KS2 Rocks Topic
The older children have absolutely loved their Rocks Topic in Science.
As part of this topic they went on a visit to Alnham to look at the Iron Age Hillfort site at Castle Hill.
Local archaeologist David Jones told them all about the site and the different parts to it.
They learnt about where roundhouses might have been and the two large embankments that faced both up and down the valley.
Kidlandlee history day
4th July 2023 – School Log
Eleven scholars attended school today. The weather was fair, and so their walk from the valley to class was pleasant, even the youngest at aged five walked at a pace and arrived to class on time.
After the scholars had finished their hot chocolates and were warmed by the fire, pupils were reminded of the school rules (Victorian) and classes in History were held by Mrs Archer and English by Mrs Henry using slates and chalks.
Head Mistress Mrs Buckley conducted a hand inspection which met her expectations, and she observed the children at work, being suitably impressed by their good manners and concentration.
Mrs Chelsea Rogerson conducted art class in the afternoon instructing the scholas in the skill of drawing with charcoal and after this the children enjoyed an afternoon of traditional games and homemade Victoria Sponge.
All in all, a very successful ‘Day in the Life of a Kidlandlee Scholar’ and a big thank you to everyone who sponsored the children on their amazing walk. A total of £554 has been raised for new schoolbooks which has surpassed the target!!
When asked what their favourite part of the day was, the children said they enjoyed the experience of being in a Victorian classroom and rolling down the bank at break time. J
Thank you to Baliffgate Museum and their volunteers who put together the Victorian School Day and Costumes boxes for us to use, this truly was a day the children will remember.
Kidlandlee visit
Everyone enjoyed another visit to Kidlandlee. This time the children enjoyed making a bug hotel, pond dipping and planting some oak trees.
The children attended the Countryside Day at Wooler and had a wonderful time. They enjoyed looking at all the stands and demonstrations including Roenna’s Grandad’s sheep dog trialling.
Kidlandlee Summer visit
In July, we visited Kidlandlee again. We took part in a pond dipping activity, where we saw a wide range of wildlife. We also made seed bombs that we took home to plant in our gardens. In the afternoon, we took part in Fairy School.
Northumberland Zoo & Country Park
The children had a fantastic day at Northumberland Zoo and Country Park. They saw a wide range of animals, discussed their natural habitats and came up close and personal with mini beasts and birds of prey.
Visit to Cragside
Science & Art Café
Our Keystage 2 children planned and led a science/ art café. They designed experiments and explained the science behind them. All the children and their parents had a wonderful afternoon. The children had made and decorated Easter biscuits for refreshments.
The activities included building volcanoes (watching a chemical reaction), making playdough (irreversible changes), making chocolate crispy cakes (what is the melting point of chocolate and changing states), measuring plants, observing caterpillars, freeing objects from ice (states of matter) and painting pebbles.
Kidlandlee
We visited Kidlandlee to talk to Matthew and Terri about how they use renewable energy. We are looking forward to visiting again to help plant trees and discover more about habitats.
Our School Art Club
Reading café
We invited parents into school for a reading café. We read Georgie grows a dragon, by Emma Lazell. The children and parents then took part in a range of activities based on the book and linked to a range of subject areas including English, maths, science and art. We had refreshments consisting of biscuits, cakes and crispy cakes that the children had made beforehand.
Year 3 & 4 Poetry
Northumberland, no land to hate,
It is nothing that is simple and straight.
The grass and trees don’t look dead,
And beautiful lawns get inside your head.
There are lots of beaches next to the sea,
There’s probably no better place to be.
By Louie
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I live in the valley,
With sheep we have to tally.
The fish swim in the stream,
I wonder what they dream.
The hills that are green
Are not often seen.
The wind blows through the trees
Which can be home to bees.
By River
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I like to see the birds sing in the trees
And the green grass and the lambs skipping in it.
By Imogen
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The lush green fields swaying in the summer
The cute white lambs playing in the spring
The beautiful coloured leaves.
By Betsy
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Broad, fun, sandy beaches that go on forever,
Vast areas of green grass and wide, open space.
Snow, ice, rain, sun – unpredictable weather,
The Coquet Valley, Northumberland, is my place .
Streams and rivers to play and swim through,
Tall hills to clamber up,
Amazing wildlife to watch and learn too,
You can even take your pup.
By Ben
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Winding long roads cutting through the humpy lush
green hills,
Jumping super high on my trampoline gives me thrills,
Splashing and playing in the crystal clear river,
Summer sun beating on my cold face gives me a shiver,
Helping new life being born at lambing time,
Having so many big hills to climb,
The miles of open, clear space to run free
Makes me feel very lucky.
By Bobby
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The people around me down at the shops,
Sometimes little children who have lollipops,
The blue skies in the summer,
Winter snow is soft,
And at Christmas getting things from the loft,
I like that, I like that, I like that a lot.
By Amelie
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Farming and crops,
Shepherds and sheep,
Bring me to Cartington
The place where I sleep.
Wind and rain,
Sun and snow,
Bring me to Cartington
The place where I flow.
The trees and the leaves,
All of those things
Bring me to Cartington
The place where I go on the swings.
By Thomas
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In Northumberland there are mills
Which are built into the hills.
In Northumberland there are castles
That used to host battles.
In Northumberland there are birds
Which will always be heard
In Northumberland there are sheep
And you’ll sometimes see them
In Northumberland there are rivers
And if you go in you’ll come out and
By Myles
Commando Joe’s week
On our first week back as a whole school after lockdown, we spent a week taking part in Commando Joe’s activities. We learnt about the Queen, finding out about her early life, her coronation, her residences, Garden parties and the Tower of London. We had many missions throughout the week, including taking care of one of the Queen’s grandchildren for a day, building a 3D map of London, designing and making a channel for water to go through to reach the fire at Windsor Castle and baking cupcakes as Royal chefs. The children learnt many skills, including teamwork, resilience and compromise.
Christmas dinner
Mrs Wood, our school cook, made us a fabulous Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.
We all had a lovely time eating, chatting and pulling crackers!
Christmas crafts
We had a lovely day taking part in a wide range of Christmas crafts. We spent the morning in our classes, making cards and calendars. The afternoon was spent as a whole school, helping each other to make table decorations, festive bookmarks, paper wreaths, angels, ribbon trees and salt dough decorations to name a few! This activity helped us with our fine motor skills, creative planning and teamwork.
Nativity
We held our virtual nativity play in the last week of term. All children enjoyed taking part and a video of the performance was sent to parents.
Harvest
We have all been learning about the Creation story. We talked about the wonderful world around us and what we are grateful for. This was then linked to harvest and the crops we eat. A harvest festival was held in school and we held a collection for the Alnwick food bank.
As part of our learning, reception and key stage 1 used fruit and vegetables to print with and then made some out of paper plates. The class also wrote a ‘thankful pumpkin’, writing one thing they were thankful for.
Keystage 2 made their own harvest baskets, explaining why they chose particular fruit and vegetables.
Harvest prayers were written by the whole school to give thanks for everything we have.
The Border Reivers are back in Harbottle!
On Wednesday 23rd September we had some very exciting visitors!
John Sadler and his friend Beverley came to teach us all about The Border Reivers and the events that led up to them becoming so notorious in Northumberland and along the Borders.
They brought some replica weapons to show us and the children were very excited to hold them and to see them in action as John and Beverley re-created some dramatic sword fights.
We were able to do safely on our top field with the dramatic real-life Border Reiver landscape all around us.
The children were praised on how well they listened and behaved throughout which made us very proud.
Thank you to John and Beverley for a very informative and exciting afternoon.
Each Peach Pear Plum
Plum Pie!
Reception had a busy morning! We have been enjoying Each Peach Pear Plum as one of our core books this half term. We really liked the sound of the Plum Pie in the story and Mrs Wood had told us that some of the plums were ready to be picked in the community garden.
We went on an exciting hunt for plums and found lots in a small plum tree. We picked a few and then set about making our very own delicious plum pie. We found lots of apples on the apple tree in our community garden as well so we decided to add these to our plum pie.
Each child did a wonderful job of washing their hands and the fruit. We counted out 6 plums and 4 apples as it said in the recipe. Then they rolled out the pastry into the pie tin. After that they did a fantastic job of cutting up the fruit (supervised)! Then, they cooked the fruit in some butter on our hob and added some sugar that we had measured out. Everyone did a great job of stirring and taking turns. After that they spooned the mixture into the pastry and we put it in the oven.
We were very proud of them all for doing great listening and taking turns but most of all for making a perfect plum pie!
Our School Values
In consultation with pupils, staff, parents, the community and Governors, the school have adopted the following five Christian values as our school values:
* hope * resilience * love * truthfulness * teamwork
We have discussed these in school and our pupils have worked together to create posters illustrating these values.
Harbottle Snow Day
Not everyone was able to get into school today so Mrs Buckley and the other members of staff decided to have some fun in the snow, followed by hot chocolate and marshmallows!
Operation Encompass
Hoopstarz
We welcomed Sharon from Hoopstarz to our school for a whole day. She taught us how to hula hoop and some tricks to do with our hoops. We also learnt some new playground games and found out how to make a house from four hoops. It was so much fun, even the teachers joined in!
Visit to Newcastle
On December 12th, the whole school visited Newcastle. We spent the morning in the science maze at the Discovery Museum, investigating gravity, magnets, sound and shadows.
We then had lunch at Lau’s 202, a Chinese restaurant. Everyone enjoyed the food and some of us tried food we had never had before. It was very tasty.
Our final destination was the Tyne Theatre and Opera House where we watched their pantomime. This year it was Aladdin and we all enjoyed a good boogie and joined in with the songs and chants. An enjoyable time was had by all.
Prickly Hay/Straw!
On December 16th we performed our Christmas play, Prickly Hay/straw at Alwinton Church. The children worked very hard on their lines and the songs and were fantastic when they acted in front of family and friends. Well done everyone!
Autumn poems
As part of our poetry unit the children have written some fabulous Autumn poems that were so good we had to share them! We started by having an Autumn walk around school. We were looking for inspiration for exciting adjectives and verbs that we could use to make our writing really descriptive. We have talked about using repetition in our poems and as a challenge the children were asked to see if they could use rhyme.
We are really impressed and hope they give you a wonderful sense of Autumn.
