Jenny Reynard

Jenny Reynard retired from school today after working for 32 years as a kitchen assistant.

Sheila Audsley Headteacher said “I have calculated (but not in my head) that in 32 years of service, Jenny Reynard has helped to serve 1, 248,000 meals, washed up 2,496.000 dishes and washed 3,744,000 knives forks and spoons. She has used 780 000 tea towels to dry all the pots! She has walked to and from school 12480 times. So I think she deserves a rest! Put your feet up. Have a cup of tea and sit back Jenny Reynard!”

The school presented Jenny with beautiful signed cards which the children had made and presented her with gifts, flowers and a wonderful “fish and chips” cake which had been made by Tracey Bewley, a teacher at the school!

“Jenny will be missed by everyone.”

Congratulations Edward

 Edward Cotton has been awarded one of three
prizes on offer at last month’s Primary School Conference
for asking the best questions after the main presentations at
the Theatre Royal.  Enjoy spending your voucher Edward.

York Schools Dance Festival

Clifton Green Dance Clubs entered the York Schools dance festival that was held at the University last Saturday.(23-11-08)

The theme this year was History through dance.

KS 1 entered a piece called MEET THE FLINTSTONES which went back to the stone age.

MEET THE FLINTSTONES

KS2 were a little more modern and went for the emancipation of women with a dance called SISTER SUFFRAGETTES.

SISTER SUFFRAGETTES

Click on pictures to make them bigger.

Both dances went well and we were very proud of all the dancers.

Thanks go to
Jessica Perrin
(MRS Perrin’s daughter who helped with the lively moves in KS1)
Mrs Coombes
( who sewed the lovely costumes for us) and
Mrs Moreley
(who acted as our steward)

…..and of course the super dancers and their parents who supported them

Mrs Perrin, Miss Ravalia and Mrs Calverlewy.

Children in Need 2008

Here are the Children in Need Bandana competition winners

Oaks – Matthew Barker
Elms :- Joshua Spencer
1W Ellie Jones
1H/B – Callum Reeson-Bell
2CR – Blue Wood
2M- - Cara Needs
3R/T – Natalie Gowland
3W – Joshua Jackson
4H – Bethany Watson
4M – Erin Spencer
5N- Olivia Jackson
6B- Lydia Dixon
6R – Nathan Cook

 Well Done

Most participation won  the cake.
The older children went round the classes working out the percentage of people with bandanas and the one with the highest percentage
Mrs Bewley’s Class won the cake to share.

Everyone had made a donation to children in need in order to come out of uniform. So we raised money for this good cause and had a lot of fun at the same time!

HARVEST FESTIVAL
17 October 2008
Thank you for the food we eat.

 The Programme we had

This is the programme for our Harvest Festival. We also shared the contributions with pensioners and friends in the afternoon followed by tea and scones!

Harvest Prayer Dear God Thank you for all the people we depend on who make our lives richer by their work. Thank you that we can depend on you and you will never let us down. Help us, dear Lord, to produce good with our lives and to reject all that is wrong and false. As we share the food that harvest brings may we also share our time, our money and ourselves with others, even though at times this may be hard for us to remember and hard for us to do. Amen.

N5’s Harvest Thought

Think for a moment about mealtime at your house.

Do you remember to say thank you to the person who prepared your meal?

Do you think about all the people who grew the food and prepared it for sale?

Perhaps you even want to say thank you to God for all the food on your table.

Think about what you will say thank you for today.       

Results of the Poetry Recital Competition

 There were lots of fantastic poetry recitals going on in school this week. Classes and teachers had a very difficult job narrowing down the winners. Year 3 failed to do so and decided to award a class prize to share between the children!

 However, despite fantastically keen competition, other year groups did have some truly outstanding winners :-

See more details on the Fun Page
(Click Here)

The Arts Award Celebration at Clifton Green Primary School

On Tuesday, 23^rd September, Clifton Green Primary School held a celebration of achievement for their former Year 6 pupils who received their certificates after completing The Bronze Arts Award, giving the opportunity for pupils to share and celebrate their success.

The Arts Award (which is run through a partnership between The Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall in London) is a nationally recognised qualification encouraging young people’s development as artists and arts leaders.  Young people aged 11-25 of all abilities and interests can take part, and gain their Arts Award in any art form.

Clifton Green Primary School is the first school in York, and amongst the first in the UK, to undertake the Arts Award at Primary level and integrate it into the Year 6 curriculum.  The pupils worked hard over the eight week period on their performance skills for an end of year production; they researched an arts hero, taught their skills to others and took part in an arts event, including a mini tour of the art paintings around York.

Thirty three, year six pupils took part, had their work externally moderated, and passed their Bonze Arts Award in Drama in July this year. This was a huge achievement.

The Arts Award provided an extra dimension for learning over the final few weeks of the summer term.  It was judged to be a great success in developing skills in leadership, communication and planning, these abilities standing them in good stead for secondary school and onto further education or work.

The Arts Award is a fantastic scheme and is now recognised as an additional qualification.  Hopefully the children will be able to develop their skills that they have learnt still further, opening up new opportunities for them in the future.

The children received their awards with pride and personal achievement.

David Reed and Jon Binns Class Teachers and Nicolette Hobson from York Performing Arts

Welcome

Clifton Green welcomes a new teacher in Year 1/2 – Miss Ravalia.

New teaching assistants this year are Miss McBride 1H/B, Mrs Kier FS3 and Mrs Tyler working in FS.

We hope they will all settle in quickly as part of Team Clifton Green!

GOODBYE TO 2007-08 YEAR 6

At the end of another successful year, some children are moving on and it is appropriate to say a sad goodbye to a terrific Year 6.  However, we know these children will do extremely well in their secondary education because of their sheer determination and motivation to succeed at Clifton Green!

It has been a very busy year for us with the children working so hard, with such a positive attitude, and achieving excellent results in their end of KS2 SATs – the school is very proud of their achievements.

The children have participated in many school outings from the Aspirations Fair at York University (careers guidance), Eden Camp as part of our history topic and finally the Roman Day at Murton (it rained all day but it didn’t dampen the spirits!)

In the final term at Clifton Green the children worked towards their Bronze Arts Award – this involved a lot of hard work from all the children and especially their advisor Mrs Hobson – a very big thank you to her!  Each child had to develop a skill in the arts. This culminated in a final demonstration of their skills in the school play ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’.  The children practiced during their break times, at home and any spare moment they had. The commitment was evident, but it wasn’t all hard work, there were a lot of laughs on their journey.

The play itself was a fantastic example of the children’s achievements, development and commitment.  They thoroughly enjoyed the build up of rehearsals reach their final goal of the show itself.  Once again, every child was dedicated to their role in the show and put in a lot of hard work with the assistance of Mrs Jefferson (volunteer helper), who the children were very grateful too for her assistance, and we know Mrs Jefferson is extremely proud of their success.

In the final week, the children celebrated their time at Clifton Green Primary with a party on the Monday evening and finally a Leavers Assembly on the Tuesday morning where the children were acknowledged for their positive attitude and achievements.

Well done Year 6 and good luck for the future!

 Annual Awards 2008
TROPHIES 2008

Annual Trophies

Lee Rhodes Trophy (presented to a child who has overcome a difficulty)                 
Philip Malinga

Sport (The Wilf trophy)          
Nathan Harland/Harriet Sherwood     

Excellence                      
Emma Crawford/Grace Metheringham

Literacy                                  
Ellie Dixon/Jadye Dillon

Numeracy                               
Melissa BB/Matthew Wood

Citizenship                              
Charliegh Bundy/Vicky Harding

Performing Arts/Drama          
Darren Eastwood/Harriet Sherwood/Aynur Altin

Dance                                      
Mellisa Ellerby

Music                                      
Dion Holding/Katie Jefferson

Art and design                        
Samirah Chowdhury

Football                                   
Carl Noble/Sam Carlton

Swimming                                  
Danielle Wrigglesworth/Daniel Kendra

Netball                                    
Georgia Jackson

Mastermind                             
Grace Metheringham

Services to the School           
Grace Metheringham/Gabriel Silva

Click on each picture to make bigger

Pirate Day

We had lots of activities to do including walking the plank, making treasure maps and parrots, tie dye and decorating biscuits.

We all had a great time, rounding off with a fabulous picnic on the good ship ‘Jolly Clifton Green. Our thanks to all those parents who supported us. We hope you enjoyed the tea and cake

Sponsored Toddle

The Morning and Afternoon Nursery children joined with ‘Little Acorns Nursery’, based in the Children’s Centre, for a sponsored toddle in aid of Barnardos Children’s Charity. It was a fantastic event which was enjoyed by all. The children and staff walked half a mile around the main field at school and then sat down to a well deserved picnic with their teddies. The children at Clifton Green Nursery raised a magnificent £847! We get to keep 25% of this and pass on 75% to Barnardos to help disadvantaged children.

 us.

Our thanks to all those who supported us, including the kitchen staff who prepared the picnic for us.

Spelling Championship Results - 2008

We are delighted with the efforts children have put in to learn correct, accurate spellings. This Championship coming at the end of the year reflects all the hard work children have done throughout the year both at school and at home to get better at spelling. We are pleased that so many children contested the classes and achieved success!

Click on the pictures below to enlarge

Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Year4	Year 5	Year 6

Clifton Green School is the first school in York to be awarded the Primary Geography Quality Mark

Clifton Green  Primary School is the first school in York to be awarded the Geographical Association’s Primary Geography Quality Mark (PGQM)  following the latest round of moderation in this the third year of the award.  The Primary Geography Quality Mark is supported by the DCSF through the Action Plan for Geography and is seen as a key strategy for raising the quality of geography in primary schools.

Clifton Green has gained a Silver Award in recognition of the implementation of whole school approaches that support excellence in geography.

At the school geography is effectively led by an enthusiastic subject leader who is able to inspire her colleagues.  Teachers value the important contribution that geography makes to the curriculum and are skilled in ensuring that quality learning builds through the school.  School strengths include environmental stewardship, active enquiry through fieldwork and the use of ICT.  This motivates and engages children to understand more about the people and places that make up our world. 

Wendy North, The Geographical Association project leader for the PGQM award says:

Staying Safe in the Sun.

On Tuesday a lady and gentleman from York against Cancer came to talk to us about staying safe in the sun. He gave us all blue “Foreign Legion” hats, sun cream and advice about covering up.

Following this talk we also got some parasols to use on sunny days to provide more shade outside on the playground.

 These are pictures of children in year two wearing our sun hats.

 York Junior School’s  Netball Rally

Match Report : By Miss Wilkinson

Clifton Green girls netball team performed fantastically in the netball rally held at the Railway Institute in Acomb.

The girls got off to an excellent start winning their first two games against Hempland and Huntington schools. The last game in their section against Poppleton Ousebank proved to be one of their toughest games of the morning. Despite their collective team efforts they lost 3-0 to organised attacking opponents. However third place in the rally was still to play for and the girls certainly raised their game for this last match. Lakeside School were our opponents and within the first two minutes Clifton Green was 3-0 down with no hint of an enthralling game ahead. However with three minutes to go Clifton Green scored and this proved to be a major turning point in the game. The team started 1-3 down in the second half but quickly adopted an attacking play which resulted in them drawing level. Shouts of support encouraged the girls to give it their all – they didn’t disappoint! Lakeside than scored so Clifton Green were looking at defeat. Then a set piece from a centre pass delivered the ball swiftly into the semi-circle – the shot on target was accurate! The game ended 4-4 with 3rd position being shared between both schools.

All the girls were fantastic representatives for the school, showing courage and determination in the toughest of games. Congratulations to: Harriet Sherwood, Georgia Jackson, Vicky Harding, Kennedy Smith, Paige Deighton, Emma Crawford and Melissa Ellerby.

Exemplary Behaviour

This week a record number of classes received rosettes for exemplary behaviour. Here are the representatives after receiving their awards in assembly.

Mr Hay retires

 After 16 years as caretaker Mr Hay retired as our school caretaker. Here is a picture of him, in a farewell assembly, with a cake the children presented to him along with a special thank-you present.

Easter at Clifton Green School

There was so much excitement and fun at the school during the build up towards Easter that it is only possible to show a selection of the pictures of activity here on our website.
Full displays and pictures can be enjoyed at the school in each of the classes.

Click on the Pictures to enlarge

Easter Egg Competition

The Easter Hat Competition

The Easter Hat Competition
Nursery

In  we had lots of fun, decorating Easter eggs, making hats and hunting for eggs that the Easter Bunny had left for us. Here are some photos of a few of us in our Easter hats.
We put on a show for the parents singing ‘Easter eggs, Easter eggs, all in a row’ and ‘Hot Cross Buns’ amongst others. (photo of children holding Easter eggs )
The last day of term also saw Nursery celebrating two birthdays.

York Schools Drama Festival.

 On Saturday March 15^th Clifton Green pupils performed in the York Schools Drama Festival. Inspired by the York Mystery Plays the children had written, with help from Miss Holdsworth and Mrs Hobson, an exciting  piece called “Jennifer Jones and the Yombo.”

Clifton Green Pupils Sing in the Minster.

On Friday 14^th March children in our school choir joined four other schools and the Minster choristers. What a wonderful experience! They sang in front of an audience of proud parents and members of the public.

Here is the programme with our tree and the logos of the other schools and photos from the audience.

 There was also a photo in Saturday night’s Press.

BOOK  WEEK AT CLIFTON GREEN. 3^rd -7^th March 2008

A celebration of books and reading.

In the week of World Book Day all the children took part in a number of book related activities.

Classes had an author to visit that told them about how they wrote books and gave budding authors ideas.

Mij  Kelly working with children in Year 2. She read her own books to them and told them how she gets ideas. Then she worked with them as they wrote their own stories.

Children also worked with Rural Arts artists making exciting sculptures of book characters

On World Book Day itself children and staff came to school dressed as Book Characters and explained why they had chosen them.

Mrs Illing as Winnie the Witch in Winter and Mrs Beck as Mummy Bear! Year 2 staff were all characters from the Katie Morag books – “Mrs Godfrey looks just like the Lady Artist” – Tamayah Y2

Two winners from each class got book prizes.

All sorts of characters mixed together and talked about their books !

We couldn’t tell who was inside this gorgeous hungry caterpillar.

 There was a display on Tuesday of lots of new topic books that have arrived for everyone to borrow in the Library. Super books that children or teachers have requested.

We rounded off the week by joining in  The Big Time Rhyme  - a record breaking attempt at the most people reading together to support Great Ormond Street Hospital. The whole school read an excerpt from Peter Pan and Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean. The Rev. Godfrey kindly came and acted as a witness so our efforts could be counted. We collected donations to help this worthy charity. All the classes got copies of Peter Pan and Peter Pan and Scarlet either for their teachers to read to them or to add to their class book collections.

Geraldine McCaughrean, Author Peter Pan in Scarlet said ….It gives me a very odd feeling just thinking about it. Hundreds of thousands of people reading out words I wrote? All over the country? At the very same moment? How odd. How unlikely. ... But how fantastic if it works some magic for Great Ormond Street. I've seen what a huge affection people everywhere have for GOSH. So let's do it!

All children received their World Book Day £1 voucher which we hope they will enjoy spending either at a bookshop or the school bookclub.

Choir News and Information

The choir is busy practising for a concert in York Minster on Friday 14^th March at 6pm. They will be singing a variety of songs with the Minster Song School choir and children from several other primary schools in York. This is a fantastic opportunity in a year when singing is being promoted in our area.

Also coming up is a concert for parents by the Y4/Y5 pupils who are learning trumpet or violin. This will be on Thurs 20th March during the afternoon in the school hall.

The recorder and ocarina groups and the Little Singers will also have the chance to perform in assembly before the end of term.

Alison Illing   Music Coordinator

MENTAL MATHS CHALLENGE

Mental Maths  - one of the most important aspects of numeracy – was highlighted throughout the school during the first part of the Spring term – culminating in a mental maths challenge which took place in the school hall on Friday 8^th February.

In the days prior to the event – children practised the various skills required, including their ever important multiplication tables.

During the week of the challenge – two finalists were selected from each class to go forward to the final – held in the school hall – in front of their classmates.  These children had to answer numerous questions on all aspects of mental maths – with a winner being produced after some very close contests indeed.

At the end of the afternoon – the whole school gathered for a special assembly, to say “well done” to all those involved.  Each of the finalists was presented with a calculator as a runners-up prize – while the outright winner in each age group received a geometry set.

The event was a complete success, giving the children the opportunity to develop their mental maths strategies – and realise that these skills are relevant not only in school, but for the rest of their lives.

Overall Winners:

Year 1         John Tuffer

Year 2         Geoff Grantham

Year 3 & 4   Owen Sandals

Year 5 & 6   Samirah Chowdry

other winners

 Homeless Animals at Christmas

Remember the National Rabbit competition? ..... well…..

the vet that came to see us in National Rabbit week is running an appeal for the collection of dried or tinned pet food, treats and toys for deprived and homeless animals this Christmas. Mrs Lockitt is organising our support of this touching cause and will take our donations to Battle Flatts Veterinary Surgery.

Everything we collect will be distributed between the Cats Protection League, Rydale Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Caring for Cats, Plantation Boarding and Rescue Kennels and the RSPCA

Bring your donations to Mrs Lockitt – see the display in the hall,  any time before the end of term.

Click Here to Look at the Website

Football at YCFC

The football team were lucky enough to be invited to play at Bootham Crescent before York City’s match against Salisbury City.  The team were allowed access to the changing rooms and to run out of the tunnel onto the pitch.  After playing against Lakeside the players watched City’s match. 

Despite City losing, the team and accompanying teachers really enjoyed their visit.  Finally a big thanks must go to the Football in the Community coaches for arranging our visit.

Children in Need celebrations at school today
16 November 2007

We had a sponsored multi-colour non uniform day in aid of children in Need .   There was a Pudsey Wooden Spoon Competition which was won by Mrs Calverley …that was lucky as she likes stirring!   Class 2CG dressed up. and on the left we see......... Nursery Teacher Mrs Beck cutting a colourful figure and being the proud wearer of the shoes on our home page. Did you guess right??

Sir Jim Rose Visits Clifton Green
 Thursday 15^th November 2007

Jim Rose came to see phonics in our Foundation Stage and KS1 Classes. He came to visit because York has had outstanding results in this area and we were chosen us to show him good practice. We were chosen because everyone at Clifton Green is committed to this approach. He spoke to teachers, and children and said he was very impressed with how quickly the children were learning to read.  He liked the whole team approach and how everyone in the school seemed to know about Fast Phonics and that we had good quality resources.  He also thought our teachers were doing a “wonderful” job!

Jim Rose who was the former Deputy Chief Inspector of Schools led an independent review to examine best practice in teaching reading, including the place of synthetic phonics. This review, (known as THE ROSE REVIEW) as well as looking at the role and pace of phonics teaching within the context of early reading, supported both the development of the birth to five framework and the renewal of the literacy framework.

Letters and Sounds and the New Framework are based on his findings which were published 2006.

Sir James Rose has been an education consultant since 1999, having undertaken a number of assignments for government and educational organizations both at home and overseas. After holding a variety of teaching posts in both primary and secondary schools, including two headships, he was appointed HMI in 1975 as a primary education specialist. He became Staff Inspector for Pupils with Specialist Educational Needs in 1979, Chief Inspector with national responsibilities including primary education (1983), and Director of Inspection, OFSTED (1994).

Lollypop Lady
for
30 years !!!!

We had a lovely party to congratulate and thank our Lollipop Lady – Mrs Kelly who has been 30 years at the school.
She came into school for tea and cakes and all the children came to see her with cards and a present.

Geography Quiz
Year 5

Congratulations to all Year 5 pupils who took part in the Geography Quiz.

They thoroughly enjoyed the competition and lots of fun was had by all.

A special congratulations goes to Edward Cotton (1^st place), Jake Flintoft (2nd place) and David Feetenby (3^rd place).

Well done Year 5!!!

 
Mr Murray struggling to answer the questions !!!

Show Racism The Red Card
(Click on pictures to enlarge)

The year 6’s attended a presentation at York City Football Club in October concerning ‘Showing Racism the Red Card’.

The students were given the opportunity to meet some of the players from York City and find out how racism had affected them within football.  The children were very interested in what the players had to say and asked them a number of questions on the subject.

Luckily it would appear that the players themselves had not experienced racism on the football pitch first hand, but pointed out that they would be unhappy to hear racist comments in any walk of life.

The children were shown a video about ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ before being taken on a tour of the football ground, including the changing rooms.

The day was a great success with the children learning an important lesson for life.

This is what some of the children had to say about the day:

“It was very educational to find out about racism and how to deal with it” said Jayde Dillon.

“It was a really good day – I didn’t realise that racism could also be about peoples religion” exclaimed Grace Metheringham.

“I’ve had racism directed at me and it isn’t nice – it was a really fun day and helped us to understand more about how racism can affect people”  commented Hakim Lazrak.

“I could never imagine playing football and having racist abuse shouted at me from supporters of the other side – as happened when England played Spain – it must have been terrible for the players”  said Carl Noble.

Walk to School Week Competition

Football @
Clifton Green Primary School
2007 - 08 Season.

The new football season has started at Clifton Green with our fixture list filling up fast.  To date we have played two league matches, one 6-a-side tournament and one 5- a-side tournament.  The 6-a-side tournament was held at St Olave’s School and the children really enjoyed playing as a team.  In the near future we are to play in the CADE 6-a-side trophy and the Primary League cup.  In addition we will be playing further league games in our new league, league D.