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Canon-Berry Tuck shop comes to Islington!
The Year 5 Healthy Tuck Shop team ‘Canon-Berry’ recently spent the day with Fruit to Suit learning about business and putting together a business plan, which they have now completed and had signed off by Matt.
Canonbury is the very first primary school in North London to set up a sustainable, healthy tuck shop business using a fruit to suit training program, and it is being launched in the week commencing 27th February. Snacks are priced between 35p-45p and profits are going towards a local charity, Margins. The Margins Project helps support Islington’s homeless and isolated and runs a drop-in service every Sunday out of the Union Chapel.
The children are very excited about the launch and are working on an assembly for the rest of the school. The Marketing team will be working with Andy, who worked on the school logo, to take their design forward.
Look out for the fab posters created by the whole team! Canon-Berry Directors, Raphael and Mimi expect the popcorn and naturally flavoured raisins to be a big success!
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Day 1
‘ We arrived at Treginnis Farm at 3pm. It took six hours to get here. During our journey our driver, Winn, dropped us off at Newgale Beach.’ By Nina
‘Friday was a great day! Firstly, I didn’t get travel sickness and nobody was bored on the journey there. We stopped at a service station to have lunch and play on the climbing frame. Finally, we reached our destination.’ By Aoife
‘Today we visited Newgale Beach and we ran around looking for shells. Liam and Casey found two fascinating shells shaped like unicorn horns.’ By Max
‘We stopped at Newgale Beach. It was a pebble beach. Me and Mimi were planning on making something with the shells for our friend Nina. It is her birthday tomorrow! Dinner was great! Chicken wraps and strawberry mouse with cream.’ By Ellen
‘Mmm, what a lovely lunch!’ By David.
‘We streched our legs at a beach called Newgale. When we arrived, Mike, one of the farmers, told us the rules and showed us around. By Kasha.
Day 2
‘Today we got up at 7am. We did a sheep check and saw a lamb being born. I had lovely bacon and eggs for breakfast and the next thing we did was walk up to Buzzard Lock with the dogs.’ By Zachary
‘Today we woke up at 6-6:30am. We shoveled horse poo in a wheel barrow it didn’t stink, it was brilliant!’ By Kai
‘One of the sheep had twins today! Unfortunately one of them died. We saw horses, we walked one called Tudor. I walked it first, then we had dinner.’ By Liam
‘The end of the day was great! I held a lamb and we put a pregnant sheeps in the shed in case any of them gave birth overnight. In the morning, we have to check if anything happened!’ By Holly
‘We had to muck out the pigs and the goats! The stench was terrible but the piglets were cute!’ By Mimi
‘We saw a baby lamb born on Nina’s birthday and we had an amazing cake after our full day of work.’ By Flo
‘I’ve had a great day. We had a lesson on sheep with Rob the Farmer. He remembered me and Lucien and let me take charge in ordering the group to make sure the sheep did not escape!’ By Anna
‘We fed the rams and then had a delicious lunch. In the morning we fed the goats.’ By Kasha
‘The first task was milkingand feeding the goats. Another task was mucking out the pig and goat pens.’ By Eleanor
‘We fed the sheep and held a lamb! They are so cute! For super, it was Nina’s birthday so we had pizza and cake. Lovely!’ By Lucien
‘Today, my fear of dogs has finally come to an end! Today, group B had to clean the goats, pig and horses!’ By Jameela
‘We walked the sheep dogs around the coat and it was such great fun. After that we walked Tudor around the field.’ By Mia G
‘We milked the goats and for a rest we had a little walk around!’ By Nevay
‘It was Nina’s birthday and we had the most impressive cake to eat!’ By Rudi
‘We went down to the boot room then we saw the sheep. Then we saw twin lambs being born.’ By Olivia
Day 3
Anthony:
Day 3.
This morning we milked and fed the goats. I hate goats because they kept on pushing me. Milking them is odd because it feels like you’re holding a bean bag. But I have done it twice!
This afternoon we went to hold a baby lamb. I got to hold it. It felt like a teddy bear, only more active.
My favourite thing so far is speaking to my friends in bed, and playing games.
The food is really good – but I still hate those goats!!!!!!!!!!
MAx
Day 3.
Today the weather was dull and wet and no one liked it! Even the animals.
This afternoon a small group of us went to feed the Rams, but only 5 of us decided they were brave enough to face up to the horrible weather and go and feed them. I was one of them. Rob rewarded us with 10 dorm points. When we’d finished we were in pain from the cold, but still alive! Luckily we get to have a shower tonight.
My favourite animal so far is the goats, and my best activity is feeding them, because they are so cute and fluffy and they can’t harm anyone.
Alphy:
My favourite part so far has been feeding the chickens because when you’re feeding them they peck your hands and it tickles. I thought it was going to be scary, and they were going to bite, but they didn’t. The cockerels make a horrible noise though.
Today we had Sunday roast, we had pork and I had chicken. My favourite meal by far was Beef Crumble (Mmmmmmmmmmm!!)
The worst part so far was the rain, my hair got flat and disgusting – I’m off for a shower now!
Tyjeon:
My favourite thing so far has been clearing out the sheds of poo, because it builds up your muscles and it has made me more confident working around poo and animals.
We had Jelly and Ice cream today for desert and it had fresh blackberries in it – but I didn’t really like them. I really like being with everyone, Alphy fussing about his hair has cheered me up during the rain.
Nina:
Yesterday was my birthday. Ellen, Mimi, Alya and Flo woke me up by sprinkling confetti and tickling my toes. I opened the presents my mum had given me.
There was a Happy Birthday banner and balloons in the lounge. For tea there was a giant cake on top of lots and lots of cup cakes. It was YUM!!!
Today a few of us went out in the freezing rain and walked up the hill to feed the sheep. It was freezing, but we DID IT! Cate was very proud of us all.
My favourite animal so far has been the pig. We named him Antonio because he didn’t grunt or snort at us and he did really strange poos.
Asa:
My favourite part so far has been shovelling out the goats old straw and hay because it was fun wheeling the wheel barrows through the mud and using the forks to pick up loads of POO!
My favourite animal was the goats because they would do anything for their food like go running up onto a stage where there was a bucket of food, so someone could milk them. The teats were quite warm, and when you had finished milking one teat it would deflate and be completely flat.
I am looking forward to going to visit the old fashioned sweet shop.
Cate:
My favourite thing has been the piglets!! They are gorgeous and I want to take one home. I have also really enjoyed spending quite time with these wonderful kids – painting, knitting, drawing and playing games, They have all been hilarious and good natured – even in the pouring rain!
Yosan
We are going to have a fun time tomorrow! I’m looking forward to the sweet shop!
Polly
After breakfast, group C went on a hike to buzzard rock. I got to walk Siren again. Then we walked Tudor around the field!
Day 4:
Faith:
This morning I woke up feeling extremely tired and it was freezing, so we all had to wear quite a lot of layers. Group A ( my group) firstly went to feed the sheep, we also got to hold lambs, They were so cute. After we breakfast. Then we walked to Buzzard Rock the view was amazing. We all came in for drinks in the boot room and then went outside to do more work, we put bedding in for the horses.
Casey:
Today we cleaned out the chickens, it was a lot of fun and we went to the gift shop. I bought a torch, a teddy bear and a picture of a horse. After lunch we went on a long walk to a different farm. It was a long way there! Then we went to the sheep and rounded them up to the place they sleep and then work over.
Liam:
First we went up to milk the goats, it was really fun because the teats get warm and squidgy. Then we fed the goats it was good fun. The two goats Autumn and Snowflake both ate out of my bowl. After breakfast we mucked out the chickens it stunk!!!. I stroked the chickens, they felt really soft.
Anthony: Today we went for a long walk to the beach, then we went to sit on the cliff and went back home. We got to hold the baby sheep. Then we went to another farm down the road and that was a long walk. Then we had to get a bag and fill it up with some food and walked back home. The best thing about the farm was digging out the pooooo!!
Mia G:
Lunch today was pork and potatoes (poor pigs!) Then Group B joined us and we mucked out the goats and I was crowned Princess of Poo by Cate.
Day 5:
“We went to St David’s today and we heard lots of interesting facts about Mike. He is a late descendant from…Lady Jane Grey!!!!! After this we traveled to the sweet and gift shop and nost people bought things for their parents although Cate confiscated our drinks because they were too sugary…! I had an equisite day even though the walk was a long way!” Jameela
“ Today Canonbury went to St Davids cathedral on a trip. It was a very big building and it was really exciting to be there. After this we went to the sweet shop and bought lots of treats for our families at home. When we got back to the farm, even after a long walk, we filled the potholes in the road so that cars and the coach could get up the farm track. We had a talent show in the evening and my group, HELGA!, came 2nd. James did a Beyonce dance which was strange and he kept shouting “‘Sup?!” and he thought he looked cool….he didn’t!” Mia W
Day 6
“Today was a very, very, very tiring day. My legs were chattering together and I couldn’t even move for a bit! To begin with we woke up at 6.00 a.m. then we got to the boot room and got changed. After that we fed pigs and poultry and then we had breakfast. Then we played football and Matt had to send James off because he fouled a child. That changed the match and James’ team lost again. We went for a coast walk and we were so tired we would even have prefered a maths test! I played on the beach and I found a dead crab. James screamed like a girl when he saw the dead crab.” David
“This morning we did the pigs and then had a lovely breakfast of pancakes….Phil used half of a bottle of golden syrup! Then we looked after and mucked out the horses and donkeys…for the 5th time! There was so much poo! After that we had free time and played a game of football which we lost…thanks to James getting sent off and shooting when he could have passed to a teammate! In the afternoon we had the coastal walk and near the end we stopped at a rock pool beach. The view was amazing and luckily none of us got too wet. Tonight Mike has given us all Treginnis farmer badges and we are playing bingo again. We are all packed and tidied up ready for the coach tomorrow. I will never forget how tired I feel this week and have enjoyed every minute. I am not sure how Tracey Boanas will feel when she sees James’ Beyonce impression on the video I took. James asked me to delete it because he thinks she will be “unimpressed” However it is going global!!” Rudi
“Today we woke up late and got to the boot room after the time we were supposed too. We made it just in time to avoid being told off! We went for a walk around the farm with Rob and his sheep dogs and we found out about Ramsey island and how it got its name and its history. After that we had a long break and then went for another coastal walk but instead with Les this time. We got to a special beach and explored the rocks and we found lots of pretty shells and living creatures. Then we found some interesting rocks that we could bring back and paint to remind us of our Treginnis journey. I will always remember Treginnis because of the challenges I have taken on and the hard work, as well as all of the nice staff.
For tea, we had a delicious Welsh soup called Cawl, which contained beef and vegetables. To sum up this week I would say, it has been a pleasure being here and to actually work physically hard for once. I have learnt a lot of history, about working with animals and how to act around them and lots of life lessons.” Mimi
This is the space where the children going on the second school journey to Treginnis will include their diaries and reflections.
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Thursday 26th January 2012
The children leave the farm at 8.30 a.m. and should be back at school by 3.45 p.m. If they are delayed we will let the school know and they will text you. Please do not park in front of the school after 3.15 p.m. so that the coach can park up easily. When you collect your child please let Eithne or Liz know that you have taken them.
Wednesday 25th January 2012
“The best part of the whole week was when Joseph was nearly sick from the smell of the duck shed this morning. I laughed! My favourite thing to do is probably the milking of the goats because you grab the teat, trap it and squeeze hard or the goats will think that you are tickling them. I am good at this now. The horses are lovely and very very calm, especially Tudor, the oldest horse, who has Cushings disease. I would definitely come again because I came last year and had the most amazing time ever and this year has been no different. Treginnis is a wonderful place to be!” Kerry
“The last day has probably been the best day because there’s more experiences than the others. One of the best things is feeding the young calves, which play and jump about as we tried to feed them. Overall all the experiences have been amazing and we are really grateful to our two volunteers Phil and Hayley for all their hard work this week as well as the staff from Canonbury and at Treginnis. This week I have probably learnt how to wash my hands properly, how to do a job of work and how to eat two slices of cake. I have also learnt how to get on with people in a small living space and I did really enjoy everything.” Joseph
“Oh No! It’s my last day today. Shame as I’ve had an amazing time and I’d recommend it to everyone. We did sheep again today and I fed them in the field. Next we saw for the last time, the baby lambs and also the calves. I now love cows…I hated them before. They’re so soft and nice.
Breakfast… yummy pancakes, with sugar…yum! After that it was back to work. We walked the sheep dogs and I walked Bess and she had a tiny smile. We walked right up to the top of a big hill and we saw the waves crashing down, it was wonderful.” Nicole
“It is our last day today and Polly and I had to muck out one of the horses’ stables and there was loads of pooh..yuk! Then we did a farm task which was emptying smelly pig pens…more yuk! Guess what..? It’s Mae’s birthday today and she had a massive cupcake and loads of small cupcakes, we sang her happy birthday! I’m doing my diary and we have the last night presentations. Bye!” Jessica
Tuesday 24th January 2012
“Today was really fun, plus we got to go to St Davids. We fed the sheep and the baby sheep did not know what was happening when all the other sheep ran to the food trays because it was his first day out with other sheep and lambs in the field.
Next we went to St Davids. It was a tiring walk but worth it. We saw the cathedral with its tall and brilliant ceilings, covered in elegant patterns. we also learnt loads of facts, like the symbol for Catherine of Aragon was a pomegranite.
We visited the sweet shop which was filled with yummy treats. It was an amazing trip.” Charlotte
“Today group C (My group) helped Rob K with the sheep and we had to feed the pregnant ewes. It was me, Harley, Luke and Ronaldo who had to pour the food into long troughs. After that we went to feed the calves and had a talk about when and how they get sold to end up as meat in the butchers.
Later on we had some lovely breakfast. I didn’t have a big appetitie today so I just had a croissant and some fresh orange juice. It was very tasty. I was so excited because we were going to St Davids and the sweet shop (Yay!) When we go to the cathedral Mike talked to us about how stunning the cathedral is and we talked about the saints. We had sandwiches and fruit for lunch before heading off to the most amazing sweet shop where I got some millions, sweet lips and a chocolate bar. For my last shift of the night I worked with the horses and cleaned up their stables. I cleaned out Bella’s stable, although it was very smelly. That was my fun day! Frankie
“Dear diary, today has been the best day of my time here. We woke to find ourselves quickly in the boot room and working before breakfast and being on our way on as three mile walk to St Davids. When we got there we found out that Mike was a vicar at the cathedral and we got a special tour.
We went all around the cathedral, learning loads of new and interesting facts, such as “The cathedral has no foundations” The ceilings were amazing with fascinating patterns and colours. Finally we had lunch and bought some sweets. Now here I am writing up my diary!” Raphael
“Sheep today. First we fed the cows and there were two of them, both babies so they were very cute. The tags on their ears are like passports and tell a farmer the country and farm that they come from. They need this because there is a disease called foot and mouth which causes deat. Rob explained all of this to us, although it was hard to take in as it was such a long speech! We climbed into the pen with the babies while they ate their food. Next we fed lambs who were with their mums in the field. It didn’t take too long and we were working so didn’t stop to say “Aah!” to the tiny baby lambs.
The pregnant sheep had to come into the shed. To help with this we stood where the sheep mustn’t go to make sure the only place they could go was in the shed. Rob chased after them slowly with his tractor, trying not to scare them, as they are pregnant.” Isabella
“The day started with me feeding the sheep. We carried the food and poured it into the metal feeding tray. Then we went back to the sheep shed and collected the feed for the calves.
We walked to St Davids and went to the cathedral. We went inside and Mike explained about the events that had happened at the church. Then we went to the sweet shop and bought everything we needed! Later we fed the horses and spread the straw around the stables. Fact of the day: Mike is related to Lady Jane Grey!” Luke
“I have to begin with telling you all about the talent show last night. Lots of people were involved. Joseph, I and Michael did a comedy act and everybody laughed. It was called “mirror, mirror on the wall”. Dave dressed up as a girl called “Davina” wearing a skirt, make-up and carrying a hand bag. He kept saying “Shut-Up” and being rude to Matt as they performed a magic trick. I know how its done but I didn’t spoil the secret!
Today has been good because we started with pigs and poultry and fed the chickens, geese and pigs with Nick. Later on we went on a very long walk to St Davids. It was three miles each way and we were all tired. When we got there, Mike took us around the cathedral. He knew a lot about the history of the cathedral. We had lunch there and then went to the shops. On the way out we saw a picture of Mike dressed as a Vicar. He works at the cathedral too.” Louis
Monday 23rd January 2012
“Today I am really looking forward to the talent show. We are seeing everyone perform, including Dave (Davina), in the quiet room at 7.15. Lots of the children are dancing and singing as well as taking part in some comedy routines. I am excited! Today was a very quiet day for me, but tomorrow I’m going to walk to St Davids…so it will be fun.” Harley
“Today I fed and milked goats first thing, before breakfast. Then I saw the piglets which had been born this morning. Sadly three piglets died today and a further one was crushed by his mother. Les told us that this is quite common, but it still made us sad. We had to clean out the smelly pig sty and as this was straight after breakfast, it made me feel sick. I am looking forward to the talent show, although I’m not performing.” Ellie
“Today we woke up and I felt really tired because I was woken up early by a noise and then couldn’t go back to sleep. I did sheep, which includes mixing their feed and bringing them in from the field. I also did a long walk checking all the sheep stock and I got to walk Seren, the border collie sheep dog. Lunch was curry which was lovely but then I had to complete a farm task, digging a trench into the raised garden bed, and then filling it with manure. Matt got to drive a tractor and it was funny because he seemed quite clumsy! I walked Tinker, the craziest pony ever (He is under 14 hands high so he is not a horse) as the last task today and I loved it. Matt and Eithne told me I was being really well behaved and I am looking forward to the talent show where me and Freddie are performing a zombie act!” Lewis
Sunday 22nd January 2012
“I was poorly on Saturday, so today was the first day I really enjoyed as I began to feel myself. I went to feed the pigs and poultry (chickens, geese and turkeys) first thing and I thought the pigs were greedy and seemed to be just stuffing themselves. The food they ate looked disgusting (Oats and fodder beat) and it was gooey, but they seemed to like it.
I moved onto the poultry which involved feeding them and I tried to feed them as was pecked on the hand! I wouldn’t like to be a poultry farmer! I saw horses later and was able to walk them around the field twice. My horse was called Tudor and I was able to lead Tudor quite easily although everyone elses horses seemed to stand and eat grass rather than walk!” Polly
” Today we got up really early but we had a good sleep. First of all we got dressed in the boot room and we had to milk and feed the goats. One goat was fine but having four eating from my one bowl of food was tough because they all crowded in trying to eat from the bowl! (It was a really hard task!)
Then we had breakfast and it was yum! We had a short break and back into work. We had to hold and feed the new born (So cute) lambs. Later we cleaned out the pig pooh in their shelters. We had a nice lunch and then a lovely walk on the beach. I got so wet I couldn’t move! I was tired and we all went in for a tea break. Finally a nice warm rest and I wrote my diary!” Patchela
“We went to clean out the pig sty today. The pregnant pig needed her sty cleaning as she is about to have her babies. While she ate some fodder beat we scooped and wheel barrowed out the pooh and straw and I openend the gate to bring everyone into the yard. We dumped all the pooh in a big compost heap and t will be added to the grass to make it grow. ” Famke
“We woke up really early and went straight to the quiet room. After twenty minutes of relaxing we headed to the boot room and it took us only 5 minutes to get our waterproofs on. We went with our group leader to clean out the pig’s pens and they were so smelly!!! As soon as we had finished we went for breakfast (Yum Yum) Later on we had a coast walk which was scary but fun. We walked right along the coast line and saw Ramsey Island.
On the beach we found lots of interesting stones but we had to leave and couldn’t carry them back. When we got home we went with Rob and held a baby lamb, it was so tiny and cute. Oh I nearly forgot that we had a delicious roast lunch. I love being a farmer!! Tallula
“Today we went to the sheep house and we got to hold a baby lamb that was only one day old. We surprisingly went to feed the cows because we didn’t even know there were cows on the farm.
I walked the oldest horse, called Tudor, she is 33 years old, which is the same as 103 in human years! I was brave at tea time as I tried “Barra breth” which is like a welsh malt loaf. Hayley was pleased with me as I am trying to eat lots of different foods.” Sydney
“Today we held a one day lamb, he was so cute I wanted to call him “Santa!”. I thought that I would miss my family terribly but even though I do ..I am so busy having fun that it doesn’t seem to matter. I mucked out the pregnant pig and she ate lots of fodder beats today. Les says that she will probably have the babies today or tomorrow.” Grace
“Today was the same as yesterday! Lizzie waking us all up in the early morning by screaming…”Get up…get up..!” This time we were quicker at getting dressed and brushing our teeth and hair.
For our morning farm work we mucked out the pigsties with Les. It was easy compared to cleaning out the cow shed yesterday, but it STUNK! After the pigsties we went in for breakfast. Later today we went for a walk to the beach and it was really interesting because there were lots of caves and rocks there..” Mae
“Dear Diary, today I walked a horse and it was really fun. I can’t believe that it was so good. The horse is old so she is not playful any more but she looks good for her age, as well as being well behaved. I loved holding new born lambs too and it was fluffy and loud all at the same time. Lizzie
“Today was a very long one. We had to go and feed the sheep and calves first thing. Breakfast at 9.00 was cheese on toast (Delicious)! After that we went to do a stock check. We walked with Rob to Buzzard rock and looked around us to see where the sheep might be.
After lunch we walked around the coast to the beach where we played in rock pools and finally we walked the horses and ponies and fed them. We have a quiz tonight!” Alex G
Saturday 21st January 2012
“I’ve been working with the goats by milking and feeding them. We have to squeeze their teats… yeagh! Then we collected the hay for the pigs past the splodgy muddy store. I am now in the quiet room making paper aeroplanes and writing…it is fun but I wonder what what we’re doing next?” Michael
“Today I am extremely tired. I found it hard to sleep because of the noises and talking! We went out first and looked at oats and barley. Barley is used for drinks like whisky. We needed the oats and barley to feed the sheep. After that we went to look for four cows in the huge field.” Ronaldo
“Today I fed the sheep and they ran at me. The sheep have to go into a shelter so we helped them and we we walked the sheep dogs to guide them. Then we climbed on a huge rock called Buzzard rock. Then we walked back to the farm house and we were all very tired.” Freddie
“Today was the first full one at the farm and I walked outside with a smile on my face, knowing it was going to be a great day. I fed the pigs, ducks, chickens and then walked the horses. This was a great start to the week.” Aden
“Dear Diary. Today I fed the dheep, went on a walk to Buzzard rock and took the horses for a walk. Then I played football with Matt and came in and played some more games.” Gabriel
“I woke up and got ready and then fed sheep and walked around the whole farm. My legs were so tired after it and I felt like I could faint. After that we had a nice drink and I came in and played some games.” Alex C
“Today some of the work was torture (in a good way though!). Waking up in the gloomy and dark morning was even worse! We shoved all of our clothes on and hurried down to the boot room, so that we would not be late! Our first task was the goats. We were all singing merrily..”We will, we will…MILK YOU!” Mike taught us everything about goats and that only certain groups of animals called mammals produce milk. After that…here comes the torture…. mucking out the pigs…! It was horrible!! Poo was scattered everywhere. It never seemed to stop. After what seemed like hours of groaning and moaning we were finally released from this to grind fodderbeat. Luckily we then got taken inside and given orange juice!” Emily
Friday 20th January 2012
Well we all met at school on time and got away bang on 8.00 a.m. apart from a delay caused by Dave who thought he’d left something back at school!
Our driver was really friendly and everyone was well behaved. As a result of that and clear traffic we were able to make it to Newgale beach for a quick run en route by about 2.30 p.m. (We had stopped for sandwiches at Cardiff on the way too).
We all chased the sea and let the wind blow through our hair before piling back onto the coach. When we arrived at the farm we had tea and Welsh cakes and met the staff at Treginnis and unpacked. We practised a fired drill (More of that later!) and had a delicious tea of chicken wraps, followed by strawberry mousse. Then we had some free time to play before getting ready for bed, folllowed by story time with Liz.
A short drama before bedtime, when the girls set off a fire alarm with a spray but no harm was done and at least we know the drill helped the children to get it right!
Everyone is excited about their first farm task, set for 7.20 am tomorrow morning in the boot room.
The children’s diaries will hopefully commence tomorrow.
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This is the space where the children going on the first school journey to Treginnis will include their diaries and reflections.
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This week has seen the children translate their notes, photographs and thoughts into stories….
We have had a lot of help from parents, governors and friends of the school in working with the children to deliver their “scoops”. Thanks to all who have given their time.
At the start of the week the children arrived at 8am for a breakfast meeting in the newsroom. They then used their notebooks and literacy to write about the trips and set to work on their articles.
Pupils worked with journalists Ian, Siobhan, David and Lizzy on their articles and were supported to improve their writing, create headlines and fact check.
Becky Wilson, a stylist, worked with pupils from the fashion shoot at the Union Chapel on the fashion pages of the newspaper and the results look impressive.
Pupils submitted their articles to the newspaper club who will now edit. Watch this space……..
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Last week, classrooms were transformed into art studios for the week as the children got busy for Art Week. The focus was on the children practising, learning and developing art skills, culminating in a finished piece of work relating to their topic. The children were given the opportunity to record from first-hand observation and explore ideas. They used a variety of materials and art processes throughout the week.
We were also lucky enough to have a real life artist support some of the children with their work. The week ended with parents and carers being invited to come in and view their child’s work. The work each class has produced is fantastic and shows a wide range of art, craft and design throughout the school.
If you weren’t able to drop in, here are some examples of the processes and art work that were created throughout Art Week.
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The first of the two Canonbury School trips, to Treginnis Farm in West Wales, leaves on Friday 2oth January at 8.00 a.m. and will return by 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 26th January.
Pupils need to be at school with their cases, packed lunch, any medication and £10 pocket money by 7.45 a.m. as the coach will depart at 8.00 a.m.
The children will be writing a diary complete with photographs to keep everyone updated of their time on the farm. This will be published here, so do check each day to see what they have been up to.
Treginnis Farm is one of the Farms for City Children farms. Farms for City Children is a charity established by the children’s writer, Michael Morpurgo and his wife Claire, and exists to bring a rural life and the experience of working as a farmer, for a full week, to life for city children. More can be found out about the work of Farms for City Children by visiting their website here: http://www.farmsforcitychildren.org/
Canonbury has two current links with Treginnis farm. One of the classes going on the visit is our Year 5 Hughes Class, which is named after the English poet, Ted Hughes, who was Poet Laureate between 1984 and 1998. Ted Hughes was also a Founding president of Farms for City Children and wrote a poem specifically about Treginnis farm, which can be found inscribed in slate on the walled courtyard between the main building and the “boot room”.
The second link comes via the illustrator and artist Quentin Blake. Our children interviewed Quentin Blake recently as part of their newspaper project, and Quentin Blake is also a close supporter of the work of Farms for City Children, having produced illustrations for the signs around Treginnis and taken part in much fund raising over the years.
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Finally to complete this post we thought an example of the quality of writing from one of our pupils would highlight the merits of inspiring our pupils through this project…
My trip to Google Offices
Myself, and seven others, had the fantastic opportunity to meet the Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Google, Peter Barrons, on Tuesday 10th January 2012.
We took the tube from Highbury and Islington to Victoria to get to Buckingham Palace Road. Once we got out of the station the Google offices were directly in front of us. To me, it just looked like a boring building, but inside was a different story.
We went through the large revolving doors to a large reception area. We all immediately noticed the pot of sweets on the desk but unfortunately we were not allowed any.
We went up in the lift to the fifth floor where we were to meet Peter Barrons. Everyone thought the room where we had to sign in was very well designed. It had lava lamps on the side of the desk, a jar of striped sweets in the colours of Google with ‘Google Chrome’ written inside each centre, lots of interesting furniture on a massive rug with lots of pop art type pictures hanging above it and four clocks showing the time of Mountain View, New York, London and Tokyo.
Finally Peter Barrons arrived and we were given a tour of all the floors of the Google offices. Firstly he showed us the canteen where he let us choose one thing to eat or drink for free. Next he led us through the meeting rooms which were based on the tube system, for example, one room was called ‘Victoria’. On the various ceilings were the colours of all the tube lines, so if you knew your meeting was in Victoria, you would follow the pale blue line as it is the colour of the Victoria line in the tube system. After that he showed us the big meeting room which was based on St James’s Park, so it had a green carpet to represent grass and a creamy carpet in between to represent a path. Then we walked through some empty offices to a small room called ‘Tech Stop’. Peter explained that he was later going to pick up his newly repaired Apple laptop as the two men who work there every day had just fixed it. There was a sign on the glass window saying ‘Please do not feed the field techs’ and in the corner of the room was a shark head eating a Barbie!! We continued on to another set of meeting rooms (which were named after computers) where we were going to have our interview later, but Peter said we had a little more time so we went to a kind of chill-out room. At the far side of the room there were hammocks and bean bags where you could relax or read and there was an actual boat where you could have a two person meeting. The room had a carpet like the one in St James’s Park room.
Finally it was time for the interview. We went back to the meeting rooms and went in one called ‘Baby’. We were allowed to open our drinks from the canteen. We found out that Google started in mid 1998 so has been around for 13 and a half years. The company was named after the number googole. You may have noticed that Google is not the same spelling as the number but Peter said that it was Google that was misspelt. Almost every country in the world uses Google and there are over 100 Google offices around the world. Peter said there was about four or five billion people browsing on Google right then. His worst fear for Google was that governments around the world could switch it off at any moment. One person asked why Google couldn’t be just in one country. Peter said, if Google was based only in France and you were looking for the Paris Hilton Hotel, you would get the result you wanted because the hotel is French, but if you were in America looking up the celebrity Paris Hilton you would still get the hotel, so that’s why there are different domains in different countries.
If you search for something on Google you will realise there is a small piece of text saying, e.g: ’100 pages in 0.25 seconds.’ The results come this quickly because of the strong amount of computer power. Whilst you are seaching Google, it is guessing what you want so there is a list of suggestions. These are mostly what you have searched for in the past. There is a robot called a ‘spider’ that gathers all the websites that exist and is constantly scanning the web for new websites.
Peter’s hobbies are to make models and play the guitar. He has two sons, one 13 and one 12. His favourite places in the office are: Tech Stop, St James’s Park and the canteen. Peter goes to three or four meetings a day.
My personal question was how much money he earned a day. He replied by saying that it was a cheeky question but I honestly wanted to know because I was thinking about working there one day. He only said that he thinks that the people who worked there are well paid.
Unfortunately, for the staff, the lovely Google offices are going to move to Tottenham soon, but fortunately for me and for everyone else at Canonbury Primary School it’s now only a bus ride away! So hopefully you’ll all get a chance to visit it!
By Aoife
Friday
Canonbury pupils have completed their interviews this week with visits to meet Captain Paul Loftus at the BA flight training centre at Hatton Cross, Tottenham Hotspur to meet a player and visit the press box, a visit to Briony Marshall’s studio to interview her about her residency at the Pangolin Gallery, Kings Place and Boris Johnson, Mayor of London at City Hall.
The headlines from these interviews may include the fact that Katie crashed an airbus on the simulator, with all the pupils on board, whilst at British Airways, Scott did not get an offer to manage Spurs as Harry Redknapp seems to be doing very well, Boris Johnson praised Canonbury to the hilt and the children loved hearing about Briony’s work.
Sharlina Hussein, a cultural attache at the US embassy, also came to the school and shared lunch with a team of reporters as well as sharing her experiences of working in the embassy. Rim Turkmani a Syrian scientists at Imperial College also visited the school and was interviewed about the situation in Syria and her work at the college.
The children also met Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien who spent a long time being questioned about being a member of one of Britain’s most famous bands and his journey into music. Ed was impressed with the pupils, admitted to recognising Cate from her previous work as a music journalist and even found time to praise Matt’s eclectic music collection!
The newspaper, which will be for sale very soon, will give you fuller details of all these interviews as well as some exclusive stories! Watch this space!
The whole aim of this project has been to provide the children with inspiring and relevant first hand experiences which can give them to motivation and passion to produce writing of a professional standard as well as being of a sufficiently high standard to ensure that the paper sells and attracts advertising, making it a sustainable project. If you have any contacts for future stories or editions please write in and let Katie know: katie.hanley@canonbury.islington.sch.uk
Wednesday
This week our pupils have had an exciting time, visiting the London Headquarters of Sainsbury’s to interview their Chief Executive, Justin King, as well as being shown around the London office of Google, by Peter Barron, head of PR for Google, and seeing the indoor park where staff can think, meet and relax.
Katie Hanley also took a group of reporters along with Cllr Julie Horten, who was our Chair of Governors until recently, to Islington Town Hall to interview Cllr Catherine West, the leader of Islington council as well as the leader of the opposition, Cllr Terry Stacey. Both Cllr West and Cllr Stacey know Canonbury well and have visited the pupils here recently so it was good for the children to see them in their own setting and to ask them about the way council meetings operate, their routes into politics and what “freedom of the borough” really meant!
Some pupils went to the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, to interview Ed Balls MP, the Shadow Chancellor and were lucky enough to be introduced to Ed Milliband MP, the leader of the opposition. Another group of reporters met with Tessa Jowell MP and Rory Stewart MP and asked them detailed questions about their political careers and life at Westminster. Late on Wednesday another team of reporters attended an exhibition of Quentin Blake’s work and were lucky enough to meet and interview the artist and illustrator. More snippets of the write ups will follow here as our reporters post their stories and the editorial team prepare the paper. Children were also able to meet a producer from Hammer and Tongs film production company and interview him about his art.
It has been a wonderful experience for all of our children and they are really inspired to write. Some pictures of the work so far are displayed below.
Monday
The newspaper project began on January 9th and two of our pupils have written about their visit to the Head offices of the Guardian newspaper. Another team of reporters headed off to the restaurant, Blue Legume, on Upper Street, to sample a free meal and prepare a review for the paper.
Our trip to the Guardian
We left school at 9:10 and went to Highbury and Islington station to catch the Victoria line train to Kings Cross. When we arrived at King’s Cross we had to walk through the station to get to the street outside. It took 5 minutes to walk to the Guardian building, which was a big glass one.
Once we had got inside, we were kindly greeted by Richard Williams, the sports editor of the Guardian. He showed us to a meeting room and we asked a series of questions about sport such as: “Why did you change your job from writing about music to sport?” and “Are you excited about the upcoming Olympics?”
At one point we had to switch rooms to the café were we asked many more questions? Next he sadly had to go, so Ian Katz, the deputy editor of the Guardian and a governor of our school gave us a tour. We saw many interesting things such as: The studio rooms, the Boss’s office, desks where people were working and much more exciting stuff!! Then sadly we had to leave so we would not miss our yummy lunch!!!
Emily and Kerry – Year 5
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To begin with I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and to welcome you all back to Canonbury School, for what I hope will be a very successful and happy 2012.
I thought it would be nice to start 2012 by commencing a regular Headteacher diary, so I can keep you updated on school life. I will aim to write here at least once a month.
Over the Christmas holiday the school was a busy place, particularly for Dave, our premises manager, as the building firm pretty much completed all the rewiring and lighting work throughout the school. All that remains to be completed now are the “making good” works, where paint is retouched and any plaster holes refilled. The new lights are amazing and really lift the environment, although they also reveal how much decoration still needs to be done!
The weather this week has been stormy and wet and I am hoping that the storms across the country blow themselves out before Year 5 set out for a week’s work at Treginnis Farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, later this month. We have over 60 pupils taking part in a week long stay (Friday to Thursday) with Hughes class going on the 20th January and Gandhi class the following week. I am also going to Treginnis farm, for the full week as trip leader, with Hughes class and then for 4 days during the second week with Gandhi class, which James Wiltshire is leading. Diane and Sara will be in school and deputising for me while I am away with the children.
Last year the trips to enjoy the muck and magic of a week on the farm were fantastic and the children took away memories that will last a lifetime. I am always grateful for the support we receive here at Canonbury in making these trips a success, both in terms of the financial support from parents, school foundation and PTA, as well as the backing from the staff who give their time to ensure that the children can enjoy these unique opportunities. To learn more about Farms for City Children, the charitable organisation who run the farm experiences, please visit their website by clicking here .
Another exciting opportunity for children which is taking place this term, is the development of a Canonbury newspaper. Ian Katz, one of our parent governors who is also a journalist, has worked closely with Katie Hanley, our Literacy leader and they have agreed a plan for producing a school newspaper, which is written by pupils and printed and sold as a proper news publication. Ian and a number of other parents have ensured that the children involved will have opportunities to interview celebrities and to understand how to write reviews and articles, as they develop the skills required to produce the paper. Katie will be writing to all parents about this project and explaining how she intends to ensure this becomes a regular publication. Once again thanks go to everyone involved in bringing this together.
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who supported the school in the huge range of events that took place before the end of term. We had a non-stop whirl of events and celebrations taking place, from the infant nativities, to the PTA Christmas fair, the Union Chapel music concert and finally the celebration leaving assembly for our Chair of Governors, Julie Horten. I believe that well over 1000 adults attended these events and wanted to say thank you for your continued support as we strive to make this school an outstanding place in which our children can learn and develop. The children really loved having so many of you all there to watch them perform. While I’m on the subject of music, this link takes you to a clip of our school choir performing at the Music for Youth Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in November, when they took part in the Islington Music First Anthem. It is a great reminder of a wonderful evening.
Finally, I had a very strange but heart warming experience on Bank Holiday Monday. I went at the last minute, to watch my football team, Birmingham City, play Peterborough away. I couldn’t get a ticket in the away end so braved sitting quietly on my own in the Peterborough stand. Two men in front of me were discussing schools for their children and where they were going. As the game went on (with it finishing 1-1 for anyone who might be interested!) I heard one of the men telling the other about the school he was choosing where they were passionate about developing music, and where the children had wonderful opportunities to perform at national venues like the Barbican, Albert Hall and Union Chapel. At this point I realised he was talking about our school. The man went on to explain about his visit to Canonbury and how motivated and well spoken the children were, who had shown him around.
It was very strange over-hearing such a conversation, all those miles away from London, and I have to say that it was so surreal that I kept very quiet and didn’t introduce myself. However it is a theme that we are hearing over and over again, that Canonbury is an improving school, and that the reputation of our school is improving due to the hard work of every parent, staff member, governor and pupil. All I can add is that as your Headteacher, I am fully aware that there is still a lot more to achieve and at Canonbury we will do all we can to keep finding ways to give your children an education which inspires them to create, discover and succeed!
Matt
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There has been feverish work going on across the school since Paul and Katie, who lead Literacy across the school, along with Liz, our librarian, announced a book corner challenge!
Each class was asked to work with their teacher to come up with ideas for developing their book corners and to ensure they became attractive spaces to read and learn. All the children got involved, with certain classes taking this so seriously it has almost become a new art form!
Matt reviewed all book corners on Friday, December 9th and announced the results in an assembly on Tuesday. There was much anxiety and trepidation about the results, with bitter rivalry rumoured to be on X factor judge levels, developing between certain teachers!
Three classes book corners were judged to have met the Canonbury 90%+ “Book Corner Standard”. In Hughes Class, our first successful class, the Year 5 children had created a role play cave and net web for the roof of the book corner. Key comments written around the space drew readers into explore the books on offer. In Tutu Class (Year 6) there was a wonderful spooky book area, with amazing webs hanging from the bookcases and in depth reviews of popular books around the book area, helping children to decide which books to choose.
The final class to have their book corner assessed at the required standard was Gandhi, our Year 5 class. In this room the book corner was information focused with a space theme. The children had created space models and drapes as well as providing guidance on accessing information.
Other classes such as Year 2 Mandela and Year 4 Rowling were really close to the required standard and everyone will be battling it out again at the next review in February. All those children in the three classes who have already met the standard required have been awarded a Headteacher’s award, 10 House Points and their class have been given £60 of books to add to their book corner selection! It has been a great way to motivate the children and involve them in shaping their own learning environments. Thanks go to all the staff and pupils for their hard work and the Islington Scrap project, for providing us with the materials required to develop each book corner.
We can now declare the next book corner challenge open…….
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On Friday, December 9th, Canonbury sent a mixed team of year 5 and 6 girls and boys to Central Foundation for Boys school rugby festival.
It was a knockout competition against 6 other Islington teams, organised by our school partnership leader, Michael Muscat, who is a teacher and coach at the school. They supplied great facilities and the astro turf pitch was perfect for this very energetic tournament.
Although a new team, playing in their first ever competitive matches, Canonbury won every single game. They played with determination and great stamina, and represented Canonbury well as sportsmen and women. We were very proud of them! They were the clear winners – bringing another trophy home for the new cabinet!
Congratulations to the entire team and Scott.
Cate Jago – PE Leader
Gallery
Our children have been busy! Check out the brilliant
photos and videos they have been making.
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