Concerts

Christmas Concert: The Toymaker

The children in Year 3 and Year 4 got into the Christmas mood with a terrific Christmas production called The Toymaker. Three performances were given, one on 7th December and two on 8th December 1998. All performances were very well attended.

The choir presented three Christmas songs as an introduction and then Y3 and 4 presented The Toymaker, a musical play that tells the story of some greedy children who did not care for their own toys. Santa Claus’ elves didn’t think they should have any new toys for Christmas until they could care for the ones they already had and began to think about others as well as themselves. Some of the actors were dressed up as elves and told the selfish children to give their toys to those less fortunate. Fortunately

The audiences were very appreciative and many said that they thought this was one of the best school productions they had seen.

Year5 and 6 concert brings back memories

Last week saw three performances of their concert entitled 20 Century Street. It was a musical look at the changes that have taken place in Britain this century as seen by one house - the 20, Century Street of the title!

There were four plays recalling the problems of unemployment in the 1930s, the blitz, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the first man on the moon. All the year 5 and 6 children sang songs from across the century and there was also information about how home life has changed since the early part of the century and some news headlines from 1918 to the 1990s. This fitted in with the history work that we have been doing this year in class. The choir presented some songs from musicals that were popular at different periods too.

The audiences enjoyed the concert very much and many of the parents and friends said it really brought back memories from their own childhoods.

Football Team, Rounders Team, cricket and volleyball

The Rounders and Football Team

The Rounders team trainned during the summer term. Our coaches, Mr. Jennings and Mrs. Gartside, have been helping us with our batting, bowling, catching, fielding and learning the rules. We entered three rounders rallies but unfortunately one had to be cancelled due to bad weather. At the first rally, in Bestwood, we played four matches. We won three out of four matches only losing the last one by a single rounder. On the 8th July the rounders team went to play at Jessie Boot Primary School. We played two matches against teams from Radcliffe-on-Trent and two matches against teams from Jessie Boot. We had aggregate wins against both schools. We hope to keep playing well and winning. All together twenty different children represented our school in matches this summer. Mr. Jennings and Mrs. Gartside said they were delighted at the standard of play and the sportsmanship shown.

For the football team, it all began last September when there were trials on the field. The players this season were Jamie, Luke, Tim, Philip, Curtis, Jake, Gareth, Richard, Elliot and Kyle. Mr Stephenson was our manager. We were not very successful in terms of results because we lost most of our games but we enjoyed playing the matches. We hope that the school football team will do better in the near future.

Cricket and Volleyball: Sporting treats for Year 6

In the early spring, on three Fridays, two cricketers from the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Team came to school to teach skills to Year 6 pupils. They taught bowling, batting and catching. The session that was most helpful was the bowling because they showed us a technique that really helped lots of us to bowl straight. During the last session we had individual tests. Everyone had to show they could catch, bowl straight and bat correctly to earn a certificate. (It was an easy test and everyone in Year 6 passed!)

One day in May, Mr. Jennings’ class and Mrs. Harrison’s class went to Arnold and Carlton College on Digby Avenue for a special session led by two volleyball coaches. First we practised to keeping on passing the ball over the net and bouncing it on our fingertips. Some of us had to stand up and show everyone how to do it. Many of the children thought they would like to try volleyball again and one of the coaches mentioned the possibility of starting a volleyball team in the area.

Kingswood

Kingswood is an activity centre where children stay for a weekend or even a whole week. Many of our Year 6 children went to the Kingswood Centre in Norfolk for a weekend last October. The activities we did included aeroball (a ball game played on a special trampoline), archery, swimming, I.T. (in which we controlled a lego car and made a booklet about ourselves), climbing on an indoor rock wall, problem solving and riding quad bikes.

Our accommodation was good with children sleeping in rooms with between two and six others. (The rooms had names which were all different American place names such as Manhatten, New Mexico and Washington.) The beds were quite comfortable and everyone had a box to put their belongings in. One of the worst things was that you had to make your own bed. The food was also good although the first night's meal was a bit cold.

The instructors on the activities were great and helped everyone to enjoy themselves. The weather was quite wet because it rained for a lot of the time we were there but it didn't spoil our fun. Everyone who went would like to go again

Charities and Westdale

Children in Need

Westdale Junior School held their annual Children in Need appeal on the 20th November by covering two Pudsy Bears in coins and buying recipe sheets from Mrs. Cookson for 10p each. Well over 200 children donated coins and more than 12,000 coins were donated, giving £180 in total. The event happened in the spare classroom overlooking the Infants’ playground.

Red Nose Day 97

We also had a fund raising event for Red Nose Day ‘99 on Friday 12th March. Children were invited to wear something red and pay make a donation to Red Nose Day for this privilege. Almost everyone took part - including the teachers - and a few children even went as far as dying their hair red. The final total we sent from school this year was £175.

Gift for St. Andrew's House

As part of our R.E. work on festivals, Year 3 collected and sent a decorated box of fruit to St. Andrew's House for the Jewish festival of Shavuot. The children enjoyed visiting the old people and we received a lovely card of thanks.

The choir also visited St. Andrew's House to sing carols just before Christmas.

Life Education

From June 22nd to June 25th, a travelling trailer was parked in front of the school. This was the Life Education Caravan. The classes took turns visiting the trailer and every class received a special lesson in the caravan with a different focus being provided for each year group. There was even a special session for parents on the Friday.

The Life Education teacher, Maggie talked with us about facts and opinions of drugs and how they affect your body, about how we can look after our bodies, about healthy diet, making choices that affect our health and about making good relationships with friends. The lessons were very interesting and included drama, videos, looking at working models of the human body and discussion.

Roundabout Theatre

The Roundabout Threatre company visited our school again this year. At the beginning of the year, as part of literacy work on folk tales, Year 3 were treated to a fantastic production of "Swanflight" - an adaptation of "The Ugly Ducking" story - given by the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Everyone enjoyed this professional presentation and they left us with lots of ideas for follow-up work in the classroom.

Friends of Westdale family disco

The friends of Westdale disco took place at The Punchbowl on Porchester Road on May 21st. It was a very good evening for both the adults and the children. There was music from the 1970's through to the 1990's so everyone heard their favourites. There was a large number of children dancing but not so many adults! The DJ was very good and he played many of our requests. There was also a raffle with lots of prizes including CDs, vouchers, teddies and food hampers. The thing the children liked best was the buffet - there was lots of delicious food to choose.

Thank you to all the Friends of Westdale for organising this event.

Labels: 1998, 1999, Friends of Westdale, music, report, sport, visit