Willow Grove Primary School

🏫 A Special Thank You to the Mayor of Bedford

🙏 We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Mayor of Bedford, Tom Wootton, for joining us on Friday 12th June 2026 to help bury Willow Grove Primary School's very first time capsule. ⏳

🌱 Since opening its doors in September 2024, Willow Grove has quickly become a thriving and vibrant part of the Wixams community. The creation of this time capsule marks an important milestone in our school's journey and provides a unique opportunity to capture a snapshot of life at Willow Grove in its earliest years.

😊 The children of Willow Grove thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Mayor and were excited to take part in such a significant event in the school's history. His visit made the occasion even more special and helped our pupils understand the importance of preserving memories and artefacts for future generations.

⏳ Time capsules are valuable historical artefacts that preserve memories, experiences and everyday details that might otherwise be forgotten. They offer future generations a fascinating insight into how people lived, learned and worked at a particular moment in history. While we do not expect this capsule to be opened within our lifetime, we hope that when it is eventually discovered, it will provide future children and families with a meaningful connection to the school's beginnings and the community that helped shape it.

📚 The capsule contains a variety of items that tell the story of Willow Grove in 2026, including:

📄 Original planning documents
🗓️ School timetables
👩‍🏫 Staffing information
👧 Contextual pupil data
🍽️ School dinner menus
🎨 A commemorative tea towel featuring pupil artwork
📸 A collection of photographs capturing life around the school

☕🍰 Following the burial of the time capsule, members of the School Council were delighted to have the opportunity to enjoy a drink and cake with the Mayor. During this special meeting, pupils asked a range of thoughtful, interesting and valuable questions about his role as Mayor, his responsibilities and his experiences in public service. 💬 The Mayor was incredibly generous with his time, and the children greatly enjoyed learning more.

💚 We are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to this exciting project and to Mayor Tom Wootton for helping us create a lasting legacy for future generations of Willow Grove pupils and the wider Wixams community. 🌟 We hope that one day, when the time capsule is opened, it will be an amazing discovery for the future children of Wixams and provide a fascinating glimpse into life at Willow Grove Primary School in 2026. ⏳📖✨

🧸🌳🎶🐾🚓

Teddy Bears’ Picnic – EYFS Adventure! 🧸✨

Today, the children in EYFS enjoyed a wonderful Teddy Bears’ Picnic at Bedford Road Primary School with their friends. 🌳😊

The day was filled with exciting activities, including a creative arts and crafts station 🎨, exploring a police car 🚓, soft play fun 🤸, enjoying music and dancing 🎶, and meeting a variety of animals 🐾.

There were plenty of smiles, laughter, and opportunities for the children to learn through play while creating special memories with their friends. 🌟💛

A huge thank you to everyone who helped organise and deliver such a memorable experience for the children. 👏💙

🌟 Happy ! 🌟

Today, Willow Grove Primary School proudly celebrates and thanks all of our incredible teachers and co-professionals.

Their dedication, passion, and commitment make a lasting difference in the lives of our children every single day.

Through inspiring curiosity, nurturing confidence, supporting wellbeing, and helping every child reach their full potential, they play a vital role in shaping bright futures.

Their patience, kindness, creativity, and unwavering support help make Willow Grove Primary School a welcoming and inspiring place where children can learn, grow, and thrive.

The hard work, care, and encouragement shown by staff across the school never go unnoticed. Willow Grove Primary School is incredibly grateful for the countless ways they go above and beyond for our pupils, families, and wider community.

A heartfelt thank you to every teacher and co-professional for everything they do. 💙🍎✨

A huge thank you to Houghton Conquest Parish Council for their generous community grant funding, which has enabled the school to create a fantastic new outdoor learning area. The school would also like to thank the PTA for their support in helping to make this project a reality.

The new space consists of four wooden sleeper benches, a storytelling chair, and six log chairs, creating an inviting outdoor environment for learning, reading, and group activities.

This area will be used by pupils across the school to extend classroom learning into the outdoors, supporting activities linked to Forest School, science, biology, English, and many other curriculum areas. It will also help foster the school's commitment to developing a love of reading, providing a space for adult-led storytelling sessions, supervised independent reading during breaktimes, after-school clubs, and collaborative learning opportunities.

A special thank you also goes to Amy's family from Reception for generously giving their time to help assemble all of the equipment.

This wonderful addition will benefit all pupils and create exciting opportunities for outdoor learning and reading for years to come. 🌳📚✨

Willow Grove is currently looking for a new Level 1 Teaching Assistant to join our team from September. Please see further details on My New Term.

Teaching Assistant - Level 1 - Willow Grove Primary School, Wixams, Bedfordshire Closing date: 8:00am, Thu 25th Jun, 2026. View full details and apply online at MyNewTerm.

🌞✨ Welcome Back, Willow Grove! ✨🌞

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back tomorrow 😊

We hope all children, families, and staff have had a wonderful break and are excited for everything the Summer Term will bring 🌼📚

Here’s to another fantastic term ahead! 👏💛

📚 A gentle reminder for Monday mornings 📚

You are always very welcome to stay and join in with reading on a Monday morning. It is a lovely opportunity for the children to share their love of books and enjoy reading together.

➗📚 Recently, Year 1 have been learning about fractions for the first time!

🔢 The children have been sharing counters equally into groups of 2 and 4 while exploring the language of “half” and “quarter”. ➖➗

🤝💬 Throughout the week, the children showed excellent teamwork and partner discussion skills while working together on their maths activities.

👏 Great collaborative learning, Year 1!

🌼⭐ What a wonderful Summer Term 1 at Willow Grove! ⭐🌼

🎉📖 Willow Grove has had a fantastic half term and would like to say a huge thank you to all the children and staff for their hard work and dedication throughout the term.

🧡 A special thank you also goes to all parents and carers for their continued support.

🍉🌈 We would like to wish everyone a wonderful and well-deserved half-term break!

😄 We look forward to welcoming everyone back after half term on Monday 1st June 2026.

💻✏️ Year 1 have recently been developing their digital writing skills! The children have learned how to open a word processor, find and use the correct keys, and change font sizes and colours. 🖥️⌨️🎨

🐻 They then used their new skills to create missing teddy bear posters!

🌍🦁 The class also celebrated by using the Paint app to create pictures of their favourite animals. 🐼🦒🐯

👏 Fantastic work, Year 1!