Over the last couple of weeks we have been very busy in school and we thought it would be lovely to share some of the activities and events that the children and families have enjoyed!

Sports Day and Summer Fair

Although it was a wet day, that didn’t stop us having fun on sports day on Tuesday 9^th July. This year we organised a carousel or fun activities relating to our topic ‘Me, Our World and Beyond’. We had a rocket launch (foam javelin), One Giant Leap (long jump), Tim Peake Challenge (Obstacles with space costumes!) and Asteroid Attack (target).

We plan to hold the races on the field next week, then we can add up the scores and find out how our teams got on. Will the champions be Team Saturn, Neptune, Mercury or Venus?

Following the sports activities, we enjoyed some brilliant summer fair stalls including Play Your Cards Right’, lolly sticks, Guess the sweets in the jar, odds and evens boats, Treasure Map. There were also some yummy treats to buy!

Athletics Festival

Last Wednesday Year 5 and 6 went to Staindrop Academy to take part in an Athletics Afternoon with other local schools. We had the opportunity to try shot-put, javelin, discus, long jump and 800m and then participated in 100m, 200m, 400m and relay races with the other schools. We were the smallest school there but we were definitely the most determined! Mrs O’Brien said that she had never felt as proud of Woodland for their teamwork, sportsmanship and sheer determination to compete.

Brass Festival at Butterknowle

We all enjoyed a sunny afternoon at Butterknowle Primary listening to Brass Reel a Scottish Bass Band.  We loved dancing to the Ceilidh music and learning some dances together.

Campfire Family Night

Last Friday we had a great night of activities and games organised by Rob and Abi from the Kingsway Centre, the children started fires with a flint and toasted marshmallows and made bread on a campfire.  We had a lovely supper of pizza and hot dogs and then enjoyed some fun team games, it got very competitive and that was just the adults!

Summer Disco

The children had a great time at the disco on Tuesday night, it was a lovely way to celebrate the end of a fantastic school year and say goodbye to our Year 6’s.

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17 of our pupils from years 4, 5 and 6 enjoyed 3 action packed days on residential at East Barnby outdoor centre near Whitby.

Our first activity had everyone puzzling how to complete the task until we realised that team work was the way forward – and that was just making the beds!

The second challenge was equally difficult- putting on wetsuits but having succeeded we were set up for the short drive to Sands End and body boarding.

It was like being in a washing machine spin cycle as the waves took us gracefully (?) to the shore.

That evening we joined our friends from Frosterley toasting marshmallows and singing songs around the campfire.

With some sleep we were up promptly on Thursday for a big cooked breakfast to give us plenty of energy for our canoeing trip. Again lots of teamwork was needed to in load the canoes and raft them together to make them more stable. Everyone soon got the hang of making the boats go where we wanted. The only wobbly moment was when the teachers’ boat almost went in negotiating the weir that separated the tidal part of the river. Sandwiches were enjoyed on ‘duck island ‘ before paddling downstream under a bridge whilst the steam train chugged above, then under a massive Victorian viaduct until we arrived in Whitby harbour.

An amazing trip.

We had our session sledging on the ski slope that evening. Water sprinklers and washing up liquid meant speed was not a problem.

Our last morning saw us back on the beach. The steep path down to Saltwick Bay was rewarded by great rock pooling and fossil hunting. Lots of crabs and a fossilised dinosaur footprint were amongst the highlights.

We had all the ingredients for a great residential- superb weather, amazing activities and fantastic children.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

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We went to Woodland church on the 4th of July. We went there to find a pew, a font, a Bible, a Bishop’s chair, a cross, candles and an altar. We found all of them! Then Joan the Church warden showed us the collection plate and she rang the bell.  Later we drew a picture of the whole church.

By Fred

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As part of the Young Citizens Make a Difference Challenge-Go Givers, Year 5 & 6 have been thinking about what issue means the most to them. They decided that Rural Isolation was the cause that they want to raise awareness about and they attended and event on Wednesday at Durham and did a fantastic presentation.  Well done everyone!

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On Wednesday 12th June we went on a whole school trip to Newcastle.

After an eventful journey Squirrel class arrived at the Discovery Museum. Jenny showed us around and explained about how transport had changed over time. Then we went to the secret classroom to make air powered moving vehicles. After lunch we explored the science maze and visited the shop.

Owl class went to The Centre for Life in Newcastle on the same day. We enjoyed a day of Space related activities including a simulator, a space science show and a workshop about going into space. In the workshop we looked at how astronauts operate in space and how difficult it is work in a spacesuit.

We got the chance to operate robotic arms to move objects, wear astronaut’s gloves and even find out how absorbent an astronaut’s maximum absorbency garment is!…..(that’s a nappy to you and me)

The day was complete following a play on lots or arcade video games and a visit to the gift shop.

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On Tuesday we welcomed some very special people into school for dinner!  Dads and Grandads were invited to join the children for a special lunch to celebrate Father’s Day.   The choice for main course included mince & dumplings and jacket potatoes and for dessert there was chocolate sponge & custard & fruit

Everyone really enjoyed their delicious lunch and we would like to say a ‘Huge Thank You’ to our cook Karen for making this such a fantastic event.

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This week, we travelled to Butterknowle School to take part in a Science Workshop ran by The Centre of Life in Newcastle. We took part in lots of activities about ‘forces’. In the morning we performed circus skills including juggling, plate spinning and balance boards to find out the forces at work. We then went on to do a Gear Workshop, looking at gears of different sizes and how they work.

After lunch Yesme and Hayley from the Life Centre showed us how to use pulleys and we experimented by lifting weights with different pulleys to see what effect they had. Next was the Lever Workshop where we experimented with lifting different loads with levers. By changing the pivot point on the seesaw, Rose was able to lift Mrs O’Brien!

For the grand finale we got into groups of 3 to invent a machine to knock a domino over. This in turn knocked another domino over, which activated the next groups’ machine and so on! The final part of the giant machine triggered ‘Patricia the Custard Pie Thrower’ that splatted Yesme in the face!

Leon said, “It was such good fun! I loved doing all the experiments especially making the pie machine. We had to test our machines over and over to make sure they worked.”

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Congratulations to our wonderful Woodland sports teams who have proudly represented our school this week.

Firstly the Year 5 and 6’s got on their marks and raced off to cross country glory at Staindrop on Tuesday. Ewan led the Woodland runners round a long course in the warm weather with big smiles all the way.

Then on Wednesday afternoon the Year 3 and 4’s played a ‘kwik-cricket’ tournament in the amazing setting of Raby Castle. We split into 2 teams and both played with skill and determination. We are now the proud owners of a lovely silver cup.

Well done everyone!

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Well done to our Year 6 children for a fantastic, positive attitude to their SATs, you have all worked so hard.

Dr Peter Edwards Director of Science Outreach and Science and Society officer and cosmologist from Durham University came to visit Woodland Primary. Using a rich resource of amazing images he held a question and answer session  with both classes. The children had thought of some interesting questions to ask and Dr Edwards gave great answers and clear explanations in terms that the children could understand easily. It set the scene for the space night that followed.

In the evening representatives from the Bishop Auckland Astronomical Society visited school as part of our Space night. Key stage 2 children and parents were invited back to school at 8.30pm and the turnout was great. The society gave a talk on the Solar System, showed relative distances between the planets using toilet roll and created moon craters using flour and cocoa. The children also drew constellations, made star wheels and an orrery. Unfortunately by the time it was dark enough to go outside and use the telescopes to see the stars the sky clouded over and it began to rain, so we could not see anything. We hope to try again in the Autumn term.

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