Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Screen-free Friday.

  Wed 10 Feb 2021 Headteacher

  On Friday February 5th, as part of Children's Mental Health Week we agreed that every class would be set tasks and challenges that did not involve the use of screens.

  We recognise that excessive screen time is detrimental to children's mental health and wanted to do what we could to show the children alternatives to being on screens. We are also aware that increased screen time means a reduction in physical activity which is harmful to both physical and mental health.

  We know that many children are on screens for leisure, and with on-line learning in place as well this has lead to a great deal of screen time for some children.

  Not using their interactive white boards for the day was a challenge for the teachers as they had to think about other ways of sharing their resources with the children. Some children chose to continue the challenge at home as well as in school whilst others were initially horrified by the idea.

  By the end of the day, the consensus was that it had been an enjoyable day and that it had made both the adults and the children really use their imaginations.

  A big thank you to the parents at home for supporting the various activities undertaken by the children.

  Below are a selection of activities from the day.

   

  

• Jolabokaflod

  Fri 18 Dec 2020

  When I heard about the Icelandic tradition of a Jolabokaflod (book flood), I was really excited. It’s a lovely tradition which involves everyone receiving a book on Christmas Eve and then settling down with a drink of hot chocolate to read their new book.

  We decided to try a ‘book flood’ this year in the place of Christmas parties. We have been working really hard to instil a love of reading in the children and this seemed to be the perfect way to celebrate reading and a love of books.

  The children were genuinely excited to receive their books and it was fantastic to see them talking about their new books with their friends and then settling down to read.

  

• Taking Care of Our School.

  Mon 23 Nov 2020 Headteacher

  As part of our work on respecting our environment, we have given the children some responsibility for taking care of their lovely school and its grounds.

  We have a rota, see below, with each class looking after one area of school for the week. The rota and the need to care for our school are discussed in class and in collective worship.

  Since starting this initiative, there is a noticeable improvement, with less litter and a tidier library. The children are quite indignant if they see litter so it is making them think about how we treat our environment.

  

• Remembrance Day

  Thu 12 Nov 2020

  I was very proud of the children yesterday. They were very respectful when we held a two minute silence socially distanced outside.

  Children from Kingfishers read For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon.

  The classes then visited each of our five mini outdoor art galleries where the classes had displayed their Remembrance themed artwork. 

  

• School Tour Video Live

  Tue 03 Nov 2020 Mr Stephens
  Our new school tour video is now live and you can see it here.

• New play equipment

  Sun 18 Oct 2020 Headteacher

  We are very excited to have some hand over hand bars for the children to play on. We have wanted these for a long time and were finally able to afford them using some of our sports funding and a generous bequest from a former resident of the village.

  We wanted the children to have these bars because they are excellent for building upper body strength. Also, and more importantly, mastering the bars means using perseverance and determination- both of which are qualities which we are encouraging in the children.

  

• Updating our learning environments.

  Fri 07 Aug 2020 Headteacher

  We are aware that this has been a very strange time for children and adults alike. Some of the children may well be feeling anxious about returning to school after their prolonged absence.

  We have been thinking about how we can help the children to settle back in to school and to feel calm and ready to learn.

  As well as thinking about our curriculum, we have been looking at the school environment and how we can make that as calming and purposeful as possible.

  To this end, we have developed our outdoor space so that the children can learn outdoors as much as possible. Examples of this are the new shelter in the forest schools area and the preparation of  the new reading shelter.

  Inside school, we are taking William Morris's advice: have nothing... that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful'. An uncluttered room is both good for concentration and easier to keep clean and prevent the spread of infection. We have decided to back our boards with hessian or brown paper so that the children aren't overloaded with stimuli. This is in line with Rosenshine's Principles based on research into how children learn. You can see the books and articles which have inspired our thinking on the website.

  

• Science week.

  Sun 15 Mar 2020 Headteacher

  This week, we have celebrated Science Week in a range of ways.

  Both Kingfishers and Eagles had a visit from some Rolls Royce engineers and conducted some exciting experiments into forces. They also had a visit from one of our governors, Andrew Warnekin, to talk to them about a career in engineering and how people use science in their every day lives.

  Each class researched a scientist:

  Eagles - Katherine Johnson

  Kingfishers - Jane Goodall

  Swallows - Charles Darwin

  Robins - Carl Linnaeus

  and the children then shared what they had learnt in a special Collective Worship. 

  Wrens talked about the lifecycle of the caterpillar.

  We had also planned to participate in a Rolls Royce Engineering Challenge but this was postponed.

  

• INSET days 2020-2021

  Thu 30 Jan 2020 Headteacher

  We can now confirm that she INSET days for the next academic year are as follows:

  Wednesday, 2/9/2020 

  Monday 4/1/2021 

  Friday 12/2/2021

  Thursday 1/4/2021

  Friday 9/7/2021 

  We hope that giving you the dates early will enable you to book holidays when the children are not in school as taking them out of school is detrimental to their learning.

   

• Great Learning Behaviour.

  Sat 25 Jan 2020 Headteacher

  We are very proud of how the children's learning behaviour is developing and proud to be able to share the following comments from our School Improvement Officer who visited last week:

  Walking around the school, there was a calm and welcoming atmosphere with children being engaged in their learning and demonstrating good learning behaviours. Children who were spoken to were happy to discuss their work and could talk with confidence about what they were doing.The school is tidy and well presented and reflects high expectations of all. Books looked at were well presented and reflected high expectations and pride in children's work.

  This pleasing behaviour is partly due to high and consistent expectations from all staff, but is also due to the work which we are putting in to helping the children to be calm and ready to learn.

  Here are two examples:

  • every child has leant a way to calm him or herself if s/he is getting over-excited or upset. (See picture).
  • initiatives such as the skipping workshops have helped the children to be active and engaging in positive play at break times so that when they come in to lessons they are relaxed and ready to learn.

  We look forward to sharing our work on mindfulness with you soon-we will keep you informed.