The children were enthralled by the sound of a string quartet in school on May 6th. Playground Proms took over the hall and performed a number of exciting classical tunes with the children cheering, clapping and dancing along. It was an unforgettable experience for our pupils to see such a live performance in their own school hall. At the end of the performance, the children were asked if they thought classical music was boring and they all agreed that it is not! It was an incredible event that I am sure the children will never forget.

Please read the newsletter for May to see some of the amazing things that have been happening in school. You can also read this on our letters page.

On February 10th, the whole school learned about internet safety for the day. Pupils took part in a brilliant live lesson this morning with the charity ‘Tech She Can’ . Pupils learned about staying safe on the internet, about how AI can help us and when AI is not suitable or can be damaging.

On 19th January, the children’s author Luke Temple visited school and spoke to all of the children about how he became an author and what the job of being an author is. He told us about some of the stories in his books and the pupils got the opportunity to buy some signed books and posters. Author visits really motivate the pupils to read and since Luke’s visit the pupils can’t stop talking about his book, ‘The Poo Monster!’

On February 6th, the pupils and teachers came to school dressed in anything with a number or pattern on it for NSPCC number day. They enjoyed fun number activities throughout the day with some children making games, others taking part in time tables competitions, some classes dancing to number songs and an assembly about important mathematicians and how important numbers are.

We are very excited that on 27th November our school council met with our local councillor for Freshney Ward, Steve Holland. Steve discussed many issues with the pupils, including the proposal for new houses near to the school, traffic, littering and green spaces. Following the meeting we will be working with the council on creating new signs for the estate to stop littering and applying for funds so we can enjoy our green spaces more.

The full meeting minutes can be read here:
Student Ambassador Meeting with Steve Holland – Freshney Ward local councillor

We have had a wonderful build up to Christmas at Great Coates Primary School. We have had visits to the pantomime, church for carols and christingles, a party in nursery and a Christmas Disco for the rest of the school. We held a Christmas fair in the hall, which was very well attended by parents and grandparents. Our choir visited the Willows precinct for carol singing and our nursery and reception pupils put on a nativity play for their parents. We have also had Christmas dinner, Christmas jumper day and we all decorated an enormous Christmas tree with the theme of Christmas around the World.

Below is a link to a lovely video of our school choir singing at the local shopping precinct.

Choir Christmas 2025

You can read all about our Christmas activities on our Christmas newsletter.

December Newsletter.pdf

Today we hosted our second ever Careers Fair at Great Coates Primary School. Ten employers and further education establishments visted the school and talked to pupils from year 4 to year 6 about potential careers. These included engineering, nursing, the police and even a cartoonist. The pupils were enthused at the end of the day with discussions about what they would like to be when they are older. One pupil said, “I know I would like to an engineer.” Another said, 2That was brilliant, I liked finding out the different choices of careers.”
The pupils all behaved impeccably, with one visitor from Franklin College describing the pupils as super polite and a credit to the school. Parents and younger siblings had a chance to visit the fair at the end of the day. Thank you to Mr Baxter for organising this, the parents for their support, the pupils for their enthusiasm and manners and especially the visitors for taking the time out to come to the school on a very wet and windy, autumn afternoon.
List of visitors:
Barclays Bank
Mark Bennington – Cartoonist
RWE renewable energy
Compass Go
LHP
Franklin College
Healing Secondary Academy
Grimsby Institute
The Police
The NHS

On Tuesday 11th November, just before 11 o’clock, our fabulous choir enchanted the people of The Willows estate with a wonderful Remembrance Day performance. We were joined by our local councillors who said they were very impressed. Members of the Freshney Forward community group also came to support us. Thank you to Miss Woolliss for putting it all together and leading the choir. Thank you to all the parents and members of the public who came to listen and generously donated to the Poppy Appeal.

Here are some videos of the performance :
Remembrance Day 1
Remembrance Day 2

The school is taking part in the competition to design our local MPs Christmas Card. Children in all classes are creating designs which will be entered into the competition. Our children are so talented we are really hoping to get the winning design.
Here are some great designs in year 3.