After a summer break, pupils of Northdown Primary School, Margate, were keen to get back to classes for a new year.
Dressed in smart new uniform and greeted by their new teachers, the children enjoyed a day of activities linked to their topics.
As part of their Hook Day activities, each year group explored their chosen themes in different ways.
Year 4 launched their termly topic looking at Eastern Europe by making flags that represented something special to them.
In Year 1 the children were looking closer to home by examining how they could improve their own town. The youngsters will learn all about the role they could play in their community no matter how young they are and how they are all different.
Entering their classroom, they were delighted to see a “giant’s body” towering up through their ceiling as they read Julia Donaldson’s classic picture book The Smartest Giant in Town before dressing up in oversized clothes themselves and making giant ties.
In Year 2, deforestation was the focus. Taking themselves off to the school’s forest school behind the playground, the children used natural resources to design and make their own Orangutan nests. The two classes then produced anti-deforestation posters and marched around the field noisily protesting against deforestation with their parents, who had been invited to join them.
The environment was the talk of Year 5 as they delved into the depths of the ocean, producing pots with food colouring samples to represent the layers of the sea. Again, parents were invited in to help their children make ocean-themed sensory jars and to admire the plastic sea creatures their children had created as part of their learning about plastic pollution.
In Year 3, the pupils learnt about extreme weather, making their own lively volcanoes using Mentos and Diet Coke. Using up packaging and containers from home, they also made weather shakers before creating tornadoes out of glitter, water and washing up liquid.
Year 6 dug out the tin foil to design three dimensional river models as they launched their river topic which also saw them forming one giant living river in a drama session outside.
Headteacher Matthew Harris said: “It was really good to welcome back our children for a new year and see how excited they were to get stuck in to their new topics. Having our parents in to share our Hook Days is important to us as Northdown is not just about the pupils but their families and the wider community as well.”
In line with the school’s commitment to the wider community, it is opening its gates for a Community Day event on Saturday 23rd September from 10am to 2pm to give local businesses and individuals the chance to promote and sell their products free of charge.
As well as outside stalls, the school will also put on sports activities, crafts, music and games to keep both children and adults entertained.
Contact details for booking a free stall can be found at www.northdown-tkat.org