World Book Day - Thursday 7th March 2024

Please see the link below for the video of all of our children singing our World Book Day song 2024.

Whole School Song (Years 1-4 & Year 6)

Year 5 Rap

Breis 

On Tuesday 31st October 2023, Breis, a dynamic rap artist and live performer, visited all of our children in Key Stage 2. He started the day with an assembly, which took place in the main hall; all of the children from Y3 to Y5 attended the assembly, and they had the opportunity to meet Breis and watch him perform 'Jammin on the Bus'. 

Breis told the children a story about his first rap competition; he emphasised the importance of being calm, and he talked about improvisation being a rapper’s secret weapon. Breis also explained how resilience helped him to return back to his next competition, where he won his second rap contest. Breis rounded off the talk with a freestyle rap using inspiration from the children; he ended the session with an interactive performance of one of his raps. 

"I loved how he freestyled and how he thought of rhymes really fast." Laith in Oak Class

"I enjoyed joining in with Jammin' on the Bus!" Zainab in Oak Class and Yasir in Aspen Class

"It was great rhyming and rapping with Breis." Navneet in Elm Class

"I loved his creativity and imaginative vocabulary in his poems." Zainab in Elm Class

"I loved hearing about how he became a rapper and it has inspired my own writing and songs." Chelsy in Aspen Class

Breis spent the rest of his day with our Year 6 children; he visited each classroom, and spend time supporting each class with writing whole class performance poetry. Willow Class wrote a poem called 'What Christmas Means to Me', Lime Class wrote a poem called 'Being Part of Ravenor', and Alder Class wrote a poem called 'The Christmas Charm'.

This is what some of our Year 6 children thought about Breis' visit:

This is what some of our Year 6 children thought about Breis' visit:

'It was a great visit because he taught us how to rap. It was like learning English but in a different way. We learnt about bars, couplets and rhyming.' - Janisha, Willow Class

'I think that Breis was brilliant because he taught us how to create rhythm using syllables. I learnt that rap is like poetry but rap has a musical beat.' - Ayub, Willow Class

'Breis was great. He taught us that rapping and poetry are very similar.' - Mehtab, Alder Class

'We got some great advice on how to make raps. We wrote down words related to Christmas and how to use them in a couplet so they rhyme.'  - Angel, Alder Class

'It was a fantastic learning experience and we got some great advice. It was good to learn about a different career too.' - Janat, Lime Class

'I really enjoyed it because we got to learn about to make a rap with our friends.' - Krishna, Lime Class

As you can read, our Year 6 children had a wonderful experience with Breis.

February 2024 - Joseph Coelho, Waterstones Children's Laureate 2022-24

All of our children from FS2 to Year 6 were treated to a virtual visit from Joseph Coelho, Waterstones Children's Laureate 2022-24. He wowed all of our children with performances from some of his poems. He also did some shared writing with the children. We all learnt something new from Joseph: he taught us what an abecedarian poem is - please ask your child what type of poem this is.

Joseph also taught us a little acronym that he made up to help him think about how to include some exciting ideas in a poem -

M (metaphor)

O (onomatopoeia)

R (rhyme)

E (emotion)

R (repetition)

A (alliteration)

P (personification)

S (simile)

We all enjoyed meeting Joseph, and we hope he has inspired our children to write their own poems because everyone has a beautiful voice that should be heard. New copies of Joseph's poetry books have been delivered to school, this week, and they have been delivered to all classrooms on Thursday 1st February, for all of our children to enjoy.

https://www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com/

Theatre Visit

On Tuesday 6th February, some of our Year 5 children were taken to the Rose Theatre, in Kingston, to see Onjali Q. Rauf's book: The Boy at the Back of the Class, come to life on the stage. The book tells the story of the protagonist - Ahmet - as he arrives into a Year 5 classroom as a refugee, from Syria. 

All of our children in Year 5 are reading Onjali's story in class, and it was extra special for the children who attended this visit to see how her thought-provoking story has been brought to the stage. The play is still on at Kingston Theatre until 22nd February 2024, before it tours around the country.

Additionally., we are delighted to confirm that we have been able to secure another in-person author visit from the incredible Onjali Q. Rauf, in the summer term. Our Year 5 and Year 6 children will be in for a very special treat indeed, as they get to meet her and hear more about her significant and powerful stories.

Onjali Rauf - Friday 18th March 2022 

On Friday 18th March, our Year 5 children were treated to a very special visitor indeed: Onjali Q. Rauf, author of 'The Boy at the Back of the Class', came to talk to the children about one of her wonderful books, which the children are reading in their English lessons. Onjali was so impressed with the thoughtful questions that the children asked, and she said that visiting Ravenor was one of her favourite schools to visit.

The Year 5 children were taken on a journey through Onjali's life, from her childhood as a girl who loved to read books, to her life as an adult, where she carries out invaluable charity work, with vulnerable women and refugees, as well as juggling another important job - being a children's author. Our children learned so much about the importance of being kind to everyone, and Onjali inspired us all to remember that it can be the smallest thing that makes the biggest difference.

Whilst visiting us, Onjali had the opportunity to look at the World Book Week displays; she was thrilled to see that six of the displays were based on her books: the Year 5 displays were based on 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' and the Year 6 displays were based on 'The Lion Above the Door'. Seeing her books come to life, through the children's learning, made Onjali's heart sing with joy. Well done to the Year 5 and Year 6 staff and children for bringing these important stories to life, through your engaging displays.

Stewart Foster - Thursday 10th February 2022 - Children's Mental Health Week

On Thursday 10th February, during Children's Mental Heath Week, we we delighted to welcome back Stewart Foster, author of 'Checkmates', 'The Perfect Parent Project', 'All the Things that Could go Wrong' and 'The Bubble Boy'. Stewart spent the day with all of our classes in Key Stage 2. Throughout the day, the children were completely captivated by his engaging talks. They asked questions about what inspired him to become an author and who he had met in his life that had influenced the characters in his book. Stewart told them that he really wanted to give the teacher in 'The Perfect Parent Project' a realistic name, so he asked teachers on Twitter who wanted to be in his book. Thousands of teachers replied, including a teacher named Sam McCann. Stewart loved the name so much that he used it in his new book. One of the Year 6 children got the chance to read a few pages from 'The Perfect Parent Project'​ to Stewart and her peers. 

During one of the talks, one child asked why Stewart decided to write about mental health themes; Stewart spoke about mental health and how much it can affect our lives. He asked the children how they cope with stress and shared some of the things he has learnt. Stewart also spoke about disabilities and how important he felt it was to write books that children with disabilities could read because he feels it might help them. Stewart shared his own disability with the children - being partially deaf - and his experiences of coping with that, whilst growing up. All of our children had a wonderful time meeting this highly esteemed author.

2018 - Michael Rosen

After being on a waiting list for 3 years, we were very fortunate to have the children's author and poet- Michael Rosen- visit Ravenor on Thursday 29th November. He had a very busy day with us as he began by performing to the children from FS2 to Y2. They were all mesmerised by his storytelling and by the way he shared his poems using lots of expression and a range of gestures. Michael then signed over a hundred copies of his books for the children who brought them in. The children, who had their books signed, were all delighted to meet Michael and have a quick chat with him while he wrote a little note to them in their book. The excitement continued as a group of KS2 children were fortunate to have lunch with Michael and this was a very lively event as the conversation flowed and laughter filled the room as stories and ideas were shared. Michael finished his visit with an incredible performance to the children in KS2. Again, they were all very impressed with the way he performed his poems. Overall, we had a wonderful day with Michael Rosen.