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CHECK OUT MORE STORIES IN THE LOWER PARK NEWS ARCHIVE HERE


A blue pencil sketch of Lower Park School
Pop Connection for the Community
Children at Lower Park School have always enjoyed a rich music and performing arts tradition, but more recently embarked upon a fabulous new venture. They hosted two ‘Community Concerts’, and produced their own CD for family, friends and newly formed fans to enjoy.
Children from Lower Park School performing at the Pop Connection concert at Poynton Baptist Church
Find out much more and see Pop Connection concert photos here. You can also download a 30" rehearsal video clip here

Rave Reviews for the Christmas Shows
The Christmas Recipe (watch a video - see link below) and Aladdin brought the house down with fabulous performances from the Lower Park children.
A photo of some of the cast of Aladdin
Aladdin was the first traditional pantomime for many years and was a big production to attempt. We need not have worried, however, as the children really took it over, learned their lines early (and those of everyone else) and produced a wonderful pantomime that thrilled us all

The Christmas Recipe was very different to any previous nativity but was bursting with colour, singing and dancing. As our headteacher Mr Coulson said after each performance, where else but at Lower Park would you find in a nativity: Irish dancing by elves, children wrapped as Christmas presents, a class dressed as birds dancing to Michael Jackson’s ‘Rockin Robin,’ children dancing as snowflakes to Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ and the audience singing along to Take That as the children were ‘stars in the sky?’
Watch the Irish Dancing - Click here to load movie clip.


A Taste of France
A photo of children enjoying French Language Week by tasting pretend red wine
The 21st to 25th September was an excellent week in school with the children enjoying a range of 'French' activities. They tasted a variety of French cheese, sampled red squash ‘wine’ learnt new vocabulary and sang traditional songs in French. Not to mention, the Boules competition and French waiter race and painting like Seurat!

Certainly, the children learnt much more about French culture and the language during the week.


**We're Having a Ball - The Prom 2009**
Always a major highlight for the Year 6 pupils before they leave Lower Park. A time to dress up in smart clothes and posh frocks and arrive at the ball in style. As in previous years luxury 'limos' pulled up outside school to drop off our well dressed pupils. Click on the picture below to see a bigger photo.
A group photograph of Year 6 at the 2009 school prom


Choir Perform With 'Abba'!
On Saturday 13th June our school choir took centre stage with Abba Reunion - to perform 'I Have A Dream'.
A photo of the school choir performing with Abba Reunion at a charity concert at Poynton Park
The Abba tribute band performed with the choir at Poynton and District Rotary Club's Open Air Charity Concert at Poynton Park.

Ladybirds and Wood Lice Invade Class!
Mrs Carding has been going back to nature in her class as part of the school's 'Green Project'. One side of the classroom has been taken over by all sorts of creepy crawlies and even tadpoles. Children with magnifying glasses have been keeping an eye on the progress of their new tiny classmates!
A photo of children viewing bugs in their classroom

Year 5 Swimmers Make a Great Splash!

On April 18th, some year 5 pupils (plus a parent) entered the Marie Curie Swimathon at Hazel Grove Swimming Pool. The team, Joseph's Jellyfish, completed an amazing 5000 metres in an incredible time of 2 hours 9 minutes with each member completing 1000 metres as a relay. In total, they all raised £435 for Marie Curie Cancer which is an amazing achievement and demonstrates the generosity of family and friends who kindly sponsored the team.
A photo of 4 year 5 pupils and a parent who took part in a swimathon to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer charity.
The team members were: Devon, Claire, Leigh Mullin (parent), Kyran and Joseph.

Caroline Corlett and Chris Hammond Awards
We are delighted to inform you that the Spring Term Winners of these awards are Isabelle from Year 2 and Oliver from Year 6. Both children have been selected by the staff in recognition of their attitude, hard work, courtesy and friendliness.
A photo of the Spring Term 2009 winners of the Caroline Corlett and Chris Hammond Trophies - Isabelle (year 2) and Oliver (year 6)
Both awards are presented on a termly basis in memory of Caroline, a former secretary and Chris a former pupil of the school. Our previous term winners can be seen lower down the page.

Giddy Up - Racing at Lower Park
The PTA held their first Race Night on Saturday 25th April. It was a great social event for parents and friends of Lower Park School. All proceeds will go to fund the completion of the Tyre Park for the Children's Playground refurbishment. Once the bookmakers have added up the total we'll let you know how much was raised very soon. You can find out more about the PTA here.

Award Winning Pupils
Two of the proudest pupils at Lower Park School must be Chris in Year 2 and Sophie from Year 6 after scooping two of the most prized trophies on offer.
A photo of Chris (Year 2) with the Caroline Corlett award and Sophie (Year 6) with the Chris Hammond trophy
Chris received the Caroline Corlett award and Sophie received the Chris Hammond trophy in recognition of their outstanding attitude, manners and commitment to schoolwork.

Sport Award
A week after receiving the OFSTED logo Lower Park has received another. This time it's the Sports Activemark Award. It means that it is acknowledged that the school continues to provide a very good level of sport provision, both in the curriculum and in extra curricular clubs.
The 2008 Activemark logo

Talent Show
The winner of the Christmas talent show was Zak. He sang a wonderful song that would have impressed even the real Simon Cowell. Second was Georgia also singing and 3rd were Louis and Adam telling jokes.
Talent Show Christmas 2008 winner and runners-up

Traditional Games

Children in Key Stage 1 enjoyed a great afternoon playing traditional games such as marbles, jacks, hopscotch, pick-up-sticks, tiddlywinks and cat's cradle. The Lower Park Times editor remembers playing them all many many years ago when he was a schoolboy!!! Take a look at the photos on the games page.
Children playing tiddlywinks

The ‘Golden Oldies’ Are A Big Hit!
To enhance their history topic, children from the Junior department were privileged to welcome some grandparents (and one mum) into school. The group of volunteers spent a morning with the children to explain what life was like in the 1940s to 1980's.
A group of grandparents, a parent and pupils in the school hall
The pupils were shown a huge variety of resources from petrol and food ration books to vinyl records and concert programmes. The Year 6 children made numerous cups of tea for their visitors and showed them around the school.
A group of grandparents, a parent, deputy head Cathy Beddows and pupils
Pictured: Deputy Headteacher Cathy Beddows, (second from left on second row from front) with pupils, parents and grandparents

Food Glorious Food
At Lower Park School School meals have always been good at Lower Park , but now pupils at the school have even more reason to look forward to dinnertime, as a new state of the art kitchen has been opened.
A photo taken at the opening of the new school kitchen
After receiving 'The Healthy Schools Award' last year, the staff and children can look forward to a greater range of hot and healthy meals, together with a range of exciting choices from the Salad Bar.

Summer Fair 2008 Photos
Relive all the fun of the fair through a selection of photographs in our fair gallery.

A Day at the Seaside Photos
In the second last week of June the school playground and field became a beach.
A photo of children on Seaside Day
Children laid out towels, played in sand pits and enjoyed traditional beach games. Take a look at the Seaside Photo Gallery here.

Roman Times
Lower Park School pupils in Years 3 and 4 recently had a fascinating day going back in time to the Roman era. To enhance their history topic they were taken into Manchester to meet a ‘real live’ Roman soldier.
A photo of children with a man dressed as a Roman Soldier
They visited the Museum of Science and Industry and took part in several workshops to find out more about the Roman way of life, including how to march in Latin, apply Roman hair gel and how to recognise a Briton!

A Massive Cheer for Our Champion
Sophie, a Year 4 pupil from school, recently won the National Under 9 Individual Cheerleading Championships.
Sophie holding the National Under 9 Individual Cheerleading Championship trophy
This fabulous accolade was the result of many long and dedicated hours put in by Sophie and her supporting family.

Eggs and Flowers
Key Stage One and Foundation Stage put on a magnificent set of performances to tell the Easter story. Now an annual event, the 'Eggs and Flowers Service' delighted friends and family and resulted in literally hundreds of chocolate eggs being donated for less fortunate children connected with 'The Mustard tree' charity in Manchester. Patients at St Ann’s Hospice in Cheadle received numerous of cheerful bouquets of flowers donated by children from Lower Park.
Children with Easter Eggs and Flowers

World Book Week
As part of this year's activities the school was lucky to be visited by children’s author, Nik Perring who ran writing workshops for the children.
A photo of children with author Nik Perring
The week also saw the arrival of class teddy bears to help diary writing! More about the bears in this newsletter. On World Book Day itself, pupils were encouraged to come to school dressed as their favourite book characters. Even the staff dressed up!
A photo of children dressed up as their favourite book characters
You can see a selection of photos of the characters on our World Book Day page.

Poynton Golf Club Donation
We were delighted to receive a donation of £300 from Poynton Golf Club. The club conducts fundraising activities throughout the year and makes an annual donation to a school of its choice.
A cheque being presented to the school from Poynton Golf Club
(Pictured: Left to right Martin Crank (President) Ian Coulson (Headteacher) and John Duke (Treasurer) with Lower Park pupils)

The donation will go towards a sound system to be used in assemblies and presentations enabling all children to hear and be heard more easily.

Lower Park School ‘Star Awards’
Following a highly successful term at school the staff faced a difficult decision in order to choose the candidates for the prestigious and highly prized Caroline Corlett and Chris Hammond trophies.
Molly and Ella with the Caroline Corlett and Chris Hammond trophies.
The two selected pupils were Molly (Year 2) and Ella (Year6), who have shown a consistently high standard in work, attitude and citizenship.


CHECK OUT MORE STORIES IN THE LOWER PARK NEWS ARCHIVE HERE
Parent Council
This is a new initiative to Lower Park. Essentially, this is a parent ‘voice’ where matters that are neither PTA nor Governors’ areas of work can be discussed and clarified. Find out what the hot topics being discussed are here.

Drummer Boy Receives Talent Trophy
The last Thursday of term at Lower Park was a time for celebration for the entire school. The Infants enjoyed parties, whilst the Juniors entertained themselves and the staff by staging a Talent Show. The performances included singing, playing instruments, telling jokes, dancing and drama.
The winner, second and third in the December 2009 Talent Show
Congratulations go to Charlie from Year 6 who played a jaw dropping drum solo and walked away with the Talent Show trophy presented by headteacher, Mr Coulson. Second prize went to Niamh with a singing and dance act and dancers Imogen and Ellen coming third in the contest.

Fair breaks all records
During the end of term assembly, pupils were surprised as two very special children were presented with trophies in front of their proud parents. Tom from Year 6 was delighted when he received the Chris Hammond trophy, whilst the Caroline Corlett trophy was given to George from Year 2.
The Chris Hammond and Caroline Corlett trophy winners december 2009
Both children were nominated by teachers for their outstanding attitude to school life, represented by their kindness and consideration for other pupils, and determination and motivation in class. Although winning the award is a remarkable achievement in itself, it was an even prouder time in the Tom's household, as he is the third child in his family to receive such recognition by the school.

Christmas Fair breaks all records
A great many people came along, the children provided the entertainment – and the cream on top is that the fair raised over £3,200.00 – a record for a Christmas Fair at Lower Park.
A photo of Santa with 2 children at the 2009 Xmas Fair
Thank you for supporting the fair by coming along, donating presents or helping on the day.

The 'Christmas' Choir Perform
The school choir recently mixed with members of the local community as they sang at the leisure centre for the disabled swimmers group.
A photo of the school choir performing at the leisure centre

Lower Park Helps at Harvest
Lower Park School children recently took part in a wonderful Harvest Festival, not only to celebrate the variety of crops that are gathered in around the world, but also to make a wonderful gift of non-perishable foods that could be donated to others.

The celebration, which was extremely well attended by parents, friends and relatives, was packed with songs, drama, poetry, and videos made by the children, and introduced the school’s new Samba Band. Staff and children were keen to support the local charity, The Mustard Tree, after learning more about the work done in Manchester.
Jez, from The Mustard Tree, with Pupils from Lower Park School with hravest festival gifts
Pictured: Jez, from The Mustard Tree, with Pupils from Lower Park School.

Pupils Attend Workshops at High School
During Anti-Bullying Week, Year 6 children from all the Poynton Primary Schools were invited to attend workshops at Poynton High. These were initiated and led by teams from the Police Force at the High School, with officers doing follow-up activities in the Primaries with children aged 8-11.
Pupils from Lower Park School with officers from the Anti-Bullying Police team
Pictured: Pupils from Lower Park School with officers from the Anti-Bullying Police team.

Summer Fair 'Pulls' in the Crowd!
As usual there was a wide selection of stalls ranging from face and nail painting, tombola, bran tub and hook-a-bag to coconut shy, penalty shoot-out and well wanging.
A photo from the 2009 school Summer Fair - Tug-of-War
There's a selection of photos on our Summer Fair 2009 page. There'll be more coming soon.

Yo-Yo Tricks in Assembly at the NED show!
At a recent assembly children were treated to the NED Show. The performance was all about yo-yos and magic and the patience and determination children (and adults) need to have to master these skills. The motto is Never Give Up (focus, persistence) Encourage Others (kindness, shared learning) Do Your Best (diligence, excellence).
A photo of children at the NED show

Year 6 Visit the Hollies

Ever since the Hollies Pre-School started to be constructed the Year 6 children have watched the progress through their classroom windows. Once it opened they were keen to have a look inside and Mrs Gallagher and Mrs Chadwick arranged a visit where they were able to meet and play with some of the children.
A photo of Year 6 children playing with children at the Hollies Pre-school

Mothers' Day Tea Party and Assembly
A special assembly for Mothers' Day and a tea party afterwards with cards, presents and food made by the children.
A photo taken at the special Mothers' Day Tea Party
Take a look at our 3 photo galleries starting here.

World Book Day 2009
As ever this annual event proved a great success in both Key Stage 1 and 2. This year KS1 celebrated the books and characters of Alan Ahlberg with pupils dressed up as burglars (even staff), robbers and cops as well as Funny Bones characters. In Key Stage 2 however there was a foreign theme with books such as The Hungry Caterpillar and The Three Little Pigs translated into French. Children and staff dressed in traditional French costume.
A photo of Year 6 children dressed up for World Book Day
Find out more about the day in this Beacon and view photographs of Years5, 5/6, 6 and the staff all dressed up for the occasion here.


Silk FM Radio Stars
Local radio station Silk FM has been searching out new stars for its weekly 'schools slot.' Presenter Andy Clewes visited Lower Park to find more about how youngsters enjoy life in and out of school.

A photo of children with a a Silk FM reporter
In an interview with four of the oldest pupils, he asked them about a wide range of activities including their favourite lessons, school dinners and memorable moments. He was also keen to find out about their future ambitions, and in a lighter moment what they would do if they became Prime Minister for a day or won a million pounds!!

Road Safety Officers!
Katy and Laura from year 6 are doing a fabulous job as Lower Park's Junior Road Safety Officers. They have involved the school in a number of competitions and quizzes. In addition they keep a scrapbook of their achievements, make announcements in assembly and maintain a Road Safety Information Board in the school corridor.
2 pupils at the school who are Lower Park's Junior Road Safety Officers

Christmas Shows 2008
In true Lower Park tradition the 2008 productions were an astounding success and a real credit to the children, staff and helpers who were involved. You can see a selection of photos from The Scarecrow's Christmas by clicking here and some from the Rocky Monster Show here.

Kingswood 2008 - School Trip
A great trip but the freezing conditions and blustery winds was enough to drive us quite literally 'up the wall'!
Children attempting the climbing wall

Veteran Relives His War Years
As part of Community Hour, children from Lower Park School were delighted to meet local author and war veteran Fred Hirst when he gave a fascinating talk on his life during the war years. He was keen to share his memories which led to the writing of his book 'A Green Hill Far Away'.
War veteran Fred Hirst with pupils from Lower Park School
Pictured: Fred Hirst with children from school.

**Lower Park School Pupils Evacuated?**
Don't panic! There's nothing wrong at school - it's all in the past! View Photos here.

To enhance their World War 2 history topic, Lower Park children from Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 dressed in period clothes and spent a day at the Stockport Air Raid Shelters and the Stockport Story Museum.
Children wearing gas masks on the Stockport Air Raid Shelter trip
The youngsters imagined what it would be like to be evacuees and travelled back in time to discover what it would have been like to live during the war years. They also found out how children during World War 2 would have coped with food rationing, the Blitz and home life. View Photos here.

Superb Playground Equipment Opening
On 28th June, the same day as the Summer Fair, our new 'Trim Trail' was officially opened.
A photograph of the official opening of the new trim trail in the school playground
Find out more in the 27th June Lower Park Beacon.

**A 'Classy' Beach Photos**
To go along with the seaside theme, part of Mrs Carding and Mrs Marshall's classroom was turned into a mini beach complete with deckchairs, sand, pebbles, parasol, gazebo, buckets and spades. If you can't take a trip to the beach in person take a look at some of the photos here.
A photo of the beach in Mrs Carding and Mrs Marshall's classroom

PTA Go Potty!
As part of their annual plant sale, PTA members and parents sorted over 900 boxes of bedding plants into over 160 orders and delivered them across the whole of Poynton.
A photo taken from the PTA 2008 Plant Sale
This year was the best yet - raising over £1500 for the School! A huge thanks to all the parents who volunteered to deliver the plant sale order forms and helped on the day.

School Supports Charity Bike Ride
Lower Park School pupils and parents are always very generous and following a very special assembly this proved no exception. Sisters Debbie Rowarth and Trish Calthorpe explained how their personal physical challenge of cycling from London to Paris would benefit sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis.
Trish Calthorpe and Debbie Rowarth with Lower Park pupils Ella and Rachel.
Pictured: Trish Calthorpe and Debbie Rowarth with pupils Ella and Rachael
Children at the school were told more about the MS Society and how funds raised would support people in their own homes, fund further research, provide a MS phone helpline, give grants to adapt people’s homes and provide respite breaks for MS sufferers and their carers. In response to this, the children organised an out of uniform day, dressing in the MS Society’s colour of orange, and raised just under £250 If you wish to add to this figure, you can make an online donation here.

FIRE!!!
A photo of Mr Coulson and firefighter Mr Mullin in Community Hour
At Community Hour on Friday 25th March Mr Mullin, one of our parents, spoke to the children about his job as a fire-fighter. He managed to dress Mr Coulson in a complete smoke protection outfit – and he had to be 'rescued' from a burning building by Daniel W! Well done Daniel and thank you Mr Mullin!

Trophy Winners
Everyone at school looks forward to the end of term, but at Lower Park it is always the time when two special trophies are awarded to outstanding pupils.
Harry with the Caroline Corlett trophy and Caitlin with the Chris Hammond trophy
Harry, from Year 2 was awarded the Caroline Corlett trophy, while Caitlin, from Year 6, was presented with the Chris Hammond trophy. Both children were nominated by their teachers as a result of their fantastic contribution to school life, attitude and behaviour.

Kingswood 07/08 - Year 6 Residential
**Watch Video Clips and View Photos**
Assault courses, fencing, quad biking, laser battles and the creation of computer simulated games sounds much better than class lessons, but the children found the activities just as challenging.
Children from year 6 at Kingswood on the assault course.
The assault course was just one of the challenging activities. Find out what else the children got up to in the Kingswood Photo Album. This year we even got videos of the assault course. (Note: you may have to download the free real media player here to play the clips).

View Photo Album here

Video 1 - Assault Course 1
Watch clip Video Camera Symbol (54")

Video 2 - Assault Course 2
Watch clip Video Camera Symbol (3'06")

Video 3 - Assault Course 3
Watch clip Video Camera Symbol (49")

Video 4 - Assault Course 4
Watch clip Video Camera Symbol (40")


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Christmas Show - The Wizard of Oz
Another great performance from Key Stage 2 to match last year's Bugsy Malone. Apart from the cast, each class took a key role in delivering a scene from the show. *** View the photo gallery here. ***
A photo of the main characters in a The Wizard of Oz
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