Well, we can’t quite believe it but we’ve made it to the end of eight weeks of remote teaching and learning! This week has been just as jam packed as the previous seven, possibly even more so, as it included World Book Week, Oundle Festival of Literature Kid Lit events, World Book Day on Thursday and the start of British Science Week.
Mr Robertson set the scene for the week ahead in Monday’s assembly and we all thoroughly enjoyed the official World Book Day rap by MC Grammar! At the end of the Rap, MC Grammar asked, ‘Where’s Wally?’ and he appeared in our library! Mr Robertson gave us all an insight into what World Book Week had in store and it was certainly action packed.
Miss Farquhar and Mrs Fryatt launched the ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?’ House Challenge on Monday and there has been a different scene uploaded every day this week to guess. Some were trickier than others but all were linked to nursery rhymes or traditional tales. The results will be announced last week – which House will be victorious?
Daily activities have been available too – book making, book reviews, quizzes and World Book Day bingo have all been popular and it has been wonderful to see the children’s photos popping up on the World Book Day Teams channel, as well as on Form Teams. It was also interesting to see the comfortable and more unusual choices of reading locations! Where would you choose to get lost in a book?
The Oundle Festival of Literature Kid Lit events are a much anticipated annual event in the LJS calendar and, although we were not able to join with other schools in person in Oundle School’s Great Hall, as with much of our lives over the past year, it moved online. We are being treated to a variety of virtual talks and workshops from authors and illustrators over this fortnight. A huge thank you to Mrs Shair for coordinating our sessions with Emma Lazell, Steven Lenton, David O’Connell, Ruth Eastham and Gareth P. Jones. Lots of our families also engaged with the live drawing workshop with Lydia Monks and Rob Biddulph – the results were fabulous!
World Book Day itself dawned on Thursday and photographs and videos of our children and staff in costume flooded our Teams pages. It was lovely hearing about the costumes the children had chosen and why. We saw Goldilocks, the Three Bears, Roberta from the Railway Children, Tintin, Little Red Riding Hood (several actually!), Dorothy and the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, The Grand Old Duke of York, Fantastic Mr Fox and lots more besides! Mrs Perkins’ Paper Bag Princess costume was very eco-friendly indeed, being made entirely of paper bags!
Ms Crump and Mrs Pearson delivered today’s assembly and introduced the 10 day celebration that is British Science Week. The official British Science Week poster competition was also launched and we are looking forward to seeing the children’s entries.
Of course, one thing has been on all our minds this week and that is the imminent return to the Laxton Junior School building. Whilst we have managed in many ways to remain together despite being apart over the last eight weeks, there is a palpable sense of anticipation and excitement rippling through our Community. Mr Robertson shared his own excitement at the prospect of our children and staff all returning to school on Monday – we simply can’t wait to see everyone in person again!
