Year 4 Artwork in a Carousel
In our art session this week we completed a carousel of activities which included Batik with one group, William Morris inspired floral deigns and one group did repeated patterns. The children were super creative in the design process even though the concept of the repeated patterns process was quite complex. We can’t wait to display our masterpieces outside our classroom over the next few weeks!
Year 3- English-Exploring the magic of storytelling through sound and rhythm Online Workshop with Alim Kamara
To celebrate National Storytelling Week, our Year 3 class took part in an inspiring online workshop today with the award-winning rapper and storyteller, Alim Kamara. This fun, interactive session focused on the theme "Soundtrack Your Story," which encourages pupils to explore the magic of storytelling through sound, music, and rhythm. The children fully immersed themselves in the experience by joining in with raps and even creating their own original raps, using beats and rhyme to bring their ideas to life. The workshop served as an exciting springboard for the class, sparking their imaginations and providing fresh inspiration for their own story creations.
Reception: Soundtrack your Story Workshop
Our Reception class had a wonderful experience today during our National Storytelling Week workshop with guest author Annemarie. The children learned about the roles of authors and illustrators and explored how music can be used to tell stories. Focusing on Annemarie’s book, I Am Nefertiti, the class learned a new song and discussed the importance of our names. The students also experimented with creating their own soundtracks to reflect different emotions. They discovered how high sounds can represent fear, low sounds can convey sadness, and how tempo changes can make a character feel excited or sleepy. To conclude the session, the children listened to the story accompanied by their own sound effects and even learned the mambo!
Year 3-Our Class Worship on Jesus and the 'Listened Really Well' Kite.
In our Class Worship today, we explored the theme "Jesus Helps People, and Jesus Listens," reflecting on how Jesus showed compassion by healing Bartimaeus, feeding the hungry crowd with five loaves and two fish, and ensuring his mother was cared for by the disciple John. We also introduced our next display kite, "Listened really well," by sharing the story of Mary and Martha. We learned that while Martha was busy and "grumpy" with chores, Mary chose to sit still and listen carefully to Jesus' teachings. Jesus explained that Mary had "chosen well," and we practised sitting still ourselves to understand why being a good listener is so important. To encourage this behaviour, we will now be adding to our kite display whenever children show their best listening skills in and out of the classroom. We concluded with a prayer, asking for a caring attitude and the strength to help those who feel forgotten.
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Year 5 - National Storytelling Week
To celebrate the wonder of reading during National Storytelling Week, we had a special guest visit our class to read a story. Kathleen Graham, from Darwen Rotary, volunteered her time to kindly read Roald Dahl’s The BFG at the end of the day. The children really enjoyed it and we are very grateful to Kathleen.
Year 5 - Science
In science we learned about how the Earth moves through space. It rotates on its axis once every 24 hours, which is tilted by 23 degrees, and orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. We modelled this movement using torches and balls to understand how day and night and the seasons are a result of these properties of our planet.
Year 6 - National Storytelling Week
As part of National Storytelling Week, Year 6 were delighted to welcome a parent, Chelsea, into the classroom to share and read some of the books she enjoyed when she was a child. The children were completely captivated, particularly by the X-Men and The Ghost Trail stories, which sparked lots of interest and discussion. A huge thank you to Chelsea for giving up her time to share her love of reading—Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Year 6 - Gymnastics
This week, the children continued their gymnastics unit, focusing on partner balancing. They challenged themselves by exploring more complex and demanding routines, building on previously learned skills. The children worked collaboratively to plan, practise and refine their balances, developing strength, flexibility, control and trust in one another. They were encouraged to evaluate their performances, make improvements and show resilience when attempting more advanced movements, resulting in increased confidence and teamwork throughout the session.
Key Stage 2 - Timestable Rockstar Battle
Huge congratulations to all of our Key Stage 2 children who competed in this month’s Times Tables Rock Stars Battle. We were incredibly impressed with the effort and enthusiasm shown by everyone involved. Our individual award winners are: • Year 3 – Charlie Duckworth • Year 4 – Bobby-Ray Catterall • Year 5 – Carter Corran • Year 6 – Charlie Shorrock A special well done also goes to Year 6, our overall winning class for this battle. As a reminder, in order to raise money for the NSPCC, we will be launching the KS2 Times Tables Rock Stars NSPCC Battle in school on Friday 6th February. Throughout the day, children will collectively build up their scores, which will contribute to a whole-school total. To celebrate Number Day, all children — including Reception and Key Stage 1 — are invited to come to school wearing their own clothes that depict a number (for example: numbers on clothing, badges, or Times Tables Rock Stars-themed outfits). Voluntary donations will be available via ParentPay to support this fantastic cause.
Whole School Worship: National Storytelling Week Launch
Today marks the first day of National Storytelling Week. Mrs Wilkinson launched the week during worship, where we began by discussing some of our favourite stories, such as The Snail and the Whale, Dork Diaries, and The BFG. Mrs Wilkinson then read a chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. We discussed how even longer books can be enjoyed by our younger students and shared a reminder about the wonderful variety of books available in our school library. As a focus of the week is on performance stories, the whole school joined in with Michael Rosen’s reading of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. It was wonderful to hear students from all year groups reading and performing the story together. Throughout the week, we look forward to welcoming mystery readers into our classes to share their favorite stories, and the children will also be participating in several storytelling workshops. We are excited to continue celebrating this week together.
Reception: Muddy Monday
As part of the Ruby Robin Award, our Reception class participated in the "Craft and Care" challenge today. The children visited Whitehall Park to build bug houses using resources they collected themselves. We are incredibly proud of their hard work and creativity; we even saw some bugs starting to move into their new homes! Well done to our Reception class on a fabulous job.
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Doodle and Dance Club
This week our children learnt how to follow instructions to create a masterpiece. They all followed step by step instructions to create a Panda with bamboo, Mrs Wilkinson was extremely impressed with everyone's creations. Doodle and Dance will be back next half term for more fun!