2015-2016

 

Queen Elizabeth II 90th Birthday 21st April 2016

To celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, all children took part in a special assembly on Tuesday to learn about the Queen and her family, we also decorated the hall and children talked about the Queen in class. All children were given a special commemorative medal.

We are very grateful to our ‘Parents’ of Windmill’ group who have donated some funds in order to purchase the medals, we hope this is something the children will treasure as they grow older.

 

Batley Big Sing 2016

On the 17th March, 14 of our choir members formed part of a mass choir in the Batley Big Sing held at Batley Grammar School.  The children performed four joint items which included: Happy, I Just Can’t Wait to Be King, I’m a Believer and the very rousing Power in Me.  Our choir performed We Go Together  (from Grease) and they did so confidently and with enthusiasm. 

Well done to you all and thank you to parents for supporting us once again.

Click on the sound files below to hear them.

           

“I was very nervous but excited.”       Chloe

“I enjoyed watching the wind band and I got my saxophone out when I got home.”             Luke.

“We all enjoyed watching the other schools sing their songs.”          Lucy and Chloe

“All the schools were very good.”       Paige

New Arrivals in Reception - March 2016

In Reception we have our very own chicks that have hatched from their eggs over the last few days. The children are learning to care for them and understand the life cycle of a hen. They have learnt the purpose of an incubator and why the eggs need to be warm for the chicks to develop.

Malcolm the farmer from Batley Girls High came to talk to the children about the life cycle of the chickens, and brought some 2 week old chicks for the children to see. Our chicks will be going to live on the farm at the school where the children will be able to go and visit.

       

  

Visit to KS2 by Jo Cox MP - 10th March 2016

Jo Cox, MP, visited our school to talk to KS2 pupils about her work as a member of parliament representing the Batley and Spen constituency. Pupils listened attentively as Jo talked about her motivation to become an MP and how she works hard to try and ensure equality and equal opportunity for all. At the end of the assembly it was clear that Jo had inspired some of our children to become an MP!

Children in Year 5 then asked questions of Jo in preparation for their visit to the Houses of Parliament in April this year as part of their three day residential visit to London. The pupils' questions were fantastic and Jo answered them really well. We can't wait to get to know her a bit more when we see her in the Houses of Parliament on April 14th 2016.

Thanks for coming Jo, it was a superb visit, the children really enjoyed it and learned an awful lot about democracy, Parliament and the role of an MP. Thank you

World Book Day 2016

It was so lovely to see all the staff and children dress up for World Book Day on Thursday 3^rd March as characters from different stories. The children had an amazing day participating in lots of different activities such as book reviews, quizzes and role play. A big thank you to parents for all their hard work and support with making their children look fantastic.

Take a look at the video below to see what fun we had and hear the children sing "It's Good To Be Me."

                         

World Book Day 2016 from Windmill C of E Primary on Vimeo.

Four children from Year 6 also took part in the World Book Day Quiz at Cleckheaton Town Hall, this is what they thought about it.

We really enjoyed the book quiz, the staff members were very kind and the guest poet was very kind and fun.  Each of the 20+ teams were asked questions relating to the 4 books each team member had to read.

Waiting for our scores was made less tense as Conrad read funny poems, the event made us read some books by authors that maybe we wouldn’t normally read.

Overall it was a very enjoyable afternoon and we would recommend this experience.  

Emma, Marley, Oliver & Matilda

Also, Year 4 were lucky enough to go to an Indian storytelling workshop at Batley Girls High School.

We found out that you can tell a story in a number of ways. You can use your hands, eyes, body, rhythm and puppets. We looked at some special puppets from India called marionettes. They were very realistic and impressive!

Later, we learned some traditional Indian dances. This involved beating sticks to the rhythm of the music. We did a celebration dance and even a Bollywood dance. All of us (even the teachers) loved joining in!      

Finlay and Chloe 4T

 

 

Goodbye Mrs Morley

On Friday 26th February we said goodbye to one of our longest serving members of staff. Mrs Morley, one of our Senior Lunchtime Supervisors, has hung up her apron for the very last time and retired to spend more time with her grandchildren. 

Mrs Morley has worked at Windmill CE Primary and formerly at Brownhill Infants School for 26 years.  She came to work with us in 1989 and has helped so many children over the years with their lunches.  Some of the children she has helped are now parents here!

We will miss her very much, and would like to thank her for her dedicated years of service.  We wish her a long and happy retirement.

Kirklees Music School Recital

On Wednesday 24th February,  Kirklees Music School's recital team gave a fantastic live musical performance to Key Stage 2 children.  Budding music fans were able to enjoy recitals from an assortment of musical families to explore how sound is created by different instruments.

Please visit the Kirklees Music School website www.kirkleesmusicschool.org.uk for more information on what they can offer.

 

African Drumming and Dance Workshop

On Thursday 11^th February our Y2 children had great fun taking part in an African Drumming & Dance Workshop to support their African topic work. Please click on the sound file below to hear them drumming, singing and thoroughly enjoying themselves!

 

       

“The drumming was my favourite part because I liked the feeling of the drum.” Lucas

“The dancing was my favourite part because I liked pretending to grab the oranges from the tree!” Charlotte

“I liked the dancing, it was bouncy!” Jaiden

NSPCC Number Day 5th February 2016

Number Day on Friday 5th February was a huge success and the children had great fun doing a range of mathematical activities such as, investigating their own negative number lines outside in Year 4 and investigating the Fibonacci sequence in Year 6. Well done to everyone for dressing up and supporting a very worthwhile charity. 

"On number day I enjoyed doing everything, but my favourite thing was the caterpillar. It is where you have an odd number and add on to it & if you have an even number you half it."             

Lydia 5N

Sing Up 4th February 2016

We celebrated Sing Up Day with each year from Y1-Y6 performing a song to the school. Please click on the sound file below to hear the school singing Sing Up Mambo and check out the Year 1 - 6 pages under the Our Children tab to listen to the song each year group performed.

A visit from David Martin

On Thursday 14th January, David Martin a local artist visited Year 6 to share some of his work and to discuss what inspires him. He explained that he is particularly fascinated by local architecture and often uses local buildings as the inspiration for his paintings. He also shared ideas about the techniques that he uses in his work, for example his use of light and shade, how he creates movement and how to build up a picture/ painting. He answered lots of questions from the children and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the session.

 

 

Den Building

On Tuesday 12th January, our Reception children and their parents braved the cold weather to take part in our Den Making Event. As part of this terms topic 'Houses and Homes', the Den Experiment offered an engaging and motivating experience for both the children and their parents. As you can see from the video below, lots of fun was had by all and some fantastic dens were created - well done Reception!

KS2 Pantomime

On Friday 11th December KS2 visited Cleckheaton Town Hall to watch The Wizard of Oz. The children thoroughly enjoyed the performance, they laughed, sang and danced throughout it. Our KS1 children are looking forward to seeing this on Wednesday too! What a great start to Christmas.

 

Children In Need 13th November 2015

Children and staff arrived at school sporting some really crazy hairstyles last Friday for Children in Need. Thank you to everyone for all their hard work and effort. We raised an amazing £406.63. Thank you for your generosity.

             

 

              

                                 Anti-Bullying Week 16th November 2015

This week is National Anti-Bullying Week. Our collective worship sessions this week have focused on the ‘Windmill Way’ rule; ‘we are always kind and friendly.’ Last week, we also had a performance in school of ‘the power of one,’ a theatre in education performance designed to highlight bullying and give children strategies to deal with bullying and the confidence to speak out if they see bullying happen or are victims of it. The feedback from the children was excellent and this appears to have been a successful endeavor. A display of the children’s thoughts, and the pledge board they have signed, is on display in the KS2 hall. 

                  

                       

 

Remembrance Day 11th November 2015

Our Year 6 children led a short service, incorporating a minutes silence, on Remembrance day at 10.50am. Children in Y4, Y5 and Y6 also attended the service, along with parents of children in Year 6. The service was held outside by the reflection tree.

 

Roast Dinner Day Visitors! - 4th November 2015 

 School cooks celebrated on Food for Life Roast Dinner Day On Wednesday 4th November.  Our school took part in the sixth annual 'Food for Life' Roast Dinner Day. This day of celebration, held during National School Meals Week, recognises the dedicated, hard-working and talented school cooks who serve our children with nutritious, freshly prepared and locally sourced school dinners.

  

 

   

 

 

We invited some special guests to join our KS1 children: Councillor Shabir Pandor, Cabinet Member of Kirklees Council for Education in Schools, joined pupils to celebrate on the day.  He acknowledged the work of Kirklees Catering Service who hold the silver Food for Life Catering Mark; a guarantee that the food served across their schools is freshly prepared, free from undesirable additives and better for animal welfare.

 

Also invited were Jeanatte Cartwright, Kirklees Catering Manager, Shona Auty, Health improvement practitioner, Rachel Robson, Health improvement advisor for obesity and Chandra Pankhania, programme manager for 'Food for Life.' All our visitors enjoyed an excellent school dinner, cooked by Mrs Widdop and the KS1 kitchen team. The visitors were also impressed with the growing activities that our children get involved in on our school grounds - we have the wonderful support of Mr Harrison to thank for enthusing our children about growing. Our children, as always, were a credit to our school. Well done everyone!

 

  

People Who Help Us - 20th October 2015 

The children in Reception have been learning about people who help them in their local community. The children were very excited on Tuesday when we had the local police visit our school. The children learnt about the role of a police officer and the uniform they wear. They even experienced sitting in their patrol car and pressing the sirens. Also as part of the topic we had a visit from the school Nurse and the children learnt about all the different aspects to her role. They asked her questions and looked at some of the equipment that she uses. 

                  

 

Batley Festival of Music - 20th October 2015

Huge congratulations and well done to our school choir who took part in the Birstall Festival of Music on Tuesday evening at St Patrick’s Church.  The children sang two songs; Tongo and Life is What You Make It.  They performed confidently and were a credit to themselves and the school.  Their hard work this half term really showed. Thank you to all parents and grandparents who stayed to support our choir.

 

Robinwood Report 2015

 

Both the children and staff had a fantastic time during the Year 6 trip to Robin Wood Activity centre at Barhaugh Hall in Cumbria. The children were excellent ambassadors for the school and made everyone proud with their determination to have a go at all the activities; even overcoming fears! The children certainly developed their team building skills, showing great encouragement for each other during the activities. 6A and 6T also worked as a team to prepare a Robin Wood presentation which was delivered on Monday to the rest of the KS2 children. We are incredibly proud of everything that they have achieved! Here are some of the children’s thoughts…

 

When Year Six went to Robin Wood, our favourite activity was Crate Challenge. We were strapped to a harness and we started off on two crates each. Then we had to build them up as high as we could which meant we had to stand on our friends’ crates, sending them flying! Most of us got about nine crates high which resulted in us being around five metres high!  That is why Crate Challenge was our favourite activity at Robin Wood, Cumbria.     Maddie & Matilda 

 

Robin Wood was great! It was a fun filled adventure with lots of amazing activities to do. One of my favourites was the trapeze. It was a bit scary at first, having to climb up the giant climbing wall to a very tall height and launching yourself onto a wobbly, hanging bar. I managed to do it anyway and I really liked it. All the Robin Wood staff were amazing too. They encouraged you to do things you never knew you could do.    Hannah

 

In our Year 6 trip to Robin Wood Activity Centre, Cumbria, one of my favourite activities was definitely Dungeon of Doom. Our team split up into two groups and only one could survive. There were lots of challenging puzzles and there was always another padlock to unlock. The dungeon tested us on our Spelling, Maths and Science skills, plus, our logic when fitting a puzzle together and answering questions on the human skeleton. My team finished first, however we were panic-stricken when we found out we couldn’t escape until the other team had finished as well!              Molly

Harvest Festival  Friday 2nd October 2015

Harvest Festival On Friday 2nd October, class 5N performed an amazing harvest festival play, it was called The Sower and The Seed. The drama was fantastic! It was about two farmers who planted some seeds, three of the seeds tried to grow but were unsuccessful, however, one seed grew and grew and grew, to the point where it became a huge plant! It chose the right place to grow. The performance was fantastic.       By Kaydi, Year 5

Reverend Lesley talked to the children about how people need to have the ‘right soil’ and be kind and compassionate in order to be good people. She talked about how sharing food at Harvest time is one way we can be good people and show our compassion for others. Thank you very much for your kind donations of tinned and dry goods. These were collected on Monday by Rev Ann from Trinity Care - you may have seen her car driving away laden down with tins! We almost filled it. Thank you so much for your generosity.

Macmillan Coffee Morning - Friday 25th September 2015

Thank you to everyone who came to our coffee morning, we raised an amazing £995.01 for Macmillan Cancer Support! It was a great community event – there were so many delicious cakes and buns donated; what a talented group of parents we have! Thank you so much to everyone who baked and/or came, it was wonderful to see both halls full of people. A huge thanks also to those parents who came to help serve drinks and buns, we would not have been able to go ahead with the event without you.

Road Safety 

In September, our Y3 children learned about the importance of road safety. West Yorkshire Police came to take the children out in small groups to show them how to be safe when crossing a road. During Road Safety, there was a series of mixed emotions throughout the class.

 

 “I thought it was fun!”   Fletcher 

 “The green code is; Look left, look right, left again, right again.”   Millie and Jake 

 “I thought it was scary and unsafe at first, but after our first go I felt totally safe!”   Tayla 

 “We were a bit nervous but excited at the same time!”   Kyla & Tye

“It was scary because I had never crossed a road on my own before!”   Abi