Kirk Hammerton Church of England Primary School

We are very lucky to have off-road parking adjacent to the school provided by the village playing fields. However this has meant that, to access the school while avoiding wet grass, it has been necessary to walk through the Kirk Hammerton Nursery School area. The solution was to build a path to skirt around their outdoor play area. Friends of KHS organisied some timber and stone to be delivered and, to get the job done, asked parents to step in and give up their Saturday 1st April. A sizeable workforce turned up armed with spades, levels, a digger, tractors and trailers and a very rewarding day for all resulted in the path being finished by mid-afternoon. Mention must be made of the continuous supply of refreshments that arrived during the day to keep the team going. A big "Thank you" to all who took part.

The children have been learning about persuasive language in Class 2 and presented their ideas for a new exciting sweet directly to Mr Wonka on Thursday 23rd March. The courage shown by the children in speaking in front of an audience to Mr Wonka made us very proud and they certainly persuaded him to introduce new varieties into his factory as well as persuading Mr Wonka to perform a forward roll in the classroom!

Zoolab came to the school to show us some animals which are connected to the Chinese Zodiac. We saw an albino rat, a snake, a tarantula spider, a lizard, a giant snail and others. The children were allowed to touch and stroke some of them.

To mark National Tree Week, the School was visited by Jonathan Whittemore from Johnsons of Whixley who gave a talk about the importance of trees in our landscape. He very kindly donated a tree and pot which was planted by the school entrance. Johnsons also donated a bulb for each pupil to plant themselves. After the visit the pupils made a tour of the school grounds to observe and appreciate the trees that are already growing here.

Pupils in all classes were treated to a visit from artist Ray Mutimer (in Mr Toad's classic car!), who has prepared some stunning artwork using Knaresborough as the setting for key scenes in "Wind in the Willows". The paintings tie in with a community-based performance of "Wind in the Willows" to be held in Knaresborough in August. Ray explained how he prepared the artwork through sketches and redrafting; children asked a range of questions about being an artist and which was the most difficult artwork to prepare.

On Wednesday the 18th of November Class 3 really enjoyed a visit from Olympic Swimmer, Joseph Roebuck. He ran a question and answer session at Staveley Primary School to which Class 3 were invited. Thanks to Sporting Start for organising this terrific opportunity!

This is the school's tagline now painted on the wall of our Prayer Garden.