News

Summer 2010

We bade an emotional farewell to our Year 6 pupils at the leavers presentation at Low Row Institute at the end of the summer term. We wish them well as they move on to pastures new and we look forward to hearing great things of them in the future.

Each of the Y6 students received a copy of this terrific group photo prepared for the leavers by our departing Y4 teacher, Mr Stuart Howat. We will all miss Stuart, but we wish him all the best and look forward also to hearing great things of him in his new career as a photographer.

Summer 2010

Gunnerside was host to sports day this year, and we were incredibly lucky to have a bright, sunny window in an otherwise cloudy, drizzly day. As ever, lots of friends and family came to watch the sport, and some were even persuaded to take part – as you can see from our photo galleries below.

Summer 2010

The sports day fun races included the sack race, bouncy hoppers, egg and spoon, and the three-legged race.

Summer 2010

Once again, Mrs Bastow powered her way to victory in the mums' race, and the dads' race was also run with commitment by a seriously enthusiastic field!

Summer 2010

Our end-of-year concert, staged at Reeth Memorial Hall, was a musical, Yanomamo, celebrating the life of the the Yanomamo tribe in the rainforest on the Amazon. This eco-conscious song cycle, performed with great gusto by the whole school, went down a storm over the course of three separate performances. Thanks to all who supported us and helped out.

Summer 2010

A selection of work produced by children throughout our schools has gone on display at Hudson House in Reeth. The exhibition showcases work created during Arts Projects Week, including watercolours, acrylic painting, weaving, photography and glass painting. The children's work shows an appreciation of the beauty of our spectacular landscape and they have captured it in original and striking ways. The work will be on show until 18 August, 2010, and is definitely worth a look.

Summer 2010

Eight local primary schools got together at Catterick Pavilion for an inter-school rounders tournament recently. Our schools played valiantly but unfortunately did not make the final. It's the taking part that counts!

Summer 2010

Swaledale Festival swept through our schools recently with appearances on both sites by the talented trio known as SYM. We were treated to performances on unusual instruments – hardingfele, nyckelharpa and hurdy gurdy – by these accomplished players, who were in the dales to perform at the Festival. The children all enjoyed these special concerts at Reeth and Gunnerside.

Summer 2010

Here is the promised, if belated, update on the work in progress on our playing field at the back of the school at Reeth, and on the Nursery outdoor area. As you can see from these pictures, there have been interesting developments in the field – and, no, that's not a sea monster rising out of the grass! The Nursery outdoor area is also making great progress, in baby steps and giant steps, and will soon have a terrific terrace with built-in planters. More pictures will follow as the work moves forward.

Spring 2010

For World Book Day a cast of colourful characters invaded classrooms at both our schools. We had a Fantastic Mr Fox, Snow White, Hetty the Worst Witch, two Horrid Henrys, Mrs Wobble, a scarecrow, Fireman Sam and a lady skeleton with her skeleton dog! There were lots of other characters, too, among children and staff. As well as reading together in cosy reading tents, set up in class for the event, our classes collectively authored their own stories using the forum tool on our new learning platform, Fronter.

Spring 2010

Our schools and the Two Dales Nursery were delighted to receive over £1,000 at the Scott Trial charity presentation evening on Friday 12 February. Thanks to the generosity of Richmond Motor Club, Mrs Cork, our headteacher, was presented with £600 each for Reeth and Gunnerside, and £150 for the Nursery.

The £8,000 donated by the Scott Trial this year brings to a total of £100,000 the amount given to local charities since Richmond Motor Club took over the Trial in 1991. Long may they continue their good work!

• In the event of extreme weather, the school website will provide opening and transport information as early as possible each morning, with updates during the day.

• We aim to keep the schools open during bad weather, though there may be reduced staffing and limited school transport. We will provide hot meals at lunch time if possible. Normal hours will apply unless weather changes during the day, in which case parents/carers will be contacted promptly.

• Please note that the regulations we are required to follow state that absence due to snow is authorised if the child travels to school on school transport, or if the school is actually closed. In cases where the school is open and a child lives within walking distance, an absence note is required – even a backdated one, please. Otherwise the absence will show as unauthorised on the child's end-of-year report.

• Thank you for your help and support.

Spring 2010

Home Access is a government initiative to help low-income families acquire a computer and access the internet at home.

A letter giving further information is being sent home to all families on Monday 25 January. We will be very happy to give help and advice to parents choosing to apply to the initiative.

A PowerPoint presentation giving further information can be accessed from the link below.

Becta Home Access - PowerPoint presentation for parents.ppt

Autumn 2009

Work is currently in progress to open up a new entrance from the playground to the field behind the school at Reeth. By making an opening in the wall and building wide steps on a gentle slope up to the field, we will connect both play areas. This will allow ease of movement between these spaces and eliminate the need to pass through the Nursery outdoor area.

We will post a photo of the steps on the website once the work has been completed in the new year.

Autumn 2009

The staff and pupils of our schools wish you all the best for the festive season.

http://tinyurl.com/ydg5xpe

Autumn 2009

All of the staff and children at both our schools were very sorry to have to say goodbye to Mrs Scully, who left the staff at Christmas. A farewell presentation was made at a recent assembly to show our appreciation to Mrs Scully, who has taught the FS/KS1 class at Reeth for five years now and will be greatly missed by all. We know you will join us in wishing her all the very best for the future.

Mrs Scully has let us know that she would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes and thoughtful gifts and would also like to wish the children, staff, parents and governors all the best for 2010 and the future.

Mrs Bastow will teach the FS/KS1 class on a full-time basis until Easter.

Autumn 2009

The Friends of the Schools are publishing a calendar for 2010 with self-portraits by our students featured on the page of their birthday month. The artwork is terrific and has been produced by children of all ages from both schools – a great gift for family and friends. Contact the Friends to reserve your copy!

Autumn 2009

The dales came over all French recently: working together in school house teams all our students brushed up on their language skills with a day of French-themed activities at Reeth. We added some authentic Gallic flavour when Mme Norman, of Richmond School, along with her French-student assistants, took over the proceedings for the afternoon. Trés bon!

Autumn 2009

Visiting coach Steve made all our students "jump to it" in November when he delivered workshops at Reeth and Gunnerside on the benefits of skipping. A great, and inexpensive, aid to all-round health and fitness, skipping is something anyone can do without a lot of special equipment. Pretty well everybody can find a spot to do a bit of skipping, and, as you can see, our students were happy to have a go at swinging their "gymnastic speed ropes" in the hall at Reeth and in the playground at Gunnerside!

Autumn 2009

It has been a busy start to the new school year. We have had a lot to do catching up with how much we achieved before the summer break, and looking forward to what we will do in the new term.

Only a fortnight into term Key Stage 2, in its entirety, decamped to Beamish for the day. Year 4, 5 and 6 solved a period murder mystery while Year 3 visited the Manor house and took a ride on Stephenson's Locomotion engine. A great day out!

Autumn 2009

The children at our schools enjoyed meeting some special visitors from Kenya recently. Jane is a teacher – her classes can number up to 60 pupils at a time! Geoffrey works in the tea industry and told the children about the benefits that Fairtrade is bringing to people in his area.

The fruit of a Methodist initiative, their visit was overseen by Rev Alan Coustick. Geoffrey and Jane answered questions from the children, at Reeth and at Gunnerside, about life, work and worship in their country.

Summer 2009

At the beginning of July at Reeth Memorial Hall, Reeth and Gunnerside Schools staged Goodbye, My Friend – a musical production of funny and affecting songs and sketches about all the events and characters that make primary school such a special place.

KS1 provided the introduction to the entertainment with a fun poem accompanied by Makaton signs (a sign language system to support people with communication difficulties).

The KS2 children from both schools then presented their humourous take on the Monday morning school routine, a school trip, lunchtime supervisors, an infant Nativity play and other topics. The Year 6 leavers closed proceedings, appropriately, with the title song, Goodbye, My Friend. The production was very funny and altogether a great success.

After the first performance, on the Monday afternoon, the annual Sinclair Essay Prize was awarded by Quaker trustee Mrs Jocelyn Campbell. She commended all the entrants and the quality of the submissions before presenting the winner with his certificate and prize. Well done!

Summer 2009

Children throughout the confederation gathered for a Science and Design and Technology day. Activities included using forces to transport balloons along various courses, creating moving images by flipping and rotating drawings, constructing towers with height and strength and exploring optical illusions. The children had a fantastic and action-packed day, and it was great to see so many parents getting involved in the afternoon.

We look forward to continuing our themed days in the autumn term.

Summer 2009

Children from Reeth and Gunnerside Schools gathered at Gunnerside Methodist Church for a special service to celebrate the 155th anniversary of Gunnerside school. Children contributed to the service by thanking Rev Jane for all the hard work she has done during her time in Swaledale. We also welcomed our new headteacher, Linda Cork.

Summer 2009

Just before the half-term break we assembled at the Reeth and Gunnerside sites, using our video-conferencing link, to say a heartfelt thanks to outgoing acting headteacher Mrs Bastow and class teachers Mrs Scully and Mrs Strong for all their extra work in steering us through the transition period before Mrs Cork's appointment. School governors Mr Stones and Mr Hill attended our presentation of flowers and cards as a further token of our community's appreciation of the terrific job done by Mrs Bastow and staff at this time. We are sure as parents and carers of children at our schools you will all echo this sincere vote of thanks.

Summer 2009

Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 had a great time when they took part in a fun run at Catterick as part of the School Sports Partnership. Over 400 FS/KS1 children gathered together for the fun run, the first such Richmond Cluster event.

Children from Reeth and Gunnerside spent a sunny morning taking part in the run and other multiskills activities. There were four separate races, with 100 children running in each.

We were very proud when three of our children each took a top three place in their respective races. Reeth and Gunnerside was the only school taking part to have three winners.

We were delighted that all the children entered into the spirit of the event with great enthusiasm, and all successfully completed their races. Well done, everyone, and especially our Fantastic Three!

Spring 2009

Children from Reeth and Gunnerside Schools took advantage of the recent snow to construct an igloo. Using plastic bricks as moulds, they worked as a team to produce this impressive ice shelter.

Spring 2009

This year's Day for Change focused on Papua New Guinea and allowed children to find out more about this fascinating country.

Children from Reeth and Gunnerside Schools gathered at Reeth. To celebrate their right to health and exercise, they wore sports clothing and brought a healthy snack. Working in colour groups, they participated in a morning of activities which included multi-skill sports, designing posters, celebrating what we are happy and thankful for, and learning more about Papua New Guinea through IT and a quiz.

Spring 2009

Visiting teacher Christine Williamson took an afternoon workshop in maypole dancing with Y3/4 pupils in the school hall at Reeth at the beginning of January 2009. This was great fun and the perfect introduction to the work we are going to do on maypole dancing, across all age groups in our schools, in the spring term.

Since the autumn term 2008 a weekly assembly has been dedicated to Our [the students'] Achievements, with recognition given to individual pupils – Star of the Week certificates are awarded in each class – and a rosette for the winning house group for that week. These go on permanent display in the school hall at Reeth. The scheme has proved popular and is helping to motivate students, as individuals and as team players.

As part of November 14th's Children in Need, Reeth and Gunnerside Schools decided to "do something different" and have a Maths Day. Parents and carers joined the fun and participated in a range of practical activities, which covered the topics of weight, capacity, measure, shopping, fractions and discount. The day was a great success and we hope to hold a similar event in the not too distant future.

Gunnerside School has been developing its school grounds to include a wildlife garden. Working alongside the National Park, the school has introduced stone seating, nesting boxes and various wildlife habitats. More details can be seen on the attached press release.

Gunnerside garden press release.doc

Robert Rabbit had a wonderful holiday exploring the island of Sri Lanka. He enjoyed spending time on the beach, hiking, visiting beautiful Buddhist and Hindu temples and sampling many delicious vegetable curries washed down with locally grown tea. All the people he met were extremely kind and helped to make his trip so enjoyable.

Characters leapt off the pages and into the classrooms at both our schools during National Children's Book Week at the start of October. As part of the celebrations to promote reading, parents came in to school and read to the children from popular books. Students and staff entered into the spirit of the week by dressing up as famous figures from literature.

The normal October schoolday slipped strangely out of kilter for the KS1 children from both schools as they travelled back in time to Beamish, 1913! This trip gave the students valuable insight into the history of their own community; particularly their visit to a pit cottage, where they had to help out with cleaning and washing - all without the use of electricity!

Local animator Ben Hall got the autumn 2008 term off to a great stop-frame start with film animation workshops for KS2. Click on the link below to see the children's first, fun steps into the world of the moving image.

Website link: http://www.principalteachers.co.uk/pttv/reeth.html

Our Year 6 2008 leavers made a thoughtful address to the teachers and students on the occasion of their final day in school at Reeth. They gave a heartfelt vote of thanks, and flowers and presents, to headteacher Mrs Wilkinson, Mrs Young, their class teacher, and to the rest of the staff. They also enlisted the Year 5s to perform their own rap to Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Young. In turn the leavers received the now traditional cheeky toy chimps, kitted out in their Reeth and Gunnerside Leavers 2008 T-shirts. We wish all of Y6 well and expect to hear great things of them in the coming years.

KS1 voted pond-dipping the winning attraction on their visit to Foxglove Covert Local Nature Reserve at Catterick in summer 2008. The Reserve contains heath-land, flower-rich grassland, streams, ponds, a lake and woodlands. This range of habitats was a perfect fit with our classwork on creatures and their natural environment.

Gunnerside School hosted this year's rather windblown Sports Day. The rain threatened but held off for a busy afternoon's exertions from both schools in the flat, sack, egg and spoon, and relay races. Everyone enjoyed taking part, with dads and mums (and teachers) entering into the spirit of the event.

Years 5 and 6 attended a fun-packed outdoor activity week at East Barnby on the coast near Whitby. Highlights included rock-scrambling up a river, canoeing down the river Esk into Whitby, rock-climbing at the Wainstones, combing the beach for wildlife and fossils, and a Whitby town trail.

The Friends of the School organised a very successful Summer Fayre to raise funds and spirits recently. The Fayre was well attended and visitors enjoyed the barbecue, bouncy castle and other stalls. Among the many attractions, a popular sideshow gave pupils the chance to turn the tables on the teachers: Mr Howat and Mrs Bastow bravely agreed to be locked in the stocks and pelted with soaking wet sponges!

Katie, Susannah and Marian of noted woodwind chamber ensemble Illuminati blew up a storm when they took time out from the 2008 Swaledale Festival to hold a music workshop at Gunnerside School recently. Illuminati played for the children then involved them in preparing and playing percussion for a poem set to music.

FS/KS1, Y5 and Y6 enjoyed a music workshop recently with Caliche, a South American group who were appearing locally as part of the Swaledale Festival. The five-man combo took time out from their festival schedule to introduce the children to some traditional South American instruments, including shakers made from goats' hooves!

Our current science topic in Key Stage One at Reeth is "animals" and we have enjoyed visits from some of the new spring arrivals from local farms. Mrs Brown kindly brought in a lamb for our Nursery and Reception children to meet. Mrs Stones asked us to provide names for the two kids she brought in, and generously gave prizes to the competition winner. The kids have been named Tilly and Milly.

Four of our youngsters along with pupils from neighbouring schools recently attended a “Developing Young Leaders” conference, with the aim of developing play strategies for their schools. This will empower pupils to take a more active, organising role at playtimes. Our young "leaders" were commended by the conference organisers for their energy and enthusiasm.

The Easter service at Gunnerside and the assembly at Reeth at the end of term were both well attended by parents and families. The service looked at the colours and changes, and the rebirth that we associate with this time of year, while at Reeth the children made presentations about the way different faiths celebrate Easter, and about the different meanings of the symbol of the cross. Our Nursery children gave a charming performance as Easter chicks, too. The only slightly sad note from the assembly at Reeth was that we made a farewell presentation to Mrs Midgley, one of our Nursery teachers, who is leaving the staff. We wish her all the best and will miss her greatly.

Thank you to everyone who supported our spring term charity event - UNICEF's Day for Change - which raised money for water and sanitation in the Gambia. The event raised £104.59. The children enjoyed wearing outfits which made us think of water and we all enjoyed seeing their creative ideas. Certificates for winners of the "water" poem/rhyme competition will be announced soon during school assemblies.

Simone and Steve from Living Willow Design came from Kendal to Gunnerside to help KS1 and Y3 and Y4 children make a fantastic willow tunnel. We're looking forward to enjoying it as it springs to life!

Key Stage 1 performed "The Sleepy Shepherd" at both Reeth Memorial Hall and Gunnerside Methodist Chapel. The sleepy shepherd was always asleep and not looking after his sheep, so when he said he'd seen the angels, nobody believed him. They assumed he was dreaming so he set off to Bethlehem on his own and found the baby Jesus in a stable. Meanwhile the other shepherds decided to follow him and arrived, like the kings, to see the special child.

Key Stage 2 performed Hansel and Gretel as part of the build up to Christmas 2007. The acting was done by the Y3/4 children with the Y5/6 children providing the Woodland Chorus. The children did extremely well to remember their lines in verse and acted their roles with confidence. Thank you to all the teachers, staff and parents/guardians involved in the performance for all their hard work.

Robert Rabbit enjoyed a festive trip to the Big Apple. He enjoyed exploring the many famous sites in New York including the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Station. He was pleased to be well wrapped up with his winter scarf.

School mascot Robert Rabbit really gets around when he goes off on his holidays. This year he travelled to the other side of the world and visited Japan and Australia. Here are some of his holiday snaps.

Sports Day was held at Reeth School this year, on the penultimate day of term and was, as ever, a runaway success! Particular credit should be given to the few mums who lined up for the Mothers Race. We were very lucky with the sunshine and all events were completed just before the weather broke for the afternoon. Well done for a good effort to everyone who came along and took part!

Our Rural Arts week, held in June 2007, involved all the children in making mosaic tiles with wildlife designs. We hope to install the finished tiles in the grounds of each school by the end of the year; they will be a colourful attraction to visitors.

Children from Years 3 and 4 enjoyed participating in a dramatic performance of Carmen as part of the Swaledale Festival. The children sang alongside professionals in this operatic extravaganza.