This week Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 children were lucky enough to visit the gallery at Sunnybank Mills to see the latest exhibition called ‘Soft light.’ They took some time to look at the different pieces of artwork. They looked at the shadow puppet theatre in the centre of the gallery and had the opportunity to use some of the shadow puppets that were there and watched how the shadows could be moved and used to tell stories. They then had the opportunity to create shadow puppets of their own using black paper and scissors.  Each child was then able to take their puppet back to the puppet show and see their very own creation come to life in the gallery. The children thoroughly enjoyed this experience and had a great time guessing what creature or object each of their friends had created by their shadow that they could see. It was wonderful to see the children looking at and talking about the different types of art from photography to paintings and sculpture.

Reception went on a walk to Farsley Library. The children learnt about how libraries work and what sorts of books they might find in the children's section. They enjoyed story time with Keith and displayed super listening skills, joining in well with the interactive parts of the story. The children had a chance to have a look at the books which they treated so respectfully, turning pages carefully and putting them back where they found them. The behaviour of the children was excellent and we are very proud of how they represented Springbank on their very first school trip.

Our fantastic Year 6 Music Ambassadors hosted an audience of invited family members plus Year 2 and Year 4 children, as they enjoyed a concert given by our Year 6 musicians. The concert included some incredible performances on piano, keyboard, saxophone, clarinet, trombone and drums, plus two acoustic guitar and vocal group numbers, all from our talented Year 6 children. We finished with a singalong of "Wonderwall", led by some of our guitarists. It was a lovely afternoon of music, enjoyed by everyone.

Year 1 went on a short, local walk around Farsley to conduct some geography fieldwork observations. Earlier in the week, we looked at maps dating back to 1957 when a particular area of Farsley (some of the Springbanks and New Parks) were still fields and allotments. We compared the map to a more modern one, which now shows houses and roads. The children were fascinated by the changes and were so excited to go out and use their map.  We learnt that since the 1960’s, Farsley has lots more houses, roads and people but fewer fields and green spaces. We also spoke about the differences in the types of shops and businesses that would’ve been on Farsley Town Street during that time.

Year 4 had a great opportunity to bring their local democracy unit to life with a visit from local councillor, Craig Timmins. The children really enjoyed learning firsthand about the everyday responsibilities of a councillor and how local government operates in our community. Following the classroom session, he also stopped by to meet with our newly elected School Council for their very first meeting of the year. They had a productive discussion comparing local government to the school council, focusing on the positive changes our own student representatives can make here at school. It was a lovely, informative visit that perfectly complemented the children's classroom learning and gave them a great, practical introduction to the democratic process!

Year 1 were very excited to welcome some of their grandparents to school to help us answer our topic question ‘What was life like when grandparents were young?’  The hall was filled with memorabilia, photos, books, games and toys and as the children walked around, we could hear them being very inquisitive about what they could see. There were some lovely conversations going on and lots of questions being asked. At the end, the children performed their poem ‘Now we are six’ by AA Milne. It was a lovely way for the children to get first-hand accounts and experiences about life before they and their parents were born.  Thank you to all the grandparents who attended; we know some grandparents travelled to be with us today and we really appreciate the effort everyone made. The children loved having you all in school!