Page 5 - Sancton_Wood_Times_Lent DPS

Y11 Trip to Santander Exploring our Rights Respecting Schools

local area The school has continued their work as a Rights protection from work that harms you and is bad for your health and they are able to thrive, all values held at the heart of

Respecting School. This term nursery looked at Right and education. If you work, you have the right to be safe and Sancton Wood School. Working towards the Rights Respecting
Trips are an invaluable part of our learning 39: You have the right to help if you’ve been hurt or paid fairly,’ Schools Award embeds these values in daily school life and
and enable the children to get hands-on treated badly, which is key to supporting children with gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and
experiences. Our fabulous location and how to deal with disagreements and sharing! Familiarising the children with these fundamental rights is to be responsible, active citizens.
small class sizes makes this very easy for us. providing a platform to create safe and inspiring places to
The Prep school looked at Right 32 ‘You have the right to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured

Celebrations Don’t put your finger in
the jelly Nelly

Our nursery is never one to pass up on a celebration. This term
In early March, 8 of our Year 11 GCSE Spanish students embarked on a The weekend got underway with a day trip to Santander, the Capital we embraced a range of Chinese New Year events. They made
5 day excursion of Cantabria, Northern Spain. After an early flight from of Cantabria, where we arrived at the vast seafood market containing lanterns and rats and looked at a Chinese story which explains
Stansted, we arrived at Santander Airport around midday. During our delicacies from sea urchins to octopus; trying some quisquillas (a kind how the Chinese celebrate the festivity. Chinese role play food
journey to our accommodation, in Puente Viesgo, we were immediately of shrimp). We continued through the general market (fruit, veg, meat, Y1 visited the local eco mosque to explore the was popular amongst lots of the children, they learnt where
mesmerised by the abundance of greenery with stunning mountains cheese etc) and came to the Tourist Information Centre where the space and learn about Muslim customs and China was and discussed who had been there. The children
and hills contrasting with the flatness of East Anglia. We were then students used their Spanish to ask for a map and things to do in the rituals. They loved the gold and colourful listened to Chinese music and learnt how important the colour
introduced to Fernando and Merche, who welcomed us graciously to area. Luckily for us, there was an ice cream store opposite the tourist decorations, the special Arabic writing and red, the dragon and lanterns in celebrations are.
their Casa Montañera, located in a beautiful, rural village. office. This gave the Year 11s a tasty opportunity to use their Spanish and tiles that had been donated which were over
also try unusual flavours such as Queso (cheese). 400 years old. Mrs Lai also taught the children how to say ‘Happy New Year’ and
Quickly we were immersed into Spanish culture, being served tortilla they watched clips of dragon and lion dances. The children enjoyed
bocadillos (sandwiches) for lunch. After a short break, settling into Fortunately for us that day, the weather was beautiful and the pictures a delicious Chinese meal together, with some showing their friends
our rooms, we drove to La Cueva del Castillo, prehistoric caves, with from the Centro Botín, overlooking the bay, were wonderful. After how to eat using chopsticks. They also made the most of Shrove
original paintings left by early Homo Sapiens up to 40,000 years ago. stopping for a bite to eat, we wandered down the seafront eventually Tuesday, having fantastic fun making pancakes, eating them, Baby Unicorns took part in a sensory walk while listening to ‘Dont
Unfortunately we were unable to take photographs within the cave, in stopping off at a sandy beach for a paddle in the sea and some listening to the Pancake race story and then racing in the garden! put your finger in the jelly Nelly’ by Nick Sharratt. The activity
order to preserve the paintings better. However, in the cave we were told relaxation. Our day trip concluded with a spot of shopping before offered the children an opportunity to get really messy and explore
about the methods the early Homo Sapiens used to paint (through coal, returning. We rounded off the evening with some GCSE speaking some interesting textures such as apple pie, milkshake and cheese.
manganese and iron) and see the areas that were considered sacred to practice and dinner.
them. They would carve rocks in these areas and use fire to project light Drama Workshop Washing Hands
onto them creating a shadow. This would give the impression that the The final day of activities commenced with an intense Spanish revision Y2 have been to the Polar museum to see
rock was almost moving which was like magic for them. From there, session going over key details for the role play and picture tasks. artefacts from the polar expeditions and from Tigers were greeted by ‘Phileas Fog’ at our Prep School who The children learnt about the importance of washing their
we learned about how the Homo Sapiens lived. We found out how they However in the afternoon, after a game of football, we travelled to Arctic communities both past and present. had an exciting adventure for them to go on. They went on an hands. They read the story, ‘I don’t want to wash my hands!’ and
hunted bison, fished and made thread with animal ligaments. We even the small medieval town of Santillana del Mar which was full of 14th They had lots of fun dressing up in expedition imaginative adventure to Australia to find a boomerang which then painted a hand with pretend germs and printed it on a long
managed to use some spears against a target with varied success. The century towers, houses and churches. However, despite its name, it is clothing. had not bounced back. They climbed into an aeroplane which strip of paper until the germs had disappeared. It took between
scenic walk back provided a tranquil stroll down some hills and along not named after a saint, or is flat or is by the sea as the name suggests. accidentally landed in the arctic. After having a snowball fight 7 and 11 transfers for the germs to go so it was a great visual
the River Pas. The day concluded with an introductory lesson before We discovered the historic town through a series of cultural challenges and making snow angels they discovered some more fuel for our representation of how easy it is for germs to spread and why it’s
dinner. involving asking locals for directions, further developing our language aeroplane and continued on their journey. Once in Australia they so important to wash our hands well.
skills. After racing around the town, we tried some local quesadas (a discovered the boomerang in Bruce the crocodiles swamp. They
The second day began with another early morning, though not as early typical Cantabrian dessert) with a glass of fresh milk. On the way back, distracted Bruce, ate his sausages and got the boomerang. The RSPB
as the day before. From breakfast, we journeyed to Colegio Sagradas we stopped off for some churros con chocolate, another local speciality. children loved joining in with the actions, songs and dancing.
Corazones, a local school, to practise our Spanish conversation skills A pleasant stroll in the evening finished our final night.
as well as helping with their English. We started by getting to know the
students and their school, comparing the similarities and differences Overall the trip was a wonderful opportunity for the students to adapt The Great Outdoors
with Sancton Wood. We then proceeded on a tour around the school their Spanish skills into real life situations as well as learning the
itself which contained its own church! Our visit ended with an exchange culture of Cantabria and Spain. Finally, we would like to thank Madame Y3 had a great trip to the museum of
of cultures with us providing some scones and British cheese and the Talvio for organising such a great trip for us, as well as Mrs Tall for archaeology and anthropology. We were told
Spanish students giving us some pastries. The Year 11s had gotten to accompanying and helping with the lessons and activities. We would that the class were the most educated group
know the students quite well and it was unfortunate that we had to also like to give the biggest thank you to Fernando and Merche (our the leader had ever had to do the Stone Age
leave. The day drew to a close with the students practising their Spanish hosts) and their two daughters for their wonderful hospitality and help topic with which made us very proud. They
in a local supermarket and ultimately ending with a delicious meal of throughout the trip. also visited Sedgewick museum to look at all
paella, which we helped to prepare ourselves. ¡Qué rico! the fantastic exhibits. They got to hold part of a
dinosaur finger that was 130 million years old.

Bletchley We’ve also been to Bletchley Park, the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during Nursery children participated in the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch

2020 by looking at the birds in our garden, making bird feeders
the Second World War. Y5 and Y6 enjoyed stepping back in time to experience the
Park amazing achievements of the men and women who worked there. The children spent and then hanging them in the Forest School and completing
the day cracking codes and learning about coding and cryptography. It was a wonderful
garden bird watch sheets.
experience: there was so much to see and learn about.
5 Big Questions

Y9 also embarked on a trip. In the morning, we split into groups and headed off to do separate activities.
Firstly, we went on a fascinating tour with the guide: Martin. We saw the grand mansion where everyone We invited parents and educators from all over Cambridge to
worked so tirelessly and saw the vehicles that were used to transport information in and out of Bletchley Y6 have been slightly further afield to join us for a talk from Early Years specialist Pam Mundy. Pam is
Park. Next we learnt about the conditions that the workers faced, for instance they were crammed in tiny Duxford War Museum. They looked round a Senior Advisor and Governor for Dukes Education alongside
huts often without heating and water. They didn’t even know what they signed up for at the time, only that the amazing collection of original war planes other areas such as school improvement, quality assurance,
it was secretive. The eight thousand women that spent six years working in top secret spent all day trying and equipment used in WWII and had the challenge and strategic support for a wide range of nursery
to crack the Nazi message that would be changed after twenty four hours. The money was poor, despite rare opportunity to see some of the war settings, Early Years Centres, government agencies and Ministries
them working for hours on end every day. planes taking off due to the good weather of Education internationally. She is a freelance consultant for the
conditions. They saw a Spitfire, Hurricane BBC and Channel 4 Learning on a range of educational and on-line
On the second half of the day, we took part in a workshop about code breaking. We listened to morse code and Mustang taking to the skies and enjoyed programmes and co-authored the Oxford University Press online
and tried to decipher the inaudible messages. After we learnt about the Enigma machine and even typed every minute. In the afternoon they got to The children continue to love their time spent in our forest school. Whether it be talking about the surrounding environment by looking at Early Years Leadership programme. There was lots of interest in this
on a real machine that was used in World War Two. We then attempted to find the name of a spy who meet two WWII veterans to hear about their the blossom growing on the trees, watching aeroplanes flying in the sky above, digging up soil and looking for “wiggly worms” or jumping and we were sad to have to postpone. We will reset the date as soon
went undercover in Bletchley at the time. We looked around the park and took many pictures. experiences. The children asked questions in muddy puddles, it’s great for the children to find so much joy and interest in the outdoors. as it is safe to do so.
they had prepared and listened with curiosity
After a long day it was time to unfortunately go home. We enjoyed this trip so much and didn’t want to to their answers. Meeting Robert Johnson
leave. Thank you so much Mr Escalante-Phillips for organising such a great trip! and Mike Blackwood really brought the Movin’ on Up
War time experience to life for many of the Across the nursery children have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know their new friends and teachers as part of some incredible transition sessions we have been offering this term. Tigers have
Senior trip written by: Jess and Maddie, Y9. children. been to play parachute games in Reception and the older children in the Catepillar room have been getting stuck in with building volcanoes with dinosaurs.