Welcome to Barnby Dun Community Association ‘The Old School’

Barnby Dun Primary Academy News

As always, Barnby Dun Primary is a very busy, vibrant and happy place to be- lots to do, lots to organise and lots to enjoy, for pupils and staff. The term seems to be flying by, November seems to have suddenly sneaked up on us and the countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun.

We are extremely proud of our excellent attendance and the significant improvements we have made over recent years. Our whole school attendance for 2013/14 was an amazing 97.8%, which was the highest of all schools in our Local Authority. This year we have made a great start to maintaining this high standard. Two of our KS2 classes, Year 3 Squirrels and Year 5 Monkeys, both had the highest percentage for the first half term, 99.5%. They have been rewarded with ‘i-film’ days where they will use i-pads to develop their own movie trailer. Doncaster Rovers and Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust are also making a much appreciated contribution to our attendance rewards.

Our eldest children in particular had a most exciting start to the new school year. They recently went on a three day residential trip to the PGL centre in Caythorpe. They had a wonderful time and returned with happy memories and amusing anecdotes and quite rightly, were very proud of their achievements- especially facing their fears to do abseiling and kayaking! Staff at the centre complimented us on how polite and well behaved the children were and how they supported and encouraged each other. This makes us very proud as, ofcourse, that’s what our school is all about.

Our youngest children enjoyed their Harvest Festival with Reverend Dee. The children were so excited and carried their tins and packets of food into the hall, then we all enjoyed their readings, poems, prayers and especially the singing. Dee was impressed how well behaved and attentive the children were. Since then, there’s been no time to rest in Reception/Key stage one. They have now begun rehearsing for their Christmas performance of ‘The Hoity Toity Angel’. 

We have started to do our class assemblies again, where we invite parents and family members to share the recent work and achievements of each class. Last week, Year 2 Woodpeckers were eager to go first and proudly showed their work about Pets and their homes and their new topic, The Great Fire of London. They showed a film of themselves pretending to be news reporters interviewing eye witnesses at the time of the fire. Year 2 parents and the children in the audience found it most funny when a child being interviewed as Thomas Fariner the baker responded to the question about how the fire started with a very blunt ‘Because I left the oven on!’

Staff and children are currently enjoying ‘International Education Fortnight’ based on the topic of Brazil. We chose this country in order to build on the children’s knowledge of the World Cup. We have lots of fun, cross-curricular things happening - mask making, work on colour and pattern, research about endangered animals, work on rainforests, fruit cocktail making. Reception and KS1 are having a carnival at the end of the week to showcase their work. All classes are experiencing Capoeira - a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music.

We continue to plan frequent opportunities for ‘buddy learning’ where older and younger pupils pair up to learn together. Socially and academically, children gain a great deal from such opportunities and it is lovely to see pupils of different ages engaged in learning together.

This week we are also taking part in ‘National Anti-Bullying week’. This important theme is a strong feature of our curriculum and assemblies throughout the year and children have produced some very emotive drama, poetry and artwork based on this year’s slogan, ‘Celebrating Difference.’ NSPCC/Childline are delivering workshops with year 5 and 6.

I am currently spending time in each class in turn, doing my termly round of lesson observations. This is one of my favourite tasks as it gives me uninterrupted time to watch our talented teachers and teaching assistants in action and see the children absorbed in their work and loving their learning. There is honestly nothing better! Like all schools, we are particularly focusing on getting to grips with the New National Curriculum that was implemented in September but also, we are really trying to embed and develop the recent improvements we have made with children’s handwriting and presentation. We have also been concentrating on refreshing our Calculation policy in Maths, in light of the New Curriculum and looking for further opportunities to link Maths with outdoor learning.

Our ‘Outdoor classroom/Barnbywoods’ along Catling Lane continues to evolve. It will be open to our community on the afternoons of 1st December and 12^th January, please feel free to pop in and see the work we have done so far. Any suggestions are always gratefully received.

On behalf of all the staff and pupils at Barnby Dun Primary Academy, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Fulfilling NewYear. Thank you for your continued support, appreciation and encouragement.

Kindest regards,

Miss Claire Robinson   Headteacher.