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Important Note:
This is a text and image only webpage that can be used to easily translate important updates for those whose first language is not English.
Weekly Newsletter - 28th November 2025
“Excellent attendance is vital for children to flourish and achieve”
December is always a busy but fun time in schools. Monday is the 1st of December, let’s try to get the best attendance of the year so far.
Something Mrs Wainwright has enjoyed this week was seeing the children enjoy one of the children’s headteacher’s award prizes. Gabriel won a special lunch and invited five friends.
Worship – Our current theme is trust and this week we reflected on how sometimes friends can let us down but there are lots of ways we can support our friends so they trust us. We can always trust in our faith as well.
We also reflected on our Big Question, ‘Do friends always need to be trustworthy to be our friends?’
IMPORTANT UPDATES - ATTENDANCE
There are lots of illnesses and bugs around at the moment and we do not want children in school if they are too unwell or have a temperature of 38c or above but the guidance from the NHS and government is that children should attend school if they have general cold symptoms such as a cough, runny nose or sore throat.
The guidance we have been given is to challenge families where all siblings are absent together on a regular basis, please do not be offended if we contact you or make a home visit but we have a very high number of families all being off, which can happen at times but is unusually high at St Bart’s.
REMINDERS
- Breakfast Club - If your child attends breakfast club and are in Nursery to Year 4 they must be brought to the door by an adult, this is for safety reasons. Older children can be left at the gate.
- Coats - Need to be labelled, ask if you would like us to do this
- Footwear – Please make sure your child had appropriate footwear for school in winter. If they come to school in wellie boots they MUST bring a pair of shoes/trainers to change in to. Wellies are not suitable for inside school; they can be dangerous.
- Poppy Appeal – We raised £229.21 for the poppy appeal thank you to everyone who donated.
From Monday we will be selling raffle tickets for the Christmas raffle, the prizes include a Christmas hamper and toys and games for the children. These prizes are mainly donated by staff and I would like to thank them for their generosity.
Tickets can be bought in school; money can go to class. 10p per ticket.
Christmas Dinner will be served on Friday 19th December. If your child usually has a packed lunch and would like a dinner you can let the office know and let us know of any allergies by Thursday 11th December the cost is £2.90 and can be paid by ParentPay. You can see the menu on our website and in the noticeboards.
School now has its own Instagram account!
Please follow us, our username is stbartsarmley.
Nursery Places – We have Nursery places available, if you have a child who is currently 3 years old or turning 3 between now and July 2026, please register them at the office in advance and we will contact you nearer the time they turn 3. If you need any further information, please see Mrs Drake.
Starting Primary School 2026 – Is your child due to start primary school in September 2026 if so you must Apply Now! Applications are open for Reception places to start in September 2026. You can apply online until Thursday 15th January 2026. If you need any help with applying, please see Mrs Drake. Please note that you must apply even if your child is attending our Nursery.
Well Done!
Wow! Look at all the football trophies. It is great to see children do well in their interests out of school.
Attendance
We expect all children to be in school every day and on time. 8.30am for Nursery, 12.30pm in the afternoon and by 8.50am for the rest of school. Thank you
Last week’s attendance (17th November – 21st November)
- Nursery: 77.6%
- Reception: 91.7%
- Years 1 to 6: 93.1%
Attendance Winners for last week:
- KS1 – Class 3 – 94.4%
- Years 3 & 4 – Class 7 – 99.1%
- Years 5 & 6 – Class 15 – 97.4%
Well done to the best classes:
- KS1 – Class 5
- Years 3 & 4 – Class 9
- Years 5 & 6 – Class 15
Weekly Round Up
Nursery – This week our topic has been 'Birthdays'. We learnt theme vocabulary like: presents, balloons, cakes, party hats, candles, invitations and birthday cards. The children have been writing birthday cards for our Freddy Teddies as they will celebrate their birthdays next week. We have been decorating cakes and balloons. In Maths, we have been exploring shapes, practised positional language and counted out candles on cakes. We have read a few birthday stories: 'Kipper's Birthday' and 'Happy Birthday Hugless Douglas'. The children also loved exploring gloop - what a messy but fun activity!
Reception - This week in Reception we have continued to talk about Birthdays. We have listened to the story 'You must bring a hat'. We talked about what we would like our guests to bring to our party and had some amazing ideas. We have really enjoyed making party hats in the creative area of the classroom. In Maths we have been talking about how parts make a whole. We have talked about parts of our body and how they make us a whole. Next we will be looking at how amounts can be split into different parts.
Year 1 & 2- This week children in Year 1 have enjoyed reading the story of Stickman by Julia Donaldson. They have looked at the different characters in the story and then used their oracy skills to talk to their partner about whether they think Stickman was lucky or unlucky in the story.
In Year 2 the children have been exploring weather in Geography and learning how the weather is different around the world. Children used climate maps to look at the location of hot and cold countries and their position relating to the equator and north and south poles.
PE KIT REMINDER: please send children to school in trainers on PE days. Some children are coming in shoes or boots that are potentially dangerous for PE activities.
Year 3 & 4 –This week, Year 3 enjoyed the Grow Bag sessions, where we looked at rocks and soils in our school garden. We also got to play some games and plant some different plants. In Geography, we learned why Brazil changed its capital city and in RE, we practised our oracy (speaking and listening) skills to understand why rest days are so important in different religions.
This week, in Year 4 we enjoyed making switches in Science. This allowed us to turn our circuits on and off. We also enjoyed the local walk, where we visited Town Street to see how it has changes since Victorian times. In DT, we decorated our lighthouses and in French, we practised our language skills to say when our birthday is.
Year 5 & 6 – Lessons: In Design & Technology, we have really enjoyed making our own moving toys using cams. In Geography, we have enjoyed learning about the Three Gorges Dam in China – discussing its advantages and disadvantages.
Click on the following links below to catch-up on the latest news in Years 5 & 6:
https://www.st-bartholomews.leeds.sch.uk/blog/category/year-5
https://www.st-bartholomews.leeds.sch.uk/blog/category/year-6
Swimming - The last swimming lessons of this term will take place next week.
Please note: there will be no swimming lessons during the final two weeks of term (week beginning 8th and 15th December). Swimming lessons will resume in the second week of the Spring Term (week beginning 12th January). Thank you to all the children for their fantastic efforts in the pool this term!
Homework: Homework is given on Mondays and must be completed by the following Monday. Each week, children will be expected to complete homework on Emile (with tasks set in Grammar, Punctuation and Maths) and Oxford Owl (tasks set in Spelling). Spelling Homework will be set from Monday. Children will also be encouraged to use Reading Plus at home to support their reading development. Children who complete all their homework will be rewarded with a longer lunchtime on Friday.
Year 6 SATs Week - Year 6 SATs week will begin on Monday 11th May 2025. It is vital that all children in Year 6 attend school that week. The test timetable will be as follows:
- Monday 11th May: Grammar, punctuation & spelling
- Tuesday 12th May: Reading
- Wednesday 13th May: Arithmetic & Reasoning
- Thursday 14th May: Reasoning
School Dates 2025 -2026:
- Thursday 4th December 2025 Years 3 & 4 Christmas Concerts 9.30am & 2pm
- Monday 8th December 2025 Reception Christmas Concerts 2pm
- Tuesday 9th December 2025 Rock Steady Concert 2.30pm
- Wednesday 10th December 2025 Performing Arts, Choir & Ukulele Club Concerts 2pm
- Wednesday 10th December 2025 Nursery Christmas Concerts 10.40am & 2.30pm
- Thursday 11th December 2025 Years 1 & 2 Christmas Concerts 9.30am & 2pm
- Monday 15th December 2025 Reception Christmas Party
- Tuesday 16th December 2025 Years 1 & 2 Christmas Party
- Wednesday 17th December 2025 Nursery Christmas Party
- Thursday 18th December 2025 Years 3 & 4 Christmas Party
- Thursday 18th December 2025 Years 5 & 6 Christmas Party
- Friday 19th December 2025 School Closes at 3.30pm
FAO Families - Reception Places 2026
For parents who are making enquiries about applications for Reception places, please follow the link below to a video guide on how to apply for a Reception place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRU1SrS7iJE
There is also a detailed page on our website with information:
https://st-bartholomew-s-cofe-primary-school.schudio.com/parents/admissions-attendance
