Here at Dartford Primary Academy we have had a superb end to a topsy-turvy year.

We have lots to be thankful for and many things to celebrate. We have explored a rich and diverse curriculum and have had lots of fun along the way.

Science and Art Week

We have learned about ‘Our Diverse Planet’ and each year group took part in several science investigations and art projects. Our central idea was ‘Our Diverse Planet’ and the children at Dartford Primary Academy took this to heart when developing their curiosity about the world around them.

During the week, the children looked at several scientists and artists and explored diversity around the world. These activities inspired them to take some action of their own. There was also a chance for the children to win an art competition for the most innovative and creative piece of art in their class and the best-dressed child from each year group.

Reception learnt about diverse people and, in particular, how people look and feel. They used the book, ‘The Colour Monster’ for their inspiration. Their art was linked to Arcimbaldo’s fruit and vegetable portraits.

Year 1 learned about Beatrix Potter, the conservationist and naturalist, and looked at hedgehogs which they used to create art pieces by sketching and shading.

Year 2 learned about ‘Careers that Care for our Planet: Zoologists, Marine Biologists and Conservationists’. They investigated whether they could catch more flies with honey or vinegar and undertook a survival challenge with Skittles and M&Ms,and used mixed-media collage for their artwork.

Year 3 looked into dark places, making dark dens, exploring shadows and investigating the size of the shadows, using watercolours to express themselves artistically.

In Year 4, the children enjoyed using string telephones to find out how sound travels and made rubber-band guitars to explore the pitch and volume of a musical note. Towards the end of the week, the children built a model ear to show how sound vibrations travel through it, linking this to Kandinsky’s abstract art.

Year 5 took part in several investigations involving different materials. They experimented with Mentos and Coca-Cola to see how they reacted and carried out an investigation into forces that involved an egg and parachute. Later in the week, the children also designed crazy food creations in the style of Heston Blumenthal. The artist they studied was Antoni Gaudi and they created some beautiful mosaic buildings using glass tiles.

Year 6 learned all about sustainable energy, looking at ways to produce electricity, including making a battery from lemons and potatoes. Their art focused on Banksy and wall art.

The children had an amazing week and it was exhilarating to walk around the school and feel the creative, energetic atmosphere, especially on Friday, when most of the children dressed up as scientists or artists.

What our children thought:

Santhos – “This week we have been looking at the famous artist Gaudi and the architecture of buildings he has designed and we have also been learning about air resistance.”

Megan – “I learned that high-pitched sounds make quicker vibrations than lower-pitched sounds. My favourite part of the week was creating abstract art using instrumental sounds.”

Rachael – “In our art lessons, we looked at different methods of art such as Banksy’s and designed our names in his method (graffiti), letting our imaginations run free and our creativity flow.”

Activities Week

To close the term, we all went on a journey around the world. We explored what makes the United Kingdom great, including our visiting farm. Further afield, we also explored Mexico through costume and music, the Middle East through sugar-craft and fashion, Japan through calligraphy and robotics, Zanzibar through Masai jewellery-making and drumming, Spain through cookery and film and Greece through Olympic sports, thinking about what makes us all so unique and special.

International-Mindedness through Food and Cultural Cuisine

Our year 2, 3 and 4 children had the opportunity to work alongside a chef exploring cultural diversity, famous chefs and food tasting. We looked at cuisine and etiquette from around the world and expanded our understanding of international-mindedness. All groups finished with a recipe challenge for the children to complete at home.

Languages

We have had an exciting year learning French and French culture at DPA. One of the highlights has been our French challenge competition, in which DPA students showed strong research skills and international-mindedness.

Pupils in Year 5 have had the opportunity to have a French day during our activities week in July, in which we baked our own croque-monsieur and learned about the French artist Claude Monet and the Impressionist movement. We became artists, even creating our own version of Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’ painting, using watercolour and oil gouache.

Our French club showed their linguistic and cooking skills by baking a quiche lorraine and a tarte aux fraises au chocolat - delicieux!

During our French lessons, we showed that we are communicators and risk-takers, keen to express ourselves in a foreign language. We learned many new skills, particularly how to use a bilingual dictionary to assist our learning and how to be listeners, speakers, readers and writers in a foreign language.

To celebrate July 14th, French national day, we will be launching another competition, which is open to all risk-takers out there!

This is an important time to take the opportunity to reflect upon and recognise the dedication of ALL staff during these challenging months. It has been incredibly difficult and mentally exhausting for everyone, whether in school or working from home. While we have all taken something positive from the pandemic and have made some lifestyle changes which we want to keep, the lifting of restrictions cannot come too soon.

As we come to the end of this academic year, it is with great pride that we look back at the many achievements of the children. They have continued to work hard, to show resilience in coping with many challenges and to care for their peers, appreciated the opportunities and experiences school has given them and proved that learning and progress can still achieve high standards.

We would particularly like to wish our year 6 pupils good luck and success in their next stage of education. We look forward to seeing them again in the near future and finding out about their achievements. We know they will make us proud!

Our Special Visitor, Ex-Pupil 90-year old Betty

Written by year 6, OPA

On Friday 21st May, a very special person came in to visit us at OPA. Her name is Betty and she had one wish on her 90th birthday (7th February): to visit the primary school she attended as a young girl. Betty was born in 1931 in the house opposite our school.

A lot has changed since she attended school here. The school wasn’t called Oaks Primary Academy then, but Mangravet School, which Betty joined at the age of five.

Mrs Libby Fidock was welcomed in her new role as the substantive Principal at Paddock Wood Primary Academy, following the sad loss of Mr Scott Opstad in tragic circumstances in March.

This term and this year, developments across the whole Primary Academy are continuing and it has been lovely to start to reconnect with both the community and colleagues across the Trust. On 14th July, Paddock Wood Primary Academy will celebrate a ‘Thank You’ day, when children will thank either a community group or a special person who has helped them over the last 18 months. This is our way as an academy to ensure that these links and connections are valued and celebrated. Over the last year, we have all felt the impact of Covid19, either personally or professionally, and no one could have predicted just how long we would all spend working, teaching and learning remotely, so this is a chance to say a huge thank you to everyone involved.

Paddock Wood prides itself on offering competitive sport and later this term we will be competing in a cricket tournament, the first inter-school event for us in 18 months. To say the children are excited is an understatement.

Our community has celebrated a number of children who have continued with their sport and are now reaping the benefits, including Indi who was part of the U11 Girls West Kent District Football Team, which won the championship, supported by our very own sports coach, Mr Blackhall; and Harry, who competed against 500 children to win a dance scholarship at a private school.

Plans are in place regarding our co-curricular offer for September, which will include plenty of sport, and curriculum areas, building on the PYP subject areas and enhancing the learning offer for all children. We know that children learn best when they have a wide range of experiences and this will allow us to give children a chance to master a new skill or put their knowledge to the test.

On the 24th and 25th June, Paddock Wood held a sponsored walk event at Putlands Athletics Track, where children raised money for outdoor learning resources across the school. This was a wonderful two-day event that allowed the children to come together for a little bit of fun while raising money for a good cause.

Here at Eastcote the focus has been on the PYP, with significant progress on planning and delivery of units of enquiry. It has been a real pleasure to experience the buzz and excitement that the PYP has created.

Nursery pupils have had a fantastic time inquiring into living things. While learning about how to care for animals, pupils decided to make an agility course for our pet guinea pig, Oxleas, to keep him fit.

Reception pupils inquired into what plants need to grow and stay healthy. They decided to plant seeds and grow flowers, but wanted to choose their own and so went on a trip to the garden centre to select seeds and plants. The pupils later enjoyed using the plants they had grown as cooking ingredients, including cress in sandwiches and herbs in delicious garlic bread.

When inquiring into environmental changes and their impacts on the UK, year 4 showed a real passion for protecting endangered animals, so their course of inquiry was completely refocused on vulnerable animals worldwide. Pupils enthusiastically researched their chosen endangered animal, writing and confidently presenting emotive, persuasive speeches encouraging pupils to support their chosen animal. The winning animal was a polar bear, so year 4 raised money and used it to adopt a polar bear.

And finally...we are now the proud landlords of two beehives, which have been safely installed at the far end of the field near the original wildlife area. There they are protected from stray balls and unnecessary disturbance, as they get on with doing what busy
bees do.

They have been provided by a fully-qualified beekeeper, who is in full charge of them and comes with all the required paperwork, risk assessments and insurances that modern life requires. She visits us regularly to care for them and we have our own risk assessment in place. We can therefore assure you that they are safe and that the children are at no more risk than usual, being blessed with the amazing outdoor areas and proximity to woods and nature that we already enjoy.

Once the bees have settled into their new home, we will continue to benefit from the educational opportunities provided by the beekeeper, with talks and demonstrations for the children. What we all hope for is a good summer for the bees and maybe some honey for us all to enjoy later on!

We welcomed our new Principal, Niall Dosad, to Marden in June 2021 and have recruited a full complement of staff for September 2021. We have enriched our already enthusiastic, caring and committed team of staff with new, vibrant, energetic characters who will help Marden take the next step on its journey to excellence.

Reflection Day

On 14th July, Marden will be holding a reflection day. None of us could have predicted the events of the last eighteen months or how long we would be affected by the pandemic; this will be an opportunity for us to reflect on the last year and a half and to remember those whom we may have lost.

Clean Hands

On 5th July, the children will be taking part in a ‘clean hands’ workshop led by the charity Starfish Malawi. Their aim is: ‘For children to understand ways in which they can keep themselves healthy and promote healthy living in their communities, including how, when and why they should wash their hands, through a series of collaborative learning projects which connect classrooms, enhance learning and develop friendships across our partner schools in UK and Malawi.’ We are very much looking forward to further developing our link with Ngolowindo School through this project.

EYFS

A well-organised setting that promotes curiosity, engagement and independent learning is vital in the early years foundation stage. During this last module, the development of our learning environments has therefore been a priority, with the careful creation of a setting that provides opportunities to move learning on across all areas.

Through child-initiated learning time, our youngest learners now have the opportunity to apply and further develop taught skills independently, in clear, well-defined learning spaces, including a writing area, a creative area, a construction area, a reading area, a water-play area and a home area. Although we encourage children to move resources from one space to another within the environment, clear zones promote independence when selecting resources and scaffolding play.

The impact of this approach has been excellent. As a team, we have observed high levels of engagement, children supporting others to resource their play, greater collaboration between peers, increased motivation to learn and explore and - most importantly - excellent progress!

As we come to the end of our first year, there is much to celebrate. We have successfully opened in the midst of a global pandemic, recruited staff and children and we have created an amazing, welcoming and thriving community.

We have crammed so much exciting learning into every week and we certainly live up to our vision of making every moment count!

The children at BPA have been working really hard this term on developing a gardening area for us all to enjoy! This has linked in with our Inquiries into the Natural World and we have worked closely with Hands of Hope - a community organisation running a ‘Get Growing’ campaign. The programme encourages communities to grow their own food in whatever space they have. So far, we have enjoyed growing, harvesting, and sharing strawberries, runner beans, radishes, tomatoes and courgettes.

Our cooking club has gone from strength to strength and Miss Harrison is delighted with her team of budding chefs. The week they made Strawberry Jam Drops was particularly popular. We cannot wait until next year with new and exciting recipes to follow and hopefully will start to cook with the fruit and vegetables they produce.

Class 1B really enjoyed their inquiry so far this term! They looked at dividing a cloned plant and gave members of staff a newly potted piece to look after. Whilst in nursery Caterpillars made an appearance and children watched them grow and transform into beautiful butterflies. Oh, and the duck eggs arrived in reception classes and children were so excited to watch them hatch and learn about how they grow and develop.

The academy had their first sports day (virtual) which was enjoyed by all including our competitive staff. This was rounded off by ice lollies for all!

In amongst all of this we saw our school grow from two to four classes, we saw our staffing team double all the time we saw our children develop their reading, writing and maths knowledge which was all embedded through our lines of inquiry.

We now round off a fantastic year with our celebration events which include drumming sessions, learning how to be a magician and then finishing with ice creams for all. This has been a tremendous year and we thank everybody who has supported us including our parents, governors, local community and of course our colleagues across the Trust.