Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Year 4 had a wonderful week learning about Queen Elizabeth's life and all of her contributions to the Commonwealth and the entire world. The children enjoyed making bunting, reading about the Royal family and learning about the Jubilee events that would occur during their half term break. The week concluded with a magnificent picnic, loved by all, where parachute games, cake and sandwiches were thoroughly enjoyed.
Today our travelling party of Year 6s returned from Cardfields' Activity Centre. On their way back to London, their final challenge was to face their fears of rope-climbing at Rope-Runners. It was lovely to welcome them back to school this afternoon and I am sure that they will have lots of lovely stories to tell you.
For the last day of Whitehall Week, Year 6 pupils have spent the day painting their clay animals (created on Tuesday of this week) and they were taught by a dance teacher the choreography for our finale dance for the upcoming Year 6 production. A wonderful day that has finished off what has been a very enjoyable week.
All Whitehall Week Pupils have spent the day today completing four different activities: Nerf Wars, archery, baking and fencing. It has been an action-packed day that has been enjoyed by all.
Our travelling party is currently making the most of the English countryside, using their orienteering skills, as they enjoy a long walk to Heather Hills. There, they will have a picnic lunch before spending the afternoon engaged in shelter building and having a bug hunt.
Today our Year 6 Whitehall Week pupils were blessed with beautiful weather for our trip to London Zoo. Nothing beats seeing animals in real life and London Zoo has over 20,000 animals. The children explored the multiple routes within the zoo and loved seeing the array of different animals; it was the ultimate learning adventure.
Vesak Day, (which can be spelled 'Wesak') goes by dozens of names, from 'The Day of the Full Moon' to 'Buddha Jayanti', 'Buddha's Birthday' or simply 'Buddha Day'. It is the most important festival for Buddhists as it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of The Buddha. Vesak the holiest and most sacred day in the Buddhist calendar and is celebrated by Buddhists all around the world, though it is recognised as a national public holiday in many countries all across Asia.
The Buddha's key messages and teachings of love, kindness and compassion are all central to Vesak. Gifts being given to all and good deeds such as helping those in need and donating money to charity are all practised throughout the day. Festivities begin at dawn, where homes are cleaned and decorated before visiting the temples to pray, chant, meditate and offer blessings. Houses and temples are filled and adorned with lotus flowers (the lotus flower symbolizing strength and resilience in Buddhism) and paper lanterns, which have become the most iconic symbolism of this day. Parades and processions take place in the streets filled with floats. giant Buddha statues, dancing and chanting. Pouring fresh water over all statues of Buddha is also done, which is a ceremony known as 'The Bathing of the Buddha'. It is believed that the water being poured over the statues represents new life purifying the mind, body, soul, and washing away any greed, hatred, ignorance and negativities from the self. In the evening, lanterns are lit and set off into the sky to symbolise freedom from all troubles.
The children at Whitehall Junior have been learning about Vesak this week and have been participating in different activities to understand more about it. We would like to wish you all a happy Vesak if you are celebrating, and invite you to share your experiences with us, if you so wish.
Some of our Year 6s have been fortunate enough to attend our Cardfields' 5-day residential this year. They have been blessed with beautiful weather and an array of activities to keep them fully engaged this week. Take a look at a few of the pictures of the week.
Whitehall Week for Year 6 pupils continued today with a day full of creativity and talent. Pupils spent the morning thoroughly enjoying sculpting a zoo animal out of clay (a task that was designed to link with their upcoming trip to London Zoo tomorrow) and then they amazed everyone in the afternoon with their own talents. This ranged from singing, magic tricks and even phenomenal Rubix Cube challenges; a day that was enjoyed by all.
Whitehall Week for our Year 6 pupils has started with a fantastic day trip to Black Park. All of the children had an amazing time taking part in a team challenge game called 'Baboonzled' as well as completing three challenging 'Tree Top Adventure' tasks on Go Ape. It has been a day full of fun and excitement.