Wilson Way

Year 3 Englefield Countryside Day Year 3 were once again lucky enough to enjoy a day out at the Englefield Countryside Day. They were lucky enough to go to the Falconry where they saw Hawks, Owls and Eagles, one of which had a huge wingspan They had a look at all the Steam Engines and the Sawmill and helped to carry the wood to build a hut in the woods. All the children ham-mered in a nail to help! On the farm they watched a man sheep shear-ing and were also given the chance to “milk” cows and goats and were very excited to see a Ferret Race. Whilst in the house they saw antiques and pictures - and were told a story

about a picture by John Constable who had painted cows in front of Englefield House but Richard Benyon (the owner at the time) wanted deer to be painted in-stead because he thought they were posher. John Constable painted out the cows roughly because he didn’t like Mr Benyon’s attitude and if you looked care-fully you could just about see the cows.

Year 5 visit Living Rainforest

On Tuesday 17th June, Year 5 visited the Living

Rainforest near Newbury. When they arrived

they were met by the tour guide who told them

what they could and couldn't do in the Rainfor-

est.

The children were split into 2 groups for the day,

they went into the Rainforest where it was very

hot and went round seeing toucans, a crocodile, a Bird-Eating Tarantula, a

Cobra and Monkeys.

In the lake they saw Stingrays, Turtles and a Scorpion.

The children were shown a banana plant where they leant that the huge

leaves of the plant will split themselves in two so that the wind will blow

through the leaves and not knock it over. They also saw a swiss cheese plant

and a black magic plant which had massive leaves with tiny hairs on them to

make it waterproof.

After lunch the children had another walk around searching for all their fa-

vourite plants and animals and they also found a piranha fish, a hissing cock-

roach and a chameleon, but they couldn’t find the sloth because it was hid-

ing.

Ju ly 2014 I ssue 6 : 2013/2014

Inside this issue:

Year 3 Englefield Countryside Day

1

Year 5 to Living Rainforest

1

Planetarium for KS2 2

Safer Schools 2

Year 1 trip to Oxford 2

Gordon Brown Resi-dential Trip

2

Rights Respecting Schools

2

Adventure Dolphin 2

Bike It Breakfast 2

Staff Profile 3

Water Safety 3

Perform for KS1 & FS

3

Beat The Street 3

Father’s Day Tea 3

Year 6 to Dominos 4

Sports Day 4

PSA News 4

Year 2 to Reading Museum

4

Please note: We will return to

school after the

Summer Holidays on

Friday 5th September

2014

On Wednesday May 21st the mo-

bile planetarium

from Winchester Science Centre

visited the school. The planetarium is

inflatable and can take one class for

each session.

Each of the KS2 classes had the

opportunity to visit the planetarium and experience a sci-ence based show. Year 3 were taken on Earth's Wild ride

where they found out about eclipses, the ice age, Earth's

water cycle and the differences between the Earth and Moon. As part of the show they were taken on a roller-

coaster-like ride through canyons of raging rivers and hot flowing lava. Year 5 took a trip Back to the Moon: For

Good which recaps former Moon exploration, explains the challenges involved and then showcases the different

teams' work. It focused on specific issues e.g. weight

and how to travel across the lunar surface. Finally Year 4 and 6 took a live tour of the night sky above Reading,

picking out visible planets, our Moon, galaxy and nebu-lae. The show included a flight out to see the whole solar

system and to visit the visible planets.

Planetarium for KS2

Page 2 Wilson Way

Safer Schools - cont’d ……… On 20th May PCSO Kelly Jones held a session with Year 5 on

peer pressure. She also held a transition session with Year 6 to

help prepare them for secondary school as she is also working

with the secondary schools in the transition period and she

spoke to the children in Year 6 about peer pressure and conse-

quences of crime.

Rights Respecting Schools

We are working as a school to develop an under-

standing of rights and responsibilities.

We are working towards the UNICEF Rights Respect-

ing Schools Award.

The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) recog-

nises achievement in putting the United Nations Con-

vention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart

of a school's planning, policies, practice and ethos. A

rights-respecting school not only teaches about chil-

dren's rights but also models rights and respect in all

its relationships: between teachers / adults and pu-

pils, between adults and between pupils.

Bike It Breakfast

On Tuesday 20th May, Ellie from

Sustrans came in at 8.00 am to

bring the children who rode their

bikes to school a breakfast and to

talk to them about cycle safety.

Years 5 and 6 to Adventure Dolphin

The children that did not go to Gordon Brown Week had

the opportunity to go to Adventure Dolphin in Pangbourne

on Wednesday 25th June. They went on the train from

Reading West Station and whilst there they took part in

orienteering and canoeing with some of the children jump-

ing in the river!!

Year 1 visit Oxford Natural History Museum

On Tuesday 1st July, Year 1 had a

fantastic day out on their trip to The

Natural History Museum in Oxford.

They were able to look at all of the

dinosaur skeletons, including a T-rex,

iguanodon and triceratops. They also

got to hunt for fossils around the

museum and saw a real life beehive.

Their workshop involved looking at

how fossils are formed and they got to handle ammon-

ites, footprints and even fossilized poo! They finished

their day with lunch on the lawn outside surrounded by

the footprints of a megalosaurus in the grass. It really

was a terrific trip.

Years 5 and 6 to Gordon Brown Residential Week

The children enjoyed their week at Gordon Brown, which started on Monday 23rd with a tour of the rooms and the grounds. After dinner they looked at the sundial and enjoyed hot chocolate On Tuesday they tested their Robin Hood skills with Archery and then went pond dipping and mini beast hunting. They enjoyed a birthday on this day and also went to the tuck shop. Wednesday was canoeing day and they got very wet especially when they tried to stand up in the canoes. During the afternoon they went on the low ropes and after dinner went for a night walk.

After sleeping with all the doors open after the night walk, on Thursday they all woke up late and did some shelter building and fire light-ing. A fantastic week, they all enjoyed their turn at sleeping in the tents although it was a bit cold in the mornings!!

Page 3 Wilson Way

Staff Profile: This term we profile Miss

Brophy, our Year 2 An-

thony Browne Teacher

Place of Birth Bellshill, Scotland

Family Mum, Dad, and older Brother, Jamie

What do you like best about Wilson School?

The lovely staff and my little hardworkers

Where did you holiday in 2013?

Nowhere - I moved from Glasgow to Reading. Al-though went to see in the New Year in Brussels

If money was no object where would you go on holiday?

Hawaii

What are your hobbies?

Zumba and cooking

What is your ideal night out?

Movie Night and Pizza

What three things do you always have in the fridge?

Milk, chocolate and grapes

Favourite film? The Notebook

Favourite record Anything by One Direction

Favourite football team?

Glasgow Celtic

Favourite TV Pro-gramme

Made in Chelsea - love it!!

Favourite chocolate bar?

Cadburys Fruit & Nut

What was the last book you read?

The Great Gatsby - such a great read!

Name Linzi Brophy

Perform for Foundation Stage & KS1

On Friday 23rd May both Nursery

and Reception classes took part on a drama workshop run by PERFORM.

It was based upon the story of 'The

Enormous Turnip!' All the children were encaptured throughout and enjoyed acting out dif-

ferent parts of the story. The children played a variety of drama games including setting off to the story land! They

particularly enjoyed tricking the farmer from the story and

pretending to eat up all of his chocolate cake! On Tuesday 3rd June, Perform came in again to see all

the children in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. The children quickly engaged with the activities based on be-

ing under the sea. They thought about different sea ani-

mals and pretended to act them out, including starfish, crab and sharks. They also got ready to go under the wa-

ter, pretending to wear the correct deep sea outfits. When they were swimming around they had to avoid the scary

sea monster and try to find the special pearl. All the chil-dren were very enthusiastic and thoroughly enjoyed the

session...especially the ‘Smellyfish Jellyfish’ rap!

Water Safety On Wednesday 11th of June Year 2

had a special talk about water safety. Gary, who is a local lifeguard,

taught them the importance of stay-ing safe around water and what haz-

ards to look out for. He showed them different rescue

techniques and gave them advice on what to do if they ever found themselves in trouble whilst in the water.

Beat the Street Well done to everyone who

took part in Beat The Street,

Wilson School were a very

respectable No. 10 on the

Leaderboard. Congratulations

to Ethan in Year 2 who won a Lego prize for tapping so

many boxes and also to Eva in Year 1 who was in the top

50 “tappers” in Reading. All the children who took part

were given a certificate.

Father’s Day Tea

On Friday 13th June, the Fa-

ther’s of the Reception and

Year 1 children came to tea.

They had cakes with football

boots or shirts on the top and they were treated

to songs from the four classes and a performance

of Roar! From Glee Club.

Sports Day

Nursery Sports Day was on Tues-

day 8th July and they took part in

“Cat on a Bat”, “Bean Bag on the

Head” and running and jumping

races.

On Wednesday 9th the rest of the school had their

Sports Day on the field where they took part in ac-

tivities such as Egg & Spoon Race, Hoop A Loop,

Skipping, Treasure Hunt, Dribbling footballs, hur-

dles, targets and relay races.

The results were:

Yellow House 1190 points Green House 1100 points Blue House 1090 points Red House 1070 points

Page 4 Wilson Way

PSA News What a fantastic night everyone had who came along to the Live Band Night with Out of Order! On June 6th. The weather was great and the outside “terrace” was used to full capacity with all the children having a great time outside. Inside the adults were dancing like “crazy” and generally having a fantastic time. Look out for more

special nights organized by the PSA in the new academic year! Summer Fayre: What a fantastic afternoon we all had at the Summer Fayre. Because of the overnight rain, the Fayre was held in the downstairs of the North Building and the playground. There were many stalls such as the Despicable Me Tombola, Play Your Cards Right, Book Stall, Lucky Dip, Locked Box, Face Painting etc etc. Gardening Club had a stall with produce they had grown and raised some money to help with their club during the next academic year. Children from the Glee Club and some of the finalists from Wilson’s Got Talent all performed on the stage. Finn, the winner of Wilson’s Got Talent was lucky enough to get to talk to Paul Daniels who had come along to open the Fayre. He gave her some “magic advice”. A great afternoon for everyone and raising over £2,300 for the School Funds (which is a record!) Thank you to everyone who donated, bought raffle tickets and came along to the Fayre - you all helped to make it such a success.

Year 6 visit Domino’s The children from Year 6 had a special “after SATs” treat when they went along to Domino’s to see how their pizzas are made. They were introduced to a lady who told them all about Domino’s before they went into the kitchen and made their own pizzas. They could choose their toppings and watched as their pizzas went into the ovens. They were all given their own pizzas (and other goodies) to bring home.

Year 3 to Reading Museum On 3rd July Year 3 visited Reading Museum to learn all about Huntley & Palmers. The children were allowed to hold the objects and they watched a film about what it was like to work at Huntley & Palmers. They played a true or false game and used a treasure map to find lots of different places and figures relating to Huntley & Palmers. They looked at a lot of the old Huntley & Palmer tins and finished the day off with a look at the WW1 Exhibition. The children all had a brilliant time with lunch in the Forbury Gardens, had a look at the Lion, the Abbey Ruins and also enjoyed ice lollies in the sunshine.

Year 2 visit Reading Museum

On the 8th of July, Y2 visited Read-

ing Museum. They were very lucky

to book a seaside workshop that

taught them about the past. The

children enjoyed dressing up as

Victorians and also exploring sea-

side artefacts such as old postcards

and fossils. After the workshop, the children

looked around the rest of the museum and

learned about the history of Reading.

Football Crazy Children from Years 3 and 4 were cho-

sen to take part in a football competi-

tion at Madjeski Stadium on 3rd July

with 3 other primary schools. All the

teams played one another resulting in

each team playing 5 games in total. Our boys lost 1 but won the other 4 games convincingly. Unfortunately, the boys lost the final 4-1 and ended up

runners up but a fantastic achievement by the team.

Wilson Way Summer Extra

Grand Opening Day - School Council Charity Day

Every year the School Council have a Charity Day in aid of a

chosen charity. This year is was Dementia UK following their

workshop on the subject during the term.

This year the Charity Day was combined with a Grand Opening

Day for the Refurbishment of the School on Tuesday 22nd

July. This was a non-uniform day and children came dressed

ready for fun and games during the day.

The morning saw the children making flags and hats to celebrate

our new school.

The Playground was turned into a giant picnic area for lunch with

all the children eating at once and being served their picnic lunch

by the staff. Nursery children had a picnic on the field and en-

joyed time on the Bouncy Castle.

During the afternoon the children moved onto the field and started with an aerobics session

with Libby (who takes the Streetdance class). The children “warmed up” to Gangnam Style

and YMCA.

After this the children split up and went and did different activi-

ties which included Hockey, Parachute Games, Bouncy Castle and

Rounders. They also had a chance to do some Arts & Crafts and

make either an ice cream cone, a

bumblebee or a butterfly.

All the children and staff had a great day (although quite tir-

ing!!!) and we can now say that our school is officially open!!

There should be some pictures in the local papers in the next

week or so.

Disco Time!!!!

Friday 18th July was a very hot evening and

the school held both Discos for all the children

from Reception to Year 6.

The first Disco for Reception and KS1 children

took place at 5.45, the children had a fantastic

time and ended their disco by singing along to

“Let it Go” from Frozen which could be heard all down the road!

The second disco of the evening was for all the KS2 children. There was a lot of danc-

ing and fun and the Year 6 children especially enjoyed their last “Wilson Disco”.

Kwik Cricket Competition

As the sun blazed down over

Reading on Tuesday 17 June,

18 extremely excited children

accompanied by Mrs Tuckwell

and Vicki headed off to Read-

ing School to participate in a

district cricket competition. Wilson entered 2 teams

of both boys and girls from Years 3 - 6. Both teams

played some outstanding cricket, against tough com-

petition against 5 other Reading schools. As the

event progressed the players’ confidence grew tre-

mendously, they became more organized on the

pitch, made quicker informed decisions as well as

displaying improved technical skills.

Although both teams played extremely well, the all-

boys team came second in their league, resulting in

progression through to the plate finals where they

played E.P. Collier and English Matyrs convincingly

beating them both to become plate winners.

Best Results Ever!

This year our Y6 children have

achieved Wilson’s best ever KS2 re-

sults with 90% of the children achiev-

ing Level 4 or above in reading and

maths and 87% in writing!

In Y2 our children have maintained the

standard of results we had last year with 83% achieving Level

2b or above in reading, 72% in writing and 77% in maths.

Our reception have also achieved well with 65% achieving the

‘Good Level of Development’. (the national figure last year

for GLD was 52%)

We would like to thanks the staff and children for all their

hard work in achieving these amazing results!

Quad Kids Meeting 2014 20 excited children left Wilson at 8am on Tuesday 3

June, heading for an athletics competition at Palmer

Park.

This was an event of 2 parts; during the morning 10 pu-

pils from Years 3&4 competed whilst the Year 5&6 chil-

dren took notes on their feelings and achievements while

supporting them whole-heartedly. Following the lunch

break the children’s roles were reversed.

The morning session started with the long jump; closely

followed by the 400m race, which the children found

very exhausting. “You mean I have to run a whole lap?”

asked one with wide eyes and mouth aghast. They fin-

ished the event with the vortex howler throw (Javelin)

and a 50m sprint.

The afternoon began for Year 5&6 pupils with the vortex

howler. All of the competitors were very successful at

this event, their strength being greatly underestimated by

the sports leaders who had to take extremely quick eva-

sive action to avoid being hit. Next came the 75m sprint

races with both the boys and girls races being won by

our amazing athletes. With nerves on edge, the long

jump commenced. Each of the competitors had 1 prac-

tice jump followed by 3 measured jumps. Finally it was

time for the endurance race, the boys and girls ran this

one together, alongside the team from St Michaels

which Wilson won!!!!

Attendance Awards On Friday 18th July, all the chil-dren who had been in school for the whole of the year were treated to a party lunch.

The school had the best attendance for any year this year and 21 children celebrated be-ing in school for the whole year. The children also received a gift and a certificate.