Low Ash News Summer 2023

In this edition
• Year Group News
• Mental Health
• Farewell for summer
…and much more

Twitter and Facebook Year Group News!
Here is a selection of some Twitter and Facebook posts from some year groups from the
summer term.
Please click on the link to view all of the Facebook posts.
Low Ash Primary School | Bradford | Facebook

Art & DT at Low Ash
Just like every other term this year, we have been super busy doing a range of different
things within our Art and DT curriculum. We have continued to work in our own
sketchbooks to practise skills and prepare for a full three days of Art and DT at the end of
every half term. There was a buzz around school as it was clear in every classroom just how
much the children enjoyed it and were thriving. Our Year 6 children also had the
opportunity to contribute towards the Shipley Arts Festival – they greatly enjoyed creating
their letter.
Sport at Low Ash
It has been a fantastic year for sport at Low Ash Primary with lots of children taking part in
lots of different sports, with lots of successes.
Recently our Under 11s boys went to the Bradford Schools’ football finals at Horsfall
Stadium. 14 schools took part with each school playing against each other twice. Each game
played was extremely close and the league table was changing constantly throughout the
day. It went down to the final game with Low Ash needing a win to win the league. The
boys gave the last game everything they had and managed to win the game convincingly.
This meant they were the Bradford Schools Under 11s Champions!
We also had children taking part in the Under 9s girls & boys, West Yorkshire cricket finals,
at Pudsey St Lawrence. Some of our children went to the John Charles Sports Centre to
compete in the West Yorkshire Panathlon finals and we had an Under 11s girls’ football
team compete in the Bradford schools football finals.
We hope everybody has had a fantastic year, we have had lots of children across KS1 take
part in a variety of sports and we are extremely proud of what they have achieved.

School Environment
We have been extremely busy during the summer terms getting our inner garden looking
fantastic. Lots of the children along with Mr Brook have worked tirelessly in after school
clubs and during our fantastic Friday sessions to complete the project. The children have
gained great experience and knowledge while creating our nurture garden and we now
have some very keen gardeners on our hands. There is a wide variety of different plants in
the garden to attract wildlife into the area. We have our very own vegetable patch that has
already provided food for our Rethink food stall. But most of all, we feel that we have
created a peaceful space for children to have their sensory needs stimulated. Mr Brook
could not wait to get back from the school holidays last half term to see if his tomatoes had
ripened. A special thanks goes to Wrose Parish Council for all their support in creating the
perfect area for our students to enjoy.

Healthy Schools Week
We had a hectic week towards the end of this half term for Healthy Schools Week. It was
amazing to see so many parents/carers come to support their children on their Sports Days.
All the children had the opportunity to participate in lots of different events and get into
the competitive spirit. Many staff commented on how lovely it was to see different year
groups showing each other support and encouragement. We really do have great
sportsmanship attitudes here at Low Ash. Also during the week, we had many visitors
talking about jobs related to physical activity or mental health. Some children also visited a
local cricket ground and climbing wall as well as took part in crown green bowling and
football at Goals.

Trips & Residentials
This half-term, from April 17 th - April 19 th , Year 5 went on a fantastic school residential to
Nell Bank. The Nell Bank staff were very pleased to see us on the first day and greeted us
with welcoming, warm smiles. We were sorted into our dorms and then immediately got to
the very interesting activities. We then took part in a seven mile walk which all pupils
enjoyed very much and Sam from Nell Bank said, “This is one of our best year groups and
they completed the walk very quickly and with no moaning.” The students who attended
this very exquisite trip enjoyed the ice creams that we ate after the walk.
We interviewed the staff members from Low Ash that went on the school residential and
this is what they said. “The behaviour was more than excellent and we are very pleased
that the Nell Bank staff thought so too.” We also interviewed some children who attended
this school trip and Freya in 5H said, “My favourite activity was the duck challenge, where
we had to fill up a tube, that had holes in, with water.” All in all, the children and staff from
Low Ash had a brilliant time.
To end their final year with us here at Low Ash, Year 6 went on a five-day residential to the
Yorkshire Dales activity centre Peat Rigg. The children had an exceptional time when
completing a range of diverse activities many that they had never experienced before.
These included: canoeing, abseiling, mountain biking and even caving this year. When
reflecting around the campfire on what were their best moments, many simply could not
choose and said, “Just everything. It has been beyond anything I expected.”
The facilities and environment are conducive to develop skills which will be advantageous
at secondary school. Here are some of the comments from our year 6 pupils.

“The food was incredible from bacon and breakfast to cookie and hot chocolate before
bed.”
“It has been the best week ever and I don’t want to go home.”
Miss Henry said, “I have loved watching the children encouraging each other, facing their
fears, seeing their social skills develop and watching them being the fantastic Low Ash
pupils they are.” She continued, “I didn’t even want to come home because Peat Rigg is by
far the best residential I have ever been on and just one of the most amazing places I’ve
been. We think it was the best way for the children to end their Low Ash journey.”

The children who did not attend Peat Rigg had a fantastic week doing equally fun activities.
They went to various places including Fountains Abbey and Clip and Climb. Then at school
they even got to bake their own cookies - so it was a brilliant week for all of Year 6.

Stay and Play OPAL
We were delighted this term for you to see how amazing our OPAL breaktimes and
lunchtimes are. We are sure all that attended would agree it was a very successful day and
the children were thrilled to be able to show the parents/carers all the fantastic
opportunities and resources they have in the playground. We noticed that many of our
children were keen for their adults to get stuck in themselves and we even saw a few
parent/carer vs children scooter races!

Rethink Food
For most of this year since we introduced Rethink Food. We have run our own business
selling food on Fridays after school. This has been hugely successful and given the children
first-hand experience of running a business and taught them lots of new skills. We hope to
open back up and continue our venture in the new school year.

Coronation
To celebrate the King’s Coronation, every year group had the opportunity to come off time
table and participate in a range of different activities. The children loved having a tea party
with classic British grub and sat proudly with their crowns on their heads.

May Day Parade
Thank you to all the parents/carers who came down to support us on our Early Years May
Day Parade. It was so lovely to see the children dressed up in their outfits and see their
smiling faces as we celebrated the traditional springtime festival.
Wrose Carnival
Many of our children played their part in the parade or in the choir that entertained the
large crowds at this lovely local event.

Farewell Year 6
Since we are now at the end of the year, it means it is time to say a final
goodbye to our Year 6 students. They have been a truly fantastic year group and
we are so sad to see them go. However, we know they are beyond ready to
move on to their next adventures in secondary school. We wish all our Year 6
students the best in their futures and we know they will continue to excel in
their studies. But most of all we want to say, ‘Keep being the amazing people
you are.’ We hope to hear from them in the years to come and we will miss
them greatly.
Online Safety
What is TikTok? Is it appropriate for children? As TikTok is becoming much
more popular and children will be spending more time on their devices over
the summer we have been discussing it in this term’s Online Safety section of
Low Ash News.
TikTok is a video-sharing, social media app
available on iOS and Android devices which lets
users create, share and view user-created videos
in a much similar manner to Facebook, Instagram
and Snapchat.
Its main draw, however, is that users can
record and upload bite-sized looping
videos of themselves lip-syncing and
dancing to popular music or soundbites,
often for comedic effect. This can then be
further enhanced with filters, emojis and
stickers.

Need to know information
On the iOS store,
TikTok is listed as
12+. On the Google
PlayStore, it is rated
as ‘Parental
Guidance
Recommended’. This
means that no
children at our
school should be
using this app.
TikTok provides the
opportunity for
in-app extras called
‘TikTok coins’. These
range in price from
99p for 100 coins to
£93.99 for 10,000
coins! In the iOS
version of the app,
you can disable coin
purchases.
As a social network, TikTok
makes it easy to connect with
other users through
commenting and reacting to
their videos, following their
profile and downloading their
content. Be aware that, by
default, all profiles are set to
public. Also, due to the
abundance of young users,
TikTok is prone to online
predators.
Mental Health
We all want to support our children to open up and speak
about how they feel but it can be really difficult to know how to
start these conversations. This is a website with some helpful
tips:
https://parentzone.org.uk/Ollee

These organisations may be helpful if you have any concerns for your child’s wellbeing:
Young Minds
https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/
Parents Forum Bradford & Airedale
https://www.familylives.org.uk/
https://www.annafreud.org/parents-and-carers/about/
https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/
https://www.mindedforfamilies.org.uk/young-people
If a young person is experiencing a mental health crisis and needs support, they
can text Young Minds Crisis Messenger for free. This is a 24/7 support service.
85258
It is free and confidential to text from EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

Thank You
Many thanks to our fabulous Low Ash News team for their dedication in producing our
excellent Low Ash News - many of whom will take the skills gained with them to their
secondary school. Thank you to all parents and carers in supporting all the Low Ash children
in being ‘the best that they can be’. Have a wonderful summer.
Summer Word Search