Head Teacher Update

Another half term has flown by and we now find ourselves at the half way mark of the school year.  At the start of this term, we completed our academisation and officially became part of the Advance Learning Partnership, I hope you like the new signage that has been placed at the school entrance and around the building, I think it creates a much cleaner and improved first impression for everyone visiting our school.

This is just the start of some really exciting building developments that should begin later in the year.  Planning is in the final stages and I hope to be able to share the details with you before the Easter break.  Work is also ongoing to tidy up our grounds; you will notice further changes in the next few weeks.

There have been a few changes such as to how school meals and other items are paid for. I hope this hasn’t had too much of an impact for you, I am grateful to Miss Varley for the hard work she has done in making the transition smooth and supporting you with any issues.  The new Cypad system seems to have gone down really well and is giving the children ownership of their lunch choices.  If you have any feedback on any of the changes or developments or you have suggestions or any questions about the development of the school, please don’t hesitate to call in and see me.  I am always delighted to meet with and hear from parents.  Witton biggest strength is our community and we are thrilled to work with you.

I hope you enjoy our newsletter, as usual, it includes updates from all of the classrooms alongside information about events and a calendar for the next term.  As usual all of events are subject to change in unexpected or unanticipated circumstances.  You will see that our newsletter is now in a different format and web based.  This is part of our new school website, which we are continuing to update as the school develops.

Changes to the School Day Timings

Following the consultation period through January, it has been agreed that the timings of the school day will change to 8.45am to 3.15pm from September 2023.  I will remind you of these changes in the summer as we bridge towards them.

EYFS – Gung Hei Fat Choi

Our ‘Understanding the World’ curriculum is very busy this half term with lots of festivals and celebrations to held in Class One: The Great British Bird Watch, Lunar New Year, NSPCC Number Day, Safer Internet Day, Valentine’s Day & Pancake Day.

We have been finding out all about Chinese customs and celebrations as part of the Lunar New Year. We found out about animals who starred in ‘The Great Race’, giving us the repeating 12-year cycle of animal signs and their ascribed attributes. Which animal are you? 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit.

The New Year is always celebrated in January or February, the date can change each year because it follows a very old calendar which is linked to the phases of the moon.

We celebrated with our very own Dragon Dance, tasting Chinese food, decorating our classroom with red, glittery lanterns and making new year wishes, placed inside lucky red envelopes. We’ve had lots of fun!

Class Two – Spring Lambs

Class Two have all settled back into school extremely well after the Christmas break and have been very busy! We are very happy to have had the best attendance last term and hope to keep that up this year!

During Maths lessons this half term we have continued to focus on Addition and Subtraction and we are currently exploring money looking at coins, notes and finding change . Year Two pupils have been practising lots of written methods to add and subtract including the column methods. Year One children have been focusing on bigger numbers and are becoming very confident at comparing these.

In English this half term we have read ‘The Great Big Book of Families’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ by Mary Hoffman along with ‘Peter Pan’ by J. M. Barrie. We have written poems, narratives, newspaper reports and have reviewed a pantomime. We have continued to focus on our handwriting this term and have been focusing on the size of letters.

In Science this half term we have been learning all about animals. We have identified and named a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. We have also learned how to identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Class Two have been very lucky to have a special visit from two lambs from Mrs Jackson’s farm. We found out that lambs are mammals and asked lots of questions to help us identify them!

In Design Technology we have been focusing on mechanisms and structures and have designed our own fairground wheel. Over the next week we will be building and testing our designs.

We have been very lucky this half term to be working with Jules from the NHS Mental Health Support Team. Jules has worked with class two every Wednesday morning to deliver the ‘We Eat Elephants’ programme as part of our PSHE curriculum. The class have explored feelings, emotions, behaviours and thoughts.

Class Two attended a Multi Skills Festival at Parkside and had a brilliant morning. We got to try lots of sports skills including football, basketball, golf, kurling, tennis and hockey. Our sports leaders from Parkside were excellent and helped us with our new skills!

Class Three – The Happy Prince

Class three have loved learning about the story of the Happy Prince in English. We have learned all about caring for others and what it means to make a sacrifice.  The children have dressed up in Victorian costumes and explored Victorian artefacts to understand the life of the poor in Victorian times. We have looked at the inequalities between rich and poor. We have explored vocabulary around emotion and looked at inequalities in society. Through drama, hot seating and conscience alley we have developed some excellent writing. The children learned about the lives of match girls working in the factories then pretended to be interviewed about what life was like for them.

In Maths we have been looking at multiplication and division. We have used songs to help us remember our times tables and done lots of manipulative work to help us. In History we have been looking at the Romans visiting County Durham. We have explored lots of artefacts found in the area in including what the Romans used instead of toilet roll!!

In RE we have been honing our debate skills. We were discussing whether Christian beliefs are fact or fiction. The class were split in half and given a side to argue. They all demonstrated fantastic maturity, eloquence and listening skills. They were all respectful of the views of others and made some fantastic points. Every child in the class offered an opinion.

Class 4 – Fashion Icons

Year 5/6 have had a jam-packed half-term so far: sports hall athletics, electrical circuits, locating places using mapping skills, challenging stereotypes in a story, pushing our maths boundaries even further, creative writing, mini police, Y6 booster afternoons, designing/making waistcoats, ukulele lessons, coding and more! 

We’re five weeks into our ukulele lessons and the class are continuing to develop their confidence and technique. The ukulele lessons are fun with Mr Waits and it’s brilliant to hear the class strumming along to popular songs. 

Green is for go! In science, we have been exploring electrical circuits using online circuit builders, snap circuits and circuit component packs. Skills and understanding of what a circuit is and how is can be altered and changed, have led the pupils to create their own intricate model traffic lights systems.  

In English, we are basing our sentence stacks on our class novel, ‘The Nowhere Emporium.’ Every day, I am astounded by the high-quality pieces of writing that are produced – creative ideas, sharing best practice and amazing vocabulary choices have really raised the bar in writing for all of the children in our class. Watch this space for an extended writing being uploaded to Dojo soon! 

Fashion announcement! Keep your eyes peeled for stylish waistcoats coming on the market soon! Now past the planning stages, the children’s waistcoat designs are taking shape and the sewing stage will commence this week! 

Dates for your diary