Whitehouse Common Primary -

Nursery Newsletter - Summer 1 2019

Please [click here] to read the NURSERY SUMMER ONE   newsletter

KS1 Athletics Tournament

On Tuesday, 18 children from WCPS represented the school at the Bishop Vesey School and took part in a variety of athletics competitions. The children were fantastic, putting in huge effort in every race or field event. Many showed amazing perseverance in their races overcoming stage fright and injury to carry on and perform brilliantly. Miss Lindsey, Miss Stevens, Mr Cope and Mrs Edwards were all incredibly proud of them. It was particularly exciting to see the boys finish in 1st place and the group finish 3rd overall. Well done to all our superstar athletes And thank you to all the parents that gave up their time to get the children to the venue.

Excellent Work (Week Beginning 01/04/19)

We'd like to teach the world to sing - in Makaton! (HOTW March song challenge)

Hot off the press is the collaborative video for the March song in the Hands of the World (HOTW) eTwinning project. Masterminded by Sharon Tonner-Saunders at the University of Dundee, the project aims to reach across land and language barriers and unite children across the world using music and Makaton. 
This month's song was inspired by an advertisement from the 70s! How many of you have seen the 'Hilltop ad' advertising Coca Cola? It starts with one singer atop a mountain and then the camera pans out to reveal another then another until the final shot is of a mountain top of people of all nations and heritages, all united in singing. If you haven't seen it, here's the link!
This month, instead of a single line as in previous challenges, schools were asked to decide if they'd like one, two, or four lines to learn. In this way, the effect of people joining in has been achieved in the final video. If you watch, you'll see that Whitehouse Common sign four lines of the song. After the first line, they are joined by another school and both sign line two. After the second line, a third school joins to sign line three with them, before a fourth school joins and everyone signs line four. 
There's also an instrumental break in which you can see the hands (and feet!) of some of 5MM playing instruments. 
The video was recorded by the pupils, and they suggested the location too as they wanted to show the world Abigail's Garden.

So here's I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing in Makaton, sung and signed by 38 schools in 21 countries!

Excellent Work (Week Beginning 25/03/19)

Newsletter 29th March 2019

Please [click here] to read the newsletter

HOTW Makaton Weekly Challenge Feb/March

Another part of the Hands of the World (HOTW) project is a weekly Makaton Challnge to learn a few words or phrase in Makaton. Y4 are leading the way with this, and below are some of the words and phrases they have learned recently. It's lovely to see how they are combining signs and words to make short phrases, asking questions and interacting. 4CC now ask to go ot the toilet in Spansh lessons in Spanish AND Makaton!

FEBRUARY

Week 3 - Goodnight friend!

Week 4 - Toilet, drink and help please!

MARCH

Week 1 - yes and no (complete with Scottish accent!)

Week 2 - car, bus, tractor

Week 3 - Happy birthday!

Week 4 - eat and drink

A million dreams signed in Makaton

The February song in our eTwinning project, Hands of the World, was A million dreams. It has just been pointed out to Señora Stevens by the pupils that we still haven't shared the amazing collaborative video on our school website. So here it is below. 
The video features children from 40 schools across the world, this time starting with the youngest in China and Croatia (aged 4) and ending with student teachers at the University of Dundee. It gave us all goosebumps when we watched it. We hope you enjoy watching it!