Primary
Academies
Dartford Primary Academy
What a term!
We close for the Easter holidays celebrating the exciting opportunities our children have had and the enriching experiences they have taken part in.
Under the Rainbow - Bluewater Exhibition Winners
We celebrate 7 children who all took part in the Under the Rainbow competition and had their art work displayed in a public exhibition celebrating artists from the South East. We had the opportunity to attend the opening evening and our children attended an afternoon celebrating their art displayed alongside professional and commissioned artists.
Fantastic Fred Arrives at DPA!
The Fantastic Fred Experience is part of the Good Mental Health Matters campaign, funded by NHS Kent, to help raise awareness of mental health among young people in Kent, and equip children at a very early age to improve their lifelong emotional wellbeing. Our children had a very engaging day, with all taking part learning fascinating facts about our bodies with lots of humour!
International Women’s Day 2022
We celebrated International Women’s Day by offering all our young budding female footballers the chance to attend a football session run by our Sports Coach Mr Daley. Over 80 girls enjoyed playing on the new field, learning new skills and making new friends. Supported by our newly trained Sports Leaders who helped to run the event. It was great to see so many young girls take part in the session - we may have a girls team yet!
Love For Reading
Our children worked with artists and designers to create the masterpiece that now pops out at you as you walk through the Year 5 and 6 hall. To celebrate their class achievements children were selected from their Busters Book club minutes, to create the design, make it with paper mache and paint it. Our children have a passion for reading and now it really does stand out!
‘On Monday, two artists came in. They showed us how to cut and shape wood, paper mache our creations, add shape to the arms, legs, tummy and head and stick things onto the base with tape. I really enjoyed our time with them as I now have learnt how to make cartoon (lifesize) people from books. It was still really fun!’ – Freya
‘I like how we made a 3D Willy Wonka out of wood and cardboard. I also liked that they added extras on the Willy Wonka design (such as the book and more Roald Dahl characters). It was a fun experience!’ – Fatehvir
Hartley Primary Academy
Once again, thanks to funding from the LAT and our wonderful PTA, children at Hartley got to experience a trip to the theatre. This time it was our Reception and Key Stage 1 children who went to The Orchard Theatre to see Oi Frog! This was the first school trip any of these children had been on, because of Covid putting a stop to all the fun things! The children were incredibly excited but behaved themselves beautifully and made HPA very proud.
Our Year 6 pupils all found out which secondary schools they are going to and those who are off to Longfield were able to have an early visit when we were invited to go to their Telescope Cafe for ‘tea’. Year 9 pupils from Longfield hosted a delicious tea party, with scones, shortbread, jam tarts and cakes. Our Year 6s enjoyed every morsel and were very full by the end! The walk back up the hill afterwards, with full tummies, was definitely more of a struggle than the walk down!
World Book Day was another first for many of our children. For the first time since 2020, we all had the chance to dress up and really celebrate this wonderful day. The children loved showing off their costumes but many of the staff may have had even more fun with it! ‘Mr Twit’ (Lisa Fewell) was particularly dedicated to the occasion, with various items of food in his beard and hair!
Cherry Orchard Primary Academy
International Mother Languages Day
At Cherry Orchard we were excited to host our International Mother Languages Day on the 23rd February 2022. All the children in our school from Nursery to Year 6 took part in a wonderful workshop run by an organisation called Lingotots.
In return for a donation to Refugee Aid, the children dressed up as either superheroes or wizards. The children raised over £160 for the brilliant charity that helps people develop their English language skills when they first arrive here, to enable them to access support and medical care.
In each workshop Spanish vocabulary was taught to our children at their appropriate level, which they then explored through games and activities. The children found the sessions exciting and informative.
Each year group also took part in class activities which involved exploring different languages and cultures and particularly focused on those languages which are endangered.
We are now in discussions with Lingotots to arrange ongoing Spanish teaching by specialist languages teachers at COPA for all children from nursery up to Year 6.
Oaks Primary Academy
Our library has opened its doors for daily lunchtime reading. Pupils from Reception to Year 6 can spend their lunch times reading independently, with our librarians or being read to by older pupils. We received a grant for books from Golding Homes at the end of last academic year and pupils are thoroughly enjoying the range of books that we now have on offer.
Recently, our pupils from Bulgaria shared the Bulgarian festival of Baba Marta with us, where we celebrated and welcomed spring on the 1st March. Children were taught how to create the special red and white adornments that are exchanged between family and friends at this time. They are said to bring you luck and staff have been reluctant to remove them! We hope to continue developing cultural awareness and celebrations at Oaks in our pursuit of our International Schools Intermediate Award.
Recently, we held our first Coffee and Catch-Up session with parents and carers, with a focus on reading. This is a new termly initiative to support our parents’ ability to engage with their children’s learning at home. Every term, there will be a different learning focus which a member of our team will deliver to parents, with pupils participating also. Parents who came loved this approach of support and are looking forward to the next session in Module 5. Parents also loved the supply of school-baked treats which were prepared the previous day by our after school club ‘Community Cafe’.
Classes have been delighted to commence Forest School again. Though our forest area is small, pupils make the most of the space and have been busy working collaboratively making waterproof dens and using the tools that are available to make different signs from wood.
Throughout World Book Day, there was such a sense of joy around school. Pupils and staff showed off their characters and vocabulary in our WBD parade with children voting for the best dressed staff member. Dave, our premises operative, took the win with his very realistic Child Catcher character from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In preparation for Science Week, all classes were visited by STEM ambassadors. Amongst other topics, we had specialists on forces and space deliver workshops to our pupils. At the end of Science Week, classes held science exhibitions based on what they had been learning. Through these exhibitions, pupils presented their learning in a variety of ways to all other pupils. Classes moved around the school, each getting to visit all of the different exhibitions. Parents were invited in to see the exhibitions also and we were excited to share our scientific knowledge with them.
Molehill Primary Academy
What a wonderful term we have had!
Pupils have all worked incredibly hard and we are very proud of the dedication they have shown to their studies. We are also very pleased that they too are proud of their achievements; we enjoy celebrating their work with them on a daily basis. Furthermore, we have been incredibly grateful for the caring and thoughtful comments parents have taken time to write about Molehill, its staff and pupils, in our recent survey. We really value feedback and it is brilliant to hear how much parents appreciate our hard work as we continue to ensure the very best for children.
Fantastic Fred
The Fantastic Fred Experience, referred to by Dartford Primary Academy, also visited us this term. The Fantastic Fred bus was with us for two days and all of our children were able to take part in a live, interactive and engaging performance. Specifically designed to inform, equip and build resilience, it delivered simple, memorable and practical ways that young children can look after their mental health and explained the link between our physical and mental health.
EYFS Share a Story
We are thoroughly enjoying inviting our parents into school to share a story with their children. It creates a wonderful opportunity for the children to show how they play and engage in stories and enables the teachers to talk to the parents about the importance of early literacy. We are looking forward to welcoming parents every Friday afternoon.
International Award
We are very proud to have been awarded Intermediate level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of our work to bring the world into the classroom. This award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life and work in today’s world. Our international work has been particularly celebrated by the assessor:
‘Your commitment to support young learners who are keen to take action to bring about a better world is admirable. The schools work to celebrate diversity and learn more around differences and commonalities is excellent'.
Science Workshop
Over the course of this term, we have had the support of teachers and leaders at one of our local secondary schools, to deliver a programme of exciting science workshops to our pupils. Year 3 and 4 learnt all about digestion; they conducted experiments to determine different food types. Mrs Smith was particularly impressed with their detailed explanations about how and why they were completing the investigation. Our Year 5 and 6 pupils have had so much fun exploring electricity!
World Book Day
For some teachers, World Book Day is the highlight of the academic year! We know that the development of strong literacy skills improves the life chances of young people and provides them with the key skills that are vital to adult life. We ensure that our pupils develop a love of reading because we know that regular reading provides young people with the chance to increase vocabulary and comprehension skills; challenges their perception of the world around them and enables them to escape into different worlds, times and places. Thank you to everyone who made World Book Day such a huge success! The staff at Molehill Primary Academy go above and beyond for our pupils on a daily basis. They are kind, resilient and absolutely awesome.
'Pupils have all worked incredibly hard and we are very proud of the dedication they have shown to their studies. We are also very pleased that they too are proud of their achievements; we enjoy celebrating their work with them on a daily basis.'
Tree Tops Primary Academy
As part of our celebrations and learning during Fairtrade Fortnight, we held a KS2 five-a-side football tournament to raise money for and awareness of Fairtrade farming communities. During the tournament we used Fairtrade footballs, which represent the fairness and respect encouraged through sports and which is extended to football makers. The tournament was a huge success with winners from both LKS2 and UKS2.
To celebrate International Mother Language Day, held on 21st February, we explored the diverse range of mother languages present throughout our school. Children read books in their mother languages to their classes and taught their friends words and phrases. This gave us an opportunity to celebrate and share the many cultures that make up our school community.
Langley Park Primary Academy
Willow the Dog Mentor
Langley Park Primary Academy’s very own Dog Mentor, Willow, has been learning lots with our amazing school community! Willow is a vital part of LPPA and she helps all members to self-regulate their emotions so they are ready to learn and to face whatever challenges evolve during the day! Willow has been working with select members during her targeted group and 1:1 sessions to build confidence when establishing positive friendships.
As well as these sessions, Willow is heavily involved in the learning taking place around the school and this term has been very excited to welcome the Living Eggs into school! She was very excited to meet them and wanted the new additions to EYFS to play with her! Willow has also been supporting Year 6 to learn about Women’s Rights- paws up to that! She has also been supporting Year 2 with their learning about lines of symmetry and the children in Year 4 have been finding out about how we can help with Willow’s sustainability at school. As well as all of this learning, she has actively encouraged a love of reading across the school for World Book Day. Her favourite book of course is The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson! Willow also celebrated her second birthday in January and over the next few terms hopes to be working with other Dog Mentors across the Trust.
EYFS Have To Stay!
As part of our inquiry into ‘Living things are important in our world’, the children within our EYFS classes have been developing ‘caring’ learner attributes as part of our Living Eggs visit. The children have been engrossed in looking after, observing and caring for the eggs, delighting when they hatched during the school day! Through Toddle we have been able to keep the children (and adults) up to date with each hatch and milestone the chicks have made. It has been fantastic to start to provide the children with these more normal experiences now we are coming out of the pandemic. The children have enjoyed performing for the chicks, singing them songs and reading them stories to ensure they also enjoy their time in EYFS!
World Book Day
On Thursday 3rd March the whole school took part in World Book Day. This event has now been running for 25 years and a number of events were held throughout the day to celebrate it. The theme this year was around celebrating us as readers so as part of this children came to school in their pyjamas along with their favourite book from home which they shared with their peers in the classroom. The day began with a whole school assembly which quickly led into a teacher swap where staff swapped to different classes throughout the school to share some of their favourite books.
There was a great deal of excitement from the children to see which staff member they had and the book they had chosen. During the day we also held our first book tasting where children were able to taste a range of books. The buzz around this was amazing with lots of rich discussion and children discovering some new books they were desperate to read. Finally, we invited parents in at the end of the day for a stay and read session with their children. This was well attended and provided a lovely end to a fantastic day celebrating us as readers.
Year 6 Celebrate International Women’s Day
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Year 6 have incorporated this special day into their English Inquiry. At the heart of the inquiry, the class have looked at the change and comparison of women’s rights from ancient societies to the suffrage movement in Victorian Britain. Not only has there been a focus on important women of the past, such as Emily Davison and Emmeline Pankhurst, the class have also looked at modern day influential women. These short case studies have given a glimpse into the lives and work carried out by current activists, Greta Thunburg and Malala Yousafzai.
Building on this, they have also looked at other women who inspire them, such as Serena Williams and modern day influencers. Using all the information they have learnt, the class created a report emphasising key elements and presenting it in a way their target audience would enjoy.
Sports
Last term, 14 Year 5 children took part in the Playground Leaders training course for the day. They learnt about different types of lunch time games and how to deliver them to lower year groups at lunch time. They have been delivering these games to Years 1, 2 and 3 this term with great success and it's lovely to see how the younger children engage with them.
This year has been the first year we have been able to enter a school football team into league and cup games. We have had a mixed bag of results but the children have always given 100% and have never let their heads drop when results have not gone their way. They are improving with each match they play.
We have also participated in the first ever Leigh Academies Maidstone primary cluster football tournament.
International Languages Day
This year, we marked International Language Day with a special assembly to highlight and celebrate the many different languages that are spoken by members of our school community. Members of Years 6 and 4 contributed to the assembly with videos of themselves speaking in languages which are important to them, whether because they are their first language, or because they are important in their family life. The assembly also invited children to consider how they would feel if they found themselves in a school where they were being taught in a language they did not know, or did not know well.
Following the assembly, classes were challenged to create contributions for a display. Reception classes practised greetings in different languages, and Year 1 and 2 produced artwork relating to the flags of countries important to the class. Year 4 created some amazing posters featuring words, facts and examples of the different scripts used in countries around the world. Year 6 reflected on why different languages were important to them. It was very clear from what they wrote that that language was connected very firmly with not only family and culture, but also food and fun!
Paddock Wood Primary Academy
This term has been all about dressing up and celebrating learning! Year 3 have travelled back in time to experience life as an Egyptian, we celebrated World Book Day in true style and we’ve continued to see our children excel in their learning across the curriculum.
Life as an Ancient Egyptian
Year 3 had a wonderful day stepping back in time to experience life as an Ancient Egyptian. They took part in a series of activities that included making a clay amulet, weaving clothes and reeds, grinding grain to make flour and playing some Egyptian board games. They examined various artefacts to find out what they revealed about their lives and even took part in a play about one of the famous Egyptian Gods. All this while wearing an Egyptian tunic, collar and face paint. They ended the day by making their own metal cartouche necklace to take home. Thank you to Living History for bringing this to life for the children who were thoroughly engaged and demonstrated excellent behaviour for learning.
World Book Day
Our World Book Day allowed the children to dress up and have fun, along with the staff. The children celebrated a range of writers, books and genres throughout the day and this tied in beautifully with the sponsored read which raised approximately £1800 in new books for the children.
As we continue towards becoming an IB World School, we have been focusing on the wider curriculum offer, both in terms of foundation subjects and the co-curricular. We have been encouraging staff to teach a range of subjects in French, including IT, food technology and art. This term we have also supported more children to take part in both after-school clubs and inter-school competitions.
We have introduced our Proud@ section in the weekly newsletter to celebrate the additional successes our children have outside of school. We held a fundraiser for the Kent Air Ambulance, celebrated various children with sporting achievements and continue to be impressed with both their resilience and talents.
Horsmonden Primary Academy
Forest School Development
The development of our Forest School is coming along nicely and we are well on track for our grand opening later this academic year. The two teachers leading the development are Mrs Turvey and Mrs Radford. They have now completed their training provided by Kent High Weald Partnership at Bedgebury Pinetum and are due to begin their pilot sessions with Year 3 and Year 4 children after Easter. So far they have re-fenced the area, laid a new ‘forest floor’ made from donated Christmas tree chippings, installed a new shed, planted saplings and sourced numerous resources either from donations or by purchasing new ones.
Already the children have enjoyed the space with Year 6 children making campfire stew, Year 3 making mud pyramids and the whole of KS2 planting saplings.
Sky Initiative - The Edit
The Edit (brought to us by Adobe and Sky) is a digital storytelling challenge that helps young people build soft skills that are essential to their future. With an ever-increasing need for technology both inside and outside of the classroom, digital education has never been more important.
Sky have made a commitment to reduce their carbon emissions and #GoZero by 2030, and to raise awareness of climate change issues across their platforms.
As part of The Edit project, our Year 5 pupils created a 90 second news report raising awareness of climate change and communicating the idea of going plastic free by using exclusive Sky footage and Adobe editing tools to tell their story. To celebrate their involvement with the project, all children received a special Sky VIP goody bag as well as entering their news reports into a national competition.
Taking Action for Ukraine
The horrendous situation in Ukraine has hit us all hard recently, especially our Ukrainian families in Horsmonden and the surrounding area. To show our support, the whole Horsmonden community came together to donate a range of items to be sent straight to those families in need in Ukraine. The support and generosity was overwhelming with children, staff and parents all taking action to support a cause so close to our hearts.
Eastcote Primary Academy
Thanks to a grant from LAT, our art club is up and running. Pupils are being given the opportunity to work with specially sourced materials on bespoke designs.
Our Year 4 pupils decided that they wanted to support Ukrainian refugees. They wrote to the parents asking for donations of items such as baby products, toiletries, bedding and clothes. The response was amazing! We needed a lorry to transport everything we collected.
For World Book Day the children were surprised by a visit from the author Chris Allton. He spent the day with us and worked with every class. He has written a poem about colours called How do colours feel? We chose to dress up in the colours of the rainbow.
Author Chris Allton
Supplies to be delivered to Ukraine
Supplies to be delivered to Ukraine
The children dressed in rainbow colours
Our Reception class had fun at the farm!
We had a visit from Thames Water. Our children learnt what happens when you flush wet wipes down the toilet!
Year 1 had a Shabbat! Yum!
Year 4 were visited by a dental hygienist!
Peninsula East Primary Academy
Cookery Club
We have been very busy here at Peninsula East Primary Academy over the past few modules. We were very lucky to purchase some portable ovens as part of our co-curricular bid from the Trust and we have been using these across the curriculum in school, including practising our DT skills and looking at healthy meals and different dishes from places around the world. Our nursery children have been exploring where food comes from and tasting different fruits and vegetables. They looked at what ingredients they would need to use to make bread and then made it together and baked it. In Year 2, they have been looking at what products can be made using cocoa as they have been exploring the Amazon as part of their inquiry and have made vegan chocolate bars as they have some children in their class who are vegan.
Mrs Rimmer held a cookery co-curricular club with Year 5 and 6 pupils and the children learnt about how to cut different fruit and vegetables safely with different techniques and also about food safety, such as cooking chicken and how we know it is safe to eat plus precautions we take when handling raw chicken. The children had agency over what they wanted to learn and make over the module and they made stir frys, pizzas, a variety of dips amongst many other meals and most importantly they really enjoyed it and were risk-takers by trying foods that they had never tried before.
Medway Litter Angels Competition
Our Year 5 pupils took part in a Medway Competition where they had to design an anti-littering poster. The posters were judged by a local MP Kelly Tolhurst, and one of our pupils, Ryan, was chosen as a winner. He received a lovely prize from Kelly and we were very proud that he was chosen as a winner.
Haven Heroes
In collaboration with the Allhallows Haven holiday park and members of our village community, we have launched Haven Heroes. Each class has tasks assigned to them with a focus on improving and helping our environment for the future and looking at how we can ‘Go Green’. In making changes within our school and then our community, we can make some impact and then can look at what impact we might be able to make globally. In order to track the tasks as the children move through our school, each child has a special card so that it can be stamped as they complete each project in each year group and when they get to Year 6, Haven will hold a celebration ceremony at the holiday park.
As part of our collaboration with Haven, they have provided us with litter pickers, hi-vis vests and protective gloves and we also have a set of character recycling bins so that our children can ensure that they understand the different materials that can be recycled. Our Eco-Warriors co-curricular club has decided to assign each bin character a different name to help all children to remember the material linked to each one.
Careers Week
All year groups focused on careers that they were interested in for the future as well as what careers were in our local community and within the school itself. In EYFS, they explored the jobs that different people have within the school. They invited Mrs Rimmer as Principal in to discuss her role and also spoke to caretaker Mrs Jacobs and one of the minibus drivers, Mrs White. They thoroughly enjoyed putting each one on the hot spot to ask them questions. One of our parents, who is a Royal Engineer, delivered talks to all classes about the role and gave the children in KS2 some tasks to complete and we also have some other parents coming in to talk to children across the school about their jobs.
High Halstow Primary Academy
This term started with Year 1-6 taking part in STEM workshops to launch the transdisciplinary theme of ‘How the World Works.’ Trust funding enabled us to provide our pupils with this exciting opportunity to think differently whilst developing their STEM skills. Pupils engaged in different workshops across the week, often working in small groups made up of pupils from different year groups. Year 1 and 2 took part in ‘Make, Do, Design and Build’ where they used different tools to create vehicles from cardboard. Year 3 and 4 pupils engaged in a brief linked to the use of K-Nex whilst year 6 were challenged to complete a Lego based task. The collaboration and engagement throughout the workshops was clear for everyone to see.
Additionally, we have been able to offer a STEM after school club to our KS2 pupils to further develop their skills. The group have taken part in a wide range of activities and challenges, such as making a holder to place an egg in and then dropping the egg from height to see if the egg would crack. Pupils have also been developing coding skills and have even delved into forensics by taking their fingerprint. Another popular challenge was having to build a bridge or tower out of just marshmallows and dry spaghetti.It has proven to be a very popular club!
The Hundred of Hoo Academy
Over the course of Module 3, Year 5 pupils from Hundred of Hoo Academy (as well as High Halstow and Peninsula East) were involved in art and design technology workshops with Emergency Exit Art to create lanterns to take part in the Medway Festival of Light lantern parade.
The children were involved in designing and building the lanterns which were paraded through the streets of Historic Rochester on the evening of Friday 11th February.
Pupils drew inspiration from key buildings found in Rochester including Charles Dickens’ Swiss writing chalet, The Corn Exchange and The Guildhall Museum.
The event, which was attended by the Academies Director, Primary Principal, Year 5 teacher, multiple families from the school and thousands of the general public, was a fantastic opportunity for children to be involved in a vibrant and exciting community-wide event. Accompanied on their journey by the sounds and rhythms of a Samba band, this is an event that will stay with the pupils and staff for years to come!
Marden Primary Academy
World Book Day
At Marden Primary Academy, World Book Day actually lasted for two days! On day one, everyone came to the academy dressed as a word as part of our vocabulary parade. The children enjoyed sharing their words and learning new ones too. On day two, Mr Dosad delivered a special gift to each class - a new book! The children excitedly unwrapped the books and then spent the whole day using them as a stimulus for learning.
EYFS - Shelter
In EYFS, they are exploring the central idea: ‘Shelter, for humans and animals, is a basic need.’
The children supported Trevor, our wonderful site manager, to create a shelter in the early years garden. They carefully talked through their plans with Trevor, considering any difficulties before setting to work. The children worked together brilliantly and demonstrated many of the learner profile attributes.
When the children learned that some people do not have a shelter and are in fact homeless, they wanted to help. Working collaboratively, the children planned a cafe for their parents. They made a video to explain their learning to the parents, wrote menus, made signs and sold cakes, biscuits and drinks to raise money for the charity, Shelter. We are so proud of EYFS; they managed to raise a fantastic £245.95. A spokesperson from Shelter said, ‘Amazing! What an incredible amount raised – we are blown away and so thankful!’
Science Week
Science Week 2022 launched with the Biscuit Bonanza. Each class was challenged to complete a scientific investigation related to biscuits to demonstrate their understanding of working scientifically.
What makes a biscuit great for dunking?
How does the temperature affect biscuits?
Does the liquid affect the dunking?
These are just some of the questions the children at MPA were investigating. The children worked collaboratively to plan their investigations and used technology to record their findings.
Bearsted Primary Academy
World Book Day
On Thursday 3rd March BPA were extremely excited to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of World Book Day! We were keen to make a week of it to really celebrate the importance of reading and to share in our love of books and stories as a school community. We participated in a number of events throughout the week, including a sponsored reading competition, reading buddies session, and a staff ‘Masked Reader’ challenge. On the day itself our children were encouraged to dress as their favourite book character, or to bring an item or object in from their favourite book. We were blown away by how fantastic everyone looked and how much effort all of our learners went to; our staff even got involved by dressing up as characters from Roger Hargreaves’ famous Mr Men & Little Miss books! The children loved seeing who their teachers had transformed into for the day. We especially enjoyed sharing our costumes with each other in our whole school costume parade, which started our day off with lots of laughter and fun!
The day then continued in classes and consisted of different classes partnering up for shared reading buddy time, and a STOP, DROP & READ bell half way through the afternoon! The whole school had an amazing buzz throughout the day as the children shared their favourite stories with each other and celebrated the magic of storytelling. We then ended our exciting day with a whole school storytime in which the children were able to choose which story, and which member of staff they wanted to join for a final shared story before home time. A great day was had by all!
The Masked Reader
As part of a reading celebration week, the staff of BPA took part in the ‘Masked Reader’. Our competition followed the format of the popular reality show ‘The Masked Singer’ but instead of singing, our staff described their favourite book using three clues, and whilst disguised behind an emoji mask! Our children then had lots of fun trying to guess the books that were being described, and more importantly, who’s that behind the mask?! We were so impressed by many of the accurate book guesses, and really entertained by the children’s staff guesses. A number of our parents even got involved and the competition heated up further! Much excitement arose when we finally revealed our masked readers to the children in our Friday celebration assembly. Safe to say, Octopus, Dragon, Panda and many of the other characters will be sure to make a reappearance again soon.
Red Nose Day
For a suggested donation of £1, our children were invited to come to school dressed in red clothing and wear 'Red Noses' should they have wished to. This was a fantastic day to collaborate as a community, raise money for a worthwhile cause and raise the profile of international mindedness across our academy.
Sponsored Read
Being a relatively new school, we are always eager to get our children involved in the continued development of our provision. One of our areas for development this term has been our library area. The children have been central to helping to shape how our library is set up and used across the growing school. Last year we ran a sponsored reading event which raised £1,000 for new books for our school library and classroom reading areas. This year we were keen to beat that target and to raise even more money to continue to boost our reading resources with an even greater variety of books. We once again partnered up with the fantastic organisation Usbourne books. We were absolutely blown away by firstly, the incredible amount of time our children logged reading for the week, and secondly, by the unbelievable amount of money they raised - £2,620! This then coupled with Ubourne’s 60% top up will give us over £4,192 to spend on brand new books! We are so excited to get shopping!
Fantastic Fred
We were fortunate enough to secure a last minute booking for the Fantastic Fred primary workshop. This workshop is specifically designed to inform, equip and build resilience; it delivers simple, memorable and practical ways that young children can look after their mental health and explains the link between our physical and mental health. Our children enjoyed understanding further how best to look after their mental health.
Library Renovations
As a new and developing academy, one area of focus for us has been the creation, development and implementation of our library. We have been working hard of late to ensure our library is fit for purpose. This is a space that many of our children will never have had the experience of using before. We are excited to continue developing this space and fully utilising it within our inquiries across the academy.
Donations for Ukraine
Within our academy, we have families whose heritage originates from Ukraine. Recent events in the Ukraine, as we all appreciate, are made more agonising when there is a personal connection to the country. As BPA follows the Primary Years Pathway International Baccalaureate, an aspect of our curriculum delivery is International Mindedness. With that in mind some of our parents decided to take action and provide humanitarian aid in the form of donations to those in need in the Ukraine. Families within our academy have agreed to coordinate this effort in regard to organising and transporting donated items.
Children reading together
World Book Day
Our donations for Ukraine