Today marks the end of what has been an extremely busy, but very productive and successful term. We finished the week with a series of wonderful Christmas performances from our Early Years and Key Stage 1 children, which were a real joy to watch and a lovely way to celebrate all they have achieved.

As always, we ended the term with our Vision Award assemblies, where one child from each class was recognised for being Respectful. We are incredibly proud of all our children who have excelled this term—whether through performing on stage, receiving awards, representing the school in sporting competitions, or making significant progress in their learning. They have all worked hard and thoroughly deserve a well-earned rest over the holidays.

My sincere thanks go to all the staff who have contributed so much to the successes of this term, and to our parents and carers for ensuring children are in school, ready and prepared for learning each day. Everything we achieve at Horsenden is strengthened by this important partnership.

I wish all our families a wonderfully restful festive break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back, refreshed and ready for the Spring term, on Tuesday 6th January 2026.

Year 2 have had a fantastic time taking part in an exciting Design and Technology project this term. The brief was to design and make a moving vehicle for a toy, with a clear design specification: the vehicle needed two wheel and axle mechanisms so that it could move forwards and backwards. 

The project began with the children examining existing products to explore how vehicles are constructed and how wheels and axles work. Using this knowledge, they carefully designed their own vehicles, thinking about shape, function and movement. With the support of an army of dedicated parent volunteers, the children then moved on to the making stage. They learned how to work safely with wood, using specialist tools such as a bench hook, mitre block and hacksaw. To earn their woodwork licences, the children had to demonstrate several important skills. These included accurately measuring and marking out four strips of wood, each 10cm long, using a ruler, correctly holding a hacksaw using the pistol grip, and safely cutting the wood to size using a bench hook and hacksaw. The children also learned how to join the wood using the jinx method, showing great patience, focus and determination. Once the chassis of their vehicles was complete, they worked creatively to design and construct the body of their cars, resulting in a wonderful variety of finished products. 

The project was a resounding success. Every child earned their woodwork licence, all vehicles successfully met the design brief, and the children were incredibly proud of what they achieved. It was a real pleasure to work alongside our supportive and skilled parent volunteers, whose time and expertise made the project possible. 

A huge thank you from the Year 2 children and teachers to everyone who helped make this such a memorable learning experience.