It is with privilege that we share a few of the activities and events we have experienced here at Dartford Primary this term.  We started off with a great visit from the Ofsted team, who decided that if our inspection had been graded, we would have been rated Outstanding.  It is with great pride and confidence we look forward to them returning to once again showcase our children and community.  

As the term rolled on we have enjoyed many activities, all of which enhance the learning here at Dartford.

Who We Are day - cultural food event

On Friday 20th October 2023, we held our yearly ‘Who We Are Day’. This was a great opportunity for each child to express and share with the other children in their class things about themselves and their families. On this day, the children came into the academy dressed in what makes them who they are and to share part of their identity. We also invited parents this year to take part in our very first ‘Who We Are Day Cultural Food Tasting Event.’ The hall was packed to the rafters and the food shared by our wonderful DPA families tasted divine. We literally tasted our way around the world!

The children certainly rose to the challenge during the day! We saw many ways the children chose to celebrate and express their identity, for example by giving a speech, creating a Google Slide presentation or sharing their photos of their family traditions on Class Dojo.

As part of the day, the children also reflected on the things that we have and are thankful for and how Harvest is celebrated around the world. This was an amazing and healthy way of supporting their wellbeing too. We certainly enjoyed the day and look forward to celebrating it again next year!

Anti-Bullying Week

Week 2 marked Anti- Bullying Week 2023 at DPA and the theme this year was to ‘Make Noise About Bullying’! 

Here at Dartford Primary Academy, we have been proud to support Anti-Bullying Week and the children participated in a range of activities across the school to help raise awareness. We started the week with Odd Socks Day, where many of the children came to school dressed in odd socks to celebrate their uniqueness and individuality!

We want all the children at DPA to feel safe at school. If we ‘Make A Noise About Bullying’, we can beat it!

Choir in the community

In a collaborative effort to spread joy and foster connections within the community, the Dartford Primary Academy Choir brought smiles and festive cheer to the residents and staff of Priory Mews. The power of music to unite generations and uplift spirits was beautifully demonstrated during this special performance.

The school choir, comprised of enthusiastic and talented young voices, sang a range of well known carols, stirring up nostalgic memories and creating new ones in the process for the residents.  As the choir members sang, the atmosphere in Priory Mews transformed into a celebration of togetherness, joy and festive spirit.  The elderly residents, many of whom may not have had the opportunity to experience live performances for quite some time, were visibly touched by the thoughtful gesture of the young performers. It was evident that the magic of music has the incredible ability to bridge generational gaps and create shared moments of happiness.

Sporting Events

Hartley has had a very successful start to the year with some great sporting achievements! HPA came first in the heats and finals for freestyle, backstroke and relay and then first overall in the LAT primary swimming gala. We also had huge success at the cross-country with two girls and three boys in the top 20. The boys’ team came 3rd overall, which was a fantastic achievement. Our footballers have also done a great job representing our school. At the Riverview 7s tournament the team came away with the Ford Shield. Sadly they were just pipped to the post in the final match so didn’t go through to represent Gravesham in the County 7s, but they were commended for their honesty and sportsmanship. We are very proud of our boys who represented our school honourably.

School Trips and Visitors

Years 4, 5 and 6 have all been out on school trips already this year. Year 4 visited the Guildhall Museum in Rochester to find out about the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE. They took part in a workshop, and found out about the different clothing and equipment that Roman soldiers would have needed on their journey across Europe to Britain. Some of the children tried wearing the metal armour - it was VERY heavy! There was also an opportunity to explore some of the other exhibits in the museum. Year 5 went to The National Gallery because in art they have been finding out about impressionism and in particular the artist Paul Cezanne. They looked at artwork from Paul Cezanne alongside other impressionist artists. They also saw paintings dating from the 1700s and learned about how art changed over time and the storytelling aspect behind each piece of art. Year 6 were fortunate to visit Lullingstone Country Park, where they created shelters, cooked wraps and took part in a forest walk. It was fantastic to see the children develop their teamwork and creative thinking skills during this wonderful experience.

Wonderdome Workshop

Year 5 had an excellent planetarium workshop in the comfort of our own school hall, which was a memorable start to their space learning this term! Steve from Wonderdome gave them a fantastic space exploration show where they learned how the planets orbit the sun, watched rocket launches and even learnt how astronauts brush their teeth! One of the pupils asked the question, “Is it true you get younger in space?” and Steve said it was the first time he’d ever been asked that question, and also said it was one of the best questions he’d ever been asked! Whilst you don’t get ‘younger’ in space, you also don’t age as quickly as you do on Earth! They used all the information they learnt about the planets to create fact files about our solar system.

Forest School

The implementation of our forest school for Early Years has proven to be a success, with our children thriving in their exploration of nature. Beyond the joy of discovering the natural world, the children actively participate in valuable lessons, including fire safety. As a conclusion to each session, we gather round the firepit for a cup of hot chocolate! This blend of outdoor exploration, environmental education, and the comforting warmth of the fire has created an enriching and memorable experience for our youngest learners. We will be rolling out the forest school programme to include Years 1 and 2 from module 3.

Pantomime Time!

Shooting Stars Theatre Company brought all the fun of panto season to Cherry Orchard in December with a production of ‘Robin Hood’ for all children in Years 1-6. Lasting 90 minutes and with a cast of 5 and a stage technician, this performance was as close to a real theatre performance as we could get in our hall!

Children in Early Years had their own show ‘Search For Santa’, written specially for EYFS.  They went on a magical adventure in Nursery Rhyme Land to find Santa. The half hour show was full of nursery rhymes, action songs and Christmas favourites and was a gentle introduction to live theatre.

As part of our commitment to the pupils of OPA to deliver learning beyond the national curriculum, all children have continued to engage in our Profile for Success programme under the themes of Community, Charity and Careers.

Performing Arts Club Visit Ashley Gardens Care Home

At the start of December, our performing arts club took a snowy walk to the Ashley Gardens Care Home (a care home we have worked collaboratively with for over 3 years now). Pupils from Year 3 to Year 6 performed a range of songs and dances for the residents who were thrilled with the visit and clapped and sang along! Pupils and residents are looking forward to a return visit in the new year.

Careers

In order to broaden their horizons into the range of careers available to them, Year 6 were visited by their local magistrate, Mr Alvin Shaw. Mr Shaw shared his experiences and expertise in: how the British court system works, the range of careers available to people within the legal system and the importance of the British justice system. We thank Alvin for his time and how he has helped to inspire us to pursue a career in the legal system. 

Next term, we look forward to a further talk on this subject from the charity - Reform, Restore and Respect. This will deepen our understanding of the work of the police force and the importance of employment. 

Kidzania

This term Years 3 and 4, along with Oaks Primary Academy, had a fantastic day visiting Kidzania - a city just for children. They were able to experience a wealth of various careers such as floristry, veterinarians, police officers, animators and many more. On top of this, they were able to earn Kidzania bucks that they could then spend in the shop, replicating how jobs work in real life work. It was really lovely to see the big smiles on their faces as they took part in the different activities and really immersed themselves in the role play, especially when they had to inform other children about a bank robbery! Another great outcome was the conversations around the different jobs they might like to do in the future and how they might achieve this. The children were clearly inspired by the day!

Cultural Day

Cultural day was a tremendous success. It was a sensational celebration of diversity within our school community, and we are thrilled that our children had the opportunity to engage in such an enriching experience. The spirit of the day was truly remarkable, with children and staff alike embracing the occasion by donning unique and vibrant attire representing various cultures. Witnessing this kaleidoscope of colours throughout the school was truly a sight to behold. Furthermore, the children's taste buds were treated to an array of delectable dishes from all corners of the world. We are immensely grateful to the parents who generously contributed their culinary delights and enabled our children to relish in this multicultural feast. We were privileged to have parents so willing to come in and share firsthand accounts about their own cultures and traditions. By openly discussing their customs and beliefs, they provided our children with valuable insights that will help them develop a greater understanding and respect for diversity.

By celebrating Cultural Day, we aimed to expose our children to a wide range of cultures, fostering understanding, tolerance, and respect among them. It is our firm belief that by embracing our diverse community, we create a richer and more inclusive learning environment, enabling our children to grow into well-rounded global citizens. Through the celebration of events such as Cultural Day, we strive to nurture globally minded individuals, who not only acknowledge their place in an intercultural global community but also demonstrate the attitudes and actions of internationally minded people. By instilling these values within our children, we equip them with essential skills that will shape their future lives and careers.

Wingham Wildlife Park

This term, Year 5 and 6 had a fantastic day at Wingham Wildlife Park! Our inquiry was all about the influence of media on an individual and we had looked specifically at how zoos were portrayed, so we experienced a day at the zoo for ourselves to help us decide whether we agreed with their presence or not. This was an informative and fun day out, learning about various species and also investigating the origin of some of their animals as they had been saved from circuses or used in conservation programmes. Students particularly enjoyed the nocturnal and reptile house, where we got to see three different species of crocodile, bats, armadillos and also five species of snake. Additionally, the play area, which caused us to replicate movements of various animals to find our way through, was also a big hit! All of the children embodied our learner profile attributes for the day, showing how they were principled to the public, being a risk taker in the play area and being reflective about their views.

Author Visit

This module, in partnership with Maidstone Literacy Festival, we were very lucky to be visited by children's author, Janelle McCurdy, writer of the children's book series, Mia and the Lightcasters. A gamer and fan of anime, Janelle inspired our children who could really relate to her interests and how her favourite hobbies inspire her to write. Our pupils engaged in an assembly and workshop with great enthusiasm, understanding how Janelle approaches her writing and even had the chance to create their own umbras that feature in her books. It was a fantastic and invaluable experience for our children and some were even able to have their purchased books signed by the author herself.

Drama Workshops

This term, upper KS2 has been learning about World War II as part of their inquiry into conflict resolution and the impact conflict has on people’s lives. As part of this inquiry, the children took part in an interactive World War II drama workshop led by a company called Perform for Schools. During this workshop, pupils pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and took risks by taking part in a variety of drama and role play scenarios. Through these scenarios they were able to imagine themselves in a variety of situations that were the reality for many people during the war from saying goodbye to loved ones, coping with rationing, to being evacuated to the countryside. We were very proud of the children for how well they engaged with the workshop activities and their enthusiasm to take part. A particular highlight was at the end of the workshop where they learnt a short dance to accompany the well known World War II song ‘The Lambeth Walk’.

Since returning in September, Tree Tops has been a hive of activity. Our Carnival Day kicked things off in September, providing the children with opportunities to develop their understanding of carnival culture and the chance to explore all of the creative elements of such a festive event. This was soon followed by the celebration of Lavender’s 2nd birthday and the announcement of a poetry competition, which saw many of our children exploring poems and how they can be written. 

There have also been a number of sporting events, including the rounder’s tournament, that our older pupils participated in, taking part with a real sense of pride and sportsmanship. 

Culture Week

We held a Culture Week from 25th -30th September, with dance workshops, food tasting sessions and language sessions, offering our pupils a rich and immersive experience of Spanish culture.

Trips and Experiences

In addition, there have been several other significant trips and experiences. Our Year 6 students visited Kingswood Activity Centre, Year 1 and 2 have recently seen a Christmas pantomime and Year 5 were visited by Rochester Bridge Trust for a bridge building experience, where they were able to explore the engineering in action. 

Christmas Events

On Monday 4th December, we took a selection of Year 6 children, who are part of our Young Voices choir, to sing to the residents at Ashley Gardens Care Centre. It is always so lovely to get out into the community - especially to share some Christmas cheer.

We have also had a number of outstanding festive performances from EYFS and KS1. Nursery and Reception invited their parents to enjoy them singing a number of traditional Christmas songs and KS1 performed the Christmas show of ‘Ralph the Reindeer’. Some would say it was worthy of the West End! A lot of effort went into every performance and we are extremely proud of each and every one of them who were involved.

We also hosted our annual Christmas fair which was very well attended by members of our community. We had a number of stalls hosted by the academy and some external stalls, like Tails of Kent.

Trips, Visits and Experiences

Experiences beyond the classroom are so important in helping learning to stick and so we ensure that children are provided with them in abundance.

Year 1 used their senses when walking around the local area of Langley Park. They visited both the Nature Reserve and Costa and even walked past some of their houses! They were very excited and Willow even joined them too!

It has been a brilliant start to the academic year. We are extremely proud and excited to have been able to share and celebrate our recent Ofsted visit with all stakeholders. The opening two lines, in particular, are a pleasure to read: “Pupils at Paddock Wood Primary Academy are excited to learn. The school is a safe and stimulating place which offers a myriad of opportunities to develop pupils’ interests and talents.”

Curriculum Enrichment

We have organised many different experiences to enrich and enhance learning for the children across the whole school. We have had a visit from a local poet who came into school, led assemblies and ran workshops for all of the children. This love of reading and writing was also built upon in our whole school writing week where all of the children used the same high quality text (Coming Home by Michael Morpurgo) as inspiration for many different purposes for writing. Hearing children across the school talking about the same text and their learning was fantastic.

Individual year groups have also organised their own more specific workshops. Year 3 has had a hands-on fossil workshop, Year 4 were immersed in their very own History Day and Year 5 were transported to outer space with a visit from the planetarium. All of these experiences were fantastic and the children were fully engaged throughout!

During a RockSteady workshop, we also invited our children and staff to embrace their inner rockstars. All year groups were involved and we are eagerly awaiting a performance from our own school rock band in the coming months.

Community 

Being the heart of the community is extremely important for us and we ensure we make the most of all the opportunities to work with and support the community in as many different ways as possible. We are extremely proud of our Year 6 representatives who took part in the Paddock Wood Remembrance service and our school choir who sang at the recent Christmas ‘Light Up’ event. Both of these events were extremely well attended by the whole community. We have also continued our close links to the local church - we have had a harvest service and we are having a Christmas service on the last day of term. Every single class has visited the local library. Many have used this opportunity to become members and have shown great pride and pleasure in describing which book they are now reading.

What an amazing Autumn Term of ‘firsts’ we’ve had at Horsmonden! We launched our very first Innovation Week with ‘The Rocket Man’ from Steam Co, Nick Corston. He inspired the children to create their own innovations and rockets, while reinforcing the importance of reading and aiming high in life. All children made and launched rockets, some more successfully than others, and enjoyed watching the final ‘dynamite’ rocket launch at 60mph before parachuting back down to Earth. In addition to ‘The Rocket Man,’ we also had a visit from The Wonderdome, a mobile planetarium. Children travelled to space and saw the planets up close, learning about their orbit, rotation, moons, meteors and the International Space Station. 

The Autumn Term also saw our first ever art exhibition where children created masterpieces that were framed and displayed in the school hall. Parents visited the exhibition and had the opportunity to purchase their child’s masterpiece to raise money for the school. Parents were impressed with the quality of work on offer and some are keeping their child’s piece as an investment for the future!

This Autumn term has been full of exciting learning opportunities and as the new Principal I have embraced life at Eastcote. At the beginning of the term, Year 4 headed off to Crofton Roman Villa to investigate a past civilisation and learn how the Romans still influence our lives today. The class were tasked to recreate mosaic art which then inspired them to make their own. Year 6 then delved into the past by recreating Victorian life, researching and learning about children’s rights and responsibilities. This led Year 6 to hold their own charity event to raise money for Barnardo’s, they baked and hosted their own cake sale raising over £100 for their chosen charity.

Year 3 visited the Natural History Museum as they were following a line of enquiry to discover how early man survived and went so they could study and use artefacts that showed them what life was like. Year 2 went on an exciting adventure by boat to visit the Tower of London and took part in a dramatic retelling in the White Tower – recounting the key events of the Great Fire of London from the perspective of Samuel Pepys. They also learnt how this led to improvements in London. Year 1 visited Hall Place making connections with our local area and finding out what toys were like in the past. The class loved the hands-on approach and had a very immersive experience. In Nursery our newest members of Eastcote have been exploring who they are, their families and how we are all the same but different. Year 5 visited the Gurdwara in Woolwich and made links through RE with special books and Sikh beliefs. Year 5 learned that commitment is key to Sikh religion and that their everyday life will reflect the moral code laid out in the example of the Gurus and in the Guru Granth Sahib.

Our school is very lucky to have a committed and amazing parent association who not only support the school by raising funds but also holding incredible events that make attending this school very special. Throughout the term PACE have organised many events including a Halloween Disco and the first firework event held at the school that was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bexley. December started with a very cosy pyjama day, then PACE paid for every child to see a pantomime performance, including a visit from M&M productions performing Snow White and then seeing Beauty and the Beast at Dartford Theatre West. The term ended with Santa’s Workshop which was a very special day ending with a visit from Father Christmas.

Our House Captains have organised school events including Children in Need. They wrote a letter to the parents and turned the school spotty for the day and they raised £269.23 to support good causes. They also held an election to appoint a school council so they can work in unison to give the children a voice in improving the school, so that together we can make it the best school possible. The House Captains held their own assembly and created a presentation to inform the children what they needed to do and candidates delivered speeches and votes were held. We look forward to working with them next term.

The academic year is off to a flying start here at Peninsula East Primary Academy. As always, we have had so many exciting visits, educational trips and workshops for our pupils which have enriched their learning experiences across the first two modules of this year. 

Reading Incentives

Due to fundraising from our children, parents and PTA last academic year, as well as some generous donations from local community businesses, we were able to purchase a reading book vending machine which has pride of place in our school hall. Each week, those children who have been reading regularly at home are awarded as being readers of the week and they receive a certificate and token for a brand new reading book from the vending machine. The children have loved it and we have seen many more children reading at home and enjoying new books to take home to read too.

Year 5 and 6 Escape Rooms

Our Year 5 and 6 pupils really enjoyed taking part in an escape room challenge that was delivered by Medway Council. The children had to work together to solve different code breaking problems and utilise a range of different strategies to solve them. The representatives from the council were really impressed with the children’s communication and teamwork skills in undertaking these challenges.

Year 1 Animal Roadshow

As part of their inquiry learning linked to science, our Year 1 children had an opportunity for different animals to visit their classroom so that they could learn about what they eat and how the different animals could be grouped. The children thoroughly enjoyed handling the animals, which included: guinea pigs, bearded dragons, giant millipedes and snakes. They had lots of questions to ask and learnt a lot of new facts that they took forward into further learning opportunities in their inquiry. 

Community

This year, we have been continuing to work closely with the local community. As part of their outdoor learning programme, Year 1 helped create some scarecrows which we entered in the Marden Scarecrow Safari. A local company ‘Go Group’ came into school to lead an assembly for KS2 on careers, sharing a range of roles within the company and the skills required to do these jobs. The Eco Warriors met with The Little Green Energy Company to share information about solar energy and to discuss the importance of protecting our environment. Also as part of the Christmas fair, we ran a silent auction. We were very lucky to be supported by lots of businesses and people within our local community who kindly donated prizes for this.

Fundraising and Supporting Others

Our school community has been really keen to support others and have already worked hard to raise money for a range of causes. In October, families donated food for our local food bank. The food bank was extremely grateful for the generous donations. We also supported the Poppy appeal, Children in Need and Mental Health day. Our wellbeing group and School Council are very keen to continue to support others and already have plans to try and raise money to support homeless charities.

Nursery

Little Bears have been busy in the community over these modules. As part of our Inquiry into interests and experiences, the Nursery children have been visiting Invicta Court Care Home. It has been wonderful to see how much both our young learners, and the care home residents gain from these experiences.

Our children are encouraged to be good communicators in order to engage with the residents, and the residents have been keen to share their own stories and experiences with our children. Shared play is the central experience that binds these special visits together - visits where lots of laughter can be heard around the building. 

One of the residents recently commented, “This is the best part of my week!” We are very proud of the attitude and respect our children have shown towards the members of their wider community, and we look forward to continuing to extend this key link in the new year.

Reception

Over the past two modules, Reception has been building upon their learning into being part of a community at school and at home. We have enjoyed celebrating and exploring different festivals and traditions including Diwali and have created some fantastic rangoli patterns. We enjoyed trying some new food such as mango chutney, poppadoms and naan bread, which everyone agreed were very tasty!

As part of our inquiry, we have looked into how we can keep our bodies healthy such as eating the right foods and exercising correctly. This also included a visit from Dr. Dentist and Mrs. Tooth who told us all about keeping our teeth and gums healthy. The children listened carefully and learned lots of new information to feed back to their grown-ups at home. 

Recently, the children have proved themselves to be very principled when working collaboratively to rehearse and perform our Christmas production. Their excellent communication skills have shone through with brilliant singing, as well as Makaton signing to accompany it.

Year 1

Modules 1 and 2 have been busy and exciting in Year 1. We have been learning all about how the weather impacts how we live and how the weather and seasons are different across different climate zones. How excited we were, when it snowed and the temperature dropped below zero on our outdoor thermometer! We have really developed our cutting, shaping and joining skills in this module, designing and making party hats and making Christmas bunting within the local community. It is always a pleasure to see our senior friends at Invicta Court Care Home and we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them and using their expertise to help us with our sewing, making bunting together that will be enjoyed in both environments. We have also learned some great ways to make threading a needle easier! 

Alongside this, we have been busy practising our lines and songs for the ‘Year 1 Carols at Christmas’ performance. All of the children have done a great job in rehearsals and they raised the roof in their first performance to an audience at Invicta Court. We were so proud of their confidence and of course their behaviour when representing the academy off site.