Goodbye Miss Gillett!

Members of our school community, both past and present, gathered together this evening to celebrate our Deputy Head, Shirley Gillett’s twenty seven years of dedicated service to Wykeham Primary School.

Miss Gillett came to teach in the Junior School in 1987. She taught many classes in the juniors before moving to the Infant School to become the deputy head. When both schools amalgamated, Miss Gillett continued in her role as deputy head for the newly formed Wykeham Primary School.

During her time at the school, Miss Gillett has worked tirelessly, conscientiously and passionately to develop the full potential of both children and adults, with whom she has worked. She will be remembered, among other things, for running the school book club, playing the piano in assembly, camping at Stubbers, accompanying Year 6 on their residential visits and for helping to enthuse and train our next generation of teachers.

We would like to extend our deepest thanks to Shirley Gillett for her commitment to the school over so many years. She will be greatly missed by us all and we wish her every happiness and success for her future.

Year 6 Prom - By Abbey

On the 16th of July, year 6 had their prom. It was from 5 o’clock till 7:30. We needed to get there at 5 to have our picture taken in the Key Stage 2 hall and at about 5:30 we went into the dining room to party and have food. 

There was a DJ at one end of the hall and in each corner there were helium balloons. My favourite part was when the balloons that were in a net on the ceiling were released. Although I did also like the red carpet on the ramp outside. It was a lovely, fun night I think everyone would agree!

Written by Abbey, 6C

Please see the gallery page for more pictures.

Adventure Island! - By Daniel

Yesterday, Year 6 went on an amazing school trip to Adventure Island. Adventure island is an amusement park with thrilling rides for all ages.

When we arrived, we got given a group band but you will usually get a colored band based on your height. (Red= 1 meter, Green = 1.2 meters and Blue =1.2 and over.) There were at least three scary rides: Rage, Dragon Claw and Sky Drop. Here is what they were like:

Rage is a roller coaster ride which has a large drop at the top then you do loop the loops, go upside down and go on your side. Definitely guaranteed to make you feel sick!

Dragon claw is basically the same as Rage but it's not a roller coaster and 10x faster.

Sky drop is a ride where you get strapped into a seat that goes so quickly it's unbelievable!

Also, there were Dodgems which were £3 a go but £5 for a unlimited pass. What an offer! I spent most of the afternoon on Dodgems then I went on other rides.

I really enjoyed this trip and I hope I can go again.

Written by Daniel, 6C

Please see the gallery page for more pictures.

School Daze! - By Karis

On Monday 7th of July, year 6 performed their production 'School Daze' to parents and the rest of the school.

The production had 8 scenes including comedy, acting and a couple of scary actors including Sergeant Majors and a couple of funny characters including Mr.Riley - Mckenzie acting as Mr.Randall. 

The songs that were sung are the following: Old School Days, Teachers Have It Easy, A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E., It's Nearly Time To Take Your SATS, The Nits Blues, A Touch Of Lipstick, Parental Consultation Evening and One Day At A Time. 

In The Nits Blues, Ethan and Alex were truly brandishing true rock style. When One Day At A Time played, the parents and some of the children singing it were crying and the lower years didn't want us to leave.

But we couldn't have done it without our teachers - Miss Cliffe and Miss Harding.

Written by Karis, 6C

Please see the gallery page for more pictures.

Year 6 do...'A Play in a Day'! - By Geraldine

On Tuesday, 24th of June, a special visitor came to Wykeham Primary School. Mark came to our school to help year 6 make ‘A Play in a Day’. We were split into 4 groups (one for each act) the play was: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.

The day started out with one group going to the KS2 hall and the rest making props, such as: Fairy masks, swords and two people making a magic flower which was just a decorated spoon! The people who went to the hall practiced their act, we had to dress up and most people’s costumes were ridiculous like Puck, who had green feet, a shower cap and swimming goggles. All throughout the day each group had a turn of practicing and decorating props, at the end of the day we performed our play to year 4. Every time one act finished, another act would come on, so there was sometimes four people playing one character (which got confusing at times). 

Probably the funniest part was the play inside the play, performed by some workers where Nick Bottom constantly stabbed himself even when he fell to the floor, and a boy played a girl who also constantly stabbed themselves as well. Near the end of the play, our end of school bell went off (that’s why we were a little late out)!

Written by Geraldine, 6C

Please see the gallery page for more pictures.

Year 5 Trip to The Royal Gunpowder Mills - By Tiegan

On Tuesday 17th June our class went to The Royal Gunpowder Mills. I really enjoyed the trip because I found out what it was like in a Victorian Workhouse, especially when I was a shoe shiner, scrubbing shoes.

Our first activity when we arrived at The Royal Gunpowder Mills was when we went to the toyshop. We learnt that the poor children had to make toys. They used wooden dolly pegs and they cut up tatty old dusty clothes

and material to make dolls. In addition the little poor children only got new toys at Christmas or on their birthdays. On the other hand, the rich Victorians got rocking horses and everything.

After we visited the toyshop, we went to the seaside and got nice and tanned. The rich used to walk around and glide in tight corsets for fashion. This was called promenading. The ladies waists were 40cm round. All their ribs broke, they got hot and fainted. All of their insides were squashed and they couldn’t sit, speak or breathe properly. They also had 1 penny for a lick of ice-cream out of a little glass jar with a small top. They also said that they had a dipper at the beach, who was paid to push their heads under the salty water, because they thought that salt was healthy and good for them. I felt sorry for the poor because they had no pennies or half pennies for a delicious, scrumptious lick of ice-cream.

Once we had finished our lunch we went to the Workhouse to earn 15 pennies to buy ou rself nice cabbage soap. I was a shoe shiner and I had a tiny piece of polish on a brush to clean a shoe, which had dust and dirt over the top. I was so shocked when I heard that the children worked from age 7 and over and that they worked 11-12 hours every day from early in the morning until very late at night. When I was scrubbing the shoes I had pain running through my back, hands, neck and arms, running through like a shivering river.

Finally we went to a Victorian school; hard working on our A,B,C’s and 1,2,3. Learning on a blackboard and writing with white chalk. Teachers asked questions, however you had to stand up to and answer the teacher politely, “Yes maam” we shouted. If you were naughty, you would have been whacked with the cane or stood facing the wall wearing a cone pointy hat.

I would recommend other people visiting The Royal Gunpowder Mills, because not only did we have an educational visit, but we changed back in time to the Victorians with a funny hat and costume.

Recount by Tiegan

Year 6 Stubbers Trip - By Izzy

On Wednesday 12^th June, Year 6 travelled to Stubbers – an activity centre for children. We stayed for approximately nine hours, and did four activities, (Jet-Skiing, Kayaking, Team Challenges and Climbing) all of which I enjoyed! My personal favourite was the kayaking; I’d done it before, but I still managed to sink the boat!

Upon arrival, we were split into groups. The day was planned differently for each group, but we all did the same activities, just at different times. We hadn’t been told which activities we’d be doing, but our teachers had made it very clear we needed two changes of clothes, so we assumed we were getting wet!

My first activity was kayaking, (My favourite activity!) and I’d done it before but the previous time wasn’t nearly as fun as the kayaking at Stubbers! We were taught how to use the oar, and after we picked a boat and watched nervously as our friends got in their boats. Once I was in, I got the hang of it pretty easily, however I kept spinning whenever I rowed – weird! The highlight of the activity for me was when I “fell” in. When I went round a very sharp corner, loads of water entered the boat, and it began to sink. At that point I was really panicking and I fell out anyway! Once we got out we were all drenched!

After a short break we were lead to the “Cement Wall,” – a giant mountainous structure with uneven shards of rock stuck in it. Everyone in my group struggled as it was near impossible to get a good grip (for me it was anyway…). My brother Ollie got to the top though! He was very modest and said that his part of the wall was easier than the rest. To me it looked very complicated!

When we had lunch we were able to play in a near-by park at Stubbers, but only for a bit – we had two more activities to do. One of them was team challenges, which (as the name suggests) we had to work in a team for. One challenge we had to get all our team in shoe-size order when we were in four large tires. I got quite claustrophobic, but it was my favourite challenge.

The final activity we did was jet-skiing. We were all numbered “1-9,” and that was the order we participated in. I was the third to do it, and I was a bit anxious, nevertheless it was “sick,” as Kaytlin put it. We controlled the jet-ski and the accelerator, but the instructor had the most control to avoid accidents. It was so cool!

In summation, I had a VERY good day at Stubbers – I wish we could go again!

Written by: Izzy 6C

Please see the gallery page for more pictures.