What a fantastic time we all had last night at our Christmas party. It was lovely to see all the children dressed smartly in their party clothes – there were plenty of sparkles about! We enjoyed a number of social dances and then party games… Up and Over proved a popular (and highly competitive!) choice.

Many thanks to all the children who came along and also to the many teachers. Mrs Balfour and Mrs Thomson did a super job announcing the dances and Miss Dunne could easily become a world famous DJ with her skills!

There’s not too long to go now at school, let the Christmas Countdown truly commence!

Are you ready to travel through time?
Prepare yourselves, as P6/7 and P7 will be sharing a whistle stop tour from 1950 to 2009 all in the space of an hour!

Parents of P6/7 and P7 are invited to join us on Thursday 18th December in the P6/7 and P7 classrooms. Between 1.45 and 2.15pm we will be sharing some of our learning from our decades topic. From 2.15pm until 2.45pm, we will be demonstrating some of the famous dance crazes from each of the decades and also, performing some adverts for iconic products from our chosen decades. Maybe we can tempt you to join in with our dances?!

We look forward to seeing you there!
P6/7 & P7

You made it! Well done on managing to sign in and change your password successfully! Please add a comment below so I can see who is well on the way to becoming ‘Winter Ready’ for any bad weather that may come our way!

Mrs M

Dear Diary…

It was not a normal day today. In fact, I didn’t even wear my normal clothes for school today because today was WWII at Bankton!

I dressed up as someone from Britain during WWII. When I got to school I saw lots of other people dressed up too, it was as if I had gone back in time! People were dressed up as soldiers, evacuees, war mums, doctors, black market profiteers, land girls, Winston Churchill, Vera Lyn, nurses and an ARP warden.

Not only did we look like we were from 1941, we had to eat like it was 1941 too, complete with rations. I didn’t even get to bring my own tuck. Instead we were given jam and bread and 1 square of chocolate only….there is a war on after all!

I took part in lots of activities to help with the war effort such as making my own gas mask box, digging for victory, make do and mend by sewing on a button, filling in my identity card, up-cycling which is making something new out of something old, WWII A-Z, creating a VE day menu, working in the munitions factory, making a VE day party hat and designing a card game to pass the time in the shelter during air raids. Phew, being at war is hard work you know!

Not only did I have to help with the war effort, I had to shelter (a.k.a hide under the table!) when the air raid siren sounded. I had to make sure that the windows were blacked out before going to my shelter. It felt scary, tense and cramped! I could only come out of my shelter when the all clear siren sounded. Sometimes the air raids lasted longer than others.

The day felt tiring but there was 1941 music to boost our morale and some extra rations as the day went on!
In the afternoon, people came to visit our Blackout café to hear all about our WWII day and we all had a singalong to keep spirits high.

It was an exciting day but sadly we had to return to 2014 even though Taylor’s evacuee tag had requested that he didn’t return home at all!

Lots of fun was had during P6 & P7’s World War II day.  The costumes were fantastic and the children worked very hard as they participated in a number of different activities such as make do and mend (sewing buttons onto fabric), making hats and bunting out of old paper to celebrate V.E. day, baking some war time recipes (thank you Mrs Reilly) and digging for victory in the garden to name but a few!  Rations of bread and jam were provided for snack (thanks to Mary in the kitchen who helped with these) and there was the odd square of chocolate to keep energy levels up too.  Thanks also go to our parent helpers who helped with the gardening.  Here are a few photos of our fun filled day.

P6 completed their second week of cricket training this week.  We have been learning pick up and hold the bat correctly, how to throw the ball, how to bat and catch the ball properly.  Next week we will be learning how to bowl.  In our first week we also played a game called French cricket. 

“At first I thought it would be very hard but it turned out to be very easy and fun.”  Katie

“I like our coach, Ian because he teaches well and never makes anything complicated.” Sean B

“I like cricket because it is interesting and fun to play.” Kylie

 We have also had some different teachers this week, Mrs Ferguson and Mrs Stewart.  It was different having them to teach us but it was interesting, fun and enjoyable.  We hope they enjoyed spending time in P6 with us too!

 Today is the start of Fair-trade Fortnight so we are encouraging everyone to “GO BANANAS!”  In fact, bananas were very rare during WWII as we have been finding out.  We have been in groups and working independently on different rationing challenges including research about shopping for food during rationing, clothes rationing look books, rationing recipes and menus, Potato Pete and Dr Carrot (see our WWII wall soon to find out more about them!) and public information leaflets about rationing. 

“At first when I heard we had to present out research in a PowerPoint, I thought it would tricky but it turned out to be easy.” Declan

“I enjoyed working with my group because it was really fun.” Abby

WWII RATIONING…

did you know?

• Fruit, vegetable, milk and bread were not rationed
• People were only allowed one fresh egg a week
• Rationing continued until after the war
• Sweets, butter, sugar, meat, cheese, tea, eggs, jam were some of the things rationed
• People were allowed 48 clothing coupons for a year
• Foods like burgers and pizza were not yet invented
• People grew vegetable in gardens and on top of their Anderson Shelters to supplement their rations