Find out what's happening in school:

• Christmas Shows

  Thu 12 Dec 2019 Mr B

  This week, we are well and truly into the Christmas spirit with both our Key Stage One and Foundation children putting on their Christmas performances.

  Key Stage One performed 'The Greatest Snowman', a Father Christmas origin story written by our very own Mr Henshall and based on a film with a similar name... The quality of the singing, dancing and acting was incredible and all the children looked amazing in their costumes!

  Foundation Stage performed 'Everyone Loves a Baby'. Anyone who saw the show would have been feeling a little bit more like the magic of Christmas was in the air by the end of it! To be able to stand at the back of the hall and hear every word said by such young children was truly inspiring. 

  It was wonderful to see so many parents, carers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, neighbours and governors at both performances of each show. Thank you so much to all those who took the trouble to pass on kind comments! 

  The children did an absolutely fantastic job and it is always nice to be able to reflect on the incredible impact these performances can have on children's confidence, spoken language and understanding of the world.

• Sport this half-term

  Thu 12 Dec 2019 Mr B

  As ever, we have been busy with different sporting events this half-term.

  Six children went to East Garforth to represent Strawberry Fields in a multi-skills event. The event was non-competitive, but we were so proud of the way our children worked hard and encouraged one another.

  We also took two football teams from Years 5 and 6 to play Westerton in the first round of the cup. Unfortunately, both teams lost. We lost 6-1 in Y5, in a game in which we found ourselves 3-0 down after five minutes, before recovering to compete much more effectively. Our Y6 team lost 2-0, in a game which was much closer in in which both teams had good chances to score.

  Eleven Y4 children competed in a dodgeball tournament against other local primary schools, with one our teams making the semi-final before losing our narrowly.

  Finally, we held our first in-school cross-country competition. It was great to see so many children across key stage two volunteering to take part. Even more encouraging is the number of children now opting to run laps during their lunchtimes. The eventual winners of the competition were South America, but well done to all those who competed. We will be running a similar competition next half-term, as well as hosting a cross-country competition against other local schools.

• Key Stage 1 outdoor learning day

  Thu 12 Dec 2019 Mr B

  On Tuesday 2nd December, we welcomed Jenny and Hollie from Alfresco Learning in Key Stage One to deliver an exciting workshop based on the Great Fire of London. During the workshop, the children learned all about wattle and daub, how to make it and how to build a traditional Tudor house. We worked as a team, to build our own walls. We also got very muddy! Also, the children investigated different materials to build a new bakery for Thomas Farriner using 3 materials only. They had to make sure it was waterproof, wind proof and sturdy. 

  We all thoroughly enjoyed our workshops and had lots of fun. 

  

• Tree Planting Day

  Wed 04 Dec 2019 Mr B

  Last week, we planted over a hundred trees we were given by the Woodland Trust to form a hedgerow over the back fence, and lots of daffodil bulbs donated by Garforth in Bloom. Older classes paired with younger classes to plant their trees or bulbs together. Thank you to all the volunteers from Garforth in Bloom who came along to assist!

  We spoke with the children about the environmental benefits of tree planting. We also had a vegetarian menu for the day and discussed the implications in assembly of considering how and where our food is sourced.

• Christmas events

  Mon 02 Dec 2019 Mr B

  Last week, Strawberry Fields' first two Christmas events took place. 

  First, on Thursday after school we had our Christmas fair. The hall and forest of knowledge were full of all manner of exciting looking stalls, and the library was borrowed by Father Christmas as his temporary grotto for the afternoon! It was lovely to see so many families, including so many ex-pupils, in school sharing some early Christmas spirit and enjoying the refreshments and buying from the stalls. Thank you so much to all those who attended, and in particular, a big thank you to those members of our school community who make up the Friends of Strawberry Fields, for their tireless efforts organising the event!

  On Saturday morning, eleven of our Year Five and Six pupils joined with children from the other primary schools in the Garforth Primary Schools Combined Choir. They sang six songs on Garforth main street. The choir sounded beautiful! As ever, we were proud of the behaviour and attitude of all those children who came along to represent Strawberry Fields. Thank you to those parents/carers who brought their children along, and apologies to anyone who needed to get into Dorothy Anne's between 10.45 and 11.15 on Saturday morning!