Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Cross Country

  Thu 31 Mar 2022

  Congratulations to our cross country athletes, all of whom completed the tough course of 2000m at Vyners' playing fields last night. Great sporting values were shown by all and an excellent group of parent supporters helped all to reach the finish line! A special mention goes to Christie who came in an amazing second place and received a silver medal.

  

• Festival of the Month - Nowruz

  Wed 23 Mar 2022

  March is a month packed full of festivals from so many different religions and beliefs, from Christianity to Islam to Hinduism and Judaism, and one such special significant day is the festival of Nowruz. Nowruz, also known as Iranian New Year, is celebrated traditionally by people from all religions and cultures across Central Asia within countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Nowruz marks the arrival of spring and is celebrated around the 20th-21st March every year. As with most festivals celebrating spring, Nowruz represents themes of rebirth, the renewal of new life and the brighter, happier days to come. Houses are cleaned thoroughly, old items are thrown away or repaired and fresh new clothes and items are bought, all signifying the discarding of old habits from the previous year, ready for happiness and positivity for the year ahead. Homes are decorated with flowers to symbolise the fresh new life ahead - with the hyacinth (called sonbul) being the most popular springtime flower to decorate with. Brightly coloured fresh new clothes are worn, families and friends are visited, money and gifts are given and bonfires are lit- where it is tradition to jump over these fires for good luck. Festivities usually end after thirteen days, with the last day being a traditional family picnic in the countryside, full of folk singing and dancing. For feasting, tables are adorned with foods only starting with the letter 's', as this letter holds special meaning within ancient Persian culture where it represents nature. Dishes generally contain wheat or bean sprouts (sabze), vinegar (serke), apples (seeb), garlic (sir), fruit from lotus trees (senjed), a wheat-based pudding called samanu, a red spice called sumac, and wild olives called senjed.

   

  The children at Whitehall Junior have been learning about Nowruz this week and have been participating in different activities to understand more about it. We would like to wish you all a happy Nowruz if you are celebrating, and invite you to share your experiences with us, if you so wish. Nowruz Mubarak!

  

• Mixed Netball Rally

  Sun 06 Mar 2022

  On Saturday 5th March, we took two teams to take part in the District Mixed Netball Rally which was held at Ryefield School.  Both teams played very well throughout the group matches of the competition but unfortunately, only our A team progressed to the quarter-finals.  Their quarter-final match was against Hermitage A, who were a very good team.  Unfortunately, our team lost their quarter-final match and did not progress onto the semi-final stage of the competition.  All sixteen players performed very well and we are very proud of all of their achievements during the competition and great sportsmanship!

• Space Dome

  Thu 03 Mar 2022

  This week the WonderDome Space Company visited Whitehall to give Year 5 a space talk in connection with their study of Earth and Space in Science lessons. The experience was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the children and they now have a greater understanding of our galaxy and the planets within it. The Year 5 pupils are very much looking forward to their upcoming Science lessons where they can explore further and put this newly gained knowledge into practice.

  

• Year 5 Art and Design

  Thu 03 Mar 2022

  Year 5 have been busy this week creating Modroc casts of their hands and arms as part of their Art and Design learning. Children worked in pairs to create their casts and it was wonderful to see brilliant teamwork and children really enjoying their learning while practising important skills