Latest News

• St Andrew's Day

  Fri 30 Nov 2018 Mr Pardoe
  Happy St Andrew's Day!
  
  This morning we had a fantastic assembly led by Miss Law and the 2 house captains of St Andrew's House - Harry Stokes and Joe Wells - along with some other Year 6 children who provided their acting and dancing skills. They all did a super job of explaining to us all about why St Andrew's Day is so important and even gave every class a card to celebrate this special day.
  
  Well done everyone!

  

• Tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying

  Fri 23 Nov 2018 Mr Pardoe

  On Wednesday evening, staff received further training on how to deal with homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in school. As part of a nationwide campaign in schools, Stonewall are committed to ensuring that all schools in England are free from homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying so that all young people can be themselves without living in fear. We whole-heartedly agree with the ethos behind this campaign and want to make sure that Oldswinford is a school community where all children are fully accepted without exception.

  We are proud to be a Stonewall School Champion!

  

• Fair Trade Assembly

  Fri 23 Nov 2018 Mr Pardoe
  We had a fantastic assembly this morning from the children in the Global Neighbours group, led my Miss Tait. They did a super job of explaining to us all about the importance of buying and using Fair Trade products in order to support farmers around the world.
  
  The Global Neighbours will be busy making gingerbread men to sell at the Christmas Fayre, so make sure you visit them and taste one of their freshly baked delights made with fair trade products!

• Anti-Bullying Week

  Fri 16 Nov 2018 Mr Pardoe
  It has been such a fantastic day in school today as we have celebrated the end to our Anti-Bullying week dressed as super heroes. It has been lovely to see the effort everyone has gone to - both children and staff! (We’ll try and get a snap of Mr Hicklin channelling his turtle power to share with you all!) A very big thank you to everyone involved for providing such brilliant costumes.
  
  The children have all been busy throughout the day completing various activities around school to encourage them to: “Be a Buddy - not a bully!” There have been children playing parachute games celebrating everyone’s differences and even children leaping over hurdles to help them get over hurtful comments.
  
  Thank you to everyone who sent in donations for the cake sale - I know it was a huge success - we’ll make sure we let you know how much was raised next week, after the money has been counted up.
  
  A special thanks to Miss Russon for organising such an action-packed and successful day - you truly are a Wonder Woman!
  
  Enjoy the weekend everyone and make sure you keep an eye out for our own resident superhero: Buddy!
  
  Mr Pardoe

• School Welly Disco

  Thu 15 Nov 2018 Mr Pardoe

  Thank you to the PTA for organising 2 brilliant discos on Friday night. Both KS1 and KS2 were kept well entertained and danced the night away to a range of favourites and some more questionable 'tunes' played by the DJs. It was lovely to see the younger children dancing along to some old classics such as the Conga, whilst the older children enjoyed some chart hits as well as singing their hearts out to songs from The Greatest Showman soundtrack. I know 'Baby Shark' was belted out in both halls too - I think it's quickly becoming a firm favourite for children of any age!

  Thanks again to all of the volunteers who helped out during the evening - it was a brilliantly organised event, enjoyed by all.

   

• Anti-Bullying Week

  Mon 12 Nov 2018 Mrs Jo Seker

  The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors did an amazing job this morning, leading our whole school assembly to kick-start anti-bullying week. Having been trained and accredited by the Diana Award, the ambassadors are exemplary leaders in the school.

   

  Today's assembly was engaging and delivered with confidence. They have planned a host of activities for the school this week with the campaign, "Don't be a bully, be a buddy!" and are looking forward to seeing all the children (and staff!) dressed up as superheroes on Friday.

   

   

   

  Mr Jukes, our safeguarding governor attended the assembly and afterwards praised the children in leading the way and encouraging others to be courageous and respectful, using their powers for good.

   

  Thank you Miss Russon for supporting the group - you must be so proud of what they're achieving!

   

  Head over to their webpage which is full of more information and pictures:

   

  http://www.oldswinford.dudley.sch.uk/anti-bullying-ambassadors/ 

   

  Below, is a copy of the kindness challenge that was also shared today. What a great idea!

   

  

• Library Competition Winner!

  Mon 12 Nov 2018 Mrs Jo Seker

  Please see below, a report from Sammy in Y6 who was one of our lucky winners in the library competition to design a book cover and as such, had a wonderful day out over half term, meeting some famous authors. Well done Sammy and thank you for the great report.

   

  I'm Sammy in Yr. 6. Before half-term there was a competition at school to design a new book cover for books by Chris Riddell, Jacqueline Wilson and Julia Donaldson. I decided to do “The Highway Rat” by Julia Donaldson and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners. The prize was two tickets to meet one of the authors at the Birmingham Conservatoire. The tickets were to watch a talk and to get one of their books signed. My tickets were for Chris Riddell. I had never actually read one of his books so I read “Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright” before we went and I really enjoyed it.
  
  I went to meet Chris Riddell on Saturday 3rd November at the Conservatoire. I watched him talk about his passion for writing and love of art. His talk was about his book “Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony” and each time he mentioned a pretend composer (for example Haydn Seek) a string quartet played a piece of music by the real composer. While this was happening, he illustrated some of the characters from his book. After the show, I got my book signed by him and I had chat with him. He was very funny too.

  

• A special remembrance

  Sun 11 Nov 2018 Charlotte, Year 6

  On Friday the 9^th November, two days before Armistice Day, at Oldswinford Church Of England Primary School the annual remembrance assembly took place. This year the anniversary was extra special because it was the centenary, so of course the annual service had to be even better than usual.

  At ten past nine the whole school gathered in the upper school hall, including some governors and all the staff. Mrs Seker, the acting Head, led the service which had been rehearsed the day before.

  The service started with Mrs Seker saying a short introduction explaining why the school had gathered. The acting head also said thank you to those who had made poppies at home upon request to put around the wooden display that had carved into it the names of the soldiers who were Oldswinford students who had fought in the war; she exclaimed that it now looked amazing. She also said two white poppies made by a family in the school would be placed beside a new plaque below the display that would represent peace that was to be put up in the near future.

  Year 2 then read an excellent acrostic poem all about remembrance. The school was then shown some fantastic poppy wreaths made by year one and some brilliant poppy pictures painted by Reception, who also explained that they had painted the pictures with recycled bottle tops!

  Mrs Seker then explained what would happen in the two minute silence. The Last Post signalled for the school to stand up and after it ended the school had the annual two minute silence in which they could reflect on how all the soldiers in World War One gave their lives to make everybody`s experiences better for today and tomorrow. This was then followed by Tom from Year 5 playing the national anthem expertly on the euphonium and Annabel from Year 3 playing Imagine by John Lennon on the keyboard, during which the school stayed standing. The children and staff then sang the same song that Annabel had just played, this was accompanied by Mr Hicklin on the guitar and the very talented Mrs Smith on the piano. This respectful song was perfectly fitting for the service.

  Seated again, the gathering then watched a short video of footage of some of the animals which were involved in World War One. This was enjoyed especially by KS1 who were heard saying ``That`s so cute!!” This set the scene for KS2`s part in the assembly which was to be very interesting.

  This started with a few students from Year 4 telling the school some informative information about the role of pigeons in World War One and Year 5 showing them some awesome poppy pictures. Year 5 explained that they had handmade the poppies and placed them carefully to show silhouettes of a soldier and a cross! Year 6 students then did a piece about glow worms; this included a student reading out a letter written by a civilian to her fiancé, a soldier during the war that was supposedly read in the darkness by the soldier using the glow worms. Year three then sang a song called 'A wish for peace' very well; this was also accompanied by Mrs Smith.

  Next the visionaries, a group of students who are spreading the school vision throughout the school and community, spoke on their newly planted poppy remembrance garden. This was followed by two siblings from the school showing some artefacts that were owned by their Great Grandad, a stretcher carrier in the war.

  The service was ended by a special prayer and a short conclusion by Mrs Seker.

  Overall the assembly touched the whole school and kept those heroes from the war alive in their hearts. As everyone’s lives carry on, this momentous service will always be remembered as a tribute to those who died for world peace.

  

• Food, glorious food!

  Thu 08 Nov 2018

  We were thrilled with the turnout of parents and carers yesterday, who came to the hall in their droves at school pick-up time to sample some of the school dinners that are available each day.

  Lyn, our fantastic cook, had worked hard to provide a wide variety of food for everyone to sample, and staff got stuck in helping to serve. I think everyone would agree that it was certainly delicious!

  As the saying goes "There's no such thing as a free lunch"! The event was organised in order to encourage more of our parents to consider sending their children for a school dinner each day.

• Catching Up!

  Mon 05 Nov 2018 Mrs Jo Seker

  I hope you have all had a wonderful half term break. It was very much needed by children and staff alike after such a long half term. The final week before we broke up was so busy. Both Year 4 classes treated us to two fantastic class assemblies- our first of the year. They set the bar very high! We also had our first praise assemblies of the year where children from each class were surprised with praise awards from their teachers.

   

  So many beautiful and creative poppies have flooded in too; I can only imagine how many more will arrive tomorrow! Our display is going to look stunning. Don't forget, you will also be able to purchase poppies and other remembrance goods in school all week.

   

  Today, the staff have been back in school for an INSET day. We joined with our colleagues from Pedmore CE Primary and Church of the Ascension CE Primary to enjoy a very engaging day's training delivered by Jonathon Lear. He inspired us with some exciting ideas for delivering the curriculum. Just ask your teachers about monkeys and Little Miss Sunshine and see what they have to say!

   

  We are looking forward to welcoming you all back to school tomorrow. May I also take this opportunity to welcome Mrs Melia in Reception.....no, not a new member of staff, it is in fact Miss Cross who got married during half term. Congratulations Mrs Melia- we wish you and Mr Melia love, luck and happiness!