News from January 2025

Years 5 and 6 enjoyed a federation trip to York’s Chocolate Story linked to our leaning in History.  We learnt about the Ancient Maya and how important chocolate was to them.  The precious cacao beans were considered sacred and had many uses, including making a bitter drink known as ‘Xocolatl’.  We had a go at making this and also got the chance to eat lots of different chocolate. A great visit! 

The children in Years 1&2 across The Federation had a great day on Tuesday 21st January at Spofforth School. They learnt how to build Tudor houses using natural materials. They then had a go at fire lighting in bowls using fire steels, steel bowl and cotton wool. After lunch, they re-enacted how buckets of water were passed from the River Thames to put out the fire. Then, they moved on to making damper bread on a fire. The Great Fire of London was started in a bakery. Children had a go at making their own bread on a fire, using basic ingredients of flour and water. Whilst some children waited to make bread, they had a try at soft archery. A busy day but lots of fun!

On Thursday 16th January, we welcomed Suzie Thomas from the small local charity ‘Open Arms Malawi’. She last visited our Federation about 18 months ago and has visited Malawi since. She is also going back there in June again to see how the children and families are doing and how they are benefiting from the charity’s support. Suzie was so impressed by how much we raised across the Federation previously and wanted to show the children what their money means to the charity and how they are able to use this to support families in Malawi. The children were very interested in what Suzie told them and all the photos – they asked some great questions!