UNCRC Article 28 – right to education

Well done to our TT Rockstars this week. Another fabulous effort by all 👍

Today we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of World Book Day!

This year’s theme was marked  by the message: “You are a reader.” All of our children were encouraged to to dress as their favourite book characters and bring along their favourite story to share.

It was great to see our oldest children enjoy sharing stories with our youngest children …. And we had a surprise visit from one of our favourite Superheroes! 🕸📚

Today we had lots of fun kicking starting Science Week in school. This years theme is growth. We began by having a mass planting session with the whole school …. We are excited to watch our flowers grow.

 

Miss Grimes worked with class 1 where they had the most amazing time planting different seeds in each one of the fingers of their rubber gloves, some contained cotton wool and others contained soil – all were attached to the window once complete and we are going to watch them grow! 🪴

 

Miss Milburn loved working with Class 2. We combined science with art and created our own waterlilies.   We folded the petals and predicted what would happen when they were put onto water. Some children predicted that the flowers would open up and everyone observed closely to see if they were right!

Mr Graham visited Class 3 and we looked at healthy eating. The children categorised a large variety of food into their food groups, looked at the food they had just eaten for dinner and asked the question…is it possible to eat healthy ‘sweet’ food?
The children worked incredibly hard and helped to make Sugar Seed balls using natural ingredients.

Well done to all our children who demonstrated their rights respecting gold ethos in abundance 👍

Mrs Morton had the pleasure of working with Class 4 and certainly had their minds blown when they discovered that a Coral Polyp was in fact and animal (with tentacles to paralyse it’s prey before eating it) and not a plant or a rock type!

We looked in detail at the world beneath our Ocean when studying one of the largest and most diverse ecosystems in the world – the Coral Reef 🐠

The most memorable part of our afternoon was creating our own individual Coral Polyps – that were completely edible 🤩

Mrs Aspinall visited Class 5 and they learned about DNA … everyone found out very interesting facts … we couldn’t believe that 50% of our DNA is the same as a banana! We had 3 main suspects, Mrs Lee, Mrs Hill and Mrs Gallacher we interviewed all 3, who had very good alibis. Only Stacey guessed the culprit …. Mrs Hindmarch!

 

 

A massive thank you to Mr Straughan who helped us make our cress trays in Science club.
Science week is fasting approaching us and this year the focus is growth. We decided to celebrate this by planting cress seeds … we can’t wait to try them!

Our EYFS and KS1 children and impressed us with their athletics skills this week. Darren and our Sports Leaders led a session where the children had to demonstrate a range of skills to help earn points for their team. We were amazing. PE superstars!

Memorable experience – 1066!

UNCRC Article 31 – every child has the right to relax and play and join in with a range of activities

History / ICT

The year is 1066.  Edward the Confessor is dying and he’s asked Harold Godwinson to take over the throne. But Harold’s claim is under threat from three powerful men: William Duke of Normandy; Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway; and Edgar the Atheling, King Edward’s nephew. Class 4 worked in teams to play Harold and his challengers. They found out who the challenges were, where they came from and what their claim to the throne was.

Backed by a council of advisors (The Witan), each challenger and Harold presented their claim to the throne!

3^rd March 2022

 

 

UNCRC Article 38 (war and armed conflicts): Governments must not allow children under the age of 15 to take part in war or join the armed forces. Governments must do everything they can to protect and care for children affected by war and armed conflicts.

 

 

UNCRC Article 39 (recovery from trauma and reintegration): Children who have experienced neglect, abuse, exploitation, torture or who are victims of war must receive special support to help them recover their health, dignity, self-respect and social life.

 

 

 

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

You will all know we are immensely proud of being a Rights Respecting Gold School and as a Rights Respecting Gold School

 

• Our school has explicitly adopted a child rights approach based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Childand has embedded it in school policy, practice and culture.
• Children, young people and adults in your school have a thorough understanding of child rights, and rights respecting attitudes and language are embedded across the school.
• RRSA has had a positive impact on children and young people’s learning and wellbeing.
• Pupils see themselves as rights respecting global citizens and are advocates for social justice, fairness and children’s rights at home and abroad.

 

 

 

Our Rights Respecting Ethos in school is supporting our children to the current crisis at the moment with regards Ukraine. War and conflict are incredibly difficult subjects for people of any age. Working with children to try and untangle complicated thoughts and feelings is not easy. However, safe spaces in which to gently explore disturbing world events can provide huge reassurance to children and young people, and prompt them to seek help when they need it. We have included some of the activities we are doing with our children at the moment in school. Please see link below:

 

Article of the Week IWD & Ukraine		DOWNLOAD

 

 

Please also find some tips below on how to talk to your children about what’s happening in Ukraine:

 

Ukraine conflict: How to help yourself, your kids, and others – BBC News

 

 

How to talk to your children about what’s happening in Ukraine

• Be open and honest, in an age appropriate way. The most important thing is to be open and honest with children, but in a way that is age appropriate.
• Pick a sensible time to talk.
• Trust your child to ask when they want to know.
• Help your child to keep things relative to them.
• Help older children to take action.

 

If you have any questions, queries or are worried about your child and the current crisis, please do not hesitate to contact the school via email or call us on 0191 3710444 and someone will get back to you.

 

 

Many Thanks

 

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

Article of the Week IWD & Ukraine DOWNLOAD

This morning we made our way to Durham New College to take part in a Reception Infant Agility Festival. We were amongst 5 other schools and moved around a carousel of 12 activities that focused on skills in; rolling, throwing, balancing, jumping and running. The children worked extremely well as a team and they had throughout the entire event 🙂

Today, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday by making pancakes and serving them to the whole school – allowing each to add their favourite toppings. We have also been looking at the meaning behind ‘Pancake Day’ and why it is so important to the Christian Faith. It was great to be joined by our RE Governor – Mrs Lofthouse! 🙂