Children from Year 4, 5 & 6 visited Dance City in Newcastle to watch Tees Valley Dance perform Kick Off. Using football as its inspiration Kick off was a light-hearted piece about exploring the games played by two friends. Injuries, arguments, winners, losers, rules and tactics were all incorporated within the dance performance. After the show the children took part in a workshop with the choreographer of the show and members of the dance group. They got the opportunity to perform dance routines from the show and ask lots of questions about the performance.

The children are really looking forward to working with Tees Valley Dance again when they visit school at the end of the month.

Pupils in Key Stage 2 took part in the Fab Food Funhouse Roadshow to raise awareness of healthy eating. The children were spit into teams and completed physical activity challenges, took part in various games and answered questions about healthy food choices to score points for their team. A fun afternoon was had by all!!!

Year 4, 5 and 6 visited the Great North Museum to look closely at the Ancient Egyptian Exhibits housed within the museum. They studied the different art work and sketched the designs which they found interesting. These sketches were then used to create an Ancient Egyptian wall art.

Children sketching their designs.

Year 4 children visited Heworth Grange Comprehensive School to take part in a Multi Skills Challenge on Tuesday 26th February. This involved competing against other schools in a variety of P.E activities such as throwing, catching, dribbling and balancing skills. Well done everyone for completing the tasks and taking part in the games.

Children taking part in the tasks!

This week our pupils have been performing their Christmas Shows and they have all been a great success.

There are certainly some budding stars in the making!

Reception Class performed 'Jesus in a Manger' a traditional nativity play, their acting and singing was tremendous!

Year 1 and Year 2 performed 'A Creepy Crawly Christmas' a thoroughly entertaining show along with brilliant acting and singing from all of the children!

Year 3 performed 'A Tale of two Birthdays'. This tale had action, adventure, magical characters, lots of laughs along with a superb performance from all the children!

Year 4 & 5 performed 'Dick Whittington and his Cat' a popular and well-loved story about Dick, who was down on his luck and decided to head for the city of London to see if the streets were really paved with gold. The show had catchy songs, lots of laughs and of course a 'happy ever after' ending. Providing a great recipe for a thoroughly entertaining show along with fantastic acting and singing from all of the children.

Year 6 performed 'Hansel and Gretal an adaptation of the popular fairytale. Hansel was imprisoned while Gretal 'force fed' him in order to, as the old witch put it 'fatten him up for the Christmas pot! It was great fun to watch with its witty script, catchy songs and some real 'character acting' from the children.

Children rehearsing for their shows!

This term, Year 4 pupils have been working with artist Susan Warlock to create some wonderful 2D canvas paintings based on the topic of space. Pupils drew what they imagined they could see outside of a spaceship. These drawings were then transferred to canvas and pupils used acrylic, 'glow in the dark' and glitter paints. Andrew Adams said, "We learnt how to mix paints and create nice colours."

Children using acrylic, 'glow in the dark' and glitter paints!

Children in Year 4 and Year 5 visited the Centre for Life where they took park in an Astronaut Workshop which explored the problems faced by astronauts as they live and work in space. They also visited the planetarium where they explored the night sky and its constellations, travelled through the solar system and took a closer look at the moon and found out where shooting stars come from!! They also learnt about night and day, phases of the moon and why years are different lengths on other planets.

Children having fun taking part in the workshop.

Year 4 and Year 5 have been working for many weeks on the Newsreel Project and the day of filming finally arrived on the 12th November. Each of the production company had responsibility for their own Space related newsreel This has involved a lot of hard work for each and every member of the team in Pre-production by the creation of the scripts , rehearsal and practising. In addition the children were responsible for the collection and creation of the prop's which were going to be used. The day of the filming was a very enjoyable experience for all the children. Most were able to take on and perform different roles from being the camera person to sound operator, director and even Boom operator. All of our actors and actresses were outstanding (I can see Oscars from some in the future!) and were able to use some green screen technology. The final part of the day saw each Production team helping to edit the film and by adding in some sound and special effects. Most were able to see a rough cut of their final Newsreel by the end of the day. Overall the project was a great success as the children have a good understanding of the whole film making process. We are now looking forward to seeing the final versions in all of their glory as a screening at the Tyneside Cinemais being arranged.

Children working alongside the Newsreel team!!

Every year Film Education organises a nationwide film festival called National Schools Film Week (NSFW) which takes place this year on 19th-23rd October. National Schools Film Week is the biggest event of its kind in the world for young people, it is a unique festival which provides schools across the UK with free trips to the cinema with the aim of exposing children to a wide range of films. This years theme is Creativity and Diversity and our Key Stage 2 children have had the opportunity to take part. They have visited Sunderland Empire Cinema and The Customs House, South Shields where they have enjoyed watching a film.

Children in Year 4 and Year 5 visited Gateshead CLC on Thursday where they got the opportunity to work alongside well known children's author Shoo Rayner. Shoo has written over 100 children's books such as Little Horrors, Dark Claw and Ricky Rocket. During the workshop Shoo explained to the children how he gets his inspiration for his stories then, went on to suggests ways to plan stories before you begin to write them. Shoo then encouraged the children to take part in planning a story with him using drawings and key words. The children had a fantastic time sharing their thoughts and ideas freely and generating some fantastic ideas for their story thus, enabling them to produce a plan with a beginning, middle and end.

Children working alongside Shoo sharing their thoughts and ideas for their story plan!