What’s New At Clapgate?

Please see below for all of the new and exciting things that are happening at Clapgate!

Christmas Music Concerts 2023 at Clapgate 

We’ve had another successful year of concerts! Parents and carers of Year 4 and 6 were invited into the hall to watch their children perform their instrument and choir skills. What an honor to see the progress and improvement the children have made! It was a fantastic turnout! Year 1 and 2 invited parents and carers into their singing lessons and again, we are so proud of their hard work. We can’t wait for the next performances for Year 3 and 5 in Spring!

Anti – Bullying Week

Monday 13th – Friday 17th November 2023

Awaiting update…

Clapgate receive £5,000 by St John’s Mason Lodge

Friday 10th November 2023

On Friday, St John’s Masonic Lodge  presented a £5,000, donated From the West Riding Masonic Community Fund, to us for our drive to help local people live healthy lifestyles. Read more about it on the link below.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/masons-donate-ps5000-to-clapgate-school-middleton-leeds-4407959

Black History Month

October 2023

Awaiting update…

Sports Day

Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th July

Within our Sport and Health week we celebrated our Sports Days. Children competed in teams within their phase through taking part in races & a activity circuit. We had egg & spoon, obstacle, relay & sprint races. During the activity circuit children gained points in hurdles, football penalties, javelin, long jump, agility ladders and many more! Every child came out and gave it their all! Please see below the results for the different phases-

Y1/2 

1st- Group 7 -Mrs Mason & Group 8- Mrs Wilson

2nd- Group 6- Miss Rider

3rd- Group 2- Miss Naughton

Y3/4

1st- Group 6- Mrs Friend

2nd- Group 5- Miss Morrison

3rd- Group 3- Miss Leveland

Y5/6

1st- Group 2- Mrs Ahmetaj

2nd- Group 1- Miss James

3rd- Group 7- Mr Queeley

Summer Music Concerts

Project Overview

Our Summer music concerts were a resounding success! We were thrilled to invite parents into school to watch their children preform from Reception to Year 6. In-Harmony have provided the children with prestigious opportunities to learn how to read and play music. We are so proud of the progress and achievements the children have made either with instruments or singing over the year. We can’t wait to see what next year brings! 

Year 6 – Wizard Of Oz 

Tuesday 27th June and Wednesday 28th June 

Each year, Year 6 take part in a school musical. This year it was Wizard Of Oz. The children had worked every week in an after school club that started in September. Once SATS were over, we spent a long time sorting out costumes, perfecting songs, learning lines and painting our set. All of the children we out of this world. Year 6 would like to say a big thank you to all of the children and staff that were involved!

Opera North In Harmony Choir Concert

Project Overview

  On Saturday 18th March, Clapgate choir club took part in a concert held at Morley Town Hall. Mrs Wilson who attended the event with In Harmony said “I had the pleasure of attending the Opera North choir concert with the children from year 5/6. They were incredible, so well behaved and a credit to their parents. I had nothing but positive praise about them. They sang their hearts out and made me smile with pride. Well done guys, I can’t wait to attend the next one.” Well done and a big achievement for our choir club! 

 

 

Circus Workshops!

Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th March

Within our Circus Week, all classes participated in circus workshops with Team Sensible. The Team Sensible performers showcased their own skills to the children and then classes got to give it a try themselves. This included learning skills in hoola-hooping, exploring flower sticks & trying plate spinning! 

The children showed great determination to make progress in completely different activities and had lots of fun doing so!

Children’s Mental Health Week

6 – 10th February 2023

Between the 6-10th February, we celebrated and raised awareness for children’s mental health week. Through the week, children completed activities and mindfulness lessons in order to understand the importance of recognising a healthy mind, and how to seek support when needed. We finished off the week with a ‘Dress to Express!’ day.

https://dai.ly/x8hqkzz

When Kalvin Phillips visited Clapgate…

Project Overview

Today we were lucky enough to have Kalvin Phillips, Man City and England legend, join us in school. He came to talk to the children about his experiences as a young footballer, right up to his trip to the Euros in 21 and the World Cup last Christmas. He also spoke lots about his time at Leeds United and his fond memories. Kalvin is a great inspiration to many of our children and the football teams took him to visit our Community Cabin. He enjoyed a tour and then did a question-and-answer session with some of our children. We now have a signed England shirt for Clapgate, which will take pride of place in the Cabin. It has been a brilliant day and all the children are buzzing. If you see a new celebration when Kalvin next scores, it has come from the children at Clapgate!

Colourful Semantics

Producing sentences correctly is an area that we are supporting all children with. Colourful Semantics is an approach created by Alison Bryan that we have implemented throughout school. It is aimed at children to develop their grammar but it is rooted in the meaning of words (semantics). In Colourful Semantics, parts of a sentence are colour coded according to the function they have in the sentence.

Parents and carers can help at home by encouraging children to speak in full sentences and modelling in speaking in full sentences for them.

Take a look at the examples and some of our interactive displays in school! 

The Wooden Spoon Community Cabin

 
 
On Thursday 26th January, we held our launch event for our new, exciting Community Cabin. We were lucky enough to have Jamie Jones-Buchanan (Leeds Rhinos Legend) visit school. He spoke to the children about his personal journey to success and was a real inspiration to our children. He cut the ribbon to open this fantastic space to a huge round of applause.
 
Our Arts Council welcomed a range of visitors, including Councillor Wayne Dixon, BITMO, Wooden Spoon, Flourishing Families, as well as lots of parents. We served bacon and sausage sandwiches, cakes and tea and coffee in our new community kitchen and everyone enjoyed the chance to look around the new space. We had a reporter from the Yorkshire Evening Post visiting too, so look out for the publication in the paper.
 
We are looking forward to hosting a range of exciting workshops in the cabin, including cooking with Flourishing Families, behaviour workshops to support parents, reading workshops and the Community Pantry will be taking place in the Community Cabin from now on. We also have a brilliant kitchen, where DT lessons will be taking place for the whole class, and we know the children are very excited about this.

Music Lessons by In Harmony from Opera North

Project Overview

We have partnered with Opera North who bring expert music teachers to our school to provide all our children with a high-quality music curriculum. Reception and KS1 are receiving musicianship lessons. These will equip the children with the basics they need to read, write and perform music. This will then prepare them for their lessons in KS2 which will consist of every child having the opportunity to learn an instrument. For year 3 and 4 this will be a string instrument and for year 5 and 6 it will be either a string instrument or a brass instrument.  Opera North will be providing the children with the instruments and once they are ready to start practising at home, they will be allowed to bring them to and from school. Year 5 and 6 pupils can join an after school club which provides them with opportunities for extra practise.

Year 3 & 4 pupils will also have choir sessions weekly and year 5 & 6 pupils have the opportunity to join the In Harmony choir in a new after school club. Through the In Harmony choir students will have the opportunity to learn and sing different pieces of music together. They will build on the musicianship and instrumental lessons that they have with the rest of their class and transfer this to singing. They will also have the chance to perform with other In Harmony schools and take part in concerts. We are also excited to share that the students will also have the opportunity to audition for the Opera North Youth Company and for Opera North productions. This will mean that they will be part of a much bigger singing community.

Evidence from research and from other schools we have visited shows that a high-quality music curriculum can have a positive impact well beyond the children’s musical ability- it can improve wellbeing, confidence, concentration, speaking and listening skills, attendance and academic attainment.

Achieving the Artsmark Gold Award!

We are thrilled to announce that Clapgate has been successful in achieving Artsmark Gold Award in recognition of our fantastic arts provision! This is an amazing achievement to be celebrated and recognises the hard work of our children, staff and governors. The Artsmark Award is the only creative quality standard for schools and educational settings accredited by Arts Council England. This significant award shows a real commitment to arts and cultural education and ensures a curriculum of breadth and balance.

We are extremely proud of everything that has been achieved so far and look forward to developing the arts ( art, music, drama and dance) further to build on the success of our Artsmark Gold Award. A huge well done to all our pupils, staff and governors for their hard work promoting and participating in the arts. Finally, a big thank you to our parents and carers for your support of our arts events and activities.

World of Work Week 2022

Project Overview

What is World of Work week? 

World of Work Week offers the chance for each Clapgate student to have a meaningful experience linked to the workplace. These opportunities help students to understand their options beyond school, the skills they might need for the future and how the world of work is changing. It is an opportunity for teachers to encourage the children to dream big! 

Why do we have a World of Work Week? 

  • To develop children’s awareness of the world of work and work-related concepts and vocabulary.
  • To increase understanding of the variety of occupations and roles and help prevent stereotypes around gender and cultural suitability for jobs.
  • To help demonstrate the links between learning in school and success in adult life.
  • To develop children’s sense of responsibility, skills for co-operation and problem solving. 

What did the children do during World of Work Week? 

  • A PSHE lesson exploring hopes, dreams and career aspirations.
  • Had a trip or a visitor linked to a specific job. 
  • Role played and took part in drama.
  • Completed a piece of work showing what the they did throughout the week e.g., PowerPoint, video, poster, diary about their trip. ​​
  • Took part in a dress as your dream job day. 

What jobs did we explore in World of Work Week? 

Year 1- Architects. 

Year 2- Gardeners. 

Year 3- Archaeologists. 

Year 4- Animators. 

Year 5- Chefs. 

Year 6- Zoologists 

We hope that the experiences that the children had, encouraged some of them to pursue one of the above careers! 

Diversity Week

20th-24th June 2022 

The whole school from nursery to Year 6 celebrated Diversity Week! We learnt about LGBT+ equality in an age appropriate way, and that all families are special.

Through fun activities, stories and discussions, the children understood the importance of celebrating all kinds of families, that we are kind and we respect difference.

We promote positive messaging around diversity at Clapgate which in turn helps children to feel safe and better their well-being. 

Take a look at some of the wonderful activities the children got up to! 

Geography Week 2022

Project Overview

We celebrated Geography Week at Clapgate between 13th June – 17th June 2022. During the week, the children took part in a whole host of engaging and creative activities that educated them on a particular country. Alongside this, the children had an assembly to launch the week, the opportunity to take part in a Swap Shop event led by the school Eco-Committee and even attended our very own ‘Clapgate Carnival’. 

The whole week was a great success and gave the children the opportunity to develop their understanding of different places and cultures. They worked on showing the ‘tolerance’ British value through learning about the customs and tradtions of countries from around the globe. 

Well done to all involved! 

Clapgate Art Show!

The Arts Council organised our recent end of year art show in celebration of the Platinum Jubilee. The children were responsible for bringing together the art work from nursery to year 6 so that every child would be represented by a piece of work from this academic year. The Arts Council thought of art based activities to have in the hall space for children and families to enjoy. They created art posters to advertise the event, social media posts and invited important people. They also raised money for Wheatfield’s Hospice (in memory of our dear colleague, Ms Franklin) and for UNICEF Ukraine. The Arts Council  carried out an enterprise initiative, where they sold sketchbooks, pencils and rubbers. The money raised from this enterprise will be spent wisely and this is something that the Arts Council will be discussing at future meetings. The art show was held over 4 nights to allow children and families to visit the space safely and was very well attended by all key stages. We even made it into the local newspaper!

Science Home Learning Challenges!

We have launched our new Science Home Learning Challenges!

Each half term we will be providing the children with a home learning challenge which we hope they will be excited to participate in.

If the children wish to take part in the challenge they will be provided with the necessary resources and instructions about how to carry out the experiment. 

All children who participate in the challenge will receive a special science certificate and they will also be entered into a prize draw at the end of the half term.

For our first home learning challenge we have asked the children to make their own balloon rocket. 

We look forward to seeing your balloon rockets.

Parent’s Comments

“We found the project a lot of fun and my child really enjoyed it.”

“My child absolutely loves the experiment. I think it will keep her entertained for a while!”

“My child loved doing the science experiment.”

The Solar Dome

We have recently had our new Solar Dome installed and the children are extremely excited to start lessons inside!

The PTA have worked hard alongside Miss Taylor to raise funds for the Solar Dome. This is an innovative new indoor space, outside. We have hosted a range of events, including a Christmas Extravaganza and Halloween Disco to raise money and have also looked to local nature grants to support our project. 

The Solar Dome is now installed and ready for lessons. Each term our Subject Leaders will be taking ownership of the space, theming it around a particular subject and ensuring it is a space where new skills can be learnt. First up is a scientific space, where children can develop their thinking scientifically skills and have a go at a range on enquiries inside.

The Solar Dome is also a fantastic space for circle time, story time and music lessons and we can’t wait to hear what the children have to say about it.

 

 

The Yorkshire Evening Post

Headline- Pedro and Pablo go top of the class at Clapgate Primary as school goats help pupils after lockdown!

We are proud the share the fantastic article below featured the in Yorkshire Evening Post outlining our exceptional opportunities for outdoor learning at Clapgate. 

‘A school in Belle Isle is taking its learning outside as it returns after lockdown – with the help of two furry classmates.’

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/education/pedro-and-pablo-go-top-of-the-class-at-clapgate-primary-as-school-goats-help-pupils-after-lockdown-3273808?itm_source=parsely-api

The Glade

Here is our new school library- The Glade!

At Clapgate we are hugely passionate about reading and we are keen to inspire a love for reading in all our children. We have developed a fantastic new library space with the theme of outdoors, indoors. It is a lovely, vibrant space where the children can settle down with a good book. They can climb up to our tree house and settle down with a book or sit underneath the stars with their favourite comic. 

We have lots of funky lighting to create a woodland atmosphere and lots of inspiring quotes on the walls. We have made the space cosy and snug with lots of beanbags, stools, cushions and blankets for the children to use whilst enjoying the space. 

How lucky we are at Clapgate to have such a fantastic space!

Our Pygmy Goats

We would like you to meet our new school goats Pedro and Pablo!

We have recently picked up our Pygmy Goats from a Goat Farm in Harrogate. We asked all the children for ideas and have decided to name the white one Pablo (suggestion from Reception) and the brown one Pedro (suggestion from 4EB). Looking after the goats will become part of the school routine. Each class will take it in turns for a week to take on the responsibility of caring for them. This will encourage all our children to learn about caring for animals and the responsibility that goes with it.
 
Miss Taylor will be running an animal care club after school on Tuesday nights, where the children will learn more about caring for the goats, including feeding, brushing and cleaning them out. We will also be advertising for Goat Keepers to be responsible for overseeing their care. The children will complete an application form to apply for these roles.

The Spectacular Space Corridor

We are proud to announce the completion of our new space corridor in school.

This is our first interactive corridor in school. We chose the theme of space as we know how keen our children are to find out more about our universe. This is a brilliant opportunity for our children to explore independently.
 
The space corridor has a wide range of books, a projector showing interesting films about space and Alexa is on hand to answer any of the children’s questions. It also plays space themed music and has a range of different light settings. It is a brilliant addition to our school!
 
 
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