Our foodies enjoyed some delicious baked beans with their dinner. Every bean-lover got a special sticker for joining in the fun! It’s amazing how something as simple as beans can bring such big smiles to their faces. Who knew nutrition could be this exciting? 🌟
We’re loving the Big Bean Boost experience! 😊
We spent a fabulous two days learning what it means to be a musician.
We learned Dvorak’s 9th Symphony (think the music from Jaws) and Houdini by Dua Lipa. Two days of hard work, rehearsing and learning notation and rhythm and pitch all building to a final performance in the Music Camp Big Band Performance. This is always our favourite bit, along with the night walk! It was tiring but great fun and a valuable experience for our pupils.
Our pupils had the most berry-tastic time picking fresh, juicy strawberries straight from the plants they helped grow.
The excitement was contagious as their hands carefully selected the ripest berries, and thanks to Mrs Sonanvane’s magic touch, these garden treasures transformed into a mouth-watering fruit salad that had everyone asking for seconds! 🥗✨
Nothing beats the joy of eating food you’ve grown yourself – from garden to plate, making learning deliciously fun! 🌱 These are the moments that make school memories extra special. 🌟
🌟 What an incredible first day at Opal Play! Our children let their imaginations soar as they transformed our space into a world of endless possibilities! 🎨
From master architects building cosy dens to chefs whipping up pretend culinary delights in our play kitchen – the creativity was off the charts! 🏠 👩🍳 The playground buzzed with giggles and teamwork as budding engineers crafted their own cars and artists brought their visions to life through colourful drawings.
The best part? Watching friendships bloom through collaborative play and seeing those determined faces tackle new challenges with such enthusiasm! 🌈 These magical moments of pure joy and discovery are what make early learning so special. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures bring! ✨
Huge thanks to our wonderful catering team for helping us celebrate St Patrick’s Day in style! The traditional Irish menu was delicious!
Children worked with our horticulturalist to design and create a sensory path. This path will support biodiversity and enable pupils to explore and nature.
Today Year 6 had a visit from a maths specialist, who has given us some extra fluency ideas. We had a go at a fun and effective ‘factor bug’ game. Mrs Gill left us with a challenge for homework and we’d love to see as many children as possible having a go. There will be Dojos awarded. But remember, no Googling!
Can you make a factor bug with the most legs (find a number up to 100 with the most factors)? See the attached example for a reminder and some fantastic whiteboard work, well done!
During Anti-Bullying assembly, Mrs Stone discussed the theme ‘Choose Respect’ with us. Our pupils shared examples of what respect looks like in our school and community.
It was lovely to see so many pupils wearing odd socks. This represents that we all are different and the importance of showing respect to everyone.
During Remembrance Assembly we recalled the events of D-Day, the stories of men and women who took part in D-Day and we remembered those who serve to keep us safe. Our assembly concluded with the poem ‘Flanders Fields’ read by some or our Year 6 pupils.
At 11am our pupils showed their respect during the two minutes silence.
For the final week of last half term, our attendance reward was given to classes who had no children absent due to being on holiday. The classes which achieved this were Reception, Class 1 and Class 5. WELL DONE TO THOSE CLASSES! I hope the children all enjoyed their treats.
This half term we have a whole school ‘Attendance Race‘. Whichever class receives the attendance reward each week will move towards the end of the race track. The class at the end of this half term that is nearest to the finish line will receive an end of term attendance reward.
Reception, Class 1 and Class 5 have already made a good start, let’s see which classes can catch them up on the race track!
Today our Reading Rangers planned for the opening of the reading library club.
They will open the club to Years 1-6, every lunchtime. Pupils will be able to enjoy reading a book of their choice or from the library.
Our Reading Rangers are very much looking forward to promoting their love of reading and reading for pleasure. What an amazing team of enthusiastic pupils we have!
Our school is committed to promoting British Values and ensuring all of our community feel welcome and respected. As part of the Picture News Big Celebration Assembly, our pupils celebrated people’s differences. Through their discussions of mutual respect and tolerance, they shared ideas of how we can all support each other. Our pupils also gave some lovely examples of what they do in school to support other pupils.
At the start of term, our year 6 pupils were very busy preparing for the House Team election campaign. Their speeches were full of inspirational ideas, with a clear view of how they would like to help improve of school. All of our candidates spoke with passion and enthusiasm. As ballot cards were filled and votes counted, a buzz of excitement filled the hall.
Well done to our newly elected Year 6 House and Vice Captains. They will lead our: Green Team, Pupil Wellbeing, Community Ranger and No Outsiders teams. We look forward to working with them over the year.
Today our pupils enjoyed their first instrumental lesson of the year. Pupils have been introduced to a new brass instrument – the trumpet! They started by learning how to place their lips on the mouthpiece and breathing techniques. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about the wind instrument.
We would like to introduce our newly formed pupil leadership group, our school ‘Attendance Champions’!
Every week they will meet with our Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Taylor, leading attendance across the school. The children will decide on suitable targets for classes to achieve and rewards that classes can earn, which will be shared weekly in our whole school assembly, as well as our attendance champions sharing and promoting with their classes.
We know that ‘Moments Matter’ and every child deserves to get the best from their time at school.
Our Key Stage 2 pupils took part in an assembly delivered by UK Parliament. Pupils learnt about The Houses of Parliament, The House of Commons and The House of Lords. The discussed a proposed bill, shared their opinions and voted. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about democracy as part of their British Values.
Wow! A fantastic sporting day enjoyed by all. Our pupils showed great collaboration, perseverance and resilience as they competed in a variety of events.
Thank you as always to our families, who cheered and encouraged all competitors.
We’re already looking forward to next year!
Today we started our first project to develop the school allotment, involving parent volunteers and their children and Year 6 pupils. Working alongside Andy and his team of horticulturists, they showed great collaboration and perseverance to clear the grounds.
Next week, we will meet again to continue the project.
This is part of our commitment to improve biodiversity and empower children to make a positive difference to both their own and to nature’s future.
Our pupils enjoyed their spoken poetry workshop with poet Manjit Sahota.
Linked to Refugee Week theme of ‘Home’. Our pupils listened, wrote and performed their poems to their peers.
What a wonderful morning to welcome and celebrate our different cultures.
Thank you Manjit – our pupils loved every minute 😊
As part of Refugee Week, today our No Outsiders welcomed students from NEST (educational provision for asylum seeker and refugee young people). Our No Outsider Team told them about their leadership role, diversity and inclusion manifesto and our multi-cultural school.
NEST students met pupils in Years 3 – 6 and talked about their home countries, traditional food, culture, sports and much more. Our pupils asked lots of interesting questions and were keen to learn more. It was lovely to hear our pupils talking to our visitors in their spoken language too!
Children in Years 3 to 6 were thrilled to receive their second Browns Book. They enjoyed a booknic in the school hall, reading and sharing their chosen book with their friends. What a fabulous afternoon they had!
At Southwold we celebrated Autism Awareness week by holding assemblies across school. The important messages we learnt were that:
You can’t see if someone is autistic, it is an invisible condition.
Autism means that someone’s brain works a little differently.
Each autistic person is different.
Autistic people have different strengths and may need more help at other things.
We learnt about the differences that people with autism might have; in their communication and behaviour, their thinking and understanding and their differences in senses.
We talked about how we could be better classmates. How can we be kind to one another? How can we support each other? How can we support our autistic classmates?
Our House Captains went to the Council House to attend Primary Parliament. The day focused on how to stay safe online. They learnt about 2 step verification, complex passwords, digital footprints, personal data and hacking both good and bad. Our House Captains are keen to share this information with others in school to help them stay safe online too.
In Year 3 art lessons, pupil have been learning about texture and collage. The pupils have almost finished creating this beautiful piece of art, inspired by the Egyptian muralist, Alaa Awad. Wow! We are very proud of the collaboration and creativity displayed by the class.
We had a great day when the Book Bus came to visit last week. We were all very excited to see the bus parked up in school and eager to see what it contained. Once inside, we found lots of lovely books, ranging from fictional books about unicorns to non-fiction books about some of our favourite footballers. There was something for everyone! Children went home with some lovely new books which they have been enjoying.
In assembly we shared the story of ‘Speak Up! You can make a difference’ by Nathan Byron and Dapo Adeola. Mrs Taylor led a discussion about how significant people like Rosa Parks and Marcus Rashford influenced others by using their voice to make a positive change. One pupil said, ‘together, many little voices can make one big voice which makes people listen’. How very true and insightful that is!
A huge thank you to all adults who attended our first-ever Family Numbers Morning. Children and adults worked in family groups across school completing a range of real-life maths activities such as creating birdboxes and creating 3D shapes among others! This afternoon, children will be coming home with their scrap books and a letter explaining how to use them. The first activity hand-in date is Friday 23rd February – we look forward to seeing completed tasks!
National Storytelling Week takes place every year and is a celebration of the power of sharing stories. This year it is being celebrated between 27 January and 4 February 2024.
Sharing and making up stories with your child is a great way to help them relax, develop empathy, and learn about the world. It also boosts their vital literacy skills. Dream up new worlds inspired by the everyday objects around you. Maybe a favourite teddy has unbelievable adventures whilst you sleep, or a pair of old shoes gives you magical powers when you wear them! The possibilities are endless.
We will be marking National Storytelling Week by encouraging the children to tell their own stories. Their stories could be as simple as what they had for lunch; or more imaginative, for instance telling us what they would see if they were an astronaut. Storytelling is a great skill to develop, allowing children to use their imaginations and develop their communication skills.
Click on this link to discover a range of activities for your families to enjoy: https://wordsforlife.org.uk/themes/celebrate-storytelling-week-at-home/
Our enthusiastic Progressive Mini Leaders, enjoy leading sporting activities with our pupils. They are keen to promote exercise, teamwork and well-being, through fun games.