Inside Victoria Park Primary Academy

Winter 2013 Edition

enture! The Big Adv

PA The Great V Bake Off!

Meet t he CLEAR Adviso rs!

BIGenture! v
Ad v

The

The Big Adventure - Year 6

On Tuesday 10th September 2013, Victoria Park Academy went on a vintage London bus s in adventure. Each class went to various place Sandwell and Birmingham; where they visited were was dependent on what creative topic they on a following. Travelling around our local area red London bus was quite exciting as the buses You were so different to those we travel on now. g at could see members of the general public lookin busy and s centre ing shopp h throug went we as us us! streets some of the people even waved at

y Year 6s topic was World War 2 and our journe of ts aspec at g lookin l schoo to close started very r). We William Savages life (a WW2 Naval Office Lane mill Wind in h Churc ews Matth St at d looke d. We as this is where William Savage was marrie travelled to Raglan Road and passed the house where he lived as a child. We drove past Cape ed Primary School as this was the school he attend rial on Memo War the at off ed stopp we finally and Cape the old Mitchells and Butlers factor y site on Hill. We looked at the cenotaph and saw where into the William Savages name had been chiselled all the stone. It was interesting to see the names of that area the from and wick Smeth from s heroe war we live.

Our Big Adventure -

Year 5

On Tuesday 10th Sep tember 2013 our whole school went on a Grand Day Out. The activities of the day we re linked to each yea r groups creative topics. We travelled by a vintage, red London bus . We found out that ours was fifty one yea rs old. First we drove to West Bromwich and stopped off at an old Tudor hou se called the Oak House. Straight away we noticed that the house itself was tilted! We went through a huge front door and ma de our way to the kitchen. There was a dead pigeon and a stuffed rabbit hanging up and we noticed a cauldron hanging ove r the fireplace that had vegetables and fish coo king in it. Ill let you into a secret it was all fake food; it was there just for demonstra tion purposes. We went into another room and imprinted on the wooden wall were images of scary faces which, to me, were ver y shocking.

We learned that a Tud or wife would sit on a narrow chair whilst the Tudor husband would sit on a wide chair. Aft er looking at different artefacts and the variou s rooms we made our way outside to the playground. There was sand everywhere; we had so much fun. We were then shown to a special classroom where we researched some of the information which we were given while we were in the Oak House. Later that morning we made our way to Cannon Hill Park. The re we saw some wildlife including: pig eons, ducks and swans. Then we gathe red together to eat our lunch on the gra ssy area. We played a few games wit h our friends and it was soon time to ret urn to school. Eventually we arrived back at school and our Grand Day Out was ove r for another year. We were all ver y tire d, but we had lots of fun!

By Sara Saeed, 5B

er We then travelled along Dudley Road (anoth our place where William Savage lived) and made This . Street Broad on rial way to the War Memo e was huge; there were huge statues on the outsid inside go to ed allow were we and rial of the memo been to see the various poppy wreaths which had laid to remember the fallen. We had to be very sad. quiet as a mark of respect I felt a little bit d We then made our way to the newly opene us librar y in Centenary Square. It was a fabulo to building to be in there were so many floors by floor first the to up led go up. First we travel d escalator. Then we had to walk up what seeme huge a onto out us take to stairs of s like million

right balcony. The view was super. We could see over the city and the surrounding areas. Next, we made our way to Cannon Hill Park l for where we met up with the rest of our schoo on Atkins Mr and s game few a d lunch. We playe our and Mrs Peart used face paints to decorate cool! faces in WW2 camouflage style, it was really quite On our way back to school some of us felt of us exhausted after a fun-filled day, one or two l! schoo to back y journe the on even fell asleep It had been another adventure to remember.

By Naeem Mahmadi, 6A

The Great VPA Bake Off!

On Friday 13th September VPA had their first ever bake off. The whole school participated in this extremely exciting event. The bake off allowed classes to compete against one another. All the year groups based their cake designs on their creative topics for the Big Adventure. Year 6 based their designs on World War 2; 6W based their cake design on William Savage. It was a memorial to his life as a WW2 hero who served in the Royal Navy and who helped to save England from being taken over by Germany. We baked our cake which had three layers of sponge; one was flavoured with vanilla essence, one had a strawberry flavour and the third layer was flavoured with lemon. We then made mini Victoria Cross medals out of icing, which we stuck onto the outside of our cake. 6A had made their cake into a tank to fit in with the WW2 theme. 6Ms cake was of a general WW2 theme; it had a soldiers helmet on top covered in camouflage and poppies. There were so many amazing cakes; Year 3 made cakes to look like a Cadbur y Double Decker bar and a bar of Dairy Milk they looked so life like! Year 2 created a fire truck with two sparklers representing a fire; they also made a red double decker bus. Year 5 created Tudor themed cakes and Year 1 had decorated their cup cakes as little buses. Year 4 linked their theme to a visit to Moseley Bog and Reception had turned their cakes into very slippery snakes! The judges looked at and sampled all of the cakes and each one was judged on appearance, taste and texture. The total points that could be accumulated were 40; at one point 6W were in the lead with 37 points, we were all really excited until 5Es cake was judged - they got 38 points! 5E had pipped us to the post and 6W had to settle for second place. After the bake off had been judged we all tried a piece of our cake; it was delicious! Wed all had an amazing time taking part in the bake off from designing our cakes, icing them, displaying them and finally the judging of them. We are all looking forward to the next VPA bake off! By Coy Hetherington- Ricketts, 6W

SPORTS DAY
We all had a fantastic tim Friday 15th September e on took part in our annu when we al Day. Unfor tunately, we Sports compete in our house had to teams indoors, as the weath er so bad! The day turne was d out to be ver y inspiring and full of fun. We use d our collaboration skills as we competed again st each other in teams. Mr Blackwood had organ ise the day as he is our PE d ordinator. Everyone en cojoy the various activities wh ed we were taking part in. ich were: Dizzy Izzy, a Re These lay and Skipping on the Mo Race Kanda and Mrs Smith ve. Mrs were the judges as they kept a wa eye on the scores! Me tchful mbers of 5B helped to support Ke 1 children during the y Stage rac The games that the yo es. un children took part in we ger Dressing Up, Jumping re: Ro and Dizzy Izzy. Everyo pe ne really excited; there we was re lots of smiles and excite me throughout the day. All nt the children waited pa of tie to find out which house ntly won... Members of Blu had e house were thrilled as they were told they were the winners! By Sara Saeed and Sabrina Junejo, 5B

On the 8th November 2013, the whole of Year 6 went to the Black Country Living Museum as part of their Victorian Soap Project (Super Sudz). Every class had a special research task to undertake whilst they were there. Each group had been learning about a specific child who lived in Victorian times and whose house had been restored, brick by brick , at the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM). My group was finding out about the life of a boy called Harr y Parkin. We went to see his house and the school that he went to, we learned a lot about his childhood, his family, how he lived and worked. We also visited other places of interest at the BCLM: a local shop, a sweet shop, a church and we even went to the fun fair.

The Black Country Living Museum

We saw that the rides and amusements were completely made out of wood compared to todays strong metal framed rides. Once you were on the rides though, you would never know that there were any differences, as the rides were just as fun and just as fast then as they are now! I enjoyed my trip to the BCLM and I learned a lot of things that I didnt already know. I would recommend this place of interest to all my friends. By Naeem Mahmadi, 6A

Meet the New VP Zine Members!

It has been a dream of mine to be one of the VP Zine school magazine editors and finally my dream has become a reality! I want to produce some fine articles where pupils and teachers alike will be amazed at what they read. I want to be part of a successful team where the lovely and beautiful Miss Akhtar and the respected Mrs Peart will be proud of my achievements! I have read all of the past VP Zine magazines and there have been many fabulous articles written. Look out for some mind blowing material! Hassan Ali, 6A

The reasons why I wanted to be a member of VP Zine are; It helps to improve your literacy skills. It gives you an opportunity to work closely with other people. It helps to improve your ICT Skills. Since joining VP Zine I have already noticed an improvement in my writing skills and my knowledge of ICT. By Iqra Naseem, 6M
I am so pleased and proud that Im going to be producing articles for VP Zine. I have read so many articles and interviews while I have been at this school and I have always been fascinated by the teacher interviews; the fact that an interviewer can ask interesting and sometimes personal questions is very entertaining. It has also interested me that children are writing articles for teachers and other children to read what an opportunity! By Sabrina Junejo, 5B

The thing that inspired me to want to join VP Zine was how hard the current and past editors seemed to work. I could tell this because their articles are so interesting and well written. I could tell that the members of VP Zine have a love of writing and I wanted to be able to show other people in school what I could do. I knew that I would be able to make friends with people who I dont normally spend much time with in school. Everyone in VP Zine after school club is a member of a friendly and helpful team and already people have begun to help me with my writing. Im hoping that my writing levels in class will improve too! I am grateful to Mrs Peart and Miss Akhtar for allowing me to join such a great after school club! Naeem Mahmadi, 6A

n I am really pleased that I have bee I feel chosen to be a par t of VP Zine. positive that I will be able to make many ideas h fres of lots e hav I contributions as nite for future articles and I have a defi acy. flair for liter team I have settled in with the existing r othe the and well ly members real new members and I have already .I been made to feel very welcome few last the r ove fun of have had a lot to weeks and I am looking forward g many weeks of hard work producin exciting articles for you to read. By Daijon Brown, 6W

VP Zine Gallery

A selection of artwork from the talented VP Zine team, inspired by recent activites.

London Bus, Daijon Brown, 6W

Tank Cake, Usman Hussain, 6W

6Ms Cake, Iqra Naseem, 6M

CLEAR Interview, Iqra Naseem, 6M

Live From The Shed, Usman Hussain, 6W

London Bus, Rabia Akhtar, 5E

What does CLEAR stand for? It means; Child Led Evaluation And Review. A VPA CLEAR advisor is a very special role. You are one of a small group of pupils trusted to research what is happening in our school and report on what is working well and what we could all do better.

CLEAR ADVISORS

filling it in by the ever-so-friendly Mrs Peart. A group of us had met together to go through the application process, with Mrs Peart on hand to offer help and support. After completing the application form, we all handed our forms in to Mrs Peart; I hoped for good news as my form, along with many others, was handed over to Mr N Dunne, one of our school Governors. The following week the results were in I had passed the first hurdle - I was thrilled! A week later, after the applicants had been shortlisted to twelve candidates, we were issued with a challenge. Mrs Peart explained that we were to work in two groups and put together a digital presentation based on an outstanding lesson observation. We watched a video of a Year 2 class lesson observation; this was Mrs Malhis class. We started by producing a PMI on her lesson.

Why do you want be a CLEAR Advisor? Ms Fowler addressed the whole of Years 5 and 6 in a very special assembly. Those few words stayed with me, my heart pounding like a pouncing panther to its prey. Sometime later I received an application form and was helped and guided when

Back row left to right: Prabhjot Mangat (6M), Coy Hetherington Rickets (6W), Kashif Mohammed (6W), Nikita Kumari (6A) Front row left to right: Daijon Brown (6W), Nemret Kaur (6W), Iqra Naseem (6M), Jelson Yandrapati (6M).

After that, we worked collaboratively to put our presentations together. We worked diligently in our groups to produce the best presentation on the lesson observation that we could. We spent the rest of that week adding bits and tweaking various aspects of our presentations. We decided who would introduce the different topics from the presentation as we all needed to show our skills to the interview panel. The day of the presentation had finally arrived. Mrs Peart led us all to meet the members of the interview panel: Mr A Morrish, Mrs D Leeming and Mr N Dunne were waiting for us in the meeting room. We were asked various questions as a large group and then we broke up into our two groups for the presentations. After our groups had shown our work to the panel, we were asked specific questions about the presentation and the lesson itself. It was quite a nerve-wracking time as we didnt know what questions we would be asked we had to think on our feet!

Finally, we were led one by one to sit in front of the interview panel to face more questions; this time we were on our own no one to lean on for moral support! At last the interviews were over. We had to wait until the following week when the results were out. All twelve candidates were asked to gather and then we were told that four people had unfortunately not been successful on this occasion I however had been; I had passed and I had been given this very prestigious and trustworthy job as a CLEAR Advisor at VPA. The remaining eight of us knew this was the time to celebrate! I have already begun my training and I am very excited about the future and my role as a CLEAR Advisor in our school. I am really happy that I was chosen for this wonderful opportunity! By Iqra Naseem, 6M

ing sed capitalis you have u u probably if , le p m a x ol yo For e g power to s olidays as a learnin used certain resource lete r summer h l. It u o m o fr g o p in o m ve h rn a co h sc tu r to re ld u u r o u in yo wo Afte of hich als around a new area and materi . It could be the use n the we noticed reen grass growing (wds sk o ta g e n e in ly n tio a r a ve rt ve lo rm ce e s n fo a a h d or maybe evice, the in te little e length an your RM d ll, a teachers model to help stays at on arden fence and a cu t big a s a g w g re a in g g ese th learnin cutting!) s and a ctive for . By using th s and chair worksheets lete the learning obje lising gate, table ita p p m ca co r u to you shed! sing yo n you are u n o o ss si le vi e le th te a bit like a f the Big The shed is om. It reminds me o coloured tool. ro erstanding n ly io ve product ols and und can help . It has lo to m o r o u a R d yo n ry g a n ia w they Keep usi mfy chair Brother D ean and ho ow... ing of re, a big co what they mlessons. You never kn lights in the h takes a video record r u ic h yo w ! you in laptop uld be you ext time it co n you. n ca n t the childre r there so tha ula By The shed is ir learning in a partic g ain, in e Usman Huss evaluate th at VPA we use learn in a re rt e H ce . ckle 6W lesson to help us ta em power tools ur learning. We use th d lie o u have app ng to aspects of ssons; if yo lo in all our le in a lesson you go a used a u ll yourself we d explain how well yo helped it n a w o d h e d sh an the arning tool lesson. particular le lete the task for that p you to com

! d e h S e h t m o r f e v i L

YEAR 5S TRIPS TO By Armaan Ashfaq, 5B RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

Durga Mandir
e On Monday 11th November 2013 the whol We le. temp u Hind a visit to of Year 5 went travelled by school mini bus in groups of 10. When everyone had arrived we met a man who took us to the main hall. We sat down and asked some questions. We then had a mini tour around the building looking at the various Hindu gods; there were approximately ten in total. We then had a little snack before returning to school. Most of us wanted to stay for longer as it was so interesting!

Gurdwara
On Friday November 15th 2013 Year 5 went to the local Gurdw ara. We walked to and from the Gurdw ara which is situated on Smethwic k High Street. When we got there we took our shoes off and washed our hands as a mark of respect. We then sat in the ma in hall where we saw a man who was chanting unusual words, and we found out that he was praying aloud. We the n went upstairs and met a worker fro m the Gurdwara; we asked him lots of qu estions. We were then given some delicious food. Af ter eating we went into a classroom and learne d some interesting facts to do with the Sikh religion. Before we lef t we took some cool photo graphs. Some of these have be en put onto the Galler y page of our school website.

A Christian Church

ber 2013 Year 5 went On Friday 8th Novem on Windmill Lane, h to St Matthews Churc to and from the d Smethwick. We walke to school. When we church as it is so close who told us a lot n got there we met a nu Church Of England about the histor y of the Church itself. We s and that of St Matthew en pew (bench). We od wo a on wn do then sat about the church and asked some questions lled Amazing Grace; ca we then sang a song d made you feel it was ver y uplifting an then given a guided re we happy inside. We and we had a chance tour around the church ne. We had a lot ho rop mic a to speak into a lot of new things. of fun and we learned

 w with...

Intervie w acher Mr Smith - Year 1 Te

Mr Smith joined VPA in July of this year; he is a newly qualified teacher but was on placement here and it is now GREAT to have him on board - offically!

Q1) A1) Q2) A2) Q3) A3) Q4) A4) Q5) A5) Q6) A6) Q7) A7) Q8) A8)

What is your favourite food and restaurant? My favourite food is Chicken and my favourite restaurant is Nandos. Do you enjoy teaching Year 1 children and why? Yes, I am happy teaching in Year 1 and very happy to be at this school. I have had some experience before this. Do you have any hobbies? If so what? How long have you had this hobby for? My hobby is football and I have been playing since I was six years old. I play three days a week and I support the `Wolves (hmmm some teachers and pupils wont be pleased about that!) Do you drive or walk to school? If you drive, what type of car do you have? I drive to school and I drive a Renault Clio. Do you have a lucky number? If so, what is it and why is it your lucky number? My lucky number is twenty three because I was born on that date. When you used to go to school did you have a favourite subject and what was it? When I was at school my favourite topics were German and P.E. What is your favourite movie and why? My favourite movie is Forrest Gump. It is a really long film. Despite being long it is very exciting. What is your favourite animal and why? My favourite animal is a Killer Whale known as the Orca. Its my favourite animal as I love the sea and Ive always wanted to see whales swimming in the sea.

Interview conducted by Jaskirat Kaur 5E and Daijon Brown 6W

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! o h W s s e u G

ve achers we ha te 2 h ic h w ss tures? Can you gue h of these pic c a e in r e th e merged tog

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