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

• Thank you to our very generous school and local community

  Thu 18 Dec 2025

  This week, our wonderful PTA communicated the total made so far from all of our fundraising ventures this academic year so far.  These have included the Christmas Fayre, The Christmas Market, Christmas card sales, the September Social and the ongoing lottery scheme.  The total raised so far is over £4,500 which is fantastic.

   

  Thank you to our PTA for being so proactive and thank you to our school and local community for getting involved and helping to raise so much money for curriculum enhancements.  Always remember that every child will benefit from PTA funding. 

   

• Y5 Oaks combine Computing and D&T to show off their designs for exploring the Red Planet!

  Thu 18 Dec 2025

  Hot on the heels of year 6's wonderful carousel products, year 5 have been creating ‘out of this world’ vehicles in their Design and Technology lessons this half term.

   

  After producing a plan for a new vehicle to explore Mars (or at least a toy of one), the children got to work in groups creating a chassis using wood. The children had to measure carefully, cut safely and assemble their chassis so it was straight. They then had to motorise their creations before adding suitable body work. There was lots of problem solving on show, especially when things didn't quite work out as expected.

   

  Below, you can see some of the fantastic finished examples Oaks created, along with what AI thinks they could look like if they were on the Mars surface.

  

• Design and Technology highlights aspirational curriculum offer

  Thu 18 Dec 2025

  At the most wonderful time of the year, it's not just Santa's elves who have been busy making things. As part of our ever evolving and bespoke curriculum offer, classrooms across Greswold have become design and technology workshops making a range of products from cam toys to seasonal soups. 

   

  In Year 6, children were tasked with designing a model of a carousel that could be used for younger children at a fairground ride. Starting the unit by studying two innovators, John Wardley (who has designed rides such as Nemesis at Alton Towers) and Thomas Walker (a local innovator who made fairground rides in the Victorian era, one of his engines being preserved at Blist's Hill where Year 5 visit every year) for their inspiration. Year 6 then went onto design and eventually make their carousels.

   

  The carousels were on display at the recent PTA Christmas fayre for visitors to view and vote for, another strategy for making learning motivating and purposeful. 

   

  As you can see below, we have some future designers and innovators in the making! 

  

• Answers revealed to Geography Awareness Week quiz!

  Thu 18 Dec 2025

  During a recent assembly about a Picture News article detailed a new Nike product which helps to make walking and running easier, Mr Hornsey set a quiz challenge which coincided nicely with Geography Awareness Week.

   

  The children had to find out where in the world each brand of trainer is from, in terms of their company headquarters.  The answers were revealed in Monday's House Point assembly and are below: 

   

  •Nike – Oregon, U.S.A

  •New Balance – Boston, U.S.A

  •Umbro – Cheshire, U.K.

  •Reebok – Boston, U.S.A but originally from Bolton, UK

  •Under Armour – Baltimore, U.S.A

  •Skechers – California, U.S.A

  •Heelys – Nevada, U.S.A

  •Converse – Massachusetts, U.S.A

  •Vans – California, U.S.A

  •Fila – Milan, Italy

  •Puma – Herzogenaurach (Bavaria), Germany

  •Adidas – Herzogenaurach (Bavaria), Germany

   

  8 of the 12 brands were indeed from the U.S.A, however one of our year 6 pupils, Sofia, noticed that Adidas and Puma were from the same town in Germany and so delved a little deeper to find out why.  Look at the gallery below for the interesting fact she found out. 

   

   

  

• A morning dedicated to Spatial Reasoning

  Tue 16 Dec 2025

  Spatial Reasoning is a vital part of mathematical development and is the reason why Greswold dedicated a whole morning to it last week.  Based on the theme of Christmas, all staff devised inspiring activities which helped the children to develop their understanding further whilst promoting awareness that this element of mathematics is as important as number skills due to the transferable nature of its skills. 

  

• A gymnastics superstar in the making!

  Mon 15 Dec 2025

  News of another fantastic achievement by one of our pupils has been shared with school this week. 

   

  Daniel, in year 3, who trains with with Wythall Gymnastics Boys' development team, experienced his first competition last weekend. It doesn't surprise us that we hear he controlled his nerves and showed great determination and skill to confidently compete in all 6 boys' apparatus events managing to 'place' on each apparatus.  He won a gold medal on rings, parallel bars, floor and high bar as well as a bronze medal for pommel and vault. These stunning results put him in first place to win gold overall in his age group. 

   

  He was also awarded a coach award for “hardest working gymnast” this year. His parents are incredibly proud of his achievement and, like Daniel, look forward to what 2026 brings. 

   

  As a school, we know just how difficult a sport gymnastics can be to learn and that's why Daniel will be an amazing role model to his peers in the coming years.  Well done, Daniel, we are very proud of you. 

  

• Animals come to visit year 1!

  Fri 12 Dec 2025

  Linking perfectly with Science learning, year 1 children received a surprise visit from Chris the Animal Man who brought in a range of different animals for each class to look at and touch!

   

  For starters, the children met Moana the spectacled Owl. She loved to sing and had beautiful orange eyes and feathers. She was a carnivore and liked to eat scorpions and bugs. The children were able to gently stroke her feathers.

   

  Next up was Fluffy the rose-haired Tarantula. She was very shy and sat very still whilst some brave children were able to carefully hold her. After that, the children met Jambo the Royal Python who liked to sniff the children using his tongue. The children were able to hold Jambo or put him around their necks!

   

  Velvet, the crested Gecko, was our next visitor.  Her tail was missing as she dropped it a few years ago when she was scared. She came from Australia and the children enjoyed holding her and were able to identify her as a reptile. The next animal was very peculiar, it was Princess Peach the legless lizard. She was very mysterious and looked more like a snake! She lived in the woodlands and is an omnivore, eating fruits and insects (she also loves dogfood).

   

  Peter and Quill were next, they were Tenrecs from Madagascar, who looked very much like Hedgehogs. They had a superb grip and could hang upside down, but they couldn't curl up into a ball like hedgehogs. Finally, we met Alfie the Kinkajou. He was a mammal who was covered in lots of soft fur and had a very long pink tongue. The children thought that he was incredibly cute.

   

  The children were very brave today. They all sat brilliantly allowing the animals to feel safe and respected during their visit. Later in the week, the children all wrote a recount of the visit during their English lessons. 

   

  As a school, we very much appreciate our brilliant Greswold PTA for funding this curriculum enhancement, which really helped the children to immerse themselves within their Science learning. 

  

• Jam-packed House Point assembly helps to finish a very busy half term!

  Fri 12 Dec 2025

  Celebrating pupils' out-of-school achievements was one of the highlights for this morning's House Point assembly.  Their talents, experiences, curiosity and courage were a wonderful example to all the children.

   

  Mr Hornsey also shared the answers to his Geography / trainer brand quiz whilst giving out some extra house points to Sofia in year 6 who went above and beyond when she answered the quiz at home. 

   

  Speed Stacking was also introduced to the children as a new lunchtime option and a great way to refine gross motor skills.  The children were shown a video of world records over the past few years and it's not as easy as you think! 

   

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUwOWIyRhGo

   

  The winners of the PTA Christmas Decoration competition were announced with each winner being given a prize. 

   

  Y3 Sparrows won an attendance certificate for the most improved attendance this half term while Y6 Cedars remain out in front for the class with the best overall attendance so far in the whole school. 

   

  St Andrew's edged ahead in the House Point challenge scoring an impressive 53 points during the half term. However, there's plenty of time for the other houses to catch them up! 

  

• More exploits from our talented pupils outside of school!

  Fri 12 Dec 2025

  We have just learned about the out-of-school success of another of our pupils, Frankie from year 3.  He has just performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) at Symphony Hall.  What an achievment to perform with such a world famous company but to do it on such an amazing stage as the Symphony Hall is something that we're sure he and his family will remember forever. 

   

  Well done Frankie, everyone at Greswold is very proud of you.

  

• Greswold staff enjoy Christmas Jumper Day!

  Fri 12 Dec 2025

  Thursday 11th December marked National Christmas Jumper Day which all the Greswold staff helped to celebrate.  £75 was raised by staff for the Save the Children charity.  The jumpers are becoming more and more unique too!