Term 6 Newsletter - July 2023
What an exciting and incredibly busy term!
Over the course of six weeks our pupils (and staff!) have had the opportunity to take part in a dizzying number of wonderful enrichment trips and in-school activities, each planned to provide our pupils with the chance to try or experience something new allowing them to discover new interests and for their talents to flourish! As you can see from the below photos pupils absolutely loved every chance to socialise, enjoy enriching learning experiences .. and have fun, lots of fun!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our pupils, families and staff a relaxing and enjoyable summer break – and we look forward to welcoming new and existing pupils into school on Monday 4th September.
To our amazing Year 6 pupils, we wish you every happiness in your new secondary schools, you are more than ready! Please do stay in touch.
Our Year 6 pupils visited our two Wilmington Grammar Schools for a Design Technology practical lesson .. and better still, they made Italian pizza! Pupils have been learning about the principles of a healthy diet as well as discussing where their ingredients are grown or reared. Pupils made and rolled their dough before choosing their toppings and cooking and enjoying their delicious finished pizzas!
Year 6 planned and delivered a staff meeting for teachers last night to teach them all about the zones of regulation. The teachers were able to learn all about this and they were able to learn about different strategies to help support children in their emotional wellbeing.
The Daily Mile is a regular part of Year 1’s routine. Mr White uses the Daily Mile as an opportunity to re-set between lessons or activities and serves as a revitalising boost to energy levels and to improve concentration. We are great advocates of the positive impact of keeping physically active and how it helps keep our bodies and minds healthy!
Year 1 have been learning about weather forecasting through a series of lively activities, including creating and presenting their own weather forecasts. The topic builds knowledge of seasonal and daily weather patterns in the UK and to begin to understand the hot and cold areas as well as developing locational knowledge and early geographical skills such as being able to identify North, South, East and West.
Year 3 During music lessons our Year 3 pupils have been exploring how music can add drama and suspense or emphasis sadness or happiness in tv programmes or films to depict an emotion or to set a scene. In this lesson pupils worked with percussion instruments to compose their own piece of emotive music using Claude Monet’s painting, Sunrise, as inspiration. Working in pairs, pupils used triangles, tambourines, and chime bars to devise their own tune that they felt matched the mood of the painting.
Year 5 have been perfecting their sprinting skills with pupils taking on the roles of athlete and coach! In pairs pupils worked together to create sprinting drills, concentrating on technique, before giving each other feedback and encouragement as they both worked on improving their coaching and sprinting skills. Well done everyone!
Year 6 enjoyed an extremely creative Art lesson at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls where they designed and crafted their own tote bag. Taking influence from the artist 'Banksy' pupils used a mix of embellishments, fabric pens, stencilling and stitching to transfer their personalised design onto their bag. As you can see from the pictures, our Year 6 are a very talented bunch indeed! Mrs O’Donnell (teacher of Art at WGSG) was really impressed at how well pupils responded to the lesson brief and how engaged they were with the project.
Eagle Heights trip - On Monday 26th June, Reception eagerly boarded the coach to take them to Eagle Heights for a day of exploration. In our small groups we explored the site, we saw many different animals including; meerkats, owls, eagles, husky dogs, a serval, alpacas, sheep, goats and much more. After eating our packed lunches in the sunshine we watched the bird flying demonstration and learned lots of fascinating facts about owls, falcons and eagles. The Peregrine Falcon, called Dominic was very cheeky and kept flying off! We even got a chance to play in the playground where we experienced a very fast slide!!
Sports Day was a hugely fun day of sporting endeavour and camaraderie that lifted the spirits of not just the competitors, but of us all! Our crowd of family and friends did a great job of cheering on competitors which motivated them enormously! Mr White acted as race head official, with Year 6 pupils taking care of the scoring!
Across our school we have Year 12 students on work placements from Wilmington Grammar sixth form (WG6). The students have been working with each year group teacher to support the lessons and provide one-to-one sessions where needed. Our pupils really enjoyed having them in class and they made a positive impact on lessons. In the below images the WG6 students were supporting Year 1 with mask making. Each pupil worked with a template to first design then decorated their masks using tissue paper, pipe cleaners and coloured pens.
On the 21st June, Mr White and Year 1 went on a school trip to The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden. We were all extremely excited to be travelling on a big coach! When we arrived, we met our tour guide who showed us around and we were able to feel a lion's mane and a cheetah’s fur as well as touch a tiger’s teeth and a Jaguar’s claws (not attached to the animals at the time!)
We met Maya the black Jaguar and Willow the Cheetah who both starred in the BBC program Big Cats About the House. The children were impeccably behaved and a massive credit to Wilmington Primary School.
We learned lots of facts including:
- Cheetahs have about 100 spots
- Cats with black around their eyes hunt during the day whilst those with white around the eyes hunt at night.
- A Panther is not a type of cat, it is just a generic name for a big black cat
- Big Cats roar and little cats purr
Music Trip to Benenden School. On Friday 14th July, twenty one children from Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 travelled by coach to Benenden School to take part in a music experience day run by Kent Music . The children played the flute, clarinet, recorder and saxophone. They have been busy practising their music and on the day they joined together with children from other primary schools with some 90 children altogether performing on stage. The day included rehearsals, a chance to watch secondary children rehearsing in their bands as part of the Kent Music Summer School, a swim in the pool and dinner in the refectory. The day culminated with a concert for parents and friends in the evening. It's always a really enjoyable day.
What a way for our Year 6 pupils to end and celebrate their time here with us at Wilmington Primary than by a residential trip to PGL! Pupils spent the most amazing week, a week of ‘firsts’ … and pupils embraced every single opportunity to challenge themselves to learn or try new skills and activities, to have greater independence and work as a team and (judging by the below photos) to climb, drop and zip from the highest points they could find! It was a hugely fun experience, spending time with friends and making memories.
Year 3 Golden Time. Pupils are given ‘free choice’ time, generally on a Friday, as a treat following good work and engagement. Pupils are able to choose an activity to take part independently or in small groups. In the Golden Time pictured below, all pupils choose a creative activity to enjoy. Pictured below, Year 12 students from Wilmington Grammar working with, and supporting our pupils with their lessons and activities.
Year 2 are pictured below taking part in our ‘Drop Everything and Read’ scheme. Pupils take a break, to pick up their reading book and spend 15 minutes immersed in their story or school book. The scheme, together with our Reading Buddies programme aims to increase the amount of time pupils are reading independently. Drop Everything and Read is embedded across our school .. to great effect!
Pupils are encouraged to read individually or to each other, Charlotte, pictured below shared a book she had written and illustrated herself!
Thank you to all our families and friends who attended our Summer Fair, it was a wonderful day .. your continued support is very much appreciated!
Forthcoming dates;
First Day back – Monday 4th September
Best wishes,
Charlotte Scott