Enrichment Week- w/b 07.07.2025
Geography- What can we see?
As part of our Enrichment Week activities, we became geographers and carried out some fieldwork on our school grounds.
On Wednesday, we asked the question, ‘What can you see?’ by venturing out onto the school yard, making a viewfinder with our hands and using this see what geographical features are in our local area. We then drew a field sketch and annotated it. The children had lots of fun exploring our local area and the field sketches were fantastic!
Investigating wind speed
We had lots of fun using bubbles to investigate wind speed! We set up cones, blew bubbles and timed how long the bubbles took to get to a cone in the distance. The children loved chasing the bubbles!
We did this a few times so we could calculate the average. We then used this to calculate wind speed using the formula:
Wind speed= distance/ time
Thursday 3rd July 2025
PE- Golf
This term in PE, alongside Tennis, we are also learning to play Golf. Today, we focused on 'Chipping' and how to aim at a target over a short distance.
We practiced our golf stance, how to hold the club and swing. We then all had time to practice our new skill by trying to ‘chip’ the golf ball over a cone.
The children were fantastic and showed real enthusiasm and determination! Well done!
Wednesday 25th June 2025
Prayer Space
On Wednesday we attended a Prayer Space focused on the theme of ‘Transition’. This was to assist the children with the transition into their next year group.
There were some beautiful, calming activities that the children took part it such as sitting in a nice calming space with tealights giving them time to reflect on their thoughts, writing things that they are looking forward to on a butterfly and writing 5 qualities that they like about themselves on a hand template.
The children also took part in a lovely discussion around moving up to their next year group and about any fears that they may have or even things that they are looking forward to.
It was a lovely session and the children really enjoyed it :)
Wednesday 11th June 2025
Sports Day
It was so lovely to see so many of you show up for sports day this week! It was a great event and fun for all the children out in the sun. We had 4 scored events, where we got points for our houses with a winner announced at the end of the morning. We started with the skipping, which was not a scored event but it was great fun anyway!
Our next event was the middle-distance racing, which was a scored event. In this event, we raced as houses, so everyone in a house would race against each other. Then, we had a winner from each house who raced against each other to get our final winner. The next station we moved on to was not scored, it was the obstacle relay, where we ran a race with obstacles in the way and we had to go over or under or around them!
After that, we moved on to the long jump. We stood on the mat, with our feet together, and did a standing jump as far as we could. We competed in houses, with each house aiming to get the furthest jump possible. Then we had a team challenge in our house groups, one at a time we ran down to a big set of speed stacks and had to assemble them in a 4-3-2 formation, then unstack them back into a group. We were lucky enough to get to do this one multiple times!
Our next scored event was the vertex throwing. We would throw as far as we could, again in our house groups, trying to throw the furthest to get the most points for our house. After that, was the egg and spoon race, a classic we all enjoyed.
Our final event was the sprints, where we ran boys from each house against each other and girls from each house against each other, so we had a boy winner and a girl winner from each house. The boys then raced each other and the girls raced each other to get our ultimate winner.
Then, we had a relay race involving children from Year 3 up to Year 6 in house groups. Many of us who were not involved enjoyed cheering on our team.
We had a great morning in the sun competing in all of these different events. We would like to say a big thank you to all adults who came to show their support and offer a big congratulations to the winners of our sports day, Baltic!
Friday 6th June 2025
Year 3 Class Assembly
Today, we performed our Year 3 Class Assembly all about the positive male role models in our lives to celebrate Father’s Day. We talked about how Father’s Day started from a woman called Sonora Smart Dodd and how it can be celebrated at different times of the year in different places. Then, we shared some of the ways that our positive male role model makes us happy, such as:
When I’m sad and gloomy my dad comes over and makes everything into a big joke – my nickname for him is the ‘jokester’.
When I have a bad dream, my Daddy makes me feel better and gives me good dreams.
When playing football and I get hurt my dad always runs over and picks me up and asks me if I’m ok to carry on or tells me I’ll be OK and makes me laugh.
My dad made a climbing frame with monkey bars. I struggled to do the monkey bars, my dad encouraged me and now I can!
Then, we shared some ways they make us happy, such as:
When I fell off my electric scooter, I went inside and my mam passed me to my dad, and when he saw the graze he made me laugh by saying, ‘That is the best graze I’ve ever seen!’
My dad makes me feel the most comfortable, I feel he understands me and I can really be myself when I’m with him.
When I do a good save, my daddy says to me, ‘You should be a professional goalkeeper for Man City’, and this makes me feel so proud.
My dad is my biggest supporter and is always cheering me on from the sideline in football. My happiest times are when we go to the Ranger’s games together.
After that, we shared some of the things we enjoy doing with our positive male role models, for example:
When my Dad’s home from work my favourite thing is just having him here and spending special time with him. We really love a game of tennis! Sorry Dad I know I always win!
I really enjoy going to the allotment with my dad. One time, we built something to stop the chickens getting out!
I love it when my dad picks me up and swings me around. He makes me laugh when he calls me Posie. My dad makes me feel really happy.
When it was really hot, me and my dad get a football out and play pass with it.
We also shared some poetry about how important these people are in our lives. Over the last few weeks, we have been practicing a dance from the musical Matilda, which we performed, before performing a song called Folk Song Duet on our pennywhistles. Finally, we finished with a performance of My Old Man by Zac Brown Band to celebrate all the lessons our positive male role model has taught us.
We would like to wish a special Happy Father’s Day to all the dads/grandads/step dads/uncles or supportive male role models in our lives.
Wednesday 21st May 2025
Gibside Health and Wellbeing Day
On Wednesday, we went on our Year 3 class trip to Gibside for a day all about Health and Wellbeing. When we arrived at 9.45, we set all of our things down and had an introductory talk about what would be happening throughout the day.
Our first activity was in the woods and it was all about meeting a tree! We got a blindfold each and one of us had to put one on while our partner would lead us around the woods, using their communication skills to tell us what was in front of us. They would lead us to a tree, which we would then feel for any unique markings, before our partner lead us away again to try and confuse us! Once our blindfold was removed, we had to go and try to find the tree that we had been brought.
Our next activity was a team building. There was a circle marked out in the grass with a bucket and a basket inside it. We could not step into the circle because the bucket was leaking toxic waste everywhere! Our job was to move the bucket into the basket using only two ropes and a coat hanger, so we had to work together in our groups to find the best way to move it without it tipping over.
As it was a lovely sunny day, we were able to have our lunch on the grass before starting our next activity. This was sitting around a campfire and doing some meditation. We learned how meditation can help us to relax and be present in the moment, noticing everything we were thinking and feeling and noticing everything around us. At the end of this session, we mindfully got to toast some marshmallows over the campfire, noticing how they turned brown and what happened to them as they roasted. We even got to eat them afterwards!
Finally, we enjoyed Sound it Out. This was all about making lots of noise, so we really enjoyed it! We got to sing and play some instruments, learning about how making noise can help us to feel better and allow us to express some emotions, as well as making us feel happier.
A lovely day was had by all!
I liked the Rainbow Fun Run because everyone was cheering me on and being really kind to the people who were running. Ava
I liked it because everyone was being kind and nice and we also got a lolly and got our face painted! Brody
We ran two laps around the entire school! Bradley
I liked it at the end when we were all dancing together. Esme
It was very tiring, but we didn’t give up and we stuck together. K
Everybody was kind when we were running around. Charlie
I liked it at the end because we were dancing in a circle around our friends. Maria
Friday 9th May
VE Day 80th Anniversary
Yesterday we celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE Day. We learnt that VE stands for Victory in Europe.
In the morning, we took part in a virtual assembly with Picture News. We talked about the British Values of Individual Liberty, Rule of Law, Democracy and Mutual Respect and Tolerance and why they are so important. We learnt a phrase to help us remember them: I Really Do Matter. We identified British Values in action and learnt how we can make an impact in our school and the wider world.
In the afternoon, we iced and decorated biscuits with a VE Day flag and learnt a VE day song. We also learnt more about World War II, why it started and what life was like for people then. We looked at some images of wartime in the UK and discussed what we noticed. The questions and discussions that followed were incredible! The children really began to understand how difficult it must have been for people then. Afterwards, we looked at images of VE day celebrations in different areas of the UK. The children discussed how they thought people in the UK would be feeling when they heard that war was over.
We then reflected back to British Values and how they can promote peace and understanding of others.
I was very proud of everyone for their interest, enthusiasm and understanding of the topic.