Newsletters

Dear Parents and Carers, 

And breathe... we have made it to the end of the Autumn term! Considering what we have all been through over the past nine months, it has ended up being a fantastic term and I couldn’t be prouder of all the children and staff. Resilience is one of our learning tools and everyone involved with Orton Wistow Primary School has shown a huge amount of this. It would take more than a worldwide pandemic to stop our school from making the most of each and every day!  

I have said it before and I will say it again, I love working in a primary school at Christmas time.

This week we have seen: 

• The first-ever Foundation Stage Nativity movie 
• A new Christmas story read by a member of staff shared with families every day 
• Christmas jumper day
• Christmas lunch (for over 380 Children!)
• Christmas Kahoot quizzes for KS1, LKS2 and UKS2
  and… 
• Toy Day! 

It has been a fantastic week and we all deserve a well-earned break. Over the past few weeks, all the year group partners have been working together to plan and prepare for their Spring term topics. Although we are a little limited on some of the unique experiences we offer the children at OWPS, especially trips, this hasn’t stopped the staff from being creative and planning some fantastic lessons and activities that the children will enjoy and remember.  

As excited as we all are for Christmas, this is also a sad day as we will be saying goodbye to Mrs Attwood. Mrs Attwood has been associated with the school for a long time. She was a parent of two pupils at the school and a governor before joining the teaching team in 2015. I’d like to thank her on behalf of all the children, families and staff for her hard work and commitment to OWPS over the years. I have no doubt that she will be an incredible SENCO and will continue to have a very positive impact on all the children, families and staff that she works with in the future.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. 

See you in 2021! 

Mr Marks 

Deputy Head Teacher

Each week we publish the latest achievements of the children at Orton Wistow Primary School. 

You can find out the weekly results for Attendance, Class Dojo, Dojo Masters, Golden Mile, House Points, Reading Champions, Shining Stars and Times Table Rock Stars.

Foundation Stage Nativity

By Ms Porter, Foundation Stage Team Leader

The Magpies and Penguins had great fun dressing up and learning about the story of Christmas through their production of A 'New Normal' Nativity. 

In previous years, we start singing the songs just before half term and then spend time practising for the event held in December for parents to attend. 

This year the children worked in their 'scene' groups, learning about how to retell their part of the story.  The Kings travelled a long way around the school to represent the long journey they made to see baby Jesus.  The shepherds were on the field around a 'fire' to re-enact looking after sheep.  We added to the story by having a sheepdog rounding up the sheep, along with villagers in Bethlehem guiding the way to register the birth.  We also had a street scene where the children offered fruit and vegetables to the travellers. 

We are very grateful for the lovely costumes that the parents sent in, special thanks also to Mr Hollingsworth from IT support who helped with some of the technology.  After a few final cuts, we showed the children what they had achieved.  

Watching on the big screen in the classroom bought tears to our eyes as the children sat enthralled.  It was the quietest they have ever been!  Since adding it to Twitter, we have had messages from previous members of staff and have been stopped in the street by parents of older children to say how much they enjoyed it.  Well done to all involved!

Operation Christmas Child Update

Here is a thank-you from Mrs Hales, a former parent at the school, who collected the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes from that OWPS collected:

"A HUGE thank you to all at Orton Wistow Primary School who donated gifts and boxes to the shoebox appeal this year. Your generosity was immense – with some boxes being difficult to close because there were so many gifts inside! You managed to donate 17 complete boxes PLUS with all the donated items we were able to pack another 10, so in total there were 27 boxes.

In particular, it was wonderful to see so many personal messages and photos put into the boxes. This makes a Christmas gift to a child extra special and shows them that they are loved and thought about. The shoeboxes will now be collected with all the others packed in Wistow (120 altogether!) and will travel across the world to children in need.

So, thank you again and hope you have a really Happy Christmas and New Year!"

Honours Award Assembly

Congratulations to the children who have been chosen as the Autumn Term Honours Award Winners for their commitment, hard work and enthusiasm.

Golden Mile Autumn Term Update

By Mr Cowles, PE Lead

The Golden Mile is a great way for children to access fitness throughout the day at school. Last year it was a huge success with all the classes.

This year's targets were set for each class. As a school, we have run 1,365.71 miles since October half term! The children have loved having a destination to reach. Below are the classes, their targets and what they have achieved since half term:

This week, we are proud to publish a piece of work by children in the Penguins, Giraffes, Flamingoes and Sharks.