William Barcroft Junior School
'Success and happiness for all'
'Pupils are very happy to attend this nurturing and inclusive school'
'The school has high ambition for pupils' achievement'
'Pupils know they have a strong voice'
'The school's pastoral care is exemplary'
Ofsted report - June 2025
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/21/143884
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our first newsletter of the summer term. The children have been loving the upturn in weather and we have had lots of fun playing on the field. Long may it continue!
Please look out for some important letters this week. We have a new exciting event this year with the colour run, we have the year 5 sleepover and sports days coming up very soon, and a letter has been sent this week for year 6 parents to ensure you have all of the information you need for upcoming SATs. If you are missing any of these letters then please let us know.
As always, we have had a busy fortnight in school. A group of children had an amazing day yesterday at a reading event at Blundell Park, we hosted a fabulous football match at home to Healing Primary and we’ve had the Energy Heroes team in to help us learn about saving energy. Our safeguarding focus this week has been sun safety, with the team from the Melanoma Fund helping children understand the importance of sunguarding.
Just to note, during the week of Sats (Monday 11th May) our breakfast club for years 3-5 will move to Miss Stephen’s classroom (formerly the music room). Children will need to enter through the door outside that room. This is for one week only as year 6 will be in the hall for their Sats breakfast club.
Please enjoy the bank holiday weekend, hopefully in the sunshine, and I look forward to welcoming the children back on Tuesday morning.
S Sargent
Principal
This term, every time your child is present for the morning register they will receive a dojo point before the day has even begun! The children are aware that we are working on punctuality as a whole school so that we can start our day of well and this is a great incentive to support this.
Please can you help to support getting your child to school at 8.35am before the register is taken.
If you have not yet registered for Dojo, please do so as it will allow you to see how many points your child collects. The link has been sent out to you by email previously, but if you have any problems, please contact the office.
Summer 1
Monday 4th May - Bank Holiday (No school)
Tuesday 6th May - SEND Parents Evening
W/C 11th May - SATS week
11/12/14 May - Y5 Into University
Friday 15th May - Y5 Sleepover
Tuesday 19th May - Y5 & Y6 Sports Day
Wednesday 20th May - All school violin performances
Thursday 21st May - Y3 & Y4 Sports Day
Thursday 21st May - Colour Dash (afternoon)
Term ends Friday 22nd May (normal time)
New term starts Monday 1st June
Term dates
Please check the website for 2025 - 2026 term dates.
Over the course of this year, we have been developing our behaviour strategies, beginning back in September with a whole-school discussion involving the children. Together, we explored what they felt our school rules should look like, and as a result, we agreed on the ‘WBJS’ acronym to guide our approach. We are delighted to share our school rules:
W – Work hard
B – Be safe
J – Join in
S – Show respect
In addition, we have introduced new lanyards to support restorative conversations with our children. These cards help guide pupils in resolving conflicts and finding positive outcomes. All staff have received training in using restorative approaches, and we are pleased to see these strategies being implemented successfully across the school.
We will be holding our Colour Dash (fun run) to raise funds for Lifting Children's Hopes on Thursday 21st May. The Colour Dash will take place in the afternoon on school grounds. This video shows what a Colour Dash entails for those that have not heard of it before.
All children are encouraged to take part and help raise money for this worthy charity. If you are happy for your child to take part, please sign up in the trips section on Arbor. Sponsorship forms have been given out to everyone so that you are able to ask friends and family to sponsor them.
Full details have already been sent out by email and in hard copy, but if you have any queries, please do contact the office.
We are really excited about our new partnership with children's charity - Lifting Children's Hopes.
LCH is a fantastic charity that helps children across the country in a variety of ways, such as providing financial support towards school trips, access to mental health therapy, and essentials like coats, toiletries and school uniforms.
As a school partner, we can nominate children and families who may benefit from the programmes they run. If you are a family with a low income and would like us to consider nominating you for their support, please email - wbaenquiries@harbourlearningtrust.com and we will add you to our list.
As SATS week is fast approaching, all our Year 6 students are busy taking part in revision sessions in preparation. Test week is Monday 11th May to Thursday 14th May and exams will be taking place each day. For this week, there is a special Year 6 only breakfast club. All Year 6 students are expected to attend so that we are able to ensure that they are in school, settled and have a good breakfast to give them the best possible start to each day. This is free of charge and there will be a variety of breakfast options available for them to choose from. No need to book a place, children just need to arrive at 8.00am
On Friday 15th May they will be rewarded with a 'Golden Friday' celebration at the end of the exams. This is a non-uniform day for Year 6 only and they will be treated to a variety of fun activities to take part in.
For parents whose children take violin lessons, you are invited to attend a violin performance for their child, run by our music teacher Mrs Townell.
The performances will take place on Wednesday 20th May. Performance times:
Bluebells 1.20pm
Roses 2pm
Daffodils 2.40pm
Places are limited to 2 per child. Please book places through Arbor (in the school shop).
General Information
Please can we remind parents to be respectful of residents and not park over dropped kerbs or use driveways to turn.
Please do not ride bikes and scooters on the school grounds, this is for children and adults. This is for the safety of our children, thank you.
Please note, electric scooters are not allowed on the school site due to health and safety regulations and not having the facilities to store them in school.
Please do not bring pets onto the school site due to health and safety regulations. This includes picking up from after school clubs.
PE Kits
PE kit MUST be brought to school on your child's PE days,
Year 3 and Year 4 - Monday and Wednesday
Year 5 and Year 6 - Tuesday and Thursday
PE kit should be worn for every PE lesson to ensure children are successful and safe during their session. Please ensure your child is wearing the school PE top with the WBJS logo, black or blue joggers/shorts and comfortable trainers.
WBJS Newsround
We have been working so hard since the holidays and our brains are very busy. In maths, we have been learning all about fractions. We can now add and subtract them and even find fractions of amounts.
We read a great book called Poems Aloud and then we wrote our own poems to perform. Now, we are reading James and the Giant Peach together and it is so exciting. We have been doing lots of reading quizzes and we even took our next Star Reader tests to see how we are doing.
Here are some other cool things we’ve been up to. We've just started a new history topic about ancient civilizations, starting with the Indus Valley. We're learning about our bones and looking at skeletons in Science. In Art we have been looking at the colours and shapes in Kandinsky's artwork. It has been a great start to the term!
It has been an action-packed start to the Summer term for year 4, filled with mystery, scientific discovery, and plenty of movement!
In English, the children have been gripped by the first three chapters of The Highland Falcon Thief, already spotting clues and making predictions about the train-based mystery. Our Maths sessions have focused on the world of decimals, where students have been honing their skills in partitioning and ordering numbers to gain a deeper understanding of place value.
Things got a little "sticky" in Science as we investigated the effects of different liquids on tooth enamel; we used eggs as a substitute for teeth and are eagerly awaiting the results to see which drinks cause the most damage! To keep our bodies as healthy as our minds, we headed outside to practice our Athletics skills, focusing on running technique and stamina. This tied in perfectly with our PSHCE discussions, where we explored the "Healthy Plate" and learned how a balanced diet fuels our busy school days.
The start of term has been a busy one with students taking part in some really exciting trips and activities (more details further on in the newsletter). All students have been studying still life in art, and have started still life drawings and will also be moving on to painting shortly. In English we have been reading 'The Lost Whale' and have written postcards to our family, and in PE we have been training hard for sports day.
Year 6 have been working incredibly hard in all lessons- they are powering through their revision and are making great progress. All year 6 staff are really impressed with their effort. They have been doing lots of SPAG, Arithmetic, reading and maths revision as well as enjoying writing and rounders.
What a fantastic response we had to our Dr Bike visit. All in all they did complete safety checks and services on 28 student's bikes. Lots of punctures, brakes and chains were fixed with many receiving replacement parts. A very successful day! We are grateful to have been offered this service as another way that we are helping to keep our children safe.
This week, our Year 3, 4, and 5 students welcomed a special visit from Melanoma UK for an engaging and vital assembly on sun safety.
The session focused on the science of UV (Ultraviolet) rays, explaining how these invisible rays from the sun can affect our skin even on cloudy days. It was a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to understand that while being active outdoors is important, protecting their skin now is the best way to stay healthy for the future.
What is a digital footprint? Basically it's the trail we all create online whenever we visit a web page, buy something, scroll social media and everything else we do online. It's a really important aspect to understand for lots of reasons such as privacy, reputation, advertising, risks of harm and much more.
Internet Matters have a really good explainer article covering what a digital footprint is, what we mean by an active footprint, why it matters and much more.
Link: Internet Matters - What you need to know about your child's digital footprint.
The children enjoyed learning about our atmosphere and the negatives of fossil fuels on our climate during an assembly. We also learned about why renewable energy sources are cleaner and better for us now and in the future. After assembly we applied our maths skills to real life contexts, looking at pie charts and how our fuel sources have changed over time, as well as how we can track and calculate our energy usage.
Some children were lucky enough to go to different areas of school and look at how we use energy at William Barcroft, see how our solar panels make a positive difference, but also think about what other little changes we can all make to save the planet!
The group of Y5's had a fabulous day out at Blondell Park. We worked with members of the foundation, who took us on a tour and told us some of the match day secrets and the history of the ground. We also got to meet an author, with whom we created and performed a football themed poem before being gifted some of his books. To top off the day we had a photo in the middle of the pitch - joined by one of the Grimsby Town players - before a Q&A with Doug before returning to school.
All the children were really enthusiastic about both the football and the literacy and it opened our eyes to see how the two can be mixed.
As warmer weather approaches, more people are spending time near lakes, ponds and rivers. While these areas may look calm and inviting, they can be extremely dangerous. Open water often hides hazards beneath the surface, such as shopping trolleys, bikes and other debris, which can cause injury or trap someone underwater. Water temperatures can also be much colder than expected. Falling in suddenly can trigger an involuntary gasp, increasing the risk of inhaling water.
If someone falls into deep water, call 999 immediately. Do not delay.
Never enter the water to try to save someone or a pet - call 999.
The What3Words app can help emergency services find your exact location quickly, within a few metres.
Stay safe around water by following this advice:
If going out alone, always tell someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back
Read and follow warning signs and safety notices
Watch for slips and trips and stick to designated paths
Take extra care near riverbanks and cliff edges, as they may be unstable
Don’t mess around near water – look out for each other and raise the alarm if someone is in trouble
If you or someone else falls into water, remember Float to Live:
Tilt your head back, keeping your ears under the water
Relax and try to breathe normally
Spread your arms and legs to stay afloat
Once calm, shout for help or swim to safety
Find out more safety advice on Humberside Fire and Rescue Service's website: https://humbersidefire.gov.uk/your-safety/water-safety-and-drowning-prevention
Follow this link to visit the safeguarding section of our website, and for a copy of our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy. https://wba.harbourlearningtrust.com/our-academy/safeguarding/
Change the life of a local child, be a foster carer. Enquire today Fostering in North East Lincolnshire | NELC
As a foster friendly school, we want to raise awareness of the need for local foster carers to come forward in the area. If you think you can make a positive difference to a child’s life, enquire today. Fostering in North East Lincolnshire | NELC https://youtu.be/sNXx6dycp3Y
For all SEND enquiries please contact Mrs Asher our school SENDCO.
The next parents evening for SEND children will be held on Wednesday 7th May. If you have not yet booked your slot, please do so in Arbor as soon as possible.
Please check out the following links to our X (Twitter) accounts and see what each class have been up to this week in real-time!
