Nishkam Primary School Wolverhampton

Award ceremonies will be taking place to mark annual achievements across our schools. Pupils will receive awards for virtues including faith and service. Congratulations to all our pupils this academic year. We wish you all the best and thank you to all pupils, staff and parents for being part of our Nishkam journey.

New Beginnings - Transitions
Pupils and staff commemorate the school year on the love and forgiveness that have been displayed, and hard work in new learning, and to support all pupils with the next step, whether this is to the next school or the next year group. Pupils consider how they may adapt to change and be optimistic about the future.

Pupils last week learnt the principles of the Peace Charter for Forgiveness and Reconciliation and the importance in the way we live our lives locally and globally. https://www.charterforforgiveness.org/

Pupils this week explore one of the golden threads “Trust In God” and how famous individuals (or situations) where their belief in God (and virtuous living) has influenced them.

Today is International Day of Families. It is a time to remember the crucial role the family plays in our world’s cultures and societies. What does your family mean to you? Pupils learn about the importance of family and the role of children within this unit.

Pupils learn the place of democracy in Britain promoting British values. This week to tie in with national election week and the rule of law. Pupils understand mutual respect for those with different faiths and beliefs and those without faith

On Mother Earth Day, it’s a reminder to ourselves - more than ever - that we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet. Let’s promote harmony with nature and the Earth.

Awe: It is awe-inspiring that we have been created by God and no one else on Earth is like us.
Kindness: I help the earth by looking after all of God’s creations.

During Ramadan, Muslims devote themselves to their faith in order to become closer to God. Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which form the basis of how Muslims live their lives. The other pillars are faith, prayer, charity and making the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
Wishing all our Muslim families a blessed Eid.

We participated in a Vaisakhi Enrichment day on Thursday 30th March. Through a range of events and activities pupils explored and learnt all about the importance of Vaisakhi.
Some of the activities included:

- Whole school visit to the Gurudwara including a talk about the events in history commemorating Vaisakhi. We sang our shabhads (Sikh hymns) that we had been learning in school and sat together to share in the Langar (Guru's free kitchen to all).
- We learnt in detail all about Vaisakhi and participated in a range of arts and crafts activities.

It was a very enjoyable day for all pupils, staff and parents, whilst also very informative. Thank you to all staff and parents for their continued support and co-operation.

The celebration of Vaisakhi is the commemorating of the creation of the Khalsa for Sikhs. Vaisakhi is celebrated each year to mark the initial initiation ceremony which took place in India in 1699. 5 beloved ones were chosen as part of the first initiation ceremony introduced by the 10th guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

Bhai Daya Singh Ji – compassion
Bhai Dharam Singh Ji – righteousness
Bhai Mokham Singh Ji – detachment/contentment
Bhai Himmat Singh Ji – courage (inner and outer strength)
Bhai Sahib Singh Ji -Leadership

Happy Vaisakhi!

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead, Easter is a time to reflect, evaluate and redirect ourselves. It is an opportunity to start afresh and forgive.

World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Pupils honour the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.

On International Women’s day, pupils celebrate the role model of women in faith in history.
They are all role models rooted in faith and demonstrate virtues in leadership in daily lives.

On World Book Day we celebrate a passion for reading. ‘It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it’. Oscar Wilde

During the 40 days of lent Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Lent is marked by fasting, both food and festivities. Pupils gain an understanding to love is to sacrifice something important for others.

Pupils this week learn the importance of Safer Internet through Safer internet day which aims to make a safer and better internet for everyone, especially children and young people. This year Its theme is: ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’.

In Interfaith Harmony Week, people of faith recognise the beauty of diversity in all God’s creation and our different faith paths. In doing so, we recognise the divine spark in every single one of us.

The Nishkam Passport virtues are an extremely precious gift expressed through our faith traditions. Understanding and learning to practise these virtues provides us with a toolkit for navigating through life. There will be inevitable mistakes we make along the way. However, these become golden opportunities to learn lessons from and remember to forgive ourselves as well as all those we have felt might have wronged us – just as God forgives us!

This week pupils commemorate Siri Guru Gobind Singh ji, the 10th Sikh Guru and father of the Khalsa with amrit sanchar. We remember his example of all that is righteous, never letting go of virtue, even in the face of extreme circumstances.

As part of the Nishkam curriculum, pupils learn about the three golden threads. This week pupils consider Peace/collaboration vs blame/conflict/war.

Happy New Year to all our Nishkam Family, may God bless all with light, love, health, happiness and eternal optimism.

During this period of time in December, Sikhs across the World remember the 4 sons of the 10th Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, are known as ‘Chaar Sahibzaade’ – Ajit Singh Ji, Jujhar Singh Ji, Zorawar Singh Ji and Fateh Singh Ji. The 4 sons upheld righteousness and sacrificed their lives in 1704 and it is still remembered as one of the greatest sacrifices made. As part of our ‘Prayers for Peace’ homework, please take some time to contemplate today.

Merry Christmas to all pupils, parents and staff celebrating today. Today is a reminder of little things that bring others happiness. For Christians, it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Year 3 had a fantastic trip to the Exotic Zoo. They began the day by taking part in an educational lesson where they got to see a variety of exotic animals. They got to see a Madagascan millipede and cockroach, a skunk, a python snake and an armadillo. They were then able to visit the different areas of the zoo. They visited the rainforest, the nocturnal area and the farmyard. They even got to feed rabbits! It was a fantastic learning experience and enabled children to put their science knowledge into action.

Our Early Years were lucky enough to visit Santa at Dudley Zoo. Children demonstrated the virtue of respect whilst representing Nishkam School, their behaviour was impeccable!

The children saw some wonderful Zoo animals and Santa’s reindeer too! They walked so far, their little legs were tired but it was worth it!

Thank you Stuart Anderson MP for coming to our school and learning about Virtue Education.

Twenty six schools in Wolverhampton were awarded Anti-Bullying Charter Status at a ceremony held at Civic Centre. The awards were given to schools who demonstrate their commitment to preventing and dealing with bullying among young people https://orlo.uk/U4A8p

To mark anti bullying week, we are really humbled and honoured to receive the Anti Bullying Charter Award at the awards ceremony which took place in Mayor's office in the Civic Centre this evening. This is in recognition of all the hard work and our virtues led approach by our Nishkam family. Our Head Girl, Sukhroop and Head Boy, Tegh represented our school this evening.

It was a fantastic experience for our pupils at the Molineux, we are grateful to the Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation for hosting us!

For Remembrance Day we had Reverend Ray Gaston lead assemblies for Key Stage One and Two. They learnt why we celebrate Remembrance Day, the meaning of the different poppies and it opened a discussion about Peace vs Conflict which is one of our Golden Threads. In the afternoon, all year groups participated in an Art Enrichment. Reception, Keys Stage One and Lower Key Stage Two produced different pieces of work based on the symbol of remembrance - the Poppy. Years 5 and 6 created some beautiful pastel silhouette pictures of soldiers.

“We will remember them.”

The West Midlands Fire Service visited year 4 today.

The children were engrossed in learning about fire safety. They learned about the causes of fire, how to prevent fires, dangers of hoax calls and how to keep themselves safe.

Year 4 were very lucky, they not only learned about the tools and equipment that was stored in the fire truck but we also got to sit in the fire truck and try out the water hose.

The pictures perfectly sum up how engaged Year 4 were and how much fun they all had. 🚒🔥👨‍🚒

Our Nishkam pupils, staff and parents celebrated Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Gurpurab today. All pupils dressed in their cultural or smart clothes, visited the Gurudwara to pray and share the shabads that they had practised, with parents and the congregation. They all sat together to share in the langar before returning to school to continue their Enrichment day. Each class learnt about Guru Nanak Dev Ji's life then continued with a arts and crafts activity. We hosted Sacred Heart Primary School from Birmingham, who also learnt about Gurpurb.

Such a wonderful day. Thank you to all parents and staff for their support and co-operation.

Year 6 have had a fantastic trip to Wolverhampton Molineux today after being invited as part of Literacy week. During their visit, they got to have a tour of the stadium where they were lucky enough to sit in the box and experience the view from where the chairman would sit. They also had the opportunity to go into the Wolves dressing room (and even saw the players' shirts hanging up ready for Saturday's match!) Another aspect of the trip was a workshop with the award-winning author Peter Kalu, who read his new book to them, with the children role playing as he read. They were even lucky enough to each have a copy of his new book. Finally, the children had an insight into the role of a Sports journalist and discovered the skills and attributes needed to have a career in Sports.

It was an extremely insightful and fun experience!

Thank you to the University of Wolverhampton and the Stem Response Team for a really informative session.

Happy Bandi Chorr and Diwali to all our families celebrating today.
Before we broke up for the holidays our Nishkam pupils also celebrated and learnt all about this religious event in the Sikh and Hindu faiths through engaging in a range of arts and crafts activities. It is a celebration of good overcoming evil and light over darkness. We explored the origins of the festivals and how and why they are significant. Every child took home a decorated diva lamp so be sure to light it tonight.

Have a lovely time celebrating together.

Year 6 have had a fantastic day at Cannock Chase Museum today where they have experienced all things World War 2. Their activities included: role play to delve into how children felt at different points of their evacuation journey, a visit to a 1940's living room to see what life was like for families during the war, a workshop that focused on artifacts from the war and they even got to experience what would happen during an air raid (including wearing a gas mask and rushing to find cover)!

The leaders at Cannock Chase were extremely impressed with the children's knowledge of World War 2 and complimented the children's curiosity.

Well done Year 6!