Issue 6: 1st February 2017
www.windmills.w-sussex.sch.uk
Term 2 is well under way with some great learning going on in all year groups. We have been so busy that January has come and gone and we find ourselves heading into February.
On January 3rd, during the INSET day the teachers spent the day looking at developing writing and how to ensure that we combine the technical aspects of writing, required within the new curriculum, whilst still making
writing motivational and fun for our learners. We agreed that we needed to continue to have really exciting
‘hooks’ to motivate the children to want to write. The teachers spent time discussing this and planning writing
projects to inspire our learners.
You will find some examples of great writing from across the year groups in this newsletter, as well as a flavour
of learning across the curriculum.
As well as doing some very emotive, figurative and
Dunkirk Diary
Dear Diary,
It has been a terrible day, and tiring too.
I want to be at home with my family and see their smiling
faces. I feel sick.
Bombs are dropping all around me. I run for my life; it’s
the only way to survive. I am weak and scared.
fatual writing year 6 have had the opportunity to
take part in an evacuation day. The children
dressed up in 1940s clothes, carried their home
made gas masks and were taught many new skills
in an old fashioned way! They did many drills and
exercises that children would have had to take part
in, including exercising whilst wearing a gas mask.
I hide in the golden sand. Just as I do, a bomb drops down
towards me. I run with all my energy towards the thundering sea. The water lashes against me, soaking me through.
The water is cold but fresh; it feels like I’m suddenly at
home with my happy family.
Then I hear a boat coming towards us. This time it’s big.
Big enough for fifty men. I’m happy and excited to be going home.
Just then I look up to see a beautiful sunset. The colours
mixed together are orange, golden yellow, soft midnight
purple and crimson red.
I feel like luck has come, and it makes me feel free.
Ayla D'Agnello
Damai
Amber Botterill
Year 4 have been busy across the curriculum and have produced some quality work linked to their topic on ‘Far Away
Places’. They have been using the text ‘The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe’ to generate quality writing.
The picture to the left shows some children who were selected for the Gold Book because of their careful work on finding
the area of compound shapes—linked to the magic wardrobe! And below, looking at far away places around the
world.
Witch’s Delight— extracts from creative writing
Turkish Delight is the best mouth-watering snack. It is
fudge-shaped and haswhite poweder like snow. It
comes in two delicious flavours, one rose-pink and one
light, sugary lemon. As you put your hands on the delight it feels squishy and powdery. Charlotte de Lamo
This spectacular tasty delight melts like liquid and tingles on your tounge. It has an armour of sugar and it
will make your mouth shine because it is delicious.
Milly Dalgleish
Dear Diary,
Ollie Cole
Over the last few days, my smallest sister, Lucy, has been crying
buckets; she said she climbed into a magical wardrobe and
came out in a super snowy world. She said she met a Fawn
called Mr Tummus. What ever a fawn is? She was crying because we said that we didn’t believe her..….
These squishy tasty delights are incredibly yummy.As
you may have already noticed there are different flavours, like lovely lemon, powerful peaches and overpowering orange. They are guarantted to blow your
taste buds away. They taste juicy sweet and are marvellous. Matilda Croft
Witch’s delight ia a mouth watering snack! It is soft,
squishy and it is like a pillow but smaller. When I put in
in my mouth it buzzes around and makes it water like
eating rain drops. William Dalgleish.
Dear Diary,
Olivia Baird
The most amazing thing happened today. I followed Lucy into
the wardrobe and saw a magical land. Lucy was right. The land
was cold and snowy. I saw a beam of light and followed it until I
reached the lamppost…….
Dear Diary,
Jenson Taylor
I went through the professor’s wardrobe and found a world
called Narnia. The first thing that I saw was a lamppost shining
on the ice lake. There was a fawn with brown paper parcels and
an umbrella. He had a ruby red face…..
Here the children act out
scenes from the story.
Year 4 have also been linking their maths
work to their topic. These pictures show the children playing a ‘battleship’ style
game, involving 4 quadrants and linked to images and places from Narnia.
Year 3 had an exciting start to term as they boarded a flight to
Athens, in Greece. They went to explore the sights and whilst they
were there, they wrote postcards home. Here they are getting on
their flight. Good to see they were prepared for the sun.
“It was like we were on the cockpit of plane looking at all the
sights from up high. We saw France and Italy and flew through
a storm before we landed in Greece. When we got to Greece
we looked around. We saw the Olympic stadium—The Coliseum , The Parthenon and we took a trip to the beech. Finally,
stopping for the night in our hotel, called The Blue Place. The
next day we went to the God’s temple in Athens. It was one of
the best plane trips I have been on.” Archie Sherwood Keevins
Postcard from—Orla McCully
Postcard from—Enrico Di Giuseppe
“It was an awesome trip,”
exclaimed Dylan
Allen, “Especially
the sunbathing!”
Getting On the plane
Just before
take off:
Seeing the sights
Postcard from—Isabel Freestone
Year 5— developing imagery and writing descriptively—
Year 5 have been working hard on how to develop their ideas to really
describe a scene. They were transported to an old disused factory (the
library) where they had to crawl through cobwebs and scramble over
broken machines. There were spiders everywhere and the sounds of
dripping water and creaking doors created a powerful atmosphere. By
creating this experience for the children, a ‘hook’ for the writing, the
children produced some very descriptive writing:
Suddenly, all the happy thoughts were pulled out of my mind by the
lifeless building ahead, seeing what it had become. The wind howled
at the glass that shattered right in front of me. It became bitterly cold.
– Rhiannon Anderson
Jacob Ramann
As I walked through the eerie building I felt the silky cobwebs brush
my face. I felt the drops of the leaky drain pipes……. My heart was
pounding rapidly as the wind whistled through the crack in a nearby
window. Alfie Di Clemente
I could smell the spilt oil, lingering
still after all this time. Silk cobwebs
clung to my clothes making me shudder. Piles of rusty metal with jagged
edges made it treacherous under my
feet. Dusty lifeless machines lay like
dead beasts.
Amelie Lockhart
Ollie Anderson
The warm smell of iron
still lingered in our presence. The cold shivered
down my spine. Feeling
deflated, I looked
around at the old factoThe howling wind was blowing in my face whilst a crow was cawing, perched on a brory parts that had taken
their last breath.
ken window. Gingerly, I crept through the old broken factory. The smell of the rusty
Isabel Hunt
pipes swarmed around me. Pablo Banks
As I shone my torch on the bare
wall I saw a small spider stop
dead in it’s tracks. I heard mice
scuttling between the pipes and
started to notice the sound of
dripping water echoing around
me.
Georgina Bairsto
Theo Worsfold
Paige Iredale
02 Concert—what an amazing trip. We took 78 children to sing with hundreds of other choirs in a truly memorable night. 7868 children altogether!
It was a very powerful choir and an experience that the children will remember for ever.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Marion Smith for leading the choir and working
tirelessly to teach the songs with enthusiasm and joy and to Mrs Sinclair for
supporting her every step of the way. Also we have to thank Mrs Goldfinch
who was responsible for the time consuming organisation of such a complicated trip and ensuring that our preparation was flawless. Also a huge thank you to all those who came on the trip. A selection of pictures, as a sample—there are even more on the web
Sussex Cross Country Finals—well done
to our four cross country finalists who
represented The Windmills. The
course was longer and steeper and
much more of a challenge than the
first round. They battled hard and really pushed themselves and did brilliantly. The runners were placed:
Benji 37th, Charles 34th, Saskia 24th
and Smith 23rd out of 60. A great job.
Anti—Bullying Policy
Last term we worked hard to improve and develop our anti-bullying policy to ensure that everyone knows what
bullying is and what to do about it if we think that it is happening to us or to someone else. The children, staff
and governors have all contributed to this process. I attach to this newsletter a copy of the revised policy so that
all parents are clear about our policy and what they should do if they have any concerns at all. Below is a poster
that will be displayed in all classes.
Worried about being Bullied?
Is it bullying?
If it is a worry then:
WHAT TO DO:

Ask the person to stop and explain how it
is making you feel

Don’t retaliate

Walk away and use the ‘Power of Good’ – (knowing you are doing
the right thing)

Talk to your friends

Talk to a playground buddy

Talk to a sibling or an older friend

Tell your School Councillor

Tell a teacher or another adult you feel you can trust

Tell a parent or adult at home you feel you can trust

Use a worry box to share your concern with your teacher

If it is cyber bullying block the bully

Ring Childline and follow the advice given

DON’T KEEP IT SECRET – always tell someone