Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Upcoming Event - The First Ever Thorneyholme Virtual Sports Day

  Mon 01 Jun 2020
  Welcome to the first ever Thorneyholme Virtual Sports Day!!
  
  This 'Virtual Sports Day' week, starting on 1st June 2020, is an opportunity to take part in a series of physical activity challenges and compete for fun, medals, certificates and the overall victory in the competition. We want to get as many people involved as possible during the challenge week.
  
  There are 10 challenges, posted to you all on Sunday 31st May at 4pm, which you can complete throughout the week. Children, parents and siblings can perform them as many times as you wish and enter your best score or time on the table that is attached to each challenge. The closing date to submit your challenges is Friday 5th June 4pm.
  
  You do not have to perform the activities in order or on one day but the aim is to complete as many as possible throughout the week, either timed or score, depending on the activity.
  
  For Challenge #10 'Be Inspired', you can send a picture, video or TikTok of you performing any inspiring physical activity from anytime or anywhere, not just during the Challenge Week. The most inspiring pictures and/or videos win more points!
  
  Parents and staff are encouraged to enter too and can submit their results on the tables that are attached to each challenge.
  
  Please help spread the word and get as many people participating in the Virtual Sports Day Challenge.
  
  Good luck everyone!

• Cha Cha Charity Challenge

  Thu 19 Dec 2019

  Local Personal Trainer Steve Cody visited our Dunsop Bridge school just before the Christmas Holidays to get the children’s help with his 365-day cha cha slide plank charity challenge for Cancer Care.
  
  Steve challenged himself to do a full year’s worth of videos completing the ‘cha cha plank’ with music from DJ Casper in a different setting and with different supporters each time. He’s done the two minute dance/fitness challenge everywhere from dentists and doctors’ surgeries, to beaches, shops, schools and even atop the roof of the Flower Bowl Entertainment Centre.
  
  Steve said; “It was great to bring the cha cha slide challenge to such a lovely school. The kids were all really welcoming and polite, and keen to learn more about why I’m doing this."
   

  “The video will soon be up on the facebook page @SteveCodyChaChaPlank and I hope that some of the children, staff and parents of Thorneyholme School might consider joining me for the GRAND FINALE at Williamson Park, Lancaster on New Year’s Eve at 9.30am.
  
  “There’ll be a samba band, mince pies, mulled wine and more – and – giving generously will make sure you start the new year in the best possible way!”

   

• CHARITY CHALLENGE PROVES PUPILS HAVE MORE THAN 'THREE TALENTS'

  Sat 14 Dec 2019

  Children at Thorneyholme RC Primary School in Dunsop Bridge have raised £1020.20 for NW Air Ambulance and Pets as Therapy in a host of creative ways, after studying the parable of the three talents.

   

  The children (and staff!) were loaned £5 each and tasked with keeping a diary and making the money grow, in order to donate the proceeds to this year’s two chosen charities.
  
  Staff and parents were thrilled with the myriad of creative ideas the children came up with.

   

  Key Stage One Teacher Jackie Entwistle explains: “'The Three Talents Challenge' was launched at the end of October and has seen our young entrepreneurs create everything from bookmarks, beeswax food covers and jewellery, to cakes, Christmas decorations and more. They’ve hosted coffee mornings, arranged curry nights, organised raffles, touted treasure maps and sold eggs, all while keeping track of their income and expenditure like real businesses."
  
  “The teachers got involved too and I was baking bread before and after school; it’s certainly kept us all busy! And it’s been fantastic to see the children so keen to support these charities in the valuable work they do.
  
  “Once the initial investment had been returned, the collective profit to share between the two charities was £979.20. We’re all exceptionally proud of the creative and generous children here at Thorneyholme – and they deserve to be very proud of themselves too.”
  
   

• GEOGRAPHY AWARENESS WEEK

  Mon 18 Nov 2019

  Geography Awareness Week was a great success in school, with a whole variety of exciting activities both indoor and outdoor to enhance, use and apply geography skills.  A huge thank you to our parents, Mrs St John and Mr Hughes, who came into school to share their knowledge of landscapes and food chains from across the world and to Mr Simon Wells who was interviewed by the children about his job as a Land Agent.  Other activities during the week, involved maps, compasses, orienteering skills, Andy Goldsworthy art work and music and languages from across the world.

   

  Please see the Photo Gallery 

• CLITHEROE CASTLE REMEMBRANCE

  Thu 07 Nov 2019
  On Thursday 7th November, the Year 5 children went to Clitheroe Castle museum where they participated in Remembrance activities including: drill training; learning about trench life and handling memorabilia; creating a poppy wreath using different craft materials and writing poetry about wars.  It was a fabulous opportunity for children to learn about the World Wars and to reflect on the importance of Remembrance Day.

  

• Infant Clitheroe Field Trip

  Fri 11 Oct 2019
  The Infants went to Clitheroe as part of their topic work. They did some fieldwork to compare building use in towns, compared to building use in a village like Dunsop Bridge. We used a key to colour-code a map, we interviewed some people using our questionnaire about leisure activities and visited the library. 

  

• Peat-Bog Regeneration

  Wed 09 Oct 2019

  The Juniors from Thorneyholme were invited to take part in a regeneration project that is happening on The Abbeystead Estate.

   

  The project is to plant sphagnum, that can hold many times its’ own weight in water, to allow new peat to develop. The sphagnum helps cover bare peat which would otherwise be blown or washed away, holds moisture and thus allows the new peat to develop as well as enabling other plants to grow too. On top of this sphagnum is good at storing carbon, in the way that trees do, so is very good for the environment. By doing all of this, it is hoped that these new regenerated peat uplands could make a difference by ensuring water is retained on the uplands for longer and so reduce flooding lower down the valleys.

   

  The children were taken to a low-lying area on the fell where sphagnum is abundant. Handfuls of different species were collected, bagged up and brought back to the minibus. The bags were very heavy as the sphagnum was really full of water. The children also collected a species of sphagnum that needs standing or running water to grow.

   

  Travelling further up the fell, children could see large areas of black exposed peat. On this peat, they planted small handfuls of sphagnum about 30cm apart. It was really easy to do – the plant was placed directly on the top of the peat and pushed in with their feet. The standing water sphagnum was even easier – all that was needed was to take handfuls and throw it into the water!  Children were told  that the plants would immediately start growing and hopefully in 2 to 3 years cover the patch that they planted. Walking a little further up onto the fell, children were shown other methods of helping regeneration: peat mounds that have been flatten off and wood, peat and sheep wool dams. It was really interesting to see how corrosive the peat is. It has a pH of 2.5 and it had rotted the sacks that the wool was wrapped in, in less than  2 years.

   

  Everyone got a little wet in the passing showers but it was worth it.  Not only was it educational but great fun, and the children learnt about the many ways  the fells can be maintained.

• Tree Communication and the Mycorrhizal System

  Wed 09 Oct 2019

  The juniors spent the afternoon in the forest on Monday and despite a bad forecast, the weather stayed dry.

  As 6^th October marked UK Fungus Day the children spent their forest session looking at the wonders of fungi. They began with a warm-up game, involving a rope and some knowledge of 2D shapes and had to make various shapes without letting go of the rope, first with their eyes open and then with their eyes closed. This required good team work and communication.

   

  Following this, children looked at how trees use a fungal mycorrhizal system to communicate and played a hide and seek/Chinese whispers game to demonstrate. A message had to be passed between/around a large circle of trees (by us humans acting as the mycorrhizal system). Children hid behind a tree and a secret word was given to one. This child then had to run to the next tree, without being spotted by the ‘spotter in the middle, to pass the message on. After a few goes, the children decided to make it slightly harder and instead of just one person running each time, the messenger had to pick up everyone on their travels round the tree circle. The eleven children found it quite difficult staying hidden and quiet!

   

  After some juice and biscuits, the children all went in search of fungi. And what a lot there was to find! They found a multitude of brackets, wood and ground fungi. Take a look at some of the wonders we found. 

• THREE PARISH SCHOOLS MASS

  Thu 03 Oct 2019

  Three Parish Schools Mass

   

  Year 3 & Year 5 attended the start of the academic year, Three Parish Schools Mass on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.  It was a wonderful celebration of the new school year as a parish family, at St Michael & St John's Church in Clitheroe.

  

• Hand Washing

  Mon 23 Sep 2019

  Hand Washing

  An infection control nurse came to school this week, to talk to the children about the importance of washing their hands.  She showed the children how to wash their hands correctly and used UV cream and a light box to show the microbes on the hands before and after a wash.  Did you know that often the thumbs, fingertips and wrists are often missed when people wash their hands?