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• Christmas Carol Service at St Mary's Church

  Fri 22 Dec 2023 Jill Warren

  December is always a creative time of year with the Carols around the Christmas tree, the Christmas art lessons in school and the whole school Christmas service at St Mary’s church.  The children sang beautifully and were able to confidently share the story with big, bold voices. 

  As you may have been aware, back in September 2021 the school took part in a fun run to raise money for a defibrillator for the Wirksworth community, to help save lives.  We raised a massive £1132.89, which we were so proud of and we were hoping to have this placed outside of the school for everyone in Wirksworth to use.  However, due to planning permission and meeting listed building status, it has become quite difficult to get one fitted on the school site.  In the meantime, the Department for Education held their own safety campaign and has donated a free one to school, which has been placed in the school office for the use of the school and the wider community whilst the school is open.

  Because the purpose of raising the money was to support the wider Wirksworth community, we made the decision to donate the money to Wirksworth Town Council to fit one in the community which everyone could use, not just during school opening times.  The Mayor of Wirksworth, Cllr Sean Barker, attended the service and was presented with a cheque by the children.  We will keep you updated on where this will be placed within Wirksworth, in the event you would need to use this in the future. If you are interested to know how a defibrillator works, please follow the link to the St John’s ambulance website for more information.  How to use a defibrillator | St John Ambulance (sja.org.uk)

  

• Y3/4 Adventure Day at Lea Green

  Mon 27 Nov 2023 Jill Warren

  Y3/4 enjoyed a fantastic day at Lea Green Outdoor Activities Centre on Monday 27th November. They got to try out bushcraft activities, the climbing wall and a low ropes obstacle course. The children all worked together brilliantly and showed great perseverance in coping with the cold and wet weather conditions. Thank you to all the staff and parent volunteers who accompanied the children on the trip, a great time was had by all!

  

• Health advice from the NHS

  Wed 22 Nov 2023 Jill Warren

  We have been asked to share these advice posters from the NHS to help keep everyone safe and well. Thank you.

  

• Visits to the Open Centre

  Wed 04 Oct 2023 Jill Warren

  Last week all the pupils enjoyed a visit to the Open Centre in Derby to support their learning in RE.

   

  Y5/6 visited the Mosque and learned about the Five Pillars of Islam, while Y3/4 visited the Hindu temple and took part in a pilgrimage workshop.

   

  Thank you to all the staff at the Open Centre for making our visits so enjoyable, and to the parents who helped accompany us on the trip.

  

• Pupils' artwork on display at Wirksworth Festival

  Mon 11 Sep 2023 Jill Warren

  Our pupils' artwork was on display as part of the Wirksworth Art Festival this weekend. The COGS cluster art project was on display at Anthony Gell school, while the work of the Wild Roots Creative art and craft club formed part of the Children's Art Trail around the town, on display inside the church, and outside the church, library and railway. Well done on creating such beautiful work everyone!

  Our thanks to Mrs Butler and Mrs Wheal for all their help running this very popular club, and we hope they'll be back in school to run more activities soon.

  

• A Midsummer Night's Dream

  Fri 21 Jul 2023 Jill Warren

  Year 5 and 6 wowed us with their singing, dancing and acting in their performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the end of the summer term. Congratulations to everyone involved, and a big thank you to Mrs Taylor and Mrs Meehan for directing, and to all the staff who helped with the props and set building. Well done everyone!

  

• Silver Award for WJS

  Mon 17 Jul 2023 Jill Warren

  Well done everyone in school, and especially Mrs Cooke, for helping us to achieve our silver games award this year. 

  
  It is great to hear that we are all keeping fit and healthy by taking part in festivals/competitions in and out of school.
  
  Keep up the great work everyone!

  

• The Sheriff of Derbyshire came to Wirksworth Junior School

  Sun 18 Jun 2023

  The children got to meet High Sheriff Theresa today. She stayed all morning and shared what her role is and how she got chosen. The children were very inquisitive and asked lots of interesting questions.

  

• South Peak Sports

  Sun 18 Jun 2023

  Well done to the group of children who gave up their time on Thursday evening to take part in the South Peak Sports at Darley Dale. They worked very hard and enjoyed taking part, despite the heat. Also, a huge thank you to Mr Rourke, Mrs Cooke and Mrs Bradbury who helped organise and supervised the event.

  

• Coronation Celebrations with the Infants

  Thu 11 May 2023 Isabel Webb

  On Friday 5th May,  in well-timed break between showers, the children at Wirksworth Junior and Infant schools came together in red, white and blue to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

  Sue and Ian Todd from St. Mary’s Church led an assembly on community service, supporting each other and what the King’s focus for the coronation weekend was. The children brought along coins and placed them on flags in the playground, which were collected and donated to the local charity Jigsaw food bank for those in need within our community.

  For the majority of us, this was the first coronation we had witnessed, but in attendance we had a special guest, Sue Todd’s Mum, Marie, who was 9 years old at King George’s coronation in 1937 and had also seen Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.

  These are the days that memories are made, and like Marie, the children at Wirksworth’s schools will be able to look back fondly about coming together as primary children to celebrate the coronation of a new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms.