201 - 23.05.13 - Yarm School

The newsletter of Yarm at Raventhorpe Number 201YEAR 6 TAKE ON THE TEES!The Year 6 children were in high spirits and full ofexcitement as they set off on the walk to Blackwell, whichwas the first leg of self-powered expedition to Yarm. Asthe children manoeuvred the canoes down the tracktowards the river, the air was heavy with the smell of garlicfrom the ransoms. The four canoes were raftedtogether and stowed with everything needed forthe first part of the journey, including the plasticcontainer with the trowel—or, as the childrenreferred to it, “the toiletries”. Mr Clifford led forthe boys, whilst Mr Van Opstal steered the girl‟scanoe. They were waved on their way by MrsMcGee, who would join them later at Sockburn,and Mr Les who took the minibus full of the tentsand provisions on to Sockburn Hall.The children set off with confident strokes, aided bythe river, which was running quite high and fast afterall the rain of the past few days. When Mrs McGeearrived in the afternoon at Sockburn, there was hotwater for a cup of tea, the tents and gazebo wereup, and the charcoal lit for the barbecue. Whilstthe children were playing quoits and Frisbee, thecows lined up by the fence somewhat bemusedby the entertainment. The star turn for themproved to be the smell of cooking burgers; theyjostled each other to get nearer! Everything waswell-ordered and the children were pleased withtheir achievements on day one of theirexpedition. There was some disputeabout who had been splashing water,which Mr Clifford has quashed, literally,but all the children felt that theirpaddling had been more strenuous thanmerely „trickling‟ the water with paddles!!After a good sleep and a heartybreakfast, the children loaded the canoesup again and set off for Yarm.The girls led for most of the way(as expected!!), but they werepipped at the post by the boys,who glided straight past the girls, who had waited forthem to catch up, at the last minute. Well done Year6 for a superb effort and a fitting finale, and hugethank you to Mr Van Opstal and Mr Clifford for makingthe expedition possible.

News from around the classes ...In the Dales with Year 3: the full story!Last Tuesday, the Year 3 children embarked of the adventure of a lifetime! For many itwas their first time away from home and parents; a big deal when you are only 7 or 8!The first hurdle was having to get through Monday’s maths and English lessons, whenall they wanted to do was join Year 4 in the Yorkshire Dales.Bags had been packed since Sunday, and Tuesday couldn’t come fast enough for them.With the minibus checked and full of fuel, bags, packed lunches, children, Miss Brysonand Mrs Jennings, the group set off towards Richmond travelling through sunnyLeyburn and Bainbridge before arriving at a soggy and hail-lashed hut in the heart of the Dales! Nothing could dampen the spiritsof the children – they thought it hilarious that Mrs Jennings forgot to close the window and they were pelted with large hailstoneswhilst trying to find the location! On arrival, the Year 4’s were returning from a walk from Alum Pot and were drenched, but theyhadn’t noticed. They were pleased to see the Year 3 group and to share news of the exciting things they had seen and done, as wellas giving them the grand tour of the hut! The Year 4 group appeared to have matured and become more independent in the 48hours they had been away: they helped organise the dining room, laying the table without being asked, sorting out the food anddrinks, and politely keeping the Year 3’s in check with table manners. They explained what would be expected of them and had sethigh standards from the start; Year 3 continued them throughout their stay.As a reward, the children were given the treat of trying wild garlic!After Year 4’s departure, the real fun started – caving! Wearing hard hats, headtorches and harnesses, the children explored a cave and an underground waterfall:amazing. Mr van Opstal and Mr Clifford were extremely knowledgeable andexplained the formations of the caves in detail. Blinking into the sunshine outside(yes, really!), head torches were switched off and a ghyll-scramble followed. Formany of the children, this was the first time they had been asked to climb a streamin wellies. The rocks were slippery and in places the children had to grip the rockswith their finger tips in order to balance on the edge of a pool of water. Despitedifferent initial reactions, all the children managed the challenge well; the teacherswere delighted with the positive attitude demonstrated and moreover, those whohad dreaded it at the bottom were beaming from ear to ear with pride at the top.Back at the hut, the children had tea, put wet clothes in the drying room and organised the sleeping arrangements. Each step of thetrip was a first for the children, even sleeping in sleeping bags for some. They wereall very well-behaved at bedtime – exhaustion and excitement might havecontributed to this!On Wednesday, the weather didn’t disappoint... it was pouring down! Once again,it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. Activities were arranged appropriately and wevisited a limestone kiln, where a film crew was filming a movie for the cinema nextyear – a World War II film. Afterwards, we visited a falconry centre, where theyheld a barn owl and met Vera, the largest lappet-faced vulture, aged 40, and thesmallest vulture, Wesley.The trip whizzed by and soon we were heading home on a heavily-laden minibus. The return journey was somewhat quieter thanthe journey out! The children thanked Mr van Opstal and Mr Clifford by writing them letters and making them a card. It truly wasa trip of a lifetime and one the children will remember forever.Slugs and Snails and… Reception!!Last week at Forest School, we were looking for minibeasts. This hassparked off a lot of interest in Reception and we have carried onsearching for all sorts of minibeast this week. Mrs Willis went intoher garden one evening and collected lots of slugs and snails; wewatched them moving across sheets of plastic so we could see whatwas happening underneath. The children noticed what happened ifthe snails were frightened; some of them noticed that they could seethe muscle underneath moving as the snail slid across the plastic sheet.Of course, the first thing everyone said was “Urgh! It’s slimy!”.

Creative Collages in Year 2The highlight of this week, here in Year 2, has to bethe fact that we completed our collages of FarmersBoggis, Bunce and Bean! We are absolutely delightedwith the results and hope it’s obvious from thephotographs why we’re feeling so pleased! Thesemasterpieces will eventually be displayed in ourclassroom alongside a rhyme chanted by the childrenwho lived round about them:“Boggis and Bunce and BeanOne fat, one short, one leanThese horrible crooksSo different in looksWe’re none the less equally mean.”Our star is Will Appleby for his super description ofFantastic Mr Fox. Well done!The Great Year 4 Bake-off!The children took a couple of days to recover from their activities at Selside, but are still full of enthusiasmabout the residential. It is so important for a child’s development to experience learning outside theclassroom, giving everyone the chance to face and overcome fears and challenges with their friends’ support.The children were a credit to school and Mrs Lofthouse-Hill was proud of the way they approached everythingand made the most of the opportunities they were given. Making thank you cards for Mr Van Opstal and MrClifford was a way of expressing our appreciation for their hard work leading our trip. Following numerous requests to bake,Mrs Lofthouse-Hill decided that it would be a good idea to make chocolate brownies for both leaders and for the Y6 childrenon their residential. It couldn’t be sent off without testing, so Year 4 made sure it was up to their usual standards beforesharing it. It must have been good as most children requested the recipe… apologies to parents for its extravagance, but theresults are rather good!We are now in to the full swing of rehearsals and Time Lord is beginning to take shape. The singing is wonderful to listen toand it is evident that the children have had excellent support in learning lines. Special mention must go to Charlie, not onlyfor being almost word-perfect, but for delivering his lines with such expression and stage presence. Well done!Running away from Year 1 to join the circus?Another busy week – I think we are all ready for the halftermbreak; work on tens and units hashit saturation point!Inspired by our ‘big top’ reading tent,we have been thinking about circusesand wondering what life would be likebeing part of one; most of the childrendecided being an animal trainer wouldbe the most exciting job, although atrapeze-artist came a close second!Living in a caravan was appealing toHarry and Rhianna, but Callumdecided a hotel would be much more comfortable.We have written stories about joining a circus; HenryParker’s is printed here for you to enjoy:Today the circus came to town, and I went to speak to themanager and said, “I need a job”.He said I could join the circus and tame a lion to jumpthrough the hoop of fire and to jump over people and to walkon a trapeze. But they weren’t my thing and I let themescape. I was in big trouble. I was sent home ashamed ofmyself.It took three thousand one hundred and eighty-five days to gethome. I had no food. I started coughing and I didn’t makeit. I was dead!In spite of the very sad ending, I think you’ll agree it’s aquirky twist on a circus adventure story! Our star of theweek is, therefore, Henry P. Well done, Henry.Free-wheeling in NurseryThe children in Nursery were veryexcited to bring their bikes andscooters into school on Tuesday!What an assortment we had: therewere pink tricycles, bikes withstabilizers, balance bikes and manydifferent styles of scooters. We evenhad a couple of children showing usstunts on their scooters! Previously, the children had lookedat the differences between Frankie’s big two-wheeler withstabilizers and Sophie’s balance bike, and had spent sometime drawing the two bikes. Louis proved to be a bit of a starwhen it came to drawing – and bikes are not the easiest thingsto draw!Mrs.Storeyhad thepleasureof doingP.E withNurseryin Mrs.Bradley’sabsenceon thisweek.How impressive! We used Mrs. Bradley’s special foam javelins,but don’t tell her! We had great fun.