Find out what's happening in school:

• Y3/4 trip to Leeds

  Mon 22 Apr 2024 Mr B

  Last week, our Y3/4 children travelled to Leeds together by train. In the morning, we visited Leeds City Museum. There were all kinds of fascinating things to see, and lots that linked to our history learning in particular about history from the Bronze Age through to the Vikings.

  We enjoyed a picnic lunch in Millennium Square and then went to The Carriageworks Theatre in the afternoon to watch 'The Queen's Cartoonists', a jazz band all the way from New York. They projected cartoons onto a screen behind them and then accompanied them with live music. We even got a chance to ask them some questions. They were fantastic and all the children loved the experience.

  The children's behaviour was wonderful all day as usual and we were so proud of them all.

  

• Y3/4 production - Back To The Beginning

  Mon 01 Apr 2024 Mr B

  In the final week of term, the Y3/4 children put on their show: 'Back to the Beginning'. It was absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much to Mr Henshall, who wrote the script, and the rest of the Y3/4 team for their hard work directing actors, rehearsing songs, sourcing costumes, gathering props and painting scenery. The children worked so amazingly hard to put on a brilliant performance.

  One of our parents, who works in schools, commented: 'I felt I needed to email to say how AMAZING the performance was. As you will know I have seen many performances across a number of schools and this was, by far, the most impressive. What a fabulous way to embed their History knowledge... it has certainly worked for my child!' 

  These shows are as much a part of what we offer as a school as our curriculum. Giving every child a chance to shine and grow their confidence is absolutely vital and it was particularly pleasing to see some of our less confident children feel empowered to stand on a stage and deliver their lines in front of a crowd of unfamiliar faces.

  Well done everyone! A brilliant effort!

• Easter news

  Mon 01 Apr 2024 Mr B

  The spring term ended last week with lots of Easter excitement. We had some amazing entries for our decorated egg competition, and choosing the winners was incredibly difficult! Thank you to all those who entered. We saw some wonderful creativity on show.

   

  As ever, we were busy during the last few weeks of term with our sports teams. In the last week, we took two mixed boys/girls Y5/6 rugby teams to tournaments on consecutive nights. In both, they did amazingly well, winning more matches than they lost. The children played better and better rugby game on game. One of the coaches from Hunslet Rugby Foundation, who work with our school said: 'They were superb! You have a solid rugby team at Strawberry Fields. The progression they made from the last tournament they attended last academic year to last night's is really good to see, they should be proud.' We were certainly very proud of them!

  We also took two mixed football teams from Y1/2 to a football tournament. Again, we were really pleased with how well they did, finishing second in their group.

   

  We have also had other opportunities to broaden our children's sporting experiences. We took over 30 children from Key Stage Two to watch the Leeds Knights Ice Hockey team on the night they clinched the division championship! Our netball team were also invited to a Meet and Greet and to watch training session with the Leeds Rhinos netball team. The team found this experience very inspiring! 

   

  In other news, we had some children for Y5/6 compete in the regional heats of the Leeds Debating Competition. Both teams were amazing, and received praise from other teachers there. One team won their heat, but sadly did not acquire quite enough points to progress to the city final.

   

  We were invited to the ceremony to unveil the World Peace Flame in Leeds city centre. Mrs Mumby took some children from Years 5 and 6 who read Peace Poetry they had written during their recent topic about World War Two. The event was also attended by the Lord Mayor of Leeds and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. As ever when we take out children out of school to represent us, there were numerous comments about their excellent behaviour and their contribution tot he ceremony.

   

  We celebrated World Book Day in early March, with children coming to school dressed as all kinds of characters from their favourite books. One of the biggest highlights of the day was 'Reading Buddies', when the older children and younger children, from nursery to Year 6, pair up to enjoy a book together.

   

  Our eco-team have built a fantastic hedgehog house and planted a few more trees to complete our hedgerow at the back of school. Key Stage One also filled the planters outside their classrooms with all kinds of edible plants including beans and lettuce. Thank you to Incredible Edibles Garforth for providing the seeds and sending in two volunteers to work with the children.

   

  Please see our newsletters tab for photographs and more details of recent events in school. 

• Spring term updates

  Sun 03 Mar 2024 Mr B

  Plenty of exciting activities have happened in school so far in 2024 to enhance our curriculum and make sure the children have the opportunity to enjoy a range of experiences.

  In the second week of January, our Y6 children all went on their residential to Robinwood. Despite some very cold temperatures and a covering of snow, they had a brilliant time sampling all kinds of activities, challenging themselves and making memories. They were a credit to our school and the staff were so proud of them.

  Our Y5/6 children also visited the National Holocaust Museum in February, to complement their topic about the Second World War. The children dealt with some very serious subject matter maturely and came away with plenty of food for thought. Once again, their attitude and conduct was excellent.

  We have held our second Inspire events of the year for our Y1/2 and Y5/6 classes already this term, this time themed around oracy. It was great to be able to showcase the oracy work the children have been doing this year, and impress parents, carers and grandparents with the children confidence in talk.

  Last week, Mrs Mumby took 45 children from years 4, 5 and 6 to Young Voices at Sheffield Arena. The children had been preparing for the whole year and the event lived up to expectations. Everyone (staff and children) came back tired but happy, and many are already looking forward to next year's event.

  Staying on a music theme, our school choir took part in 'Sing and Swing' this week. We were lucky to have a small jazz band (drums, bass and keyboard) visit school, along with choirs from four other schools to learn and perform some jazz songs. Thanks so much to Claire Rivers, from Artforms, for co-ordinating and leading this event. It was amazing how quickly the children learned the songs and got them up to a performance standard.

  Our eco-council have been out litter picking in the area around the scout hut and Barley Hill Close at the back of the school. We filled FIVE bin bags in a little over half-an-hour. When we had finished, the area looked very different. Well done to all of them for their hard work.

  Thank you so much to the staff, children and families who support the school to make all these wonderful events possible. There is plenty more planned for the second half of the year!

• Christmas Events

  Tue 19 Dec 2023 Mr B

  The last couple of weeks of term have been busy with all kinds of important festive activity! Our Key Stage 2 choir have been busy on a mini-tour of the area. They have visited two local care homes to sing - St Armand's Court and The Hollies - where they brought plenty of Christmas cheer to the residents. They also sang at The Spring and at our school fair. Well done to all the children who have worked so hard to learnt the songs.

  Thank you too to our wonderful PTA, the Friends of Strawberry Fields. They have been super busy, organising our Christmas fair, which was a wonderful success and featured a visit from Santa Claus himself! They also helped with treats at our Christmas Film Night. Finally, money raised by the FoSF over the previous year paid for the pantomime all the children school enjoyed last Thursday.

  We also enjoyed our Christmas jumper and Christmas dinner day earlier this week! We are looking forward to our final Christmas event, our carol service, on the last day of term.

• Christmas Shows

  Tue 19 Dec 2023 Mr B

  It began to feel very festive at Strawberry Fields in the first weeks of December, when our Foundation Stage children performed their nativity, Whoops-A-Daisy Angel. It was absolutely wonderful - the singing, the acting, the dancing and the costumes were all tremendous. We know many of the parents will have been singing those songs for days afterwards!

  The following week, Key Stage 1 performed Baarmy Bethlehem. Once again, every aspect was amazing! Audiences left proud, wowed and happy. 

  We believe there is so much important learning and confidence building that takes place as a result of these shows, and they are such a highlight of the school calendar! Congratulations to all our brilliant children in both phases of school for their efforts, and to all the staff for making the shows so incredible.

• Y3/4 Inspire

  Tue 05 Dec 2023 Mr B

  We completed our final round of 'Inspire' events last week, with our Year 3/4 classes. Once again, thank you so much to all those parents, carers and grandparents who were able to attend. The feedback was so lovely and it is great to hear how useful the event was to so many. A small selection of the feedback we received can be found here.

  Look out for our next round of events, focused on oracy, in the spring term. Following feedback from attendees, next year's Inspire events will certainly feature one event with a maths focus.

• Year 5 Mixed Football

  Mon 04 Dec 2023 Mr B

  Mr Hervo took nine Year Five children to Cockburn Academy to take part in a mixed football tournament. We took 5 boys and 4 girls. It was brilliant to see them playing together. Although we did not win any games, drawing twice and losing twice, Mr Hervo said we were very unlucky and probably deserved to score a few more goals. Thanks to Mr Hervo for taking the children, and to the team for representing our school so brilliantly.

• Y3 Curling

  Mon 04 Dec 2023 Mr B

  Last week we took twelve Year Three children to Garforth Academy to take part in a curling tournament. One of our teams won their group, with three wins and a draw! When the results were added up across all three teams, we came third out of five. Thanks to Mrs Dodson and Mrs Campbell for taking the children. As ever, the children were a credit to themselves and to us!

• Y5/6 Inspire

  Mon 20 Nov 2023 Mr B

  Thank you to all those parents/carers/grandparents who attended our Y5/6 Inspire events last week. As usual, the feedback was excellent. It was lovely to be able to share an insight into how spelling and reading are taught at Strawberry Fields. Feedback from the event can be seen here.