Special Events 2023-24

From the 1^st July -5^th July 2024, the children at Toftwood Infant School took part in a week of sporting activities. All children from Reception to Year 2 took part in a stunt cheer session with Miss Coombes, a dance pom session with Miss Goddard and experienced a Karate taster session with ESKA. With their class teachers, they used Tri Golf equipment to have a beginner’s session of hitting a golf ball. They also used the parachute and had the opportunity to use the athletics equipment like hurdles and javelin. Year 1 enjoyed playing kick rounders, whilst year 2 loved playing diamond cricket!

On Thursday 4^th July the children took part in team day, being able to bring together man of the skills that they had learned throughout the week.

The children also enjoyed learning about various sporting events that were happening at the time like the Euro Championships, Wimbledon and the Olympics and Paralympics that will take place in the summer.

Years 1 and 2 also created their own sporting artwork, each picking a sporting pose to create a silhouette and they then collaged around the outside!

It was a fantastic week enjoyed by the children and staff alike. Some children flourished being able to show off their sporting talent, others pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and many tried things for the first time!

“I think it was really fun because I got to try something new” Bradley said about Dance Pom.

“I liked doing Tri-Golf because golf is one of my favourite things to do on a summers day!” Said Albie.

As part of Refugee Week 2024 the Federation took part in a series of special webcasts on Friday 14th. These live event formed part of ‘A Day of Welcome’, a day of solidarity and learning in schools with an aim to build a culture of welcome and understanding for refugees and asylum seekers.

The children in KS1 and lower KS2 got to meet author and refugee rights campaigner Gulwali Passarlay, who shared a story with an important message. Gulwali read BOBBLE an illustrated fable about migration and displacement. They learnt and gained an understanding of who refugees are, and explored how to make their classroom a more welcoming place. They also got to meet a real live Bobble!

Year 1-

“ I think we should say thank you if people choose to live here with us”.

Year 2 –

“I loved learning to say hello in a new language.”

“I liked in the story that Bobble helped the other character that was stuck even though they were mean to him.”

“I liked when we met his children because they were so cute and had lovely names.”

“I liked when we listened to the story.” 

In KS2 the children met award-winning children’s author and illustrator, Nadine Kadaan, who joined the event live to speak to the pupils about her work. Nadine spoke about her homeland of Syria and her own experience of leaving her country and settling in the UK.

They also looked at the book ‘The Power of Welcome’ which included true stories from Ukraine, Somalia, Bosnia, Syria and Afghanistan about the real journeys of people forced from their homes by conflict.’

On Friday 15^th March, Toftwood Infant and Junior School celebrated Red Nose Day! The children were taught across the school about the importance of Comic Relief and the charity’s vision to end poverty across the world. This year, the School Council were tasked with organising several activities to encourage people to take part and raise awareness for Comic Relief.

First, the School Council met to share ideas. There were many wonderful suggestions made by the Councillors across the federation! Once a list had been collated, our Chairperson Szymon and our Secretary Abigail presented the ideas to Mrs Pedlow. When the Red Nose-themed activities were decided upon, the School Council got to work in order to make these happen!

The children made some fantastic red noses, all with different expressions and quirks, to be used in an exciting scavenger hunt! With one based at Infants and one based at Juniors, the School Councillors helped Miss Gold and Miss Makins with organising and running the hunts. We were very proud of how hard the Councillors worked to make the day special for everyone.

Additionally, each class created a Red Nose display to go on their classroom doors. We have included photos of several class doors across the Federation, alongside some of the children in their red clothes and accessories! With some time in class to complete wordsearches, colouring and make some red-nosed masks, the children had an excellent day. Our wonderful, dedicated staff in the school kitchens even baked special red-nosed cookies!

Counted with the help of our Treasurer Lily and Councillors Millie and Alice, the Federation raised a fantastic £450.00! Thank you kindly to everyone who donated. Well done, Toftwood!

We had a variety of different characters walk through the gates on the 7^th March 2024 to celebrate World Book Day; from Rapunzel to Harry Potter, through to children being inspired by our class texts for the Tiger who came to tea!

We had an assembly to share our costumes and to listen to a story of Elmer and the rainbow.

Reception

The children in Reception have enjoyed celebrating World Book Day today! Throughout the day they took part in book related activities such as a ‘name that book’ quiz, book catchphrase, decorating bookmarks and listening to the story of Missing Richmond. They also enjoyed looking at the photos on Tapestry of them reading stories in unusual places, which was part of their home learning. 

Year 1

In year 1 the children created a one page book review about their favourite book. They created their own interactive book review with pull out characters, writing about why it was their favourite book and movable parts! After their book review the children listened to a range of Tom Fletcher, There’s a… in your book, stories. They were giggling and amazed that they were able to join in with the story! Each child was able to create their own ‘There’s a …. In your book’.

Year 2

To celebrate world book day the children in year 2 wrote a book review about their favourite books! The children were thinking about their favourite character, favourite parts and writing a brief description of the story. They illustrated their reviews with different scenes and characters and even included a star rating! The children enjoyed sharing their reviews with each other and getting new recommendations of books they may enjoy. 

In the afternoon, year 2 read “Inside the villains” and explored a range of villains from known fairy tales. They used this as inspiration for writing character descriptions for their own terrifying villains! The children then drew their villains, enhanced with moving parts. 

On Tuesday 6^th February 2024, the children at both the Infant and Junior school celebrated Safer Internet Day. Children at each school had an assembly informing them about the day.

At the Infants the children thought about how technology has changed, and shared examples of what they like to do most on the internet. They then thought about what they can do if they feel unsafe on the internet. Albie in Year 2 said “You can tell a trusted adult” with Addison in Year 1 saying that you could tell “your mum, dad or grandparents” and Jasper said that you can tell a teacher!

Throughout the week in their Computing lessons the children at the Infant listened to the story of ‘Mo and Jaz’ who were learning to be safe online when watching videos. “I liked how they stopped the video when they were worried” said Mia in Year 2. “I would tell my dad if I saw something I didn’t like” said Henry in Year 2.

In Reception the children shared the ‘Hatch Me Story’ and also thought about what to do if you are worried about anything online.

Across the Infant school the children shared the story Chicken Clicking in one of their story slots for the week.

On Friday 8^th March, 20 girls from year 1 and 2 took part in a football session at lunch time as part of the Biggest Ever Girls Football session, in partnership with England Football and Barclays. The aim was to get as many girls across the country playing football on the same day. This also coincided with International Women’s Day! Mrs Morton was so proud of how the girls took part, all with enthusiasm and smiles on their faces!

Please get in touch with us if you would like to be linked up with any football opportunities in the local area.

#letgirlsplay

On Tuesday 5^th December, the children at Toftwood Junior School were fortunate enough to be joined by Laura Purnell, the Team Vicar for Shipdham and surrounding areas. Reverend Laura outlined the Christmas Story by using chocolate, which made their assembly very engaging! Alice from Year 5 stated that “it was really funny and made her laugh!”.  

The Federation supported Anti-Bullying Week 2023 by taking part in ‘Odd Socks Day’ which is an annual event organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. On Monday 13^th November all children and staff were invited to wear odd socks or brightly coloured/patterned tights to celebrate their individuality. 

Throughout the week children also took part in discussions within their classes about friendship and the importance of kindness to others. We discussed what to do if we felt someone was being unkind and recapped the importance of our Golden Rules, PATHS rule and speaking to a trusted adult.