The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) has launched a new campaign to help parents have open conversations with children about harmful online content, including misogynistic material, body shaming and rage bait.

‘You won’t know until you ask’ provides practical tools and prompts to support parents to talk about what children are seeing online, strengthen critical thinking, and challenge misinformation.

Help your child stay safe online https://kidsonlinesafety.campaign.gov.uk/  This provides useful practical information and tips for parents to know what to ask their children about their internet use and have conversations about difficult topics and harmful content.

Parent Power session on 'Drugs and Substances'

'CGL CYP Service' who cover the CYP substance misuse service delivery in Peterborough are running information sessions for parents/carers to gain a better understanding of substance use amongst young people.

Although it is a Peterborough based organisation, they are opening this up for parents/carers from other areas to attend. There are 2 sessions, one in the evening and one during the day. The sessions are online on: Tuesday, 17 March at 7.00 pm or Wednesday, 25 March at 1.30 pm. You can book through the links on the attached poster.

If you have any questions or need support, please contact us on 01442 873150 or email info@nextthing.education.

We also had lots of fun during the colder weather with “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”, where children used playdough along with a variety of materials to add eyes, hats, scarves and other creative details. 

More recently, the group made bird feeders and mini bug hotels, which we placed in the school wildlife area. A few days later we returned to check them and were excited to spot a variety of mini-beasts beginning to move in!

The workshop continues to give children opportunities supporting sensory regulation, creativity and discovery through a variety of fun and purposeful sensory activities

The children, across the school, eagerly took part and showed brilliant enthusiasm as they worked together to cook a nutritious meal from scratch. They listened carefully, followed instructions well and were excited to try the food they had prepared themselves. It was wonderful to see everyone getting involved, demonstrating great teamwork and confidence in the kitchen. The children really showed how capable they are, and many were proud to taste something new that they had helped create.

Well done to everyone for such super participation!

The JTA want as many people as possible to Bike, Scooter or Walk to school next week (16-20 March) for The Big Walk & Wheel. Of course they are holding a competition too! The JTA will select a bicycle or scooter each day and place a golden ribbon on it and those winners can collect a prize from the school office.  Selected students that walk to school can also win a prize.  

They had fun hunting for runes and meeting the 'Iron Age' pigs! In the museum, children had the opportunity to dress up as Anglo-Saxons, play 9-Mens Morris and handle artifacts from the time. Despite it being a very cold and damp day, the trip really brought our learning in the classroom to life.

We would like to thank the WSA for their support in helping to fund this trip.

Well done Y1/2! Your performance rocked!

We would like to thank all parents and carers for your support of our new online ticket booking system, and we are pleased that so many families have found it convenient and easy to use. It allows fair and efficient access to tickets and is particularly helpful for those who may not always be able to contact or visit the school office during the day.

We appreciate your continued support, as we work to make our processes more accessible and convenient for everyone.

The Willingham Primary School children were fantastic representatives of our school and showed excellent sportsmanship. 

Please find more information and presentation - Personal, Social & Health Education.

The children had been learning the different songs and dance routines since July and were very excited to finally go and perform with over 8,500 other children. After rehearsing all afternoon, the arena began to fill up with family members and we were ready to perform to a sell-out crowd! We sang a range of songs; from a 'Wicked' Medley to Sea Shanties, as well as a Willingham Primary School favourite - "The Power in Me".

This year marked 30 years since the first ever Young Voices concert and it felt very special to be a part of the celebrations. A huge well done to the children who performed brilliantly and were great ambassadors of our school.

Last term we ran a successful competition called 'Be Bright, Be Seen." We encouraged students to think about the darker days and the importance of being seen while travelling to and from school.

This term, we want the whole school community, including our adults, to think about safety on the roads around the village. Look out for our '20 is plenty!' posters and our next competition. 

A special well done to the soloists and readers, who performed with confidence in front of a very large audience. It was a wonderful morning and we are now even more excited for Christmas to come!

Once again the children who attend our Sensory Workshop have worked together to make our amazing Advent Window.

We asked the children what does Christmas mean to them and have incorporated all these elements in our design.

Every child has made something on our window and they are very excited to see it on display for everyone to enjoy.

We are immensely proud of all their creative work.

Since September we have raised in excess of £1800 and funded over £700 in items/activities. 

The WSA are a small committee of both parents and some staff, working tirelessly to arrange events and activities all year round. We do this to not only to raise funds for the pupils of Willingham Primary School and Honeypot pre-school, but to ensure these events are inclusive and affordable to as many families as possible.  

It would not be possible to execute our plans without parents, carers, staff, and in some cases pupils, volunteering their time to help at these events. We are always exceptionally grateful to those that do so in any way they can. 

Not only that, but our school scored the highest number of points and secured first place - earning each of the children a gold medal, Panathlon towel, certificate and a trophy to bring back to school.

Well done team Willingham - We are incredibly proud!

We were lucky to meet a museum expert who answered the children’s thoughtful questions about how the explorers survived in such extreme conditions. The children also took part in an object hunt around the museum, searching for items that explorers would have taken with them on their journey. They particularly loved finding the 100-year-old chocolate bar!

A special thanks to all the wonderful parent helpers who came and made the trip possible. 

This term, the EYFS children have been learning about the Christian story of the birth of Jesus and proudly performed their nativity play, The Big Little Nativity. The pupils approached their performances with great enthusiasm, delighting their audience with energetic singing and joyful dance moves.

Well done to all the children in EYFS for being such an essential part of our much-loved traditional Christmas production.

Together, as a school, we raised an amazing £2,526 for Children in Need  - what an incredible achievement!

We are hoping to receive the children’s medals in the New Year, when we will be able to celebrate their efforts properly and thank them for the kindness and generosity they showed.

Thank you for all donations made on Friday 14th November, for participating with wearing odd socks to school for the day. We are pleased to share that together, we raised a total of £323.45!

'Thanks again for such a warm welcome at Willingham Primary School, it was a joy to visit, and I hope you all enjoy hearing the finished piece on air.

Festive thanks!

Josh, Dotty and the rest of the team'

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

“Every Thursday lunchtime we go from class to class, counting the merits for our house and recording them in our House Captain books. When we walk round, we're always proud of the merits our house has earned. Mrs Price’s class always has loads! Every Friday, we announce the results in assembly and love seeing the reactions of the children—especially the younger ones!”

When a house wins first place, the Captains use the following announcement:

“Congratulations, [house]! With [total number] merits, we came 1st. We are so proud of your efforts this week. Remember, effort always leads to success. Keep up the hard work, and well done to all the other houses. Have a great weekend – Go [house]!”

The Captains also shared what merits mean to them:

“Merits make people feel happy.”

“Merits make us want to do the work – it encourages us.”

“It’s rewarding, that sense of pride when we get a merit.”

In the words of the House Captains: “Every merit counts!”

All of the children represented Willingham brilliantly and returned with more knowledge and appreciation for the humble - or not so humble - rock.'

In the morning, Years 5 and 6 were treated to a fascinating journey through the Solar System, travelling out into galaxies far, far away. Pupils explored the relative sizes of the planets, discovered just how ginormous the Sun truly is, and learned why Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet. This visit complemented their science learning perfectly, building on their previous unit on Earth and Space.

At the end of the session, the pupils had the opportunity to ask questions, and we were incredibly impressed by the depth of their knowledge—a brilliant example of active participation and engaging with learning beyond the classroom.

In the afternoon, Years 1 and 2 visited the planetarium as part of their pre-learning for a history unit on The Space Race. Some fun introductory activities helped pupils get used to the dome environment before they were shown the planets and examples of space flight. They “flew” to the Moon and even explored different habitats and animals across Earth—an exciting way to link their prior knowledge to new experiences and to nurture their sense of wonder.

A huge thank you to the WSA for funding this experience—we are sure the children will be talking about it for days to come!

As mentioned in the last Newsletter, the consultation for our Anti-Bullying Policy is still open. You can read the policy here.

If you want to leave any comments, you can do it with this form.

After the wreath laying at the memorial and a two minutes' silence, there was a further service inside the church where a number of children from Willingham Primary School sang a song to the congregation that we had learnt in assembly called, "We Will Remember".

Well done to all of the children who took part and represented the school so well.

The children thoroughly enjoyed learning how to write poems with rhythm, structure, and imagination and they’ve each written their own.

We’re excited to include a selection of their work & hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!

'wh' as in whale, 'ch' as in check, 'sh' as in shell and 'th' as in think

Moving on to new sounds for Year 1, we have looked at two sounds and the variety of ways they can be spelled - /ae/ and /ee/ 

/ae/                                  /ee/

ay - play                            ee - tree

ai - train                                 ea - beach                                  

a__e - game                           ie - field

a - taste                                ey - keye

ea - great                       e__e - eve                

                                                        e - be

There has been lots and lots of practice reading and writing a variety of words with these sounds in them. Pointing out where these words are throughout the day, in other lessons and the stories we read. There have also been word hunts around the classroom!

It is essential that the children are surrounded by words and language, they will likely start to notice these spellings out and about in the world. If they don't, please point it out to them! If you are going to the train station, where can they find the word train? If they are going to a shop, can they find the sign for the 'games'? Going for a walk? Is there a sign for the 'field'?

The only way learning sticks is practice, practice, practice. 

With the focus now more than ever on the importance of regular attendance at school or early years provision, the Local Authority has worked with partners to produce this short film which shares key messages about the benefits of regular attendance from the perspectives of professionals, parents/ carers and children alike. The link to the film is below.

Watch the short film.

If you wish to make a donation to mark the occasion, please donate directly via the below links;

Ely Food Bank

Cambridge City Food Bank

Cambridgeshire Food Hubs

A big thank you to all of our older children who have been so kind, welcoming and generous with their time, as they have shown our youngest children what we do best at WPS. 

In 4JB, we have been inspired by this unique landscape in our Art lessons, as well as the work of contemporary artist and designer Angie Lewin, who specialises in using natural forms and techniques. The children created dusk-like backgrounds by using different shades of turquoise powder paint surrounding a white circle to represent the moon. They then used superb observational skills to explore the beautiful and intricate details of different plants from the grass family. They used dark pen to transfer their observations to their artwork, creating some stunning silhouettes.

We cannot wait to hear new WPS musical sounds!

"The most awesome assembly ever!!" from Oliver in Year 4

It was a hot, sunny afternoon, which presented a beautiful backdrop, but tiring conditions for an afternoon of netball. We all needed to stay well hydrated and be as much in the shade as possible between matches. The team played with commitment and enthusiasm and had fun playing against all the other schools. We scored a few goals but, on the day, score lines did not go our way. Despite this, all the children kept their heads high and played with determination and integrity. They received a nomination for the ‘Spirit of the Games’ award which recognised the amazing way they played as a team supporting each other and their sportsman-like conduct. Another member of staff also came along to show appreciation of their honesty on court.

We were proud of how they represented the Willingham Primary School's values through an enjoyable afternoon of sport.

We now look forward to continuing to improve our skills at netball club, with our Year 5s developing their skills ready for the next tournament in the Autumn Term!

We started off with a visit from History Off the Page. The New Hall was turned into 1666 London and the children got to experience life round the time of the Great Fire of London. There were lots of activities to do such as; bread making, weaving, sewing, candle making and much more! There was smoke, stories, chanting and lots of exploration of life in London. The children even got a chance to see a mask that Plague Doctors used to wear when they would do house calls.

We have also been learning about plants and have conducted many experiments in the classroom. We grew our own cress plants but treated them in different ways – some we gave sunlight and water, and some we gave just sunlight. We concluded that plants need sunlight and water to germinate and produce healthy plants.

In between this, we have also celebrated World Book Day and enjoyed producing work, based the books from Katie Morag.

The team showed our school values in abundance with their team spirit, working together and supporting each other to play their absolute best. Their skills improved during the afternoon and they showed resilience even when things weren't going their way. We were very proud of how they conducted themselves showing kindness and respect to other teams.

Well done to the B team and we now look forward to the A team final after Easter!

After eating lunch in the park in the glorious sunshine, the children walked up the hill to see one more large mosaic that has been left in situ, where you can even see the remains of the Roman hypocaust system (underfloor heating) running under the mosaic. The children were great ambassadors for the school and the museum staff were very impressed with how much the children knew about Roman Britain. 

Thank you to all of the adults who helped with the play, with a special thank you to Chloe Leaper for producing a stunning backdrop and to Mel Pinter and Sandra Tyrell for putting so much time and effort into creating so many of our props. 

We are lucky enough to be part of the South Cambridgeshire School Sports Partnership, which organises a huge range of sports events across the school year. At the Speed Stacking festival, the children were able to take part in a range of different sport stacking activities, where they learnt basic stacks and got to challenge themselves, as well as score points for their team in fun relays and races. The children had a fantastic time, demonstrating incredible teamwork skills, self-belief and determination.

Here are some of the children's favourite things about the event: - I loved working as part of a team - The sports leaders were kind and helpful - The games were fun and competitive - There were lots of different types of games, which were all really fun! -

One of the highlights of our term so far was World Book Day, which was a fantastic celebration of reading. The children arrived in an array of creative costumes, bringing their favourite characters to life. From classic heroes to modern-day book stars, it was wonderful to see their enthusiasm and effort. We took time to share our favourite books, discussing what makes them so special and even inspiring each other to try new genres and authors. 

Taking advantage of the lovely sunshine, we enjoyed some outdoor reading sessions, making the most of the fresh air while getting lost in our books. There’s something magical about reading outside, and it was fantastic to see so many children absorbed in their stories. 

To build on this love of literature, we have also been writing our own character descriptions to create a special class book. The children have been working hard to develop imaginative characters, thinking carefully about descriptive language, personality traits, and backstories. Their creativity has been truly impressive, and we can’t wait to see the final collection come together. 

'Thank you for your ongoing support in fostering a love of reading at home. If you can help us spruce up our class book corners – perhaps a few cosy cushions – we’d greatly appreciate this.'

They performed their play three times, showcasing their talents with confident acting, expressive storytelling, and wonderful singing. The pupils have practiced their fire dances in PE this term, and did a fantastic job of using ribbons to represent the flickering flames and chaotic scenes of 1666. Their artistic talents also shone through, as they created stunning fire-inspired artwork inspired by the Dutch artist Jan Griffier, whose famous paintings depict the devastation of the fire.

Most of the play was inspired by our history learning. This term, the children have delved into the past, learning about how the fire started, how it spread, and how it ultimately led to the formation of the Fire Brigade. Hopefully some of the audience learnt something new during the performances too!

A huge well done to all of KS1 for their dedication and hard work. We are so proud of you! Thank you to the staff and families for their support. 

Over the winter months, we would like everyone to take good care when next on the road as it is very dark and slippery all day. 

In art, we have been inspired by the colourful abstract paintings of the African-American artist, Alma Thomas; who achieved fame after a long career as an art teacher, despite facing prejudice and segregation during her earlier life. The children have created works on paper using a stamping technique and digital art on iPads and PCs. 

Last Friday, while some of our class were having an amazing time at the O2 for Young Voices, we were lucky to be joined by some of our friends in Mrs Price's Year 3 class. We completed fun challenges in maths, codebreaking and French, and in work linked to our current history unit, learnt all about Roman mosaics. In our science lessons, we have been learning about electrical circuits, doing a variety of experiments to find out how to make a bulb shine more brightly and how to check that our circuit is complete.

Throughout all of this, the children have shown an enthusiasm for learning and a positive approach to every new challenge – well done!

The children had been rehearsing for this event since September and had worked hard to learn all of the words and actions to the songs, including one song with British Sign Language. This year we sang a medley of Bob Marley songs, as he would have turned 80 years old this year, as well as songs from Hairspray, "Try Everything" from the film Zootropolis and "Birdhouse in Your Soul", which was a massive hit for "They Might be Giants" in the 1980s.

The Willingham Primary School children were amazing! They coped so well with the long day of rehearsals and performed brilliantly to a sold out O2 arena! They were so excited to have so many family members come and watch the concert and I have heard that the WPS parents also did us proud by demonstrating their best rave moves! Young Voices Concerts are certainly one of those events that will stay with our children for many years to come and we are thrilled to be able to offer this experience to so many of our pupils.