Reception - Free Uniform and photograph!

We still have a few pupil places left for our Reception class. We offer superb facilities and talented, caring staff – your child will be happy and safe. What’s more, every child joining Reception this September gets a free Grangetown sweatshirt, jumper or polo shirt (your choice), plus a free framed photograph to be taken on their first day in Reception – a fantastic souvenir of a special day! Please contact the school office if you’d like a place for your child – but act quickly because it’s first come, first served!

Grease! Don’t miss it!

Our Drama club present Grease the Musical, today at 6.30pm. This show is now a complete sell out! Mr McAnaney says:  I watched a full run-through on Friday evening, and it was brilliant! There’ll be a full report, plus photos, in our next Newsletter (to be published on 22 July).

Holy Island Adventure

On Monday 28^th June Year 5 made a very special journey to visit the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. After a two hour journey we arrived and made our way to the Priory where the children completed an activity challenge and performed short plays which they had written themselves about the life of St Cuthbert. The weather was in our favour and packed lunches were enjoyed, then we visited the gift shop (lots of gifts for mums were lovingly chosen and lots of swords and axes were purchased by the boys!). Finally we visited the ‘Lindisfarne Centre Museum’ where the children watched a film about the history of the island and the Viking raids, - this led to lots of role-play, involving swords and axes! The children saw the Lindisfarne Gospels Exhibition, did wax rubbings and played some of the games that would have been enjoyed by Viking families. If you would like to see more please come into school to see our display, watch our plays and talk to the children about their experience. By Mrs Collins

Molto Gustoso!

As part of our Italy topic we have created an Italian restaurant.  In group time the Reception children got together and wrote about it: Everyone tried some and we all liked it.  We had peppers, tomatoes and cheese on our pizza and we baked it in the oven.  The pizza was very tasty and delicious.  We served our pizza in our own restaurant on the veranda; we have named it Frankie and Bennie’s.  Our restaurant also served spaghetti, “It was like eating worms,” said James.

The Uniform Vote!
Our School Council decided to look at the possibility of changing the colour of our uniform. They had discussions with their classmates, and found out that the current colour - grey - isn't very popular. At our recent 'parent consultation event'  the subject of uniform came up - the parents at that meeting liked the idea of a new colour. The current front runners are royal blue and red. So, soon, we will carry out a survey to find out the opinions and views of all parents and carers. As well as asking them what colour they'd prefer, the survey asks them for their ideas about other aspects of uniform - for example whether they'd like white polo shirts, and whether they'd like to get their uniforms from the local supermarket. We will also be asking the children what their views are, of course, and they'll be voting too!

Expert Cyclists!

Year 6 completed their cycling proficiency last week, working with Terry, Gillian and Alan. We had lots of fun. There were lots of things to do, including a test to see if we were road worthy and how to make a right and left turn onto the road. We played lots of fun games. One of the games was ‘knock-out’, where you had to go really slow around the cones without knocking over the cones or touching the ground with your foot. It was quite difficult, but fun! It was really good and now we will all be safe on the roads! By Jevvon Ridley Y6AM

World Cup Projects

This half-term, each class has adopted a World Cup country. Teachers have created lots of opportunities for the children to learn about the culture of that country, and to base many of their learning activities – in for example literacy and numeracy – upon activities related to their adopted country. For example, Reception have had great fun setting up their own Italian restaurant, and actually cooking their own pizza and pasta. All in all, a successful whole school project which we have all enjoyed.

Shock News - England win a match!!

We decided to show the England v Slovenia match on our big screen. Everyone dressed up in England colours, and we even had a penalty shoot-out at lunchtime – with the staff in goal! Our hall was decked out in all of the flags of the world cup countries, and we had hot dogs, pizza, cakes, drinks and face painting on offer. Everyone had a great time. Here’s a report from Jordan:
On Wednesday 23rd of June at 3:00 it all went mad!! The school went crazy when the England match was on. We had hotdogs, sweets juice - and Kelsey Jobling was selling scubys. There was face painting and lots of children were dressed up – I had a red and white wig on, it was hilarious! Everyone was having a great time. AND ENGLAND WON - COME ON!! They won 1-0. Jordan Thompson Y6LM

Building Aspirations!

We are keen to show all of our children that they can have high expectations for the future. With hard work, they can indeed ‘reach for the stars’. Recently year 6 had an ‘aspirations week’, during which they learned about the world of work. Here’s a report from Emily:
On Tuesday the 22^nd of June all of yr 6 went on a trip to Sunderland University for the day. We separated into two groups and went off and did about 5 lessons each. We did napkin folding, enterprising, travelling and tourism, senses, radio and media, French and you can not forget about our fabulous packed lunches!!! We had lots of fun and we learnt a lot of things that we did not know so now our brains are exploding with facts about lots of different subjects. By Emily Cobb Y6AM.

The Day we Danced at the Empire!
We were very lucky to be offered the chance to take part in the Sunderland Schools Dance Festival. As a late-entry, we didn’t have as long as other schools to prepare, but nevertheless we grabbed the opportunity! What an amazing experience this was, both for our 18 dancers and for the 70+ children, staff and parents who went along to watch. We hope this is the start of a new ‘tradition’ at Grangetown. Here’s a report from Kelsey: On Thursday 24^th June 2010 at 9:00 am we headed for the Empire: Tyler, Courtney, Ellie, Emma, Emily, Kelsey, Sophie, Jordan, Beth, Jevvon, Layton, Callum, Craig, Anthony, Katlyn, Brogan, Lauren. We all enjoyed being on the Empire Stage. We got told that the stage was tiny but when we got on the stage it was huge – much bigger than I thought. I felt really excited because it was my first time dancing on a big stage. I felt nervous to begin with but when we actually got onto the stage, we couldn’t really see anybody and I was concentrating on the dance. It was lovely that our friends and family could come to support us. It was fun and we got a big clap at the end. By Kelsey Y6LM

Our Friends from Newcastle!

Recently, Bridgewater Primary School football team visited us. Bridgewater is in Scotswood, Newcastle. The Head of Bridgewater used to be Deputy Head at Bedewell, Mr McAnaney’s old school. Callum writes: Last Friday, we were playing Bridgewater – it was a real mix up year 5 and year 6 boys and girls all on different sides. We had a great time. We won one match, drew one match and lost one match. It was fantastic and I can’t wait for a rematch at their school. Callum Ambler Y6LM

Maths on the Beach

Year 3 had a fantastic day on Friday 2nd July. The mathematical walk along Seaburn Beach helped us to recognise shapes, there were so many different shapes we didn’t have enough room to draw them all! We also collected data: we counted buses, lorries, motorbikes, dogs, boys and girls and recorded the results on a tally chart.  We had lots of fun trying to score lots of points then adding the totals together. We didn’t just do maths; we did a little bit of science too. We worked out what time it was by looking at the size of our shadows.

Grangetown Pupils in Handcuffs!
PC Hewitt came in to school to visit the year 6 children during aspire week. We were able to ask him questions about his job. He passed round his handcuffs and his truncheon and some people got to wear his knife proof vest and I was the only one who got to wear his handcuffs. It was really interesting! Mitchell Stevens Y6LM

We reach World Cup Semis!
Grangetown took part in a mini world cup held at Crowtree Leisure Centre (our country was the USA). We came second in our group and qualified to the semi finals. Then we were beaten 3-2 and unfortunately didn’t make it to the finals. All of the boys played excellently and were awarded certificates and a game each to play on their computers - this made us proud!  Goal scorer’s where: Layton Olsen (7), Keiron Reid (4) and Owen Spoors (1). I also won a trophy for having the best attitude - out of 64 players. Layton Olsen Y6LM

Outdoor stage takes shape!

CEED are working with us to construct an outdoor stage in our school grounds. The designs were put together by our year 4 children. We hope to hold outdoor concerts and plays. In fact, we think it would be a great idea to ‘launch’ the new stage with an outdoor concert and BBQ in September – what do you think?

Our Friends in China!

A group of children from years 4 & 5 are making friends with another group of children – 5000 miles away! We have established a link with Shuiguohu Primary School, in Wuhan. Ten children from Shuiguohu are making friends with ten Grangetown children. They will learn about each others lives, about school, family, hobbies and so on. The whole school will learn about the project, through regular updates in assembly and in class.

Farewells and Welcomes
At the end of this term, 3 staff are moving on from Grangetown: Miss Smith (Nursery), Miss Magnay (year 1) and Mrs Bewick (year 3). I know you will join me in wishing them well for the future. We welcome several new staff: Victoria Holt (Nursery), Natalie Johnson (Year 1), Nicola Grainger (Year 2) and Kayleigh Heddle (Year 4). I know you will join me in giving a warm welcome in September to Miss Holt, Miss Johnson, Miss Grainger and Miss Heddle. We also say goodbye and good luck to our caretaker Mr Foster, who retires after 13 years at Grangetown. We have recently appointed a new Site Supervisor/Caretaker – David Craggs will join us in late-August. We will have a superb team of teachers and Teaching Assistants in September (see the next article), and this will benefit all children enormously. We had 150 applications for our teacher vacancies, which just goes to show how many people want to work in our fantastic school! We had 25 applications for the Site Supervisor/Caretaker position - Mr Craggs is very experienced at site management and will help to ensure that our beautiful building and site is always safe, secure, tidy and well-maintained.

Classes for September
(note: TA means Teaching Assistant)
· Early Years (Nursery & Reception): Miss Booth, Miss Holt, Miss Hough (TAs: Mrs Christie & Mrs Dobson)
· Year 1: Miss Johnson (TA is Mrs Appleton)
· Year 2: Miss Grainger (Mrs Cole will also teach a large group of yr 2 children every morning, and the TA is Mrs Napier)
· Year 3: Miss McLoughlin (TA is Miss McBeth)
· Year 4: Miss Heddle (TA is Mrs Dawson)
· Year 5: Mrs Collins (Mrs Miller will also be teaching a large group of year 5 children, every morning)
· Year 6: Mrs Millican (TA for years 5 & 6 is Mr Newby).

Dates for your diary



Fri 23 July. End of term
Wed 8 September. School reopens for the start of Autumn Term.

Also, see the What's On section of our website for a comprehensive and up to date listing of events and activities.
www.grangetown.sunderland.sch.uk