Wednesday was a particularly special day at Farsley Springbank Primary School as we were finally able to announce our new library space officially open - hurrah! In order to assist the celebrations were invited along local author and illustrator Chris Mould to cut the ribbon and speak to the children about what life is like for a published writer. Chris' journey is an inspiring one - he openly admitted to the children that he struggled when he was at school and that he found almost everything difficult.  As a youngster he said he grew up in a house where there were no books, and it was only the fact that he was able to use his school library which opened up a world of stories to him. This love of stories, a bit of imagination and a lot of hard work eventually led to him getting his first story published. A lot of the children were hugely inspired by what they had heard and, more importantly, were desperate to get into the library and grab one of our new books. A huge thank you to Chris for the time he spent with us.  Chris' artwork will be going on display in the new library - it could well be quite valuable in the future!

This week the Year 4 children were excited to put on an exhibition for parents. The children have been working hard on their learning challenge 'Do we live in the best city ever?'  They have completed local history studies on the wool trade and researched the geography of Farsley and the British Isles using four figure grid references. Using this learning as inspiration, the children devised games to test their parents and were really pleased to have the opportunity to pass on their learning and become mini-teachers! An exhibition wouldn't be an exhibition without art work and Year 4 were very proud of their Springbank tapestry, where the children showed off their developing applique and cross stitch skills.  Also on show, were the children's observational drawings, which have captured some of Leeds most famous pieces of architecture. Thank you to everyone who came along to see the children’s work and well done Year 4 for a great exhibition!

The whole school were treated on Wednesday by Year 1 who shared their 'What African Wonders Await?' topic with everyone in assembly.  Year 1 children performed an African dance, performed music inspired by Stomp and even got parents involved to perform the song 'Kye Kye Kule'. Pupils from both 1BD and 1MS very bravely read aloud stories that they had written inspired by Handa's Surprise. There was also a show of artwork that this topic has inspired, including traditional dot work, tribal necklaces and amazing animal models. All of Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Africa and did themselves proud in presenting their learning to the whole school.  Well done Year 1!

The Road Safety Team from Leeds City Council spent two days in school this half term.  They delivered a whole school assembly about how to be safe on the roads including reinforcing the Green Cross Code.  Following the assembly, both Reception classes had a class based session and Year 4 children spent the day in small groups practicing crossing the road safety on the roads surrounding school.  On the Road Safety Team's second visit they worked with Year 5 on a class based session called 'Game Over' and then worked with groups of Year 1 children and Year 4 again, practicing their skills as crossing the road safely. 

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Harvest Festival. Each year group shared some of their work about the Harvest; it was especially lovely to have our Reception children join us for the first time.  The children sang their scarecrow song with actions with real gusto and seemed to take performing in front of such a large crowd completely in their stride!  Thank you to everyone who made a food donation to our Harvest collection; we had a huge amount of food that we have split up so we have been able to support 2 really worthwhile organisations where our food will help make a real difference: Leeds West Food Bank and St. George’s Crypt.  St. George’s Crypt have already been to school to collect their share of the food donations and expressed their gratitude at the generosity of our families.