Report by Kirsty.

Week one
Disaster strikes! Cross Country called off due to water logged ground!

The Team before the race.

Week Two
All systems are go!

On Thursday 17^th May 2012 our cross country team took part in an annual event held at Marl Pits.  Cross Country!

Our team had practiced immensely hard before the event, we are now lucky to have our brand new fields and hills to run on in our cross country club.  After training for five weeks and running a tough course, which was not for the faint hearted, a team was put together by Mrs Welshman, Mrs Eastwood and their helpers Mrs King and Mrs Seal.

The team that was picked for the girls were: Kirsty, Jasmine, Janine, Caitlin and Jade. The team that was picked for the boys were: Kian, Jack, Sonny
Louis and Joe.  Unfortunately, the day before the race Joe broke his wrist so he was not able to compete.  The team all wish him a speedy recovery and I am sure you will join us in thinking the same.

On the day of the competition everyone was extremely nervous.  The girls were to run first, each one of us was waiting anxiously for the claxon to go off. Suddenly off we went and what a race it was! Our positions were: Kirsty 9^th; Jasmine14^th; Janine 30^th; Caitlin 39^th and Jade 57^th out of roughly 80 runners.

The tired but happy team after the run - well done!

After the girls it was the boys turn, the course was same and the boys had brilliant results! The positions were: Kian 5^th, Jack 14^th, Sonny 16^th, and Louis 17^th again out of roughly 80 runners.  Mrs Welshman and Mrs Eastwood were bursting with pride and had very sore throats from all the cheering.  We all spurred each other on in a team effort whilst the others ran their race.

We are all raring to go for the final week next Thursday and we are hopeful of a good overall school position. Watch this space!!

Quick eyed Mia (although I think she should have been watching the teacher as well) spotted a special visitor this morning!

Deer at Waterfoot Primary

We have lift off!

After a somewhat last minute change of plan regarding our Balloons for World Book Day (see our “Balloons are Off” letter to read the details), Mr Jones and the children tried to see if the “Hot Air Balloon” model would lift off and take some teddies for an ‘Bird’s Eye’ view of the school.  Although we met with limited success, the children had a lot of fun and will surely remember the day!

Review by Ellis Williams on The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

The Iron Man

The Title – The Iron Man

The author – Ted Hughes

The Illustrator – Andrew Davidson

Main Characters – The Iron Man, the farmers, the dragon and Hogarth

Main Storyline – The Iron Man arrives in the small village and starts to eat the farm machinery to survive.  The farmers try to stop the Iron man by digging an enormous hole in the ground to bury him in but the Iron Man is too strong and escapes.  The dragon comes from space and fights with the Iron Man.  The dragon is the size of Australia but the Iron Man still wins the fight and saves Earth.

What I liked about the book – I found the book very interesting.  It was exciting and fun to read.

My favourite character – The Iron man is my favourite because he was brave.  The farmers thought that he was a bad man but in the end he saves the world!

My favourite part of the book – When the Iron man saves the world.

How the book could improve – By having a funny character in the story ( like in the film version).

Grade – Excellent    Good      Fair   uninteresting

If you want to know what Waterfoot Primary School is doing to develop it’s ‘Eco-friendly’ credentials,  look know further that the Green Team’s Blog that has been set up by Mrs. Shortt on the new School Resource site.

Report by Lucy, Thomas and Eve.

On Tuesday 31^st January some special guests called “Zoolab” came to Class 5, 6 and 7 to show them some animals.  They came because we are learning about the rainforest.

The first animal they showed was a Giant African Snail. The snail’s name was Squelchy.  It is twice the size of a British normal sized snail. African snail’s are brown to camouflage them and they live for ten years. Their bodies are slimy but their shell is smooth and hard. The snail lays tiny eggs, smaller than a pea! Squelchy (and other snails) eat dead leaves.

The Chilean Rose Tarantula was the second animal we saw.  Its name was Ursula. Tarantulas live for fifteen years and their venom can cure people who have heart attacks. The tarantula makes soup out of their prey. They lay eggs in other animals (such as the caterpillar) so that when the eggs hatch they have something to munch on. The female tarantulas live for longer and also the tarantula stays still (when hunting) so no one can see them.

The third animal we saw was the Hissing Cockroach. They have hooks on their legs. They live in Madagascar, inside caves. Their diet is rotten wood (which is disgusting to humans!) The strange thing about them is they can live for a month with no head. Their antennae’s are used for feeling their way across land. WEIRD FACT: If they turn frozen in Winter when it comes to the ice melting, they will still be alive, with no harm done to them!!!!!!  Hissing Cockroaches have been around since the times when the dinosaurs lived.

The fourth animal we saw was the Yellow-banded Millipede. They have four legs next to each stripe, which is why it’s quite easy to count the number of legs. Millipedes eat dead leaves and rotten fruit (sounds disgusting). When they are frightened they spread an ENORMOUS amount of ink at the one who is scaring the poor thing. These amazing creatures can have up to . . . 30 to 300 LEGS!!!

The fifth animal we saw was the White’s Tree Frog. She/he changes colours. This is called “camouflaging” and they do this when they are trying to protect themselves from predators. They have sticky pads on their feet to climb trees. You can only touch them if you’re hands are wet because if you have dry hands you will hurt the poor animal. They live in the canopy of the rainforest. The White’s Tree Frog is cold-blooded and evil (it isn’t really evil, it’s called humour!) WARNING: Do note that if you read this you may laugh so much your head will fall off!!!

FUNNY THING:

The amazing, and very funny,White’s Tree Frog was squashed up in the corner of the box (apparently it was sleeping! Funny way of sleeping, eh?)

 The sixth and last animal we saw was the Corn Snake. It was called Mr Marmalade. Corn snakes eat 2 adult rats a week and their eyes go cloudy when they shed their skin. Mr Marmalade was about to shed his skin and was 5 years old. These animals can live up to 22 years old. The Corn Snake is cold-blooded. This animal is a type of constrictor. Constrictor means to strangle their prey before eating it (luckily Mr Marmalade was too young to strangle us). Corn Snakes have no fangs because they constrict instead.

Thoughts and reactions:

Class 7 ~ Lucy liked the Corn Snake because she liked the way the tongue moved. Most of the girls said the Giant African Snail was slimy when they held it. All the boys said they liked the Chilean Rose Tarantula best.

Class 6 ~ Eve was scared of the Corn Snake because she has an ENORMOUS fright of snakes!!! Olivia said she was interested in the animals and said they were absolutely EPIC. Teagan thought the animals were cool and said the snake was cute. Macy liked all the animals and said they were absolutely ACE. Emily said she the animals were cute and also said she loved the Yellow-banded Millipede. Hannah was phobic about spiders and cried her heart out!!! Awww!!!

Class 5 ~ Iqra was absolutely HORRIFIED!!!!!!!! Oliver loved all the animals and wished they’d come back. Kaley liked the Corn Snake best. Kyle loved every single moment. Joe liked all the animals and wanted them as pets.    

We’d like to thank you for reading our report about the visit of “Zoolab”.

Robbie Burns

Report by Alfie, Class 3.

On Friday 27th January,  Class 3 were celebrating Robbie Burns. First we had pancakes, they were scrummy. I ate them fast. Jack cut them up, he didn’t eat them straightaway. We listened to music, it was really good. I danced to the music. Mrs Bee brought in the haggis. We weren’t allowed to eat it yet. Then we had a toast to Robbie Burns. We had a picture of him. Mrs Short cut the haggis up. We ate the neeps and tatties. We ate shortbread and drank Irun Bru. The haggis was hot. I had to drink the Irun Bru after the haggis. I’ve never tasted haggis or neeps and tatties, it was really good. I loved it.

Class 3 enjoy their supper

A cold but invigorating start to a new day at a new school.

I am pleased to record that Waterfoot Primary School has now opened  at our new site (we were fully open to pupils on 5th January). We are delighted with both the buildings and the grounds and look forward making the most of this great opportunity. Thank you to all those who helped make this possible.  The address of the new school is:

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