School News
We hope you find the blogs below informative, thought provoking and useful...
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Wymondley News - Friday 15th September
Fri 29 Sep 2023 -
Almost half a term in and going well!
Mon 19 Oct 2020Almost half a term in and going well!
We are now almost half a term into the new school term and things are going well. The children are enjoying their time in school, they are used to doing things in different ways and they have settled back in really well. Gradually, we are bringing back more and more of the things the children used to do and, most importantly, the things that they used to enjoy to make sure that their time at school once again puts a smile on their face!
What has changed?
Not that much in the eyes of the children and that is exactly what we want them to think because primary school is not supposed to be a place of rules that are difficult to live by; we have worked hard to make sure that the things that we have put in place are easy for the children to get right.
In the classrooms (except Early Years), most of the children are sitting facing the front, with some facing the side of the classroom due to room size constraints. The good news here is that it is far easier for them to see the whiteboard and therefore engage in their learning! From looking in on the classrooms, I am also happy to be able to say that the children are still smiling, working together and enjoying their learning.
In Early Years, the more tactile furniture has been moved out and adjustments have been made throughout the classroom. But with fifteen children, toilets within the classroom and a fenced off outside area, in many ways it is quite simply learning as usual for our youngest class, which is exactly what they need.
There is increased hand washing and sanitising (as I am sure you would expect) every time they enter and leave the classroom but, on the positive side, they are getting a lot quicker and more thorough with this.
The main corridor has been split up into sections with flexible partitions that remain in place unless staff need access or a class needs to access the hall. The great thing about this is it gives each class bubble access to its own unisex toilet cubicles and means that children do not mix with children from other bubbles. Best of all, it makes it easy for the children to get right!
Breaktime Cafe is still available and is even better now as it is delivered straight to the children in their classroom, just like room service! (A big thank you to our School Cook Mrs Maddox for that!) Lunchtimes are a little different, but not much. All children eat at midday, with our Year 5 and 6 children showing their maturity by collecting their own lunch from the School Kitchen and walking it back to their classroom to enjoy with their classmates (although we are currently acquiring insulated bags so that we are ready to drop their lunches off to them in the classroom as the weather worsens). Peacocks children are currently benefiting from room service to the classroom where they are eating and the hall has been divided by joined-up partition boards to create two separate areas with a linking corridor so that both our Reception and our Year 1 and 2 children can enjoy their food in the hall. The great thing about lunchtime in good weather is that after they have finished eating, all of the children are able to be on the school field at the same time as we have divided it up into different areas for each class bubble. This is so important as it allows all children, especially our little Puffins in Reception, to see every child each lunchtime and to understand that the school is bigger than just their class. It also lets them see the child they just saw on a digital Google Meet assembly and to realise that in addition to being on a screen, they are actually at the school in person as well.
Assemblies themselves have been a learning curve and it took a few efforts to get our Friday Celebration Assembly up and running in a digital world. It currently looks more like a socially distanced TV studio than an assembly, but I think it is fair to say that the children are coping admirably and perfecting the skill of speaking into two cameras (one that links into a Google Meet so that the rest of the school can see them and one that films it to go on to the website for the families of our school community to enjoy at home) instead of a live audience. Understanding where to stand in a socially distanced assembly and how to project your voice to a camera are just two of the new skills that they are mastering, not to mention doing this in a breeze with multiple doors and windows being open throughout!
What has come back?
As much as we are currently able to bring back is the short answer. Music lessons are back! These are taking place in the school hall with clear markings for the children to stay behind and for Mrs Johnson, our music teacher, to be able to safely maintain a two metre distance. The positive here is that the children know exactly where they need to be and now that we are almost half a term in it is something they just do which means they can enjoy learning about music and using instruments that much more. To further reduce any risks, the instruments are in class bubble groups so only one bubble ever uses a specific set of instruments each week.
Violin lessons for individuals and our Year 3 children are back as well, taking place in the Life Learning Room with a three metre distance in place and good ventilation. Again, the children know exactly where they need to be and don't seem to mind the breeze yet, which means they are free to focus on enjoying learning how to play an instrument.
Piano lessons are also back with safety measures again in place and with lessons again taking place in the Life Learning Room.
Breakfast Club is also back (and easy to book onto through the clubs section on our new Arbor app) from 8:00-8:45/8:55am each morning. By removing much of the furniture that used to live in the Life Learning Room (the hall stage has never been so cluttered!) there is now space for us to create four separate areas to accommodate each class bubble with a two metre distance between them. Most importantly, with numbers of children attending on the lower side at the moment, children from different bubbles can all talk to each other from a safe distance. As you can see the Life Learning Room is being used a lot more now, which isn't a problem as we have increased the frequency of cleaning in there during the day to make sure that it is disinfected ready to be used for the next activity or by the next group.
Library lessons are also back. These always took place for different class bubbles at different times anyway and, as we recently added a number of new titles to the school library for each of our age phases, the children are barely aware that they can only access their own section in their session. They also seem to quite like the addition of the wipe-clean cushions to establish a 2 metre distance between them and Mrs Nowland. Again, it makes it easy for the children to do the right thing and the cushions brighten everyone's day as they are colourful and fun to look at!
Lunchtime sports clubs with Mr Sinclair are also back. These are bubble clubs with lots of fun to be had and a great opportunity to make closer bonds with classmates while also improving health and fitness.
What's next?
Swimming wasn't possible this term, but we haven't given up on it and have instead, with the help of Hitchin Swimming Centre, managed to switch it to the summer term instead this year. Our Year 3 and 4 children are provisionally set to go swimming from Easter through to the May half term and our Year 1 and 2 children are provisionally set to go from the May half term through to the end of the summer term. In many ways this makes good sense, as all four of these year groups will then swim again in the autumn term of 2021, meaning that due to the changes there is actually more of a continuous block of swimming than usual this year.
With Covid friendly Celebration assemblies already back each week, a special Harvest video is planned to be put together and added to the website, in place of our usual assembly, later this month. I can also assure you that planning is already underway to ensure that Christmas will happen this year at Wymondley. It will of course be Covid secure and will require some thinking outside of the box on our part, but that is what we will do. It will be different, but we will make sure that we put a smile on the faces of everyone in our school community this December!
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Celebration Assembly
Fri 16 Oct 2020Celebration Assembly - 16th October
Our latest celebration assembly is available for you and your family to enjoy by clicking on the link below. It is one of the ways in which we will be making sure that you are still a part of life at Wymondley this year. As we cannot invite you to the assembly, the assembly will come to you! Click here to view the Celebration Assembly
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World Mental Health Day
Fri 09 Oct 2020World Mental Health Day at Wymondley
Thank you for your support for World Mental Health Day on Friday. It was great seeing the many colours on display, with the children wearing such a variety of them! From multi-coloured outfits to sequins and glitter, there was a wonderful variation to put a smile on everyone's face! Hopefully it put a smile on all of your faces as well! Thanks to your amazing generosity we were also able to raise £84.10 for the charity Mind to support mental health. A great way to end the week!
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Celebration Assembly
Fri 09 Oct 2020Celebration Assembly is back!
We hope you all enjoy our first recorded, socially distanced Celebration Assembly. Please bear with us as we work on sharing the learning that has taken place each week while remaining socially distanced, projecting voices to a relatively empty hall and speaking in front of two cameras (one for the other classes to watch live and one to record the assembly on for all of you to enjoy!).
It is a brave new world that we are navigating our way through at the moment. But it is important that we do, so that we can give you whatever opportunities we can to be a part of your child's learning. We hope you and your families enjoy the video.
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Bikeability at Wymondley
Thu 24 Sep 2020Bikeability at Wymondley!
This week was a little different for some of our Toucans and Peacocks as they took to their bikes for two days of bikeability. It was great to see them develop their skills and gain in confidence while having such a lot of fun with their classmates. They all did a fantastic job and should be very proud of themselves - well done everyone!
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Royal Albert Hall Performance
Sun 08 Mar 2020Royal Albert Hall Performance
Hertfordshire Schools Gala
Members of our school choir enjoyed an amazing day out at the Royal Albert Hall today to perform as part of the Hertfordshire Schools Gala. At the time of writing this report the children are all working very hard in rehearsals ahead of the big performance this afternoon. A stunning venue and, I am sure, a memory to come that will last for many years!
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World book Day at Wymondley
Thu 05 Mar 2020World book Day at Wymondley
As we celebrated World Book Day 2020, it was fantastic to see so many wonderful book character costumes on display across the school from such a wide range of books - thank you for all of the effort that you clearly went to for your children. The best part of the day however, was in seeing family members and children enjoying book based activities in the classroom together - thank you to all of the family members who came in and of course to the teaching staff for preparing the engaging and inspiring activities for the day. I hope you were all inspired by World Book Day at Wymondley and have followed this up at home by sharing a story with your child and by sharing their school reading book with them at least four times each week, as helping children to develop a love of reading and a desire to learn to read is what the day is really all about. Thank you as always for your support.
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Snow at Wymondley!
Thu 27 Feb 2020Snow at Wymondley!
It might have lasted for only a few short hours and it might well be our only sight of snow until next winter, but those children who had appropriate footwear and clothing took to the playground at break time to make the very most of the white stuff before it had almost completely disappeared by lunchtime...
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Girls Football Tournament
Wed 26 Feb 2020Girls Football Tournament
Our girls football team were in action on Wednesday evening at Whitehill School in Hitchin competing against other local schools in a series of football matches. Our team performed very well indeed experiencing the feeling of winning, drawing and losing a football match, but crucially only the feeling of being narrowly beaten on the occasions when they did lose. They played as a team, supported each other and celebrated their positive results together as a team as well. A successful evening of football that they should all be very proud of being a part of!
