6th November 2020A Message from the Head... A game changing gesture....I must begin my piece this week by saying a huge thank you to a very generous and philanthropic member of our school community. Mr Darren Leung is the Director of CoV-Eng Limited – a not for profit organisation setup primarily to focus on solving societal problems due to COVID-19. Prior to half term, Mr Leung and I were in discussion about what is one of the biggest threats to being able to keep a school like ours open during a global pandemic. By far the greatest risk to this is securing the availability of staff, given the lengthy delays which can occur in getting COVID-19 tests booked and the results back from such tests. I am pleased to say that, as a result of Mr Leung’s generosity, Gateways is now able to offer its staff free COVID-19 tests on site, tests which deliver their results within 20-30 minutes. These tests are the lateral flow type tests, exactly the same as those being used for the trial of mass testing which has begun in Liverpool. I have no doubt that these rapid tests will be a complete game-changer in our fight against COVID-19 and I am extremely grateful to Mr Leung for helping Gateways to have access to them. I am also pleased that we have been able to help a number of other schools in the area, including Harewood Primary, by providing free of charge access to our supply of tests in order that they can enjoy the same benefits arising from the availability of rapid testing as Gateways now can. Remember, remember, the 5th of November...Last night, as I am sure you are all aware, was Bonfire Night and, as I sat a home with the sound of home firework display kits ringing in my ears, I couldn’t help but lament the loss of our own Gateways Fireworks Extravaganza this year. Along with so many other events, it became yet another casualty of COVID-19. It will be back though and, in the meantime, I thought I’d include a link to one of our previous displays put together by Ignite Pyrotechnics for everyone to enjoy - just click the picture above to be taken to the video of the 2018 display. Ignite will be back with us next year and, if COVID is still with us, we will try to find a creative way to make sure we don’t miss out on the Bonfire Night fun again – drive in fireworks anyone? The jigsaw marathon is almost upon us...Parents and pupils who have been with Gateways for a number of years will be only too aware that the Leadership Team usually do something a bit whacky at this time of year in support of charity. Last year we cycled a stage in the UCI World Cycling Championships and in doing so we raised over £2700 for Cancer Research UK! This year’s challenge is slightly more modest but infinitely more competitive. The Team, comprising Mrs Bartle, Mrs Titman, Mrs Wallis, Mrs Wood and me, will each be given a different 1000 piece jigsaw at 8am on Friday 13th November. We will then be based in the PAC, socially distant of course, and will race against each other to see who can complete their jigsaw first. We might still be there long after the end of the school day, who knows!! We are hoping that some of the pupils might drop in to see how we are getting on during the course the day and that someone might bring us a bit of lunch at some point too! Parents, pupils and friends of Gateways can show their support for us and the named charities by donating via one of the following buttons. For every £1 donated, a vote can be cast for the winner. If you correctly identify the winner, your name will go into the draw to win either a hamper of sweets (children) or a magnum of bubbly (adults). So please do choose the charity you would like your donation to go to by clicking the relevant button below and vote for your winner by mentioning their name in the comments section of your donation. We look forward to raising as much as possible for Children in Need and The Royal British Legion in a year when so many charitable fundraising activities have simply not been able to take place. Please support us to support them at this difficult time. Thank you! Finalists again!I will finish this week by announcing with great delight that Gateways has once again reached the finals of the Nursery World Awards this year! Last year we were finalists in the “Best Early Years Provision in a School” category and we finished as one of the top 3 providers in the UK. This year, we have unbelievably been shortlisted in this category again which is an amazing achievement in itself. However, we have also been shortlisted in a second category, “Best Newcomer”, step forward superstar Miss Hayter! We are already looking forward to the virtual awards ceremony in February when we will be supporting Mrs Bartle and Miss Hayter to take the awards home this year – hopefully! Have a lovely weekend everyone. - Dr Tracy Johnson - BBC Children in Need activities: 13th NovemberNext Friday is BBC Children in Need day and we are having a ‘Harry Potter and the Wizarding World’ themed dressing up day to raise money for Children in Need and our chosen charity Plastic Oceans. We are asking pupils to bring in a donation of £2 to enter and all money raised will be split between these two important charities, so we hope to raise as much money as possible! The day will start with a "Bucket Collection" in the car park in the morning - and no, we don't want your buckets, we want your cash, so please bring any loose change you have and please give generously! Everyone can come to school dressed for the day as their favourite character from Harry Potter; this could be a witch, a wizard, a magical creature or even something totally unique within the theme. There will prizes for the best costume, best group costume and best homemade costume so have fun getting creative! Krispy Krème donuts will be available to buy at first break for £1, and there will be a socially distant duck race for everyone to enjoy at lunch time. We hope this will be a fun day with lots going on, including of course, the Senior Leadership Team's fundraising jigsaw puzzle challenge! Pupil achievements Katie shortlisted for poetry prizesUpper 6 pupil Katie Proctor has been nominated for three poetry awards! One poem from her book has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the whole book has been nominated for the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice and the Michael Marks Award. These are major awards in the poetry world; current poet laureate Simon Armitage was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award a few years ago (https://michaelmarksawards.org/awards-2020). The Michael Marks Award shortlist will be out later this month with the winner picked in December. The winners of the Pushcart Prize will be published in an anthology. This is an amazing achievement Katie - we wish you every success! Poppy selected for the Harrogate Gymnastics Tumbling Squad Well done to Lower 4 pupil Poppy Straight for recently being selected to join the Harrogate Gymnastics Junior Tumbling Squad. Poppy is already a member of the Leeds Gymnastics Junior Display team, which she joined earlier this year, and has performed with the team at Gymfusion in Salford. Sadly lockdown has put a hold on further displays but she has kept training both on Zoom and more recently back at the club. We look forward to hearing about Poppy's achievements once performances and competitions start up again! 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