Let the Countdown Begin
Date: 27th Nov 2021 @ 7:06am
It has been several weeks since our last blog and we have been so busy that I barely know where to begin (hence why I have been putting off writing it!!) We have enjoyed being able to move freely between tables and year groups and have made the most of our newfound freedom despite having a sense that we could, any day, go back to year groups being temporarily 'isolated' again. Club continues to grow in numbers (especially breakfast club) but, thanks to everyone's patience and excellent behaviour, we managed to have every child fed and watered before the start of school!! We also need to say a HUGE thank you to one of our year 1 children for the kind donation of superhero toys that have kept children entertained no end!
We started off October with 'Space Week' where children had the opportunity to decorate rocket shaped biscuits (or Peppa 'space' Pig biscuits when we ran out of rockets!!), make beautiful crafted stars, played with moon sand, created aliens and rockets and, most importantly, spent a whole night up to their ears in galactic slime which was well received by all the children (although I don't think the same can be said for staff and parents!)
An evening of painting brought out some hidden talents of one of our year 5 children who decided to paint staff portraits capturing every detail. We were so impressed that the portraits spent several weeks on display in the school hall before being moved to our S4YC room for safe keeping.
As we approached Autumn, we focused on a number of Autumn related arts and crafts including woodland masks, autumn whirligigs owls and pumpkins before following schools lead and enjoying an early Halloween culminating in a rather chaotic but enjoyable party filled with pumpkins, masks, cakes, dressing up, trick or treat and prizes.
For logistical reasons half term holiday club moved over to Whitby Heath this year and, before we knew it, the holidays were over and we were back at Woodlands celebrating Day of the Dead, Diwali and Bonfire night.
The week that followed was one of remembrance where we spoke about fallen soldiers and created several poppy inspired masterpieces including a collaborative piece of fabric art. This week was aptly followed with a 'kindness' theme where we explored what it is to be kind and a number of issues relating to bullying.
Mid-November saw the return of Pudsey Bear and we are thrilled to be able to say that we raised £84 for Children in Need thanks to everyone who entered the Pudsey Raffle. We had great fun wearing our PJs on the Friday (if you have never been to work in your PJs I would highly recommend it), made masks, took part in a scavenger hunt, covered apples (and ourselves) in chocolate and sprinkles and took part in a hugely successful colouring competition. Realising it would be far too difficult to choose a winner we decided to put it to the public vote (thanks to Facebook) and two very worthy winners are in the process of receiving their prizes and a certificate. To avoid too much disappointment prizes will also be awarded to every person who took the time to enter.
Last week took on a Thanksgiving theme where children were able to reflect on things to be thankful for. This year's thankful tree has a few additions to previous years with children wanting to say thank you for each other, vaccinations, family, and teachers.
In addition to all the lovely activities mentioned above we continue to run 3 popular sports courses after school for our infant children with the addition of 2 junior sports courses at the end of the week. We now have some fabulous new sports coaches on board too so anticipate that these courses will continue into the new year.
As we move into December, we can't wait to get stuck into some sparkly Christmas arts and crafts with a Christmas party in pipeline for the last week of term (more details to follow). In the meantime, stay warm, stay safe and let the countdown to Christmas begin!!!