Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today we had a very special visit from Liz Million!

Liz draws some fantastic images in books, she is an illustrator. We started off with a whole school assembly where Liz showed us how to sketch and use crayons to create our own cartoon style pictures. She shared some of the illustrations in her books and we were so excited to take part in our workshop.

Later in the morning, we all went into the hall to start our workshop. We looked at lots of amazing pictures first and then we helped Liz draw her own. She drew a spaceman first and then a monster. Liz experimented with different facial features to change the mood of the character. Then it was our turn! We got to add detail to create our very own monsters. It was so much fun!

We can not wait to colour in our own monsters and become illustrators ourselves.

Thank you Liz!

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today we were very lucky to be joined by Cloud Singh. Today was a very special day because it was the 550th Birthday of the founder of Sikhism. First, we went into an assembly and met Cloud. He gave us a little insight into his religion and we asked him some questions. One child asked him, “Why do you wear a that on your head?” We found out that Cloud wears his turban so that others know that he is a Sikh and that he is always there to help others if they need it.

Later in the day, Cloud came to visit us in our classroom. We asked him lots of questions about his religion. One child asked, “Do people treat you differently because of how you dress?” Cloud told us he had never encountered anyone being unkind and believes we should all be treated the same regardless of how we look. One child asked, “Do you believe in more than one God?” Cloud replied, that there is only one God but God is everything.

Thank you for visiting us today, we learned a lot about the Sikh religion!

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today we had a very special visitor, Adam Bushnell!

We started off the day by taking part in a workshop with Adam. He showed us a big box filled with different animals and we had to tell him what sound they made! It was really fun. We then all thought of our favourite animals but kept this a ‘secret’. We used some amazing vocabulary to describe our animals and then we got to read our descriptions, allowing others to guess what our animals were. We had snakes, dogs, penguins, elephants and many more!

When we got back to class, some of us decided that we would love to be authors just like Adam Bushnell. We created our own books and then shared them with the class.

At the end of the day we all met in the school hall to showcase our work. We all did a fantastic job and our descriptions were amazing!

Thank you Adam.

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today we went on our school trip to the Life Centre. We got on the bus and made our way to Newcastle. On our way we were looking very carefully to spot different landmarks and we all got very excited when we saw the Angel of the North!

We had a very busy morning. When we got to the Life Centre, the first thing we did was ice skate. We put on our boots and skated around the rink lots of times. We then had time in the Young Explorers Zone and we played in lots of different areas getting dressed up, making Lego towers and exploring different lights. It was then time for our ‘Destination Space Workshop’. We learnt all about the team of people that support astronauts in space and became scientists ourselves. We decided which material would be best for a space suit after testing its strength and flexibility.

After lunch, we visited the Planetarium, Space Zone and watched a Science Theatre Show. We were lucky enough to watch lots of fantastic experiments, learn all about the stars in the sky and we even held a piece of the moon! One child said, “This has been the best school trip ever!”

We are all now very excited to learn about space in our science lessons!

Christian Value link: Wisdom, Koinonia, Creation.

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today, the children had a visit from seven stories. We played some fun games and then we were read a story. We had so much fun acting the story out! Then, we looked at lots of different books. They were all put on the floor and we had to move to a different book when the instruction was given. At the end, we had the opportunity to have a quick look at the different books. We shared what we thought about the book and we discussed how our feelings had changed towards the book after we had read a little bit.

The children all had a brilliant time and can’t wait to read more books!

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty, Democracy.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 29 – Your education should help you use and develop your talents and abilities. Article 31 – You have the right to play and rest.

Today is Children in Need! We were all so very excited coming into school all dressed up in yellow with our Pudsey bear ears on, all ready to raise awareness for such a fantastic cause.

Our day started with a Joe Wicks HIIT training session in the hall with our friends from Nursery, Reception and 2. We were exhausted and very hot when we had finished the session. We decided that we needed a little rest before our next activity, Hula hooping! We were shown some amazing tricks with the hula hoop like how to balance it on one hand, how to pick it up with our feet and how to make it spin around our arm.

After all that exercise, it was time for a little treat. Hot chocolate and cakes! We got to enjoy the beautiful krispie cakes that we made in preparation for Children in Need.

Then, we wanted to design our own Pudsey bears! We added sequins, feathers and even glitter to make them unique and different.

Finally, our day ended with a talent show! Well done to all the children who were so brave getting up and showcasing their talents! Well done!

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today is Remembrance Day!

We began this morning by taking part in a Remembrance Day workshop. We started by looking at a picture of a local soldier: Thomas Coates. We asked lots of questions and found out lots of facts. We then looked at a very old photograph of Thomas and his family, discussing how we thought they would have felt at the time the photograph was taken. One child said, “I think Thomas felt brave and strong.” Another child said, “I think his family would have felt sad because they didn’t know if he would ever come home.” After, we discussed how we remember those lost in the war and we even created our very own memorial card to remember Thomas Coates.

After our workshop, we gathered as a whole school in the hall for a Remembrance Day service. The Year 5 and 6 children read some lovely poems, said some prayers and spoke about Remembrance Day. We finished off by having 1 minutes silence to remember those who fought for their country and lost their lives.

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely. Article 14 – Every child has the right to think and believe what they choose and also to practise their religion.

Today, we had a visit from Barnabas.

First, we all gathered in the hall for a whole school assembly. We learnt about family and discussed how Christian’s believe that God created us as one big family. We then spoke about some of the different Christian countries around the world.

Later that morning, we took part in a fun workshop. We listened to a story about being different and how that can make some children feel. We learnt a song about feelings and discussed how we felt when we listened to the music. Once child said, “That made me want to cry happy tears, it was lovely.” Then we got onto our pretend aeroplane and flew all the way to Ethiopia. We explored a range of Christian objects that had been found all over the world.

Thank you for coming in to see us today. We loved exploring Christianity!

Christian Value link: Wisdom and Creation

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 12 – You have the right to express your opinion freely.

Today, we had a very special visit from Sedgefield Fire Service! They came to talk about the important job that they do, especially as it is near Bonfire night. They talked to us all about how they stay safe and save peoples lives each day.

Then we got to go and see a real fire engine and even got to sit inside. It was that big, we needed a little help to climb in and out. The fire fighter showed us some of the heavy tools that they used to cut through thick metal.

Finally, we got to use the hose and squirt water up the hill. We loved pretending to be firefighters!

A big thank you to Sedgefield Fire for coming to see us today!

Christian Value link: Koinonia and Wisdom.

British Value link: Individual Liberty

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child links:  Article 28 – You have the right to a good quality education. Article 19 – You have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body or mind. Article 39 – You have the right to help if you have been hurt, neglected or badly treated.

This week is Anti-Bullying week.

In class we have been talking about bullying and discussing how we can both prevent and respond to it. First we discussed what bullying was and looked at the different types of bullying. Then we completed two activities to help us understand further. We learnt that although someone may look okay on the outside, they could be hurting on the inside and that saying sorry does not make the person forget.

As a class we thought about ways in which we could kinder to our peers and implemented them immediately. We finished off by reading a brilliant story. One child said, “I am going to say one kind thing to everyone today to make them smile.”