Westdale Junior School news

This year on Monday 21st May to the 25th of May 2007 we had an arts week with a variety of events and visitors including Bemma, Donna Vann (author), Naomi Tipping (illustrator), Risk Watch, Flight Man, 'Let's talk rubbish' and Circus Skills.

Bemma

Bemma is an interesting African woman who kindly came in and taught us about how the ‘Elephant Dance’ is around today and how it was created. She told us stories from Africa, taught us a song and the dance to that song as well as the story.

Donna Vann

Donna Vann was an American author who came in to talk to us about her books and also gave us a quiz. At the end of her production she gave us all a story plan to write and then turn it into a story.

Naomi Tipping: illustrator

Naomi Tipping is an illustrator who came in and taught us how to do drawings like hers. We looked at examples of her work and then discussed them and drawing in general. We drew our initials (or names) and then turned them into different pictures or animations and then coloured them.

Risk watch

Risk Watch was a session about how to keep safe. Some fire men showed us around the fire truck and told us about some of the equipment they used. They did a demonstration about how you can be saved when you are drowning in water. They also showed us what happens if someone's house is on fire. They would type their address into a computer and it would be bought up on a map of the area and the street. Then we went inside and some other firemen told us about smoke alarms and how they could save our lives! At the end they told us about a competition they were doing. We had to design a poster and the winner would win an MP3 player.

Flight man

On the last day of arts week a man came into school to talk to Year 6 about aeroplanes and how to control them. He gave 12 Year 6’s a challenge to make some aeroplanes, then give a presentation about them. They had to make the aeroplanes so that they could stay in the air as long as possible.

‘Lets talk rubbish’

On Friday there was a production in our hall that was all about recycling our rubbish in the right way. Pupils went up to help out with the production and performed magic tricks and were given balloon sculptures as a reward! The magician was a genuinely funny man who made recycling sound fun for others to do and encouraged to recycle and help the environment.

Circus Skills

A clown called Bozo came in and showed us some circus tricks that he does when he’s performing as a clown. He let us go up and help him with various tricks and also got the teachers involved with the tricks! Mr. Bannister was the one that went up because everyone pointed and shouted for him to go up! He balanced a feather on his palm, finger and chin and then nose and he actually managed to do it!


Everyone had a fun arts week doing all the activities.

Labels: 2007, arts week, report

On Tuesday 17th July 2007 some talented children performed at a brilliant music concert in front of parents/carers. There was a variety of things that were performed including:

• Singing by the assembly choir and choir.
• Recorders
• Guitar
• Piano
• Violinist

The assembly choir sang a song from ‘The Sound Of Music’ called So Long Farewell. The choir sang a few songs from ‘The sound of Music’ including: Edelweiss, Raindrops on Roses and climb Every Mountain. The songs went well and the adults seemed to like them a lot.

The recorder group played some pieces together and these went particularly well. They played a Beethoven –Allegretto symphony, a Gossec – Tambourin and “Any dream will do”. There were solo players and groups which played well known songs such as: When the saints go marching in, spring, edelweiss, walking in the air, toreador, daisy daisy, teddy bears picnic and London’s burning.

There were very few mistakes in the songs to say that they were all very nervous.

Jake played Russian dance music on his guitar and did an extremely good job of it, and Andrew played a very lively piece of music on the piano that was a big!

The violinists also played exceptionally well in all their groups. There were relaxing songs, star wars music and many other different pieces of music.

Labels: 2007, music, report

At this year’s summer fair there was a large variety of games and stalls to go on which included a wide range of stalls and games:

Stalls included:
• Guess the dogs birthday
• Tombola
• Pluck a duck
• Pick a lucky bag

Games included:
• The Puzzling pyramid
• Manic Mini Golf
• Shoot A Hoop
• The Keys Game
• Treasure Map
• Chinese Chopsticks
• Tidily Winkles
• Splat The Rat
• Super Spins
• Perfect Ping Pong

On every game you could win a 1-3 tokens and then you could spend them on the sweet stall. For 1 token you could get 1 small sweet, for 5 tokens you could get a medium size sweet. For 10 tokens you could get a large sweet, for 15 tokens you could get a massive sweet.

Refreshments including hotdogs, burgers, crisps and drinks were served in the dinner hall. Also Vernon Coker, our member the parliament and Jo (of Jo and Twiggy from Trent FM) visited us, tried out the games and Jo read out the raffle ticket winners and presented the prizes.

It was a truly enjoyable for parents and children.

Labels: 2007, report, summer fair

On Wednesday 18th July 2007 a music festival was held in our school hall. Choirs and instrumentalists performed from Porchester Junior school, Standhill Infant school, Haddon Primary school, Carlton Central Infant school, Carlton Digby School and Westdale Infants as well as us. The Head of Music from the Wheldon School also came.

Everyone from all the schools sang “Downtown” and “Conservation Round” together and each school performed items for the others to enjoy. The performances were very good and interesting to watch. Many different songs were sung including “I Will Survive” and “So Long Farewell” and “Dream Time”.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon for everybody and there were interesting songs and dances from the different schools. Everyone who was there was given a drink and a bookmark to remember the occasion.

Labels: 2007, music