Whole School

Reception visit the butterfly house and beach

 in Class One / Science / Whole School by

Reception had a wonderful time yesterday visiting the butterfly house in Williamson Park Lancaster and spending the afternoon on Arnside beach. We loved seeing all the different stages in the butterfly life cycle first-hand and were lucky enough to be able to see a beautiful atlas moth which had recently hatched. We met one of the resident tortoises and a terrapin and learned about their habitats and diets. The cave was also explored, where we could see stick insects, spiders and even an axolotl! The guinea pigs enjoyed a stroke by some of us and the meerkats were eager to meet us when they discovered we had tasty banana treats!

We enjoyed lunch in the sunshine before heading back to the bus for some time on the beach at Arnside. Ice creams were on the menu with the beautiful weather and we enjoyed digging in the sand, making ‘jelly mud pies’, mark-making and scavenger hunting.

A wonderful day was had by everyone!

 

Class 2 trip to the Lakeland motor museum, steam train and ferry!

 in Whole School by

Class 2 had a fabulous time on their trip today. They found lots of new information about cars and bikes from the past. They also got to experience a ride on a steam train and ferry to Bowness!

School Council Visit Waterstones Bookshop in Lancaster

 in Whole School by

School Council have been on a wonderful trip to Waterstones Book Shop in Lancaster.

After a ride on the train- we got to the station by the skin of our teeth- we made it to the attractive book shop where we browsed the book shelves so that we can fill our new library space. We split up to hunt for them!

After searching high and low for non-fiction books to please our classmates, we re-joined together to discuss our options. Finally, we all agreed on our choices, paid up and headed off for lunch in the historical castle of Lancaster. After being spooked by a skeleton in one of the old dungeons, we were treated to a hot chocolate in the cafe (which was the best we had had in a while)! Then,  we headed back to the station with the generous gifts the shop had given us including: a red pencil; an exciting bookmark; a couple of activity sheets and a few copies of the new book by Joseph Elliot- Nora and the Map of Mayhem. We left happy and so pleased – it had been such a fantastic day.

 

Written by Charlotte (year 6) and Eleanor (Year 5) – School Councillors.

Reception and Nursery Road Safety

 in Class One / SCARF / Whole School by

Nursery and Reception have been learning all about staying safe on the roads! They used their creative skills to make their own traffic lights and road signs and enjoyed role-playing different scenarios on our playground, thinking about possible hazards and how they know if it is safe to cross the road!

Art in Class 2

 in Art / Class Two / Whole School by

Class 2 have been exploring the work of Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso.   We have used a range of different types of media to create ‘bonkers’ portraits, with eyes, noses, ears and mouths in lots of unusual places, sometimes combining different viewpoints on one image.    We were also really inspired by the irregular shapes and the strong use of bold colours in the work of these artists to make our striking pictures.

With Bob Sutcliffe taking our ideas even further,  we also made some 3D collage creations to make the features of our faces really stand out.  We have used cardboard, pencils, wax pastels and paint!

United Utilities Water Workshop

 in Science / Whole School by

Recently, the whole school were treated to a visit from United Utilities who spent the day teaching us all about water. Where it comes from, where it goes, what we can do with it and, once all is said and done, where it ends up when we flush it down the drain!

We first learned about the water cycle – how heat from the sun evaporates water from the oceans, before this is deposited over land as precipitation (rain, snow or anything in between!) This water then makes its way through streams and rivers into reservoirs which store the water. From here, the water is processed and cleaned before being sent through pipes to our homes!

When we have used water (for washing up, having a bath or even going to the toilet!), it ends up in other pipes leading to a waste water treatment center. Here, the water is cleaned before being returned to a river or the sea to continue it’s journey through the cycle!

Not everything can be dealt with by the waste water treatment center though. We also learned how some items don’t break up when they are flushed down the toilet and can cause chaos in our sewers. Fat turns into icky fatbergs and wet-wipes don’t break down at all, blocking things up for everyone. Even the flushable ones – we learned about a test you can do at home to check!

Finally, we all learned about the importance of saving water. We studied many of the simple things we can do to save water and made a water saving promise to try and keep at home! All students have also received a small “shower timer” which ca be used to challenge us all to shower in four minutes or less to save water!

Running Club – Grand Finale!

 in Whole School by

What a fantastic end to what has been the most fabulous running season! We have now been running weekly since October with a regular group of over 30 juniors, having the best of fun and keeping very fit in the process. This last session was really special as we concluded with a run through the farm trail at Low Sizergh Barn, joined by adults. After the run, we enjoyed a Sizergh Barn special hot chocolate or milkshake accompanied by wonderful home bakes from Mrs Mason and her Nicola.

A very fitting and special end!

Whilst some still have the deferred Elleray competition next month, the running season draws to a close, but we will be back in September,

with a new batch of runners ready to be put through their paces. This Club would not be possible without the amazing support and dedication of many adults at the school, who lead by example each week, exhibiting the very keenest of enthusiasm!

Thanks to everyone, but especially our children, who make the club such a rewarding and great place to be each Friday. Roll on September…..

 

 

 

 

World Book Day!

 in English / Whole School by

We enjoyed World Book Day with a bit of a difference this year! Children and staff were challenged to come to school with ‘character- themed’ hair for the day! This included hats, face paints, hair accessories and wigs. The assembly for the day also followed this theme with a quiz to guess the famous book character from a small, cropped image of their head! At break time all children were able to choose a book from our book swap, organised and run by our wonderful school council. Thank you to all those who donated books to swap and we hope you are enjoying having something new to read!

A Master Class with Nigel Edmondson

 in Art / Church / Class Four / Whole School by

Year six had a very special ‘Feel Good Friday’ today as the walked down to see Nigel Edmondson in his Levens’ studio this afternoon to kick-start our collaborative art project inspired by God’s creation.

Nigel talked to us about his work, his inspirations and some of his techniques. He then demonstrated how he uses his tools and machinery to create clay tiles.  After that, we began to experiment with our ideas using a range of objects that Nigel uses for his own pieces to create nature-inspired tiles.

We all learnt so much and feel so inspired following our special afternoon.  Year six will be working together to plan this whole-school project and act as mentors so that every pupil can explore this medium and create their own tiles.  These will be displayed together as a permanent art installation in our school hall.

Look out for more news on our project soon!

Still-LIfe Studies

 in Art / Whole School by

 

Class 4 have been developing their skills to draw three dimensional objects accurately on a 2 dimensional surface using art pencils, pencil crayons, pastels, water colour and ink pens.

We studied the work of Paul Cezanne in detail – exploring how he used colour and texture to create 3D effects of everyday objects including fruit, plates, vases, jugs etc.   After practising our skills extensively using a range of media and studying his work in detail; we created still-life arrangements of our own.