Dear Parents and Carers,

As we reach the end of a very busy and exciting half term, we wanted to to celebrate the achievements of our pupils and staff. It has been a term filled with learning and unforgettable experiences, all underpinned by our school’s ASPIRE values.

Careers Week

We kicked off this week with a fantastic Careers Week, designed to broaden our pupils’ horizons and inspire them about their future. It has been was wonderful to see the children’s enthusiasm as they learned about diverse career paths. A huge thank you to  Unilever and DHL for hosting a visit to a distribution plan for our STEM Ambassadors, giving the children a real insight into the world of logistics. We also welcomed visits from dedicated nurses, police officers, and financial advisors, who shared their expertise and answered the children’s insightful questions. We even had a visit from a photographer and journalists, showing the children different ways to communicate and tell stories.

Our youngest learners in Reception had a delightful trip to White Post Farm, where they got to experience nature first-hand and learn about where our food comes from. The smiles on their faces were priceless!

Dance Festival

And, of course, a massive congratulations to 15 of our Year 6 pupils who absolutely shone at the Exceed Learning Partnership Trust Dance Festival with their incredible Grease medley. Their energy, teamwork, and performance were a testament to their hard work and dedication.

Throughout all of these events, and in the everyday learning in our classrooms, our pupils have demonstrated our school’s ASPIRE values: being AMBITIOUS, SELF-MOTIVATED, POSITIVE, INDEPENDENT, RESPECTFUL, and ENGAGED. We are immensely proud of each and every one of them.

If you would like to learn more about how our ASPIRE values are woven into our curriculum and school life, please visit our website: https://www.willowprimaryschool.co.uk/our-curriculum-overview/

Writing Action Research

Our teachers and leaders are always learning and developing their teaching practice, this year we are focusing on using educational research to continue to develop how we teach children's writing skills.  They have worked in teams to try out new approaches in their teaching and then watched each other teach and provided feedback; they have been really engaged in their own professional learning and supporting each other - it's been wonderful to see them working together on this and to see the improvements in children's writing as a result of this work

Team update and changes

This week, we said goodbye to Mrs Cullen who is leaving us to pursue another role and Mrs Maddox who, as many of you will be aware, has recently had a period of ill health and is focusing on recovering back to full health. We wish them both well in their future and thank them for their commitment to the children and community of Willow.  

We have recently recruited Miss Walker-Ellis into the Year 1 team and Miss Morris as a full time teacher in Y5. Miss Morris used to be a pupil at Willow, and was taught by some of our current teachers, so it's lovely to know that she will continue to be part of the Willow family as a teacher. 

After the holiday, we will welcome Miss Adams as a Higher Level Teaching Assistant in Reception and KS1, she will teach the classes when the teachers have their planning and leadership time. Miss Adams has qualified teacher status and has already been working at Willow this term so she knows the children well. 

We are delighted to confirm that Mrs Walton and Miss Curtis are both expecting babies in Autumn, we are thrilled for them both and look forward to meeting their little ones when they arrive. We will be recruiting HLTAs to cover their maternity leaves so check our social media if you are interested in this role or know someone who may be.

Changes to Leadership Roles and Responsibilities - internal promotions

Over recent weeks, we have been busy recruiting new leaders to lead important areas of our school and we are all incredibly proud that we have been able to promote new leaders from within our school.

• Mr Parkinson has been promoted to Vice-Principal - he will continue to lead Maths and be the phase Leader for Y5 & 6 but will take even more whole school responsibility in other areas, working alongside Mr Martin and myself in leading the school.

• Mrs Rossall has been promoted to Assistant-Principal - she will continue to lead English and will become the Phase Leader for Y3&4

• Miss Ellway has been promoted to Assistant-Principal - she will become the Phase Leader for  Reception & KS1 and the Co-SENDCo alongside Mrs Kirsopp

• Mrs Kirsopp has been appointed to be the Co-SENDCo alongside Miss Ellway. 

Mothers Day Shop

Massive thank you to the Friends of Willow and to all parents and families who supported our Mother's Day Shop this week.  The children loved visiting the shop so they could choose gifts and it helps them understand how to use cash too, something lots of our children don't have much experience of. We hope all the mums, grandmas and aunties enjoy your gifts on Sunday.

The Friends of Willow wrap all the gifts and volunteer their time to help provide experiences like this for the children, they also help the school to raise valuable funds to be able to pay for the extras and treats that the children enjoy.  They're all amazingly generous and we are so grateful to them all.  This year, our mothers day shop raised over £800 for school funds - thank you!

We hope you enjoy a break over the next two weeks and have plenty of family time.

Thank you for all your support,

Mrs Sumner Mr Martin

Executive Principal Head of School

There was a real joy of reading celebrated on World Book Day at Willow and it was so nice to welcome families into school to celebrate. Willow's Reading Ambassadors chose with Mrs Rossall to hold a Booknic of "Books and Biscuits" where families shared reading together. Lots of children enjoyed showing their adults all the amazing story books, magazines, graphic novels and fact books that are available in school. Thank you to everyone who attended. 

The Reading Café was also popular and families enjoyed a delicious breakfast and some early morning readers. The Guess Who competition also managed to raise over £150 which will be spent on new books during the Summer term and some lucky winners who managed to guess all of the teachers correctly from what they were reading chose themselves a new books as a prize.

Last week, Boggledy Book also visited Willow again for a book fair. So many children enjoyed choosing and buying a new book and it meant that school could choose 63 free books to be added to our class libraries.

Thank you to everyone who has supported with these events to celebrate reading. 

STEM at Willow

This term, in Design and Technology pupils have demonstrated incredible creativity and skill development! In Year 1, children have crafted vibrant rainbow wraps while learning how to safely use different equipment. Meanwhile, Year 2 have explored embroidery techniques, creating unique bookmarks with their newfound skills. 

As for Year 4, students have advanced their sewing abilities by making purses and wallets, complete with button fastenings. 

Year 5 focused on the seasonality of food, creating delicious vegetable pasties and making their own pastry from scratch. 

Finally, Year 6 have amazed us with their teddy bears, combining a variety of stitches and embellishments to bring their designs to life. It's been an inspiring term full of innovation and hands-on learning!

In maths, the children have been working hard all term with each year group completing different units from fractions to geometry to measures.  They have been extremely engaged and have produced some fantastic learning.

On Times Tables Rockstars, we are currently in third place out of all the local school and the percentage of children completing their home learning in year 3 up to year 6 was 65% the last time we celebrated in assembly.  Just a reminder that all children (years 3 to 6) should go on 3 times a week for at least 10 minutes each time.

Careers Week

Reception

Reception studied the poem ‘A Little Seed’ by Mabel Watts. They planted bean seeds and used their new knowledge to give their seeds everything they needed to grow. They noticed changes as roots and seedling emerged. The story ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Vivien French helped them to identify a range of vegetables and make links to farming and healthy eating.

When eggs and incubator arrived, the children understood that like seedlings, young animals are fragile and need care and patience. They held the chicks very gently when they were a few days old.

Visiting White Post Farm, Children got to meet up close the farm animals they have been learning about. They confidently shared their knowledge and displayed Willow Primary values throughout the day.

Celebrating special times, the children flipped playdough pancakes, read stories and shared experiences about Eid. They were delighted to take part in Holi Festival, celebrating with dancing and colour.

Year 1

This term, Year 1 has been enhancing their writing abilities by creating a short narrative inspired by the story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears.' They wrote from Goldilocks's viewpoint, explaining her experiences on the day of her visit. This writing included many vivid adjectives and several exclamation sentences.

In our history lessons, we have focused on two zoologists who have significantly impacted our world. Initially, we studied Jane Goodall and learned about her deep affection and dedication to chimpanzees. We then shifted our attention to Diane Fossey, who researched gorillas. We compared these two remarkable figures and engaged in extensive discussions about their similarities and differences.

In our art sessions, we have been experimenting with mixing primary colours to create secondary colours. This work has prepared us for our final art outcome, where we will create tigers and paint them using our colour-mixing techniques and our understanding of how to create thick and thin lines for the stripes.

Year 2

This term, Year 2 students enhanced their writing abilities by working towards creating a diary entry from the viewpoint of a tribe member living in the Amazon Rainforest. In this writing, they focused on describing the unsettling experience of seeing machines arrive to destroy the forest, using vivid details to capture their feelings. Students also learned about the four types of sentences (statements, questions, exclamations, and commands) and applied this knowledge to make their writing more engaging and varied.

In Religious Education, students expanded their understanding of Judaism and Sikhism, exploring the core values of these religions, such as respect for others, and learning how these beliefs shaped the lives of people who followed them.

In Science, students worked as scientists, conducting experiments to test which materials were most resilient, and explored how materials could change shape and be used for different purposes. These activities helped them develop important skills and deepen their understanding of the world around them.

Year 3

In science, we have been looking into the human body and have linked this to our PSHE topic of 'Healthy Me'. We have considered what makes a healthy diet using the eat well plate, and how a good diet can positively impact our bodies, including how we move. We even completed a little experiment to investigate how far we could jump or throw and if this depended on the length of our humerus' or femurs. 

In writing, we have been creating our own chapter of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' which we plan to read to the year 2's. We worked hard to include prepositions and speech in our work, whilst making it exciting and fun to read. 

We also had the amazing opportunity to work with artist Chinwe Russell. We spent the day researching her artistic styles and influences, before having a go at painting ourselves!

Year 4

In science, we have continued to explore 'States of Matter' and have made links to the water cycle. We created our own actions so we would remember the key vocabulary! We have continued to work scientifically, focusing on methods and data collection. The children also participated in an experiment which enabled them to investigate the melting points of chocolate.

Within our writing sessions, we have researched snow leopards and created a non-chronological report. We reflected on the reasons why they are endangered and made links to our class text, 'When the Mountains Roared'. We used subheadings, subordinating conjunctions and expanded noun phrases within this writing. 

The children enjoyed sharing their work within our parents' Stay and Share! Thank you to all parents who were able to attend.

Year 5

This half term, we had the special opportunity to hear stories about what it was like to be a coal miner. 

Mr. Rhodes came to talk to us about his experiences working in the coal mining industry. Mr. Rhodes worked at Bentley Colliery until 1985 and lived through the miners' strike from 1984 to 1985. 

Throughout his career, he held different jobs, such as a miner, manager, and engineer. He talked to us about the Davy Safety Lamp and its history. He shared stories about his first-hand experience of the Bentley Colliery disaster, which is something we have studied. We really appreciated the chance to ask him about his life as a miner, and the knowledge he shared with us deepened our understanding of our topic. 

Year 5 really enjoyed their food technology project this half term, which ended with them creating their own delicious vegetable pasties. The project began with an interesting look at Cornish Pasties and their historical link to coal mining, which sparked the their curiosity. They explored seasonality, researched various recipes and how to make short crust pastry. 

They then worked hard to make their vegetable pasties and thoroughly enjoyed the process of dicing the vegetables and making their short crust pastry. After baking, they eagerly tasted their pasties and gave thoughtful feedback on their culinary masterpieces. This experience not only gave them a sense of accomplishment but also improved their teamwork and collaboration skills.

This project sparked their passion for cooking, and they have now learned the valuable skill of making short crust pastry!

Year five really enjoyed learning about photography during careers week. They had the chance to meet Andrew Whitton, a famous local photographer. He shared some of his amazing work and discussed various photography techniques. The pupils then went outside to practice these techniques and took their own photos. They learned how to capture different types of shots, including long-distance and close-up images. 

Thank you to Andrew, the children absolutely loved working with you and they were truly inspired!

Year 6

Year 6 dance group, the ‘Rydell Rockers,’ took to the stage for the Trust’s Night at the Movies, delivering an electrifying performance to a medley of songs from Grease. After six weeks of dedicated rehearsals with Legacy Sport Yorkshire, they showcased their hard work and talent with incredible choreography, energy, and enthusiasm. Their performance was truly amazing and a highlight of the event! 

The children have been learning how to sew as part of their STEM project, designing and creating their own teddy bears using a variety of stitches and embellishments. Throughout the process, they showed fantastic creativity and resilience, developing new skills and taking pride in their handmade teddies. It was a wonderful hands-on experience that combined design, problem-solving, and perseverance! 

Online Safety: Roblox

Wellbeing and Mental Health 

In PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) our pupils have been actively engaged in learning about the importance of making healthy choices and how these choices can significantly impact our mental health, leading to an overall sense of well-being. This includes learning about keeping clean and healthy, keeping safe, healthy friendships, and healthy body image. 

This half term, our pupils have explored the connections between physical health, mental well-being, and the choices we make daily. They have learned that prioritising mental health allows us to forge stronger connections with ourselves and with others, which is essential for building supportive relationships. 

As a result of their hard work, our pupils are beginning to recognize the role of mental health in achieving success and fulfilment in both personal and professional aspects of life. This ongoing exploration has equipped them with valuable tools to navigate challenges, fostering resilience and a positive mindset.

Here is some of our fantastic learning below!

Dates for the Diary

A separate summary of the Summer Term Dates for the diary will be send to all parents and families at the beginning of Summer Term.