Share a Million Stories – World book Day is all about celebrating books and sharing stories. Books are incredible things that allow us to escape from reality for a while and visit a made-up fantasy land.

Join our reading revolution! This year, most schools nationally are participating in a project called Share a Million Stories. On World book day, you are  invited to share a million stories and spread the love of books and reading for pleasure. The aim is to read regularly for 10 minutes at a time. Each week the PAL readers (Peer assisted learning readers) will collect the minutes you have read and add it to the school total and then add it to  the national  total. Happy reading!

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On Tuesday 28th of January 2020 Owl Class visited Palace Green Library to learn more about Norman Cornish. We first looked at Norman Cornish sketches and his finished pieces. We compared the sketches to his finished pieces of art and saw how he built up his pieces and how he labelled his sketches to help him. After that we went into an amazing exhibition where we copied some of Normans art work.
After lunch we went upstairs to the Wolfson gallery where we found out about Durham history from the stone age to the Victorian time, we saw a dodo skull and an elephant skull. We talked about the jobs in Palace Green Library and how the library would help us if we were a student at the Durham University. Back in the learning room we did a quiz on Palace Green.
This was a fantastic trip we all enjoyed it and we all would all like to go again.

We’ve had a very busy first half term of 2020 with lots of interesting visitor, visits and activities, it was all topped of this week with snow at Woodland, which the children all really enjoyed!

Today our cook Karen made all the children and staff a lovely Valentines bun which were delicious, thank you Karen xxx

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The Apple Tree- Orchestral Performance

In partnership with the Durham Music Service and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), the Squirrels watched and participated in ‘The Apple Tree’, featuring soprano Kirsty Hopkins. With lots of opportunities for singing, signing and joining in, it was a lively and interactive event, designed to be accessible to all.

The 45-minute-long performance was broadcast live from Ushaw College and was a fabulous opportunity to introduce the children to the world of orchestral music.

The Children learnt about the changing seasons through a mixture of Baroque and folk music, and met the magnificent instruments of the orchestra. This concert was designed for young children and has received rave reviews. We watched it online along with hundreds of other children, teachers and families across the country.

The broadcast was delivered via YouTube and is available to watch again by all for 6 months, you will find this by searching on YouTube. The performance was a co-production by Orchestras Live, NYMAZ and Durham and Darlington Music Education Hub.

Make a Difference (Rural Isolation Project) – Stay and Play

On Monday 3^rd February we held our second Stay and Play for local families and their little ones. This term’s theme was ‘All Things Messy’ providing opportunities for the children to experience sensory play to the fullest!

The Year 6 Play Leaders helped to plan a fun packed afternoon and set up a range of activities including a Slime table, sand tray with letter moulds, Aqua gel beads with water wheels and gel numbers, biscuit decorating, and the popular paint tray and giant paper roll! During planning, the Play leaders were introduced to the Early Years Curriculum and tried to choose activities that would help the children to learn and play.

We had a great turn out of toddlers and families who thoroughly enjoyed getting very messy! Children enjoyed getting fully involved and it wasn’t long before there were hands, feet and at one point, whole bodies in the paint tray!

Once the paint had been washed away, the afternoon was rounded off with refreshments and snacks for some very tired and happy preschoolers.

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In Squirrels we have been learning how to use the tie-dye technique to make colourful patterns on fabric.  We used blues, whites and purples to represent the cold of winter after learning a song about Jack Frost in music.  Next, we will embellish our work with sequins and glitter to represent the frost crystals that Jack Frost paints across the winter landscape.

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Happy New Year!

We hope that everyone had a happy and enjoyable Christmas and New Year, we all certainly did.  The children have settled back into school well  this week and are looking forward to starting their new topics.  Keep a check on the School Blog during 2020, it lets you see what fun and exciting activities and events happen everyday at Woodland Primary School!

What a busy couple of week it’s been at Woodland!

Last Tuesday we performed our Christmas play –  Strictly the Nativity – Lights, Camel, Action 2! The Sequin. The children were amazing and the dancing and singing was wonderful!  They all really enjoyed performing and appreciated all the kind comments from parents and families.

The Christmas Fair was a great success and FOWS have raised a grand total of £537  which is fantastic and will be used to benefit all the children.

Last Wednesday we all had a delicious Christmas Lunch made by our school fantastic cook Karen Yum, Yum! It was a lovely meal and we all had great fun eating and listening to Christmas songs together.

On Thursday Squirrel Class enjoyed a ‘Christmas Stay & Play’ afternoon and Mr Petty our new teacher came along to meet the children and parents.

Over the last few weeks Karen our school cook has been making Gingerbread people with the children and they finished by decorating them on Tuesday, they look amazing.  We would like to say a ‘Huge Thank you’ to Karen for volunteering to  do this in her own time with the children.

On Monday afternoon Owl Class went along to Woodland Village Hall to perform some songs and play their flutes for the luncheon club.

On Tuesday we all went to The Georgian Theatre in Richmond to see the pantomime Aladdin. It was great fun and our children really got involved and some played starring roles! It was a great afternoon with lots of laughs and excitement.

Thursday was party day and we had lots of exciting games. The children played in teams and it was lovely to see how well they all help each other to share the fun. Santa made a surprise visit with presents for all the children and then we enjoyed a party feast!

Friday was ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ and we all enjoyed our last day in school before Christmas and finished the afternoon off watching a Christmas film!

We have had a fabulous term and wish you all a happy and relaxing Christmas break.

See you all next year!

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It was lovely to see so may people in school for our ‘Special Person Christmas Lunch’ and our Christingle Service on Tuesday.  We all enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch with our invited special guests  prepared by our fantastic school cook Karen.

During the morning the children really enjoyed making the Christingles and learning about the meaning and the work of The Children’s Society.  A special thank you to Rev Brian and Lloyd for conducting the service in the afternoon.  We will send the money donated in the Christingle Candles and from the refreshment donations to The Children’s Society.  Thank you.

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