We will be tweaking the way we do clubs after half term. The range of clubs offered will be:
MONDAY
Rugby – touch rugby for boys and girls from Year 2 upwards and run by Mr Leach.
Cross Stitch Club – self-explanatory and run by Mrs Smith.
Observational Drawing Club – an opportunity to develop drawing skills through a range of projects and tasks, e.g., still life, portraiture etc. Run by Mrs Wilson
TUESDAY
Construction Club – building with Lego, Meccano and Duplo.
Craft Club – a new club offered by Mrs Brown. A chance to use a range of materials to produce craft items for all kinds of occasions (Mother’s Day, Easter, Christmas etc.) or simply as gifts for friends and family. Fun and creative. And possibly a bit messy.
Choir Club – Mrs De Cruz and Miss Gray will run this and will aim to develop and encourage anyone with a love or talent for singing.
WEDNESDAY
Tennis Club – run by Mr Gilbert, LTA professional and Head Coach at Boldon Tennis Club. Self-explanatory – it’s tennis!
Medieval History Art Club – Mr Gray will offer to tell a grisly story every week (often involving decapitation) and you will get the chance to draw a picture based on it. History and Art combined – what more could you wish for?
THURSDAY
Gymnastics – do you want to be part of IGS: Durham’s great success on the national stage in gymnastics? You’ve got to be part of this club!
Public Speaking – a chance to learn some important principles which will stand you in good stead for the future and to practise them in front of a group of positive and supportive friends. Mr Gray runs this club.
FRIDAY
Film Club – say no more.
From Monday 28th February, there will be a charge for clubs to cover the costs of materials, resources etc. Each club will be £1.50 per night The obvious exception is tennis, for which payment has already been made by parents of those children attending. (There remain a few places in tennis club so let me know if your child would like to join.)
We will keep a register of all those attending clubs (as we already do, of course) and will use that to produce an invoice for each child. We will issue invoices in arrears at the end of this term. For example, if your child joins three clubs the cost for a 7-week half term would be £31.50, payable at the end of the half term in question.
We hope to be genuinely flexible and family-friendly so alongside the above clubs we will also run a Quiet Club every night apart from Monday and Friday. This means that you need never worry if you are held up and cannot get to school by 3 pm. Quiet Club is just that: reading, chatting with friends, doing homework, playing board games etc. and children can slip in and out of that very easily. Quiet Club will still incur a £1.50 fee but we hope it will be useful for parents as well as a popular club in its own right. On Mondays and Fridays, Drawing Club and Film Club will operate on the same lines.
Kings and Queens – and a New Challenge …
As we expected, Sofia Tarsitani successfully achieved the feat of reciting the kings and queens of England from 1066 to 1603 – names, dates and years all perfectly correct, Conqueror to Virgin Queen. Her successful rendition was witnessed by Mr Henderson and me (Mr Gray), so there can be no disputes, no VAR or anything similar. Sofia wins FOUR house points for Wilberforce House together with a significant length of copper coins purloined from the school’s petty cash box, which added to Wilberforce House’s coin chain at last week’s house event. Congratulations to Sofia.
I hope Sofia is an example to others – learning things by heart is really important and worthwhile and we’d encourage more of our students to do it. My next challenge for all our pupils (none is too young) is to learn the poem “Sea Fever” by John Masefield. Those who rise to the challenge and recite it accurately will win THREE house points and significant personal glory.
And then – an even bigger challenge: is there anyone who can learn the counties of England and their county towns and recite them in alphabetical order? I think that’s worth FIVE house points and a major personal prize.
Who is up for that?
You are all seeing less of Mr Gray these days…
That is actually true. He wishes it to be known that there are almost exactly 7lbs less on view than there were when he started out. The good news is that this is not likely to bankrupt anyone. If you were kind enough to sponsor him, he advises you to hold on to your money, deposit it wisely at a good interest rate and make sure there is plenty available for his next announcement.
Overheard last week …
Reception having their weekly (light touch) spelling test. Teacher reminds them that in tests everyone must stay very quiet. Pause for thought. Child: “Are we allowed to breathe?”