Here’s our most recent newsletter, with details of many of the things we’ve been up to.
First Autumn Half-Term Newsletter
New Pupil Parliament 23/24
Pupil Parliament 23/24
Our pupil parliament this year is formed of the pupils below from KS2. They have already been busy, voting for a new charity to support this year and beginning to plan a fundraiser, as well as reviewing school rules around football and playground games.
Charity 23/24
After a robust discussion and vote, Pupil Parliament voted to select Unseen as our charity of the year. Unseen helps to deal with modern slavery and people trafficking, which fits in well with our current Class 2 History learning. We will be fundraising for them through a number of our regular events this year, beginning with a Winter Warmer café in December.
Expedition Club October 2023
Expedition Club Year 5&6 pupils carried out their Autumn Expedition just before half-term. They pitched their own tents, completed a walk from Dent, before cooking their own dinner on their stoves and settling in to tell stories and toast marshmallows around the campfire.
Even though the temperature fell slightly below zero and some of the tents had a thin layer of frost on their groundsheets, the pupils stayed snug and warm in their gear overnight and coped excellently with the challenges they faced.
Harvest Service
As always, we welcomed the over-80s of Dentdale into school for a Harvest Celebration before half-term, and the children shared gifts of chutney that we had made in school. The Class 1 children shared songs that they had learned, whilst the Class 2 children shared poems based on the ideas of autumn and harvest.
Lower KS2 wrote acrostic poems on the theme of Harvest or Autumn, whilst upper KS2 focused on using imagery of the natural and farming world around us to explore some of the ideas of autumn and harvest, such as life and death, gratitude and community. They used simile and metaphor to expand their writing.
Some of the poems they wrote are shared here for you to enjoy.
Textile Club
Once again this term we have a packed roster of after-school clubs, with something for everyone each night until 4:15. One of our newest after-school clubs is Textile Club, run by Mandy. The pupils have really been getting to grips with their projects and developing their skills. Some pupils are weaving with wool and other fabrics, whilst some are sewing and embroidering. It looks fun and therapeutic!
Class 1 Beamish Visit
Class 1 all thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the wonderful Beamish Museum in the North-East. As they are exploring the idea of childhood throughout time in their History, it was an invaluable experience for pupils to see in the flesh how people lived at different times in the past, and they all found the day fascinating.
Class 2 Slave Trade Visit – Lancaster Museum
The Class 2 children had an eye-opening day out at Lancaster Maritime Museum and
around Lancaster’s historic sites, as they learned about the slave-trade. The experience of
visiting the 4th biggest slave-trading port in Britain helped to bring to life some of the nature of the horrific period of history that we have started studying.
The weather was torrential but the children stayed focused as they visited the home of an
escaped slave, the wharfs where ships to Africa were loaded, and memorials to the rich
merchants who profited from the sale of enslaved people, as well as a memorial to the
people who were enslaved. Pupils explored the Maritime Museum’s rich range of artefacts,
artwork and information from the transatlantic slave trade, helping to solidify learning back
in the classroom.
The work on slavery has had strong links to last year’s Geography project, Sow, Grow and Farm, as well as to recent history work in Class 2 on the Shang Dynasty, Ancient Greeks and Golden Age of Islam. We have seen that although slaves existed in these cultures, the Transatlantic Slave Trade was far more brutal and had a much more substantial impact. Year 3 children have been able to see the link back to work they did in KS1 on explorers, learning how Columbus and the Conquistadors created the conditions for slavery to thrive.
Amazing performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by KS2
Here is a film of Class 2’s AMAZING performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We were all blown away by their mastery of the script and the songs. Well done to all of the Key Stage 2 children!
KS1 Animal Habitat Science Work
Pupils in KS1 have been working on improving animal habitats as part of their recent science project ‘animal survival.’ They researched improvements they could make to the outdoors area to improve habitats for local wildlife then implemented solutions themselves. EYFS pupils from reception and nursery joined in too!
Sports Day!
Another fabulous Sports Day this afternoon, despite the weather! What a joy to see so many pupils pushing themselves and excelling. Pupils all showed great character running in the poor conditions on the field, and had a wonderful time in the team sports events. Thanks to all the parents for coming along and making it a great community event. Thanks to Nicola, Mia, Gwyn, Linda and Phyllis for the catering; to our lovely past pupil helpers – Eddy, Annie & Rosie, and thanks to Mrs Moss for your superb organisation as usual!
