Issue 4 • April 2023
...................... A message from Mr Copeland .................... This half term has been extremely busy across all age groups in the school. One part of our school that brings the year groups together is our House System. All pupils, including children in PreSchool, join one of our four houses (Brandesburton, Gore, Holderness and Trinity) as they enter the school. They will stay in this house throughout their Hymers education. The children collect house point tokens throughout the week and add them to the small display tubes in their classrooms. House points are awarded for all sorts of reasons including: super academic work, effort, perseverance, kindness, displaying good manners, being helpful and following the values of our school CARE Code. At the end of the week each class’ tokens are poured into the large display tubes at the end of Merit Assembly. The large display tubes are located in the school entrance hall and the pupils can see how their house is doing in the friendly competition. This term’s winners were Gore, who will receive a house treat early in the new term. When the children return after Easter the display tubes will be empty for the termly competition to start all over again. Back in February we hosted our Inaugural House Pancake Race; this was a fun afternoon where the children and staff took part in a whole school relay race with a number of obstacles. The obstacle relay of course included a pancake toss and it was a fun way for the pupils to learn
about the traditions of Pancake Day. Throughout the race it was lovely to see our older pupils in Year 1 and Year 2 supporting the younger children and to see the pupils and staff strengthening their relationships. We have more house events coming up in the Summer Term including a Year 2 and Year 3 Swimming Gala and our Hymers Hessle Mount Sports Day. In the Key Dates section of the newsletter, you will find these events and a number of other useful dates for your diary.
I could not write my article for this newsletter without congratulating the children and staff in Year 1 for their wonderful performance of Stella the Starfish. I was blown away by all of the pupils who all had a speaking part in the performance and delivered their lines confidently and clearly throughout the three shows. They got in to character and showed enjoyment and good humour as they entertained their audiences. The productions are an important part of the pupils’ education at Hymers Hessle Mount and each year group will be given the opportunity to perform throughout the academic year. The music and drama allows pupils to build their confidence and self-esteem and this can also allow pupils to develop and flourish in many other areas of the curriculum. I was particularly impressed with the bravery
of our solo singers and how well they were supported by the rest of the year group. I would like to say a huge thank you to Ms Ayre and Miss Chapman for all their efforts with the Year 1 production from creating the scenery, learning songs, choreographing dance moves and supporting all pupils to learn their lines from the script. I hope that the Year 1 parents, friends and family enjoyed it as much as I did! This half term we also enjoyed celebrating World Book Day and it was wonderful to welcome all of the children into school dressed as a character from a story. In assembly I read Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book to the children which the children enjoyed as each page links to a different
character and story. The children from all year groups then got to choose which teacher’s story they would like to listen to and went to different places around the school to hear these stories. Celebrating World Book Day is of course great fun and promotes a love of reading. The pupils at Hymers Hessle Mount read regularly in school and it is a very important part of our curriculum. Reading improves language skills, develops imagination and creativity, can improve concentration and helps aid cognitive development. These are key skills that pupils will require as they move through the school and beyond. I would encourage all of our children to continue reading books and sharing books with adults over the holidays. I wish you and your family a lovely Easter break and look forward to welcoming the pupils back to school for the Summer Term.