Together we love, learn and flourish
Gainford Church of England Primary and Pre-School
To love, live and learn together
Many thanks to FOGs for organising our two school discos held this week. The discos were very popular with almost the whole school attending. A paper snowball fight as well as musical statues and some freestyle dancing all proved to be popular! It was good to see break dancing on the dance floor too!
I really enjoyed the disco. It was good fun, I got to compete in games and everyone was being kind and inclusive.’Lyla
Remembrance
The children in school have learnt about the significance of the Armistice agreement signed on 11th November 1918 and about why some people choose to wear poppies. To coincide with this, work our Leaders of Worship Team helped each class to plan and design a Remembrance Prayer space and these were installed in St Mary’s Church for the whole community to use.
Class Swale -Thoughtful Playdough. Children were encouraged to think of someone or something that they were grateful for. They then had to use the playdough to make a model of this and had time to talk about their feelings.
Class Wear ‘s prayer space focused on the ‘The Empty Chair’. This focused on lost loved ones and symbolised the empty chair they leave at the table of our lives. Class Wear pupils wrote down some very thoughtful prayers.
Class Tees Remembrance Ribbons. This focused on world events and issues like the Ukraine War, and natural disasters such as forest fires and flooding. Children considered who had been hurt, who is helping and what or who may have caused this. They wrote prayers and thoughts onto labels and added coloured ribbons of remembrance.
Please try to call in to St Marys Church to see what the children have done. The prayer spaces are there for all to use.
All are welcome to join in with the Remembrance Service in church on Sunday 13th November
It was lovely to end this half term with our Harvest Festival at St Marys Church. Children in each class had worked on their contributions for the service with a mixture of singing, acting and art work Our ‘Leaders of Collective Worship’ group did very well retelling the Parable of the Sower – even with a couple of their group absent. This was the first time that the group had planned and lead a service in church –so very well done! It was so good to see the church full of our school families.
Many thanks for all of your donations; these are being distributed this week by our friends at church. I know that the cooks at Butterwick Hospice and the staff at The Well food bank are always very appreciative of the donations we send through.
Lindisfarne Gospels Pilgrimage
The Lindisfarne Gospels, the most spectacular manuscript to survive from Anglo Saxon England will be on display at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. As part of the Lindisfarne Gospels Pilgrimage Trail, I had the pleasure of walking with some of our Class Tees children from Gainford to Ingleton. They walked with the County Durham Flag and the Bishop of Durham’s staff then passed these onto Ingleton pupils who then walked onto Hilton. The walk will finally end on Lindisfarne on 24th September with schools across the Northeast taking part. The children were able to handle a replica of the Lindisfarne Gospels and to see first-hand the writing and illuminated letters on the calf-skin pages
Class Swale & Wear went to South Shields on Wednesday, as part of their ongoing learning topics about pirates and the coastline. The weather was extremely kind on the day and the children all engaged with their projects and enjoyed an ice cream and a paddle in the sea. It was wonderful for the children to engage in an outdoor activity, post Covid restrictions.
If you are planning on a trip or a holiday and your child would like to take along Gainford Bear (he’s quite small) he would love to go! He’s recently been to Paris, Scotland, a climbing wall, a tractor shows and even featured in a Punch and Judy show! All we ask is that you send us some photos of what he got up to and tell us where he has been so they can be added to our display and shared with all of the pupils in school. Your child can call in at my office to collect him or ask their class teacher to check if he is available.
What a wonderful day we had in school yesterday, the dining hall was adorned with bunting and decorations made by the children and staff, the buffet was beautifully prepared by Taylor Shaw Staff and we even had a visit from the Queen! Children listened to some wonderful songs, such as the White Cliffs of Dover and all stood up to sing God Save the Queen. A truly memorable occasion to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.
