Welcome to Whickham Parochial

I am delighted to welcome you to our school website.

We are proud of the achievements of our school and the enjoyment our children have in the wide variety of activities they take part in.

I hope by visiting our site you will get a taste of what our school is about and it will help you keep in touch with what is going on.

There is a wealth of information here and if you would like to add your own suggestions, or would like to comment then there is the opportunity for you to do some blogging.

I hope you enjoy our site and it helps you understand why everyone at Parochial is so proud of our friendly school.

Peter Armstrong: Head Teacher

Recently Added

Check out the latest school news below....

February 6, 2010

Year 5 visit to the Shipley Art Gallery

On Thursday morning we visited the Shipley Art Gallery for our current Art topic, Containers. When we arrived we looked at the many different containers displayed in the Designs for Life gallery.

Then we went into the studio where we handled examples of different containers.

After that, Carolyn, a skilled ceramicist, demonstrated how to make a coil pot out of clay before we had a go at making our own.

Continue reading "Year 5 visit to the Shipley Art Gallery"

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Categories: News , Year 5

February 2, 2010

Parochial altar cloth project

Our school is designing an altar cloth for the altar in the school hall which will be stitched by the Sewing group of St Mary's Church in Whickham. Each class is to create a picture to illustrate a verse from the hymn 'All things bright and beautiful'. Yesterday the school councillors visited St Mary's to meet the ladies who belong to the Sewing group to find out more about altar cloth designs.

Which design do you like most?

More designs...

Continue reading "Parochial altar cloth project"

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Categories: News

New videos on our weblog

Check out the two new videos recently added to our weblog. Links are on the homepage to a School Tour (top of the page), and a very funny clip when Fab Flournoy visited our school (link on the left hand side of the page).
The School Tour video was created by a group of Year 5 and Year 6 children attending ICT social club, along with some other children in our current Year 6 class.
Enjoy!

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Categories: About Our School

January 27, 2010

Year 4 Spring A

History- This half term we have been learning about the life of Henry VIII and his 6 wives! We also be looking at the life of a 'poor' tudor.
Art/Design- We have been looking at different styles of CHAIRS! There are lots of weird and wonderful types of chairs and we are going to design our own. Each chair will be designed for a particular 'character'. There is a good selection of characters chosen from Homer Simpson to Kelly the Irish dancing teacher!
Science- We have been learning about temperature and how to keep things 'hot' or 'cold'. Is it an insulator? Is it a conductor?
Literacy- Our literacy topic is all about 'The features of a newspaper report/article'. The children have enjoyed getting into the swing of things by becoming reporters and creating a news article on the school closure a couple of weeks ago, due to the snow!

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Categories: Curriculum , Year 4

January 26, 2010

Spring term in Year 1

Welcome back to a new and busy term in Year 1.
Throughout this term the children will be looking at a range of topics including eat more fruit and veg in D.T, toys in history, sculpture in art, our local environment in geography and sound and hearing in science.
The children will also have the opportunity to visit the CLC centre to gain experience with a range of computer programmes.
This term Year 1 have been enjoying the story of Handa's surprise which they are beginning to use as inspiration to create animal dances in PE with Mrs Saint.

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Categories: Year 1

Year 2 Spring Term 2010

In Year 2 we have just started to study the Great Fire of London and we will also create some art work linked to this. In Science we have found out about using electricity and will also investigate forces and movements. Throughout our work in ICT we will look at how we can use computers to find information and controlling a floor turtle!
In March Year 2 will visit the CLC centre to experience new ICT programmes.
Father John will be coming into Year 2 to talk about the different clothing worn in the church throught out the year.

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Categories: Year 2

January 19, 2010

Meet our School Council!

Here are the children who were elected as school councillors for the school year 2009 - 2010. An enthusiastic group of children, they care deeply about making sure our school is a place where all the children are happy. Our first meeting of 2010 took place today and there was lots to talk about!

Hi! Our names are Aiden and Erin and we are in Year 1. We wanted to be school councillors so that we could help people and make the school a better place.

Hi! We are Molly and Matthew and we are in Year 2. We wanted to be on the school council because we like helping other people.

Hi! We are called Hannah and Grant and we are in Year 3. We wanted to be school councillors so that we could help make school a better place.

Hi! Our names are Bethany and Aidan and we are in Year 4. We wanted to be school councillors because we want to make school a more fun place and we want to be able to improve things in school.

Hi! We are Olivia and Aaron and we are in Year 5. We want to be on the school council because we want to make the school even better and we like the thought of helping other people.

Hi! Our names are Faye, Lauren, Adam B and Adam W and we represent Year 6. We wanted to be school councillors so that we could make school a better and more enjoyable place to be.

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Categories: Extra-Curricular Activities

January 12, 2010

Spring Term in Year 6

After a snowy start to 2010, Year 6 are settling in well to the new term. The children will be working very hard in Literacy and Numeracy lessons in particular as we move towards SATs in May. In Science, the topic is 'How we see things' and will hopefully involve a visit to the 'Lifelab' at the Centre for Life. The class will visit Gateshead CLC soon to gain some skills in computer aided design and manufacture. This will tie in with design and technology lessons in which the theme is 'Shelters'. In ICT, the children are learning how to include action buttons in 'Powerpoint' slideshows, and will move on to using spreadsheets to present and calculate data. The class are continuing to study the Aztecs in History, and Sikhism in RE lessons, with Mrs Wallis.

You might find this website helpful to practise mathematics skills:

Mathematics

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Categories: Year 6

Spring term in Year 5

Be prepared for another busy term in Year 5! We will be endeavouring to improve our quick recall of facts from the times tables for which there will be a weekly test. Other fun activities to look forward to include finding out about the way people lived in the ancient Greek empire and there will be the opportunity to handle Greek artefacts loaned from the Discovery Museum. Our topic in Art is Containers. Children can explore the tradition of making vessels and create their own containers. A visit to the Shipley Art Gallery on the morning of Thursday 4th February will allow the children to experience for themselves containers of different designs and functions. Just as last term, Mrs Wallis is teaching Year 5 Science. The topics for this term enable pupils to develop an understanding of gases as well as of the main processes associated with water when it changes state. Mr Parnaby continues to visit on Tuesday mornings. He was impressed by the speed at which the children progressed on their trumpets last term and he is looking forward to helping them achieve their silver award.

Where can this famous building be found?

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Categories: News , Year 5

Y3 Spring Topics

This Spring term the wonderful Year 3 will be learning about:
Nesting birds (Literacy)
Weather & Climate (Geography)
Food packaging (D.T.)
Databases (I.C.T.)
Magnets & Springs (Science)
...and a whole lot more besides!
robin.doc
Mr B.

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Categories: About Our School , Curriculum , Year 3