During the Summer Term we had an Ofsted inspection and our inspection graded us as a ‘good’ school. Some of the comments included:
‘relationships between pupils and staff are strong;’
‘pupils are polite and well mannered;’
‘leaders have designed an ambitious and interesting curriculum;’
‘in lessons pupils behave well;’
‘trips and visits are exceptionally well planned to enhance pupils’ learning experiences;’
‘the wider personal development curriculum is a strength of the school.’
We are exceptionally pleased with the outcome of our report and it is a recognition of all the hard work and dedication of the staff, pupils and governors of our very unique school.
We had some very exciting news. Our whole school Art entry ‘River of Hope’ was selected as one of the two hundred schools, out of ten thousand entries to be produced onto a silk flag and displayed as part of the queen’s jubilee pageant for the celebrations in London. Our design was also included as part of an online gallery. Amazing!
Children in Year 3 and 4 took part in their forest learning sessions at Torpenhow. They particularly showed good teamwork skills, especially when they helped repair woodland paths with bark chippings. They used their geographical skills to create forest maps and considered the still ness of the forest playing ‘sit spot’ finding a quiet place and reflecting. The children also built dens and looked for animal footprints and discussed the different habitats of animals that live in the forest. Later in the term children in Year 3 and 4 joined children from our cluster of schools on a visit to Watch Tree nature reserve where they observed wildlife in their natural habitats as well as taking part in pond dipping
Our Year 1 and 2 children enjoyed their ‘beach schools’ day at Allonby, alongside children from our cluster schools. They helped with a ‘beach tidy’, created beach art and sculptures using natural materials and played team games. Children in the EYFS had a brilliant time at the teddy bear’s picnic hosted by St Michael’s CE School, Bothel. Children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 took part in their forest sessions at Torpenhow, exploring the forest, playing games, cooking and building different shelters.
As part of the Keswick mountain festival our children in Years 3,4,5 and 6 took part in a duathlon at Keswick involving cycling, running and an obstacle course. We were so impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and how they cheered each other on. Children in Years 5 and 6 took part in the County Orienteering League, competing at Powter Howe, Keswick, Ashfield School, Workington, Whitehaven Academy, Longlands Lake, Cleator Moor and Vulcan’s Park, Workington. They also enjoyed their Orienteering Club run by Mr Rennie. Our Year 5 and 6 children took part in a cricket competition at Cockermouth Cricket Club, where they played brilliantly and came joint second. We also held our annual Sport’s Day this term and our Year 6 children proved to be great sports leaders. Thank you to Mrs Robinson for organising the cluster Year 1 and 2 multi skills festival which we held at our school. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this event. Well done everyone for all of your sporting achievements, you always make us very proud!
Our Infant children have been learning how to sew and produced some amazing animal puppets. They showed great determination and patience and were thrilled to bits with their finished products.
Well done to Year 5 children who led Worship time for the whole school on the Christian value of ‘friendship’, it was really interesting to hear all the ideas about what makes a good friend and how we can be a friend to all and the difference it makes.
Our children in Key Stage one enjoyed their visit to Carlisle Castle where they learnt about the features of castles and famous prisoners held there.
We all enjoyed our visit to school from Paralympian Stuart Robinson MBE who inspired us with his presentation and talked about winning gold at the Tokyo Games and European Championships in wheelchair rugby. The physical workouts we took part in were quite challenging but also lots of fun.
Children in Key Stage 2 had an exciting time on their residential experience with children from Allonby School to Lockerbie Manor where they built rafts, abseiled, paddle boarded, took part in archery and rifle shooting, went on the zip wire and played lots of fun games.
Our Year 6 children had a ‘farewell forest experience’ where they played games and cooked on the camp fire. They also enjoyed their trip to Silloth, playing in the water park, adventure park and having chips and ice cream on Silloth green. They also took part in the Year 6 Leaver’s Service at Carlisle Cathedral and enjoyed seeing their tile displayed alongside many other schools’ designs in the ‘labyrinth’ creation. In our Leaver’s service we said goodbye to our amazing year 6 children and wished them good luck in their new schools, we know they are going to do really well.