From February 22nd to March 7th it will be Fairtrade Fortnight. We are collecting any packaging with the Fairtrade logo on to use on a display board so if you have anything you could bring in we would be very grateful. Pupils will be finding out all about Fairtrade and preparing work for the display.

On Friday 22nd January Year 3/4 went to Heworth CLC. The morning focused on ‘Solids, Liquids and Gases’ and in the afternoon we concentrated on ‘WW2’. The children worked hard all day finding new and interesting facts about both the subjects. We used interactive games and websites to extend our learning. Mrs Martin who led the day was very pleased with both the behaviour of our children and how much the children already knew about ‘WW2’ and ‘Solid, Liquids and Gases’. We learnt a lot from the day and would like to thank Heworth CLC for a great day!

On Tuesday 23rd June two "Victorian" teachers came to Year 1. The children had to sit in rows and write on slates with slate pencil. They also tried writing with pens dipped into ink. That was quite tricky ! They found out all about the punishments they would have received if they made a mess with their ink pens. Everyone said that they were glad they came to school now and not in 1900 !!

Mrs Agnes Peyridieu from our partner school in Bordeaux, France and Mrs Kineke Kuper from our partner school in The Netherlands visited our at the end of April. They stayed for a week each. They spent time in each class working with our pupils. The also told our pupils about school life in their country and read stories in their native tongue. It was a super experience for aour pupils and a great opportunity for us to continue to forge great links with other schools in Europe.
You can find out about the the Dutch school at www.cbs-bron.picto.nl

Here is Mrs Kuper in Year 2.

At the beginning of April 2008, Mrs McCartney, Mrs Douglas, Mrs Robson and Miss Hayden set off to France for a Comenius project meeting in Bordeaux, France. When we were there we met teachers from the other partner school - Netherlands and Turkey.
We took a dvd of dances our pupils had learned and performed along with a booklet of instructionas and music to give to our partners school. They had also prepared dances for us to learn.
It was an excellent opportunity to see the similarities and differences bewteen our schools as well as giving us an opportunity to exchange ideas and information about the different education systems. You might like to take a few minutes to look at the display of photos and aretfacts in our school hall.

On Thursday 6th March we celebrated World Book Day in school. People came dressed as characters from their favourite books and donated £1.00 as a fine. We are going to send all of the money collected to Nakulabye Junior school in Kampala,Uganda so that they can use the money to buy some books for their pupils.

Two weeks before this we had all investigated authors from different countries and prepared a class display for the hall

Here is our work.

The Y6 SATs are taking place in the week beginning May 12th 2008. All Y6 children are currently working very hard towards the SATs and are hoping to do their best when the time arrives.
Parents can help by ensuring that their children are completing all of their homework and spending some time reading their study books.
On the week of the SATs free breakfasts will be on offer to all Y6 children.

The Drive School is proud to be an inclusive school. We work hard to ensure that all children, regardless of their abilities, are made to feel valued. Mrs Dunkerton is the schools Learning Support Teacher. All children with special educational needs have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) written for them by the class teacher and Mrs Dunkerton, which outlines their special targets.She then takes out small groups of children to help them with their reading, spelling and writing targets.She also liaises with all teaching staff to help them teach SEN children as effectively as they can.

David Harmer, the performance poet, came to our school on Thursday 8th November
Everyone had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed listening to and participating in some of his fabulous and funny poems. We all loved the "Mr Moore" poem and enjoyed joining in.
He worked in Year 4/5 and Year 6 reciting poems, performing poems, encouraging others to join in as well as working towards creating their own poem.