This morning, we were lucky to welcome the School Nursing Team into school for a special visit. They helped us learn all about what school nurses do and how they support children to stay healthy and well.
We spent time learning about our teeth, what their job is, and why they are so important. The children talked about how we can take the best care of our teeth, including brushing twice a day, choosing healthy foods, and visiting the dentist.
It was a really engaging session, with lots of great questions and thoughtful contributions from the children. A big thank you to the School Nursing Team for helping us learn how to look after our bodies and build healthy habits for the future. 🦷✨
This week, we came together for a special community meeting to mark Children’s Mental Health Week, an annual awareness week launched by the children’s mental health charity Place2Be. Celebrated every February since 2015, the week exists to empower, equip and give a voice to all children and young people across the UK.
Children’s Mental Health Week 2026 takes place from 9–15 February, and this year’s theme is “This Is My Place.”
The theme highlights how important a sense of belonging is for our mental health and wellbeing. Feeling that we have a place — in our friendships, in school, and in our wider community — is a basic human need. When we talked about where our place is, many of us shared that it was our home, our school and our classrooms, and it was lovely to recognise that we have so many different places where we feel safe, valued and able to belong.
When children feel that they belong, it supports their emotional wellbeing, helps them to feel confident and valued, and empowers them to contribute positively to the world around them. To know our place and really feel part of our environment can have powerful and long-lasting impacts on our mental and physical health, education and relationships.
This year, Children’s Mental Health Week encourages peers, families, schools and communities to work together to create inclusive and nurturing environments, where every child can truly say, “This is my place.”
During our community meeting, we shared a story about a small yellow bird named Sunny, who was learning to sing. Sunny flew to the playground but felt too shy to join in when other birds were busy playing and laughing. Feeling small and unsure, Sunny sat quietly on a branch. A kind squirrel named Mira noticed Sunny sitting alone, came to sit alongside them, and gently listened to one small chirp. Mira invited Sunny to join others — a robin and a rabbit — and helped Sunny learn just one new note. The next day, Sunny sang a little louder, simply because someone had said hello.
The story gave us a powerful reminder of how small acts of kindness and inclusion can make a big difference.
We then spent time working in pairs, introducing ourselves to someone new and sharing our interests, as well as something we liked about each other. These moments of connection helped reinforce the message that everyone belongs and that our differences are something to celebrate.
To end our meeting, we sang “This Is Me” together — a beautiful and uplifting moment that perfectly captured the spirit of the week.
As a community, we also made a simple pledge. This week, everyone will try at least one of the following:
Say hello to someone you don’t usually talk to
Share a toy, crayon, or turn in a game
Invite someone to join your group
We are proud of the way our children listened, reflected and supported one another. By making small, thoughtful choices each day, we can all help to create a place where everyone feels welcome, valued and able to say, “This is my place.” 💛
What a refreshing start to the day in Year 1 for Crew Nightingale! Despite the chilly air, our crew wrapped up warm and headed outdoors for an exciting morning of navigation and direction-following.
The challenge was all about listening carefully, counting steps, and following directions to collect sounds along the way. Every step mattered and careful counting was essential to make sure no sound was missed! As we moved confidently through the activity, teamwork and focus were on full display.
Once all the sounds were gathered, the real magic happened. The letters came together to reveal a secret message that made everyone smile: “We Are Crew!”
A brilliant morning of learning, movement, and collaboration – well done, Crew Nightingale and thank you to Mrs Jackson for making outdoor crew so much fun! 🌟
What an amazing day we had at our KS1 Sponsored Dance-a-thon on Friday 30th January! The children brought the energy, the smiles and some seriously impressive dance moves — and we are so proud of every single one of them.
Thanks to your incredible generosity and support, we are thrilled to share that we have raised an incredible £1,060… and counting! 🤩 This fantastic total will go directly towards the cost of producing the children’s very own KS1 Doncaster Board Games, helping us keep the final cost as low as possible for everyone. We are also continuing to work with sponsors and supporters to make this project even bigger and better.
💃 How did we dance the day away?
We kicked off the morning in style with a high-energy Zumba session in the hall, led by Mrs Ponsonby and Mrs Murray, which certainly got hearts pumping and feet moving!
Throughout the day, each class took part in a range of fun, creative dance activities, including:
🧊 Ice Dancing and 🎲 DiceDancing games in the classroom
🖐️ Fingerdancing to explore movement through different music styles
✏️ Pencildancing, where children drew how the music made them feel
🤸 A dance–themed PE lesson to finish the structured part of the day
🎉 And of course… partydancesduringGoldenTime to end on a high!
Children took turns dancing so that everycrew was represented throughout the day, showing teamwork, resilience and lots of encouragement for one another. We were also lucky to have some grown ups join in the fun, adding to the excitement and buzz around school.
🎲 Why it matters
All the money raised will support our KS1DoncasterBoardGame Project, where children are designing and creating their own board game inspired by locallandmarks. The final game will be professionally produced so that all KS1 children can enjoy playing it — a brilliant example of learning, creativity and community coming together.
💛 Thank you
A huge thank you to all our families for your sponsorship, encouragement and enthusiasm. Every single contribution is helping to bring the children’s ideas to life — and days like this remind us just how powerful learning can be when it’s joyful, active and shared.
🏰Today we put our problem solving brains to the test as we worked in teams to take part in a maths escape room. We had to complete all the different missions to reveal the magic spell and free our school from the dragon! 🐉
This week Crew Hamilton got out and about in the school grounds. We followed arrows on the floor, stoped at crosses and counted our steps to find a range of letters that we needed to unscramble to crack the secret code.
This week, Class 5 revisited Austin’s Butterfly, focusing on the power of critique and redrafting. We reminded ourselves what makes great critique truly helpful — it should always be kind, specific and supportive, with the clear purpose of helping each other improve.
Before putting pencil to paper, we spent time looking carefully at Conisbrough Castle through an artist’s eye. We asked thoughtful questions together: What shapes can we see? What do the lines need to look like? Would our sketchbooks work better in landscape or portrait?
These discussions helped us slow down, observe more closely and make deliberate choices before we began.
We then got busy on our first drafts. They are strong starts — thoughtful, detailed and full of effort — but we know they aren’t perfect yet. That’s exactly where the learning lives. Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to giving and receiving careful critique, using each other’s feedback to refine our work and create even stronger second drafts.
Class 5 are learning that great art (and great learning) doesn’t happen in one go — it happens through reflection, feedback and the courage to improve.
This week, our class have been busy designing and creating their very own Character Traits Top Trumps cards – and they’ve been a huge hit!
The children began by revisiting the character traits that are important to us as a class, such as kindness, courage, integrity and compassion. We talked about what these traits really mean, what they look like in action, and why they matter both in school and beyond.
Each child then chose traits to feature on their cards, carefully thinking about how strong each one was and justifying their choices. This sparked lots of brilliant discussion, reflection and respectful debate, as children explained why one trait might score higher than another and shared examples from real life.
Once complete, the children enjoyed playing their games together, practising turn-taking, fair play and clear communication – all while celebrating positive character traits. It was lovely to see how proud they were of their creations and how confidently they could talk about the values behind them.
As part of hook week, the cards also included a subtle clue about what our next expedition might be — and the children are already full of theories!
A fantastic mix of creativity, thinking and character development – well done, everyone!
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.
