Windy Nook: a school and community at War
1914-1918
WW1 Project and its Legacy
At Windy Nook Primary we have always valued the history of our locality, so we are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund First World War; then and now grant to help us investigate Windy Nook: A School and Community at War 1914-18.
In 1914 the village was a still a distinct Edwardian community, ‘occupying’, according to Whellan’s 1894 Directory, ‘an elevated and exposed position’ within Felling Parish. The largest employers were local mines and quarries. Our school opened in 1883 and played a prominent part in local life. During the summer term 2018 our Year 6 children, led by Mr Hawdon and Mr Brown explored the impact of that terrible conflict on local people.
This project had a profound and lasting effect on everyone at Windy Nook Primary School; therefore, and quite rightly so, we have decided to continue to contribute to this page. It is our tribute to the fallen men and women who sacrificed theirs lives to give us the British values that we cherish: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths.
Explore & Research
Learning through…
Field Trips
We have field trips planned to Heugh Battery, Hartlepool, Newcastle University and St Alban’s Church.
Local Archives
We’ll be looking at the old school log books and using military service records, CWGC resources, newspapers, maps and census materials.
Expert Visitors
Artist Kate Hancock, ICT expert Martin Bailey and WW1 re-enactor Sgt Chapman will be visiting school to help our Y6 children.
Project Resources
Trade
Directories
Windy Nook
Hero
Finding John
Brown King
Leading Up
To WW1
School Log
Books
WW1 Links
Autumn Cooking and Activities in Nursery
This week, the children have been exploring autumn, harvest and seasonal change through a range of pumpkin and apple experiences. As part of our Autumn Cooking Week, the children made pumpkin soup during group time and apple crumble using apples picked from one of our...
Owls Homework and Spellings 23.10.2026
Owls homework this week is as follows: Grammar, punctuation and Spelling– CGP book pages 5 and 6 'ing' verbs and adjectives READING All children should be completing daily reading – diaries will be checked on Fridays. If your child reads 4 times in a week and an adult...
Nightingales Homework 23.10.26
This week’s homework for Y2 Nightingales is - CPG Comprehension pages 3 and 4 Please return to school by Thursday.
Computing in Lower Key Stage 2
This half term, our Lower Key Stage 2 children have been exploring branching databases! The children have been developing their computational thinking skills by sorting and classifying information using questions with yes/no answers. They have learnt how to organise...
Celebrating Creativity at Crochet Club
This half term, we have enjoyed a very successful Crochet Club with a group of enthusiastic Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. Some children joined the club with a little experience of crocheting, while others were complete beginners. We started by learning the chain stitch,...
Small Donations Making a Big Difference for the Gateshead Foodbank
Our School Council is delighted with the amount of food and toiletries collected for Gateshead Foodbank so far. Thank you to all our children and families for supporting this important community project. Due to the wonderful response, we are extending the donation...
Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics
Our Year 5/6 boys’ and girls’ teams put in fantastic performances at Sportshall Athletics. Every child took part in both a track and a field event during the afternoon, giving their all across a range of events. There were some brilliant results, with the teams...
Autumn Adventures and Natural Art
Reception have been exploring the beautiful changes that autumn brings. During our autumn walk around school, the children carefully looked for signs of the season, spotting colourful leaves, fallen treasures and changes in the environment. We then learned...
🔬 A HUGE THANK YOU TO ARMSTRONG PRIESTLEY! 🧪 We are delighted to share that Armstrong Priestley has generously donated £200 to support the exciting, hands-on science and STEM activities for our children during our whole-school Science Week in July...
Snowdrops’ Homework 16/10/26
Year 3 Maths - pages 22 and 23 English - pages 20 and 21 Year 4 Maths - pages 8 and 9 English - pages 22 and 23 Due 23/10/26
Wear Red Day 2026
Today, Windy Nook was a sea of red as our wonderful pupils and staff came together to support Wear Red Day, organised by Show Racism the Red Card! We proudly wore red to show our support for the campaign and to raise awareness of racism and the importance of...
You Be You: Celebrating What Makes Us Special in Nursery
Continuing our diversity theme, we enjoyed reading You Be You by Linda Kranz and talking about how all of the fish in the story are different and unique, just like we are. The children made links between the colourful fish in the book and themselves, discussing their...
Image credits
Banner image: Imperial War Museum Photograph Archive Collection
Response Memorial: Photograph by Jacqueline Banerjee from the Victorian Web
Inside Heugh Battery: Paul Buckingham [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons