WINSTON WAY ACADEMY PUPILS PUT DOWN THEIR PENS FOR NATIONAL EVENT

SuperUser Account / 07 December 2020 / Categories: Uncategorized

Pupils enjoy annual ‘No Pens Day Wednesday’ event with exciting day of spoken language activities

Last week, pupils at Winston Way Academy worked on their spoken language skills through a day of fun and educational activities inspired by ‘No Pens Day Wednesday’.

Joining the pupils in the initiative were children at United Learning’s three other primary academies in East London – Goresbrook School, Salisbury Manor Primary School and Walthamstow Primary Academy – all of whom put down their pens and pledged not to write throughout the special day.

Run by national children’s communications charity ‘I CAN’, ‘No Pens Day Wednesday’ is an annual event that encourages children to focus on learning through spoken language and listening. As well as giving pupils the opportunity to enjoy new, pens-free activities, the day is designed to develop the essential speaking and listening skills that children need to learn how to better read and write, manage their emotions and develop friendships.

Over the course of the day, pupils of all ages at Winston Way Academy took part in a range of engaging activities without making use of any pens. In their maths lesson, pupils in Year 1 worked on comparing numbers by carefully cutting out comparison symbols and gluing them onto their worksheets. Also in maths, Year 2s used arrays where they worked on their multiplication patterns with colourful counters and other objects.

Further up the school, School Councillors in Year 4 took their Council meeting virtual, digitally recording ideas for how they might improve the academy instead of writing them down. Likewise, no pens were to be seen in Year 6 where pupils created their own props and developed their body language to put on an exciting performance of Macbeth.

David Ellison, Executive Principal across Goresbrook School, Salisbury Manor Primary School and Winston Way Academy said:

“It was fantastic to see children across our East London primary academies enjoy the day and try something new with their learning. I know that our staff also enjoyed the chance to think creatively in order to deliver engaging lessons without the children using pens or pencils. As always, they rose to the challenge.

“Giving our pupils access to fun opportunities like this is part of how we deliver an Education with Character across our group of schools. This means that, as well as giving them the essential literacy and numeracy skills they need to be successful, we help our pupils develop into good listeners and confident communicators.”