Elleray

Park School

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Whole School Events

Art and Design week 12^th – 16^th April 2021

We celebrated Art and Design by holding a themed week based on the artist Lucy Pittaway. Lucy’s art work is very in keeping with this time of year and provided us with so many wonderful learning opportunities. The children had a fantastic week developing a range of skills including designing and making, drawing, colour exploration and using a range of materials.

At the end of the week we showcased our wonderful work in the hall for everyone to come and see.

We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures from this week and seeing the children’s passion, enthusiasm and effort shine through their creations.

World Book Week 4th-8th March 2019

In true Elleray style we decided not to just have a day put aside for World Book day but use it as a theme for our week. Across the school children enjoyed the work of either Eric Carle or Roald Dahl and were involved in a number of activities related to their stories.

Across the week the children enjoyed listening to stories at the library or reading to other children i other classes, we had story time at the end of each day and joined in writing our own whole school story.

Of course the highlight of the week was on Thursday when we all came into school dressed as our favourite characters. Everyone looked fantastic!

A few photos from our week....

Eid Celebration Week

The whole school enjoyed a week of Eid celebrations. The children learnt a lot during the week about the Muslim faith through a range of multi-sensory activities. We also enjoyed a whole school Eid party on Friday where the children shared what they had learnt. We enjoyed a workshop held by friends from the Muslim community. The children enjoyed exploring the Islamic artefacts such as the prayer mat, prayer caps, Islamic perfume and trying on traditional Eid children's clothing and a hijab. The children learnt some new Arabic words and they enjoyed learning about how Muslims pray and how they celebrate the festival of Eid.

During the week each class learnt about Eid through different activities such as cookery - making sweet dishes for the Eid party, each class also made decorations for the hall - there were Mosque pictures, lanterns, Mendhi patterns and paper streamers. The hall looked wonderful at the end of the week.

At the end of the week everyone wore their best clothes for our Eid celebration day. Classes gathered together in the morning to share food with their friends in different classes and to exchange cards and gifts. Then in the afternoon, we had a whole school Eid party in the hall. There was Bollywood dancing and lots and lots of food. It was a lovely social occasion for the children to enjoy eating together. There were also money wallets hidden around the hall for children to find with sweet treats inside.

The children learnt about how Muslims give to charity during Ramadan so we asked the children to collect food donations during the week which the children enjoyed taking to the local food bank. They were very grateful for our donation - well done everyone!

Eid Week Photos

Barnstondale 2018

Our leavers had a fantastic few days in Barnstondale this year. They all took part in different adventurous activities including climbing, kayaking, archery and orienteering even when they were feeling a little nervous!

Christian Worship Day

During the Spring term we had a whole school RE focus on Christianity. This involved a themed day of worship which all of the classes got involved in. There were 6 prayer stations set in the hall where the children could experience the values and aspects of the Christian faith in a hands on and sensory way.

The stations included: God's Word, Washing feet, Awe and Wonder, God's Love, Thanking God and Worrying. All of the children spent time visiting the prayer stations throughout the day and had the opportunity to reflect and engage in the activities that were provided.

We invited religious leaders from the local area into school to chat to the children about their beliefs. They also brought important artefacts that help them worship God. Some of the classes also had the opportunity to ask them questions about their faith.

Each class was given the opportunity to do an act of service for someone else. It was amazing to see the children being so creative in finding ways to help others. These are some of the ways the classes helped and blessed others: making cakes for our school nurse, making candles and giving flowers to our visitors, making biscuits and cards for our drivers and escorts, reading stories to younger children in the school, cleaning the classroom windows.

Each class also made a reflection area in their classrooms where the children could spend time thinking about the awe and wonders in the world and have some time for quiet thinking and reflection. It was lovely to see the children using these areas!

In the afternoon, the children also enjoyed some live modern worship music. The children loved joining in with the actions and playing instruments.

Our worship day was a great success and there was a lovely calm and peaceful atmosphere around school throughout the day.

Worship Day Photographs

ELLERAY PARK CELEBRATES THE BUDDHIST FESTIVAL OF THE ELEPHANT

During November the children of Elleray Park celebrated the Buddhist festival of the elephant day as part of our religious education curriculum. This annual festival is held in Thailand and it pays tribute to the elephant and involves elephant decoration and games, food and dancing. The event was a great success and everybody got very involved in the celebrations.

Many of the classes had a focus on Buddhism for the whole week leading up to the festival day ensuring that the children spent a lot of time learning about the Buddhist way of life and the key values and beliefs of the religion.

Each class took a different approach to learning about Buddhism but there were lots of creative and fun activities for the children to enjoy such as making clay Buddha statues, making lotus flowers, making prayer flags, designing, creating and decorating elephant pictures and models, meditation sessions and cookery sessions featuring traditional Thai dishes such as vegetable curry and rainbow fried rice. The children were also introduced to the Buddhist way of life through a range of stories and important symbols.

The children enjoyed lots of activities on the day of the festival and everyone enjoyed coming into school in their best orange clothes! Each class had been tasked with making their own elephant for a parade around the school. All of the elephants were amazing and showed the hard work of all the children. Each class also had a hall session during which they competed in class races and a tug of war with other classes. Some classes were very competitive! There was also a Buddhist shrine set up in the hall for classes to visit and bring their offerings and have time for quiet reflection. The day finished with Buddhist songs and dancing in the hall.

The children will enjoy a religious education themed week each term during which we will explore different world religions. Check back on this page regularly to find out details of our next big event!

Buddhist Festival of the Elephant Photographs

Working Scientifically Week 23rd June 2016: Where did that Egg come from?

All of the children had a fantastic week using the science investigation skills in our whole school Dinosaur week which ended with a T-Rex roaming around our school grounds!

The week began when the children arrived at school to find a strange giant egg in a nest in our school hall. Children from across the school were fascinated by what they could see and so the week of curiosity, questions and investigative work began!

Each day had a theme with the focal point being a "clue" in the school hall for when the children arrived each day.

Monday- Eggs- The giant egg in the hall

Tuesday- Footprints- Mystery footprints around our school

Wednesday- Poo- Droppings in the hall

Thursday- Food- The egg had hatched and bones and feathers appeared around the nest

Friday- Fossils- We had a fossil hunting workshop followed by the mystery being revealed!

The activities were planned across the school to allow for them to be meaningful for the children and appropriate for their needs, whilst also allowing us to develop their skills when working scientifically. The egg had changes each day from a crack and slime appearing until it hatched on Thursday and the mystery creature had disappeared! The week concluded with the children coming onto our hill to find Sophie the T-Rex walking around.

It was an extremely successful week with lots of hands on practical investigation work going on across the school and the children (and staff!) had so much fun throughout the week. There was a definite "buzz" around school from start to finish!

Here is some of our work......

Sophie the T Rex visits Elleray Park

Sophie the T Rex

World Book Day/Week- 29th February- 4th March

Our school celebrated World Book day again this year, but decided to use this as a focus for a whole school theme week. We started the week with children and staff dressing up as our favourite characters from books and stories. Everyone looked fantastic!

Some of our Characters

During the week we all enjoyed sharing some of our favourite books,poems and rhymes, visiting the library and joining in lots of activities about our books. Some children visited other classes to read to them.

Poetry Day - January 2016

We were very lucky to have published author and poet Andy Croft visit our school for the day and work with class groups from across the school. During the sessions Andy performed some of his poetry for each group and then worked with them to create their own fantastic poems. Each group then performed their poem during an assembly at the end of the day.

Our Poets

Lilac Class Practising for their performance

Good to see the staff enjoying themselves as much as the children are!

Our Poems

"A Window to the World" Art Week - January 2016

During the week all of the children had a focus on Art and the work of artists from around the world. We also enjoyed a visit from an artist Andy who worked with children from each class to create pieces of art work using different mediums and a collaborative piece of work which can be found displayed in our Pupil entrance in school. The week was messy, hands on and lots of fun!

We also shared our hard work with our link school in India as part of a global project.

Our Work of Art

Artists at Work!

Black History Month - October 2015

We celebrated Black History Month with a variety of activities. Each class looked at a variety of influential people and traditions linked to the continent of Africa. Whole school events included African mask making and singing and dancing workshops led by the Mighty Zulu Nation Theatre Company.