It was a busy day back at school following the half term break. The day started on a somber note as Mr B broke the news to the children in the KS1 assembly that one of the school chickens, Cinnamon, had sadly died in the night of natural causes. He explained how the life span of chickens is shorter than that of humans and that, as a chicken of nearly six years old who had ceased to lay for some time, Cinnamon had led a long and happy life. He gave the opportunity for the children to share their happy memories of Cinnamon with each other and reminded them of who they could talk to if the news of her death evoked upsetting emotions.
The assembly soon moved on to much happier news as the children in KS1 celebrated their latest ‘Reading Champions’! Mr B was assisted by the teaching assistants to present bronze, silver, gold and platinum badges before presenting some children with the very first ‘Ultimate Reading Champions’ medals infront of proud parents and family members! Well done to all of the children who took part in the assembly for their wonderful reading efforts at home!
Later in the morning, in the KS2 assembly, Mr B again shared the news of Cinnamon’s death before focusing on the political events of the week by explaining about the general election taking place on Thursday. The children thought about various democratic processes they were aware of before Mr B talked about the major parties running in the election, their leaders and some of the key issues that formed part of the election debate. At the end of the assembly Mr B felt a bit like David Dimbleby as he answered questions from the children covering queries about hung parliaments, the policies on education and Brexit!
Meanwhile, in Years One and Two, the children continued to work around the theme of the election by thinking about their own imaginary manifestos. They shared key policies they would implement, particularly within school, and shared them by trying to use persuasive and emotive vocabulary.
In the afternoon the children in Willow had an active PE lesson where they developed their dodgeball skills in the downstairs hall.