​Book Fortnight has been a great success in school. The children enjoyed the usual excitement of dressing up as their favourite book character and we had some amazing entries for the competition. The reading den, Charlie Bucket’s house leading into the chocolate factory, allowed classes to come together in a cosy and calm environment for them to share a class read. The den always supports the overall theme for book fortnight and encourages a great deal of discussion around the chosen focus story which this year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Read dating allows the children the opportunity to share books that they have enjoyed with their peers and learn about new books that may appeal to them.

​The children also enjoyed texts exploring the themes of hunger and the use of food banks. These texts allowed the children to develop their skills of empathy – putting themselves in the shoes of others. There was also great excitement around preparing food related to the themes in the books they were reading such as creating fruit lollipops, soups and pasta dishes. Key skills for food preparation were learnt and the children certainly loved the end products!  The children also learnt about the importance of food composting and how we can then use the compost in the summer term to support our outdoor learning projects.

The launch of Stockport Book Awards has now created a buzz around reading and the children are already discussing this year’s texts and bringing in art pieces that they have created in response to their reading. We look forward to this continuing over the coming weeks.
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Thanks to all the parents and carers who support Book Fortnight by providing costumes, support home learning competitions and spend time reading with your children on a regular basis – it does all really help to ensure our children develop a love of reading.

The Year 2 children thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the Holi festival on Friday afternoon.

What is Holi?

Holi is the festival of colours. It is a fun Indian festival that marks the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Holi is about happiness and togetherness. It marks the victory of good over evil.

Throughout the story of Holi, there was a bad king named Hiranyakashipu. His son Prahlad was a good boy and loved Lord Vishnu. The king’s sister Holika tried to harm Prahlad, but she got burnt instead. 

The night before Holi, a fire is lit to remember the story of Holika. The next day colours are thrown onto each other!  Special coloured powders called gulaal are used for this and there is lots of dancing and singing. Sweet and savoury foods are also enjoyed such as gujiyas and chaats.