It’s been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least since we came back after the Christmas Holidays.

Last minute announcements by the Government led to a rush of activity that first week back, but I’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our families and staff for working with us. It’s a testament to the staff team that in only two days, we had remote learning timetables implemented, all of the iPads dropped off, risk assessments revised and reviewed and we were ready to roll.

You may have seen in the news that lateral flow tests were due to be rolled out to Primary Schools in the next week? This is still under discussion and we are hopeful of some further news next week.

In and out of school, learning has been continuing pretty much as normal. I’m so proud of the way that the children have adapted to new routines and working with different staff – they have been able to tell us about any worries, they have used the remote contact with staff well and face to face teaching sessions have gone smoothly.

We have got lots of photographs to share with you. I’ve included a few more of the beautiful horses that brought Santa to visit us – did I tell you that the one with the red nose is the horse that is running along the beach at the start of the Lloyds Bank TV advert? Stunning animals.

Anyway, time to see what the children have been up to:

Class 4 have been learning about volcanos and started by finding out how the earth is made up of different layers. The used different colours of play dough to represent these, have labelled drawings and have filmed each other describing the different layers and their purpose.

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They also had a wonderfully wet trip to Hollingworth Lake and explored an adjacent valley. They played amongst the trees in the forest, went river walking and also found some branches to make dens. They found a nearby skatepark with lots of snow on the ramps. As you can see, there wasn’t much snow left on them by the time they had slid down them on their bellies about 20 times! With some puddle jumping on the way back, it’s safe to say they returned to school with numb toes and red noses, but a great day was had by all.

They ended the week with some special birthday celebrations for Mrs Lawrie, complete with cake and party games.

Some older photos to share from Class 5 and Class 3 from before Christmas. We have some snaps of when Santa visited with his beautiful horses..

..and some of when they went on a Fairy Hunt in Littleborough. They were so lucky and managed to capture some real fairies on film…they were very excited!

In class, they have been practicing letter and number formation,,

..having fun in the snow..

..making some penguin pictures..

..and using numicon to find different ways to make 10..

Well done to all of Class 5, you have worked really hard.

Class 1 have engaged really well with our blended learning offer. As well as face to face teaching with their teachers, they have been working independently on tasks that have been set in Showbie. They have also enjoyed whole class sessions where they have had a class meeting using the Showbie video function and been able to have a catch up with their friends who are learning elsewhere.

In Commando Joe lessons, they have completed 2 different challenges. The first involved the explorers coming across an abandoned village with derelict buildings. They had to make safe shelters to survive the storm using what remained of the buildings and things they could find. For the second challenge, they survived the night in their shelter and now they needed to finish the last leg of the mission. They came across parts of vehicles and their challenge was to make a buggy to transport their team and equipment. Although these activities just look like ‘playing’, it’s not possible for them to succeed without communicating with each other, negotiating, deciding on a plan of action and taking turns – all vital skills which they can then take back in to the classroom.

In Maths, they have been learning how to count totals in money and give change. It just goes to show that you are never too old to play shop!

Owen also made a fantastic Lego castle!

Class 2 have had two wonderful trips, one to Wessenden Head and another to Mam Tor to look at a Bronze Age hill fort. They were able to skim stones, climb hills, jump streams (just!) and drink hot chocolate sheltered from the elements. They were both cold and windy days but the boys had a great adventure.

Well I hope that the weather picks up next week, the grey, rainy days have been miserable to say the least. Fingers crossed for some crisp, sunny days soon.

Have a nice weekend everyone,

Miss Thomason
Head of School

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