This morning, we were very lucky to welcome more expert visitors to help us answer our guiding question: “Not all heroes wear capes – How can I be a hero where I live?”
We were honoured to be joined by Ros Jones, the elected Mayor of Doncaster, Jackie Dudley, the Deputy Civic Mayor, and David Milnes, who is the Mace Bearer and official chauffeur to the Civic Mayor.
Our visitors spoke to us about their important roles in Doncaster and the ways they work to make a positive difference in our community. We learned all about the Mansion House — one of only a few remaining in the country — and discovered how special it is to have one right here in Doncaster!
Ros shared her CBE medal, which was incredible to see up close, and David gave us the chance to look at the official Mace, which was fascinating to learn about.
They also spoke about what inspires them in their roles and how proud they are to serve the people of Doncaster.
To say thank you for their time and the compassion they show every day towards our community, we were very proud to present them with one of our Community Champion Awards.
What an inspiring morning learning from real-life heroes who make Doncaster a better place to live!
This term, our Year 1 and Year 2 children are going on an incredible learning journey through our Autumn expedition, Not All Heroes Wear Capes, guided by the big question: How can I be a superhero where I live?
From creating their own superheroes inspired by Supertato, to marching for justice after studying Let the Children March, to meeting real-life heroes from our community, the children will explore what it truly means to show courage, compassion, and kindness.
We would love to invite you to join us for our Presentation of Learning:
Tuesday 2nd December
3:00pm – 5:00pm
School Hall
You don’t need to stay for the whole time — please feel free to drop in at a time that’s convenient for you between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.
This special event will take the form of a museum-style gallery walk, where you’ll be able to see: – The children’s artwork and writing – Photographs and memories from expert visitors – Pop-art placards from our peaceful march – Reflections, pledges, and our very own expedition book – Introduce some of the real-life heroes they have met, who will be joining us to help demonstrate their skills
It’s really important that the children come along too, as they will be your tour guides — explaining their learning, sharing their work, and showing off everything they have achieved.
Friends of Norton Campus Association will also be supporting us by selling refreshments during the event — so you can enjoy a drink and a treat as you explore the children’s fantastic work.
This is a celebration of your children’s hard work, character, and creativity — and a chance to see how they have discovered that not all heroes wear capes… sometimes they live right here in our community.
This morning we had a very special visitor in school. Stuart came from an organisation called Starting Point. He spoke to us about his important job supporting homeless people across Doncaster.
Stuart told us that his role is to make sure people who don’t have a safe home can get the help they need. He explained that this could mean finding them a safe place to stay, helping them get food, clothing, and health care, and supporting them to make positive changes in their lives.
We asked him lots of thoughtful questions, such as:
What is your favourite thing about your job?
What can we do to help?
How do you get donations to help people?
Where do you take people to be safe?
How many people have you helped?
How many homeless people are there in Doncaster?
What are you most proud of?
What inspired you to help homeless people?
How can you help people stay clean and healthy?
Do people volunteer to help homeless people?
Stuart said that one of the best parts of his job is seeing people smile again when they feel safe and supported. He told us that anyone can help by being kind, donating food or clothing, or even just raising awareness about homelessness.
We learned that there are many people involved with the work Stuart does. Together, they make a huge difference to people who might be going through very difficult times.
At the end of Stuart’s visit, we were proud to present him with one of our special Community Champion Awards. The children thought carefully about the character traits Stuart shows every day in his work. We agreed that he demonstrates compassion, respect, and integrity in all he does.
Meeting Stuart made us think about how important it is to help others in our community. We left the session inspired and ready to play our part in making Doncaster a kinder place for everyone.
As part of our expedition, we welcomed our second hero – and we couldn’t think of anyone who embodies our core values more than Ben Parkinson.
Before his visit, the children spent time researching Ben’s life and his incredible achievements. This meant they came ready with knowledge, curiosity, and thoughtful questions. When Ben arrived, alongside his equally inspiring mum and dad, he shared photographs and special objects that held deep meaning to him. Listening to his story gave our children the opportunity to show real compassion and respect as they heard about his journey.
The children asked some fantastic questions, which Ben answered with honesty and humour, leaving everyone inspired. To recognise the way Ben embodies all of our school’s character traits, we were proud to present him with one of our Community Champion Awards.
The timing of Ben’s visit was even more special because, during our first week back, we had been selecting crew names inspired by people who show strong character. One of the crews had chosen Ben Parkinson as their role model, so they were absolutely thrilled to meet him in person and have their crew photograph taken with him.
It was a truly memorable and inspiring visit, and we are so grateful to Ben and his family for sharing their time and story with us.
Today our classroom was bursting with capes, masks, and mighty superhero poses as the children arrived ready for our special Superhero Training Day! From the moment they walked through the door, our young heroes were full of excitement, energy, and determination to prove their super skills. We had a busy morning of training ahead, with challenges to test their strength, speed, teamwork, and, most importantly, their kindness.
Class Five kicked off their day with some teamtraining! Outside, we raced through obstacle courses, working together to rescue the cuddly toys before the timer ran out. With speed, skill, and lots of teamwork, our heroes completed their very first mission with flying colours.
Afterwards, we gathered to read our Superhero Pledge. Everyone agreed to sign it, promising to use their powers for kindness, teamwork, and making a difference. With pledges signed, the world already feels like a brighter, safer place knowing these heroes are on the case!
Next up was strength training – and what better way to put our powers to the test than by taking on the mischievous Evil Pea! With our best target practice, we quickly defeated him and saved the day.
We then moved on to agility training, showing off our speed, balance, and bravery. The children impressed everyone with their best superhero poses and thought of creative ways to travel along the benches – leaping, crawling, and swooping to escape any sneaky villains who might be lurking nearby!
Our heroes then moved on to creativity training. First, we joined together for a superhero dance, using big actions and powerful moves to show off our super strength and style. The room was full of energy and laughter as we moved in time like a team of true heroes!
Afterwards, it was time to design our very own superhero logos. Using imagination, craftsmanship, and plenty of care, each child created a unique emblem to represent their powers. The results were fantastic – a gallery of bold, colourful designs that showed just how creative and original our superheroes can be.
No superhero is complete without a sharp mind, so next it was time for braintraining! We put our thinking caps on to solve some tricky superhero riddles, tested our memories with a fun missing object game, and even cracked a secret code using our maths skills. Every challenge was tackled with determination and teamwork – proving that our heroes are just as clever as they are strong!
What an incredible day of training it has been! From strength and agility to creativity and brain power, every child rose to the challenge and proved themselves to be a true superhero. We are so proud of their teamwork, determination, and imagination. To finish the day, each hero received their very own Superhero Training Certificate – a well-deserved reward for all their hard work. The world is definitely a safer (and brighter!) place with these heroes ready to spring into action.
Today we were lucky enough to welcome our very first expert visitor of the expedition – the brilliant author and illustrator Phil Sheppard!
Phil shared some of his fantastic stories with us, and we especially loved The Worm Book. There were plenty of laughs and lots of fun as he brought the story to life while reading aloud.
Afterwards, we took part in a draw along where we learned how to create our very own superheroes. The children did an amazing job and showed off some fantastic creativity!
To make the day even more special, we had the opportunity to buy our very own signed book by Phil – a real treasure to keep.
We all agreed that Phil truly deserved one of our special Community Hero awards for his craftsmanship and the quality of his work. What an inspiring start to our expedition!
This week the children have been busy exploring ideas for our brand-new expedition. We began by asking ourselves: what could our learning journey be about? and what might our guiding question be?
To help us, we looked at some amazing legacy products that children have created in past expeditions. We discovered superhero Top Trumps cards, a comic book, and even watched a video of children marching proudly around Norton. These exciting examples gave us lots of clues and inspiration for our own journey.
The children thought carefully about what makes a powerful guiding question and shared some fantastic ideas of their own. We are excited to keep building on these thoughts as we begin our expedition together – watch this space!
As part of our exciting Hook Week, the children dived into the story of Supertato! We had so much fun meeting the brave superhero potato and the mischievous Evil Pea. The children loved joining in with the story, spotting the clues, and talking about what makes a superhero.
Inspired by Supertato’s adventures, we then got creative and designed our very own super veggies! From carrots with capes to broccoli with superpowers, the children let their imaginations run wild. Each creation was unique and showed off their brilliant ideas.
It was a fantastic way to kick-start our new topic and get everyone excited about the learning ahead. The classroom is now full of colourful, heroic vegetables keeping an eye out for any pesky peas!
This week, Year Two have been exploring our new guiding question: “Does Crew stop at the school gates?” We began the term by thinking carefully about what it means to be part of a crew, not just in our classroom but in our wider community too.
Throughout the week, children took part in a range of activities designed to reconnect us as a crew after the summer break. We shared stories, took new crew photographs, created self-portraits for our classroom displays, and agreed on norms to help guide how we want our classroom to look, feel and sound. We also enjoyed team-building games and challenges, reminding ourselves that we are always stronger when we work together.
A real highlight was our work on kindness. Each child wrote a thoughtful kindness poem, which was carefully packaged alongside small treats into gift bags. In the afternoon, we set out together to deliver these kindness bags around Norton. The children were so proud to share their poems and gifts with members of our local community, showing that acts of compassion can travel far beyond the school gates.
This project helped us to see that crew is not just something that happens inside the classroom – it is about how we connect with and care for others wherever we go. We are excited to continue exploring this question throughout the year.
What a brilliant first day we’ve had back at school today! It was wonderful to see all the children arriving this morning with big smiles, smart uniforms and lots of excitement (and a few little nerves too – which is completely normal!).
The children have settled back into school life so quickly. We spent time getting to know our new classroom, reminding ourselves of our routines and expectations, and most importantly, enjoying being back together as a crew.
A big focus for us today was on the character trait of Craftsmanship and Quality. Using the artist Piet Mondrian as our inspiration, the children worked carefully and thoughtfully to create some beautiful pieces of artwork of their own – we were so impressed with the pride they took in their work.
We also shared the story Our Class is a Family. Together, we thought about our families at home and then reflected on what will make our classroom feel like a family too. The children came up with some wonderful ideas about kindness, teamwork and looking after one another.
There were also plenty of opportunities for fun games and team challenges to help everyone feel comfortable and confident. It was lovely to see new friendships beginning to form and old ones picking up right where they left off.
We are so proud of how brilliantly the children have started the year. This is going to be an exciting term filled with learning, discovery and new adventures – and today was the perfect start!
Well done, everyone – we can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
