Longest Day

… EVER!!!!

From Thursday 18th June

until Friday 19th June, WDPS

staff, sports people (Sharon

Gayter and Joe Waugh) and

children took part in a fund

raising event for the

worthwhile charity CHUF

(Children’s Heart Unit Fund

at the Freeman Hospital). It

was also the right time to

launch our fabulous running

and cycling track.

Mr MingStones (head teacher)

ran for an hour, walked for an

hour and cycled for an hour for

a whole 24 hours period to

raise money for the charity

CHUF. He even had a different

outfit for each activity and was

like Mr Ben changing every 60

minutes in record time. The

head teacher of WDPS even

enlisted a dietician (Mr

Torrance) for advice in order to

keep him

safe and

fully fuelled

during the

whole 24

hours. From

nuts to energy drinks and even

toasted

bagels kept him going

throughout the night shift.

Mr Shiel and Mr Jones

organised this fantastic event,

getting the children to

contribute as each class took

turns on the track. Even

Milecastle and Westerhope

Primaries brought children

along to support WDPS and

Mr MingStones in his

mammoth challenge to raise

as much money as possible

for CHUF.

Tents were pitched and Mr

Shiel and Jones managed a

little bit of sleep until 3am

when Miss Croll let rip with

‘Morning has broken’.

This event was one of the

biggest things we have done

as a school and we have

proudly raised …

Olympian Joe Waugh came to

open the track and he said, “I

think it is absolutely amazing

because when I was a child

you were not allowed to ride a

bike; you always had to be a

footballer or a rugby player,

and I was the only person to

compete in the Olympics.”

Sharon Gayter (world record

breaker endurance runner)

then ran around the

track and also commented on

this amazing resource.

‘Superb and it has a bit of

everything’.

Emotional

However it was Mr

MingStones that had the last

word and emotional it was.

It was the most humbling

event to see the children who

came after school who ran,

walked and cycled around the

track including Brooke in year

1, Molly in year three and even

a Granddad Tom at 3am. Mr

Chris Hull even ran a

marathon through the night. Mr

MingStones also had his

family supporting him and

friends from Heaton Harriers

also pounded the track over

the 24 hour period.

A great big thank you to each

and every one of you who

supported Mr MingStones, the

school and CHUF. It is a proud

moment and life long memory.

By Wesley Scott, Mark

Merrett and Miss Croll.

Issue 008 July 2015 ‘A Stepping Stone into the Future’

This

Issue

FUNKY FOREST SKILLS

AND BRILLIANT

BUSHCRAFT

WDPS STUDENTS SHINE

ACADEMICALLY (page 6)

‘The Longest

Day’

Mr MingStones

running with

one of his

heroes-

Sharon Gayter

See more on

page 2

The Stepping Stone - July 2015 Issue 008 Page 2

The Longest Day continues….

9

Page 4

The day began at

14.00 on 18th

June. Joe Waugh

and Sharon

Gayton opened

the track and did

the first official

laps with the

head and children

from year 6

Each class took a turn to run, walk

or cycle with immense enthusiasm.

It was a long night but a dedicated

team kept Mr MingStones going. But

it was such a relief to see the sun

rise, even though it never really got

totally dark. Left – Mr Chris Hull

finished his gruelling marathon in 5

hours 50 minutes.

The next

morning the

classes kept

coming. Owen

Murray (RAP

speaker) put

in a 5am stint.

The kitchen staff also

wanted a piece of the pie

After the longest day ever Mr MingStones

had this to say.

The Longest Day was one of the

best team experiences that I have

ever been part of. The whole WDPS

community came together to fund

raise for CHUF. People have been

so generous in giving their time and

money to help save the lives of

babies and young children. The

CHUF motto is ‘From kind hearts

grow healthy hearts’ and I believe

our community has lived this out to

the full.

I thank you all for making this such

a fantastic occasion for us all to

enjoy. It made me very proud to be

part of such a special community of

children.’

The Stepping Stone - July 2015 Issue 008 Page 3

Page 3

9

Page 4

WHITEHOUSE FARM

Reception went on an educational visit to

Whitehouse Farm. Linda the farmer took

Reception on a tractor and trailer ride around the

fields.

At the farm we saw a wide variety of animals from

traditional farm breeds to small animals, pets and

exotic species. We got to feed and hold some of the

animals. Many of the children were brave and some

even held a snake around their neck!

Jessica Germain “I enjoyed the spider on my head. It

kept crawling on my face then back up then back

down.”

Tyler Barton “I liked the lambs. I gave them some

food then the lamb tickled my fingers. They were just

babies.”

Mystery Chest

Found in Nursery!

The children in Nursery

discovered a wooden chest

that had mysteriously appeared

overnight.

When we opened the chest, we found

some large eggs and a letter. The

letter was from ‘Mummy Querk’, asking

the children to look after her eggs.

We covered the eggs and waited!

Finally one morning when we arrived

in nursery, the eggs had hatched!

Baby ‘Querks’ had emerged.

We discussed the similarities and

differences between the baby Querks.

Many things about them were the same

i.e. two arms, two legs, two eyes and a

nose. However, the Querks had different

coloured fur, different coloured hair and

eyes from each other.

This led us to discuss the similarities

between ourselves and the Querks. We

all had a belly button but only the Querks

had a tail!

The Stepping Stone - July 2015 Issue 008 Page 4

Page 4

Key Stage One was lucky enough to go on an

exciting trip to Beamish Museum. This was to

help the children to understand what life was

like in Victorian Britain, as part of the

International Primary Curriculum (IPC) topic.

During the visit the

children got to see

what it would have

been like for children

who were fortunate

enough to attend

school, rather than for

those who had to go out to work.

Each class was given an hour in a real Victorian

classroom with a very strict Victorian teacher!

The children were

asked to sit up straight,

address the teacher as

Ma’am , not speak until

they were spoken to

and write with a slate

board and chalk.

After a delicious lunch the children then went in to

the main town and met a Victorian dentist,

watched sweets being made and visited a

hardware store.

“I really enjoyed the men in the sweet shop

making the sweets”, said Sean from year 1 / 2.

Jade from Year 1 enjoyed visiting the Victorian

school and being taught by Victorian teacher.

“I liked the old fashioned

sweet shop and seeing the

sweets in the old fashioned

jars”, said Maisie in Year 2.

TEMPLES, TOMBS AND

TREASURES

In Phase 2 this half term, we have been

learning about ‘Temples, Tombs and

Treasures’ and have focused on the location

of Egypt and the Ancient Pyramids.

In History, we have been finding out how

artefacts have helped us find out about the past

and how the discovery and exploration of the

Great Pyramids by famous archaeologists has

helped us to develop a deeper understanding of

the life of the Ancient Egyptians. In geography we

have been locating Egypt and the Pyramids on

maps and charts and comparing Ancient Egypt

with modern day Egypt and learning how it is

similar and different at the same time.

We have used the discoveries from the

Egyptian Pyramids as a stimulus for our art work

and have really enjoyed using a range of media to

produce Ancient Egyptian name stones writing in

hieroglyphics. We also used the famous

Tutankhamen masks to design our

sarcophaguses, keeping to the style and theme of

the mask.

As part of the topic, we visited Kirkley Hall

Zoological Centre where we saw a range of

animals and insects whose natural habitat is

Africa/Egypt. We found out more about what they

ate, where they live and why, and which, if any,

were dangerous to humans!!! We

had a fantastic day and we were

keen to learn more about the

animals and insects, so we used

the I-pads to carry out more

research in order to write factual

reports about them. We had a

brilliant day out!

On the 1st April Senora Mason (our

Spanish teacher) arranged an exciting

Spanish day, when the pupils could

come into school wearing: yellow, red,

or something which was Spanish

themed. The enthusiastic pupils really

enjoyed our Spanish day.

Later on, the pupils did Spanish quizzes and art.

We had colourful paper tissues and big, Spanish

paper dresses and we could decorate them as

we liked. Senora Mason taught us how to

flamenco dance .It was great fun!

For lunch we had a choice of a Spanish sausage

and Senora Mason made some delicious, mouth-

watering eggy bread for the pupils to try. Most of

them loved it, however some did not. They said

that it had too much cinnamon on it!

At the end of the

day, Senora

Mason held an

assembly in the

hall to show the

school what we’d

learnt during the

day. Year 5

danced and the

Year 6 pupils did a

fashion show.

Everyone enjoyed

the amazing

assembly, and

had a great day!

Hemos aprendido

muchas cosas

interesantes sobre

España y

pasamos un día muy agradable en la escuela.

By Kayleigh Hurst & Melissa Weatherly.

EGGCELLENT

EASTER

EXPERIENCE!

On Tuesday 30th March our

school (Reception to Year

6) performed a story about

Jesus and his disciples.

Reception and our class

(Year 5) did a tableau of the

washing of the disciple’s

feet. Other classes acted

out other parts of the Easter

story from the Last Supper

to the Resurrection.

The parents and carers

walked through the

Stations of the Cross in the Church of the Holy Spirit

finding out about the

Easter story. At

some of the

incredible stations

they gave the

parents bread and

grapes to remind

them of the Last

Supper that Jesus

celebrated with the disciples.

The atmosphere in church was incredible and you

could feel the reverence of this important time in the

church’s calendar. The children worked really hard

and demonstrated total respect for what they were

portraying. The Reverend Stober commented ‘It was

an absolute joy to have the children in church. They

must have all worked so hard to put it all together but

I was very impressed by the final production and the

way they were able to present the Easter story so

clearly. Their visual effects, music and drama

produced an extremely moving experience. I couldn't

have done better myself!

The Stepping Stone – July 2015 Issue 008 Page 5

The Stepping Stone - July 2015 Issue 008 Page 6

9

Page 4 WRITERS WITH VISION

AT WDPS

Since the last edition of the Stepping

Stone, the children in KS2 had the

chance to enter a writing competition,

ran by Vision for Education, to win

book tokens and even a Kindle. The

children could turn their writing talents

to anything they wished as long as

they were creative. Entries varied from

biographies of famous pop stars, non-

fiction football reports, stories and even

the history of WDPS. A short list from

WDPS went forward to be judged and

Olivia McKenzie won a prize for this

heart- felt poem. Well done to all of our

budding writers who took part.

WDPS REACH

ACADEMIC HEIGHTS Congratulations to our children who

have performed so well in their end

of year assessments. In particular

our Y2 and Y6 results (unvalidated

as of 14-07-15) have been very

strong for both progress and

attainment.

Y2 Progress Reading 6.3 APS Writing 5.9 APS Mathematics 6.5 APS Y2 Attainment Reading: L2c 86%, L2b 76%, L2a 59%, L3 33%. Writing: L2c 86%, L2b 64%, L2a 40%, L3 16%. Mathematics: L2c 81%, L2b 79%, L2a 50%, L3 19%. Y6 Progress (2 levels progress or greater than 6 APS) Reading: 86% Writing: 93% Mathematics: 96% (1 child absent for SATS papers) Y6 Attainment Reading: L4 93%, L5 43% Writing: L4 85%, L5 21% Mathematics: L4 96%, L5 46%, L6 7% (1 child absent for SATS papers) Due to ‘Good’ to ‘Outstanding’ teaching across the school, our children achieve high academic results and also benefit from a rich, varied and unique curriculum. Thank you to our WDPS staff and families for giving our children such a strong ‘Stepping Stone into the Future.’ Mr MingStones

KEY TO PROGRESS

APS = Average points scored

3 points = Satisfactory

4.5 points = Good

Above 4.5 = Outstanding

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My Nana

In the sky up above.

There is someone I really love.

My nana she was the best.

But we had to lay her to rest.

I look up at the stars at night.

And she shines so bright.

We used to always laugh and play.

And I know she still loves me every day.

Night night Nana hope you sleep tight.

Won’t see you in the morning

as the sun is too bright.

The Stepping Stone - July 2015 Issue 008 Page 7

9

Page 4

Our Brilliant WDPS Bushcraft area is now up and

running and we are here to tell you all about it. Where

our old, disused nature area was, is now a great

learning area where children can be adventurous and

learn great new life skills.

Year 4/5 have been going out into the Bushcraft area and learning

some things like how to build shelters with sticks and leaves as

well as tying themselves up in knots. Also children in Year 4 went

to help build parts of the tree house and then they enjoyed a nice,

warm cup of hot chocolate.

Year4 were learning about a little alien being in the Bushcraft area

and they had a meeting up in the great tree house to discuss the

danger of predators eating the little alien. So they all had to build

a shelter in groups in order to keep the alien safe during its stay.

The shelters were built out of different materials all around the

Bushcraft area. It was a lot of fun. All of the team work was

excellent; no one really fussed. When the children had finished

building their little shelters, they showcased the key features of

their designs to Mr Jones, Mrs Sparke and to the other children.

By Sandra and Nicole

The children have also had the opportunity to use a range of

tools. These include a bow saw, loppers and a billhook. The

children listened carefully to the tool safety talk before they

successfully used the tools to create a range of woodland items.

These included coasters, picture frames and a tripod for a fire.

The children helped build a fire and they ensured the safety rules

were followed at all times. They heard some fantastic campfire

stories which the children used later in their Big Writing. The

WDPS Bushcraft Area is already helping to inspire and stimulate

the children at WDPS in many exciting ways. The skills they are

learning will be invaluable in life and will also enable the children

to develop a broader view of the world.

By Neil Jones

The children having fun

building shelters, tying knots

and using natural materials

to create woodland picture

frames.

The Stepping Stone – July 2015 Issue 008 Page 8

9

Page 4 Sandstone Way 3 day Bike Ride

After packing our bags and getting our gear ready, we loaded

our things onto the trailer and set off to Berwick. We were on

the bus for 1 hour, until we finally arrived at the idyllic town

of Berwick.

When we got there, the beautiful scenery appeared. The sea went far

into the distance and there were trees for miles around. Bridges stood

tall above the water and the sun shone brightly in the sky.

The trailer arrived and we got on our bikes and set off on our journey

that was just one step ahead of us, I was extremely excited and couldn’t

wait to get pedalling.

Cycling along the riverside, we were enjoying the first few minutes of our quest to finish the Sandstone Way.

From Berwick we cycled to Wooler where our hostel was. In Wooler, there were a lot of challenging hills but we

gave it our all.

When we got to the youth hostel we were all really tired and couldn’t wait until we could have our well-deserved

tea.

After tea, we gathered together to listen to our research on a certain part of the Sandstone Way that we had

cycled past. I researched Chillingham Castle (which was very interesting). Then everybody got a shower and we

got ready for bed.

Waking up on the second day, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day for cycling. We had our breakfast, got

ready; and then set off to Rothbury, where our next stop was.

The surroundings coming out of Wooler were beautiful; mountains and hills that lasted for miles. However, there

was a challenge ahead…This was to climb out of the Ingram Valley. The hill was long and steep but we were all

ready for it.

After the nerves had finally disappeared, we got to the summit of the mountain that stood high above us. We all

pushed ourselves to the limit and made it up there together. After a long time pedalling we got to the last hostel

in Rothbury for another well-earned rest.

Exhausted the next day, we packed our bags and

knew that we were on the home straight. On the last

day the journey took us mainly on road but here we

needed our full concentration to stay alert and safe. As

we drew nearer to WDPS the party oozed pride

because we were so proud of our achievements and

determination. The KS1 children were just returning

from the beach to welcome us home. What a trip and

what a challenge. Quitters never win and winners never

quit!

By Mr Wesley Scott

The Stepping Stone – July 2015 Issue 008 Page 9

9

Page 4

Tournament Tastic

Monday 6th July welcomed the return of the

annual House Football tournament to our sun-

soaked school field, with a feast of footballing

finesse on show. With the stands packed to

the rafters and the players revved and ready,

the games began.

Starting at break-neck pace, Armstrong and

Cookson took to the field at one hundred miles per

hour, throwing caution to the wind at both ends.

Both goalies proved the difference though, pulling

off countless saves from forwards Youngman and

Scott, time and again. One goal eventually proved

the difference though as Scott’s well-struck effort

in the second half found its way through stranded

defenders into the corner of the net.

Game two featured Collingwood and Shearer and

proved to be nothing short of a goal-fest. Shearer,

utilising the counter-attack, peppered the

opposition goal time and again, only for Telfer to

pull out a series of top-drawer saves to keep the

deficit down. The game was finally decided by

attacking talisman Foster, who wrapped up his

hat-trick in style, with a darting run into the top of

the box, finishing with aplomb into the left-hand

corner.

The tournament featured six action-packed games and

treated the excited fans to 29 goals in total. The pick of

which, Wilson’s audacious chip direct from a corner

kick, leaving Allen with no chance as it looped high

over the goalie and nestled in the back of the net.

Although all four teams demonstrated that they were

accomplished footballing sides, Shearer were overall

winners, winning all their games and scoring an

impressive 17 goals in total.

By Mr Erskine

Brilliant Bowling During the spring term, Yr5/6 has been

learning how to bowl at West Denton Indoor

Bowls Club. They loved it! Each Friday

afternoon the children donned their bowling

shoes and hit the green.

Every Friday at 2:00pm all children excitedly

make their way to the Bowls Club. As they

arrived, they settled and changed their shoes

to the special ones for the fake grass. The

pupils of WDPS were paired up with the

experts, Ann and Bill, Lennie, John Booth, Ged

McCoy, David Lee, Raymond Rodgers, Tom

McCartney and John Armstrong.

Each Phase Three class had four weeks to

perfect their bowling skills and on the last

week the children had to try and score points

by bowling their bowls onto a target to collect

points. Even Mr MingStones had a go and

showed promise.

By Ben Young, Sophie Drummond and

Sahra Said

Just look at the

concentration on the

children’s faces.

(Clockwise Daniel,

Dan and Sahra)