Hill End Residential

Hello Willow class. To find out more about the schedule and what to take to Hill End, read the 'What it's like to visit Hill End' information document below.

Willow Class Art

This term, Willow class have been exploring self-portraits in art. Having begun with a more traditional style sketching in pencil we eventually branched out into the more abstract style of Picasso using pastels. We hope you'll agree that the final products were strikingly bold and spectacular!

World Book Day - Drama Workshop

World book day saw Willow class take part in a drama workshop based on the Roald Dahl book Matilda. Children explored how the different characters of the book might move and talk, and the sorts of things they might say in different situations. The had the opportunity to create freeze frames of iconic moments from the story and act out some of their favourite scenes. Thankfully, nobody ended up in the chokey!

Milestone Moment

Willow class recently visited St Peter's church to explore the question of whether Jesus' crucifixion could be viewed as the ultimate act of friendship. The visit tied together lots of questions we had explored in RE and topic this term as we explored the concept of sacrifice in the Mayans topic, this related to our global citizenship link which was human sacrifice and also our RE topic which was about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The children were able to ask Reverend Fraser about Christian beliefs about resurrection and the after-life and how these beliefs inform the Christian funeral service. Throughout our unit of work we had compared these beliefs with those of other faiths and none, including Budhism and Sikhism and beliefs around reincarnation. It was wonderful to be able to explore St Peter's again and we are all very grateful to Reverend Fraser for his time, effort and honesty in helping with the session.

Rockin' Out

Willow class have had a fantastic time learning to sing and play Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer in our music lessons. The children learned the structure of the song, how it compared with other classic rocks songs from the same era, as well as how to play along with untuned and tuned percussion. The children in the class who already played instruments practised parts at home and we added those into the mix too. It was a thoroughly enjoyable unit of work for the whole group.

EPA Hockey Tournament

Well done to members of Willow class for their efforts at the EPA hockey tournament at St Bartholomew's this week. The children took part in a training session and then played a match against Hanborough Manor C of E School. St Peter's 2 - 0 down at half time but showed tremendous resilience to make an improved showing in the second half, eventually losing out 3 -1. They demonstrated the school values admirably by continuing to apply themselves until the end and graciously congratulating their opponents on their victory after the game.

Dear children, parents and carers, please see below this term's (Spring 1) KCVs for RE and humanities. Our topics for these subjects are 'Does the community of the mosque help Muslims lead better lives?' and 'Land-use, trade and economics'.

IMPS visit

On Wednesday, Willow class received a visit from the IMPS team from the John Radcliffe hospital. IMPS stands for Injury Minimisation Programme for Schools and the purpose of the visits is to help children to avoid being the victims of accidents which may necessitate a visit to accident and emergency. The children learned about how to look after themselves and others in a range of scenarios which covered events such as learning how to administer CPR, how to put someone in the recovery position, how to cross the road safely, how to minimise the number of accidents in the home by ensuring they use electrical equipment safely and appropriately and how to negotiate road traffic situations. It was an enjoyable and informative start to the spring term and one which should stand the children in good stead, both now and in the future.  

Soraya said, “I thought it was very fun and interesting to learn how to do CPR for when a person is breathing and when they’re not breathing. I think people should learn to do it because it helps people to stay safe in case something happens.” 

Beau reflected, “I acted like I was unconscious to show people how to get into the safety position when a person is unconscious. It felt like a comfortable position to stay in.” 

Milestone Moment - generosity

Pupils from Willow took part in their first milestone moment for this academic year when they hosted a games afternoon for the children in Maple and Oak classes. Having recently learned to play Hnefatafl (a Viking strategy game) during their Viking workshop, the members of Willow class set about making their own boards and pieces to be able to teach the younger children how to play the game. They created sets of rules and explained them, guiding the children through the games and sharing their new-found skills with the school community. There was a really pleasing variety of carefully crafted games to play with and good time was had by all. Well done Willow.

Viking Workshop with Hrothgar 

Friday saw Willow class encounter Hrothgar the Viking, and what an introduction it was! Bursting in through the door, blowing his Viking horn and summoning the children to become part of his Viking hoard. The children responded whole-heartedly and the tone was set for the day. Hrothgar was impressed by the children's knowledge, behaviour and enthusiasm so a huge congratulations to all involved. Our pupils had an opportunity to try on Viking armour, see how the Vikings mourned their lost, act out Viking stories, play Viking board games and observe how the Vikings prepared meals. Hopefully the pictures below will give you a flavour of our day.

Welcome back!

Hello Willow class, we hope you had an enjoyable half-term holiday and that you feel energised and enthusiastic for your return to school. This half-term we will be continuing with our Vikings topic. See the KCV below. In RE we will be asking the question of whether 'Is God made man?' a good way to understand the Christmas story. The RE KCV can also be found below.