latest update to confirm when events are happening. Thanks

We are currently organising a range of events for the term. Below are dates that we currently have planned. We will add more dates over the term so please do check each week for new events.

Wednesday 11th October 2023 - Year 5 visit to Go Ape

Friday 20th October 2023 - Ripon Walk to School Day

Tuesday 24th October 2023 - Parent consultations

Wednesday 25th October 2023 - Parent consultations

Thursday 26th October 2023 - Year 6 visit to Flamingo Land

Thursday 26th October 2023 - School closes for October half term

Friday 27th October 2023 - School Training Day

Monday 6th November 2023 - School reopens

Wednesday 8th November - Blue Cross Workshop - animals in WW1

20th - 24th November 2023 - Road Safety Week

Thursday 30th November 2023 - Year 4 sound day

Friday 1st December 2023 - Year 3 Hindu Temple visit

Friday 22nd December 2023 (at 1.30pm) - Key stage 1 Nativity in the Cathedral

Friday 22nd December 2023 - School closes for Christmas break at 2.30pm

Ripon Cathedral Church of England Primary School

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