Welcome to our TILT news page. Here you will find out what has been happening within our TILT family of schools - don't forget to take a look at our Trust Newsletters page for further information. We are incredibly proud of The Island Learning Trust community and are committed to sharing with you our exciting news and events as they happen.

• More cricket for Years 1 and 2...

  Wed 27 Jul 2022

  We had another great day of weather at Bapchild Cricket Club for the year 1+2 Rapid Fire Tournament. This tournament saw 10 teams full of young sporting talent ready to put their hearts and souls into their performance. Our children were outstanding throughout, in both their ability and their exemplary behaviour. For a team that had never played together before we progressed through the tournament at a rate of knots, only losing one of our games by 3 runs!! We then played the same team in the final and drew! Making us joint 1st overall. What an experience and what an achievement for such a young group of children!

  

• Work Experience for Sunny Bank's Year 6 pupils...

  Wed 27 Jul 2022

  At Sunny Bank, Year 6 were participating in a Work Experience week and were given a range of jobs around the school including: Gardeners, Assistant Headteachers, Caretakers, Forest School Assistants and Reading Assistants to name but a few. Pupils had to apply by completing application forms and attending interviews! Following that process, they were then assigned different jobs. The children have taken their roles and responsibilities seriously and have been doing a fantastic  job around school!

  

• Halfway's Spud Buds

  Wed 27 Jul 2022

  Halfway have just completed a 4 week programme called Spud Buds, which was organised by Sheppey Matters. 6 OAPs (we referred to them as VIPs) came in each week and were paired up with one of our Year 5 children.  Each week they prepared, cooked and ate a meal together, under the guidance of the Community chef.   At the end the children and  VIPs exchanged presents and have made a great bond.  The children received pen pal packs and we are encouraging them to write to their VIP.  We have set up a method for exchange for the letters so that no addresses are exchanged.

   

  

• The TILT family celebrate our Queen's Platinum Jubilee in style...

  Fri 10 Jun 2022

  The staff and pupils at Minster, Sunny Bank and Halfway all enjoyed a whole host of activities to celebrate our amazing Queen's Platinum Jubilee. At Minster, the children created an incredible historic learning wall - the children made images of significant events that happened during each decade of the Queen's reign, which can be seen outside the hall. They also painted a ceramic tile each and a beautiful array of designs were produced including crowns, castles, palaces and of course, Corgis! Picnics, dancing, dressing up and teacher's doing egg and spoon races...The most entertaining highlight has to be the 'Nominate A Teacher To Splat' event where poor Mrs Payne had a bucket of goo poured all over her by Mr Pye. What a sight that was...!

  

• Mental Health Awareness Week at Minster...

  Fri 10 Jun 2022

  Minster-in-Sheppey Primary School have recently held a special Mental Health Awareness week, to support their ongoing commitment to promoting the importance of positive mental health and wellbeing across their community.

   

  This year the school community explored the theme of loneliness, with pupils learning that we can all find ourselves experiencing loneliness at points in our lives and that loneliness is very different to being alone.

  Pupils also considered strategies which they could use to support themselves if they experienced loneliness.

   

  The week started with a special assembly to introduce the theme with daily curriculum activities following. Many of the activities highlighted the importance of connecting with ourselves and others.  Activities across the week including appreciation circles where pupils voiced what they appreciated about others in their class.

  

• Halfway Reconnect with a funding opportunity...

  Tue 31 May 2022

  Halfway Houses Primary School applied for a fund called Reconnect Adventures through Kent County Council that provides children with additional trips to make up for lost learning opportunities during the Covid-19 Pandemic. They are sending their Young Carers to Canterbury Cathedral for the day and their Year 3 cohort are heading off for a day of adventure training and outdoor learning with Creed Outdoor Learning Trust. Canterbury Cathedral also wanted to contribute so the children's experience will be heavily subsidised. They cannot wait and Halfway would like to say a big THANK YOU - they are very grateful!

  

• Sunny Bank new build news...

  Tue 31 May 2022

  The building work continues at Sunny Bank and as you can see from the pictures, the building and interior spaces are really starting to take shape.

  

• Blue Sky introduce Shakespeare to Halfway's Year 5 pupils...

  Tue 31 May 2022

  Year 5 had a fabulous Shakespearean performance from Blue Sky Theatre, which was then followed by three acting workshops to start their Literacy focus this term.  Pupils were enthused by their passion for the story and everyone learnt so much! Did you know that a witch’s cat was called a ‘familiar’?!

  

• ROARSOME pupils at Minster 'Wear it Wild'

  Thu 19 May 2022

  Beautiful and majestic animals were seen and heard as the pupils at Minster took part in a rather unusual 'Wear it Wild' day. This special event was organised by Mrs Johnson and Mrs Pratt and the school's Eco-council aimed to raise awareness of the World Wildlife Fund work and in particular their work linked to the protection of the planet.

   

  Pupils and staff were invited to show their wild side by dressing up as their favourite animal, wearing animal print clothing or painting their face. Lions, elephants, peacocks, flamingos, sloths, zebras and even sharks were seen strutting their stuff around school!

   

  During the day, pupils' learning focused on the growing threat to the natural world and our precious wildlife. Pupils also kindly gave donations for the WWF.

   

  A big thank you to everyone for taking part!

  

• Sunny Bank welcomes a new Head of School...

  Thu 28 Apr 2022

  A brand new term saw the arrival of a brand new Head of School at Sunny Bank - we would like to welcome Mr Jack Allen to the TILT team and look forward to working with him. Jack brings a wealth of experience with him, is passionate about school improvement and ensuring our pupils develop into confident lifelong learners. You can read his full biography on this website on the Leadership Team page.