Our KS1 children were filled with wonder as Year 1/2 took part in our Easter Tales workshop with a Storyteller!
This session was a beautiful, simple Easter story, helping our younger learners grasp the “why” behind the bank holiday weekend. Using special artefacts, we explored the key events of Holy Week in a way that truly sparked their imaginations.
The session ended with our pupils showed amazing reflection and curiosity about what hope and new life mean.
Our Year 1 and 2 pupils had an incredible time this week diving into History and RE during our Venerable Bede Workshop! It was a day filled with imagination, monastic robes, and some very interesting hairstyles.
Highlights from the Day:
Life Before the Monastery: Some of our children stepped into the shoes of young Anglo-Saxons. They explored what life was like for Bede before the age of seven, imagining his world before he began his journey at the monastery.
Monastic Makeovers: Others took on a more solemn role, dressing up as monks in their traditional habits and cowls.
Creative Crafts: The children got hands-on by making their very own miniature monks, complete with authentic outfits and—the star of the show—the iconic tonsure hairdos!
We are so proud of how Classes 5 and 6 engaged with our local history ans current RE topic. The level of curiosity and creativity was truly inspiring!
What’s Next?
The excitement isn’t over yet! We can’t wait for Class 7 to have their turn at this exciting workshop next week. Get ready to travel back to the 7th century!
Our Year 1/2 classrooms were buzzing with creativity this week as we welcomed the team from Open Zone for a hands-on workshop in the world of digital animation. The children stepped into the roles of directors, animators, and coders, discovering that with a little bit of technology, they can bring almost anything to life!
The session began with the magic of ChatterKids, where the children learned how to give a voice to their favorite teddy bears and drawings. By simply drawing a line for a mouth and recording their own voices, they saw firsthand how digital tools can transform a static image into a talking character.
As their confidence grew, so did their stories. Using Puppet Pals, the children moved into the world of digital puppetry. They experimented with:
The highlight for many was the introduction to ScratchJr. This wasn’t just about moving pictures; it was the children’s first foray into the world of computational thinking. By snapping together colorful coding blocks, they learned how to “program” their characters to move, jump, and interact.
It was wonderful to see the resilience on display as the children “debugged” their code—figuring out exactly which block was needed to make their character finish a race or perform a dance.
The best part? The creative journey doesn’t have to end at the school gates. The apps used—ChatterKids, Puppet Pals, and ScratchJr—are all free to download on most tablets and iPads.
We encourage you to ask your children to show you what they’ve learned. Whether it’s making a piece of fruit talk or coding a mini-adventure, the skills they practiced today are the building blocks of the digital future.
This week we have been linking our science learning with our literacy texts “How to Care for Baby Chicks” and “The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.”
The children explored how birds build and care for their nests. We were very lucky to look closely at a real bird’s nest found in our school grounds, discussing what materials birds might use and why their nests need to be strong and safe.
Using what we had learned, the children worked together to plan and design their own bird nests. They collected natural materials from outside and also used art resources to carefully build a nest that would keep baby chicks safe.
There were some fantastic discussions about:
• which materials would be strongest
• how birds keep their eggs warm
• how to protect a nest from the weather
Tomorrow we will test our nests to see if they can withstand wind and rain — just like a real nest would need to!
The children have shown brilliant teamwork, creativity and scientific thinking. We can’t wait to see which nests survive our weather test!
Our Year 1 and 2 children have been exploring primary and secondary colours. Today, we investigated paint mixing and made predictions about what would happen when two primary colours were combined. The children took great care with their painting, experimenting thoughtfully and enjoying the magic of new colours appearing on their palettes. This learning will continue throughout the week as we explore how to create different shades and tints by adding white or black.
What an incredible day we’ve had celebrating World Book Day at West Boldon Primary! Our school has been filled with amazing characters from the wonderful world of books, and we have been blown away by the creativity and effort that has gone into the costumes. The children – and staff! – all look absolutely fantastic. From classic storybook characters to modern favourites, it has truly brought our love of reading to life across the school.
As part of today’s fantastic World Book Day celebrations, Mandy and her amazing catering team also created a truly magical Alice in Wonderland-themed lunch for all of our children! The dining hall was transformed into a wonderful Wonderland feast, and the food looked absolutely unbelievable. From the creative presentation to the delicious treats on offer, it was a lunchtime our children will definitely remember!
In the afternoon, celebrations moved outdoors to our fantastic fire pit area, where the children enjoyed a truly special reading experience. Wrapped up in the fresh air, they toasted marshmallows over the fire while chatting with friends about their favourite stories and characters.
The children also had the chance to relax with a delicious hot chocolate while spending time reading their books together — the perfect way to celebrate a day dedicated to the joy of reading.
Days like today are a brilliant reminder of just how important reading is. Reading opens the door to imagination, builds vocabulary, develops creativity and allows children to explore new worlds, ideas and adventures. Encouraging a love of books at a young age helps set children up with skills that will benefit them for life.
A huge well done to everyone for making such a fantastic effort today, and thank you to our families for helping create such brilliant costumes. We hope today inspires even more children to pick up a book and discover their next great story!
The children in Class 5 put their oracy skills into action during a thoughtful discussion and debate this week. The class explored the importance of each of the Ten Commandments and worked together to decide which they felt were the most important.
Pupils worked in small groups to share their opinions, listen carefully to the views of others and respectfully challenge different ideas. They showed fantastic communication skills as they explained their reasoning, justified their choices and considered different perspectives.
Once each group had discussed their ideas, the class came together to debate and agree on an order of importance. It was wonderful to see the children thinking deeply, supporting their arguments with clear reasoning and demonstrating such maturity in their discussions.
Activities like this help to develop confidence in speaking, active listening and critical thinking — all key skills that support learning across the curriculum.
Well done Class 5 for such thoughtful and respectful debating!
Our Year 1/2 children have been discovering the lives of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria, and King Charles. They loved finding out what makes a king or queen special, the important jobs they do, and how they help people in the community.
It was wonderful to see their curiosity and thoughtful ideas about kindness, leadership, and responsibility – just like real-life royals!
What a way to end the half-term! We had an amazing last day of half-term celebrating our Ofsted Party Day, and the children absolutely loved it!
The morning began with our usual Star of the Week Golden Coin Celebration Assembly, where it was fantastic to celebrate all the brilliant achievements and positive choices across school
After that, the children enjoyed a lovely, relaxed morning watching a film, followed by Bag Day lunch, kindly provided by Mandy and her wonderful team
The afternoon was full of smiles, laughter and energy with fun games and activities, topped off with buffet snacks generously donated by our parents — thank you so much for your continued support
A perfect end to a fantastic half-term and a well-deserved celebration for our amazing children.
What a fantastic day of learning and fun! The Year 1/2 children took part in a wide range of exciting, hands-on maths activities, exploring numbers through games, problem-solving and teamwork.
There were lots of smiles, brilliant thinking and wonderful enthusiasm as the children worked together to complete challenges and show off their growing confidence with numbers. A great day celebrating that maths can be fun, engaging and for everyone!
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