about the effects of: the black out, food rationing and

‘making do’ on the people living at the time, as well as

including finding out about some of the ingenious ways

that food could be cooked without wasting precious fuel

reserves.

The children also had the chance to sit in a replica steam

train carriage to experience what it must have felt like for

those children who were evacuated away from their

homes and out into the countryside to places where it

was felt they would be safer from attack by the Germans.

Finally, the session finished with everyone taking part in a

gas mask drill – an extremely important skill to learn in

case Britain was ever to be attacked by poisoned gas.

COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

WW2 Touchstones

Trip

Year 4 children visited Touchstones gallery in Rochdale

at the end of March to learn all about life on the home

front during World War 2.

The afternoon began with four children being chosen to

dress up as the Schofield family living in the blissfully

happy summer of 1939. Life soon changed dramatically

for them however when the start of the Second Word

War was announced to them by Neville Chamberlain over

the wireless.

The class soon discovered the impact the war had on

people living in Rochdale and how the wives and children

of those men conscripted to fight learnt to cope during

the six years of the conflict. This included being taught all

April 2010 Issue 27

April 2010 Issue 27

Big Clean 2010

Our new team of Eco Warriors have been complimenting the work being carried

out by the council to help make the pathway alongside the Friendship Gardens a

much more pleasant and safer route for walking on. This has included: picking up

litter, trimming back overgrown weeds and vegetation, and replacing broken flags

on the pathway. The children have also now made a pact with each other to do a

litter pick around school on a regular basis in a bid to keep the area clean and tidy.

World Book Day

The whole school enjoyed

celebrating World Book Day this

year by coming to school

dressed up as their favourite

book characters. Each class

were also treated to three book

readings throughout the day.

Tennis Lessons

Year 3 took part in some tennis

coaching lessons in January and

February, learning lots of new

skills down at the

Middleton Arena.

Lets hope we now

have some budding

Wimbledon stars!

Police Visit

As part of their topic on ‘people

who help us’, some community

police officers visited reception

to talk about their jobs. They

answered questions about how

they arrest criminals and also let

some of the children have a go

at using the siren on their police

car!

Vikings Visit

Year 3 enjoyed spending a morning up at

Touchstones Gallery in Rochdale to travel back in

time through the centuries and learn about the

Viking invasion. Through drama, craft and

storytelling the children enjoyed discovering about

how they lived, what their beliefs were and how

they travelled about on their long ships.

April 2010 Issue 27

Easter Egg-stravaganza!

Everyone had an egg-citing time celebrating

Easter in the final week of the Spring term.

KS1 children were asked to design Easter hats

and wear them in an Easter Bonnet parade,

while KS2 held an egg decorating competition

to see who could design the most creative

(hard-boiled!) egg, with the winner being

judged by Father Philip.

Finally, parents, carers and friends joined the

Easter service on the last day at Holy Trinity

Church to sing songs and watch each class’

contribution – from singing about Easter

bunnies, to talking about Easter customs and

to reading some Easter-inspired prayers.

Bright to School Day

Everyone was encouraged to come to school wearing

BRIGHT colours on Wednesday 17th March. Our

local environmental school officer came in to deliver

an assembly in the morning and talked about the

importance of wearing bright clothes to ensure that

you are visible to any oncoming traffic.

Bikeability Lessons

Year 5 have been taking part in a series of cycling

lessons every Friday to help them learn about how to

control and ride their bikes safely. As part of the

course, the children were also taken out onto local

roads around Archer Park to experience riding near

cars and pedestrians.

April 2010 Issue 27

Parkfield Primary School Harold Street E-mail: office@parkfield.rochdale.sch.uk Middleton Manchester M24 4AF Website: www.parkfield.rochdale.sch.uk Tel: 0161 643 2592 Fax: 0161 643 6858 Created by Mr. Haughton

Bounce for a

Better Life

Following the devastating

earthquake in Haiti at the start

of the year, everyone took part

in a sponsored bounce in the

school hall. A total of £237 was

raised altogether which will now

go towards the relief effort in

the country – well done!

Mock-Christening

Reception/Year 1 children

walked to Holy Trinity Church

one afternoon to take part in a

mock-christening with Father

Philip and learn all about what a

font is used for.

Class Assemblies

The second set of class assemblies of the year have taken place:

Year 1/2

Year 1/2 enjoyed telling everybody about

the start of Spring in their class assembly.

The children talked about new flowers

growing and chicks being born, as well as

singing beautifully about the Sun coming

out to warm everything up again after

Winter.

Year 2

Year 2 enjoyed retelling the story of the

Great Race in China which saw twelve

animals swim across a river to see who

would reach the other side first and have

the year named after them. Their assembly

finished with a fantastic dragon and lantern

parade around the hall.