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Year 2 visit to Tamworth Castle (29th/30th September)

Wed 30 Sep 2015

What an exciting two days for Classes 7, 8, 9 and 10. Tuesday and Wednesday saw Year 2 children visit Tamworth Castle and the weather was fantastic! On arrival we were split into two groups and in turn explored life as a squire and life as a servant before our yummy packed lunch.

The children were in awe as they learnt that from the age of 7 a boy would become a squire and have to tend to the preparation of armour for the knight before going to battle. The children had a tricky job to do…they had to match the correct armour pieces to the body parts and hang them (without any gaps) onto the armour prop. The knowledge that the children recalled to Sir Lincoln and Sir Hugo was brilliant. A brave volunteer from each group modelled the heavy helmet. The two knights also tested the strength of 4 pupils by handing them a sword to hold out straight to build their muscles up for becoming future knights. Unfortunately the girls were told that the job of a squire was no job for a girl - they were just not strong enough! The next part of this training was the favourite part of the day for many children because they ACTUALLY got to hold a foam axe and learn an attack routine. This was super fun as the children were definitely in role with their grizzly mean faces and loud roars of ‘STRIKE HIGH!” and “STRIKE LOW!”

Life as a servant was very interesting as children were welcomed by Lucy the servant who worked for the Lord and Lady of Tamworth Castle. She looked at us a little strangely and could not understand why the adults and some of the girls were wearing breeches (trousers); she thought we were wearing boys’ clothes! She also could not understand why we were telling her that water was the healthiest drink for our bodies and despite the children telling her about tap water, she was very confused and only knew that the river water was too dirty to drink. Lucy taught the girls to curtsey and the boys to bow ready for the Lord and Lady and explained that we MUST NOT rise until they told us to. She helped us set the table and asked the children to spot the difference between the plates, cups and spoons for the Lord and Lady compared to the servants. I am sure the children can remember who had the pewter plates, spoons and goblets. Everyone remembered how to behave in front of the Lord and Lady and they were incredibly impressed with the table set. Phew! Amazingly the Lord and Lady then chose a boy and girl from each group to dress in traditional dress and to many of the boys’ horror, explained that boys under 7 would have worn a dress or a gown and would have had a special celebration on their 7^th birthday to mark their rite of passage of wearing trousers!

Following a healthy lunch the children toured the inside and outside of the castle. This included climbing the narrow, spiral staircase up to the top tower (they were very excited to see B&Q!) walking along the castle wall and exploring the Lady’s chamber, servants bedroom, drawing room and even admiring a baby’s room. What was the scariest part of the castle? What did you see in the dungeon? Can you remember what the arrow slits were for?

The children loved every minute of the day and were constantly talking about the castle defences and attacking equipment (even Mrs Parkes who mentioned needing a battering ram to get into the castle at the start of the day, as the knocker did not seem to work for four attempts!).

The behaviour was excellent as expected and the children were a credit to the school and you at home.

Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani visit Ash Field Academy

Wed 30 Sep 2015

Today, Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani visited Ash Field Academy in Leicester. After presenting a special gift to the head teacher, they were given a tour of the school including the residential area. Some of the older pupils were very excited to see Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani and had prepared some questions for the two visitors to find out more about St Mathias in Pondicherry. After a tasty roast dinner with the pupils, Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani were shown some of the exciting 'assisted technologies' used at Ash Field to support teaching and learning. At the end of the day, Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani were presented with a very special gift to take back to the children at St Mathias, a recording device to support language development.

Thank you to all staff and pupils at Ash Field for making Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani feel so welcome!

Year 2 - Another Picnic Lunch in the Tipi

Wed 30 Sep 2015

Whilst the other half of Year 2 enjoyed the delights of Tamworth Castle, the remaining children ventured into the tipi for a medieval lunch experience to link into our Robin Hood day! Some quotes from this group

"This is awesome!"

"Can we have lunch in here again?!"

"Ooh it's quite big."

Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani - Day 2

Wed 30 Sep 2015

This day was dedicated to a visit to Westfield Junior School. Sister Rose was delighted to be welcomed by pupils who had first met her two years ago - those pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5. They were eager to catch up with her and meet Sister Rajamani for the first time. The photographs below show a variety of lessons and experiences that the Sisters had the opportunity of participating in thanks including Music, PE, English, Maths and a lunch in the new dining room.

Thank you to the Junior School for welcoming our visitors from Pondicherry. They thoroughly enjoyed their time with you.

Community Garden

Wed 30 Sep 2015

On Friday 18th September Miss Banbury and Mrs Moore welcomed the parent and grandparent to the weekly Community Garden Session. We hold them on Friday mornings 9 - 10 a.m, parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, we are grateful for any help received to keep the grounds looking great. We meet at the Sunbeam Base every Friday, new faces are always welcome and you will be rewarded with a hot drink at the end of the session. Look forward to seeing you all ...

Year 2 Picnic Lunch in the Tipi

Tue 29 Sep 2015

For half of Year 2, they had a super day at Tamworth Castle to look forward to, however the rest of the children would have to wait another day for their turn. Mrs Parkes and Mrs Leeson planned a fabulous day for these children with many fun activities linked to Robin Hood. To make the day even more authentic, what better way to eat our lunch than in our tipi - medieval style! The children loved it...Mrs MacLauchlan even came to visit us whilst eating.

Reception Roast Dinner

Tue 29 Sep 2015

It has been lovely to see our new Year Group of Reception pupils joining us in school for their first day at school. They also stayed for a delicious school dinner and amazed us with the amount they ate!

As you can see they all managed really well with the lunchtime system and were very impressed with our special Times Table Plates.

Well done children! We will look forward to seeing you again next week.

Welcome to Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani

Mon 28 Sep 2015

The day has finally arrived for Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani to visit the UK and more specifically us at Westfield Infant School. Thanks to a British Council grant through the Connecting Classrooms project, we welcomed Sister Rose back - she last visited in 2013. Our whole school assembly allowed Mrs MacLauchlan to introduce the two Sisters and make a real connection to the sponsor student the children were told about in last Friday's assembly. Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani enjoyed our welcome song 'We are happy that you're here to visit us" and presented Mrs MacLauchan with a beautiful garland and traditional shawl which she wore for most of the day.

Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani thoroughly enjoyed meeting the happy, smiley children at Westfield in each year group. They loved observing the teaching and learning and flicking through the work books to see the curriculum coverage in at Westfield.

Throughout the day they observed lessons in Maths, English, Music, PSHEE, ICT, Singing and PE. They found it very interesting to hear the children talk about their work and how they learn. The children also showed Sister Rose and Sister Rajamani the Play Pod and trim trail equipment at lunch time after their delicious welcome dinner. This included a chicken curry, with rice, pasta and naan bread followed by some rather special ice-cream. It is also true to say that the children found their meals particularly yummy and were proud of themselves for trying new food!

Class 8 Assembly - Happiness

Fri 25 Sep 2015

What a fantastic assembly by Class 8, which was all about being happy!

Every child told us what happiness is to them and the responses included: 'giving my mum a hug,' 'achieving something new,' 'playing with my brother on the Xbox,' 'going on holiday' and 'playing with friends.' Class 8 shared three different ways for showing you are happy; smiling, shedding a tear or laughing. The delivery of three jokes certainly made the audience laugh! Do you know any jokes to make your friends laugh?

Following this Class 8 showed us the Makaton sign for happy and read about 2 children in different parts of the world, informing us of what makes them happy. They made links to our Connecting Classrooms project by telling us that although some children around the world do not have PlayStations and as many toys as us, they are still happy because they have friends and go to school. Class 8 sang 'We are happy that we have...' which reminded us all to be thankful of the food we have, families we live with and homes we live in. The HAPPY face was shown to remind everyone to keep their peg on this face! Finally the whole class acted out an amazing story called 'The Scarecrows' Wedding by Julia Donaldson which obviously had a very happy ending!

Well done Class 7 and 8!