FINAL WEEK OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 2022
It's been a very hot final week of the year with temperatures in London and other parts of England reaching record highs. We've done our best to stay safe and cool this week at school. We have reflected on an amazing year and are really proud of the following:-
GO FEST WEEK 6: BLUE MIX
The final week of Go Fest has arrived. The flags are up, the outdoor stage is up. Sound check...done. Every child from Orion and Goldbeaters perform on the stage, parents come into watch for the first time in two years and our Y6 children graduate! Not forgetting our infamous GO FEST Community Nights!
GO FEST WEEK 5: JUMP FOR JOY
Another one of the children's absolute favourite Go Fest activities - The Water Zone took place this week along with a performance from a very funky four piece band called Ultrabeat. Y6 and Y2 have camped out overnight at school. There has definitely been a joyful vibe!
GO FEST: THE PINK FRINGE 2022
IT'S BACK!!!! Fringe is a comedy and arts festival within a bigger festival. Our Pink Fringe will began on Thursday at 6pm when we had a special evening to launch the Arts Hub Project. Friday was performance day for lots of groups of talented children - get a flavour from the photos below. Saturday was U Create Arts Morning where children came and took part in creative arts and on Sunday we had two family shows in the theatre with DMC and Friends. ticketed event. Pink Fringe 2022 finished with Comedy Monday. WOW WOW WOW! Thanks children, parents, and staff for such a wonderful fringe. Until next year...
GO FEST WEEK 4: WHOLE LOTTA LOVE
We are taking some moments this week to stop, think and be grateful for all we have in our lives. On Memory Monday we listed all the events, occasions and experiences that make great memories. On Terrific Tuesday we think about people who are terrific - who we appreciate. On WOW Wednesday we will experience a Flamenco Guitar Session. Thankful Thursday and Whole Lotta Love Friday will round off the fourth week of GoFest and The Pink Fringe will begin.
GO FEST WEEK 3: YOUPHORIA
The vibe this week was feeling healthy and active in our body and our mind. Pushing ourselves to try a new challenge (climbing/high ropes), having stamina to play volleyball, trampoline or pedal the smoothie cycle, singing and keeping up with the moves through a Zumba session can make you feel euphoric and really great about yourselves. So many children went out on trips to experience learning elsewhere - the Barnet Music Festival, Kew Gardens, London, the seaside. Quiet times to reflect, think and feel grateful are also important for our healthy minds.
GO FEST WEEK 2: GROOVY GREEN WEEK
This week has had an outdoors vibe. All the children took part in outdoor learning activities, including outdoor cooking, foraging, bug hunting. There has been virtual reality space workshops for Y3 and Y4, Y5 have gone to an Outdoor Centre to do orienteering, high ropes and archery, Y6 children have taken part in the Junior Citizen scheme to prepare for secondary school and there have been trips to the London Eye and Kew Gardens. We celebrated father's day early with a Dad's Breakfast and outdoors games. And the sun has been out all week!
GO FEST WEEK 1: ART & SOUL WEEK
Good Vibes Change Lives and the vibe in school this week has been sensational. This week there has been a focus on Art & Soul. In class the children have experienced a SKY Arts week with exposure to a range of creative arts, they have done an artists study, watched a live speed artist and Y5 took part in the incredible Shakespeare Festival where they performed Macbeth at The Finchley Arts Depot. We had a wonderful community Pamper & Shopping Night with 400 tickets sold and celebrated the end of our first GO Fest week with a Colour Run altogether outside. We are definitely feeling the vibe!
The Yellow Exhibition - GO Fest Launch
We went to The Yellow Exhibition where we saw DMC, Senor Smile, Zingy Zidane and Mimi Memory all there to teach us about how to collect the vibes for next half term. GO Fest is launched!
Celebrating The Queen's Jubilee - 24th May 2022
To mark 70 years of Her Majesty The Queen we have had a very special day in school. Thank you parents for helping your children make wonderful flags and crowns for today and dressing them in red, white and blue. We listened together to the National Anthem, had a Jubilee lunch and an afternoon cream tea. In class we have learnt about the Queen and her live. We feel very proud today.
Sunshine Friday with The Colour Rangers: Friday 13th May
The Orion and Goldbeaters were all together today for the first time in just over 2 years out on the field to welcome the Colour Rangers. They arrived in their orange camper vans to squeals of excitement and joy from the children. We danced, played games, asked questions, savoured some ice lollies and enjoyed a special time. It maybe the last time we might see them...for a while!
Lemon Fresh Friday : 6th May 2022
May is about Good Vibes Only! We have ended a short week with a lemon for everyone. Lemon's help your digestion, lighten your hair and can stop cut up fruit and veg from turning brown. They can also clean you kitchen and wash your hands! Children have enjoyed a fresh lemonade drink with their friends. The Sunshiners Caps are ready and children can wear them from next week when it seems we will have a week of SUNSHINE. Year 6 children are working hard for their SATs which will take place next week. We are so proud of their commitment and maturity.
Welcome Back to the Summer Term
Feel our Sunshine Vibe
The sunshine vibe is a positive energy that helps everyone SHINE. We are going to use Sunshine Skills to be and stay energetic, hard working and fun, polite, smiley and confident and calm and thankful. We will become Sunshiners this term and are committed to showing our very best in our learning and in our attitudes.
CONGRATS ONE KIND LEARNING CHANNEL- APRIL 2022
This channel was set up to help everyone through Covid when the school first had to shut in March 2020. The initial goal was to help kids stay busy while stuck in their homes. During the first lockdown there was a film every day - that was 35 films made in a row!
The One Kind Learning Team is made up of 7 adults from Orion and Goldbeaters...they film in a room in the school and use lots of props to help. The adults involved have all given up huge amounts of their time.
There have been many seasons including "Awesome Sauce" and "Super Juice" and lots of favourite parts like "I'm an Awesome Person...get me out of here!!" which took off a TV show called "I'm a Celebrity...get me out of here!" Our youngest children at school are captivated by 6 characters called The Colour Rangers who were created to colour the world.
Thank you to the One Kind Learning Team - over 2 years you have made nearly 150 films - you have given us so many happy and special times, entertained us, and truly brought learning to life.
WORD UP HUNKY DORY WEEK : HUNKY DORY EXTRAS
To finish of a spectacular 10 weeks of our Word Up Festival all the children took part in a few extra activities throughout the week which included a Story Trail, A Wonderful Word Trail, A Mystery Book Quiz and Hunky Dory Tummy Time. We ended the week in our own Hunky Dory Clothes, watched the Word Up Finale Film and ate Hunky Dory Ice-cream with colourful sprinkles!
Word Up has helped us make extra progress in reading, writing, talking and in art. It has also helped us be more confident and after 2 years of restrictions due to Covid and helped us to understand and manage less positive times in our lives. We've had numerous visitors, special Fridays and a very happy learning term.
WORD UP HUNKY DORY WEEK : THE SHOW
Will the Colour Rangers ever find DJ Juice? We were transported inside DJ Juice's factory to solve the clues to find him. With their Awesome Colour Power the children succeeded in their quest and we finally found out where the DJ has been throughout Word Up. 1500 children saw one of the 13 shows over 2 days in the I-Shine Theatre. An incredible finale for to our Word Up Festival!
WORD UP : HUNKY DORY WEEK - The Exhibition
The exhibition of Hunky Dory World designed by our classes was truly stunning. The world we created is how we would love it to be ALL of the time - smooth, vibrant with colour, peaceful, clean, language and story rich, safe for animals and people to live together now and in the future with good health and harmony. The houses really reflected the personality and spirit of every class that contributed - truly Hunky Dory.
Hunky Dory Week - Hero
We are so very proud of this Y2 child who has been a true Hunky Dory Helper and Hero. She has raised an incredible amount of money for the Little Princess Trust and also donated her hair. This kindness will make a big difference to children having to endure horrible cancer treatment. We think she is just AMAZING!
WORD UP FRIDAY : 25th March - ALEX BELLOS
Y5 and Y6 welcomed our very last visitor of Word Up 2022 - Alex Bellos. He is an author and a absolutely brilliant at mathematics. He wowed us with puzzles, facts and information about mathematics from all over the world. Solve problems with Alex by watching his Youtube videos or reading his pieces in the Guardian newspaper.
WORD UP 2022
There are 10 days of Word Up left this year! What has happened to Gigi? What will the Colour Rangers do? Will DJ Juice be found? We wrote some words of encouragement to them advise them on how to overcome this Down Cloud. It's been busy in school this week with Y6 parents evenings, Y2 parents meetings, a trip to Kew Gardens, a Y1 football tournament, a Tiger Who Came to Tea in Sunbeam and Red Nose Day!
WORD UP FRIDAY - 18th March - KEVIN PAYNE
Author and poet Kevin Payne visited Reception today - he did a wonderful presentation to the children followed by writing and poetry workshops for them in their classrooms. Lots of children bought a poetry book from him. We loved B is for Blobfish - an A-Z of weird and wonderful animals!
WORD UP FRIDAY: 11TH MARCH
We've been looking for DJ Juice - all the children designed posters and drew what they thought the DJ may look like - is the DJ male or female? is the DJ old or young? Have a look below at some of our ideas. Today we got to enjoy some delicious offerings from the pop up Hunky Dory Bakery as a treat for a wonderful wordy week. Other exciting events this week included some sports fixtures, a fantastic trip for our Orion nursery children to Paradise Wildlife Park, some talented Y5 scientists going to the Royal Institution to do some cosmetic chemistry, our Y5 children watching some of our old Orion students perform in a show at Saracens High School and incredible dancers from Orion and Goldbeaters taking part in the Barnet Dance Festival at the Finchley Arts Depot. A busy week at school - thanks to all those who made it possible!
Supporting the BYT Winter Hub and The Ukraine Crisis
Thank you as always for your generous donations this week. We are collecting both food for our winter hub and money to help Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing the war.
WORD UP WORKSHOPS - TRESTLE THEATRE
A big thank you to the Trestle Theatre group who delivered inspirational workshops to our Y4 and Y5 children. The children wore masks conveying different emotions and had to use their body language to reflect the emotion portrayed on their mask.
WORLD BOOK DAY EVENT : FOOTBALL & BOOK QUIZ
We took part in an amazing online event with Ben Lyttleton and Alex Bellos (both visitors in our school) and authors of the Football School series of books which we LOVE! 20 questions about football, books, authors and words to answer and some of the questions were asked by Premier League Footballers. It was really great!
WORLD BOOK DAY: THURSDAY 3RD MARCH
We LOVE World Book Day at The Orion! As always...an AMAZING effort from parents and children to come to school as a fictional character. Such creativity and pride and extra excitement about books and reading. World Book Day this year was a part of our journey through Storyland. Can the children now complete the challenge of identifying all the books and stories in the Word Up Show films and also remember who has written the books!
WORD UP 2022 - THE WORD UP SHOW
Make sure you have a look at this incredible film. Can you spot all the stories/books/text from the clues as the Colour Rangers journey to Storyland?
WORD UP FRIDAY: 25TH FEBRUARY - KING KIMBA
Welcome Back King Kimba with his first published book of poems Write the Wrongs. Kimba is a hip hop artist and poet and has the best energy ever. He taught us that every poem needs SHAMPOO - simile, hyperbole, alliteration, personification, onomatopeia and oxymoron. We are having a go at memorising some of his poems for a competition. WORD UP WORD UP!
WORD UP THURSDAY - 24TH FEB - BEN LYTTLETON
Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 were bowled over by Ben Lyttleton today. Author of The Football School books (which we love!). Ben gave us some football school lessons in Geography, Maths and Drama. There is so much knowledge you can gain from following football and other sports that you can use in your everyday life. He was so inspiring and we loved welcoming him back to The Orion. Many children bought books from him that he signed for them to take home. Thanks to all the parents for their support too.
WORD UP 2022 - FOREST OF FAIRYTALES
Our nursery and Reception children stepped into a forest of fairytales with Perform Drama and loved every minute of it!
WORD UP 2022: MISS HINDLE’S STORYWORLD
We have been enthralled this week by Miss Hindle’s storytelling sessions in the theatre. Language and stories are brought to life and loved by everyone!
WORD UP THURSDAY - 10th Feb - KATE WAKELING
Y3 and Y4 experienced poetry with published poet Kate Wakeling today. They listened to poetry, re-enacted some poems and then wrote their own poetry. Another wonderful Word Up visitor!
WORD UP FRIDAY - 4th Feb - CHRIS WHITE
Chris White - a poet and illustrator visited us at school today. He was so entertaining reading us his poems. He played about with words in such a funny way. Many of us bought one of his books and he signed them! Y2 did some extra work with him learning how to draw some of characters he writes about
Filming for BBC London News
Some of our KS1 children took part in a BBC News segment during Children's Mental Health Week. There was a camera man and a reporter!
You can watch it on this link here
Happy Birthday Orion - Friday 28th January
We’ve had cards, lollies, cake, and another Word Up visitor - perfomance poet King Kimba. What a way to celebrate our 22nd Birthday. Some of our staff have been here since day one and some were even here as children in Mr Flathers’ first Orion assembly. There have been so many special memories over the years - huge thanks to all the children and adults who have been a part of our Orion family over the last 22 years, it just wouldn’t be the same without you!
WORD UP 2022 - Friday 21st January - LEAH BOLETO
Every Friday throughout Word Up we dedicate extra time for talking activities and Word Up tasks. We were delighted this week to welcome our first Word Up visitor. Leah Boleto, the presenter of CBBC's Newsround for 11 years, came to school to talk to us about her incredible job and experiences as a journalist and news reporter. She was so inspirational and all our KS2 children asked her very thoughtful and intelligent questions. Definitely some budding journalists at The Orion!
WORD UP 2022 - January 14th
Word Up (our annual literacy festival) launched today and we can not wait for the next 10 weeks of learning packed with special visitors, the Word Up Show, the adventures of the Colour Rangers, DJ Juice and the Do-It-Dude. Since returning to school after the holidays children have been using their I-Power Max to produce their best writing, improve their reading, master their maths and care for others. We have all had to show a lot of I-Care in the last 2 weeks. Have a look below at the Word Up launch film
CHRISTMAS AT THE COLOUR RANGERS HOUSE!
We were thrilled to be invited by the Colour Rangers to their house for Christmas. It was so colourful and GORGEOUS! We love them so much. Thanks so much for having us all!
AWE & WONDER IN SANTA'S GROTTO
All the children were invited to Santa's Grotto for a special Christmas message from him all the way from the North Pole. Did he leave any gifts?
DOING a little more for the Community
Every class created a box of gifts for the elderly residents of local care homes. Children included notes of kindness and wishes for the festive season and the new year. Thanks to every single class for thinking so carefully about what others may appreciate. You are the BEST!
DOcember - Doing a Little Bit More
December is always an exciting and magical month but DOcember is even better...by doing small things we can make a big difference. Families have been doing a little more by donating foods and toiletries into our BYT Winter Hub which will open in January. We are so grateful for every single item. THANK YOU! Classes are preparing gifts to send to care homes around the local community. Huge well done to a Y2 child who won Matthew Offord MP's Christmas Card Competition.
Many things are happening for children this month... including Christmas Lunch, class parties, and visits to Santa's Grotto. The children have all received invitations to the Colour Rangers house! Some groups of children took part in the Grahame Park Winter Festival and entertained the crowds and Jets 1 and 2 went out to see Tales from the Christmas Shed at the Chickenshed theatre.
MOVING ON UP IN MOVEMBER
We did it! We really did MOVE ON UP. Children made immense effort in their learning all month and as you can see from this news feed we also managed to move on in so many other ways too. With our friendships, with our kindness, with our manners and our healthy choices in the dinner hall...children have won football matches, a debating competition, taken part in BOCCIA sports...we have launched our Talent School and I Shine Schools with almost every single child from Y1-Y6 staying for an extended school day on a Wednesday. A very busy but magnificent month.
Children in Need Day 2021
We think that the Children in Need Day should be done in every school in the UK. Why? Because it’s all about children helping children, showing kindness, care and compassion. We are great at this! As usual our children and their parents have gone the extra mile being creative at home, dressing up and donating money. Across the 2 schools we have raised an AMAZING £3000. We THANK YOU!
The Big Kindness Week at The Orion
Before we get to one of our favourite days of the year - Children in Need Friday - we have
Kind Manners Monday
Kind to Grown Ups Tuesday
Kind to Ourselves Wednesday
Kind to Everyone Friday
Our One Kind World Campaign begins...
GOLDSTAR FIREWORKS NIGHT - Thursday 4th November
Thanks to everyone who came along to our fireworks night on Thursday. It was so lovely to see so many Orion and Goldbeaters families together again. It was a joy to see such happy smiley faces. Many of our younger children experienced fireworks for the first time! Lovely hot food and drinks to enjoy, games to play and things to buy. Thanks to our staff and our families...TOGETHER we make AMAZING things happen
MOVEMBER 2021
Moving on up in everything we do this month. Making even more effort with our reading, writing and maths, being even kinder, showing even better manners, keeping fitter, moving our bodies more. Showing the Big E - encouraging others and ourselves is even more important through the winter months.
BLACK HISTORY: AMAZING ME AMAZING YOU!
Every child this week has thought about their own qualities, characteristics and talents and also learnt about an inspiring and important black figure, either historical or from current times. Children all took part in a grandparent task and we were reminded again of what an incredible and diverse heritage our pupils have. We are proud of every single one of you! Want to learn more about Black History - check out the Amazing Kids Do More page in the Children's zone of our website.
THRILLING THURSDAY
At Orion and Goldbeaters we love dressing up! Children and parents make the hugest effort, We dressed up today in Halloween costumes or Autumn colours to celebrate the end of an AMAZING half term with 15 of our 101 special challenges achieved.
APPLE WEEK: Monday 11th October - Friday 15th October
We’ve had 5 days of different varieties of apples to eat this week including, Gala, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Red Chief and Braeburn. We have an apple week to think of harvest time and that the season is changing quite rapidly. It is most definitely autumn!
We’ve have really rocked on with our learning this week making sure that we give 100% effort into everything we do. The super juice art activity was yet again completed by brilliant children who really show they care. We ended our week with Funny Friday, sharing a joke and drinking some delicious rock n roll Super Juice!
ROCKTOBER!
Such a buzz in school this week - it's Rocktober! We are rocking on with our reading, writing and our maths. We are making even more of an effort to make sure we improve on every piece of work. A huge number of children won One Kind Learning Goodie Bags for incredible designs of their own Super Juice! On Friday they got to enjoy some Learn Aid and some Smiley Soda. Which Super Juice will we get to try out next?
World Smile Day - Friday 1st October
A perfect day for AMAZING children to celebrate. This year all classes sent letters and smiles to over 50 care homes around London. Children were buzzing with smiley faces and excitement and we hope that it is conveyed by the beautiful messages that are received by post next week.
Our AMAZING kitchen helped by AMAZING staff members and some AMAZING children made smiley face biscuits for everyone. A happy squad of children greeted our school community with huge smiles and banners at 8.30am and more children went into Mill Hill Broadway later on in the day to spread their smiles and joy. The new One Kind Learning film dropped today - SUPERJUICE! All in all a wonderful day!
World Peace Day - Tuesday 21st September
Pink for Peace
Our pink colour power represents kindness. Could more kindness lead to a more peaceful world? Could more kindness stop conflict? We created some pink campaigns for peace in a peaceful hour in our classrooms and met together with our friends from Goldbeaters for some peaceful activity outside.
It's the new school year!
Every year our school communities have a quest (goal) for the year. This year's quest is AMAZING!
We are making 101 AMAZING things happen this year at The Orion and Goldbeaters. Check out this news page to keep up with everything AMAZING!