Latest News

Pancake Day in Reception

Tue 28 Feb 2017

This morning to celebrate Pancake Day the children in Reception watched Miss Hamilton make pancakes. Whilst she was making the pancakes we learnt the rhyme;

Mix the pancake

Stir the Pancake

Pop it in the pan

Fry the pancake

Toss the pancake

Catch it if you can!

We were then lucky enough to try the pancakes, lots of us liked them!!

In the afternoon we completed lots of activities based around pancake day. Can you tell your grownup what the ingredients Miss Hamilton put into the bowl to make the pancakes?

Bring and Buy Sale

Thu 23 Feb 2017

Thank you to everyone who supported our Bring and Buy Sale today. Thank you for donating items for us to sell and thank you for giving your children money to come and spend!

The money raised will go to the UNICEF charity. We will announce how much we made when Mrs Babic has counted it all!

The school council did a fantastic job helping to set out all of the toys, books and puzzles before the sale started. They also helped Mrs Davis and Mrs Deeming to sell the items to the children who came to the sale.

Our second trip to Boundary Farm

Wed 22 Feb 2017

Today another group of Year 1 and 2 children had the chance to visit Boundary Farm in Sapcote.

The farmers, Richard and Rachel, showed the children around and explained that it was lambing season.

The children had a fantastic time seeing the new born lambs and even had a chance to feed them! The children will take part in an assembly to share with the rest of the school what they learnt.

Mrs MacLauchlan visits pre-schools in Finland and Sweden

Sun 19 Feb 2017

During half term Mrs MacLauchlan has been to Finland and Sweden to visit nurseries, pre-schools and schools. She has been finding out about how the education system works in these two countries.

It was very cold but apparently much warmer than it normally is at this time of year! In both countries everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

Here is some information from the trip:

There are a lot of differences in the way of life in Finland and Sweden compared to this country and this is reflected in the education system.

Formal school does not start until the year in which a child is 7. However from the age of 1 all children are guaranteed a pre-school place and child care is integrated within the pre-schools. One of the pre-schools opened at 6.00 a.m. and was open until 10.00 p.m. to help parents/carers who work shifts. At the pre-schools teaching staff work alongside what are known as Child Minders (staff who support the teachers) and the ratio of adults to children is high as the groups are often mixed with 1 - 6 year olds.

Lessons include ice skating, skiing and sledging. In some schools the children are outside for most of the day and unless it is VERY cold they have a sleep outside. Every school had a time during the day when the children have a sleep and this is for all the 1 - 5 year olds. The 6 year olds can read quietly or go outside as they need to prepare for school when they cannot sleep during the day.

Some of the pre-schools are very large with over 100 children attending and some are purpose built. However some pre-schools are in houses or apartments. All the settings provide a very informal child care facility and none of the children wear a school uniform.

After a busy few days in Helsinki and surrounding areas it was time to move on and we boarded an overnight ferry for Stockholm, Sweden.

The next morning we arrived in Stockholm and it was bright and sunny but cold on the top deck. However the views worth feeling a bit chilly for!

Our first visit was to the office of Sweducare where we had a presentation on the 'playing learning preschool' method. We found out how important the Early Childcare Education Centres have become to the Swedish society. As in Finland most parents go back to work in Sweden when a child is 1 year old but the pre-schools provide both education and childcare under one roof and again is open for long hours.

Whilst in Sweden we visited a variety of pre-schools all offering a slightly different approach but all based on learning through play and with a big emphasis on being outside as much as possible.

Again everyone made us very welcome and we all appreciated the disruption a large number of visitors can create but everyone seemed very relaxed about us being there and joining in.

The range of pre-school provision gives parents/carers a real choice from an English speaking provision, to an Outdoor Learning provision and we also visited a gender free pre-school. Parents/Carers have real choice because whichever pre-school they choose the Government will heavily subsidise the cost as in Finland.

All the children attending pre-schools in both Finland and Sweden get a hot meal at lunchtime, snacks and fruit throughout the day.

Multi-Sports Parent/Carer Event

Fri 10 Feb 2017

This afternoon Parents/Carers were invited to join their children during Multi-sports. They all took part in some exciting activities to demonstrate the new skills they had learnt.

One exciting activity was using the parachute. The adults and children played different games which challenged them to use there listening skills, agility, coordination and speed. As you can see from the photos everyone who came had a lot of fun!

Thank you to Ben for running the club and to all that participated.

Healthy School Week Day 5

Fri 10 Feb 2017

Today was our final day of our Healthy School Week and what a great day it was!

There were so many families joining us for a healthy breakfast this morning and then going to the classrooms to participate in reading activities with their children. It was great to see so many of you. We know that the children really love to come into school and have breakfast with their grown-ups!

After their reading activities the children went into our special Healthy School Week assembly. It was lovely to see so many Parents and Carers staying to find out what we have been up to this week.

Firstly Mrs MacLauchlan gave out certificates to the children who had bought back their sponsor money for the FINS activity on Monday. The money goes to the charity LOROS. If you haven’t bought your sponsor money back then please try to bring it in as soon after half term as possible.

Firstly Class 4 told us what they had learnt about hand washing. They told us how to wash our hands properly and had put the different steps of washing our hands onto a giant painted hand! They also told us when we need to wash them. We all need to remember to wash them after we have played outside, when we have been to the toilet, after we have touched pets and before we eat our meals.

Class 9 told us all about head lice. We learnt that they can’t jump but if we put our heads close to each other they can crawl over to another person’s hair! We found out how to get rid of head lice if we do catch them and how important it is to check our hair regularly.

Class 7 had been learning all about brushing teeth. They had made a giant tooth brush and tooth paste tube! They told us the steps to follow when brushing our teeth and how important it is to brush them for 2 minutes twice a day.

Class 3 had learnt about the ‘Eat Well Plate’ and had made lovely healthy eating plates of their own. They had used collage materials to make different healthy foods that they like for their plates. Miss Hamilton had seen that lots of children in Class 3 chose to make eggs for their plates!

Class 10 had been learning about healthy eating as well. They had been asked to cook a healthy dish at home and then tell their class mates all about it. This helped them to show their grown-ups at home what they have been learning about healthy eating and the skills they have been developing during our Cookery sessions. Some of the dishes they had made included, jacket potatoes, lamb pilaf, pancakes, Pongal, chicken fajitas and Afghani puloe! The children talked about the different ingredients and nutrients in the dishes they had made.

Class 1 told us about the work they had been doing on the human skeleton. They had leant that it helps us to move and if we didn’t have one then we would just be a flat piece of skin! The children told us that the skull protects our brain and the ribs protect our heart and lungs. The children showed us pictures of skeletons they had painted and told us they had also made playdough skeletons and completed skeleton jigsaws!

Class 8 explained all about the Zumba sessions that Year 1 and 2 children had taken part in. They told us that Zumba improves your fitness, is fun, makes our hearts beat faster and makes us out of breathe. They told us that the music helped to motivate them to keep going when they felt tires and they suggested that we should all give it a go! Finally some of the children gave us a demonstration of some of the moves they had learnt during the session.

Class 6 had been learning about the importance of sleep. We found out that when we are young we need 10 hours sleep each night! We also learnt that it is important to have a good bedtime routine each night and that reading a book can help us to feel sleepy. Using an iPad or watching the television just before we go to bed can make it hard for us to sleep.

Class 2 showed us what the EYFS children had been doing in their Yoga sessions. We were told that the sessions were based upon the Olympics and then some of the children demonstrated a few of the moves that they had learnt.

Class 5 told us about the importance of internet safety. They explained that they had been looking at Hector’s World on the computer which had helped them to learn about staying safe online.

After all the classes had shared what they had been learning with each other we said a big thank you to all of the kitchen staff who had worked so hard this week to cook the breakfasts. We gave them all a bouquet of flowers to show our appreciation for cooking our wonderful breakfasts.

We then drew the raffle to see who had won our amazing breakfast hampers. Each child that came to breakfast was able to put an entry into the box each day for a chance to win one of the hampers. There was one hamper for each day of the week.

Finally we said goodbye to our school nurse, Hazel. She has helped a lot of Westfield families in the past and we will miss her. She will be enjoying a holiday in Australia and then going to work at the George Elliot hospital. We presented her with a big bouquet of flowers to thank her for all of her help over the years.

We ended up with amazing display using the work that each class had produced to show us what they had been doing.

Thank you to the Parents and Carers that were able to join their children for breakfast this week. It’s lovely to see so many families making the effort to come in early and enjoy a healthy start to the day together. We know the children have had a fantastic week and learnt so many things about staying healthy.

We can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Healthy School Week Day 4

Thu 09 Feb 2017

Today has been another really successful day as part of our Healthy School Week.

Some Year 1 classes went to the Life Education Centre to learn about the topic 'My Wonderful Body'.

The EYFS children all took part in a Yoga session. The theme was the Olympics. Everyone tried really hard to watch what the Yoga lady, Nicola, was doing and we tried hard to copy. We all found some of the moves a bit tricky, but it was lots of fun!

Tomorrow is our last day of Healthy School Week, so please come and join us for breakfast and then reading in the classes. In the morning we will also have our Healthy School Week assembly. Parents and Carers are more than welcome to join us and find out what the children have been learning about. We are sure you will be impressed!

Healthy School Week Day 3

Wed 08 Feb 2017

Today saw another fantastic turn out of parents / carers coming into school to have a healthy breakfast!

Again it was great to see so many of you joining your children for reading activities in their classrooms. Bug Club seemed very popular today!

More classes spent time in the Life Education Centre learning all about staying healthy.

Today the Year 2 children had their turn taking part in a Zumba session. Again the children had an amazing time and learnt how much fun keeping fit can be!

We hope to see as many of you as possible joining us for breakfast tomorrow. Remember to ask your children what they have been learning about today.

Healthy School Week Day 2

Tue 07 Feb 2017

We've had a fantastic second day as part of our Healthy School Week.

It was lovely to see so many families enjoying a healthy breakfast together again. We had the chance to make your own breakfast pot on offer and it was nice to see some of the children having a go and being creative with the ingredients! Many of you then joined your children in their classroom to take part in reading activities, including looking at Bug Club on the iPads.

Remember you can come and have breakfast and join in with the reading activities all week!

Today we were all really excited to see the Life Education Centre arrive on the playground. All children will have the chance over the next few days to go inside and learn lots of interesting facts about staying healthy. It was great to see some Parents / Carers having a look inside and finding out what it is all about during our Parent / Carer session this morning.

Also today the Year 1 children were very excited to have a Zumba session in the hall. The children loved moving to the music and experiencing a really fun way to keep fit and healthy. Tomorrow Year 2 will get their turn to have a go!

In their classes the children have again been learning all about different aspects of staying healthy. Why don't you ask them to tell you what they have been doing today?