The importance of play
Dear families,
At West Didsbury CE, we often talk about our motto ‘Kindness First, Effort Always’ and whilst we celebrate this in collective worship and see it lived out in the classrooms, some of the most profound learning happens through the simple, joyful act of play. Whether it’s Reception mark making together and exploring their new climbing frame, KS1 letting their imaginations run riot with the play pod or KS2 playing sports, sharing stories in the reading shed or chatting in the peace garden, play is an essential part of the school day
When children play, they are practicing empathy, developing resilience, and growing physically, mentally and spiritually. Forming strong friendships, communicating effectively and being able to manage relationships are the most important skills that children will leave our school with. Play is not a break from learning – it’s a continuation. The playgrounds are where character is built, where good number sense is tested in the real world, where oracy skills are strengthened and where children to grow into well-rounded young people
With these things in mind, it’s essential that the playgrounds are resourced with the same level of planning and priority as the classrooms. We want to provide as many opportunities as we can for children to enjoy their play and with over 400 children in our school, we’re catering to a wide range of interests and preferences. The peace gardens, climbing frames and sports areas provide a great range of spaces but there’s more we’d like to do and we’re very grateful to the PTA for supporting our efforts with their Fun Run next week.
The importance of play
Every class has produced a wish list of new equipment and whilst some will be disappointed with the lack of a new swimming pool, the classes have, collectively, produced a great list of ideas including table tennis courts, outdoor chess and bowling, giant jenga sets, pogo sticks accessible basketball hoops as well as more skipping ropes, stilts, balls and chalkboards
The PTA have organised a Fun Run in Fog Lane Park to enable this and we hope it will be a fun, relaxed event for families of all ages. Fancy dress is encouraged and children can complete a 2K or 5K run at their own pace. Every entrant who purchases a ticket will receive a medal and goodie bag and if you would like to contribute towards the new playground equipment, you can do so via the following links:
Sign up for the run and help us provide new equipment
Thank you, as ever, to our brilliant PTA and I hope to see lots of you at the Fun Run next weekend. In the rest of this April edition of WDCE Monthly, you’ll find an update of our new maths interventions which are already having a positive impact and an update on our new Worship and Sign Language groups which are making our collective worship even more inclusive and child-centred.
Have a great long weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
Mr Roberts Head of School
1stClass@Number & Success@Arithmetic
We’re really proud of the changes we’ve made to our maths curriculum this year. We’re continuing to use ‘Power Maths’ as a basis but teachers are using journalling more to improve fluency and provide more pictorial representations and problem solving ‘Mastering Number’ sessions are taught daily, strengthening children’s sense of number and further up the school, Century Tech assessments are supporting teachers to adapt their planning to best meet the needs of their classes. All of these are contributing to the improved attainment we’re seeing throughout school.
We want every child to feel confident and succeed in maths but too often, it can be a subject where children feel they ‘can't do it ’ We’re working hard to change that narrative not just through our curriculum but with our new intervention programmes – 1stClass@Number and Success@Arithmetic.
These interventions have been developed by specialists at Edge Hill University and are supported by research from the highly-regarded Education Endowment Fund amongst others.
Some of our TAs and teachers have recently received training from Edge Hill and our first cohort are already benefitting Some comments from the children taking part include:
“It feels as though you are playing games but we’re getting better at maths” and “I know that I can do maths now.”
The programmes are designed to last 8-10 weeks, after which we’ll be selecting new groups to take part. We hope this will narrow the gap and enable every child to enjoy and succeed in this vital subject.
Belonging, Believing, Becoming
We have a form of collective worship in school every day, often singing together or debating a big question in class. For two days a week, we come together as a school either for Celebration Worship or Clergy Worship where we celebrate children who have been great examples of ‘Kindness First, Effort Always’ and where learn and reflect on a passage from the Bible Collective worship is a calm, quiet time to encourage children to think deeply and form their own beliefs. Children are also invited to join in prayer if they wish to and we always make time to sing together so we can all join in praise and celebration
We want Collective Worship to be as engaging, inclusive and purposeful as it can be To that end, we now have a Worship Team – made up of children in Years 5 & 6 – who are on stage to help with readings, to teach and to lead our singing. We also have a Signing Choir, led by Mrs Hand, who are teaching us all to sign hymns in British Sign Language.
We look forward to you seeing our Worship and Sign groups in action when you join us for Celebration Worship on Mondays and Tuesdays. A big thank you to Miss Thompson and Mrs Hand for arranging these.
Kindness first, effort always.
Our behaviour motto – Kindness First, Effort Always – is always lived out in classrooms, corridors and the playgrounds. Here are some extra examples of kindness and effort to celebrate from this month:
We’re very proud of all the girls in Year 4 who ran a stall selling handmade jewellery on Friday to raise money for Francis House.
The girls will be there again on Tuesday due to popular demand!
An amazing effort to raise funds for such a worthy cause. Well done, girls!
A huge well done to Finn who has been selected to take part in the Cheshire Youth Cricket U11 Boys District Festival.
Finn is one of 45 children to be selected from over 500 applicants for the U11 Cheshire District team which is a great achievement, particularly as he is one of the youngest players on the team.
Finn will now play in the District Festival which takes place between May- September and he may also have the opportunity to play matches against other counties towards the end of the summer, Well done and good luck, Finn!
Kindness first, effort always.
Last weekend, Alexa completed a 5K walk for World Autism Acceptance Month to support the National Autistic Society. In Alexa’s words:
A massive well done and congratulations to Diego who played for Manchester City’s U11s in Dunkirk earlier this month.
Diego participated in the ASAGS Cup The team not only took part but won the competition!
What an achievement, Diego! Congratulations and very well earned!
“I walked with my mum and dad and friends from our local ASD community. We even had a friendly white dog join our team. We had so much fun walking together under the trees. Because I finished the walk, I raised over £670! That money helps the National Autistic Society support families. I felt very proud to help.”
We’re very proud of you too, Alexa! Well done!
