During the 2021 Summer term we ran our whole school festival:

Happy Wise Well.

The intention behind Happy Wise Well is to prepare the children for a long break from school by teaching them how to keep healthy, both physically and mentally, as well as developing a respect for the world around them so that they can be positive citizens in the community.

This is the first time we have run this festival and it has been a huge success! You can find a video below summarising the many events along with the Downderry Recipe book!

International Week

For International Week, each year group has been asked to research and learn about a country that helps to make up our diverse Downderry community.

Nursery           Sri Lanka

Reception        Kenya

Year 1             Brazil

Year 2             Turkey

Year 3             Jamaica

Year 4             China

Year 5             Poland

Year 6             Ireland

The children have been looking at the Geography of these countries as well as artistic influences and national, healthy dishes.

Let’s get cooking!

They have also been learning how to prepare simple, healthy snacks and meals. We have collated all of the recipes into a Downderry Recipe Book which can be found on the website so that the children can recreate these at home during the holidays.

Early Years

Our children in Nursery and Reception were treated to some special yoga sessions by Mrs Del Nevo this week. They worked hard to perfect their Downward Dog, Butterfly and Tree poses. We have been very impressed with their flexibility!

The Tiger Who Came To Tea

Nursery also had a very special tea party on Wednesday as part of their learning about ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’. The rest of the school were treated to some lovely little tigers in the dinner hall on Wednesday!

Beep Beep Day

As part of Happy Wise Well Early years have been learning about road safety. We made our own road safety posters and went for a walk shouting “Stop, Look, Listen."

Football

We have been lucky enough to invite some former professional footballers to Downderry this week to put our

children in Year 1-6 through their paces.

The children have taken part in some gruelling training sessions as well as taking part in football tournaments at the field. Do we have a future Kane or Sterling in our midst? A wonderful week of football at Downderry to echo the hugely successful week for our English team in the European Championships!

Downderry Steps Up

This week, we launched our Downderry Steps Up challenge. All year groups are competing to see who will accumulate the highest number of steps by the end of the festival. The NHS recommendation is 10,000 steps per day but we can report that many of our children are surpassing this number each day!

Did you know?

300,000 steps from London to Manchester

910,000 steps from London to Edinburgh,

1,160,000 steps from London to Berlin,

By the end of day 3, Downderry had accumulated 330,543 steps meaning that we have made it all the way to Manchester already. Next stop Edinburgh!

The Downderry Steps Up challenge has been running throughout the Happy Wise well festival with the children taking it in turns to wear their class pedometer. As a school we have counted over 2.3 million steps, which is the number of steps it would take to walk from London to Moscow

We have added up the total scores for each year group. Below are the gold, silver and bronze winners of the Downderry Steps Up challenge 2021!

Gold: Year 2

Silver: Year 3

Bronze: Year 4

Well done to Willow Class who accumulated the highest number of steps throughout the festival, totalling over 200,000 steps (roughly 100 miles)!

Dance

This week, we have been visited by two dance instructors who have been working with Year 1-3 to create some energetic, heart-pumping dance routines. The children have thoroughly enjoyed these sessions with many even recreating the dances in the playground at lunch time!

Music

Some of our 'Happy, Wise, Well’ music sessions this week have involved children creating their own calm, relaxing music using a range of instruments including the theremin; an electronic instrument which is played without even having to touch it! The response was amazing, with children from all year groups producing some very impressive results!

Self-Esteem Workshops

This week, Mrs Williams has been teaching Year 6 how to be ‘brilliant!’ Using techniques aimed at increasing self-awareness and positivity, the children have been identifying the positive influences in their lives as well as the things that make them simply brilliant! Mrs Williams will be holding similar sessions through the festivals for Year 1-5 as well.

Stay Safe, Stay Wise

During the summer break, we know that children may spend increased time in front of a screen.

As part of our Happy Wise Well Festival, we have been speaking to KS2 children about tips to keep healthy, including taking regular breaks from the screen by setting reminders or alarms on their devices which will prompt them to go for a quick walk or take at least 15 minutes away from their screens to keep their eyes and minds healthy. We hope they will remember these tips with your support at home!

With increased time online, there can also be a rise in internet-based abuse. The children have been reminded of how to keep safe around strangers - including those on the internet – and how to report incidences.

The children have also been reminded of the number for Childline to get impartial, confidential advice when

they are worried about

anything

Other events

Other sessions have included preparing and cooking healthy meals, increased fitness sessions and mindful painting sessions. Each year group had a fun swimming session practicing teamwork and learning lifesaving skills to be safe around water this summer. Year 6 and Mr Bagnall even created some mindful motion art using the coding app, Scratch!