WORKING FOR OUR CHILDREN

Hucklow 2023

Another year and another amazing trip to Hucklow., this time for 22 lucky Y4 and Y5 children.  It was a jam packed week full of fun activities including a pottery class, fish and chips in Matlock Bath, a visit to a cavern in Castleton and a 7 mile walk to the village of Eyam. The children made new friends and memories to last a lifetime. 

Chester Zoo Trip 

Our whole school enjoyed a visit to Chester Zoo last week which was an amazing experience. We enjoyed seeing the giraffes, elephants and lion and was even lucky enough to see the leopard. Many children also enjoyed the bat cave, which involved entering a dark cave with free roaming bats. 

Year 6 visit to Willersley Castle

Our Year 6 children enjoyed a wintery residential to Cromford where they took part in many new activities including archery, fencing, low ropes and blindfold walk. They even enjoyed a night walk and toasting marshmallows on a fire. Great fun was had by all. 

Isle of Wight Residential 

Our Year 6 children enjoyed an action packed 5 day residential to the Isle of Wight in July. For many this was the first time out of Derbyshire and the first time on a boat. Each day came with a different adeventure varying from visiitng Castles to crazy golf on the sea front. Splashing in the sea and a visit to Amazon World were highlights for many. What an experience!

Linacre Reservoir 

Our Year 6 children enjoyed a visit to the local reservoir in May. As part of their Explore project, they have been studying rainforests and so for their end project created a 'British Woodlands Information QR Code Trail' for members of the public to enjoy. Children were able to visit the site and see/ listen to their trail. Whilst there, the children also enjoyed some Maths activities inlduing calculating the age and height of a tree. 

Cromford Mills 

Year 6 visited Arkwright's Mill recently in Cromford. Not only did this link with their Victorians topic from last year but it acted as the perfect setting for them to film their own historical dramas. The chidlren created storyboards, dressed up in costume as characters and visitied different filiming locations to create short videos explaining life at the workhouse. 

Extra Curricular Visit to East Midlands Airport

A selection of Science enthusiasts from across school were fortunate enough to visit East Midland's Airport recently as part of a funded STEM initiative. The trip allowed the children to see how an airpiort runs, the different roles and responsibillities, aswell as looking at the engineering side of planes and experiencing a plane stimulation. What a great way to raise our chidlren's aspirations. 

Hucklow Residential

Some Year 4 and 5 children were lucky enough to recieve a funded extra-curricular residential recently where they visited local areas including Chatsworth, Carsington Waters and Matlock. The trip involved a lot of walking but the children and staff loved it. Thanks to Miss Thompson for organising it!

Year 5 Local Sculpture Walk

Even our local area is surrounded with sculpture and our Year 5s recently set off on a trail to find some examples. 

Year 5 visit  to Chatsworth Sculpture Walk

As part of their 'Create' topic our Year 5 children are studying sculpture and what better way to kick start their learning than a local visit to Chatsworth to take part in the sculpture walk. 12 sculptures are spread around the Chatsworth ground estate varying in size and materials. The year 5 children were able to sketch these and evaluate them. 

Year 5 Residential at Castleton

On 7^th March 2022, Year 5 took part in our residential trip to Losehill Hall, in Castleton. After the coach journey, we found ourselves in the depths of the Peak District, hills surrounding us on all sides. 

Over the next few days, the children rotated between a range of activities. Fire lighting, shelter building, Team challenges and candle making sessions were all a lot of fun.

On Tuesday we set off on an adventure. Our hike started off visiting the village of Castleton before quickly heading out into the picturesque countryside. After searching for fossils, climbing the mud chute, and rudely been interrupted by sheep we made it to Treak Cavern. After a quick sandwich, we entered the dark, damp cavern. The tour was fascinating and informative. Then it was time to start our walk back to the YHA hostel. We certainly slept better on Tuesday after walking a total of 7 miles.

Thank you to all the children who came on the visit, you were all an absolute pleasure to take on our residential and hope you made memories to last a life time in Castleton!

 

To watch a video of the residential click here. 

Year 4 Video call with 'The World Wildlife Federation' 

To consolidate and expand their learning on Africa, Year 4 took part in a live video call lesson with WWF. They learnt all about Africa and how to keep animals and people safe there. There were some excellent discussions and questioning and the children represented the school amazingly. 

Year 3 Trip to Magna 

As part of our explore topic, ‘Is the earth a peaceful place?’, Year 3 had the fantastic opportunity to spend an action packed day at Magna Science Adventure Centre (a unique learning opportunity in an awesome building set in the former Templeborough steelworks, providing an exciting and inspiring education visit).

We had hands-on experiences, with the chance to explore the interactive exhibits through science and technology in the four pavilions - Air, Earth, Fire and Water which house over 100 displays facilitating learning through investigation and play.

The children got to splash in water, work a real JCB, wow at the fire tornado and even explode a rock face! 

 As part of our work into volcanoes and rocks we took part in a workshop where we had the chance to work with scientists to create our own active volcanoes and discuss the different types of rocks we have been learning about in school.

 The day was a complete success, finished off by watching the awesome Big Melt Show that brings the story of steelmaking to life.

 

Cinema Trip - Into Film Festival 

The children at Spire were very fortunate to receive complimentary tickets to attend the Into Film Festival. The children attended the local cinema to watch the film and a few sweets and popcorn made the trip even more enjoyable. 

Crooked Spire Tree Festival 

Each class at Spire designed their own bauble related to the theme 'Save Our Planet' . These baubles then decoarted our tree in the Crooked Spire. Each class has then visited the Crooked Spire to see all 50 Christmas trees decorated by local schools, charities, clubs and businesses. There were some fantastic trees inclduing a wedding dress tree and a tree in the shape of a pair of scissors. 

Year 6s tour of Parliament

Our Year 6 children have been studying democracy and how it started in the Ancient Greek era. They have learnt about modern day voting and laws which included a live video call to Parliament, where the children were able to see the House of Lords and the House of Commons. They were then met by a surprise visitior - Toby Perkins- who led a question and answer session for the children. 

Sheffield Libraries Children Book Awards

Some of our children loved meeting and being inspired by authors and a TV Presenter last week. They attended the book awards and were lucky to get their books signed by both authors and illustrators. A visit to the Cruicible and a picnic in the Winter Gardens made it a fantastic trip. 

Year 4 Visit to Boggle Hole

On 28^th September 2021, Year 4 took part in our residential trip to Boggle Hole in Whitby. After a long drive, we took a tricky walk down to the beach – what a view! Within minutes, we had found crabs, lobsters, snails and anemones! Even though it was raining and wet, we still managed to have an amazing time on our fossil hunt and rock pooling expedition. After a tasty dinner of burger and chips (followed by chocolate cakes!) we had a lighthouse-building competition infront of the fire, followed by hot chocolates and marshmallows.

For your second day, we took a scenic walk over the cliffs to the nearby town of Robin Hood’s Bay. Acting as smugglers, the children took a tour of the village, whilst smuggling sweets and hiding them from the teachers. After a trip to the ice cream shop, we made our way back to the hostel for lunch and our journey home!

Thank you to all the children who came on the visit, you were all a pleasure to take on our residential and hope you made many fond memories of your time in Whitby!

Year 3 World War II Day 

Our Year 3 children participated in a World War II Day . They dressed up as soliders or evacuee children and took part in a variety of activities inclduing marching drills and morse code deciphering. 

Year 5 Visit to Queen's Park 

On the 13th September 2021 Year 5 walked to Queens Park to explore the Victorian features we could find. Our investigations started by looking at the red brick walls surrounding the park. This then lead to the cricket pavilion and pitch, which amazingly is still used today. We then visited the Glass house, gifted by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. At the bandstand, we found out that the current stand is actually a replacement as the original was burnt down on a fire. We had a great morning and found out much, much more. 

Year 5 Visit to Chesterfield

Following on from our trip to Queen’s Park, on Thursday 16th September, we walked into the town centre to find more Victorian features that surround us. Mrs Barnett was extremely informative and knew exactly where to take us. Our first stop was Chesterfield Train Station, learning more about George Stephenson and seeing his statue. From there we walked into town passing Chesterfield Hotel on our way to the Crooked Spire. Although the Spire was built before Victorian times, the surrounding area has changed a lot over the years. Our journey then led us to the Market Hall and Water Pump. We were surrounded by lots of different shops, many that still hold Victorian features. As we started our stroll back to school, we walked over the bridge to Queens Park, finding out about the old train track, that has been removed . However, the metal has been used for the model tracks surrounding the boating lake in the park. The walk was tiring for many but has really helped us to see and understand the impact Victorian life had on the area in which we live. 

 

 

 

 

Animal Handling 

Animal Club UK visited Spire Junior School recently and brought with them a variety of pets including two rabbits, a bearded dragon and a tarantula. Whilst some children chose to look at the pets from a distance, others were feeling excpetionally brave and held some of the animals- this  involved having a python around their neck. Children also enjoyed watching the animals feed and all whilst learning facts and key vocabulary. 

 

Virtual Reality experience 

Last Friday was a very exciting day for the children at Spire as they got to experience virtual reality. For many children it was their first time wearing a VR headset. The Year 6 children, who have been previosluy studying the rainforest, got to experience swinging from the canopy of the Amazon down to the forest floor, before coming face to face with a poison arrow frog. Other experiences involved a rollercoaster ride and an underwater jounrey. A huge smile painted on every child's face showed how successful the day was and even the local police officers couldn't resisit popping in to have ago themselves. 

A local artist visits Year 3

Year 3 were very fortunate to have a local artist who specalises in pottery visit them during their create topic. Each child created their own tile design which will later form part of a larger mosaic design. 

 

Photography Visit to Year 6

We were delighted to invite Andy from Leading Imagery into school to talk to our Year 6 children about his job as a photographer. As an ex-army photographer he was exceptionally inspirational and was able to educate the children with many great photography technqiues such as 'filling the frame' and 'leading lines'. Year 6 will be holding their own photography gallery in the summer term where Andy has agreed to come and be a guest judge at the event, alongside Promethean (who are sponsoring the prizes for our winners). 

 

 

Zoom Call with an Artist 

We were very fortunate to have a live art lesson with the fabulous Lily Hammond, a local artist. Throughout the day, she taught two classes the technique of 'scribble art'. The lions produced at the end are spectacular and can now be found on her webiste gallery. 

 

 

 

3 and 4 visit Eden Camp

As part of their 'Discover Topic', our Year 3 and 4 children study the World War. This includes an inspirational visit to Eden Camp, where children dress as evacuees, get to go inside an air-raid shelter and experience war aircrafts, enhancing and developing their knowledge of the World War further.

 

 

Year 6 Skype Call to Greece

Our Year 6 ‘Discover’ project is based around ‘The Ancient Greeks’. To develop our learning further, we organised a live Skype call to an archeology site in Greece. Here we spoke to an archaeologist, who shared some artefacts with us whilst giving us a tour of the site. This was also a great opportunity to ask questions about the job of an archaeologist and helped raise aspiration and open career options for our children.

 

Year 6 Visit the Town Hall

To develop our understanding of democracy, we visited Chesterfield Town Hall. This involved a private tour of the Mayor’s quarters and a voting system game where a member of the class was elected.

 

 

Year 6 ‘Pride of Chesterfield Awards’

As part of Year 6’s ‘Discover’ project they studied the question ‘What does a winner look like?’ The children decided to organise their own ‘Pride of Chesterfield’ award ceremony. They split the awards into three categories: overcoming obstacles, inspirational idols and helping heroes. People from the local community were invited into school, where the children interviewed them and learnt about their stories. This involved an array of visits from rally car drivers to local artists, charity marathon runners to police officers. It even involved a visit from a maths teacher who overcame a brain tumour as a child.  The children organised the whole event, ordering trophies, table decorations and organising for the Mayor of Chesterfield and Spire Radio to attend the event.

 

First Aid Training

A visit from Red Cross saw some Spire students receive first aid training. This is a great life-saving skill and the children were very enthusiastic to learn as much as possible. The children learnt skills such as how to conduct CPR, how to prevent choking and how to perform the recovery position.

 

Brownlee Brother’s Triathlon

We were very fortunate to attend the Brownlee Brother’s Triathlon event in Derby. Children took on two lengths of the swimming pool before completing a further two laps of the school track on a bike or scooter, finished by a sprint for the finish line. It was a great event and not only provided the children with the opportunity to try a new sporting activity but also encouraged team work and encouragement for others.

 

Chesterfield Football Club Visit

We were privileged to have a visit from some of the Chesterfield football club players who listened to our children read and brought along their favourite books to share with the children.

Derby Airfield Visit

Some children were very fortunate to visit Derby Airfield, an event run by Rolls-Royce. The children received a tour of the airfield, had the opportunity to speak to a pilot and sit in the plane cock-pit and also completed numerous challenges to learn about aeronautics. The children, in teams, built planes from balsa wood and competed to see which could fly the furthest.

 

 

 

Greenpeace visit Year 6

Year 6 had a visit from a volunteer at Greenpeace. He came to discuss the effects of deforestation and palm oil.

 

Remembrance Parade at the Town Hall

Our Year 3 and 4 children visited the Chesterfield Town Hall for the Remembrance Day parade. The children were immaculately behaved and showed great respect to those ‘who gave their today for our tomorrow’.

 

Year 3 and 4 Sleepover at The Deep 

Imagine sleeping next to a shark, well this is exactly the experience our children encountered. Our Year 3 and 4 children were very fortunate to not only visit 'The Deep' but to hav exculsivity for a sleepover. 'Sleeping infront of the tank was magical,' explained one child.