Platinum Planting Picnic

There were picnics aplenty at our school, as we held a ‘Platinum Planting Picnic’ to commemorate the Queen’s 70-year reign. Dozens turned out to celebrate….including one very special VIP! 

Staff, pupils and their families were encouraged to bring along a picnic and a white, red or blue flower to plant on the school grounds to celebrate the platinum jubilee. Nestled away in beautiful surroundings next to the River Ribble, the school’s grounds were adorned in a sea of blue, red and white as a celebration of all things British! 

Teachers, parents and pupils alike grabbed a spade and got digging! Union Jacks flew as the best of British music through the decades played, pleasing both young and old- from The Beatles to the Spice Girls! You could even have a selfie with the special lady herself!!!

The event marked a return to some form of normality post lockdown, as the wider school family came together as one to celebrate this momentous occasion. The generosity of both families and local businesses truly highlighted the community spirit of the event, with donations of cakes/biscuits/plants and even an abundance of gardening equipment being donated by B&Q Bamber Bridge. 

The Planting Picnic is just one of the many special events that we have organised in order for our pupils to fully experience this once in a lifetime event. We also took part in a street party lunch and a dance through the decades workshop.

Healthy Week

On the 21st June, we launched our annual healthy week. During this week, all the classes took part in a range of fun and exciting activities. 

Each class held their own sports morning or afternoon and took part in several races. We had the traditional running race, egg and spoon race, obstacle race and balancing race. The children worked hard to finish in the top three for each race. In addition to this, each class had an Intra Sports Competition where they took part in different sporting events such as football and cricket. Inspired by the Euro 2020 competition, each class had a penalty shoot out against their teacher! Miss Poloczek worked hard to save the penalties in her class and only 5 sneaked past her. 

A highlight of the week was the rock star days. We invited a rock band into school called Rock Kidz and every class was treated to a concert with them. They sing about positive body image and self confidence and all of the children enjoyed joining in with the dancing and singing. The children came to school dressed up as rock stars this day and they all looked amazing!

In class, the children enjoyed learning about inspirational sports people and enjoyed finding out about alternative and interesting sports. 

Enjoy looking at the photos below to see how much fun the children (and adults) had!

Forest School Sessions

Over the past couple of weeks, every class has been able to take part in a forest school session in our forest area. They enjoyed lots of activities including a mini beast hunt, making clay mini beasts, sawing wood and toasting marshmallows. 

Thank you to Wildwood Days for coming into school and providing the children with such memorable experiences. 

Please have a look at the pictures below to see how much fun was had by all. 

Off by Heart Poetry Competition

Here are the finalists performing their poems. Well done to all the children who took part and to Juliet and Jack who won the competition.

Rainbow Day

On our first day back at school, the whole school dressed as a rainbow. Each class had a themed colour and word including red for love and blue for trust. We spent the whole day doing lovely activities linked to our colour and rainbows. We spent the day enjoying time with our friends which we had missed a lot. 

Have a look at the photos to see the activities we took part in. 

Black History Month

In October, we took part in learning about Black History Month. 

In England class, we learnt about the origin of steel pan music. We found out that the slaves in Trinidad loved music and found any metal items they could to make music including bins and car parts. The children then found steel items around the classroom and made their own music. 

In Spain class, we learnt about Rosa Parks and thought about what is right and fair. We then created posters to encourage people to treat others fairly. We also explored steel pan music and enjoyed playing a variety of instruments. 

In India class, we thought about what it means to treat people fairly. We then looked at a variety of black people and learnt about their lives. We then used drama and hot seating to explore the lives of these people. 

In Brazil class, we learnt about what racism is. We also found out about Harriet Tubman who was a slave who escaped and helped others do the same.

In China class, we learnt about different black people and presented our findings to the class in different ways. We found out about Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman. 

Uganda

This is the furniture that your school has helped us to purchase in Uganda for the new classrooms at Makonge Primary School in Kiyindi. They have been locally produced so have also benefited a local company at this difficult time. These are excellent quality and the students will be so excited to use them when they return to school as they are so beautiful. They are the best in the school!

Thank you so much to every single teacher, student and parent who donated to make this possible. Whether it was £3 pocket money or £30 from a parent. Together, your school has helped us equip this school and make a much better learning environment, thank you.

Art Gallery

All of the children in the school have worked really hard on creating a piece of art work.

Reception children decorated a kite, Year 1 children created a heart using tissue paper and Year 2 children splattered paper with paint and then cut out hearts. The children then added a photo of themselves to the picture.

Year 3 children took a picture of themselves and splattered it with paint. Year 4 children created a water colour background and cut out tree silhouettes. Year 5 children created a sunset background and added African animal silhouettes. Year 6 created a coloured background and added a photo of themselves sitting by a tree. 

The art work was then framed and displayed in the school hall. The children enjoyed looking at their framed masterpieces. 

Author Visit

Year 5 and 6 were very lucky to have a visit from an author on Wednesday. Ralph Timberlake had written a book all about space called Blast off to the Moon. He told the children all about the history of space and answered lots of interesting questions. The children who had purchased the book then got it signed by Ralph. 

Two of our Year 5 and 6 children were featured on BBC Radio Lancashire. They were interviewed about their opinions on the book and they got chance to share their knowledge about space with the listeners. 

International Day

On Wednesday, we had a special international day in school. Each class had focused on a country for the past two weeks and we celebrated and shared this learning. 

The children were split into eight groups and travelled around the school to the different countries to take part in activities linked to that country.

In England, the children took part in an African dance whilst in Spain, the children worked on their footballing skills. In New Zealand the children learnt the tricky art of origami and in Egypt, the children took part in running races. They were nearly as fast as Usain Bolt.

In India, the children had a competition of mummifying one person in their group whilst in Canada, the children had a chopstick challenge! In Brazil, the children made and decorated cuckoo clocks whilst in China the children decorated 'Day of the Dead' masks. 

The parents then came into school to see all of the children's hard work. 

Our Well with Aqua Aid

We are really please that our well has been built in partnership with Aqua Aid. 

Take a look at the picture below of our well with our school name and mission statement on it.