Years 3 and 4 wrote some amazing narratives about visiting different settings when they stepped through the door, whilst Year 5 produced their own story books to be put in the school library. Lastly, Year 6 scripted some scary audio stories which they then recorded with Foley effects.

A strange, magical door appeared on the junior playground in October and inspired every class to do some creative writing about it. Mrs Palfreyman was very impressed with the quality of the work which the children produced – even saying that it was some of the best writing she had seen during her time at Parkfield! Reception children wrote and performed a short story about them joining Biff and Chip on a magic key adventure to meet some pirates on a desert island. Year 1 did some fabulous writing about travelling through the door, trying hard to include lots of adjectives and connectives in it. Meanwhile, Year 2 designed their own superheroes with special powers which they wanted to meet on the other side of the door.

Two children’s authors visited school this term to share their passion for writing and read extracts from their books to the children – Melanie Williamson visited KS1 and Steve Hartley visited KS2 (this was also filmed for Granada TV too).

Creative Writing Week

Year 3 Romans Workshop

Year 3 enjoyed taking part in a Romans workshop with the Tempus Fugit theatre company. They learnt about the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus and dressed up Roman costume to act out different parts of Roman society. They also sang a song in Latin about the great fire of Rome.

Drama

As part of the Rochdale Literature Festival, Year 4 performed two mini plays they had written titled The Gruffalo’s Sleepover and Jelly Moon Chaos at Langley Library.

Church Assembly

Reverend Wall gave a special assembly in which she spoke about the different reasons people visit church and how she wears different coloured robes for different occasions.

Crucial Crew

Year 6 went 'crucial crewing' to learn all about how to safely deal with dangerous or challenging situations such as fires and traffic accidents.

Year 4 Greeks Workshop

Year 4 enjoyed visiting Touchstones in Rochdale to take part in a workshop about ancient Greece. They: dressed up in traditional outfits, compared how daily life then was different to how it is now and learnt about how their controlled the country using democracy.

Class Assemblies

The first class assemblies of the year have taken place:

Year 4 Year 4 showcased some of their 'Electricity' and 'Greece' work. They: talked about electrical safety, made a human circuit, explained about the geography of Greece and talked about its ancient history.

Year 5 Year 5 combined drama and discussion to explain about different problems that affect the community and to suggest strategies that could be used to improve it like not littering and helping people in need.

Year 6 Year 6 reminded everyone how much times have changed for children since Victorian times by explaining about child labour in factories and strict Victorian schooling methods.

Inspire Science Week

Dental Nurse

The dental nurse visited Reception to teach the children why they should brush their teeth regularly and how to do it properly so they stay clean.

Sculpture Park

Year 2 visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where they: admired the variety of art works on display, sketched some of their favourite designs and created their own giant junk modelling sculptures in teams.

Football

Children took part in a sponsored penalty shoot-out, raising £370 in total, which will be shared between the school and a children’s charity.

The whole school spent a week doing lots of exciting science work in September:

Reception did activities about ‘Ourselves’, naming external parts of the body and looking at similarities and differences between themselves.

Year 1 learnt about dinosaurs and did a variety of data handling tasks about them, such as classifying them and measuring their fossilised footprints.

Year 2 did science investigations related to traditional tales, such as how to keep porridge warm in for the three bears and designing a beanstalk for Jack.

Year 3 had lots of incredible missions to complete, like designing a paper aeroplane to fly the furthest and exploring sounds made by instruments.

Year 4 found out about habitats in the school grounds and constructed food chains to help show how: producers, predators and prey are linked.

Year 5 became crime scene investigators and learnt some forensic science skills using equipment like thermometers and magnifying glasses.

Year 6 discovered how to use science to help them survive on a desert island, such as by creating water filters and food heaters.

Everyone also enjoyed watching a theatre company perform a science-themed show called The Filacavity Hotel.

Year 1 had a great time at Eureka! this term where they visited the new ‘My Body’ area and pretended to be: doctors, dentists and nurses to help them learn about how their bodies function. They also enjoyed exploring the: 'Sound Space', ‘Town’ and 'Garage' galleries as well.

Remembrance

Year 2 walked down to Middleton's Garden of Remembrance on 11th November to attend a short memorial service and to look at the poppies which had been placed by the cenotaph to honour members of our armed services.

Come and Sing

Year 6 represented the whole of Rochdale at a music event in Manchester. They enjoyed taking part in an African drumming workshop and joining in with a choir to sing a version of the song Believe, led by a member of the Hallé Orchestra.

Created by Mr. Haughton

"We wish you a merry Christmas and

a happy New Year!"

World War II Workshop

After being transported back to the London blitz in assembly, Year 6 then enjoyed doing a whole day of activities about the history of World War II and how it affected lives on the 'home front'. They learnt about: rationing, evacuation, air raid shelters and gas masks.

Christmas Celebrations

Lots of events took place this year to help celebrate Christmas:

The infants performed the nativity play Present for a Baby.

The juniors sang beautifully in a traditional carol service at Holy Trinity Church and to the residents of Woodclough sheltered housing scheme.

A special 'tea with Santa' evening took place for Reception and Year 1.

Year 2 visited Touchstones to take part in a workshop about Victorian Christmases, making traditional cards and Father Christmas peg dolls.

The School Council created and sold: reindeer dust, a Christmas-themed activity book and raffle tickets to win a cuddly snowman.

The whole school kindly donated toys and gifts to send off in shoe boxes as presents to children in Eastern Europe.

Many thanks to all those who made

the festivities so exciting

and successful!