This Week at Cobden

Friday 19th April

Our first week of Summer Term has been Circus Week which has been fun. All children have practised circus-related skills and completed work in all curriculum areas. This afternoon there has been a special circus assembly where each class have shared their learning and skills with the rest of the school. Check out the class pages for pictures of our circus fun!

Although this is the start to Summer Term, the weather has still been very cold, wet and wintery so let's hope it brightens up soon. Have a great weekend.

Mrs Head 

Friday 29th March

We have had such a busy week I am writing this at home on Good Friday! It was lovely to see so many parents joining us for Easter crafts which was a reward for families with good attendance this term. This will reset next term so I hope we have more children and families able to join us as we will have, hopefully, put all the winter bugs and colds behind us! It was very impressive to see 10 children have got 100% attendance for the whole year so far - well done to them and thank you to parents as we can't achieve this without your support.

Our Pupils of the Term were also celebrated in assembly yesterday. This was achieved for a number of reasons - excellent work, great, attitudes, progress to name but a few. 

My favourite part of the week, and a great ending to the term was Cobden's Got Talent. What amazing talents our children have! We had singing, dancing, gymnastics, artwork, and sports skills on display. I would never be brave enough to sing a solo in front of the school (I don't think anyone would want to hear me either! ). We decided a couple of years ago that it was too hard to choose a winner, so everyone who took part was given a lovely chocolatey prize - well done to all our performers!

Have a lovely holiday, everyone, see you on 15th April.

Mrs Head 

Friday 22nd March 

As we get towards the end of every term, some things often seem to drift. We have noticed a lot of children not wearing school colours this week and lots of children wearing earrings that dangle. Bright colours and jewellery need to be saved for the weekend, please. We don't want jewellery getting lost and we definitely don't want any injuries from earrings being caught during playtimes or PE lessons. 

It is the last week of term next week so a busy one with lots to do! Look out to see if your child is having an attendance reward or one for behaviour. They may even be a Pupil of the Term or starring in Cobden's Got Talent! I look forward to seeing lots of you all next week to join in these celebrations.

Mrs Head 

Friday 15th March

It has been Science Week this week in school and we have been looking at the impact of female scientists on our lives. From nursery children learning about Jane Goodall and her work with chimpanzees to Y6 children having ethical discussions about genetic research, it has been a really interesting week. We have also looked at electricity in all classes but I am not sure I want to know the results of Y6 monitoring our electricity usage in school! 

Mrs Head 

Friday 8th March

It's been a fantastic week of reading and books this week. Instead of World Book Day, we have had Cobden Book Week. We have had guest readers coming in, some of whom enjoyed themselves so much they have asked if they can volunteer on a regular basis to read with the children. I was sorry I was on a course on Tuesday as I missed coming to school in my pyjamas for Bedtime Story Day - I also missed Mr Cattermoul falling asleep in assembly! 

Every child came home with a book so I hope they have enjoyed sharing them at home with their families. It was lovely to see lots of parents coming in to share books on Thursday too. I have also started sharing a book that I enjoy reading in our Monday assembly and lots of these have been borrowed by the children which is great to see.

We all love reading at Cobden!

Mrs Head 

Friday 1st March

It's March already, this year seems to be flying by! It's been a busy week - the Y3/4 football team were in a tournament on Tuesday, Leeds United staff did a workshop with Y6 on Wednesday and Y5 visited Armley Mills on Thursday. I'm told the Victorian teacher at Armley Mills was very strict and had a cane - let's hope Mr Cattermoul and Mrs Taylor don't get any ideas! 

Next week is World Book Day but we are having Book Week at Cobden so make sure you remember your pyjamas on Tuesday for Bedtime Story Day! We have some guest readers visiting and on Thursday afternoon it would be lovely to see lots of parents coming in to read with the children.

Mrs Head 

Friday 23rd February

Some KS2 children started the week and this half term by travelling to Sheffield to represent our school in Young Voices. It's a very long day for them but I'm told they sang well and the staff who went (thank you Mrs Taylor and Henderson!) were proud. 

Assembly was lovely this morning with children being chosen for lots of different things - work across the curriculum, behaviour and good attitudes - well done, everyone, keep it up for the rest of this half term!

Mrs Head 

Friday 9th February

Here we are at half term already - it has been a short half term but a very busy one. Thank goodness we have only had one day of snow that only caused a little bit of disruption yesterday. 

I spent a long time yesterday looking at attendance for all pupils as it is very low. We have 32 pupils who have less than 80% attendance, which is classed as "persistent absence". Several of these have low attendance due to poor punctuality, and would be on track if they hadn't been late so often. Please make sure your child comes to school on time every day, any missed time can have such an impact on their future.

Have a lovely half term holiday, everyone. I hope you all get lots of Valentine's surprises! 

Mrs Head 

Friday 2nd February

Although it isn't Safer Internet Day until next week, all classes have had workshops about this during the week. The children should all know how to keep themselves safe online but it is good to keep checking this with them and checking parental controls. 

I have been in a lot of lessons this week and today I was joined by some governors too. We saw a lot of pleasing things through school and governors commented on how they could see there has been a big, positive change in learning behaviours. I am so pleased they could see this as it is something all staff and children have worked hard on. Keep it up, everyone!

Mrs Head 

Friday 26th January

It was lovely to see so many parents in school this afternoon looking at the work the children have done during our Art Week. The children and staff have enjoyed focussing on art and have looked at how art can be used as a therapy and to help us be mindful. Miss Sykes, our Art Lead in school, led a special Well Done Assembly this morning; it must have been really difficult for the teachers to choose just two pupils with so much amazing work on display throughout school.

In our Monday morning assembly next week I have asked the children to think about what type of art they like best and whether they have a favourite artist so it would be nice if you could talk to them about this over the weekend.

Mrs Head 

Friday 19th January

Well it has certainly been wintry this week, we haven't spent much time outdoors, have had a few slips and falls on the way to/from school, broken heating and even had a road crash outside on Wednesday afternoon! I think we all need a relaxing weekend in the warm with a large hot chocolate!

Even though it has been cold and there have been some temporary changes to routines, the children have all coped well and have continued to work hard. In assembly this morning it was lovely to hear how so many children help their friends with learning and behaviour, which shows they have learnt really well themselves and can now pass on their knowledge.

Mrs Head 

Friday 12th January

Happy New Year and welcome back to a new school term! I hope everyone had a lovely break, the children were very excited to talk about it when they returned.

This half term is a very short one with only four weeks left until half term so we have a lot to fit in to a short time. There was a lot of super work and behaviour on display in our Well Done Assembly this morning and it was pleasing to hear how several pupils had changed their attitude since coming back on Monday. Keep it up, everyone!

Mrs Head 

Friday 15th December

Christmas has come to Cobden this week! We practised all the songs for our end of term singalong with Mr Mosey on Tuesday; I hope you can come and join us next Friday for a festive end to the term. On Wednesday our Nursery and Reception children had their Nativity - "Robin's So Excited" - which was amazing and it was great to see so many parents and family members enjoying the performance. The children and staff all look very merry and festive today in their Christmas jumpers. Assembly was very different, instead of looking at a school full of blue jumpers it was bright and colourful and extremely Christmassy!

Next week children will have parties in class and I'm hoping to see lots of parents at our Family Christmas Dinner and singalong. We will also find out who our Pupils of the Term are and how many children have achieved 100% attendance this term.

Mrs Head 

Friday 1st December

As I am sitting and typing this, I am listening to the lovely Christmas singing in the hall as Cobden make a bid for the Christmas number 1 with our CD of Christmas songs - move over Mariah Carey! Even the staff will be adding a track after school so watch out for your opportunity to buy the recording; what a super background to your Christmas morning, the staff of Cobden singing! 

As it is the 1st December, we have started our attendance drive for the next 2 weeks. All children who arrive on time will be given a house point, if they attend on time every day right until the last day of term they will be given extra house points and will be entered into a draw to win a fantastic family prize. 

Mrs Head 

Friday 24th November 

We have had another busy week at Cobden. We had fun practising all our Christmas songs on Tuesday and it was great to see Mr Mosey back in school. All classes had some taster sessions in karate yesterday. Today Y4 and Y5 are out on school trips. Year 4 have been at Herd Farm for the day to support their learning about the Iron Age. It's a big day for Year 5 as they head off to Robin Wood for the weekend; there was a mixture of nerves and excitement this morning and that was just the parents waving them off!  I'm sure they will have a fantastic time as always and I'll be here to welcome them back on Sunday afternoon. Big thanks to Mr Kaczmarek, Mr Cattermoul and Mrs Smedley for giving up their weekends to support the trip. 

Mrs Head

Friday 17th November 

We have had a staff training day today so the children have had a nice long weekend! We have had a week of doing lots of things relating to Anti-Bullying Week which started with Odd Socks Day on Monday - a very colourful start to the week. We also put the finishing touches to our new staffroom which is in the old ICT suite as it is a much brighter, bigger room. Staff wellbeing is very important to us and giving them a nice space to take a break in is something we have wanted to change for a while. Remember happy staff = happy children! 

Mrs Head 

Friday 10th November

It was lovely to see everyone return after half term. The children were all excited to tell us all about the fun they had had on Halloween and Bonfire Night! This week a lot of classes have been talking about Remembrance Day and the significance of poppies. We held a minute's silence this morning at 11.00. Y6 have been out and about all week on the bikes doing "Bikeability". The poor things got cold and wet almost every day they were out there! 

Next week is Anti-Bullying Week so don't forget to wear your odd socks on Monday!

Mrs Head 

Friday 27th October

We made it to half term! Eight weeks is a very long time for the first half term of a school year and we all deserve a rest!

It has been History Week this week and on Wednesday we had a day where we all dressed up as a person from history. Everyone looked fantastic and some children really went the extra mile and had researched the person who had inspired them. We gave prizes out for the best outfits this morning but it was a very hard decision to make!

We break up today for a week and during this week we will have Halloween and Bonfire Night. Please be safe everyone, have fun but look after yourselves and have a great half term.

Mrs Head 

Friday 20th October

It has been Recycling Week this week and the children have done some amazing work on this. It was lovely to see so many parents come in this afternoon to see the work that had been done around school. 

Year 5 did an amazing rendition of "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi in assembly this morning which has been their music topic this term. The singing was great and there were some excellent air guitars too!

Mrs Head 

Friday 13th October

Fortunately, it hasn't been an unlucky Friday 13th at Cobden! I have had lots of visits from children bringing their good work to show me - I might need to order more stickers I'm going through so many. Y6 did a fantastic class assembly on Tuesday, I couldn't believe how much work they had managed to get through in just 5 weeks. We have been thinking about mental health too as it was World Mental Health Day on Tuesday. It was good to hear that the children all knew they had lots of people in school that they could talk to if they had an issue.

Mrs Head 

Friday 6th October

We had a visit from our School Improvement Adviser this week and she was very impressed with what she saw when she walked round school. The atmosphere was very calm and all children were engaged with their learning. She also spent some time in Stepping Stones and talked to the children in their about managing their emotions.

It was lovely to see that most parents had chance to talk to their child's teacher either in person or over the phone for parents' evening. We would love to hear your feedback on how you found the new system - did you prefer a phone call? Would you like parents' evening to be face to face? Do you prefer the option of one or the other? Please let us know so that we can bear this in mind when planning the next parents' evening.

Mrs Head 

Friday 29th September

It's been such a busy, whirlwind start to the term that this is a very late welcome back to everyone!

I know lots of you had lovely holidays and visited some interesting places. The children have settled in well back to school life and learning. I've had to restock my stickers I've seen so much good work!

Next week is parents' evening so please make sure you hand your slips in to get your preferred slot so you can see the amazing work that is happening too. 

Mrs Head