Our Class of 2017 Year 6 Leavers collecting their Arts Award Certificates

Forty pupils who left us in the summer made an emotional return to Woodcroft to receive their Bronze Arts Award Certificates. It was lovely to see so many of our Y6 Leavers come back for our annual Arts Award party and presentation evening held on Thursday 21st September.

To achieve Bronze, a Level 1 national qualification, pupils present detailed evidence to show they have taken part in arts activities, experienced arts events, research their arts inspiration and shared their skills with others. Bronze is available to young people aged 11 to 25 and is accredited by Arts Council England and Trinity College.

Year 6 plan their work and create online Arts Award portfolio folders to submit to Trinity College London for assessment. Over the year our pupils needed to have demonstrated evidence of over 40 hours of arts activities and study to be successful.

Well done to to all of our amazing pupils. Thank you to the Woodcroft staff who have trained as Arts Award Advisers to be able to the run this programme.

Woodcroft has received notification that we have been successfully reaccredited with the GOLD Level STARS for our  2016 -17 journey to school action planning. This is the highest STARS award for promoting Sustainable Travel (Active, Responsible and Safe)  in Transport for London’s (TfL) strategic framework. This programme encourages and rewards schools for adopting  safer and more active travel behaviour. For more information follow: https://stars.tfl.gov.uk/.

Woodcroft has been invited to the Gold Awards Ceremony in London on 20th November.

 Woodcroft Awarded Prestigious ICT Quality Mark

Woodcroft has been awarded the prestigious NAACE ICT Mark. This award is for schools who demonstrate outstanding use of technology to support teaching, learning and school administration. NAACE is the National Association for technology in education.

Mr Guest, our lead teacher for IT and Computing, presented a detailed self assessment report and portfolio of evidence to a NAACE Assessor who visited the school in the final week of the summer term. The assessor also toured the school, spoke with pupils, observed lessons, met with governors and discussed school systems with Mr Pindoriya (our Network Manager). Following this visit we then received notification of our successful accreditation – a real achievement for everyone!

Congratulations to fifty one of our Year 6 pupils for successfully completing their Bronze Arts Award. On Tuesday 18th July a moderator from Trinity College reviewed the portfolios for all of the pupils that had chosen to submit their work for assessment. The Moderator confirmed that all had achieved the standard for the Bronze Award. She praised the high quality of evidence presented by the school.

To achieve Bronze, a Level 1 national qualification, pupils present detailed evidence to show they have taken part in arts activities, experienced arts events, research their arts inspiration and shared their skills with others. Bronze is available to young people aged 11 to 25.

Year 6 planned their work and created their own online Arts Award portfolio folders. Over the year our pupils needed to demonstrate evidence of 40 hours of arts activities and study to be successful.

The qualification is awarded by Trinity College London, the leading international examinations board providing respected qualifications in the performing arts. The successful pupils are now invited to a special Arts Award Presentation Ceremony at 5.30pm on Thursday 21st September.

To celebrate the Duchess of Cornwall’s 70th birthday, and Woodcroft’s wonderful nomination to receive a special gift from Her Royal Highness, we held a very British tea party on Monday.

Mrs Valoti and Mrs Cahill invited a group of pupils and representatives from the Beanstalk Reading Charity to enjoy cucumber sandwiches, scones and cream, fresh strawberries and lots of other traditional treats.

Cucumber sandwiches followed by strawberries and cream!

The Duchess with her birthday bookshelf

The Duchess of Cornwall is the patron of Beanstalk, an organisation which promotes and supports literacy in schools by training volunteer readers. Woodcroft is the longest supporter of this charity in Barnet and so was chosen to receive a specially designed bookshelf stocked with the best children’s literacy. Only 70 primary schools from across the UK will receive this unique bookshelf. All the schools selected have shown a commitment to promoting reading for enjoyment.

Beanstalk is a charity that recruits, trains and supports volunteers to provide one-to-one literacy support in nurseries and primary schools.

We had a great time at our tea parties. We also entertained special visitors from Beanstalk…

Woodcroft at LONDON 2017 World Para Athletics Championship

Woodcroft was lucky enough to be allocated tickets for the World Para Athletics Championships currently being staged at the Olympic Stadium.

Y3 and Y5 were the fortunate year groups to benefit and journeyed across London on Tuesday to watch this inspiring event. Take a look at the photos from our wonderful day below…

Outstanding Performance

Taking a ‘Self, Self, Selfie’ in the Year 6 Leavers Show

Self Self Selfie! was the title of this year’s Y6 Show. To a packed audience of family and friends our pupils staged an outstanding leavers play.

The set-up was a fictional TV show that challenged contestants to take the most dramatic selfies. This allowed the drama of a fantasy musical journey around exotic and extreme locations. Full of song, dance and humour, the show captured all of our Y6’s talents.

Well done to the pupils and staff for entertaining us so creatively. Special mention must go to Mr Guest and Mr Huckerby, our resident composers, for their outstanding work; writing, recording and producing our school plays! We also need to recognise the hard work, and commitment, of all of our staff and pupils for bringing these wonderful productions to life.

Woodcroft Gains Highest Arts Award

We are delighted to announce that Woodcroft has been awarded an Artsmark Platinum Award, the highest accolade accredited by Arts Council England.

In the letter received last week from the Amanda Rigler,  Artsmark Award Senior Officer, she stated:

‘Your school was commended for the rich arts and cultural offer which has been established over the long term, with strong leadership and commitment across the school. The engagement of pupils and use of an Arts Charter ensures full inclusion (and) is innovative..’

Read in full our letter from Arts Council England by clicking here.

Well done pupils, staff and governors for their hard work promoting and participating in the Arts. Thank you to our parent and carer community for their support of our arts events and activities. Special credit goes to Miss Sherring, our AIM@Arts Leader, for her vision and direction in Arts development.

About Artsmark

Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools, accredited by Arts Council England. It provides a clear framework for teachers to plan, develop and evaluate arts, culture and creativity across the curriculum and beyond. Find out more here…