Spring 2023

with World Book Day, Fair Trade Fortnight, Sports competitions and Science Week it has been a term of Events!

From headteacher, Catriona Stewart

It's been quite a term of activity with whole school events and opportunities for children and other events and opportunities for adults too. This year we have been encouraging more parents and carers to come into school to see their children's work. Mrs R-B has set up a display of Beautiful Work in the hall and at the end of a term families are welcomed in to share children's books with them.

Thomas in Year 4 got a lovely surprise!

Our mums and dads came to school at the end of this term to see our beautiful work. I did not know my Mum and Dad were coming to school so I was very surprised to see them. My Mum and Dad sat in my classroom and we all watched the class powerpoint presentations together. It was terrific and it made me smile. I liked being able to show my Mum and Dad my classroom and they got to meet my friends.

Adult readers may be interested in more information about more adult business in school. Click the arrow if you are!

I hope everyone is happy that the matter of the new headteacher has been settled and joins me in delight that Mrs R-B was appointed as our second headteacher from September. Mrs R-B has been here almost as long as I have. We have learned and worked together for almost two decades. I would like to thank our Governing Body for their foresight and investment in succession planning. Mrs R-B has been a non-teaching deputy head for almost two years now. This has put the school in the position of knowing we had an excellent candidate in an external recruitment process and so not leaving to chance an important appointment. This didn't mean governors were complacent; the rigorous process Mrs Rutter-Brown went through has ensured we can be confident that the school can go from strength. As someone whose been here since the school was a building site, I can tell you, there is no one I'd rather see as our new headteacher. Lisa has the imagination and intelligence to steer our school into the future. She also has an unbending commitment to our school's ethos and values. The importance of these should not be underestimated as they the rock on which we sustain moral purpose. From this rock we ensure that developments in school improve us and are in line with our core values and beliefs. School improvement under Lisa's guidance will continue to care for ourselves (our school ~ all its children and adults), other people (in our community and further afield) and our environment (here and now, near and far and in the decades ahead of our children's future lives).

A similarly rigorous process is now in place for the post of Deputy Headteacher. Mrs Rutter-Brown and Governors will oversee this process and we will let you know the outcomes as soon as it is confirmed. Succession planning for leadership roles has been at the fore of governors' attention for the past few years with leaders in school undertaking additional training to ensure that our staff are ambitious and have the training to do an excellent job in their current role and have the training and development to have good prospects for promotion.

Mrs R-B and I were at a headteacher conference this week where what we already knew was confirmed: applications for teacher training are well down. This is coupled with many teachers new to the profession, leaving within the first 3-5 years, reducing the numbers of experienced colleagues to support younger teachers. Teaching assistant and support staff roles are also increasingly difficult to recruit for. Kingsmead has an enviable track record in attracting and retaining high quality people in all areas of our workforce. We achieve this by facilitating family friendly and flexible working, caring for our staff as people first, employees second and by offering career enhancing CDP opportunities like the NPQML, NPQSL and SENCo qualifications. We also ensure that when industrial relations can be strained, as in times of industrial action, we may have different roles and belong to different unions but we are one workforce.

On this subject I'd like to thank the teaching staff for agreeing to move the INSET day. This was done for one purpose only, to reduce the impact of another day off on working families. Where families had already booked holiday, in good faith, using the INSET day we had communicated in June, that day's absence will be authorised.

BEAUTIFUL WORK OPEN AFTERNOON

Mrs R-B has begun a new tradition of opening afternoons so parents and carers can come in at the end of every term and children bask in the glory of their Beautiful Work

Thank you to all of the parents, carers and grandparents who came to share their child's beautiful work. It's really important that the children have opportunities to have an authentic audience to show off what they have been learning in school, to help develop their enthusiasm for doing their best. Children's work and effort should be honoured and make an impact and by allowing the children to share their learning with adults, it enables them to reflect on what they have achieved, identifying what has gone well and what they want to improve on in the future.

Curriculum @ Kingsmead

Early Years Foundation Stage

AKA Reception - Celebrating our Ladybirds

Mrs Fielden reports

The children have been busy learning through lots of different topics this term, including dinosaurs, adrift,and giants, and have also enjoyed lots fascinating activities during British Science Week.

In our adrift project, the children inhabited their own island, added the infrastructure they identified they needed and thought about other people who have to move to from faraway countries and how they could welcome them.

Each year, as part of the term's learning with a focus on Caring for Other People, Ladybirds design their island. Making models and building the island helps our youngest children learn about communities and the importance of community for us all to not only survive in life but to thrive.

The learning is led by the children and so every year the Island has different residents and facilities. But Mrs Cotton tells me one thing never changes; when strangers appear in boats, they are given a wonderful warm Kingsmead welcome.

Children chose facilities and infrastructure. This year's island boasts a lido and parc. I'm thinking of moving there myself ;-)

In the early years all the areas of learning are of equal importance. Children's motor skills, developed in their play, events like litter picks and PE benefit learning across the curriculum, including the academic. When we can use a pincer grip for picking litter, our pencil grip becomes stronger. When we can organise our bodies and control movements, we are more competent for setting up Science experments.

An outdoor litter pick cared for our environment and developed gross motor skills and physical coordination.

In PE, the children have been improving their gross motor skills using the wall bars and equipment in the hall.

Art and Culture in Reception

Ladybirds love painting and whether in their Art Scheme of Work learning about Turner prizewinning British artist, Lubaina Himid or making characters from a familiar tale, The Gingerbread Man, their work is just delightful.

Key Stage 1

Enjoyment and Achievement in Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies

Phase leader Mrs Miller

Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies arrived at school to find a tatty, brown suitcase, a blue duffle coat, a floppy red hat, a map of South America, a book written in Spanish and a marmalade sandwich. The children set to work to find out who had left these items behind?

With a Spring term Fair Trade Fortnight Bake Off, a visit from the Dentist was in order for Year 1 and 2. This had been planned for Autumn term where children learn how to care for themselves but had to be postponed.

Using high quality books to teach beyond English and across the curriculum enables us to maintain a high focus on the importance of reading while learning about the wider world in other subjects.

Here we celebrate wonderful writing by boys in Year 1 and 2. Thank you Ben Blackham, Blake Jackson, Jasper Khan, Max Latham and Sebastian Visscher.

Exploration is an interesting subject for boys and girls. Of course, exploring goes in both directions. And when explorers come to our country in the form of a bear with a penchant for marmalade sandwiches...

Year 2 children have been preparing for the Northwich Art Trail which is coming this Summer to Barons Quay in the town centre. Year 2 and 4 have been invited to contribute to work using the theme The Environment. We're making meadow flowers for our work but, like so much in Art, our meadow will be something of a metaphor! Look out for the big reveal in the Summer News!

Art and Culture in Years 1 and 2

Butterflies, Bees and Dragonflies learned about Van Gogh's favourite artist, the Japanese printmaker Hokusai and his most famous work The Great Wave. This inspired their work, titled 'Same Sea Different Boats.' Children learned about Hokusai's manga drawings and used these to make their own manga of their family at sea in a boat. Children used collage and cared for each other by sharing the materials. Can you see their Hokusai inspired signatures?

You can find all the works of Art in our online gallery in The Cave.

Printing provides opportunities for making visual work, not least, being able to reproduce it in quantity! Children had some prints to make into cards. Perhaps some of the boat people in their boats will be lucky enough to receive one.

Lower Key Stage 2

Loving Learning in Cuckoos, Hen Harriers and the Sparrows

Ava relishes reading so a live online author visit was a real highlight of the term

Earlier in the term Abi Elphinstone did a live author visit for the children in Sparrows class at Kingsmead Primary School. Abi Elphinstone told us about her new release: Saving Neverland.

Saving Neverland is a magical story about Martha and Scruff who swept off to Neverland.

Abi Elphinstone has written other books including Ever Dark, The Snow Dragon, Jungle Drop, Sky Song and more.

Emmerson in Sparrows has enjoyed learning about Roman Britain

Let me tell you some amazing things about Romans...

Let me show you some Roman art and the art that they did was called mosaic.

How they made the mosaic art

They made the mosaic art by cutting Cubes of stone, ceramic, or glass and sticking them to make a picture.

Facts about Romans

- Romans built straight roads.
- They used the turtle formation in battle.
- The Romans used Roman numerals and Romans are from Rome.
- Did you know Romans are from Italy?
- Romans invaded lots of countries even England.
- Romans used bricks and something called roman concrete and you can still see it in museums.
- Romans brought big baths with hot water.
- The Romans also brought under floor heating also called central heating.
- The Romans had a really strong army-one of the strongest ones.
- The Romans would have big baths together.
- The Romans had lots of different gods and goddesses and they spoke in Latin.
- There armies were well trained.
- Instead of toilet paper, the romans used a wet sponge on the end of a stick.
- Rich Romans ate dormice, wild boar and venison whist laying down.
- The Romans liked watching chariot races.

Performing Arts

2023_02_Y4 violins1.MOV

Our Year 4 violinists gave their debut concert this term. With just over a term's lessons under their belt they were ready to perform - thank you children and your wonderful teacher, Miss Meager.

Year 3 Dance with Northwich Education Partnership

Jack and Maria Lily report on a day of dance with children across the local area

It was a really fun dance and you got to be penguins. We made it up. You had to do it step by step. It was about the Earth and tectonic plates.

We were showing the animals getting trapped. The dance showed that if you don't look after us [penguins] then humans too will be in danger.

IMG_2145.MOV

Northwich Education Partnership Penguin Dance where year 3 cooreographed and performed a dance showing the wildlife of Antartica, wildlife under threat from climate change.

Arts Trip to Liverpool

Holly in year 4 answers some questions!

Where did we go?

We had to go on a coach to get to the Walker art gallery from our school. It was a long drive but when we got there it was worth the wait! After we had finished in the art gallery, we took the coach again to get to the Philharmonic.

Who did we see?

In the Walker Art Gallery we saw other schools and other classes from our school. We also saw people from the area. Workers in the art gallery were everywhere! We saw professional musicians as well!

What did we do?

On the coach, me and my friend Molly sat together and played some games. When we were in the art gallery we answered some questions about the artwork. When we were in the Philharmonic we listened to a world class orchestra!

The Liverpool Phil is a fantastic venue - there was awe and wonder before a note was heard!

Arts correspondent, Ethan reports

I went on a spectacular school trip. We were all given a yellow lanyard which had STUDENT in it and Kingsmead Primary School Northwich in the front. When we were at the Walker Gallery we went into groups.

The first room we wnt into had a picture based on a story Ms Stewart had told us the day before. Ms Stewart took a photo of us looking at the picture. We saw lots of wonderful pictures. In room there was things with signs saying 'Please touch.'

Then we jumped back on the bus and drove to the Liverpool Philharmonic which was to see the orchestra. There was a man with an invented time machine. He asked us where we were 'Liverpool' everyone replied. 'What's the year?' he asked. '2023' we all replied.' He asked us one more question, 'What's the month?' 'MARCH!' When we travelled, smoke rose fropm behind. We tried to get back with different combinations of instruments. When we had a time lapse we sand a song called Back in Time for the End of the Song and the person who wrote it was in the orchestra!

That person was Tim Jackson, principal horn player and you can see him on our Amazing Alumni page, teaching one of our own ex-pupils at LPYO, the Liverpool Phil Youth Orchestra.

Orla

I really enjoyed my recent visit to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. It was interesting to find out about the paintings there that I haven't seen before.

The genre of art I liked most was abstract art, it was very nice to see things in the paintings that the artist might not have.

I thought the staff at The Walker were very helpful, welcoming and friendly and I would recommend anybody to visit even if they aren't a fan of art.

I would definitely visit The Walker Art Gallery again.

At the end of the Newsletter I have shared the trail adults used to inform their conversations with children at the Gallery.

Children had heard the story of Echo Narcissus before the trip. Eyes lit up seeing something familiar in one of the galleries. Enjoyment and belonging there were enhanced by children's sense of 'being in the know'. By preparing children with things to notice and look out for, they could rise to a new experience and their behaviour was commented on by gallery staff and the public as excellent.

Emily was bitten by the Beethoven Bug

A violinist came in and then more musicians arrived on stage. There were: horns, violins, oboes, cellos, clarinets, basses, woodblocks and a harp.

My favourite song they played was Beethoven's 5th Symphony. I liked all the beats of 4.

With this year's theme being Time Travel there was a lovely link to Science Week. Whether Music, Art, Science or any other subject, we all live within the physical laws of nature that make up our world and universe.

Sophie in Year 4 told me that the size of paintings was something of a surprise. Ms S and Sophie agreed that Google, helpful as it is, can't match the Real Thing.

Art and Music critic Crosby loved his day in Liverpool

My favourite thing this term was the Philharmonic and Art Museum in Liverpool. I got in the same group as my dad, and I got to go there and back next to him on the VIP coach. We saw statues of people’s faces and some important paintings. My favourite was the Echo and Narcissus because of the design and realism. It was sad that Narcissus didn’t notice how much Echo loved him. My Dad’s favourite was the ruin of Holyrood Cathedral. He liked it because of how nature took over the medieval ruins.

After we had lunch, we went to the Liverpool Philharmonic. The Philharmonic building was huge, it impressed me because I didn’t expect it to be so big. Our school sat at the front, and we could see all the talented musicians who play lots of different instruments. There was a scientist acting on the stage and the theme was about a journey through time in the sensational symphonic time machine. There was lots of music, but my favorite was The Battle of the Dinosaurs because it sounded realistic and looked terrifying because of the flashing lights and the smoke, then the t-rex won. It was such a good trip I can’t wait to go back again.

Culture Vulture Edward's report on the Liverpool Art Gallery and Liverpool Philharmonic

I like the whole lot of the paintings and sculptures in the art gallery so I'm going to get through it all.

Victorian art before the invention of the camera - I liked it because it was so realistic and the details were so good. I think it was priceless as well as the one of Echo and Narcissus. I liked it because that's the story which I know thanks to Mrs Stewart for telling it me.

Modern Art Today - I liked the details and how it could be whatever you want and that it doesn't have to be detailed and it doesn't have to be like anything. It could just be rectangles in different shades of orange or something like the one I saw at the gallery. It is just really good.

Sculpture Room - I like the fact that some of them are made of marble. Some of them are like painting sculptures like that one in the art gallery.

I really liked the trip because we’d been waiting for this moment and we had to be behaved for Mrs Stewart. Thank you to all the children in this respect - you were much noticed and commented on ~ in a good way!

Liverpool Philharmonic - I liked it because it was full of music and there were schools from different places in England who came to see the orchestra. The Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra is just so good and we were lucky to get that trip.

I just want say thank you to Mrs Stewart and Mrs Buzzard and all the teachers who helped organise it so just thank you very much.

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 by Edward

What can one say - it was an absolute pleasure. It was a joyful day and I hope this newsletter shows just how important that Art and Culture is. More than an optional extra, Art and Music are an important part of our being human.

UPPER Key Stage 2

Showing Our Best Selves in Hedgehogs, Pine Martens and Red Squirrels

Phase leader for year 5 and 6, Mrs Debbie McHugh

Wow, it is hard to believe how quick this term has flown by. It has been a shorter term but has been jam packed with lots of exciting activities.

We have been studying the Mayan Civilisation and our History and Geography work has all been linked to Mexico and its ancient civilisation. We have found out when the Mayan Civilisation was and what life would have been like for us as ancient Mayans. We have been amazed by some of the homework that has been completed, thank you so much for all the support at home with this.

A huge highlight of this term has been our art work linked to Frida Kahlo (you can see some of our work below). The children found out about her as an artist and studied her portraits looking carefully at the symbolism that she used within them. They then used this idea to create their own portrait of a member of their class and included different symbols within their painting to represent them. The children are really proud of how they turned out, as are we.

The children in UKS2 thoroughly enjoyed Science Week. A highlight for them has been the Science Fair. They have spent several weeks organising and preparing their own investigations to run with other children in school. They researched their investigation, thought about how to set it up, how to teach it to someone else and the Science behind it.

Max, Cory, Mason and Fin explain, “In the Science Fair we were doing a fizzy drink experiment with drinks such as coke and fanta. You put mentos into the bottles and they explode. We assigned different people in our group different roles so that everyone had something to do. We really enjoyed hosting this and the children visiting had so much fun!”

Fletcher reports “We designed eco homes on Tinkercad and took part in a fun quiz. We had lots of people visit school who are scientists to talk to us about how to make renewable energy.”

UKS2 all enjoyed a brilliant trip to the Safety Centre in Lymm. The children found out about how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations. The children represented our school brilliantly, they were engaged and asked some really interesting questions, taking so much learning from it, as did the adults! Here are some of their views:

Cody loved the visit “The trip was amazing because it was fun and interactive. I learned about why you shouldn’t charge your IPad on your bed.”

Sean-Tyler told me “The trip was incredible. I has so much fun! I learned that it takes 20 football pitches to stop a train.”

Aidan said “On Monday 20th March 2023, Year 6 went to the Safety Central Centre. I enjoyed role playing safety scenarios about walking through farmer’s fields and what to do to keep yourself safe.”

Matilda's favourite part “Was when we did a little play. Everybody had a lot of fun at Safety Central. I loved it.”

Florence & Holly both agreed that "Our favourite bit about the trip was a room which had a laptop on the bed and it started a fire. Luckily it was fake fire but it was so realistic.”

Daisy remembers “The trip was intriguing and all of the rangers were really nice”

And for Isabella “ It was the best school trip I have ever had!”

With children out and about more as they get older, preparing for High School and the increased freedom from direct parental control, learning about keeping themselves and others safe is so very important.

Art and Culture in Years 5 and 6

Year 5/6 studied women in art. Women have more often been images in artworks that artists. As children have been studying the Mayan culture, our focus was Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist. Kahlo was the subject and artist in much of her work which includes many self portraits. She was no follower of fashion but prefered to make her own style. Her self portraits included her disability, her bold eyebrow and dark hair (including her famous moustache). She didn't hide or try to change her natural self and showed us we don't need to conform to particular ideas of what we should look like to be beautiful. Children made a portrait of a classmate, including symbols telling the viewer something about the subject as well as physical features. They included flower crowns and a monobrow in homage to Frida. I did have pause for thought on the inclusion of Fornite (on which my opinion is probably known). But making Art is a space where you can be positively transgressive and so Fortnite is here, part of the Spring Show of UKS2 work. You can see more of the term's work in The Cave. Ms S :-)

Caring for other people this term

For Valentines Day we thought of Love in the Ancient Greek sense of the word. Noting (and moving swiftly on from) Eros, the attraction or fluttery love we start to develop from young adulthood, we turned our attention to the love that all children can understand and experience. We joined with the #ShowtheLove campaign and wrote poems and messages of love for the natural world. This love is called Agape. Agape, the love of stuff, is important for a happy, successful and fulfilling life. This term we've been encouraging children's love of reading with Wordl Book Day, their love of understanding our amazing world in Science Week and their love of making beautiful work in all their subects and shared in this Newsletter.

PSCO Lee Robertson has been really useful and kind, turning up at school pick up times to try to keep the area around school safe enough for young children. He is working with our road safety officers and James has produced a parking ticket to remind people parking close to the school grounds that they can use the car parks which are close to school. As well as dangers from moving vehicles, the effect of air pollution on children's health is well known. The main cause of air pollution for our children here is from cars.

Thank you to James, Matilda and Lee for their work in helping us all stay safe and well.

Special events in school this term

World Book Day

This term's Blog was all about Reading at Home - critical for children to care for themselves. As well as being key to success in education and work, reading can actually help children become happier and more empathetic people. Thank you to the children and families cared for others this year by donating books and including in each a gift plate, saying why they'd liked it and were donating it to someone else.

We hope that every child has books at home, a small personal library of books that can be enjoyed again and again. With our Book Exchange in the entrance hall this doesn't have to cost anyone a penny. A big thank you to everyone who continues to donate books children have grown out of, ensuring a steady supply for all our readers! A huge thank you to Mrs Buzzard for coordinating the event and ensuring that children's voices and participation were so strong this year.

Literature correspondent Lucia reports

We celebrated world book day on the 2nd March 2023.This year we didn’t dress up but we did a book exchange and fun activities as usual. The activities were making bookmarks, making up funny stories, the masked reader and guessing the teacher’s book shelves. My favourite part of the day was the masked reader. Lots of teachers took part and they were speaking in a silly voices. It was hilarious! Especially Mrs Buzzard, who was a parrot. We had to guess who the teachers were – I got most right.

I brought one of the Dork Diary books to school for the book exchange. I love Dork Diaries and I’ve read every story, I can’t wait for a new book to be released. I hoped that someone else would enjoy the book as much as I did. In exchange, I took home “The Thousand Year Old Boy” by Ross Welford. I’ve started to read it and I think it is brilliant. It is an exciting adventure story, and I would definitely recommend it!

I loved making the bookmarks. We did draw with Rob to learn how to create them. I enjoyed it so much I made two, including one for my friend.

We also did some creative writing in groups. On our table we all wrote a paragraph of a story. It was so funny as we didn’t know what the other people in our group were going to write. Everyone wrote their ideas at the same time and then at the end we read them out – we giggled so much!

I had an amazing day and I can’t wait to do it all again next year!

I Love Books

by Sophie in year 4

Shelves and shelves of books, doors and doors of worlds.

Secrets and adventures to uncover.

Places and people to discover.

I love books that let me join families whether they’re evacuating or not.

I love books that take me underwater with the mermaids so together we can swim and dive beneath the ocean surface.

I love books that make me giggle so that I can have a little bit of fun.

I love books that have animals in them so when I go to bed I can dream about the animals.

I love books that take me off to a jungle with creatures that are exotic in.

I love books that magic me off into a wizarding world so then I could either do potions with Snape or quidditch with Harry.

Books can’t be limited, so let yourself feel free!

They are fabulous!

They are amazing!

So read one every week.

Sparrows students were given as a homework challenge, information on the Amazing Authors Competition by Blue Peter. Sophie has entered this beautiful poem celebrating books into the competition and was kind enough to give permission for it to be shared in the newsletter. [Mrs Buzzard]

The Masked Reader

by Isabella and Wiktoria in year 5

On Thursday 2nd March 2023, Mrs Buzzard from Sparrows class organised a book quiz on teachers reading a poem with different characters and voices. Children would listen to the poems in their class and at the end of the day, there was an assembly to reveal who were behind the masks.

First up was Panda who read the poem Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg. Next was Firework, reading On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan. Other poems included Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf by Roald Dahl, I Opened a Book by Julia Donaldson, The Dinosaur’s Dinner by June Crebbin, The Magic Box by Kit Wright, Oh the places you’ll go! by Dr Seuss and Poetry Man by David Horner.

On screen was the poem and after the poem was read, there would be obvious clues linked to the teacher’s personality. We would like to thank all the teachers who contributed: Mrs Woods, Miss Watkins, Mrs McHugh, Mrs Redmond, Mrs Newbury, Mrs Buzzard and Mrs Roberts.

Book in a Box

by Emily in year 4

Over the half term, children in KS2 got a chance to create a ‘book in the box’. They got a box and could paint or make models to put in the box to represent a book of their choice. While the book tasting event was happening, the ‘books in a box’ were on display. Everyone got the chance to guess the book. Parents also had the chance to see the beautiful creations during our open morning of book banter and during that evening’s parents’ evening meetings with teachers.

On the year we don't dress up we need to think outside the box and Book in a Box got children thinking creatively about World Book Day.Thank you to all the children and families who took part.

Book Tasting with Key Stage 2

by Malina in Year 5

Bookworms book club members join Mrs Buzzard each Friday for book banter, activities related to books and to discuss and recommend new books to each other. Members pay £2 every week to attend and over the past few terms we have raised (thanks to our parents paying for this club) over a whopping £500. Mrs Buzzard spent all of the money on over 100 new books for our school. We decided to share these books with students at a book tasting - but don’t eat the books!

On World Book Day, Bookworms book club were in the hall and on each table, we had placed different genres of books. First, parents/carers came and looked at different books and joined for some book banter to learn about the importance of reading for pleasure. We did the book tasting for Lower and Upper KS2. Each class from Year 3 to Year 6 had a visit to the book tasting. Everyone was given a piece of paper and they could write a list of books they would like to read. They could then look out for these books on the school’s bookshelves. The Ultimate Football Heroes books were a massive hit!

Thank you to parents/carers of Bookworms members for providing these amazing books through the Bookworm fees.

Origami Bookmarks with Key Stage 1

by Isabelle and Henry

After hosting the book tasting with KS2, the Bookworms members went down to Key Stage 1. Bookworms members want to share the importance and enjoyment of reading with KS1 so we would like to start a monthly Bookworms club with KS1. We visited each KS1 class and told them about our book club. We then helped them to make origami bookmarks and even helped them to decorate them.

KS1 Bookworms will be hosted by KS2 Bookworms and will run monthly. Each session will be held in Sparrows class and will run during lunchtime for a duration of about 20 minutes. We hope the younger members of our school will grow to love books as much as we do!

Isabelle says “What I liked about the bookmarks is that we helped and we went into my brother’s class.”

Northwich Parliament Junior MPs

Summer and Harry made a record of our World Book Day for the Parliament of our action this term. Harry and Summer combined caring for themselves, other people and the environment with their Book Exchange.

World Book Day.pdf

Hartford Manor Primary MPs had the idea for our Dare to Be Different Day so thank you to them and Andrew Moffatt who made a special Dare to Be Different assembly for the schools in the partnership.

Bookworms Book Exchange was a professional outfit.

I gave a book called Zoe’s Zoo and I got a book called My Animal Rescue. [Florence]

Book Swap

by Summer and Florence

This World Book Day, Kingsmead celebrated with a book swap. In the book swap, children brought a book in and swapped it for a new book. Each child brought a book each and wrote a recommendation label so people knew what the book was about. If children forgot a book, they were able to select one to swap from the foyer between the front doors of our school. When you were selecting a new book, you could find out what it was about on the label.

Bees were delighted with their new books.

I gave a book called Queenie and got a book called Animal Friends. [Summer]

A beautiful design with a vintage vibe!

It is said there is no such thing as too much chocolate!

Cakes from every class made for a marvellous end of day cake sale.

fair trade fortnight

A bake-off was the children's idea for caring for other people this year

There were many winners of this year's Fair Trade Fortnight. Fair trade producers generally live and work in the Global South so we probably will never meet them. But the cakes and biscuits we baked were all the sweeter for being made where those who grow and make the sugar, cocoa or harvest the honey have been paid a fair price for their work. The families who bought the delicious bakes at the end of the fortnight certainly enjoyed a Thursday treat.

Thank you to all the children and adults who joined in with helping other people this term. The results brought tears to our eyes and water to our mouths.

I baked a coffee cake because they are sweet and unique. I Decorated with fudge pieces and coffee beans.I also put flags that state important situations and reasons why you should use fairtrade foods and ingredients. [Eva-Rose]

Can you spot Eva Rose's coffe cake in the picture above?

My fairy cakes had butterflies because I am in the Butterflies class. We used fair trade butter and sugar. [Blake]

I really enjoyed it. I used fair trade caster sugar and really enjoyed making the icing.' [Sebastian]

My cakes were blue and green. I used fair trade ingredients [Daisy]

I liked cracking the eggs and mixing in the flour. My cake says Useful and Kind.' [Charlie]

This cake won the award for sharing the many benefits of buying fair trade products. It also won the 'sniff it' test!

The 'healthy' eating winner - with some of your 5 a day in prime position!
Below was the cake that won the award for summing up our school

We loved that Charlie's cake couldn't be from any other school.

Tailor made for Kingsmead and Ms S can confirm that it tasted as good as it looked.

Science Week

Science Week saw a raft of Scientists and people working in STEM coming into school to share their adults passions for Science and Technology. This included a number of our parents and carers. It's wonderful for children to see that the adults who they see daily are more than such and such's mum or dad. Us adults have passions and interests that include but go beyond our care for children!.Thank you to Dr Duberley for organising - no mean feat!

Brandon, Year 4 Science reporter, loved the week

During Science Week we looked at Climate Change. We learnt that usually the sun shines heat onto the earth and the earth keeps some of that heat and reflects the rest into space. But, since we are releasing lots of greenhouse gases, more heat is staying, warming the earth and threatening all animals to extinction.

We had two visitors in year 4 from Growzone to plant more flowers in our school grounds. We also had a visitor to show us about climate change and what effects it has on the environment. Mr Wright came and he did an interesting talk about that as well.

When we went to the science fair there were a number of different experiments like the volcano, the skittles colour mix and the inflate a balloon. We were split into our table groups to see one experiment at a time.

In class we looked at magnets and how they attract, when they attract and what they attract. We also did a lot of DT in years 3 and 4, making our wooden cars.

My favourite part of Science week was experimenting with the magnets!

Isabelle in Year 4, takes us through the week

What I liked about science week was that I got to have a lot of visitors and learnt lots about climate change.

On Monday 20th March I learnt about the differences between climate change and weather also I have been exploring magnetic and non-magnetic materials. I also learnt about the differences between renewable energy and non –renewable energy.

In the morning on Tuesday 21st March we looked at floods in Northwich which happened in locked down. We saw how and why floods happen and how we can stop floods. We talked about magnets and how they are used. We talked about how strong they are and what size and what they are used for.

In the afternoon on Wednesday 22nd March we had to measure on wood: two 20cm marks and two 9cm marks and a 1cm mark. Then some children got to cut theirs out we will be using them to make a car with. We are making wooden frame structures to use as chassis for our vehicles in design technology.

In the morning on Thursday 23rd March we went into the hall and saw the year 5 & 6’s do experiments. My favourite one was the volcano because it looked like the volcano erupted and lava came out. We made slime to take home too.

In the morning on Friday 24th March, some visitors from Grozone came to school and I got to do some gardening. We used quadrats to study the environment and we made leaf prints. In the afternoon we investigated acids and alkalis using an indicator.

While we were in a digital live author visit with Vashti Hardy, (author of Harley Hitch and the Fossil Mystery), I got to cut up my wood from Wednesday and sandpaper it. Also, after we did that we had another digital live author visit with Dr Sheila Kanani about light, colour and vision. We had an optical illusion quiz by putting our hands on our heads if we thought it was true and our hands down if we thought it was false.

I really loved science week and can’t wait for science week next year.

Xavier and Malina report on the UKS2 Science Fair

The Science Fair was amazing and we taught Key Stage 1 and Lower Key Stage 2 loads of science!

The year 5s and year 6s set up their own science experiments and on Wednesday the Pine Martens did their experiments, Thursday the Hedgehogs and Friday the Red Squirrels. Upper KS2 really enjoyed it and had loads of fun with the younger ones. There were all sorts of experiments but the volcanoes really caught the eye or was it 'ooblek' (non-utonial fluid). Younger children mostly liked ones that had vibrant colours and ones they can join in.

Mrs Ellershaw was one of our speakers and she works in the fashion industry (The Hut Group). At first we thought that fashion doesn’t doesn’t really have anything to do with science but the more we listened about it the more we understood they use a lot of science in fashion. For example all the specialist dyes that used involve a lot of science. Mrs Ellershaw showed us one that she put a cloth with normal dye that is bad for the environment that had garlic in the bag, then next she showed us a cloth that had eco-friendly dye and that did not smell of garlic.

Dr Cobourne talked to children about Nuclear energy. This is something I am interested in and have changed my mind about. With the danger of climate change from fossil fuels is a clear and present danger for us all, especially children, I have come to the view that nuclear power, in the medium term, is needed to take us through to when renewable, sustainable sources can meet our energy demands. Dr Cobourne told the children about Nuclear Fusion which I have heard about as an idea, but had littel idea about until hearing Dr Cobourne's talk - thank you; I left Science week more enlightened and hope the children did too.

Scientists use modeeling to predict the future. Children modelled the impact of melting polar ice caps on polar bears.

As well as modelling the future, Science helps us make a better future by encouraging wildlife to set up home alongside us. Thanks to the work of the Eco group and the knwloedge we gain in the Science curriculum, our grounds are a haven for many species alongside our own, Homo Sapiens.

Careful observers make great scientists.

Copy of IMG_1784.MOV

This year's theme was the environment. Here KS1 investigate how energy from water works.

Nick Wright from Keele University

At the UKS2 Science Fair, our oldest children became the Scientists

Science Week in Ladybirds

Children were fascinated with the dancing raisins experiment.

The children were challenged to put an electrical circuit together themselves to power a bulb and a buzzer.

We investigated how electricity gets to our homes.

Mr Haskew very kindly built a dynamo powered light on Rosie’s bike to show the children in school an alternative source of energy.

We had lots of fun testing bubble machines and windmills.

sporting news

Thank you to Chris Story at VRSSP for organising competitions. Many are for older children as this is where competitive sport starts to be more relevant and enjoyable for our young people.

PE and Sport leader, Debbie McHugh takes us through just some of the term's physical activity

It has been a really busy term for sporting activities. It is always lovely to take a large number of different children to sporting competitions and to give our children the opportunity to sometimes take part in sports that they haven’t participated competitively at before. The competitions we take part in our organised by the Vale Royal School Sports.

Hockey

We took part in a Quicksticks hockey tournament where we took two teams along, for some children his was their first try and the sport competitively and they loved it! It was lovely to see how much encouragement the children gave one another.

Sportshall athletics

This is always a fun competition with a great atmosphere. The activities range from sprints, to longer distances and throwing and jumping. We took part in this at Leftwich High School and went ono to win the cluster round, meaning we got to take part in the finals. All the children who took part performed brilliantly and the atmosphere was electric.

Football

In January, a group of Yr 3/4 girls went along to Winsford Academy on a cold Friday afternoon to take part in a football competition. For some of these children it was the first school sports competition they had taken part in. It was amazing to see their team work team spirit and the fabulous improvements that they made throughout the afternoon. Year 5/6 Girls were also at Winsford Academy ont he same afternoon for football finals that they qualified for in the Autumn term. Again the team spirit, determination and resilience that was on show was fantastic. We really do have some budding future Lionesses!

On March 8th, we took part in the biggest ever football session for girls. This is an initiative organised by the FA to ensure all girls have equal access to football. Our girls had coaching sessions at lunchtime that were run by our sports coaches. It was fabulous to see so many different ages of girls taking part and having such a fun time. Watch out Lionesses!

Football correspondents and lynch pins of the girls' teams Amelia, Charley, Liv, Maya and Robyn report

There were 6 different teams competing and they all played incredibly well. We all switched positions so it was always fair for the goalie. We came 4th in are football but we drew for 4th with one of the teams. We took 8 players from Kingsmead. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the final so we played a friendly game at the end. We were so glad we participated and had a great time. Thank you to Mrs Ghader and Mrs McHugh. We had a great time playing and bonding with our friends and classmates.

I heard all about this event and was sorry I couldn't attend. It was great to hear how the Olympic values of friendship, respect, excellence, equality, determination, inspiration, and courage were on show. Courage is most needed when we don't win games. Equality is on show when we take turns for substitution and as goalie. Great to see there was a friendly and I know from teachers that determination and sporting values were on display.

We know that although its great to see so many more of our girls playing football, we're not quite there in terms of genuine equality. At primary school there's no physical reason why football shouldn't always be mixed sex. Girls only on the MUGA on Friday helps even things up a bit. I am looking forward to when everybody, unlimited, shows the inclusive and sporting values we expect on the football pitch. Then boys and girls can play football safely and considerately - together! Ms S :-)

Netball

Our netball team won the cluster tournament that they took part in in the Autumn term and qualified for the netball finals against a wider range of schools. These finals took part at Hartford High School with Mrs Ramsden and Mrs Rutterbrown accompanying the children. The team played absolutely brilliantly and only narrowly missed out on winning the whole tournament, they only lost to the eventual winners. Mrs Ramsden and Mrs Rutter-Brown were so impressed at the skill level the children showed and how well they worked as a team.

I think the kids all know how proud I am of them and their performance yesterday. Their accomplishment should be celebrated and looked at as a success. We were the runners up of the regional final. That’s not too shabby.

Netball coach Amy Ramsden tells us more

Netball isn’t a very popular sport and the vast majority of players competing yesterday only play netball once a week with me.

That being said we beat the winners of all the cluster groups bar one by quite a margin. I’m incredibly proud of the teamwork, the support and attitude they demonstrated towards each other. They all took this tournament very seriously and I could not of asked them to try any harder.

Sophia - your skill and poise mean you play netball at a level way beyond your years. A safe pair of hands and perfect composure under the post.

Sienna - i’ve never seen you work so hard concentrate so hard and back yourself like you did yesterday. You are my standout player in match one.

Eva-Rose - I asked you to be aggressive, feisty and work hard for every minute you were on court. You absolutely delivered. Your defensive work in one match completely shut down the oppositions attack.

Liv - you gave every bit of energy you had even when you had an injury. You were our playmaker and mid-court general. You are athletic and decisive and a pleasure to watch.

Harry - wow! I am so glad you gave Netball a try. I wish more boys would do the same. Strong in defence, mid-court and attack making interception after interception. A real team player and a great personality on the court. The team wouldn’t have been the same without you.

Matilda - feisty and determined in defence making some crucial interceptions to get us the ball back. Composed and confident in the mid-court and attack. You brought your A-game and I’m so proud of you.

Charley, Emily and Grace - My little year 5 superstars. You held your own against your sapphires year 6 club mates. I wish I’d been as good at Netball when I was your age. I’m so excited to see you progress and I fully expect you guys to help bring home the trophy next year.

The Netball that they all produced was so outstanding showing they are listening to our coaching sessions. Now Monday nights are about netball fun and yes Harry we will play netball rounders…

Equally important to sporting prowess and success was the great sportsmanship shown by the team. And behind every great team? Why, the coach of course! Thank you Mrs R - you are a diamond yourself.

Gymnastics

Our final competition of the term was the Key Steps Gymnastics competition that took place at Cheshire gymnastics at Moss Farm. We took along a team of Yr 3/4 children and a team of Yr 5/6. Some children performed as a team and others individually. There is a lot of preparation involved with this particular competition and the children had been attending a gymnastics club for several weeks. They had to learn a body management, floor routine and a vault to perform on the day. The children who took part did amazingly and were so brave to perform on their own on the day and be awarded points by a judge. Our Yr 3/4 team placed 3rd on the podium, as did our Yr 5/6 team. Olivia A also did superbly to finish in second place in the individual competition. She will go onto represent us in the finals. Well done to all who took part, we are so proud of you.

Olivia A is a keen gymnast and loved being part of the event. She reports...

Will we WIN? On March 22nd 2023 me and my school went to a gymnastics competition. It was so exciting. Before the competition, we had to do a practice lesson for 1 hour every Monday for 3 weeks. Six schools were taking part there, including our school. I was competing against my friend from the gymnastics club I go to in Hartford. IT WAS A TEAM EFFORT!

Then on the 29th March, I’m going to the COUNTY FINAL! This is because I got 2nd place on my floor and vault and got a medal. The teachers in fact did a brilliant job teaching us the routines and telling us what would happen there. They kept reminding us to hold our positions for 3 whole seconds and those teachers are Mrs Redmond and Mrs McHugh.

Thank you Mrs Redmond + Mrs McHugh + team. YAY!

A super gym squad who we were proud to represent us.

Gymnastics lessons in Key Stage 1 help develop the core strength and cooperation needed to hold a balance. Sometimes sport can be very controlled and even still.

Virtue may be its own reward but it's still nice to be noticed

We sometimes get asked "What about the children who do the right thing (or are 'good') all the time".

We don't reward the good attitudes we expect whether in children's work, attendance, behaviour or reading. Our expectations are high because it is what our children deserve - to be thought the best of. So we notice (and may reward) excellence; what goes over and above the good we expect from all. I hope no one feels they need to be perfect to be noticed. I'm delighted to say I've never met anyone who's 'good all the time'! Nevertheless, it's true to say that some folk are more 'on message' with our school ethos and values and hold themselves to very high standards. Of course, these children are reaping rewards already. These rewards may be less tangible and more intrinsic but they are the most important rewards of all. These rewards are the inner sense of enjoying new learning and achievement, success in mastering something you couldn't do before. They are the pride in knowing you have been your best self and done the best by yourself, others and the environment. The relationships children build with adults and peers when they are useful and kind unlimited and care about others and the environment we share are so much more lasting and enjoyable. When we play an active part in our culture and don't just recieve it, we are so much more fulfilled and our lives are happier.

However, we have thought of a couple of things that are in line with our ethos and values as well as our belief in intrinsic reward. A little something for those who strive to exceed the good what we aim for as the norm. Read on...

The Reading Rocks page on the website shares how we will be noticing children who go over and above the minimum expectation for home reading of five times a week. This was shared on 3rd March after World Book Day and the first raffle winners will be bringing their prizes home on Friday when I'll update this newsletter.

Excellent Attendance Noticed - At the end of the school year we are introducing the 98% awards for children with 98% attendance or higher. Expectations for attendance are now as they were pre-pandemic. 96% is good attendance, aka what is expected. Attendance has been impacted hugely by the exponential increase in term time holidays following the pandemic and at February half term, thirteen children with persistent absence (at or below 90%) had been on holiday in term time since September. If we took out unauthorised absence our school attendance would be as excellent as it had been since 2004 when we opened up until early 2020. Unnecessary absence impacts children not in school and also their classmates whose learning is impacted with teachers having to help people catch up (fine for illness, not so for holidays). So the children at 98% have impacted positively on their own education and that of other people and we are noticing and celebrating them at the end of the school year. Parents can see their own child's attendance record by logging onto Arbor.

A first cohort of Kingsreaders

Congratulations to the children who won this half term's raffle for reading more than the minimum expected of five signed reads a week.

The children won a £10 book token and we look forward to them sharing their book reviews of the winnings!

Art and Culture

An online gallery for children and families to share and celebrate the creative arts

The Cave gallery began in lockdown, where we tried to keep people connected through the first long lockdown. It evolved into a space for the Northwich Education Partnership's annual Art Project and will continue to share work from primary and special schools across Northwich.

Kingsmead artists used an Instagram account for their online gallery. While that remains an interesting space to see and hear past work in Art and Music, we have moved the school's gallery to The Cave, a website dedicated to sharing children's work in Art and Music. Social media is a great way for keeping parents informed but we hope by moving to a website, an appropriate place for our children to see work, will make the online gallery a space for children and their parents to share and enjoy.

a spring break cultural day out

Liverpool has far more on offer than the finest football team in the world ;-)

A day out in Liverpool can be an inexpensive and culturally rich day out. The train from Hartford Station goes to Liverpool Lime Street where you're a two minute walk from World Museum, City Library and Walker Art Gallery. All have free entry and there's even a small park if you take a picnic lunch. Together they make a great day out.

This trail is to help adults enjoy a visit to the Walker whether they know much about painting or not. We know children enjoyed their visit more because in lessons to prepare them to the trip to the Art Gallery and Concert they had some existing knowledge to bring to the table in the table.

A train ride itself is a treat for children. We have attached the Art Trail we shared with adults coming to Liverpool in March with Lower Key Stage 2. The trail here is definitely for adults, something we hope might support people less comfortable with talking about painting with children. We hope it might whet a few appetites for a visit.

WalkerArtTrail2023.pdf

amazing alumni

celebrating our past pupils

This term we are proud to present Autumn Mugridge. Autumn joined us in Key Stage 2 when the school expanded in 2017 and is remembered for her love of physical activity and sport. It was fantastic to hear that this has continbued and Autumn is caring for herself and other people through her passion for football. Recently selected for Crewe Alexander and coaching Witton girls she is caring for herself and other people and a real example to us all. You can read on for Autumn's Mum, Emma's insights into girls playing football. Thank you to Autumn and her mum, Emma, for sharing...

Autumn started playing football whilst at school at Kingsmead and interestingly has experienced many of the same issues that girls often experience when playing with the boys. The sooner girls are able to start playing football at school, the less likely they are to be excluded as their skills will be more in line with the boys. If football at schools starts at a young age with mixed groups, then boys will regard it as normal to play with the girls.

Interestingly, I have so inspired by watching girls and women’s football that I joined a new team that were setting up last year, Barnton ladies. I bought my first pair of football boots aged 47. I didn’t know how to pass the ball, run with the ball, shoot or score but I am learning. We joined a league and actually finished second place – how is that for teaching an old dog new tricks?