Week Commencing 10th July

After weeks of rehearsals, we finally performed our school play: Time Lord. We did two performances - an afternoon and an evening one. It was a very funny play with lots of jokes. Some of our children impressed the audience with their solo singing! We were all amazing and we received many compliments on our acting!

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, our year 6 children went to the secondary school that they will be attending in September. We're looking forward to hearing their news!

We also invited the year 2 children to join our class for the afternoon so they could see what life would be like for them next year! We made paper sloths to show everyone what were our passions. We got our inspiration from the book: Find Your Happy!

The new reception children also came into class 1.

Week Commencing 3rd July

Becky, from Sherston Church, came to visit us and kindly gave the year 6 children a bible.

The year 6 children started writing a speech for the Leavers' Assembly.

It was our last swimming session. After completing our assessments, we enjoyed playing fun games. We made whirlpools and were whizzed around the pool!

We had a dress rehearsal, as well as having our photographs taken! Our costumes were amazing and really brought our play to life!

Week Commencing 19th June

Athelestan Museum Trip, Malmesbury.

This week Class 1 and Class 2 went on a school trip to The Athelstan Museum in Malmesbury so we could learn more about the Romans.  We did a variety of activities including: drawing mosaics, looking at Roman coins, learning about Roman food, looking at Roman artefacts as well as walking around the town to think about what it was like a long time ago. In the afternoon, we played a game and dressed up as Romans.  We all had such a great day!

Badminton Estate Countryside Day.

This week, Class Two went on a  Countryside trip to Badminton Estate. We explored different areas around the Estate and learnt many new things. These included: going into the stables and talking to the farrier, who had been making the horse shoes for over sixty years; going into part of the house and kennels -  we met 160 hounds, as well as a litter of their puppies (we had lots of cuddles). We walked into the woods and met the tree surgeon, as well as learning about how to train a hunting dog using Hunter the cocker spaniel. There was also a beautiful garden to enjoy with a great variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables. . After this, we were told about farming. It was so much fun!

Week Commencing 12th June

This week was 'Walk to School Week'. Everyday of the week, we were encouraged to have an active journey to school by either walking, park and striding, scooting or cycling to school. Those who made the most effort were rewarded with a prize of a teddy. 

In RE we made board games based on the ideology of the Hindu belief of Karma and Moksha. We were inspired by our favourite board games such as monopoly, snakes and ladders. We had fun playing each others' games.

For a long time, we have been preparing for our MTC test. We had 6 seconds to answer each of the 25 questions, with only a 3 second pause in between! A weight has been taken off our shoulders and we are now equipped to apply our times table facts at rapid speed!

In music, we performed our group compositions. In groups of three, we wrote a music score to a backing track! Some of us chose Motown, Jazz, Reggae, Funk or Orchestral. 

In PSHE, the year 3 and 4 children made an relationship tree. We are also learning about sex education.

Week Commencing 5th June

On Wednesday, eight of our Year 5 and 6 children participated in the Cricket Festival that was hosted by Malmesbury School. Each school played three matches, but we played four as we got into the quarter finals! We won our first match and lost the other two, but one loss was only by five runs! Our previous teacher came to support us! We saw lots of our other friends from other schools.

Whilst the cricketers were out, art was mixed with maths as we were learning about tessellation! 

At the end of the week, we had our first Ice-Cream Friday of the year! Thank you to the parents for organising this! Due to the hot weather, the playground was splattered with ice-cream!

Week Commencing 22nd May

This week, the Year 6s had their individual and group photograph taken. The photographer came into school to take formal, jumping and crazy face pictures - these will be perfect to remember our time in primary school. In stars assembly, we also received our leavers' jumpers. 

Even though SATs were over, Year 6 children who will be moving on to Malmesbury School were continued to be put to the test, when a teacher from the secondary school came to set them some more tasks!

On Wednesday, a tri-golf festival was held at Malmesbury and some of our Year 3 and 4 children took part. There were eight stations that tested our different skills of  accuracy and power, including putting and chipping. We all did really well and the leaders said that we were one of the best!

On Friday, we celebrated National Numeracy Day. We paired up with our class 1 buddies and went on a measuring scavenging hunt. We had to estimate and measure different objects around the school grounds. We were also challenged to find different 2D and 3D shapes of everyday objects.

Before we left for the half term holiday. we were excited to be given our play scripts!

Week Commencing 15th May

This week in history, we have been embracing the Roman culture and have designed our own Roman towns.

On Tuesday, we started to plan our presentation about the Five Ways to Wellbeing. These are: Take Notice, Keep Learning, Connect, Give and Be Active. Some of us wrote a rap, a news report or performed a drama sketch.

On Thursday, some of our Year 5 and 6 children went to a tennis tournament at Malmesbury School. We each played seven matches against other schools, as well as our fellow team mates! It was lovely to see some of our old school friends who came to watch and cheer us on. We were put into different pools and all came out with fantastic scores!

Week Commencing 8th May

The Year 6s have had their SATs tests this week! They did spelling, punctuation and grammar, reading and maths papers. Each morning, they had a delicious breakfast in school of: pancakes, waffles, pain au chocolat and a variety of fruits. In between each test, they had extra playtime. 

Once the SATs tests were finished, the Year 6 children were treated to an ice-cream from The Ship (our local pub). Following on from this, they made pizzas and enjoyed Just Dance! 

After school, all of Year 6 also celebrated with a trip to the park.

A parent from class one came to talk to us about her job as a veterinary nurse. She answered our interesting questions about her career.

We have started to think about our school play, and practised one of the songs. We are all very excited to find out our roles!

Week Commencing 1st May

This week we developed our knowledge about the science of sound by producing and recording a mock children's show to educate others. It was great fun playing the roles of children's presenters and university doctorates!

On Tuesday, we were lucky to have a metal detector enthusiast come into school to tell us about his hobby and share with us what he has found. Afterwards, we all had a go at using the metal detectors and discovering hidden treasures!

The King's Coronation

We celebrated the King's Coronation by designing and decorating mugs using acrylic paint pens. We were really pleased with our artwork;something we can treasure to remind us of this special occasion. We ended the week with a 'street party'!

Week Commencing 24th April

This week, our after school clubs started. The clubs for this term are: On Mondays it is street dance; cooking and gardening is on Tuesdays and Thursdays are tri-golf and French club.

Our Year 5 and 6 children are writing persuasive leaflets to attract tourists to visit the Roman sights. We have enjoyed researching about the many places that you can see and choosing the ones we would like to include in our work.

The Year 3 and 4 children have been learning the story of Romulus and Remus to inspire them to write their own myths. We are also looking forward to reading the new class book: Julius Zebra, Rumble with the Romans.

Week Commencing 17th April

It is our first week back at school and we can't wait to get started. Our new topic for the term is: The Romans (Beneath Our Feet). This week we have learnt about the growth of the  Roman Empire.

On Tuesday, was 'Road Safety Day'. After watching a video about the green cross code, we put our knowledge to the test by walking around the village. We learnt about the lights on cars and what their functions are to help us predict their next move: this will help us decide when it is safe to cross the road.

On Friday, we started our weekly swimming lessons. We did front crawl and backstroke, as well as surface dives to retrieve items on the bottom of the pool. This helped the instructors work out our swimming groups. We are looking forward to going next week!

Week Commencing 27th March

The last week of term was packed with fun! We started the week with outdoor learning!

The Sherburne Ensemble

As part of the music cluster project, we welcomed the Sherburne Ensemble to school to showcase their talent. The orchestra entertained us with many musical arrangements from Harry Potter to the Greatest Showman as well as opera! They told us about their different instruments and the different sounds they could make. The French horn player could also play the hose pipe!!!! They were fabulous!

The Easter bunny visited our playground, delivering lots of chocolate eggs for us to find! We ended the term making Easter crowns!

Week Commencing 20th March

On Tuesday, it was 'Odd Sock Day'. We all wore odd socks to recognise Downs Syndrome and celebrate special differences. 

This week there was also a football tournament for the year 3 and 4 children. We joined lots of other schools in the festival and played ten games. Our highest scoring game was 6:0!

Week Commencing 13th March

On Tuesday, the Wiltshire Air Ambulance came into see us. We learnt lots of first aid including: using the defibrillator, the recovery position and CPR for people of all ages. We also learnt the importance of using the 'What Three Words app' to give them an accurate location of the injured person. The many facts that they shared with us about the helicopters was fascinating, including how fast they travel:180mph! 

On Friday, we joined in with the fun of Comic Relief by wearing our school uniforms inside out and back to front! We raised lots of money to support the charities.   

Week Commencing Monday 6th March

This week, our drama students entered a festival in Bath. We all achieved 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in all of the classes! These included: duo acting, solo acting, verse speaking, sight reading and prose.

Once again, most of us enjoyed the snow! Some of us built snowmen, igloos and snowballs!

In our French lesson, we tried a variety of different traditional French food and drinks. Most people enjoyed the madeleines the best! Luckily, escargot and frogs legs weren't on the menu!

Hockey

This week we have been learning to play hockey with our new hockey sticks! So far we have learnt to pass and stop the ball, as well as the Indian dribble.

Week Commencing 27th February

This week, we have been celebrating World Book Day! We have been enjoying doing  different activities everyday including: sharing books from home with our reading buddies; teachers reading us a story in small mixed age groups and the book sale. One special event was the reading breakfast. Members of our family came into school to read us a story whilst eating delicious pain au chocolat and hot chocolate! We have also got a new collection of books to take home and enjoy.

On Wednesday, the year 5 and 6 children played in a netball festival. Our amazing team came second! We only lost one match, despite the court having many lines, causing us a little confusion!

What a fabulous week it has been!

Week Commencing 20th February

We have been learning about irreversible and reversible chemical changes in our science lessons. We made casein plastic using milk and vinegar. This was a brilliant example of an irreversible change, although many of us found the process quite revolting!

On Wednesday, we were lucky to have a virtual author (called Steve Cole) visit our class via Zoom. He talked to us about how he is inspired to write children's books. He showed us the power of spoonerism to create different characters including: Dracucumber, Banampire and Tomatosaurus. He was really funny! He shared with us his confusion with fruit names, for example: "Why is a strawberry called a strawberry when it isn't a berry?!"

On Friday, the Student Council organised a non-uniform day and cake sale to raise money to help the people in the Syria and Turkey. We paid to come in to school in our home clothes, and set up a stall to sell the delicious cakes that we had made at home. We raised a staggering £400! We want to thank everyone for their generous contributions! This money will help buy food and blankets for the many suffering in Syria and Turkey.

Week Commencing 30th January

This week we have started to make our papier mache sculptures of different polar region animals including: arctic owls, arctic foxes, polar bears, whales, penguins and their chicks! We covered balloons to make the bodies of our animals. One of us didn't use a balloon and challenged themselves to the max! It was very sticky!

In PE, we performed our group dances that we have been choreographing and practising; we filmed them and appraised our work!

We are proud of two of our class members who went to the Royal Wootten Bassett

Arts Highlights Festival who performed a sketch from Alice in Wonderland.

Week commencing 23rd January

On Tuesday, was the start of drumming lessons for the first time. Those that are doing it are really excited!

On Wednesday, we took the gymnastics team to a festival in Malmesbury. We performed a floor routine, as well as mounting a vault.  Afterwards, we were given the opportunity to go to the secondary school to use their apparatus including: the beams, ropes, trampette and a crash mat. We are yet to hear our results, but we all had a lovely time! The teachers commented on our exceptionally good behaviour.

On Friday, one of our pupil's godfather came in (known as Uncle Penguin). He told us about his one year stay in Antarctica, where he was studying penguins. He taught us many things about them. Some of the information he shared was: the life cycle of the Emperor penguin; how they survive in such a harsh environment and the eighteen different species of these amazing aquatic birds. We enjoyed watching video clips and mimicking penguins' behaviour. The fact we found most fascinating was: individual penguins can recognise their mate's call amongst up to ten thousand other birds. 

Week commencing 16th January

Year 5/6 are writing a very interesting biography about Robert Falcon Scott; he explored the Antarctic. Dying a hero, he was the first British man to reach the South Pole, that is a staggering 800 miles from the coast. The Norwegian explorer: Amundersen, beat him by only 33 days! Tragically, all of the five explorers on the expedition died; Scott was only 11 miles from the coast on his return. A letter from his wife was found on his body saying: "It is better to try and fail than not try at all." A valuable message to us all!

Year 3/4 have been publishing their fact files about polar bears on the computer. Did you know?

Female polar bears can survive without food for a year as they prepare for the arrival of their cubs and look after them. 

Polar bear's fur is actually transparent, and reflects the snow and ice. Their skin is black!

Polar bears mutated from brown bears.

They have webbed feet, making them expert swimmers.

Polar bears keep clean by rolling in the snow.

On Thursday, we learnt about climate change and we all designed a poster to encourage people to take action regarding the problems caused by the greenhouse effect.

In science, we were learning about electrical circuits and testing if different materials conducted or insulated electrical energy.

Week Commencing 4th January

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

On Wednesday, we welcomed our new headteacher, Mrs. Gingell. She already knows all our names! She's come into class to see us all working hard, as well as listening to us read and talking to us at playtimes!

Our new topic this term is Ice Adventures. We have been learning about the Polar Regions and the environment there, as well as the life of Ernest Shackleton and Matthew Henson.

Week Commencing 12th December

This week was the perfect end to a busy term.

The snow was a fabulous start to the week! We all enjoyed playing in the snow at the weekend and then had a brilliant time at school during our break times. Many of us built snowmen and made snow angels and ice villages! On Monday we were also treated to a cup of hot chocolate to warm us up, ready to continue with our learning.

We performed our nativity play to our family and friends! They all enjoyed getting into the festive spirit and sharing with us the true meaning of Christmas. It was a huge success!

On Friday, we went to the pub for Christmas lunch and a game of skittles. We had an amazing time singing carols to some of the Luckington residents before pulling crackers and tucking in to our delicious meal! 

After lunch, we went into the skittle alley for a game. We were divided into two teams and spent the afternoon cheering on our team mates! The end score was very close! Thank you year 6, for running the game, keeping score and picking up the fallen skittles! To top off a truly great afternoon, Father Christmas popped in to wish us all a Merry Christmas and gave us an early present!

Week commencing Monday 28th November

This week was the start of advent.

On Thursday, the nurses came in to give us our flu vaccines. 

We were all excited to start our DT project making boats. After researching, designing our boats and writing our build instructions, we cut out each of the components using the saws and scissors and got to work bringing our plans to life! We were all pleased with our final designs and enjoyed making them! Hopefully, we will get to send them on a maiden voyage on the river.

Week Commencing Monday 21st November

This week, some of our children went to a cross country festival at Malmesbury. The heavy rain and hail beat down on our faces! We were very soggy!

Despite the awful weather, we came out with some amazing results. One of our class members came FIRST out of all the year 3/4 boys that entered! We also achieved THIRD in the year 3/4 boys team event! We all had a great time!

Week Commencing 14th November

This week we were told about our parts in the nativity play! We are excited that we can perform our play at the church - something that we haven't done for two years!

We are proud to announce that we have achieved our bronze award for being a healthy school. All our snacks and lunch boxes are chocolate and E- number free, and packed with fruit and vegetables instead! We are motivated to improve further and achieve the silver and gold awards too!

Our School Council has organised and chosen new playground equipment for us all to enjoy! These include: basketball, scoops and balls, French skipping elastics, football and lolo-balls. 

Today, was Pudsey Day. We all came to school in home clothes to raise money for Children In Need. The School Council also organised a competition to design a bandana for Pudsey.

Week Commencing Monday 7th November

E-Safety Workshop

On Monday, Richard came in from 'Stay Safe' to talk to us about on-line safety and what to do if someone was asking us about personal information. His advice was to: Zip it, Block it, Flag it (tell people so others can stay safe). Social media can also give away clues about us from the photographs we use.

We learnt about cyber bullying and looking after ourselves if we became victims of being bullied on line. 

We were warned about people cat phishing, hacks and scams by watching video clips and doing role play.

STEAM Fair

We had a school trip to Trowbridge County Hall to learn about science and modern technology. There were lots of different activities: sticking a cocktail stick into a balloon without it popping - the power of cooking oil affecting the surface tension, building molecular structures with sweets and tooth picks, practising CPR using a defibrillator, archaeology, robotics and jet booster packs.

TOPS Sports Activity

On Thursday, six children went to a TOPs festival at the Activity Zone, in Malmesbury. There were two other schools there and we had the opportunity to play some games, including: curling, tennis, football, basketball, activity ladders and target practise. We  also enjoyed a game of volcanoes and craters. We were treated to a Fruit Shoot drink. Everyone had a lovely time; we had fun!

Week commencing 31st October

Happy Halloween! We had a spooky start to the week by listening to Serena Patel reading part of her story 'Fright Night' on a live zoom call. She told us about her series of books: The Adventures of Anisha, Accidental Detective. She spoke to us about her journey as an author and the process involved. Interestingly, she used her real life experiences to influence her stories. It took her five years to write her first book because she didn't really know what she was doing, but she persevered! 

Some of us are now reading some of her books!

Week Commencing 10th October.

On Monday it was Mental Health Awareness Day. This year's theme was: #Hello Yellow that was inspired by Young Minds; to celebrate we all wore yellow. We talked about our own mental health and how to look after it. We also made our own affirmation cards to promote a positive attitude and recognise our amazing qualities!

We have been preparing for our harvest festival assembly on Friday. We have been learning songs and reciting poems to share with our parents. We will also be hosting a coffee morning to raise money for the Macmillan Nurses.

Week commencing 3rd October

This week we have been writing poems about being Down By The Riverside. We used our trip to Brookend to inspire us to think about the sights and sounds that can be heard by the river. Our work had creative flair using alliteration, similes and a plethora of adjectives!

We enjoyed some more sports fun at the playing fields improving our rugby and cricket skills. 

We said a fond farewell to our Swiss students. They treated us to some traditional cakes to say thank you for making them so welcome. They were delicious!

Week Commencing 26th September

This week we learnt German! Miss Werner, taught us lots of key phrases. We all tried really hard to pronounce and repeat these. We are all keen to learn some more, but until then we think: 'Ich spreche kein Deutsch', is a useful phrase to know!

Miss. Werner also taught us about the River Rhine and the wildlife found there.

Our week ended with a trip to Brookend and the tributary to the River Avon. We walked down to the brook, where we were met by Claire (Conrad's mummy and local resident artist). She taught us how to sketch a picture of the river and how this can be used in our water colour paintings. We had such a lovely morning! A massive 'Thank You' to Claire!

Week Commencing 19th September

This week we welcomed two Swiss teacher students to our school, so they could experience schools in England. They will be staying for three weeks. Miss Knoblauch and Miss Werner have been helping us with our learning.

The Year Four, Five and Six boys entered a football competition at Malmesbury Red Bull pitches. We played four matches: we drew three and won one. Overall we came third. Once again, we were the smallest school to enter.

Week Commencing 12th September

This week was the start of our after school clubs. These included: yoga, gardening, Young Engineers, art and craft and French. 

Those who wanted to, were asked to apply to be a member of our school council. They needed to write a letter to highlight their skills that they could use to help the school and represent friends and teachers. 

On Tuesday, a lady from the Life Bus came to talk to us about parts of the body and how to look after it. She also brought in Harold the giraffe (unfortunately not a real one!) to help us understand that we are all different and that makes us and the world special.

Two of our Year 6 girls went on a play leaders' course at Malmesbury Secondary School. They were taught how to organise and lead games that can be played during our breaktimes. We are all looking forward to taking part in these activities!

Week Commencing 5th September

We are all happy to be back at school after the summer holidays. It has been lovely to welcome the new reception children to our school.

Our new topic for this term is: Down By The Riverside. We will be going down to the river and learning about the features of a river and the wildlife there. We also hope to be doing some river artwork. 

The year 6 children have been working towards their Bikeability award, where they had to demonstrate a number of skills and develop their road safety and highway code knowledge. They then rode to Sherston and back, putting all these skills into practice - this was quite tiring!

We started our cricket lessons with a Wiltshire Cricket coach. We really enjoyed our first session and look forward to improving our skills and knowledge as the term progresses.

A busy and fun packed start to a new year!