Issue 416: 3rd March 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have all had a positive week. Although the cold has returned, it hasn't stopped us from working hard in school and enjoying World Book Day yesterday. As much as I love being the Headteacher, I was not happy with whoever decided to book the Headteacher's conference on World Book Day. I was tempted to go to that meeting in my Very Hungry Caterpillar costume, but I decided against it in the end as it was my first one! 

Curriculum Review Day

One of the advantages of being part of the OWN Trust is the support and challenge we receive as part of the review processes we will take part in each year. Today we had Stuart Mansell (CEO of the OWN Trust), Sarah Levy (Headteacher of Old Fletton Primary School) and Rebekah Liyambo (from EKO Trust in London) spend the day with us to have a look at how we teach a couple of curriculum subjects.

We chose for them to have a look at History and PE. Mrs. Ironside (History Lead) and Mr. Cowles (PE Lead) organised the timetable for the day and our visitors have popped into some lessons, looked at our curriculum documents, spoken to some pupils and met with staff. The feedback we get from this will help us to improve these subjects even further, and we have also learned other ways of judging the effectiveness of our curriculum through observing the team carry out their review. 

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, see you next week.

Mr Marks

Headteacher

^{Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash}

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

Year 4 Mayan Drama Workshop

By Mrs Morris, Year 4 Teacher and Joint Online Safety Lead

On Friday 24th February, Year 4 took part in a Mayan Drama Workshop from The Drama Hut. They applied their fantastic knowledge of this ancient civilisation to create '10 second pictures’, making pyramids and playing pok-ta-pok (a mix of basketball and football).

Year 4 shared their learning of Chichén Itzá, where the Mayan made sacrifices at the top to honour their many gods and goddesses. They then smelt some cacao beans meant to have healing powers; some children said they smelt like dirty socks!

Their next activity was to create sculptures of the different Mayan gods and goddesses. The chosen child was sculpted by their group, then added themselves into the finished freeze frame. The rest of the children had to guess, and we had examples like the God of rain, storm, fire and moon.

Year 4 finished their workshop by listening to a famous myth called ‘The Hero Twins’ and re-enacting part of the myth with sounds and actions.

Honours Awards 28.02.23

Congratulations to the following children who have been awarded an Honours Award for Perseverance this week.

Celebrating Success 24.02.23

Here at Orton Wistow Primary School, we recognise that success comes in all different shapes and sizes! We celebrate the children's achievements in school in the Achievements section of the newsletter and website.

Many of the children, however, are also achieving things outside of school.  We would like to recognise these successes too.

It might be that your child has passed a music or dance exam, gained a karate belt, starred in a show, volunteered, taken part in a sporting event, or done something that they didn't think was possible!

If you would like to share your child's achievements with us so that we can celebrate their success, please complete the Celebrating Success form. Contributions will be considered for inclusion in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

We look forward to hearing about your children's extracurricular achievements!

Celebrating Success this week!

These children in Year 2 and Year 4 both came 2nd on the beam in their gymnastics competition on Saturday. Congratulations!

This child in Year 6 competed in an under 12 regional hockey tournament at the weekend. This is the first time that Peterborough have ever had a strong enough tier 1 team to enter, so it was an historical moment. The team battled and won two games and lost two games, finishing 3rd overall, just missing out on going through to the next round. Well done!

Whilst this child in Year loves kick-boxing, where she recently gained her purple belt, her main love is singing. She recently passed the ABRSM grade 2 singing exam at the age of 9! Congratulations!

Discover what is coming up in the OWPS Dining Car.

Spaces - Piano Lessons

Mr Hansell, the external piano teacher who visits OWPS, currently has a space free and wanted us to let parents know in case their child is interested in taking piano lessons.

Lessons are usually held on a Friday during lesson time (including break and lunchtime) and are taught one to one for twenty minutes. 

To find out more, please contact Mr Hansell directly on the following number: 07889684576

^{Photo by Amir Doreh on Unsplash}

Red Nose Day Reminder - Friday 17th March 2023

At OWPS, we will be raising funds by having a non-uniform day and selling delicious biscuits made in our kitchen.

If you can, please donate in the following ways:

• £1 to wear non-uniform
• 50p for a biscuit

More information about how to make your donation will follow soon.

Read about what is happening in the local community.

^{Disclaimer: Orton Wistow Primary School does not endorse any products, services or activities that appear in the Community section of this newsletter, and is not responsible for any contract entered into by either party. We would recommend all parents check with any providers regarding the status of these services, activities and clubs}