Western Community Primary School

What a wonderful and busy term it's been at Western! As we break up for the holidays I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas on behalf of all of the staff and governors. We'd also like to say a huge thank you for all of your support across the year. I feel very proud to be headteacher of such a special school and community.

Your children are incredible. They have worked so hard across the term and have truly shone in their Christmas performances and events. We are proud of the contribution they have made to the wider community and the way our Western ripple of kindness has brought joy and comfort to so many people. We hope you enjoy reading all about our busy term in our newsletter.

We hope you have the opportunity to rest and recharge over the break, and spend time with those you love. I wish you good health and happiness for 2023 and very much look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Tuesday 10th January.

December has been full of all sorts of fun festivities. We have loved singing and dancing in preparation for our Cosy Christmas performance. Our classroom has been super busy over the past few weeks. We were visited by some local police officers who are going to be working hard to keep us safe over Christmas. We decided to show them that kindness costs nothing by making them some decorations and cupcakes for the police station. We were very excited to see the first snowfall of the year! During outdoor learning we had fun making snow angels and mark making in the snow whilst indoors we investigated snow and even explored changing the colour. We have enjoyed some lovely Christmas stories and spent some time decorating our classroom with the decorations we made. As always we have been keeping our bodies busy with lots of outdoor fun as well as Write Dance and dough disco which we love!

Reception have been incredibly busy preparing for Christmas. We have rehearsed and recorded our Christmas performance and were absolute stars during the show. Preparing our gifts of kindness for Steve the fireman filled our days too with crafting, baking, foliage collecting and arranging. We were all really keen to help Steve in whatever ways we could and were incredibly excited when he came in to receive his gifts - giving is as fun as receiving!

We are also busy preparing cards and calendars for our families but we are trying to keep these a surprise! The children are practising a variety of skills - including developing scissor control; choosing and mixing colours appropriately and exploring ways of attaching different materials together - whilst completing a variety of Christmas crafts.

We continue to have our weekly fire pits and this is a really good opportunity to experience the effects of the weather. Our children are becoming experts at finding sticks that will burn well because they are dried out inside - even if they are wet on the outside! We are also good at working out which way the wind is blowing using the smoke.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas.

We have been having an amazing time in Year One learning about toys from the past. In our literacy, our writing has been focused on creating a non-fiction report on toys from the past. We have created a timeline of toys from the 1950's to the 2000's.

We have focused on toys of the 1960's and some of our families have very kindly shared some photographs and examples of toys from their childhood.

We have discussed the similarities and differences between the toys we play with now and those from the past and had great fun playing with them!

We have also loved taking part in our KS1 Christmas Nativity for our families!

Kindness Costs Nothing

In Year 2, we have been demonstrating that kindness costs nothing through acts of gratitude. As a year group, we have made Christmas decorations for a local animal shelter, who have displayed these in their Benton office. We wanted to show our appreciation for them looking after all the animals, especially at Christmas, who are waiting to find their forever homes.

Odd Socks Day

On November 14th, we celebrated Odd Socks Day in school. It was part of Anti-Bullying Week and we learned all about celebrating what makes us unique and special, as well as how we can express our individuality. We came to school wearing odd socks, and we boogied to the official Odd Socks Day song (‘Calling Out’ by Andy and the Odd Socks) whilst discovering that the best thing to do is call out with kindness!

Non-fiction postcards

In Literacy, we have begun exploring non-fiction texts. We are learning about postcards and how to write them, before independently writing our own. Our story is about a meerkat who wants the perfect Christmas, and on his travels to find it he writes postcards to his family back home in the Kalahari desert. It has been great fun role-playing as Sammy the meerkat, as well as having a go at writing our very own postcards to our friends in class.

Children in Need

We had a great day participating in Children in Need. The children enjoyed lots of Pudsey related activities throughout the day. We also looked at why it was such an important day and who we were raising money for. The cakes went down a treat and were definitely the highlight of the day!

Gymnastics

We have been working on our gymnastics skills this half term. Our teachers have been so impressed with the progress we have made with our flexibility and balance. We know that to be good gymnasts we need to try again and again to perfect our skills. Just look at how professional we are becoming!

Science

Our science topic this half term is all about Animals, including humans. We have worked hard to learn the scientific names for many of the bones in our body. We practise these regularly in class to help us to remember. If you would like to the learn the names, just ask us and we will be happy to teach you too!

During this half term, Year 4 have been exceptionally busy doing lots of lovely activities in school. The children have been thoroughly enjoying their gymnastics sessions in PE with Sophie, who is one of our coaches, and the children have shown impressive resilience and focus during lessons throughout the term.

In Science, we have been learning about the digestive system and have enjoyed conducting some creative experiments to demonstrate how the human digestive system works (we are sure you have heard all about it!). The children worked hard to learn the names and functions of the parts of the digestive system and have shown real enthusiasm when working in groups.

Year 4 also made and decorated some lovely decorations which have been gifted to the North East Ambulance Service to say thank you for all the hard work that people working in emergency service roles do for us all year round. As we all know that Christmas is a busy time for the emergency services, we wanted to give something back to show our appreciation for all that the North East Ambulance Service do as we know that kindness costs nothing - and the children really enjoyed creating their festive designs!

Finally, Year 4 are working very hard on our Christmas performance pieces! We are so excited for you to see us in our annual Christmas end-of-term performance and can't wait to share our songs with you all - we hope you enjoy watching us as much as we have enjoyed rehearsing for you! Merry Christmas and a happy new year from Year 4.

Year 5 have been busy swimming for the last month. Every morning they have been going to Hadrian Leisure Centre and have worked so hard. You should be very proud of their achievements and they are really looking forward to going back in March. In other news, we created decorations and artwork for the RNLI. The children designed tree decorations and then created them on pieces of wood. As well as this, they made miniature Christmas trees from pipe cleaners and tea lights. The children were thrilled to see the thank you video from the RNLI this week.

Year 6 have been working hard on our 'Kindness costs nothing' project this Christmas time. As part of this, we have visited Hadrian House and performed some sell out shows for the residents and staff there. They were so impressed with our singing that they asked for an additional performance! We have also been making cards and writing letters to the residents and staff to let them know that we were thinking of them this Christmas time.

In Science, we have been learning all about the circulatory system and we applied our understanding to create a short drama sequence to show the circulatory process in action. The children worked as a team and used some precise scientific vocabulary to explain their ideas to the rest of the class.

We've also enjoyed some extra special activities this month. 6AT had a visit from the Royal Navy and learned all about the different careers available before carrying out some scientific investigations and creating a working rocket. 6ST attended an athletics festival at Burnside and thoroughly enjoyed getting involved in all of the activities and meeting some of the older Burnside students.

We wish everyone a merry and peaceful Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone in the new year.

Wellbeing ambassadors update:

During national anti-bullying week (14/11/22-18/11/22) our wellbeing ambassadors were asked to take part in a drama workshop with BIGFOOT. The ambassadors came up with some brilliant ideas to help spread the message of anti-bullying. We cannot wait to see the finished product - a music video! Watch this space to find out more.

CAMHS - FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS FOR PARENTS/CARERS

Did you know that at North Tyneside CAMHS, there are a number of workshops on a range of mental health topics? These are primarily aimed at parents, carers, or any adults working with a young person with these difficulties. As we know, for young people with mental health difficulties, it makes a really significant impact when those around them have a better understanding of their experience. For a lot of children, this is one of the most helpful interventions they can get. For further information, please visit the North Tyneside CAMHS website at:

https://www.northumbria.nhs.uk/our-services/childrens-services/childrens-mental-health-services/camhs#bf118261

National GRIEF AWARENESS WEEK

National Grief Awareness Week takes place between 2nd-8th December 2022. The theme for this year is 'To open conversations and normalise grief'. Whether it's in school, at home, in the community or online, you can reach out, have conversations and support one another.

For further information about how you can access support for you or a loved one please see:

https://www.thegoodgrieftrust.org/

https://thenbs.org/

Cruse Bereavement Care – North East

www.cruse.org.uk/get-support/

Orchard/Mosaic project

www.barnardos.org.uk/orchard_mosaic/mosaic_what_we_do.htm

Household support Fund - North Tyneside and Newcastle

Get help with the cost of living from your local council

You may be able to get help with essential costs from your local council. This is sometimes known as ‘the Household Support Fund’. This could help if you’re struggling to afford things like:

Energy and water bills

Food

Essential items

Your council may also offer food vouchers to families during the school holidays.

Who the Household Support Fund is for:

Funding is aimed at anyone who’s vulnerable or cannot pay for essentials. You do not have to be getting benefits to get help from your local council.

If you get benefits, they will not be affected if you get a payment from a Household Support Fund scheme.

Please see the following links for further information about the UK government Household Support Funding directive

Newcastle City Council residents - https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/services/public-health-wellbeing-and-leisure/public-health-services/coronavirus-covid-19/support-7

North Tyneside Council residents - https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/1655/support-all-residents-including-low-income-households

ONLINE SAFETY UPDATE

There are a number of guides and resources to help parents/carers keep their children safe online. Please see the following websites for further information:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/professionals/resources/4-7s-website/

https://www.internetmatters.org/issues/inappropriate-content/deal-with-it/

POP UP PANTRY

Did you know that there is a Pop up Pantry right here in the heart of Wallsend?

The Pop Up Pantry is a full mobile food shop that operates in a number of communities across the city. They provide the local community with access to a broad range of high quality food and household goods at low cost.

Their goal is far more than reducing a members household budget, they want to; create places of community, support, advocacy when needed, advice and more. The pop up pantry wants to play a part in helping people discover and unleash their extraordinary potential through helping them out of poverty and isolation and into healthy and sustainable life patterns.

The Pop-up pantry project in Wallsend is an initiative of Life Vineyard Church operating under the Tyneside Vineyard Church (CIO). Charity Registration No. 1159859(Registered address - The Allen, The Green, Wallsend NE28 7NP).

Check out their website at https://www.popup-pantry.uk/ or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PopUpPantryUK/

EASE INTO NORTH TYNESIDE - free programme of activities for children eligible for income based free school meals

Children across North Tyneside are invited to take advantage of a free programme of activities, created to help them be healthy and active while off school.

‘ease INTO’ is a programme that’s been created as part of the Holiday Activities and Food programme backed by the Department for Education.

More than 7,000 children who are eligible for income based free school meals can access the wide range of activities, all of which include a meal.

There are different programmes for the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays with activities such as trampolining, swimming, cooking classes and sport.

Please follow this website link for up to date information on the activities being offered during the Christmas Holiday break 2022/2023

https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/1544/south-west

It’s the perfect opportunity for children to try new activities and find new hobbies and interests, as well as explore new flavours and foods with healthy meals and snacks; so parents can buy with confidence in future knowing the smaller members of the family are on board!

'ease INTO' supports families during the school holidays when keeping children and young people entertained, getting them moving, and planning three meals a day can bring added pressure, financially and otherwise.

The activities will engage, entertain, and enrich young people’s lives during their time off school, encouraging them to develop a lasting interest in new sports and activities, and supporting a nutritionally balanced diet.

If you have any queries or questions on ‘ease INTO’, email easeinto@northtyneside.gov.uk

and don't forget to visit the North Tyneside council website for further information : https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/1544/south-west

This term we had the opportunity to take part in the Climate Action event alongside the Institute of Civil Engineers in Newcastle. As part of our work on ‘energy’, the children designed an invention that would help with energy saving in our homes and schools and presented this idea to a room full of industry experts. The children prepared their idea with the ‘Eco Plug’ which is designed to use half the amount of electricity to operate different electrical devices and uses renewable energy sources to power the plug. The experts were really impressed with our idea and how we could use this to help the environment and the current cost of living prices. Special thanks to Oscar, Phoebe, Jude, Drew, Jack M and George who presented their brilliant idea and represented Western at the event.