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The school choir did us proud!

On Wednesday 10th March the school choir participated in the International Festival of Song at the Gala Theatre in Durham. There were twelve schools in our section of the festival with more than eighty schools  taking part overall in events over the next few weeks.

The morning began with Shelly Ambury from ‘Sing-Up’ leading a collaborative performance of ‘Tape ton pied’, a French folk song. Then each school took to the stage to perform their own song. Ours was ‘Baningati’, a traditional song from Cameroon which we performed in three parts. Other schools performed songs from France, Spain, Holland, Senegal and Finland. The atmosphere was great and we all had a lot of fun. The event has been filmed professionally so we are looking forward to re-living our experience when it comes out on DVD!

Exciting Venture for Y5!

To provide illustrations for a Guide to Hardwick Park.
A Guide for the Children by the Children

Y5 are working with an artist at Hardwick Park on Thursday 18th March. We have been asked to spend the whole day in the park and sketch some pictures of its wildlife etc, under the instruction of an illustrator. We have been developing our drawing skills for a while with this visit in mind and as a class are quite adept at drawing cartoon pictures. Every spare minute we have been drawing cartoons and customising them so we are very enthused by the task we have been set.

Once we have sketched our pictures the artist will come into school the following afternoon and we will annotate these. Then a few weeks later the Guide will be published and it will eventually be made available to the public.

The press will be invited and the Guide will be launched!

So if you visit Hardwick Park this summer and follow our Guide, enjoy the illustrations but don’t blame us if you’re so engrossed and wander off along the wrong path!

Click here to view a selection of images in our gallery.

The 8th to the 12th of February was Arts week; a week where we explore the Arts. The theme of the week this year was 'The Jungle'. A theatre company called 'Image Theatre' visited us during Arts week and performed 'The Jungle Book'.

Our school will be inspected on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th March 2010.

The children had lots of fun playing in the snow! They made sledges out of plastic, a den, and also lots and lots of snowpeople and angels.

The nursery children launched the Nativity by singing some songs. They are dressed in red to look like the person who delivers our presents at Christmas. Do you know who he is?!!

The infant children children performed a Nativity play called 'The smallest angel.' The smallest angel looked in different places around the world for the best place for baby Jesus to be born.

We are always very busy at our nursery! Take a look at what we have been doing during the Autumn Term.

On Thursday 15th October Class 3 went to the Roman Army Museum and Vindolanda as part of their project on Romans. We were lucky with the weather so our armour came back without too much rust on it. While we were at the museum Mick showed us his collection of Roman army equipment and several children got their hands on the weapons. Mr Lennox looked quite worried!

At Vindolanda Justin, one of the site’s archaeologists, showed us round the civilian site and we explored a building that was a butcher’s shop.

We then stormed the wall and the turret that have been reproduced on the site. The children were very glad that they were not Scots trying to get over the wall. It was certainly an effective fortification.

At the end of the afternoon we went into the museum at Vindolanda and saw some fantastic Roman artefacts including leather shoes, jewellery and a real human skull.

The class were agreed that it was a great day out and they did their best to convince Mr Lennox that they had learned a lot.

Well done Class 3 and thanks to all our helpers on the day.

In June we had a visit from Expo Chef Jimmy.
The whole school enjoyed his performance as he cooked simple but tasty food that was really healthy.
Several children had an opportunity to try their hands as chefs and they made a really good job of it too!
Lots more children had a chance to eat the food that was produced. There were lots of thumbs ups for Jimmy’s great cuisine.
He left us a recipe book each and everyone went home eager to try out these scrumptious ideas.

Check out the Expo Chef website for more recipes. http://www.expochef.co.uk/

Thanks for a great day chef.

Tub planting

Medieval Fayre 2009

Everyone had a great time at the Medieval Fayre!

 As part of the school’s Anti-Bullying strategy, trainers come to school to work with children around the theme of racism.

The children learn what racism is and what forms it can take.

On Tuesday 25th November Y3 took part in the Gymnastics Festival at Spennymoor Leisure Centre. They performed a routine to the music using Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”.

The year 5 Sandcastle Challenge team won the team award. They built a fantastic sand sculpture at South Shields in the summer and beat several thousand other children to win that competition. They worked together in a seamless way to produce a very challenging design in the short time allotted. This is a great honour to add to a great success. In the Arts category the guitar group have been recognised for their musical skills but also for taking part in the community. They have performed at the Methodist Chapel for Mothers Day and took part in the Sedgefield Folk Festival.

A week of extra curricular activities relating to Anti Bullying, ending with Blue Friday when the children wore blue clothes. A Theatre group came into school to give a performance and to work with the KS2 children.

Children wore spotty clothes today to raise money for Children in need. Cakes were also provided by the friends of the school.

The friends of Hardwick School organised a Halloween Disco for the children. A fangtastic goulish night was had by all!

Every year Sedgefield Town Council have a sunflower competition and every year the most amazing plants emerge.

A family day out for children in Y1 & Y2. We took a boat trip from Seahouses to visit the Longstone Lighthouse where Grace Darling had lived with her family at the time of the heroic rescue in 1839. Unfortunately, once out of harbour, our little boat tossed and pitched its way out to sea and the captain deemed it too dangerous to land on the island. More of an experience than we’d ever planned or imagined and one we certainly won’t forget!

As part of our project on the Romans we visited the Roman Army Museum and Vindolanda. We had a great day with good weather and some fantastic historical experiences.

Children and parents were invited to visit the café during morning school time. Croissants, pain au chocolat, coffee, hot chocolate and orange juice were served by French speaking waiters and waitresses, courtesy of Y6. Customers were provided with menus in French and entertained by performances of ‘Sur le pont d’Avignon’ - a joint effort between Y6 & Y1, singing & dancing together!. French music played in the background and the hall was decorated to give a French feel.

‘I spy with my little eye…’ Thursday January, 24th 2008

Each year the village has a Medieval Fayre which is held on the village green in May. Originally the school entered a competition to decorate a float to take part in a procession around the village. This involved both Key Stages making decorations to transform a tractor into an... Ancient Greece Olympic Stadium, a pirate boat and even a Medieval Castle etc. Recently a walking procession has replaced the ‘tractor’ and Hardwick School have been a regular winner when the floats have been judged by the Mayor or dignitaries of the village, as can be seen by the Trophy which ‘lives in’ our school entrance.

We have been building sculptures using Yellow Pages for several years and been rewarded for our efforts many times. We have been Regional Winners for approx. 5 years, often receiving additional awards for collecting the most number of Yellow Pages. (These are recycled in aid of Butterwick Hospice)

Children North East Sandcastle Competition held at Sandhaven Beach, South Shields in July 2008. Several thousand children enter the competition to build a sand sculpture to a chosen theme. The themes have been Great British Inventions , when we were one of the five finalists and won £200, What the Romans Did For Us and A Day By the Seaside, when once again we were successful and won £200. The sculpture is well prepared before we arrive at the beach as all schools are allocated an architect who helps us to develop our designs. The day relies on teamwork, speed and concentration as well as remembering not to trample on the design as it is built! A mean task when up to 15 children work on a small plot!