Great Coates Primary School Newsletter
Thursday 19th December
Newsletter
Message from Miss Emson
Where has this term gone? We've had a tremendously busy term and a very successful one you'll have seen our fabulous Ofsted report. I am immensely proud of the staff, children and our families for all that we have achieved, together! I am going to keep this brief as this newsletter is packed!
All that leaves me to say is have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy doing whatever makes you happy! I look forward to seeing you all on Monday 6th January 2025!
Emma Emson
Principal
Diary Dates
News
Incredible OFSTED Report
This term the school was visited by OFSTED. They spent two days with us; observing lessons and talking to staff and children. They were very impressed with what they saw. The posters below show some of the things they have said. Please read the OFSTED report by clicking the link. OFSTED Report 2024
This term we have had so many special events and experiences. Read below to find out what we have been doing this term.
Theatre Visit
At the beginning of the term we were visited by The Imagine Theatre Company and we all watch them perform The Selfish Giant with some help from our students. The children then went on learn more about the story and complete lots of work.
Anti-Bullying week and Odd Socks Day
We all learnt about respect and acceptance in Anti Bullying week and the children came to school in Odd Socks.
Children in Need
On 15th November we all celebrated Children in Need day. Thank you to all parents who supported the charity fundraising day.
Careers Fair
November 20th saw our first Careers Fair. Mr Baxter had organised a great event with employers from our region visiting and talking to the year6 children about future careers.
Football Finals
Our boys year 5 and 6 football team got through to the regional finals whcih were held in Hull on 14th Novemebr. The team played amazingly well on the day and just missed out on the trophy. Very well done to the team.
Digital Leaders
The Digital Leaders group have been meeting to raise the awareness of computing and esafety in school. They have had an online meeting with other school groups and have been learning how to use Google Classroom. They are doing an assembly for the school about digital footprints.
Eco-Warriors
This term has seen the introduction of our Ecowarrior group. Harbour Learning Trust aims to be carbon neutral in 5 years. The Ecowarriors are helping by doing things to be environmentally friendly. This week we have planted 26 trees donated by Cambridge Park Sixth From.
Equality Certificate
The school have achieved a reward from the National Centre for Computing Education for empowering girls in computer science. We do this by encouraging girls to be confident in using digital devices and have careers in technology.
Online Careers Meetings
The children in year 5 and 6 have taken part in two online zoom meetings in the last few weeks. Y5 had a great live lesson hosted by #TechWeCan about the internet and different careers within the tech industry . They also had a talk about the factory of the future about manufacturing and one by The Premier League and The Literacy Trust to explore careers linked to football and what possible skills are needed.
Foundation Stage Welly Walk
At the start of the term Reception and Nursery children took part in a sponsored welly walk around the field with their parents. Thank you to the parents for supporting the event.
Reception visit to the Post Office
Our reception children visited the Post Office last week to find out what happens in a Post Office
Year 4 Geography visit to the River Freshney
The year 4 pupils visited the local River Freshney on December 9th to learn about features of rivers and water safety
Christmas Jumper Day
We all supported Save the Children with a Christmas jumper day on Friday December 13th. Thank you to parents for donating on the day.
Christmas Fair
We had an excellent turnout for our Christmas Fair last week, with stalls full of items the children had made to sell and raise money for the school. We will be using the funds to help fund visitors and extra curricular resources.
Church Visits
All the children from Reception to year 6 visited St Michael's church this Christmas for our Christmas Services. Thank you to all parents who came and joined in with the carols. There was a lovely Christmassy feel in the church.
Reception Nativity
The Reception children put on an incredible nativity performance on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th December. We were all blown away with how well they sang and remembered their lines and actions. Thank you to all the parents who attended.
Choir Visits
The choir have been extremely busy again this Christmas. We visited Chatteris House Residential Home on Monday 9th December and the Bishop King Centre on 13th December. The children sang beautifully and were a credit to the school. The year 5 and 6 choir have also given a special performance of our song 'Great Coates winners' to all of the headteachers in Harbour Learning Trust when they visited on 5th December.
Party Day
On Tuesday, 100% entertainment visited school and each class had a disco in the hall and played games in their classrooms. The children all made a party hat and had a Christmas dinner.
Pantomime
On Wednesday the whole school visited the Auditoium for the Pantomime. We had an amazing time and were very impressed by Elliot's and Ollie's singing on stage.
Safeguarding Newsletter
Follow the link to read this term's Dafeguarding newsletter.
Reading
Lincs Inspire Prize for reading 3 times every week
All children who have read three times every week this half term had their names entered into a prize draw. The winner was Evie in Reception, who has won a family swim pass. The table below shows the percentage of children who have read three times or more in each class.
Coming up in Spring
Scholastic Book Fair
On Tuesday 28th January we will have a book fair available for everyone to buy books for a whole week.
Barclays Money Sense Day
On 22nd January Barclays will be visiting school to talk to the children about looking after money.
Clubs
Letters have gone out to sign up to Spring Term clubs. There will still be places in the clubs so you can sign up in the first week of term. Please keep letters safe over Christmas and return in the New Year if you have not yet done so.
Swimming Year 5
Year 5 will be swimming at John Whitgift Academy from Tuesday 6th January , daily to Friday 17th January. Pupils will need a swimming costume/trunks and a towel.
Local Boxing Champ to visit school
On 15th January we will be having a visit from our very own local sporting hero, Levi Giles to come and talk to the pupils.
Bikeability Year 5
On Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th January, Year 5 have the opportunity to take part in Bikeability, cycling proficiency training. Please can parents complete the consent form and send back as soon as possible
Parents Meetings for residential visits.
We will be holding meetings for parents with more information about the residentials to Rand Farm and PGL. Details will be sent out in the New Year.
Parent Engagement Workshops
On Wednesday 8th January, Miss Baxter and Miss Woolliss's class are invited into the school hall to take part in learning alongside their children. We look forward to seeing as many parents there as possible.
Internet Safety
Internet Safety
Follow this link for safety tips when setting up devices for children. This might be helpful over Christmas with new devices.
Communication with school
If you wish to speak to a member of staff, or pass on information, you can contact the school by telephone on 01472 808608. Our school email address is :- gcaenquiries@harbourlearningtrust.com .
This email address is monitored constantly, every day and enquiries on this address will be dealt with promptly. Please do not use any other Harbour Learning Trust email to contact school as this will not be picked up by school promptly. You can also speak to staff on the school gates or on the doors. You can also use the messaging system on Class Dojo, but bear in mind that, as teachers are teaching all day, they may not read Class Dojo until the end of the school day, or the next day, therefore important messages need to be sent to the School Office on the above email address.
We pride ourselves on the safe and friendly atmosphere in and around our school. Parents who are aggressive or abusive will be asked to leave and the police called if necessary.
School website: - https://gca.harbourlearningtrust.com/
Attendance
Thank you to all of our children and parents for supporting our attendance policies so far this year.
Please note these are our attendance systems which are in line with government policies and other schools in the area. You must contact the school every day your child is absent from school. If school has not been notified of an absence, you will receive a text message initially to allow you time to contact the school. If no contact has been made, a safety and well-being check will be made. A calling card will be left at the family home if no response is received. On day three of any absence a visit will be made by our pastoral team to your house. Every child must be spoken to or seen each week by a member of Great Coates staff. On some occassions where children are persistently absent (attendance below 90%) we will complete home visits on day one of an absence. Click on the link for more information about the government guidelines.
Follow Harold, our attendance mascot at https://twitter.com/HaroldHERO to find out all about attendance at Great Coates.
Attendance for the year
The table below shows the percentage for attendance for each of our classes for this year so far. A very well done to
Attendance below 95% is classed as ppor attendance. Poor attendance has a detrimental effect on pupil learning.
WHAT HAVE WE BEEN LEARNING THIS WEEK?
What have we been learning this week?
Please keep up to date with what the children have been learning with Twitter. The teachers share the pupils' learning so that you are kept informed. There are some marvellous achievements celebrated on our Twitter pages that the children are very rightly proud of.
https://twitter.com/PrimaryGreat
https://x.com/Year3L
https://twitter.com/HaroldHERO
https://twitter.com/SydandBridge
https://twitter.com/GCPreading
Great Coates Primary School
gcaenquiries@harbourlearningtrust.com
01472 808608
https://gca.harbourlearningtrust.com/
We are part of Harbour Learning Trust.
Our school motto is 'Success and Happiness for All.'