On Tuesday 14^th March 2017, a new member arrived in Class 3 when they adopted a six month old hamster. The male hamster had no name so it was decided that the only fair way to give him a name was for the children to hold an election to choose it. The class put forward suggestions for his name, these were Mr Hopper, Ginger Snap, Fluff, Ginger, Popcorn, Garfield, George, Tatty Ted, Henry and Harry. Each child was allowed to choose two names from the list for the first election to decide which were the most popular four names to choose from. Votes were cast and the wining names were Ginger Snap, Ginger, Popcorn and George. Each child then had one vote to cast to choose the name.

Ginger Snap 7

Ginger 2

George 4

Popcorn 5

The hamster was therefore named Ginger Snap, Ginger for short.

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When artist Alison Diamond visited our school recently the children were pleased to show her the newly hung community banners in our school hall. The children had worked with Alison previously to design and screen print the banners which were inspired by their community, local history and ecology. Everyone agreed they are a colourful and exciting addition to our school.

This Easter the children from Tow Law’s two primary schools are getting together to restore the Millennium Green’s Peacock seat which (over the years) has been left in a sorry state. Artist Alison Diamond came in to school to work with pupils on designs inspired by nature from the local countryside. She will be returning to school to help the children create features in wood which will adorn the seat.

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Class 1 is taking part in a Junior Education Programme with Durham Police, this is a six week programme. The children have so far learnt about Crime in the Countryside and about safety; this included a visit from Jet and Ben. The children have thoroughly enjoyed both sessions.

For the first time ever Wolsingham Comprehensive School held a Spelling Bee Competition, in which 9 primary schools took part. To decide who was to represent our school we held a mini competition. We then took a team of four girls to the competition.  The girls rose to the challenge, completing 3 rounds and scoring 30 points. This enabled them to make it to the final.

The girls came joint fourth as a result of their hard work and proudly received a certificate and a pen to congratulate them on their achievement. Well done, from everyone at TLMPS!

A visitor from Durham County Council came into assembly to talk about waste management. The visitor explained that in County Durham most waste is recycled or used as fuel to create energy that can provide enough electricity to power 19000 homes. The children were shown the waste system of green bin, blue bin and green box. They were asked where they would put different waste items. The children were very good at explaining which items could be recycled and which couldn’t, and learnt to Reuse and Recycle.  Did you know that recycling one aluminium can can produce 4 hours of energy?

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We celebrated World Book Day on Wednesday 1st March and the children had a fantastic day! Everyone made a fantastic effort with costumes, choosing to either come dressed up as their favourite character from a book or in their pyjamas.

Everyone took part in different book related activities throughout the day. The children ended the day with several stories read to them in assembly.

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On Thursday 2nd March, our World Book Day focus continued with every child taking part in paired reading across the school. UKS2 read with a child from KS1 and LKS2 read with a child from EYFS. All children really enjoyed sharing some of their favourite books from school and home with children from different classes.

Our World Book Day activities started early in the first week of spring 2nd half term when we were lucky to be joined in school by Chris Bostock the Storyteller. Chris spent time with each year group from Nursery to Year 6. In Chris’ words his ‘stories are chosen to entertain, excite and encourage listeners to dream with open eyes…. and then to become storytellers themselves’. Chris told the children stories from other cultures and engaged the children in active storytelling and through the use of music.

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