Year 5 Science - Water Resistance
Year 5 had a fantastic science lesson on forces and water resistance, this week. The children learned that objects need to be streamlined in order to move through water easily, otherwise the upthrust or drag will slow them down. They made predictions about which object they thought would move fastest/slowest through water and then carried out an investigation to test their predictions.
Singing Worship and Year of Prayer
This morning in Worship we started by introducing the Year of Prayer to our classes this week which is about using rubbish to create sorry prayers and then throwing them away. We then learnt a special action prayer to help our love to grow as part of the Year of the Prayer. After that we had a joyous time singing some of our favourite Easter songs and hymns in preparation for Easter. We sang Lord of the Dance, We have a King who rides a donkey, Rich in Kindness and Give me oil in my lamp. We also started to learn a new upbeat song called 'He's Alive!'. What a joyous way to start a Monday morning together as a school family!
Mad Science After School Club- Super Sticky Stuff
This afternoon in the club, our future scientists got hands-on with exciting experiments, testing different types of tape, lemon, orange, and other sticky substances to explore their properties and strength.
A Disco For the Value Award Winners
Today, Whitehall Park and India Mill celebrated their success of achieving the most value points last half-term with a non-uniform day and a disco. A huge thank you to Miss Flynn, Mrs Irshad and Miss Woods for the leading the disco and games! The children had a fantastic time!
Biggest Ever Girls Football Event
Today, we proudly took part in the FA’s Biggest Ever Girls’ Football Event, celebrating the joy of football and encouraging more girls to get involved in the sport. Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 participated in a fun, game-based session where they had to dribble the ball and score in any of the four goals while defenders tried to stop them with tackles. The session helped develop their dribbling, spatial awareness and teamwork skills in an exciting and engaging way. Years 3, 4, 5, and 6 took part in a series of competitive matches, showcasing their skills and teamwork. They then tested their nerves in thrilling penalty shootouts, demonstrating confidence and precision under pressure. It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm, determination and teamwork throughout the morning. The event truly highlighted the growing passion for girls’ football in our school!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on our very busy yet enjoyable week in school. This week, we launched our challenge called ‘THE BIG LENT WALK’ which involves our whole school community working together to raise money to make a difference to the lives of those who don't have enough food. Please continue to let either Mrs Wilkinson or Mrs Ham know if you have walked anywhere and send photos if you can. We have also been thinking about how Lent is a good time to give things back so we have launched our 40 Day Kindness Challenge. This week, we have also celebrated Shrove Tuesday, World Book Day and enjoyed a great variety of after school clubs such as Craft Club led by Fred and Pearl, Cross Country, Mad Science, Choir , Dodgeball and Gymnastics clubs led by Edstart. We then congratulated this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Evie, Alessia and Heidi in EYFS and KS1 and Lottie, Penelope, Nevaeh, Seb and Laila in KS2 for their fantastic work ethic, their commitment to demonstrating the Barney’s 4Bs (being ready, respectful, kind and safe) and showing full participation and engagement in lessons. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 2 and Year 3 classes for being our attendance winners this week with 99.2% and 99.3% attendance, River Darwen as our value award winners this week with 509 points and our Year 4 Football team who kicked off their journey in the BRFC league with three exciting matches on Tuesday evening and represented school amazingly well. We also congratulated Year 3 and Year 6 as being the WOW (Walk to School) winners for the month of February. Well done to these classes for earning the most badges. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school sports award winners. This week, it was a week full of congratulating super swimmers. Well done to Zac for being a super swimmer and achieving his Puffin award, Phoebe for achieving her Stage 1 swimming certificate, Annabel for achieving her 15m swimming certificate, Ava for achieving her Stage 2 swimming certificate, Desmond for achieving his silver and gold swimming certificates, Iris for achieving her Stage 6 swimming certificate and Bluebelle for swimming an amazing 50m. We also said a huge well done to Carter for being a fantastic footballer and Lana for being the Star of the Week at Performing Arts. To end our worship, we read a beautiful Lent prayer together as a school and sang ‘We Have a King Who Rides a Donkey’. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
World Book Day- Storytime Across School
To celebrate World Book Day, our children voted for the story that they wanted to listen to and moved around school to listen to their chosen one. Miss Flynn read ‘The Monkey With a Bright Blue Bottom,’ Mrs Wilkinson read ‘The Wonky Donky,’ Mrs Govan read ‘Taylor Swift (Little People, Big Dreams), Mr Norris read ‘Sammy Striker and the Football Cup,’ Mrs Hegarty read ‘The Great Dog Bottom Swap,’ Miss Woods read ‘I’ve Broken My Bottom,’ Miss Kachwalla read ‘There’s a Snake in My School,’ Mrs Gardner read ‘Revolting Rhymes,’ Mr Bloomfield read, ‘The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ Mr Prescott read ‘The World’s Worst Children’ and Miss Lyons read ‘Absolutely Awful Adults.’ Most of these stories were new to our children and they thoroughly enjoyed listening to and engaging with them. There were lots of giggles!
Year 5 - Year of Prayer
As part of the Year of Prayer, Year 5 took part in this week’s prayer focus, reflecting on those who feel lonely or without friends. Using pipe cleaners, they each created a link while offering their prayers, before joining them together as a symbol of unity and togetherness.
Year 5 - World Book Day
Today, as part of World Book Day, Year 5 took part in a variety of exciting activities linked to this year’s theme, “Read Your Way.” The day began with a whole-school worship, where children explored the different places we can enjoy reading. They also took part in a fun guessing game, trying to identify which staff member was hidden behind a book. Back in class, the children tested their knowledge in a quiz, matching staff members to their favourite books. They then took part in an online live author session, gaining insights into storytelling and the writing process. To finish the day, the children explored this week’s E-Safety poster, which focused on how technology can enhance reading. They discussed the benefits of e-books, audiobooks and reading apps, reflecting on how digital tools can support their love of reading. It was a fantastic day celebrating books, stories and the joy of reading in different ways!
World Book Day Worship
World Book Day Worship This morning we launched World Book Day 2025 with a lovely Worship led by Miss Flynn and the librarians. We started with a book- Do Not Open This Book by Andy Lee. The children absolutely loved listening to the story and definitely did want to OPEN THE BOOK and turn the pages so that they could read the whole book! The theme for this years World Book Day is Get Ready to Read Your Way which encourages us all to read wherever and whenever we want. Next the librarians, Walter, Elliott, Tristan and Ivy, led a quiz where the children had to guess where you might enjoy a good book from the pictures on the screen. We had some great answers which included: in the car, whilst walking the dog, at the park, in the library, in bed, in a den, outside with our friends, in the bath, in the dentist or at school. The children that guessed correctly won a special WBD prize. In the next part of the quiz, the librarians shared a slide with four pictures of our school staff with their faces covered reading books in their favourite places. There was A - Miss Kachwalla in the bath, B - Mr Bloomfield in the living room, Mrs Singleton in the staff room D , - Mrs Govan in her bedroom, E - Mr Norris on the sofa - Miss Lyon’s reading with her daughter in bed,- G - Mrs Wilkinson - sat on the sofa, H- Miss Flynn reading to her child. To end the special Worship we shared The Story of The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch. We can’t wait for the rest of our World Book Day activities which include a live workshop, teachers sharing their favourite books and how we can use our WBD token so that we can get a free book.
KS2 Buzz Education -National Careers Week
Today, KS2 took part in an engaging Buzz Education session, exploring the world of different careers. The children had great fun guessing various jobs from pictures and clues, sparking curiosity and discussion. This led to an in-depth exploration of a wide range of careers, where they learned about the skills and school subjects needed for each role. The session inspired the children to think about their future aspirations and how their learning in school connects to the world of work.
Little Craft Club
Today at The Little Craft Club, the children designed and decorated their own pencil cases. They thought of their favourite things so the final products represented each of them! Some of the children delved into our Imagination Station box to find things to creatively decorate the zip pull too! This activity is going to be part of a special Craft Club session at The Carus Centre in Hoddlesden during the Easter holidays. In the session, we will also be painting canvases and making bracelets/phone charms. The session is open to the public and can be booked here: https://fredandpearl.com/collections/easter-holidays