Thanks to all parents and friends who supported our Sports Day yesterday! After a late ground inspection we went ahead and enjoyed a super morning. The most memorable elements were perhaps some truly amusing moments in the sack races and the good-natured determination of those who found themselves bringing up the rear in certain races. Well done to all competitors and special congratulations to the winning Green Team!
Mr B.
Thanks to all parents and friends who supported our Sports Day yesterday! After a late ground inspection we went ahead and enjoyed a super morning. The most memorable elements were perhaps some truly amusing moments in the sack races and the good-natured determination of those who found themselves bringing up the rear in certain races. Well done to all competitors and special congratulations to the winning Green Team!
Mr B.
Thanks to all parents and friends who supported our Sports Day yesterday! After a late ground inspection we went ahead and enjoyed a super morning. The most memorable elements were perhaps some truly amusing moments in the sack races and the good-natured determination of those who found themselves bringing up the rear in certain races. Well done to all competitors and special congratulations to the winning Green Team!
Mr B.
Last week Year 5 visited Cragside, the Victorian home of Lord Armstrong and the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.
How do you think Cragside got its name?
Victoria, Alessandro, Rachel and Harry volunteered to be dressed up in clothes that would have been worn by wealthy Victorians.
![IMG00381-20100611-1248[1].jpg](http://www.whickhamparochial.org/IMG00381-20100611-1248%5B1%5D.jpg)
We made our own butter!
Continue reading to find out how we did it...
Congratulations Year 5! You sang, acted, danced and spoke your parts like professionals yesterday. Mrs Latham would like to thank everyone in Year 5 for the effort that was put in to learning and practising parts. The performance proved it was all worth it!
Daedalus is terrified by the skeletons in the Labyrinth
Icarus flew close to the sun, fell in the sea and drowned
Well done to seven of our Year 6 girls who represented the school in a mini tournament at Whickham School this afternoon.
On Wednesday 19th May Year 5 spent the morning at the ISKCON Hindu Temple on Westgate Road in Newcastle. We had a fantastic time extending our knowledge of Hinduism with Kirtida, a Hindu Priestess. The first thing we learnt which surprised us was that not all Hindus are Indian - Kirtida is from Finland!
We dressed up in traditional Indian clothes.
On 1st April Chris Cook, the 2006 Double Commonwealth Champion (50m and 100m Breastroke) gave Year 5 an inspirational talk about what he had to do in order to succeed as a World Class Athlete.
Continue reading "Double Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist visits school!" »
On 25th March four children from Year 5 competed in the Gateshead Primary Schools Year 4/5 Athletics Finals at the Louisa Centre in Stanley. Olivia, Eleanor, Charlotte and Lauren had previously taken part in an athletics event at Whickham School and their performances led to them being selected to go on to the Finals.
At the Finals in Stanley they formed a team with children from Fellside Primary and Front Street Primary to represent Whickham Primary Schools. Competing against nine other teams of children from all over Gateshead, the Whickham team came first and won Gold. We are so proud of them!
Last week Year 5 spent a day at the Heworth CLC learning how to program robots. We even made them dance! Credits could be earned for completing tasks and by the end of the day, Sophie and Adam had earned the most. They were followed closely by Abi and Amy. Well done!
The robot has been programmed to follow the black line
Sophie and Adam completing another task!
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" »
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...
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?
I really enjoyed my trip to Robinwood, my favourite activity there was the zip wire. The activity I think needed the most teamwork was the pirahna pool, we had to work together to find the clues and solve the puzzles and a lot of encourgement was needed. I volunteered to go last across the pool, but I made it across 2 seconds before the pirahnas were let out "Phew!" By Ethan C Year Six
Year Six have just returned from three exciting, action-packed days at Robinwood Activity Centre, near Alston. The children had a fantastic time, experiencing activities including the Zip Wire, the Giant Swing and the infamous Piranha Pool! Mrs Saint and Mrs Stapleton reported that the behaviour of the class was excellent...well done!
There are more photos in the Photo Gallery.
Have a look at the website : www.robinwood.co.uk
A small group of dedicated children have formed an Ecoclub with the aim to get involved in practical activities that help to look after our planet and its people. In the first half term of the club's existence, the children have successfully set up a fairtrade tuck shop for Key Stage 2 pupils which runs every Friday during morning break. The foods for sale have been selected with healthy eating in mind, and are all purchased from Traidcraft.
Thank you to everyone who has made a purchase at the tuck shop - you are helping to fight poverty!
Last week Year 5 had the privilege of meeting the children's author and illustrator, Shoo Rayner. He told us how he started out as an illustrator of other people's books for children. Inspired by the stories he was illustrating, he decided to start writing his own books for children. He has written a series of books featuring the characters Viking Vik and Ricky Rocket, as well as a collection of spooky stories called Little Horrors. Have you read any of Shoo's books?
On Tuesday 23rd June, Year 4 visited the National Glass Centre at Sunderland. We spent an exciting morning creating glass mosaics, looking at the Space-Time exhibition and watching a demonstration of glass blowing.
Some of us were scared standing on the glass roof!
Constellations represented in glass
Designing mosaics in the studio
To mark the end of a week spent learning about China and aspects of Chinese culture, we had a visitor from the Oriental Museum in Durham. She brought with her a collection of Chinese artefacts from the Museum's collection for the children to examine.
Year 4 children looking at traditional clothes with silk embroidery.
Close up of dragon detail.
On 12th June Year 4 performed their class assembly - one of the most looked forward to events in the school year! Through dance, song and drama, they took the audience back in time to World War 2. Mrs Latham would like to congratulate Year 4 for working so well together to make the event such a spectacle.
Teacher with evacuees
What a fabulous night at Felling Pool last night - well done to our swimming team!
You represented Parochial well, swam brilliantly and supported each other enthusiastically!
Our team:
Aaron 'the shark' Carmichael
Ellie 'le poisson rouge' Aitken
Molly 'jolly mopling' Jopling
Rebecca 'the dolphin' Spurr
Nathan 'backstroke king' Johnson
Alexander 'the rocket' Walls
Matthew 'win again' Foster
Mollie 'swimming diva' Tose
Olivia 'cool spaghetti' McGregor
A few bronze medals topped off a great night. Well done everyone!
MrB.
On Tuesday 24th February three members of the Northern Sinfonia visited our school. The Northern Sinfonia is regarded as one of Europe's finest chamber orchestras and is based at the Sage.
Continue reading "Northern Sinfonia musicians visit school" »
Year 4 spent an afternoon at the Laing Art Gallery where we visited the Journeys and Quests exhibition. In groups we studied a painting featuring a journey and then in the workshop we represented the journey as a map using symbols and pictures.
This painting by Ralph Hedley is called Last in Market (1885) and shows a local boy, sitting exhausted on a cart in the Bigg Market after his journey from the countryside to sell food from the market.
Year 6 wrote anti-racism raps as part of a competition organised by the Newcastle United Foundation. Kyle's rap was selected as the winner for our school. Kyle won a pair of tickets to watch the Newcastle United game against Everton on 22nd February 2009. You can read Kyle's fantastic rap here:
Regrettably, due to the unforeseen weather conditions, the disco has been cancelled. It will be rescheduled for a time after the half term holiday.
School will remain open until 3.15pm today. However, you may wish to pick your child up earlier if the snow continues.
Inspired by our visit to the Shipley Art Gallery, we have been designing and constructing model chairs for favourite celebrities and characters. Can you identify who each chair was made for?
The balloon race was a great success with the children thoroughly enjoying releasing their balloons.
So far we have had 7 replies from people who have found one of our balloons from as far away as Cambridge and France.
The closing date for returned balloons is Friday 28th November. The winner will be announced the following week in school.
Thanks to everyone who supported and helped.
A huge THANK YOU for your very kind donations of boxes this year. We collected 185, which will give 185 children a far better Christmas than they were expecting.
The school choir was enthusiastically received last week when we went to Fellside Methodist Church Lunch Club to sing. Our repertoire included a mixture of autumn songs and favourites from musicals. In December the choir will be performing Christmas songs at the School Christmas Fair on 6th December and Whickham Library at 10.30am on 12th December. Parents are welcome to come and listen.
Year 6 enjoyed an exciting visit to the Centre for Life on Thursday 6th November. They had a great time in the Life-Lab learning about micro-organisms with Nicola, where they made green slime! The children also enjoyed the 3D motion ride, The Dome, 'The Really Rotten Show' and, of course, the gift shop!
We had four football league games at Lobley Hill Primary School this week. Our first game was against Fellside and we drew 0-0, our second game was against Lobley Hill which we won 1-0. Robert scored. Our third game was against Dunston Hill and we drew 0-0,our fourth game was against Clover Hill which unfortunately we lost 1-0. Our last game was against Front Street which was a draw 0-0.
Well done to : Nathan J, Matthew F,Michael N,Robert O,Nathan MC,Kyle U and Thomas M (the team).
by Nathan Mc and Matthew F
The year six football team took part in an annual competition. The football team included: Daniel S, Michael N, Ross P, Robert O, Matthew C, Kyle U, Nathan Mc, James T and Thomas M.
There were two leagues , and two teams out of each team would go to a final league. We reached that final league.
Our results were Dunston Hill 0, Whickham Parochial 1. (Thomas M scored the goal.)
Front Street 0, Whickham Parochial 0.
Clover Hill 1, Whickham Parochial 1. (Matthew C the scorer.)
All together we came 2nd with a goal difference of only one!
The winner was Clover Hill who went through to the Durham semi-finals.
Well done lads!
By Matthew C and Daniel S
Photos of Year 6 at the Summer Disco in July...goodbye and good luck!
Due to industrial action by UNISON, school will be closed on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th July 2008. School will re-open on Friday 18th July.
The discos will go ahead as planned on Thursday.
Year Six took part in the Mini Olympic games at Whickham School today. The children dressed in yellow and represented Brazil. There was a very special guest at the school...Dame Kelly Holmes! Some of the children were lucky enough to meet the double gold medallist, and she even joined in with the sport.
Read Dame Kelly's diary entry here:
http://www.doublegold.co.uk/nsscdiary
We had a 'Healthy Eating Day' in school on Tuesday 17th June. Lots of the children dressed up as pieces of healthy food, and there were also a lot of chefs! The classes were in involved in some fantastic activities to help promote a healthy lifestyle.
Year Six have been recording their own radio school news stories. Why don't you have a listen....
Year Six had an extremely active and enjoyable day at Whickham Thorns Centre on Tuesday. They were able to have a go at snow tubing, archery, climbing and a challenging assault course. The children's behaviour was excellent, and the good weather helped them have a fantastic time.
On Tuesday night at Winlaton Parish Church, fourteen of our Year 6 pupils were confirmed by the Bishop of Durham. They presented themselves with great credit on the night. Father Barry invites everyone to attend the 9.30am service on Sunday morning when the confirmed children from Parochial will receive their first Holy Communion.
Prior to the confirmation, Amy was baptised by Father Barry in school on Monday, watched by her parents and the Year Six children.
It's been an egg-citing week in Reception...nine eggs hatched, resulting in some extremely cute chicks! The eggs came from Bill Quay Farm, and the chicks (a rare breed) will be with us until the beginning of next week. They've fascinated the children, and some of them have drawn some great pictures.
Year 6 have worked extremely hard this week during their SATs tests - well done to you all! A special mention must go to Jack M, who persevered despite breaking his arm only two weeks ago, and to Amy, who had to struggle on whilst suffering from a virus. We look forward to the SATs results in July.
Harriet made a 'pinata' to celebrate the end of SATs, and the children thoroughly enjoyed whacking it until all of the sweets fell out!
Harriet and her pinata
Hitting the pinata!
Hurray! We've finished our SATs!
Fab Flourney visited school today and officially opened the new outdoor play area on a beautiful sunny morning. He was happy to answer the children's questions, before proudly cutting the yellow ribbon while the whole school watched.
Some children in Year 6 have created slideshows about their time in France. Regardez...
Children in Reception Class were sad to say good-bye to Mrs Walker but we all enjoyed a party with her before she left. We also sang her some special songs. Mrs Walker is going to come with us when we visit Whitehouse Farm next week.
Some of the children from Years 5 and 6 enjoyed a wonderful trip to France from 6 - 11 April, despite the extremely long journey to travel to the Chateau du Molay (19+hours!)...it was worth it!
Have a look at some photos of the trip in the Photo Gallery (France 2008 Album).
Excitement is building...
The following need to be sent into school for each child going to France no later than Wednesday 2 April :
* Code of Conduct
* Pupil Information Form
* E111
* Passport
Take a look at our accommodation, the Chateau du Molay: http://www.chateaudumolay.com
Whickham Parochial Musicians Concert - Thursday 3 April
Tickets are still available priced at £2.00 per adult and children free of charge if accompanied by an adult.
Dinner Money
Please note that dinner money is now £1.75 per day / £8.75 per week. Please ensure that the correct amount of money is sent into school on a Monday morning - cash is preferable.
Big Yellow Friday (14th March)
£224 was raised for the Children's Liver Disease Foundation. Many thanks for supporting this very worthwhile cause.
Summer Uniform
All children should return to school after the two week break (Monday 7 April until Friday 18 April) in summer uniform - polo shirts /summer dresses. Regarding the summer dresses, there is a delay in delivery and as a result the dresses will not arrive until week commencing Monday 7 April - apologies for the delay!
Year 6 spent an enjoyable morning at Shipley Art Gallery on Thursday 6th March. They looked at an exhibition called 'Blueprint' which featured photographic portraits of artists and designers.
Adam Bushnell's visit was very exciting,especially when he told us some stories.The best story was The Furry Burger. It was great when Adam brought in some costumes and told a story with some of my class about The Sockburn Worm. When Adam was telling the stories he told them with lots of enthusiasm. He also showed our class two ways to plan a story: 'The Big Fat Sweaty Handprint' and 'The Story Board'.
Rachel C Year 6
Adam Bushnell was very enthusiastic when he was telling his stories. He was also extremely funny. Adam's stories were interesting and slightly out of this world. My favourite story was the ghost story. The best part was when some of my class dressed up as characters from Beowolf and acted out the play. Adam also told us how to use many planning methods such as the story board and 'The Big Fat Sweaty Hand Method'.
Claudia Y6
Along with the other classes in Key Stage 2, the children in Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed working with storyteller, Adam Bushnell, on Monday and Tuesday. He was extremely entertaining and gave the class some fabulous ideas for planning and writing exciting stories.
Adam's special chair for storytelling
On the morning of Tuesday 29th January, Years 4, 5 and 6 had the privilege of meeting and talking to Rupert Soames, one of Winston Churchill's grandsons. Winston Churchill was one of the twentieth century's most famous and celebrated British Prime Ministers! Mrs Wales, mum of Lauren in Year 4 and employee of Rupert Soames, kindly organised the visit when she heard that Year 4 were learning about World War 2. We learnt many fascinating things about Winston Churchill including his fondness for cats - every cat he ever had he called it 'Mr Cat'!
The following photographs were taken on Monday 21st January...the children had a fun time playing in the snow!
Well done to all the Y6 (andY5) actors, after a great Christmas performance at St Mary's Church, Whickham!
As you will probably be aware we had our OFSTED inspection on Friday 7th Decenber. I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for their support and words of encouragement. Unfortunately we are unable to share with you the outcomes of the inspection until we have official confirmation of the findings, this may take up to two weeks.
Year 5 had an awesome time at the Gateshead CLC on Friday 7th December.
Our tutor for the morning was very impressed with how we grasped the basic use of Computer Aided Design. By the end of the morning everyone had designed a 3D image of a water bottle, with some inventive results!
We hope to have a follow-up session later in the year....I wonder what we'll be designing then?
We would like to thank everyone for making our Christmas Fair such a HUGE success. With your help we raised a record breaking £2600!
Thank you to everyone who supported the fair by donating prizes, buying raffle tickets and attending on the day. Our next event is our Newcastle Eagles fundraising night at the Metro Radio Arena on Friday 8th February 2008. Tickets are £6 and available to purchase now.
Y5 had a very enjoyable and informative morning at the CLC last week. The 3D 'Magic Planet' was a superb way of learning about the planets in our solar system. We had SO many questions about Space!
We collected the fantastic total of 227 shoe boxes full of goodies for the Operation Chritsmas Child appeal. The school also raised £327 for the appeal, in addition to online donations. Well done and thank you!
Look at the amount of money we managed to raise for the NSPCC...one thousand five hundred and forty two pounds and twenty pence. A big thank you and well done to everyone for their efforts!
Classes have been learning about different countries around the world this week:
Reception: England
Year 1: India
Year 2: Italy
Year 3: France
Year 4: Japan
Year 5: Brazil
Year 6: Germany
