Friday 21st December, last day of term began with all the children attending breakfast club for a ‘Big Breakfast’. This comprises of a full cooked breakfast kindly prepared by Mrs Stubbs and Miss Wardle.

This was followed by the children rehearsing the Christmas Carols and narration of the Christmas Story ready for the performance at 10am when the school doors were opened to parents, Rev Benson and members of the community. An outstanding performance was acknowledged by all who attended, people commenting that they couldn’t wait for next years concert. Tea/Coffee, mince pies and biscuits were then served to the congregation.

Later that day the children enjoyed a Christmas party full of games and special food, with a special visit from Santa. School closed at 3:30 after a fun packed day.

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

On Thursday 20th December as part of the schools on going safe guarding programme the children investigated through work shops, videos and discussion how to keep themselves safe and visible on the roads during the dark winter mornings and evenings. The school accessed resources from the Road Safety Team, which enhanced the children’s understanding whilst raising their awareness of the dangers the dark evenings bring.

On Monday 17th December the children visited Buxton Opera House to see the pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’. The cost of this was kindly subsidised by a donation from a local resident and money raised through the raffle at Community lunches. 

Everyone had a wonderful time and talked non stop about the panto during the journey home. They can’t wait till next year!

On Saturday 8th December the PTA organised a Christmas Market. Despite the awful weather people turned out to buy that last elusive Christmas present! The event was followed by a Lantern parade and the lighting of the Christmas trees. 

On Thursday 13th December the school performed its traditional Nativity. This year the title was ‘It’s a Party’. This was followed by the Pea & Pie supper and grand raffle. The first prize of a luxury hamper donated by Mr & Mrs Wallis was won by John Wardle. Numerous other fantastic prizes were donated and won on the night. The PTA would like to thank everyone who donated and supported in any way. The combined money raised over the two events is £1615.02 

On the run up to Christmas pupils invited residents of their local community to participate in Chairobic activities delivered by Mrs P Grant at the school. Some of  youngest pupils form the school took great care demonstrating actions to the residents trying to ensure that they didn’t over exert themselves.  This was followed by the traditional Christmas Community Lunch lovingly prepared by Mrs A Stubbs and Miss A Wardle. The PTA kindly donated a selection of prizes for the Christmas raffle, which was to show their appreciation towards the community for supporting school events throughout the year. The children, staff and members of the community were excited to wear their Christmas jumpers in support of the worthwhile charity ‘Save the Children’. 

On Thursday 13th December the pupils performed the Nativity to a capacity audience in St Giles Church, Hartington. The performance had the traditional Mary & Joseph, Angels, Kings, shepherds and inn keepers each telling their part of the story. Herod’s evil spies even came to the party. 

The church display ‘Let there be Peace’ is well worth a visit. The children have displayed work undertaken in class about World War 1 in its 100th year. They also decorated a Christmas tree for the ‘Christmas Tree Festival’

 The performance was followed by the popular Pie and Pea supper served in school and the annual raffle organised by the PTA. Thank you to everyone who donated prizes. 

Hartington Primary School hosted an RE workshop for local church schools on Thursday 29^th November.  The workshop was organised by the Diocese in conjunction with ‘Blue Coats Academy’  from Nottingham.

Students in years 7 -11 ran workshops for the primary pupils focussing on three world faiths – Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.  The primary pupils were divided into groups and rotated around the workshops – each session lasting for about 45 minutes.The workshops consisted of a combination of informative slides, creative and physical activities, questions and answers all delivered by a group of confident students. They all showed a great depth of knowledge and understanding about their own faiths.

 During the sessions the pupils learned about Islamic prayer, the Five Pillars of Islam, Hindu festivals, Hindu Gods, Christian Communion and prayer.  Pupils had the opportunity to ask questions and many of the primary pupils asked deep and challenging questions about faith which the students answered exceptionally well.

Feedback from the Hartington pupils was very positive. They had not only enjoyed the workshops and working alongside pupils from other schools but they appreciated the opportunity to learn about faith from Islamic, Hindu and Christian students.