Parents and Carers were invited into our Early Years Foundation Stage unit, to come and help staff and the children spring clean our outdoors area. In return, we offered tea, coffee, biscuits, bacon and sausage sandwiches for the volunteers. There was plenty of work to keep everyone busy: painting the play house, sheds and fences; weeding and planting seeds and plants in the garden; washing the outdoor toys from the builder’s yard, mud kitchen, water area and sand pit and securing the chicken run for our new chickens (hatched by little nursery). The children thoroughly enjoyed working alongside their parents, who had volunteered to help out.

We would like to say a big thank to our parents for their hard work and for helping us to prepare the garden for the children, for summer.

Parent comments

• Great for parents to be given the opportunity to stay and help with Ground Force Day. The play area looks so much brighter already. It’s a lovely little area  for the children (and the chickens) to enjoy. Let’s hope we get some sunshine soon!  Can’t wait to watch the new seedlings  grow over the next few weeks.   Ryan Meeson

• Really enjoyed getting stuck into the spring clean of the nursery garden today. It was great to be able to work in the sunshine together, with the children, staff and some other parents, to get the garden ready for lots of fun over the sunny days ahead.   Grace Crawford

• It was great to come into nursery today for EYFS Ground Force Day and help with jobs in the outdoor area. It was a team effort as both adults and children worked together and it was lovely to see the children taking pride in their work.   Hannah Jones

• I came to help make the outside environment better.  It was nice to see all of the children playing together and having fun.

This year we invited our pupils to come to school dressed as their favourite book character.    Mr Robinson, our premises manager, was invited to choose a winner from each class, judged on the best homemade costume and prizes were awarded.  The winners chosen were Miss Trunchball, Mr Stink, The BFG, The Queen of Hearts and a farmer.

On Wednesday 16th February, two teams of pupils travelled to Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre to compete with 4 other schools in a High-5 Netball competition.  This event was being run by Staindrop School Sports Partnership, who arrange several sporting festivals and competitions throughout the academic year.

Team A, made up of Alba, Amira, Connie, Jack, Kacie and Zak, played four games showing superb teamwork and enthusiasm.  Winning three of their games, they reached the final – which they unfortunately lost.

Team B, made up of George, Hope, James, Max, Skye and Warren, played six games (winning all six) and again reaching the final.  Team B played a magnificent final game with a victorious win!

We are so proud of our Year 5 and 6 pupils for showing exemplary behaviour and attitude, which was noted by the other schools involved in the event.

WELL DONE!

The school will be closed today, Monday 29th November.  There is no heating or lighting due to the storm over the weekend, resulting in power failure.  We hope to re-open tomorrow, Tuesday 30th November, so long as the power has been restored.

We would like to thank everyone who came to our MacMillan Coffee Afternoon which we hosted on Friday 8th October.    It really was lovely to welcome family and friends to this event after such a long time and you all helped us raise the fantastic amount of £466.00 for this worthwhile cause. 

Thank you to everyone who donated beautiful cakes and raffles prizes and a big thank you to the Friends of the School for helping with the refreshments and being on hand in the hall.  Lastly, a special mention to our year 5 & year 6 pupils who showed great maturity in helping to set up the hall and taking charge of the many stalls – you all did a fantastic job!

On Tuesday 29th June 2021, Class 2 had an exciting day learning how to build a den with Mr Chris Hall from ‘Thrills & Skills’.  Chris had spent 7 months living in the jungle and was able to teach our children vital survival skills, one of them being how to build a den.  Through the day, the children listened to what they were taught and worked together as a team, lifting, carrying, guiding, etc. and as you can see from the photos they built a very impressive den!

Many thanks to Chris for visiting our school.

A ‘friendly’ football match was held between Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary and West Cornforth Primary during the week of 7th – 11th June 2021.  The teams were in great spirits and both played a good, solid game.  Our year 5 boy, James, scored 4 goals with the help of his team and there was plenty of shouts of encouragement from the rest of the school.

The final score was 6-4 to West Cornforth – WELL DONE!!

Our first ever ‘Colour Run’ was a huge success with all of our children participating and having heaps of fun!  Pupils and teachers, all in their class bubbles, ran the zig-zag course on our school field.  Teams of volunteers from ‘The Friends of the School’ were armed with huge pots of powder paint; the paint helped the children all run that little bit faster as they were pelted with colours of blue, green, pink and orange.  The event, which had been postponed due to Covid-19, was just what the whole school needed after a very challenging time and it was fantastic to see everyone smiling, laughing and having lots of fun.