The Minster School and its choristers have once again been taking part in a choral partnership project with primary school pupils in York including Osbaldwick Primary School.  

Our Year 3 and Year 4 children have been busy rehearsing with a member of the Minster Choristers each week leading to a performance at the Minster on Friday 25th June. At the concert, the young singers had the opportunity to perform before an audience of proud parents and members of the public. They sounded wonderful and their behaviour was impeccable. They did us proud. Well done and again another fantastic memory for the children involved.

Mr Alex Donaldson, Headmaster of the Minster School said: “This project is all about encouraging all children to sing.  We’re thrilled that we’ve been able to work with Primary Schools from across York to help achieve this”.

Photos from the York Minster performance can be seen here.

It was finally here; World Cup month and everyone waited with growing excitement as the days to the opening ceremony in South Africa grew fewer and fewer.

To encourage the England team, teachers and pupils got together to produce their own video of the famous "Three Lions" song, including Mr Shoobridge's warnings about the referee!! And there wasn't a vuvuzela in sight!

See the video here.

Unfortunately the enjoyment and success of the osbaldwick video wasn't matched by the England team on the pitch.... and the rest as they say is history.... Oh well, here's to 2014!!

On Wednesday 23rd June three children went to London on behalf of our school council to the National School Council Awards Ceremony which was hosted by speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow MP in his chambers within the Palace of Westminster.

Over 2500 schools had entered the competition and 20 schools were shortlisted & invited to attend. We were nominated for our hosting of the York School Council Conference which took place at the Theatre Royal back in February. The day in London was breath taking, we had a full tour of Parliament followed by a delicious lunch in the Speakers Drawing Room, where we able to question our newly elected local MP Julian Sturdy.

After lunch the awards were given out amongst much pomp & ceremony….. and…..we won! A beautifully engraved glass trophy and £500 for the School Council to spend on another project. We were also interviewed by ITV Calendar & were on television 3 times the following day.

Well done to everyone who helped make our project such a worthy winner. What a unique day for Breanna, Annie and Andrew one they will never forget!

We have recently gained recognition for the work we have done related to personal finance at Osbaldwick School over the last 6 years by receiving an award from the Royal Bank of Scotland. This has been led by Mrs Borrett who has been instrumental in developing these key life skills for the future.

It is the first year that this national award for Primary Schools has been given, our school therefore setting the standard for future years. It involved detailing all the work that has been done in school including the Stationery Stop, enterprise activities, lesson plans and questionnaire responses.

The Chair of Governors, 2 pupils and Mrs Borrett attended a presentation ceremony in London followed by a flight on the London Eye. The award prize of £1,500 will be used to develop the provision of personal finance throughout school. To find out more about the awards visit the PFE Awards website and to see more photos of the award and the pupils' day in London click here.

Our school hosted the School Council Conference this year at the Theatre Royal. Representatives from the majority of the 52 primary school councils attended the conference. You may have seen the write up in the Press (Monday 15th Feb) about the annual York School Council Conference which was held at the Theatre Royal on Friday 12th February. 

Osbaldwick Primary was privileged to host the event this year and we wowed children, teachers and councillors from across the city with a stunning opener consisting of drama, drumming and dance. Some of our Year 6 continued to address nearly 300 delegates and lead them through a variety of presentations and activities, each encouraging pupil’s voices to be heard. Many more of our children were involved in the preparation and smooth running of the day, completing tasks as diverse as badge making and designing inspirational posters for display, to interviewing speakers, leading workshops, co-ordinating groups of children and generally ensuring everyone had a great time. 

The success of the event – as widely reported in the York Press - was credit to the fantastic teamwork and enthusiasm seen by our children in action. Well done and thank you to all involved.

The pupils of Year 3 have recently been studying what life was like in our country in the 1950s and some of the memorable events of that decade.

They discovered that one of the main events happened in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London and decided to write to Her Majesty to tell her what they had been learning about.

One of the her Ladies-in-Waiting wrote back to the pupils on behalf of the Queen to thank them for taking the time to write and tell her. The letter said "The Queen was interested to hear that you have been learning about the 1950s and Her Majesty's Coronation in your history lessons, and thought it kind of you to tell her that you had been looking at pictures of this special occasion on the internet."

You can read the full text of the letter here.

Mrs Anderson our school cook has been awarded 5 stars on the door again, the highest accolade, after her kitchen was inspected at the end of last week.

Scores on the doors is a Food Standards Agency supported national public information service where you can find the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses; including schools.

The aim of the scheme is to promote hygiene in food preparation, particularly where food is being prepared for large numbers of people such as food businesses and schools.

Congratulations Mrs Anderson and also a big thank you to her and Miss Hill for cooking a lovely Christmas dinner for all the children and staff last Wednesday. The hall echoed to the sound of children singing along to the carols from the CD produced by children at this school a few years ago.

The hall looked very festive with the decorations and the children wearing their Christmas paper hats from the crackers.

Nature brought its fury to York one November afternoon with a large deluge of rain and a very intensive thunderstorm.

The pupils of Osbaldwick Primary School were safe and dry inside, going about their daily lessons whilst listening to the increasingly loud claps of thunder outside. And then..... one almighty bang and crash, a smell of burning and every alarm possible sounding! School had been hit by lightning.

Luckily no one was hurt but everyone got a bit wet as they trooped out onto the playground - no brollies allowed of course! The fire brigade arrived and after an inspection, it was back inside for everyone.

A passer-by described flame shooting across the roof of the school as the lightning bolt hit. The only casualties were various pieces of electronic equipment which were "fried" by the lightning.

Osbaldwick School Magazine - "For the kids, by the kids.....".

This term sees the launch of a new school magazine, Osbaldwick Bright Sparks. Children from each year group can get involved writing articles, producing puzzles and quizzes, conducting interviews, before editing ready for printing. Profits from each magazine sold go to the school council charity which this term is Children In Need.

The first issue includes jokes, a comic strip, a book review, interviews, a colouring competition, sports page and much more.

Get hold of a copy from the office and see for yourself!

Click on the thumbnail for a bigger image of the first edition.

Thousands of people lined York’s streets to catch a glimpse of some of the world’s top cyclists as the city played host to the first leg of the Tour Of Britain; from Scunthorpe to York.

Excited crowds enjoyed soaring temperatures as they waited for the competitors to race across the finishing line at Monk Stray.

Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Visit Yorkshire, was joined by Daisy, Calum, Emily and Michael, all pupils from Osbaldwick Primary School, to hand over the yellow jersey to the winner – Australia’s Chris Sutton

What an honour and they were photographed and filmed by TV crews!

Following the success of the Key Stage 2 production of The Keymaster last year, this year's play is The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

Prospero is a magician. He and his daughter Miranda have been marooned on a desert island for many years, after Prospero's brother Antonio betrayed him. Now, Prospero is looking for justice. He uses his magical power to cause a tempest, bringing a passing ship onto the rocks.Antonio is among the survivors washed up on the shore, as are several others who plotted against Prospero.

We learn of two new murder plots, one of which involves the monster Caliban, a drunken butler and a jester. We watch as Miranda saw another human being (Ferdinand) for the first time since she was three. Miranda is horrified that - in raising the storm - her father has caused Ferdinand huge suffering. Eventually she sees that no real harm has been done, as all are set free from the past by Prospero's forgiveness.

The play is written in contemporary English with extracts from Shakespeare's original script.

The photos of the play can be seen here.

Osbaldwick Primary School has been awarded 5 stars for hygiene in its kitchens and in the preparation of food for its pupils.

Scores on the doors is a Food Standards Agency supported national public information service where you can find the official local authority hygiene ratings for food businesses; including schools.

The aim of the scheme is to promote hygiene in food preparation, particularly where food is being prepared for large numbers of people such as food businesses and schools.

So far over 100 Local Authority Councils have signed up to the scheme including the City of York Council.

Commenting on the award Lesley Barringer, School Headteacher, said "We are very pleased to announce that our school has had its food hygiene inspection and we have been scored at 5 stars. Well done to Mrs Anderson and Miss Hill in the school kitchen. "

Budding golfers at Osbaldwick Primary School have entered a competition run by the Golf Foundation. The competition was to make a video on any aspect of golf and the Osbaldwick pupils made theirs on the school's own mini golf course.

The final video can be seen here and the results of the competition will be announced in July.

Hot on the heels of their success at Venturefest 2009, the Osbaldwick young entrepreneurs have been out and about once again; this time in the company of delegates from high profile companies in Yorkshire.

The children were attending the Enterprise Conference at Sandburn Hall on 26th February organised by the North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP). They gave a presentation on their Stationery Shop, how it was set up and run, as well as selling items from it to delegates.

The event was covered by The Press who featured the Enterprise Conference in the paper on Saturday 28th February accompanied by this photograph.

The feedback on the children's contribution to the conference was glowing....

"I would like to say, on behalf of EVERYONE yesterday, just how amazing and inspiring your school children are. Polite, astute and so confident, they really did represent Osbaldwick School perfectly." Louise Chandler NYBEP.

Picture, The Press, York.

Wednesday 25th February was a busy day at Osbaldwick as Year 6 children helped manage a giant food tasting afternoon! The theme was Brain Food and the school tried to keep the key ingredient secret; even Radio York visiting live were sworn to secrecy.

Over the afternoon our diligent and hard working kitchen staff and children joined forces to offer three different menus to see which passed the taste test with their friends and peers. The secret soon found its way out though. Our wily and investigative ‘customers’ soon spotted the Salmon, not always their most popular choice, but this time with new twists. A favourite was found and as a consequence the Salmon Pasta Bake is likely to find its way into school menus nationwide!

A huge thank you to all our tasters and helpers; the huge undertaking went like clockwork and as always the children showed themselves to be sensible, confident and with a positive approach to having a go.

The Catering Service and the School’s Food Trust complimented the school on the children’s good manners and independence and we in turn thank our cooks for their super meals and hard work. Remember fish is Brain Food – its helps us learn!

Lesley Barringer

In this world of economic turmoil, it is good to know that there are some talented young people who have a good sense of financial awareness. Among them are the Year 5 pupils of Osbaldwick Primary School who won the Young Enterprise Award at Venturefest 2009.

Their profitable stationery shop at the York business event held on 11 February at the Racecourse was picked out as the winner by the judging panel. Competing against entries from other schools across the region, the Osbaldwick Primary School pupils impressed the judges by their all-round knowledge of how to run a shop.

Class teacher Chris Borrett was delighted with the pupils’ performance, adding, ‘We teach financial awareness in the school, and the practical benefits of doing this can be seen today. The children have worked very hard on preparing the shop. They are confident on handling money, and in using a computer to record all sales and calculate how much profit they have made.’

Osbaldwick Primary School leads the way in developing enterprise skills in young children. Volunteers from the business community are often in the school to pass their skills on to the next generation of entrepreneurs. ‘Being more financially aware makes our young people confident in many areas of every-day life’, says Mrs Borrett. First prize from Venturefest would appear to support this view.

More photos of Osbaldwick Primary School at Venturefest 2009 can be seen here.

TeacherNet is the education website for teachers and school managers developed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The organisation publishes a monthly magazine for primary teachers with interesting features and articles on primary school life.

The Primary Teachers magazine has been looking out for innovative and unusual school clubs that have caught pupil's imagination. The January edition contains a feature on the Knitting Club at our very own school. The Osbaldwick Primary School Knitting Club is proving one of the most successful clubs introduced in school in recent years with 20 pupils from years 5 and 6 taking part.

To read the full feature click on the picture.

Osbaldwick Primary School is taking part in an exciting schools meal project with the School Food Trust. We are one of only six schools in the City to take part, in recognition of the high quality of meals prepared in school.

During January, our cook, Mrs Anderson, the School Council and all the children will be discussing their favourite meals, new meals they are willing to try and coming up with a new menu to entice the taste buds!

We will be asking for opinions, having tasting sessions for parents and children and building it into our normal lessons.

Over the next few months there will be lots of special promotions, including a chance for everyone's children to try our great school meals for free!

• School meals will be free for one week; 9th-13th February
• School meals will be free on two selected days during the week; 2nd-6th March (Further details to follow)
• Buy four meals this week and get a fifth free; 30th March - 3rd April
• All meals will be just £1.00 during the week; 20th - 24th April

Osbaldwick Primary School is delighted to have been awarded the Activemark 2008 award.

The Active Schools programme is the foundation and critical element in Sport England's commitment to involving more people in sport. It compliments and reinforces the two other elements of the programme, Active Sport and Active Communities.

Activemark is an accreditation scheme for primary schools that recognises and rewards a school for its commitment to promoting the benefits of physical activity and offering good physical activity provision.

The programme provides schools with a thorough auditing and development tool to help raise the standard of physical activity provision.

The Activemark process is closely linked with the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

Osbaldwick Primary School headteacher Lesley Barringer describes the benefits of being a School Improvement Partner (SIP) in an article published in the Times Educational Supplement this month. The article is reproduced below.

Building better schools.

Being a School Improvement Partner (SIP) has allowed Lesley Barringer to become a better headteacher, she believes. The head of Osbaldwick Primary School in York is in her second year of being a SIP for nine infant, junior and primary schools in the North Lincolnshire education authority.

She had extensive training with the National Strategies to enable her to fulfil the role. “Being a SIP is a role I love and relish, and I consider it part of my own professional development.” She says. “By observing how other headteachers do their jobs, I see everything that happens in my own school with fresh eyes. It is fascinating to see how other schools and local authorities tackle the same problems.”

Lesley has developed a strong leadership team in her school, which keeps things running smoothly in her absence. “I would not be a SIP if it meant that Osbaldwick suffered in any way.” She says. She spends more than 20 days a year out of school on her SIP duties and always makes herself available to offer guidance and advice to colleagues.

“I believe one of the benefits of being a serving head and a SIP is that I can empathise, as well as challenge, because I have gone through the same problems or I have experience of what colleagues are going through.

“One area in which I feel I can make a difference is in a school’s self-evaluation. I believe I can offer advice from another perspective because it is something I have had to think about in my own school.”

School has received a congratulatory letter from Pete Dwyer and Jill Hodges, Director and Assistant Director of Learning, Culture and Children's Services at the City of York Council. The letter reads:

"We wanted to congratulate you, your staff and your pupils on your Key Stage 2 results. Your school is one of eight to achieve results above Fischer Family Trust type D estimates in all three of English, Maths and Science.

We do appreciate all the hard work, commitment and dedication involved so that pupils can gain such successful results. Please pass on our thanks to everyone in your school."

Well done everybody!

The children of Osbaldwick Primary School have been taking part in a new road safety campaign called Operation Zigzag. The campaign, with North Yorkshire Police, is aimed at hammering home a message to parents not to park on the zigzag yellow lines outside schools and putting children’s lives at risk. The story featured in the York Press on 4th September.

BBC Look North visited school to find out more about Operation Zigzag and enlisted the help of Year 6 pupil Sam Davison. See his report as it appeared on television.

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Osbaldwick Primary School’s brilliant youngsters have completed a remarkable clean sweep of rugby league titles after winning the North Yorkshire Youth Games tag rugby final. Read the full story from the York Press here.

Christine Horn has been crowned as York’s favourite School Crossing Patrol, for her commitment to helping children at Osbaldwick Primary School keep safe when travelling to and from school.

The announcement follows an appeal by Warburtons, to parents, children, schools and carers across Yorkshire and The Humber to nominate their favourite school crossing patrol, as part of the family baker’s ‘Loveliest Lollipop Person’ competition.

Children, parents and staff at Osbaldwick Primary School nominated Christine as they wanted to say a big thank you for all her hard work. Christine, who has worked as a School Crossing Patrol for 37 years, was nominated for always having a cheery word and a smile on her face. No matter what the weather, Christine is always on hand to ensure the children get home safe.

Christine Horn has been crowned as York’s favourite School Crossing Patrol, for her commitment to helping children at Osbaldwick Primary School keep safe when travelling to and from school.

Christine will be presented with a special breakfast hamper full of Warburtons goodies as a prize. She will also be put forward for the prestigious title of ‘Yorkshire and The Humber’s Loveliest Lollipop Person’.

The overall regional winner will receive holiday vouchers for a well deserved break, with the school who nominated the winner receiving a ‘Streetfeet’ road safety role play kit.

Tom Sugden, Sales Manager for Warburtons Yorkshire, said: “We have met many lovely school crossing patrols through our ‘Use your loaf initiative’. Come rain or shine they are there to support their school. This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ and ‘keep up the great work’!

"YORK'S colourful history has been rewritten by primary school pupils who were inspired to put pen to paper following a tour of the city.

Children at Osbaldwick Primary School have brought York's past to life in a new tour guide book, which has just been published, featuring their own words and illustrations" - from the York Evening Press

Read the full article.

The book was launched on Wednesday 25th June 2008 outside York Minster. Hosted by Assistant Headteacher Mr Brown and supported by parents, Governors and other wellwishers, the children from Year 4 read pieces from the book at a number of sites around the City, including the Minster, Museum Gardens, City Art Gallery, Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate and the Shambles.

Photgraphs from the book launch evening can be seen here.

Joshua Popely was the match-winning hero as Osbaldwick Primary School won the 2008 York Primary Schools mixed tag rugby league festival after beating Dringhouses 20-16 in a pulsating final at Huntington Stadium.

Joshua scored the sudden-death winner in extra-time after the scores were locked at 16-16 at the end of normal time following a late equaliser from Osbaldwick's Jonny Rawsthorne.

The match provided a fitting end to a magnificent tournament involving 60 schools.

We reached the final after beating Alne Primary School 12-8 in the semi-final having gone through group four unbeaten with three wins from three games.

• Osbaldwick 20 v Clifton with Rawcliffe 4
• Osbaldwick 16 v St Oswalds 0
• Osbaldwick 12 v Westfield 4

Jonny Rawsthorne was the top try scorer for us and Ryan Sheppeard tagged the most players on finals day.

Alne finished top of group three, which proved to be very competitive, with no game been settled by more than one try. Dringhouses reached the last four after they finished top of group one with three wins from three games.

Our semi-final opponents were Wigginton who edged out Hob Moor to first place in group three.

All 15 teams on finals day - which acted as a curtain-raiser to York City Knights' exciting win over Keighley - played some fantastic rugby and were a credit to their schools.

Hob Moor were awarded the fair play award by Knights chairman Roger Dixon, who also presented Osbaldwick and Dringhouses with their winners and runners-up medals.

Osbaldwick Primary School are representing York District on 24th August playing against Barwick Parade (Selby) before the York City Knights match v Rochdale.

As part of Operation Dawn the local Community Police invited senior citizens along to our Police Community Day held in school to encourage positive interaction between generations. The children had worked very hard to produce an afternoon of entertainment which included African dance, Drumming, Tudor Dance, French songs and singing by the Choir and instrumentals. Children offered our visitors cakes and tea. B&Q provided flowers and plant pots which the Yr 5 children had painted and children from the Gardening Club planted the pansies in them.

The event was a resounding success and we have received many positive comments from the senior citizens, many of them enjoyed it so much that they have requested if they can be invited to other events e.g. concerts and plays nativity etc or whether our children can visit them e.g. the choir.

Well done to all the children who took part.

"To children at Osbaldwick Primary School, age is only a number. As if to prove the point, youngsters at the York school are inviting elderly people from the local community to come and join them for a day.

On Wednesday next week - St George's Day - senior citizens have been invited to have afternoon tea with youngsters."

Read the full article.

The school has received some very positive comments about the children’s behaviour on some recent trips. The Yr 4 class were on an open top bus tour of York City Centre and the tour guide had said how well behaved they were. Yr 5 visited CPP and HSBC and we received an e-mail from the staff at CPP with the following quote, ‘all the volunteers, colleagues and HR office have commented on how well behaved the children were-'they were a credit to you and the school.’

Additionally the school has received a letter from a member of the public who happened to be in the HSBC bank and witnessed the children smiling and listening intently to the HSBC staff. The member of the public took the trouble to look us up on the website and write to us with complimentary comments about the children and our website. Also the Hockey coach of the Yr 6 children commented how polite and well behaved they were during their hockey training.

Well done to all the children, it is fantastic to receive such positive comments and you should all be very proud of yourselves.

The children have all taken part in ‘Live Arts’ sessions this week in school where sessions have been run by staff from the City of York Council  Art and Culture department.  All the sessions have been very varied and the children have enjoyed them immensely.  The children from Yr5 spent the full day in their work shop painting three foot square hoarding boards with acrylic paint.  These boards are now on display outside the Hungate Development complex and photographs of the display can be seen here.

They are fantastic and they are so good we considered selling them to the Tate Art Gallery!  Well done Yr 5.  The picture is just one of the boards they painted. 

The Hungate area lies adjacent to the Historic Core Conservation Area and commands a key position near to the city centre and next to the River Foss. It is currently being redeveloped into an area of riverside offices, leisure facilities and a residential quarter of the highest quality.

"PUPILS at a York primary school are celebrating after being described as "exemplary" in its latest inspection report.

An Ofsted team had glowing praise for the youngsters when they assessed Osbaldwick Primary School last month, with their report delighting headteacher Lesley Barringer."

Read the full article.

Osbaldwick Primary School was inspected by OFSTED on 29th and 30th January and they have now published their inspection report.

Headteacher Lesley Barringer commented:

"We are incredibly pleased with it. It really is super when the inspectors say our pupils are exemplary in their attitude and behaviour and have an outstanding grasp of healthy lifestyles, how to be safe, make wonderful contributions to the community, and well prepared for the future and all our pupils no matter what their ability achieve very well. It’s reassuring to be good with plenty of recognisably outstanding features – too many to mention here.

We were so proud of our children, and our parents were fantastic, so supportive; a HUGE thanks from us all, we are a great partnership. As Head teacher I must say all my staff and school helpers, visiting teachers, coaches and the Governors were also absolutely remarkable!"

The full report can also be found on the Ofsted website.