rInside Victoria Park

Prima y Academy

Autumn Edition 2015

Our Big Adventureto RAF Cosford!

The 3rd AnnualVPA Bake Off!

Meet the New VPZine Team!

The Big Adventure!The Big Adventure!This year our Big Adventure took place at

RAF Cosford. It was a spectacular day! We travelled to the RAF museum as part of our NICER Challenge pack. We travelled by coach along the M5 motorway and in no time we were there.

Once we arrived, we went to visit the ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ section, it was amazing. The ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ was where all the men who were going to battle were trained to fly planes. We also saw old artefacts for example: gas masks and incendiary bombs. I learned a lot of new and interesting facts there. At this stage we also went inside a real air raid shelter!

Next, we saw some different planes and tanks too. We explored the huge hangar where these vehicles were stored. There were many different models and they all had different jobs to do in the war.

After, we went to the crew room to eat, this is where soldiers and pilots would go to come up with new ideas for building planes and tanks.

After lunch, we went to Hanger 1 where I found some old war photographs of men who had been fighting during World War 2! We looked at some historic cars, helicopters, tanks, guns and bombs.

While we were in Hanger 1, we found a large bag which had yellow and purple colours on it. My friends and I had a look inside to see if we could find out a bit more. To our surprise we found: flip flops, a white shirt, and headbands amongst other things. We thought if we took it back to school we could investigate further.

Before we left the museum, some of us made rockets for a competition. We all got into pairs and loaded then into launchers. My friend pressed a button and a bright green light flashed and a huge BANG was heard! It went so far that it landed on one of the planes!

I loved my day at RAF Cosford – it really was amazing!

By Rogi Class 5B

On Tuesday 15th September, 5E joined the whole school for their Big Adventure. Our journey took us to RAF Cosford. While we were there we saw huge bomber aircrafts and hangars with various museum equipment on display. After our arrival, we went to the Cold War section; it was packed full of attacking vehicles. After that, we went to see the amazing, colossal planes and jets.

Later on, we went to the second hangar, here we got the opportunity to watch a movie called Air Fighters. We visited the 4D cinema and had an amazing time. Next, we made our way to the Fun ‘n’ Flight section. We spent a while looking at and taking part in all the different activities. Then, it was time for lunch – we had all built up a really big appetite!

After lunch, we came across an unattended, unusual bag! The bag had no name tag on it

so we decided to have a little peek inside to see if we could check for any identification. After searching in the bag, we found out that the belongings were that of an Australian man who often visited Portugal.

We were then given the choice to take part in an activity or to visit the gift shop. I chose the activity where we made awesome rockets, while another class made parachutes. It was almost time to leave RAF Cosford. A great day was had by all!

For some reason we had picked up the bag and brought it back to school with us. At this point I hadn’t realised we’d be doing some work in connection with this. More amazingly, our teacher Mr English, actually contacted the man whom the bag belonged to as he was going to return it!

By Caroline Smith Class 5E

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The Big Adventure!The Big Adventure!RAF Cosford

We travelled all the way to RAF Cosford on Tuesday 15th September 2015. It was our whole school ‘Big Adventure’ it fitted in well with our NICER Challenge pack all about WW2.

Once we arrived, we ventured to the ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ exhibition; it was really cool! There were so many amazing artefacts to look at such as: old gas masks, incendiary bombs and gas rattles. I learned a lot of interesting information; things about the war and battles that I didn’t already know! I never knew that there were such things as air raid shelters and that people had to hide in them when sirens went off. Sometimes people had to hide in the dark for days on end!

After that, we arrived at where the old planes and tanks were stored. We were allowed to explore the museum. It was so interesting and very exciting. There were lots of information boards scattered around the Hangar – we all

learned so much!Later, we made our way to the ‘Fun and

Flight’ section. There were lots of practical science experiments here, where you could actually take part in! I tried out many of the activities here. It was awesome!

Some hours later, we moved on to Hanger one. Here, we found a bag that had been left by a man called Brad Logan. Through research, we found out that he is currently living in Australia.

At the end of the day, we visited the special 4D theatre. We watched a really great movie which was shown in 4D. It was a fantastic experience!

It was all over in a flash and then it was time to make our way back to school. I would love to go back to RAF Cosford, as there was so much I didn’t get to see.

By Fatou Demba Class 5B

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On Tuesday 15th September, the whole school went on a visit to RAF Cosford. All of the classes had different routes to take and various things to look at and take part in. In Year 5, we noticed different numbered hangars with old aircraft and artefacts inside. While we were on our way to our first stop, we were able to have a closer look at some of the huge aircrafts on display. The planes were humongous! Some were quite colourful and some were very plain. I was totally amazed, I was so excited at what I could see! Our class had taken their iPads so that we could take some photographs of the things that we could see. It was very clear at the start of the day that we would be seeing many interesting things and learning lots of new facts.

First of all, we went to see some weapons and different soldier’s uniforms. We also saw some petite statues and learned facts about what they were doing there. I did get a bit scared seeing the big weapons, but I soon realized there was nothing to worry about!

Next, we saw more gigantic planes. It seemed that these were even bigger than the ones we had seen earlier. I was able to read lots more interesting facts from the information boards found around the hangars. I also noticed an elevated manikin, dressed in a wartime pilot’s uniform. It was GREAT fun!

By this time, we were all ready for our lunch! We ate our food in the crew’s room. After lunch we all made our way to the ‘Fun and Flight’ room. There were lots of fun activities to take

part in such as: floating games, device games and some games which involved your arms and your legs. We spent quite a while in this area testing our knowledge and skills against each other. Shortly after that, it was time for the BEST part out of the whole trip! We made our way (in small groups) into the 4D cinema. It was amazing and so much fun! We got sprayed with water, felt air in our faces and saw laser beams. It felt just like the 4D animation was going to hit us, but it never did. Sadly, the fun eventually came to an end and it was time for the other groups to have a turn.

While we were looking at more planes and equipment in the museum, Mr English spotted a black bag. We all gathered around to look and listen to what he had found. Once the bag was open, our teacher showed us what was inside. One at a time, he began pulling out different items. There were a lot of funny things such as: headbands, a slipper, 1 sock and a map of Portugal. I wondered if Mr English was going to Portugal. He wasn’t, so we decided to take the bag with us back to school for further investigations. After finding the bag, it was almost time to go back to school. A few of us visited the gift shop; I brought a sparkly pen.

When we got on the coach to make our way back to school, lots of us were talking about what we thought was the best part of the day… We all decided it was definitely the 4D Cinema experience.

By Ammaarah Ashfaq Class 5E

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This year our Big Adventure took us to RAF Cosford near Wolverhampton. We travelled to the RAF Museum on Tuesday 15th September 2015. RAF Cosford is an air force base/museum where they still train RAF cadets today! Luckily for Year 6, this visit linked in well with our challenge pack at the time, which was WW2!

I have to say that this was an outstanding learning experience as we saw many interesting things and picked up lots of relevant information. We saw a WW2 Veteran who had survived the war and who was showing us his trophies. He was also collecting money for injured civilians who had worked in the forces.

At RAF Cosford, we were able to take part in some really cool activities. We found out about gas masks, food rationing and air raid shelters. Daanish, Shanayah and Farid became air raid wardens and WW2 civilians. There was a really hilarious bit where Farid, who is

the smallest person in our class, had the most equipment placed and crammed all over his body! We were able to experience how an air raid actually felt; the lady who was showing us around the WW2 classroom turned on the air raid siren and we all had to vacate the classroom and hide in an air raid bomb shelter – it was pitch black!

We got to see helicopters, tanks, and many different and amazing sorts of planes. I think the most exciting aspect of the day was when we visited the outstanding 4D cinema experience… It was completely entertaining! There was smoke, water, the chairs shook and banged and bumped and the 4D images were awesome! We were all crazily jumping and screaming in our seats!

I would definitely recommend RAF Cosford to anyone and I would award it 5 stars.

By Tanjit Dhesi Class 6F

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This year, Our Big Adventure took Victoria Park Primary Academy to RAF Cosford, the whole school made their way along the motorway to the northern part of Wolverhampton. This wonderful learning experience about the World War, over many years, looked at different aspects of the war. Some of us got to see a veteran (a person who survived through the war)

Activities at RAF Cosford included: games and learning experiences. 6F had a great experience while we visited a WW2 classroom. We were able to look at and handle bombs. We were also shown what a sitting room and kitchen would look like, this included the furniture and utensils that would have been found in WW2. We listened to an air raid

siren and we pretended we were experiencing a bomb attack during a blackout. We had to hide in a darkened room just outside the classroom. We learned so much about life in WW2 - Shanayah and Farid got the opportunity to try on uniforms and WW2 equipment; the funny thing was that Farid was given the most equipment to wear even though he is the tiniest in the class!

The most exciting part of the trip was the 4D experience. It was great fun and it helped us to understand what the war was like. I would thoroughly recommend going to RAF Cosford as you can learn so many interesting things. It would be a fun day out for the whole family!

By Sanvir Khera Class 6F

As part of our school NICER curriculum we based our Bake Off

entry on our WW2 Challenge pack. We baked a cake and turned

it into the shape of an air raid shelter. We decorated it so that it

took on the resemblance of a WW2 ‘Dig for Victory’ garden. We were

inspired to produce this design by visiting RAF Cosford as part of

the school’s Big Adventure. Our cake was made to an authentic WW2

rationing recipe for a syrup loaf cake. We also added cinnamon as

our spice. The cake didn’t contain any sugar or eggs in the recipe as

these ingredients were rationed in the war. To help make our cake

more appetizing we used syrup.

We all helped to make the cake; weighing the ingredients and

mixing them all together. Once the mixture had been put into the

loaf tins we went along to the kitchen and Norman our chef, put

them into the oven to bake. We could smell the wonderful aroma

once they had been cooked. We had to wait for our cakes to cool

before we could start to decorate them.

We all had a turn at making a choice of carrots, peas in a pod,

cauliflowers or cabbages out of icing. We used Bourbon biscuits to

make a fence and crushed up Oreo biscuits for the soil. We painted

food colouring onto the icing on the air raid shelter. We all worked

really hard! On the day of the final, the judges awarded us and 3A

joint KS2 winners. We won for appearance and 3A for the best tasting

bake. We knew ours wouldn’t taste very appetizing due to the lack of

sugar and eggs, but we were true to our Big Adventure challenge!

By Linda Amin Class 6F

As part of our NICER curriculum, 6F based their Bake Off entry on an authentic cake recipe. It was a rationed set of ingredients as it didn’t contain eggs or sugar. We designed our cake on a WW2 air raid shelter ‘Dig for Victory’ garden. As part of the ingredients we added syrup to replace the sugar element (this would have been done during the war). The recipe included very little milk as this was rationed too, therefore the cake was extremely economical to make. Once we had made our cake, we then had to decorate it. We crushed Oreo biscuits to represent mud and dirt for the garden. To stand the perimeter of the fence up, we used Bourbon biscuits. The whole of 6F worked collaboratively and extremely hard to make the syrup loaf. The judges LOVED 6F’s presentation and 3A’s mouth-watering taste of their Chinese spice chocolate cake filled with French Chantilly cream. This year first place was a tie – congratulations went to 3A and 6F!By Sanvir Khera Class 6F

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This year, for VPA’s Great Bake Off, 6F baked an authentic war time syrup loaf; which replicated a WW2 air raid shelter including a ‘Dig for Victory’ garden. Everyone in the class had used their collaboration and empathy and listening tools to work together closely to portray everyone’s ideas. 6F had incorporated cinnamon into the recipe as we needed to add a spice. This recipe was taken directly from WW2 as it was economical to make as it only used very little milk. It had no eggs or butter as these ingredients were rationed in the war! The judges were bowled over by 6F’s presentation skills, whilst 3A completely impressed the judges with the taste of their luscious chocolate spice cake filled with Chantilly cream.Well done to the joint winners for 2015.By Tanjit Dhesi Class 6F

I said as the scores were totalled. Oh, you don’t know what this is again. Well I’ll obviously tell you now. It was the moment we had all been waiting for… The third annual VPA Bake Off!

All our research had taken place and it was finally the day for us to cook our food. We knew it had the potential to be another winning dish for 5E. Could we make it three years in a row? A hat trick?

This year, 5E decided to make a Portuguese slow cooked vegetable soup. This linked to our Big Adventure, as while we were at RAF Cosford, we spotted a bag which we later found out belonged to an Australian man named Brad Logan who often travels to Portugal.

During our preparations, we had to boil water and place it in a slow cooker. Then, we had to chop up the onions, carrots and sweet potatoes. After, we needed to pour all of the ingredients along with vegetable stock into the slow cooker. We also had to add in some spices such as: piri-piri, cinnamon sticks and cumin.

Lastly, we then had to let all of the ingredients cook for approximately 1.5 hours. Next, we chopped up a butternut squash (a very hard vegetable to chop) and courgettes; finally we had to put both the courgettes and the butternut squash into a bowl and sprinkle the pieces with the spices, bit by bit, then we added the vegetables to the slow cooker and allowed that to cook for 2.5 hours.

Then we were finally ready to let the world see our creation. It was probably one of the most anticipated times in my life! That’s right… it was judging day; we got the opportunity to see if 5E could win three years in a row!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be… 5E had lost this year’s bake off! Sad faces all round – we wanted to walk away with the title once again. Well done to class 6F and 3A joint winners.

By Zain Din Class 5E

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Back row left to right: Tanjit Dhesi Class 6F, Chante Francis Class 6F, Zaigham Khan Class 6A

Middle Row: Sanvir Khera Class 6F, Linda Amin Class 6F, Caroline Smith Class 5E, Rogi Bajwa Class 5B

Front Row: Ammaarah Akhtar Class 5E, Fatou Demba Class 5B, Zain Din Class 5EChante Francis Class 6W

Sanvir Khera Class 6F

FATOU DEMBACLASS 5B Zaigham khan

CLASS 6A

Linda Amin

Class 6F

I wanted to join VPZine so that I could showcase my superb literacy skills. I think that I have been chosen to join the team because I am a great role model for the school. I take part in: Ballot Street Spice, I am a CLEAR Advisor and now I’m a member of the VPZine team. Although my writing is very fluent and I am able to use a range of VCOP to a high standard, I want to be able to improve my skills ready for when I sit my SAT’s tests in May 2016. I am very approachable and I am able to get my points across in a clear, audible manner. Therefore, conducting interviews, speaking to people and writing articles in the magazine will be fun and interesting.

The reasons why I wanted to join VPZine:• I wanted to improve my English skills.• I have a good imagination.• It has always been known to be a really fun after school club. • I can use my creative skills. • Being involved in VPZine could definitely help me with my forthcoming writing activities for my SAT’s tests.When I was accepted as a VPZine publicist, I felt really happy and excited because I knew it would help me to improve my English skills. I expect to gain some extra knowledge and techniques to help me with my writing. I enjoy working as part of a group and I am looking forward to embarking on a new adventure.

The reason why I wanted to join VPZine was to be able to improve my English and reading skills. I have always wanted to be able to contribute to the magazine and show my family the work that I have produced at school.

The reasons why I wanted to join VP Zine are because I am very good at all aspects of English work including: spelling, punctuation and grammar. I feel that I have many skills that I can bring to the team!7

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I really wanted to join VPZine because I am good at writing and I wanted to make sure I am able to maintain my high standards. I thought that I might not have been successful because positive things don’t usually happen to me. So I feel incredibly lucky that I have been chosen to be part of the team.

Ammaarah Ashfaq

Class 5ECaroline Smith Class 5E

Zain Din Class 5E

Chante Francis Class 6W

ROGI BajwaCLASS 5B

Linda Amin

Class 6F

Tanjit Dhesi Class 6F

I was so pleased to be invited to join VPZine as I had wanted to join the team for a long time! I knew it would help to develop my writing skills and expand my knowledge. Another reason I wanted to join the club was so that I could see my work published in the school magazine!

I wanted to join the VPZine team because I wanted to be a part of helping to produce a really good magazine. I have an incredibly good imagination and my ICT skills are of a high standard too. I knew that I could share my skills with the team and also improve my English skills at the same time.When I realised that I had been accepted, I was absolutely gobsmacked. However, a tiny part of me was not surprised; as when I was asked to write a piece for Mrs Peart and Miss Akhtar as part of the interview process, I knew my writing was of a high standard! How could they not pick me?

I wanted to join VPZine so that I could showcase my superb literacy skills. I think that I have been chosen to join the team because I am a great role model for the school. I take part in: Ballot Street Spice, I am a CLEAR Advisor and now I’m a member of the VPZine team. Although my writing is very fluent and I am able to use a range of VCOP to a high standard, I want to be able to improve my skills ready for when I sit my SAT’s tests in May 2016. I am very approachable and I am able to get my points across in a clear, audible manner. Therefore, conducting interviews, speaking to people and writing articles in the magazine will be fun and interesting.

The reasons why I wanted to join VPZine were because I wanted to improve my knowledge, my writing skills and spelling in English. I enjoy working as part of a team and look forward to sharing many qualities with the other members of VPZine.

Since I joined the school back in Year 5, I had wondered

what being in VPZine would be like. I had asked some of

the other members and they told me it was a great after

school club. They also said that I would get opportunities to

interview teachers and pupils and that it would help me to

improve my literacy skills.

I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to be involved

in planning future issues of VPZine. I am thrilled that I have

been given this opportunity to work with my friends and

other children in school and such lovely teachers like Mrs

Peart, Miss Akhtar and Sam.

I’ve already learnt some new vocabulary and I have been

able to use these words in my writing in class. I am very

happy that I’ve been given this opportunity so thank you so

much VPZine!

Reasons why I wanted to be in VPZine:1. I wanted to improve my writing

so I could achieve better levels in English.

2. It sounds a cool club to be in.3. I’ve always wanted to write in

the school magazine.4. It is creative and so am I!5. Hopefully, it will help me with

my SAT’s tests.

How I felt when I was accepted as a VPZine publicist…When I was told that I could join VPZine I was SHOCKED and at the same time AMAZED! I couldn’t quite believe I’d been accepted! I knew joining would help my English skills to improve. I actually felt like I was on cloud nine!

VPZine Artwork!VPZine Artwork!Nazi SignTanjit DhesiClass 6F

Big AdventureZain DinClass 5E

BombTanjit Dhesi

Class 6F

4D CinemaCaroline Smith

Class 5E

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Teacher InterviewMiss Collins, 2C

Miss Collins joined VPA as a teacher in January 2015. She took over the teaching of Class 3C when Miss Sconce left to go on her travels around the world. Miss Collins is currently teaching in Class 2C. We enjoyed interviewing her, even if she does like Justin Bieber’s music!

Q1) How did you feel when you first taught 3C after Miss Sconce?

A1) It was a scary experience as I’d never taught Year

3 before, but at the same time I was excited!

Q2) How do you feel as you are now the lead teacher for the subject of Geography?

A2) I felt scared, exited and interested in researching new

things and seeing what can be covered through the NICER

Curriculum – I can’t wait to see where it will all go.

Q3) What is your favourite subject?

A3) I like English as I like reading. I can fully immerse

myself into the text and imagine I’m really there!

Q4) What is your favourite country?

A4) Anywhere hot. People are happy when they

are on holiday getting a suntan.

Q5) What is your favourite colour?

A5) My favourite colour is purple as it’s nice and bright!

Q6) What is your favourite music band or singer?

A6) My favourite singer is Justin Bieber (we all laughed!). He’s back after

a long time off the music scene. He’s older and his songs are better too!

Q7) How did you feel when you first started teaching at VPA?

A7) I felt happy and excited I knew it was a new challenge and I was

coming back to see lots of familiar faces as I did my teacher training here..

Q8) What other career path would you have followed, if you hadn’t become a teacher?

A8) If I hadn’t have become a teacher, I think I’d

have liked to have been a Social Worker.

Q9) What is your favourite food?

A9) My favourite food is chocolate. I like chocolate so

much that I could substitute my meals for it!

Q10) What made you decide to come to this school to work?

A10) I felt that coming back to Victoria Park would be an

exciting opportunity, especially because of the NICER Creative

Curriculum. There is always something different to take part in.

Questions complied by Tanjit Dhesi and Sanvir Khera Class 6F

VPZine Artwork!VPZine Artwork!

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LANDING

WHICH PLANE CAME IN TO LAND SAFELY?

Fly by next time for another exciting edition of VPZine!

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