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Firwood’s World Cup

As this week’s newsletter is going to press, the World Cup competition is in full swing. I must congratulate you and the children on their kits – they look fabulous as the photos will testify when they appear on the website.

Thank you to Mr. Lengden for his superb organisation and to the rest of the staff for their support.

Firwood’s Got Talent

Firwood certainly has got talent!! We had a huge range of acts from singing and dancing to magic tricks and recitations, from playing musical instruments to impersonations. Piers, Amanda and Simon had a very difficult job choosing the winning acts and would like me to thank all the children for their magnificent performances. The eventual winner was Lady Gaga (CG of Year 5) with the Year 4/5 dance troupe in second place and the V Brothers in third place. There will be another opportunity to see these acts in our final assembly on Tuesday, 13th.

Sports Competitions

Our year 3 – 6 children came third out of six schools in the Athletics competition at Beech House this week. This was a very creditable achievement for a small school. The most outstanding performance came from GK who came first in the Year4 boys 100 metres.

Head’slines

I start my Head’slines this week with a confession. The children have promised me that they will not tell the Tooth Fairy and you must promise too.

As a reward for two excellent sports days and a fabulous performing arts evening, I have given all of the children a “Wild and Whippy” chocolate bar today.

Our very first performing arts evening was more successful than I could have imagined and I thank you for your compliments. What struck me most was the way in which all of the children actually performed – with confidence and grace and a strong awareness of their audience. Once again thank you for your support in watching and bringing the children back for the evening.

The weather was kind for our Strinesdale visits. Most classes managed a picnic and the older children completed the orienteering course with much fun. The children also visited our tree in the Life for a Life forest.

After an incredibly busy half term we are approaching our final week with some very important events to come.

On Tuesday from 4pm to 8pm we have our Open Evening and Art exhibition.

Hopefully, your taste buds were tickled sufficiently last Thursday to want to see more of our Year 6 production, “Lights Camera Action”. The World Premiere begins at 7pm in our hall and everyone is welcome to attend. PLEASE, PLEASE support these magnificent children and their academy award winning director, Mr. Lengden.

On Monday 14th June, Years 4 and 6 visited The Lowry to take part in a ceramics workshop. They worked with a professional artist, Vincent, who showed the children all the different ways in which clay could be manipulated and used effectively as an art material. Initially, they looked at some of the figure work of L.S. Lowry and drew some sketches, concentrating on shape, proportion and body language.

After dinner they created a tile piece with some of the shapes they had made, and finished with making figures, which were self-supporting, to show a relationship. There were many impressive pieces of work created and you will be able to see the results of this session at the Art Exhibition in July.

Well done to all the children, who worked incredibly hard on the day and really enjoyed their experiences.

On Wednesday 26th May we went to Chadderton Park. The weather started off looking quite grey. We set off from school and the sun tried hard to break through the clouds. We had to walk down to the park. Luckily we have been learning about road safety, so we used our new found skills and put them to the test. We remembered to walk quietly and to keep looking, listening and thinking whilst we walked along the streets.

We arrived safely at the park and had a little rest whilst eating our tuck and having a drink. After our rest we walked along the path by the stream. We saw a very big horse on the other side. Then we had a go on the wobbly walk – a type of bridge that is held together on chains. We got safely across except for Mr. Woodward who lost his balance and nearly fell off completely!

Next we crossed one of the trolls bridges. We thought we were quite safe but yet again it was Mr. Woodward who got into trouble. The troll woke up just as he was crossing.

After crossing the bridge we went through the trees and to the edge of the shallow stream. There was a path going through the stream and as the water was shallow we were allowed to cross it. We stopped to feel the water running past and pushing us, it was a funny feeling.

The next thing we did was walk up the hill to the pavilion to wash our hands as it was lunch time. We had a lovely picnic which Mrs. Wroe and Mrs. Harris kindly prepared for us. We sat on the grass and the benches having our lunch and a little giggle about the troll.

We finally finished our lunches. Then investigated different forces of pushes and pulls on the play equipment. We pushed and pulled ourselves up and down the climbing frames, we used our feet to push the see-saw back up and we were pushed round on the round-a-bout. We found out that the round-a-bout can be stopped if someone who is not on it pulls on the handle.

It was then time for us to take the walk back to school. It seemed to take forever to get back but a tired out group finally arrived. We just managed to dodge the rain as well which we were all very pleased about.

By Year 1

The year 5 boys took part in a 5 a-side football tournament at Hulme last week. In total they played five games against several schools from the Oldham area. It was some of the boys’ first experience of being in a competition and they enjoyed it thoroughly. They drew three of their matches and narrowly lost the other two. Highlights included some exquisitely timed challenges from WB and a long-range effort that flew into the net from TB. After staying to watch the final and picking up a few of the man of the match awards, Firwood Manor won the trophy for ‘Most Sporting Team.’ The trophy can be seen in the entrance hall.

Well done to all the boys who participated.

Some of the boys in Years 4, 5 and 6 played cricket against Stanley Road School at Wernerth Cricket Club this half term. It gave some of the boys an opportunity to play with a hard ball for the first time and each one loved taking on the challenge. A gloriously sunny afternoon saw some fantastic bowling and brave batting. The fielding was also to a high standard. Highlights included some wonderful catches by CC and US getting a fabulous boundary. Year 4’s JSh also impressed with a terrific all round display. Another game is planned for the end of term. Thank you to all the parents who came to support and to Mr. Markham from Stanley Road for organising it.

Our Year 5 and 6 children have just returned from a five day visit to Catalonia in Spain.

We met at a very busy Manchester Airport at 6 o’clock in the morning on Monday, 7th June. Our Monarch flight departed on time with sixteen very excited children and three equally excited members of staff.

Having negotiated the formalities at Barcelona airport with confident ease, we soon found ourselves speeding along the main highway from Barcelona to France. We left the highway and a spectacular drive through the mountains brought us to a small town which would be our home for the next five days.

Tossa de Mar was “discovered” back in the 1920s by the first foreign visitors to the Costa Brava, but it has maintained considerably more charm than its neighbouring town, Lloret de Mar. Roman Turissa shows its pedigree in the foundations and simple mosaic floors of the first century BC Villa Roma Els Ametller – a site which prompted our children to imagine what it must have been like to live as Romans in Tossa de Mar.

The picturesque old town or Vila Vella tumbles over the cape – a maze of alleys, stone and whitewashed houses, embraced by 12th-century walls and seven towers overlooking Tossa’s wide swath of beach. In its heart, the Museo Municipal has finds from the Roman villa, as well as a somewhat motley collection of paintings by artists who stayed in Tossa. One was Marc Chagall, who spent the entire summer of 1934 there; the museum’s El Violinista Celeste is his only painting in Spain.

Inspired by the Chagellian presence, Tossa has more than its share of public art, including a bronze life sized (but still petite) Ava Gardener gazing out from the Vila Vella’s walls. The beautiful Ava fell in love with the Costa Brava while filming Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. According to rumours, she fell in love also with a bullfighter – rumours that brought the jealous Frank Sinatra flying over!

At its highest point the Vila Vella had a castle, but this was knocked down for a lighthouse in the 19th-century.

An evening walk through the narrow streets of Tossa, with its variety of shops from those which house designer goods to those with a variety of Spanish souvenirs, became the pattern for us ending with volleyball and football on the beautiful beach. The football matches were a wonderful precursor to the World Cup and certainly rivalled these international matches in excitement drawing a few spectators from the local population.

Our actual home was the imposing Hotel Continental where we were very well looked after with traditional Spanish cuisine which included tapas tasting on Wednesday evening. We looked forward to relaxing in the hotel’s beautiful swimming pool as we returned from each action packed day.

Tuesday took us to Barcelona where we visited the awesome Sagrada Familia – Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece and the city’s most outlandish landmark. Despite recent controversy over who should pay for its completion and the ever-present construction work outside, the structure remains one of the city’s most visited attractions. We were all moved by the sheer size and design of this building and we were fascinated to realise the link between Gaudi’s work and Mother Nature.

We moved on to a place which could not have been more different, the Camp Nou -
the famous home to FC Barcelona. This magnificent stadium has a capacity of an awe inspiring 120,000 and a great museum full of the proud team’s history and heritage. This was a thoroughly interesting visit and we had an interesting discussion about what makes one want to be part of this club with its catchy mottos. Our coach driver for the day was Aurelio who was fluent in five languages and was a mine of information about this area of Spain.

We spent Wednesday getting to know more about the history of Tossa – a journey which took us to the remains of the Roman villa, the parish Church of Sant Vicenc and to the medieval town on the hillside. We visited the museum, saw El Violinista Celeste, Ava Gardner and the beautiful Roman mosaic floor.

Thursday took us North to Figueres, Dali’s birthplace. There is a spectacular museum dedicated to him. The building of the museum is as surreal as the exhibits within. It is topped by a huge metallic dome and decorated with luminous egg shapes. Inside, upstairs, a conventional enough room turns into Mae West’s face when viewed from a small stage. From here we drove to Gerona where we visited the spectacular Catedral de Santa Maria. The cathedral has a single nave, 72ft across - a width surpassed only by St. Peter’s in Rome.

As Friday dawned we found ourselves having an early breakfast and reflecting on what had been a wonderful experience for us all. We arrived at Barcelona airport laden with presents and souvenirs, looking forward very much to seeing our families again. A rather turbulent flight brought us safely back to Manchester where Mums and Dads and Grandparents awaited our tales of wonder and great camaraderie.

Our wonderful children gained so much from this fabulous experience. Spending time with one’s friends in such thought provoking and awe-inspiring environments is something our children will never forget. They drew so many compliments from passers by, the coach drivers, the hotel staff, the flight attendants and fellow passengers. It was a tired but very proud trio of staff which drove home from Manchester that day.

Please would Firwood Manor parents log on to view more photographs.

Netball Matches versus St. Mary’s Primary School, Failsworth on Wednesday, 12th May and Limehurst School on Thursday, 13th May.

We were aware of St. Mary’s excellent netball reputation as we embarked on these netball matches. St. Mary’s is a large school whose A and B teams comprise Year 6 girls only whereas all of our Year 4, 5 and 6 girls are on our A and B teams.

Despite this, our girls showed true Firwood spirit and gave both teams a run for their money. The B team particularly impressed me. This was their first Firwood game and they gave a good demonstration of tenacity and teamwork. They held St. Mary’s to a draw in two of the quarters losing overall by just 5 goals. DR, RS and SV were excellent in the way they snatched the ball whilst KH, CG, LM and MK are obviously going to be the foundation of an excellent A team next year. We missed MW talents in this match. She was unable to play because of injury.

The A team played a great game but our skill was overpowered slightly by girls who were much taller on the whole. The final score was 3-10.

The games were a good warm up for the following day when we played our final league game against Limehurst School. This proved to be another convincing win – 21-1!! - which meant that we won our mini Oldham league. Two of the B team girls – LM and KH - made their debut for the A team in this game. KH makes some very intelligent passes into the circle and LM is proving to be a super defender.

AS was on top form with her shooting. Nothing the defenders did could prevent the ball from whooshing through the net time after time. She was ably supported by EC who managed to sweep up all loose balls and make nifty passes to AS. AB’s defending skills are second to none. She has the ability to fly through the air seemingly from nowhere to snatch some fabulous interceptions. FM’s passing from defence and midfield often provides the stability for some excellent attacking moves whilst OG and OB make speedy thoughtful passes to the shooters. SS has a good awareness of space when passing and has made incredible progress over the year.

Well done girls! You have had a great season.

Congratulations

To Mrs. Wroe and Mrs. Harris in the kitchen who have achieved a 5 star rating from Oldham Environmental Health Service for the second year running.
A great achievement!

Value and Habit of Mind for Next Half Term

After the holiday our value will be Responsibility.

Our Habit of Mind is Taking Responsible Risks.

Being adventuresome. Living on the edge of one's competence. Venture Out!

Thinking Skills lessons will focus on Thinking outside the Box.

Head'slines

A huge well done to all who took part in our first swimming gala last Friday. It was a great success and very much enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to the children who participated with such enthusiasm and support for their fellow house members, to the parents for their support and for bringing the children to the venue and to the staff for giving up their Friday evening to assist. The competition was close but the overall winners were the children from ELK.

On Wednesday 5th May, Years 3 and 5 visited The Lowry for a workshop on portraits. They spent the day looking at original L. S. Lowry work and then created some of their own portraits based on the style he used. They used chalk, pencil, oil pastels, charcoal and even rubbers to draw with. Their work will be displayed in the main corridor at the end of the week. Here are some comments on the day from the children.

LM – We thought it was very interesting because we used lots of different materials like charcoal.

GR – An amusing and brilliant experience.

TD – I enjoyed the visit because using charcoal for drawing isn’t something I would normally do.

EP – I thought the visit was brilliant because I like drawing.

WL – A very interesting visit where I learnt a lot about Lowry. I thought the charcoal was brilliant and Michelle was a very good teacher.

LHF – I thought our visit to The Lowry was a fascinating experience and great fun.

WA – It was brilliant at The Lowry because when we got into the studio I felt happy because Michelle was a very good teacher.

CG – I really enjoyed looking at the portraits, especially ‘Anne.’

HM – I really enjoyed the visit. I found Lowry’s paintings fascinating and I enjoyed the charcoal because I got messy.

TB – I thought the visit to The Lowry was really exciting because it was great fun working with charcoal and I really enjoyed creating my portraits as they turned out really well.

On Friday 23rd April 2010, the Year 3 and 4 children were ready to set off on their weekend adventure to Winmarleigh Hall. We were all very excited and maybe a little nervous about the challenges ahead.

It was not long before the coach arrived and we couldn’t wait to set off. The journey was about an hour long but seemed much shorter as we were busy playing our games or chatting to our friends. We drove down some very narrow roads and thought the driver did a super job getting the wide coach through the narrow gaps. When we reached Winmarleigh Hall we were all bursting with excitement.

The first thing we did when we arrived was have a tour of the building. Josh our groupie took us to see the meeting posts and fire assembly points as well as the Games room. It was then time for our first activity. The children were split into three groups; these were rabbits, quails and porcupines. The first activities were team challenge, zip wire and WM TV1.

In team challenge, the children had to carry a bucket of water over a series of obstacles whilst holding a rope. As you can imagine, the children got very wet and muddy but this only added to the excitement.

Zip wire was a little more challenging as the children had to climb up to a platform high in the trees and then jump off to zip down to the bottom. Everyone set themselves their own target in this activity, which we all achieved.

In WMTV1, the children had to make their own music and video, which was great fun. We all then met at the meeting posts ready for our next activity, which were fencing, wobble boards and orienteering.

We were all quite pleased when realised it was time for dinner as we were certainly hungry and ready for a rest. After dinner, we went to our rooms to get ready for the evening activity. The final activity on Friday was campfire. We walked into the wooded areas were a large fire had been lit. We all sat around and sang songs and listened to stories. Mrs. Wild, Mrs. Batters and Mrs. Greenwood were a little disappointed that we didn’t sing Ging Gang Goolie or London’s Burning. At about 8:30 we all trudged back to the main building for a well-deserved hot chocolate, a shower and bed.

On Saturday morning we were awake bright and early ready for another action packed day of activities. These included orienteering, WMTV 2, low ropes, multi vines and team challenge. The weather was lovely on Saturday and we really enjoyed being out in all the fresh air. The final activity of the day was Splash which was really good fun. We were all split into three teams where we took part in different races. These were speed races and acting races. Every time you won a race your team earned some packaging. At the end of the races, each team had to make a secure parcel to hold a water balloon. The parcel was then thrown from the roof of the building to see whose balloon survived. Sadly none of them did, despite Mr. Lawton’s team cheating by adding extra materials to their parcel. After having an evening snack and some hot chocolate we headed back to our rooms for a shower. Tonight, we were all ready for our beds and there wasn’t a sound by 10:00.

On Sunday, we were a little disappointed when we saw that it was raining, but we weren’t going to let it dampen our spirits. We all put our waterproofs on and headed to the meeting posts. The rain didn’t stay for long and we were too involved in our activities to mind. We finished the weekend with the climbing wall, WM TV2 and team challenge. We were a little sad when we saw the coach pull up to take us back to school and can’t wait to return to Winmarleigh Hall again. We think our parents were pleased to see us even though we were covered in face paint and mud.

Head'slines

I hope that you have all had an enjoyable holiday and that the children are well rested and ready for the new term.

Thank You

Thank you to Mrs. Lavinia Bell for collecting so many Tesco computer vouchers for us for the second year running. We are very grateful!

Congratulations

Congratulations to CG in Year 5. Just before the holiday, CG took her grade one violin examination. News came through last week that she has passed with distinction (135 marks out of a possible 150). This is a fantastic achievement, CG. We are very proud of you.

How to help your child to succeed

These workshops designed by Bill Lucas who has written many books on parenting and learning will commence on Tuesday, 20th April at 7pm. They will continue on Tuesday evenings until the end of term with the exceptions of 1st June and 8th June.
Topics included are :

• Being a Parent
• It Starts With You!
• Your Child is a Learner
• Go For It!
• Your Learning Home
• Classrooms on Your Doorstep
• Getting Unstuck
• You’ve Got a Friend
• Words and Sums
• Beyond the School Gates
• Tough Parenting Issues

Value and Habit of Mind

The Value and Habit of Mind for the next half term will be Co-Operation and Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision. Thinking Skills lessons will focus on Dialogue.

Reports On Events

Please check the website for reports on the Strinesdale visits and a report on our Science Week activities. There are also reports on the cross country competition at Bridgewater Hall and the Umbro football tournament.

Sport Relief

Our final total for Sport Relief was £ 270.05.

Thank you for your support.

Head'slines

The end of a term always prompts one to look back and reflect on what has happened. We have been so busy this term particularly with sports events. (My waistline should have reduced considerably with all the running up and down sidelines I seem to have done.)

It has been a very successful term on the sports field and academically. The one constant though is always our wonderful children and the compliments we receive on their behalf, from how well they support one another on the sports fields to how well behaved they are on visits to their attitude and ability to ask pertinent questions within the classroom. One of the dads who came into school to speak to the children during Science Week commented on how well they listened and participated, and said that the children are a credit to us.

I would like to thank all the dads who gave up their valuable time to speak to the children about their work. It gave them a fascinating insight into the world of work and of Science.
Apparently one discussion continued on the cross country field last Saturday!!

Once again, I do urge you to spend time at the weekend on our website. It does contain a mine of information about our school.

Finally, on behalf of the staff I hope that you all enjoy the Easter weekend. We all look forward to welcoming the children back on Monday, 19th April.

From Monday 15th March – Friday 19th March the Emergent Stage participated in National Science Week and enjoyed every minute!

The week began with Mad Science Day, lead by ‘Atomic Alison’ who spoke about gases and the air around us. She demonstrated how air has a mass and the how this mass is constantly applying pressure onto us and the other objects around.

It was then time to take that pressure away from the inside of a can and watch the effect- it was crushed by the air on the outside! A vacuum was used to take the pressure of the air molecules that were pressing on the outside of different objects and they expanded! – The children’s favourite was the marshmallow!

We all made sure that we completed practical activities this week with Year Four searching for various organisms in the habitats around school, Year Five designing interactive display information about gases and Year Six making and testing parachutes to research Air Resistance.

Mid–week, Mr. Dooley came into school to discuss his role at United Utilities and share his extensive knowledge about electricity. The children were impeccably behaved, and listened carefully as we were shown how the electricity reaches our own homes. The most important part was when Mr. Dooley discussed safety issues surrounding substations and the children produced a safety poster to show the dangers of misusing it.

To complete the week, Dr. Duru spoke to the Emergent Stage and informed us all how to eat healthily and how to look after our bodies, especially our teeth. The children built on the knowledge that they already had and we learnt when and how often we should snack – not quite as often as the children had hoped!
All the children went home to check the amount of fluoride in their toothpaste, which we do not gain enough of from our water.

Science Week was extended into our final week of Spring term by Mr. Newman who kindly offered to come at tell the Emergent Stage exactly what happened in a landfill site and the fate of our rubbish.

We learnt that when a hole is dug to put the waste into. It first needs to be protected with a layer of clay and a layer of plastic that each protect the environment for about 125 years therefore totalling 250 years!

After all the rubbish that we produce is layered into the landfill it is piled up and trees and grassland will be planted on top. Houses cannot be built on top of a landfill as the methane that is produced by the rubbish leaks out an can cause a house to blow up.

Many interesting discoveries can be found when digging to make the landfill and the biggest had to be the footprint of a Meglasaurus found in a landfill at Oxford- we have all been fascinated with the size of the footprint! Oxford Brooks Museum have details of this if you would like to learn more.

Thank you to the Parents who gave up time to make our Science Week as enjoyable as it was!

Miss Byram
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“Mad Science was the best, it was so much fun! I enjoyed all of it, but my
favourite experiment was when we made the shaving foam explode all over
the jar!”
WA of Year 5

“I learnt that air has a mass and that air molecules are ‘punching’ you, but you can’t feel it. I really enjoyed Atomic Alison and would love to do Mad Science Week again!”
CG of Year 5

Please also take some time to read this report by a Year 5 pupil about the Mad Science Day.

On Tuesday the 23rd March, Years one and two visited Strinesdale and we were very pleased that the sun decided to shine on us! We put on our wellies and our coats and set off on the coach. We were looking for signs of spring and couldn’t wait to see what we could find.

We arrived keen to see lots of nature and new life; the children were especially looking forward to seeing the frog spawn.

The first animal we saw was a pair of squirrels playing in the trees, we tried very hard to capture them on the camera but they were very quick at jumping from branch to branch and we struggled to keep up with them.

We sat on the benches on the far side of the water and listened to find out what sounds we could hear. All of the children could hear ducks quacking and the birds singing. When we looked on the water we could only see one little duck, we thought he was quacking to find his friends or his mummy. We could also hear a dog barking which we suspect was the dog that later on got Miss Monaghan and the children very muddy, when he jumped up to say hello to us! Whilst the children were quiet we could also hear the gentle sound of the water. (I can assure you the children were not quiet for the rest of the visit!)

We continued to walk around Strinesdale and Miss Monaghan is sure the children were only looking for the mud instead of the signs of spring as they certainly found lots of it and some brought lots back on their wellies and clothes!

We crossed the stream and washed our wellies, and balanced on the stepping-stones but took the safer route of walking across the bridge going back over the stream; we had to walk very quietly so we didn’t wake the troll who lives underneath!

Hoping to find some frog spawn we set off to look in the pond and to our delight there was a lot! We were also very pleased to see some frogs busy at work!

The children love to run down the hill at Strinesdale although the teachers are not as keen as we don’t want to have to walk all the way back up again! But the children had fun running down and even rolling! It is lovely to see them enjoying themselves so freely.

It was then time to head back to the coach and the driver looked very pleased as we trudged aboard, mud and all! We arrived safely back at school and enjoyed our packed lunch in our classroom. Overall a very enjoyable visit to Strinesdale!

by Year 2

Please click on the picture below to view a drawing done by a Year 4 pupil.

On Wednesay 24th March, Firwood Manor Football Team travelled to Lady Barn House School in Cheadle to take part in the finals of The Northern Independent Schools Competition. It was the first time Firwood had ever got to the last four of the competition and was an achievement in itself to get to the semi-finals, against some much larger schools.

Mr. F and Mr. Lengden travelled down with the team and the boys completed a warm up before playing their semi-final against the hosts, (and eventual winners). Unfortunately we lost by quite a wide margin and the boys never really seemed to get going on a sticky and difficult pitch. This meant we were to play the losers of the other semi, Scarisbrick Hall, for the 3rd/4th place play-off.

This game was played on the astro-turf and Firwood were unrecognisable in this match. Neat passing, first to the ball, powerful shooting and strong defending from everyone on the pitch resulted in a final score of 2-2. Penalties!

Everyone needs a little luck in these situations but we had none. The boys had done themselves proud though.

Special mentions go to the following boys, making their final appearances for the school team:

HK – Scorer of our only 2 goals on the day and a player who always performs with a smile on his face.

AS – Completing his 4th year on the team, classing him as a veteran! Always giving 100% and a passionate midfielder.

CC – Our tricky winger with more tricks than Paul Daniels, (ask Mum), full of goals and a nightmare for any defender.

JD – A player who has grown in confidence, making some bone crunching tackles in defence.

GI – A relative newbie in the team who has shown willing to learn how to play off the last man and has always given his best effort.

Finally, can I thank Mr. F and Mr. S for all their time in transporting the children to games and helping with presentations, which is greatly appreciated.

This has been our most successful season ever and the boys should be very proud of what they have achieved. Well done everyone!

Mr. Lengden

Overall Year 3 and Overall Year 4 Winners

The annual cross-country competition at Bridgewater School is an event to which we all look forward – parents as well as children. This year the weather in the week preceding the competition had been dry, sunny and warm and boded well for the competition day.

However, my heart sank when I saw the forecast, heavy rain right over Manchester for Saturday morning. Sure enough as Saturday dawned the rain had arrived and it was coming down relentlessly.

I had forgotten the Firwood spirit!! Nothing was going to daunt our fantastic youngsters. As they arrived at Bridgewater School it was clear that each and everyone of them was ready to give their all.

CC was first to go in the Year 6 boys’ race but he was unwell and had to withdraw. Next came the Year 6 girls, AB, EC and FM, old stagers in this competition, it being their fourth year. All completed the course well.

Our Year 5 boys love cross country – must be the opportunity to wallow in the mud – and, whilst we did not gain any medals, their team performance, helped by LM’s fantastic run in the Year 5 girls race, gave us third place in the overall Year 5 placings. Well done to LM, HM, WA, GR, TB, TD and EP.

Then the real glory came. We had a full complement of children in all of the Year 4 and 3 races. Combined with the Firwood spirit, support for one another, sheer guts and determination and, of course, raw talent it made for a successful outcome. The Year 4 team consisting of GK, JS, JG, ET, TB, AH, JN, JE, AS, OG, MW, KH and MK was the overall winner as was the Year 3 team with SB-H, LB, EC, LF, CS, JD, JW, GM, JM, BP and HV. Every child who ran contributed to the overall team results and we are very proud of all of the children. We came home with two magnificent trophies which will be engraved with the school’s name. To bring home two out of four trophies is a fantastic achievment for a small school.

We also had two individual successes. AS won the bronze medal in the Year 4 girls’ race and SB-H won the gold medal in the Year 3 girls’ race. Well done girls, we are very proud of you!

We are, of course, proud of all of the children. It is a great achievement just to take part and to complete the course, let alone win the whole event.

Six schools in all took part – Rishworth, Branwood, Bridgewater, Clarendon Cottage, Moor Allerton and ourselves. A strong feature of our participation in this competition is team spirit. Our children are renowned for their support for one another. In fact it was a wonder our Year 3s could run at all because they had run from the starting point to the finishing post so many times to cheer on the older children.

Thank you to all the Mums and Dads for their support and for transporting their children to Bridgewater. It was a great morning.

Firwood 22 - 1 South Failsworth

The girls’ netball team consisting of AB, OB, EC, OG, FM, AS and SS are rapidly gaining a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Having won their first two league games and the ISA North tournament they approached their next league game at South Failsworth Primary School last Wednesday with confidence.

South Failsworth had definitely improved since our last game but only sufficiently to move the score from 23 – 0 to 22 –1. Our girls soon got into their stride with passing so fast that it was almost impossible to intercept.

All of the girls are competent in all the positions, whether attack, defence or centre court, and as each quarter brings a new position they adapt brilliantly. Shooting too is usually spot on and goals were competently scored by EC, AS, FM and OB.

The girls defended superbly with lots of fantastic interceptions and they are beginning to move the ball around the court with much intelligence.

Well done girls on a fine victory!!

The team set off on Thursday dinnertime with an entourage of parents eager to enjoy the following couple of days of team bonding and great football. It was a pleasant journey down and we really timed the weather well.

On arrival at Cambridge Central, we checked into our rooms and met in the hotel reception, ready for a game of tenpin bowling and very civilised Italian meal. The bowling was extremely enjoyable, with the boys putting the parents to shame. Mr. Richardson was very fortunate to pip Mr. Lengden to victory twice, although an accusation of not being able to handle the pressure was unfairly banded about!

The boys were a pleasure to dine with at the restaurant. They really did show how mature Firwood Manor children are, making all of the parents and myself very proud.

The next morning the boys were up bright and early for the hour drive to Stoke College in Sudbury. It felt like the road to Wembley as we relaxed before the big tournament, listening to music or racing at 300 mph to Super Mario Kart. (Again, Mr. Lengden was an unlucky second)!

On arrival, we took the team photo and did our warm up in readiness for our first match. We drew our first game 1-1 and won the second 2-0, which was a fantastic start. The next three games were a little more difficult though and we were unlucky to lose on more than one occasion.

Our final game was in the quarter final of the Plate competition, losing to a golden goal in extra time to St. Nicholas School. The boys were reminded that it had been a huge achievement in just qualifying for a national tournament and we all agreed that it had been a really enjoyable couple of days.

The trip back up the A1 didn’t seem to take too long and we arrived back at Firwood Manor, very tired, for 8.00pm.

Many thanks to the parents and grandparents for supporting the trip through the sponsored penalty shoot out and coming down with them. It is something they’ll remember for a very long time.

Well done boys!

Mr. Lengden

On Wednesday 10th March, the Year 2 and 3 children visited Foxdenton Hall in Chadderton. We have been studying the history of Chadderton and wanted to find out about this old Manor House. We met a gentleman called Mike Lawson at Foxdenton Park. He was a founder member of the Chadderton Historical Society and knew a lot about the hall.

When we arrived at the park the sun was shining and the hall looked very beautiful. We went inside the building for a presentation on the history of the hall. We looked at lots of pictures of the people who owned the hall and found out about how the building had changed over the years.

The hall was first owned by Elizabeth and Robert Radcliffe who built the first Foxdenton Hall built as their home. William Radcliffe then had the hall rebuilt in 1620 in its current location. Unfortunately, William was killed with his son in a battle in 1642. The hall was then taken over by Alexander Radcliffe who had the hall rebuilt in 1700. Instead of having the whole hall knocked down he decided to take the top floor and roof off and leave the ground floor. He then had soil piled up around the ground floor so it was partially buried. The only thing that could be seen of the ground floor was the top of the windows and the stone block above the door that had WR and 1620 carved into it. This stood for William Radcliffe and the year the hall was built. Alexander had a modern hall built on top of the ground floor of the old hall, which is the Foxdenton Hall we visited. The building felt very old and had wood panelling and beams. The fireplaces were also from the original hall. The room we had the presentation in was full of pictures of the owners of the Hall. There was one portrait of Alexander Radcliffe that made us all feel uneasy. The eyes seemed to follow you wherever you were in the room and Mike told us how some people believed that they had been tapped on the back by him when they were in certain rooms of the hall.

After the presentation we split into groups. The first group went upstairs to look around the rooms whilst the second group went with Mike to investigate the outside of the hall. We were able to crawl underneath the steps of the hall to see the stone block with WR carved on it. We felt like detectives looking for clues. We also climbed on the old mounting block, which the Radcliffe’s used to climb onto their horses. The grounds of the hall were well kept and looked beautiful. Finally, we went and sat by the duck pond to eat our tuck before we came back to school.

We had a lovely morning at Foxdenton Hall and found out lots about its history.

By Years 2 & 3

On Thursday 25th February Year One went to visit Ebenezer Congregational Church in Uppermill. We travelled to the church by coach. During our journey we saw the snow on the hills and felt lucky that we didn't live so high up. We were welcomed by Pastor Wroe who showed us into the church.

We sat in the pews and Pastor Wroe told us a little about the church. We saw a picture of the first minister from 180 years ago before we watched a video of a little boy being christened at the church. Mr. Wroe told us all about the Christening. We looked at the Christening roll, which is a record of all the children who have been christened at the church. The first christening in the book was also from 180 years ago. We also saw the font which we were not expecting to be so small. We had seen pictures of fonts at school that were made of stone and were quite big, but the one at this church was a lot smaller.

Afterwards we talked about how we could have our own christening. We began by singing 'Who Put the Colours in the Rainbow' then Pastor Wroe asked the parents, baby and god parents to go out to the front of the church and stand with him. He then took the baby from KA and blessed her with holy water from the font. The baby was named G.M.H.M. After that Pastor Wroe took the baby to show to the congregation. He gave us a certificate of the christening.

On the video after the christening the family had a party. So we went upstairs to the hall where there were some tables and chairs set up for us to have our lunch. We were all quite hungry and ate our lunches whilst having a little chat to our friends. When we had finished our lunch we had a story and then came back to school.

We had a lovely time and would like to say a big thank you to Pastor Wroe for welcoming us to his church and spending time with us.

by Year 1

Firwood 23 - 0 South Failsworth

After the last performance it is obvious to see why Firwood went into this match with great confidence. They definitely did the school and themselves proud once again.

I probably will be stating the obvious with what I write but I'm happy to do so.

AS and EC were lethal in attack. AS wasn't once put off by the height of the opposition defence, as every time she found a way past them to score.

In the centre of the court was the supply to attack, OG, OB, AB and LM were outstanding. Again the speed and accuracy of the through balls was sensational and the number of interceptions which led to attack was extremely impressive.

The defence was water tight once more and to not concede is wonderful. RS, FM and SS provided the perfect base for the team to mount their attacks.

Well done again girls. A special mention must go to SS and LM who both made their debuts.

Head’slines

Valentine's Disco

Thank you to everyone who supported our Valentine’s Day Disco.

The children responded beautifully to requests to behave well and sit nicely with Mums and Dads whilst supper was served.

Thank you to the staff for giving up their precious relaxation time to ensure that the children had such a wonderful time.

Value and Habit of Mind

This term’s Value is……

Respect.

Our Habit of Mind is Responding with Wonderment and Awe.

Finding the world awesome, mysterious.
Being intrigued with phenomena and beauty.
Have fun figuring it out!

Thinking Skills lessons will focus on....

Thinking through Concepts.

The Firwood Manor football team travelled to Grimsby on a freezing cold Monday morning, to play in the northern section of The National Independent 5 a-side Competition. They were hoping to qualify for the national competition in Suffolk, like the team did last year.

We were drawn in what proved to be the toughest group, playing Beech House B (won 12-0), St. Martin’s, (won 3-2), Hull Collegiate, (drew 1-1) and Scarisbrick, (Lost 3-1). These results put us in second place in the table and meant we had qualified for the semi-finals, and therefore the national tournament. The boys were understandably delighted!

Unfortunately, we ended up coming in fourth place, as tiredness and the extremely cold conditions seemed to affect us later in the day, but it was a fantastic achievement nevertheless.

The team will now be travelling down to Suffolk for a stay over on Thursday 4th March and competing on the Friday at Stoke College. Many thanks to Mr. F for helping on the day and giving up his time and I’m sure you’ll all be routing for the team.

Mr. Lengden