May 17 Parish News

Back to school after the Easter Break and it’s the start of the Summer Term!

We begin with Miss Ayres, our EYFS teacher sharing news from the end of the Spring Term:

Spring Term was very busy in Early Years as we had great fun learning through our topic on Animals. This included a trip to Mead Open Farm where we bottle fed lambs, milked a pretend cow and stroked rabbits. We also had a special delivery of some eggs in an incubator, which we watched hatch into chicks. Over two weeks we watched the chicks hatch and grow and received regular visits from other children (and adults!) in the school who wanted to see our special visitors.

As we return from the Easter break we will begin our new topic of Fairy tales, Castles and Dragons. This will include some hands-on fairy tale themed science investigations, lots of drama and role play and of course, developing our writing skills as we create our own fantastic fairy tales!

This year as Easter fell at the end of the school holidays the opportunity to celebrate Holy Week came during the first week of the summer term.

Mrs Jessop, our RE Co-ordinator did a fantastic job putting together activities for Holy Week and tying them to other aspects of the curriculum.

During their Forest School time the children throughout the school used natural materials that they had found around the church yard to make a wreath in the shape of a cross which was hung on the school gate to remind pupils about the importance of Holy Week.

On the first day back at school in April, all of the children re-enacted Palm Sunday by heralding the arrival of Jesus riding up and down the church path on a “donkey” (actually a pony called Minnie!). They wore head coverings and waved Palm Leaves which they had made, as one child from each class took the turn to play the role of “Jesus” and feedback to their peers what riding up high through a crowd of people was like.

The next day, the collective worship team, made up of boys and girls from all year groups worked brilliantly together to re-tell the story of the Last Supper during assembly. Being able to see the Last Supper acted out in front of the them provided food for thought to the pupils, as did the act of seeing one of their peers playing “Jesus” washing the feet of the disciples. The pupils agreed that this helped them to better understand the story of the Last Supper.

The children then rounded off Holy Week by watching animations featuring the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, explaining why Christians celebrate Easter and why it is still relevant today. 

The children loved taking part in Holy Week activities. The visit from a real pony has been the talk of the school this month!!

April 17 Parish News

The second half of the Spring Term has been a hive of activity as always!

In addition to Ofsted, as a church school, we also have a SIAMS (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) inspection every 3-5 years. Our SIAMS inspection took place at the end of February. The Inspector had a lovely day chatting with pupils, staff, parents and governors. We are pleased to say that we were graded as “Good” with Outstanding features. Some highlights of the report are listed below:

The commitment, drive and vision of the head teacher, staff and governors have energised the distinctive Christian character of the school. The impact on behaviour, attitudes to learning and pupils’ enjoyment of school is very strong”

“The school, through its distinctive Christian character, is outstanding at meeting the needs of all learners”

“Strong links with the church and church community have increased pupils’ understanding of the Anglican faith and practice.”

“Pupil behaviour remains ‘impeccable’ (Ofsted 2016).”

“Parents describe the positive impact of the school’s Christian character on their children at home and believe that this is due ‘to the staff going the extra mile’.”

“The school believes that the rise in pupil self-esteem, promoted by the school’s Christian values, contributes to the significant rise in attainment. Ofsted (March 2016) noted the school to be an ‘environment where pupils can thrive.”

As a school we continue to appreciate the support of the church and the community and the time and energy they devote to the school. We have some lovely village residents and church members who volunteer their time either as Governors, or by coming in to school to hear children read, or helping during class time. We always welcome more help if you feel that you could volunteer a little time each week.

We are grateful to the church for their input into our weekly assemblies, RE Lessons and for organising activities for the children to participate in throughout the year. In February, Gill and Heather from the church kindly organised a Shrove Tuesday themed activity after school. Children learnt about Lent and the significance of making pancakes on this day. There was also of course, then the opportunity to eat some pancakes! The children had a lovely afternoon and we appreciate Gill and Heather’s efforts!

Pupils participated in World Book Day, a much anticipated event each year. We had some fantastic costumes, with characters from Roald Dahl, David Walliams, JK Rowling and Julia Donaldson proving very popular! The children enjoyed some “Buddy Reading” where older pupils read to younger pupils. They also swapped a book from home with each other.

There has been much eggcitement in Nursery and Reception this month as they have welcomed some new additions to the class! The class has successfully hatched nine baby chicks from eggs in an incubator. The children across the whole school have been enjoying watching the eggs hatch, seeing the chicks grow and getting to know them! They have very much been the talk of the school!

This term, pupils have been linking Literacy, our focus for the year, to other topics such as Art, History, Geography and Drama.  Year’s One and Two have been focusing on their theme of “Jungle” this month. They had great fun creating freeze frames of “The Tiger who came to tea” in preparation for writing their own story based around a jungle animal. 

Year’s Three and Four have been reading “Kensuke’s Kingdom” by Michael Morpurgo and exploring the characters in the story whilst Years Five and Six have been learning about Monologues.

The end of term sees our now annual Talent Show “Great Gaddesden’s Got Talent”. All children are invited to audition for our able panel of Year 6 judges and then one child from each year participates in the final, hoping to be the coveted winner!

Our Easter egg-rolling and Egg Hunt were a fantastic way to finish the Spring term, and we look forward to the start of the Summer Term later this month.

March 17 Parish News

During the second half of the Spring Term we are looking forward to an Ancient Greek Workshop, exploring the story of the tiger who came to tea in literacy, creating art work around a trip to Harry Potter World and a very exciting egg-hatching project for our Early Years pupils. There are also a multitude of sporting events planned and Sharing Assemblies for each class to showcase their work to parents and carers, so it’s a busy month before Easter!

Improving writing and also handwriting is a focus across the school this academic year. In an era when writing a letter by hand is becoming a scarcity and tapping, typing and swiping seems to usurp most adults finding themselves with a pen in their hand nowadays, the school is keen to ensure that the art of beautiful handwriting is not lost! Our pupils begin writing without joining letters together, and then move on to learn how to write using cursive penmanship. Pupils work towards earning a coveted Pen Licence once a required standard of handwriting is met.

Additionally our focus on writing includes encouraging pupils to develop their creative writing. Each class has an opportunity for extended writing each week in “Big Writing” sessions, enabling pupils to let their imaginations flow for a longer period and produce writing which is more in-depth and of a wonderful quality. There were some excellent examples of stories based around Harry Potter which stemmed from a trip to Harry Potter world for years’ three and four last month.  The pupils imagined themselves being put into the sorting hat and had to decide what the sorting hat would say about them and which house they would be place in!

The children were all very excited to take part in a Scooter Workshop last month which was funded by our Sports Premium. We aim to provide options for activities and sports which differ from the norm to try and encourage all of our pupils to be active. Pupils learnt about how to ride their Scooter’s safely and how to do a few Scooter tricks across the playground. This was a very popular workshop and we hope to set up a Scooter Club for pupils to continue this skill.

Last half-term we also ran an After School Djembe Drumming Club, culminating in an end of term performance for parents. We have some fantastic drummers in our midst! The children have loved learning about the different rhythms they can create on the drums.

You may not be aware that Great Gaddesden offers morning sessions for Nursery-aged children. Our Nursery sessions are a fantastic way to prepare your child for school as well as providing a chance to learn and flourish in happy, safe and caring environment.

We are extending an open invitation to our Nursery Open Morning on Thursday 9th March to local parents and carers. Parents and children are welcome to join us at any time between 9:30am – 11:30am for a stay and play session and a chance to have a tour of the school hosted by our students. Please contact us to confirm your attendance. 

We regularly have parents looking for help with childcare, either as wrap-around care for our Nursery sessions, or after school for our Primary pupils. We are interested to hear from any Ofsted registered Childminders or Care Providers willing to offer childcare to pupils at Great Gaddesden School. Please get in touch with the school office if you can help.

The school is collecting Sainsbury’s Active Kids Vouchers, so if you are a Sainsbury’s shopper and don’t have another worthy cause to donate your vouchers to, then please consider supporting us. We would be grateful to receive any vouchers at the school office.

The school bark area which is one of the areas that the children love using during break times received a replenishment of wood chippings recently courtesy of Roderick Wilson who is a fully qualified local tree surgeon and forestry contractor. Thanks to Roderick for your help and for supporting the school.

Feb 17 Parish News

Great Gaddesden CoE VA School

The Spring Term is now in full swing, with much going on and to look forward between now and Easter.

For the first time in recent years, the school is celebrating having a School Choir. Pupils practice weekly during lunchtime with our Music Teacher Miss Vineyard. We have some fantastic singers amongst our pupils and so we are very pleased that they are able to share their love of singing with each other. They have given two concerts in school in the last couple of months to pupils, staff, parents and carers and each time the audience has been so impressed with how brilliant they were!

Our Forest School sessions are going well, with each class spending time learning in the outdoors regularly. The children love the freedom of being in the outdoors, being able to get splash through muddy puddles and climb trees! They have also been learning how to build shelters and creating art work from natural materials.

Nursery and Reception learnt to tell the story of Noah’s Ark this month. They made a big Ark as a class, and made animals and a rainbow for the Ark.

Years One & Two have been learning how to do orienteering during their PE Lessons. In literacy they have been focusing on writing, and following instructions. This included a practical lesson where they wrote instructions for making Jam on Toast, and then followed the instructions to ensure that they worked! A popular lesson amongst the children!

Year 3 and 4 have been exploring the exciting world of Harry Potter; writing character descriptions, watching the film, reading the book all in preparation for an exciting trip to the Warner Studios. In addition, Year 3-4 are studying in RE the key events of Jesus’ life. The children will show their learning by creating his timeline, a passport and exploring some of the parables.

Years Five and Six had an exciting trip to the Science Museum this month to support their learning on Space. In Literacy they have been learning about how to create suspense and tension in their writing.

The deadline has now passed for Reception applications, but new Nursery applications can still be made directly to the school. The deadline for applying for a Nursery place is 17th March 2017. The school continues to have two in-takes for Nursery in September 2017 and January 2018. Please contact the school if you would be interested in a tour.

December16/Jan17 Parish News

Great Gaddesden CoE VA School

Last month we held our third annual whole School “Super Science” day. Here are some recounts from Reception and Years Five & Six about their day.

Miss Ayres from Reception:

“Last month we had our annual Super Science Day. We dressed up as mad scientists and did lots of exciting experiments! In the morning, Anne from Sam's Simple Science helped us to make lava lamps using oil and water. We also watched her put a stick through a balloon without popping it!

During our Play and Learn time in the morning we explored lots of different things including magnets, mirrors, torches, colour paddles and natural objects such as conkers and fir cones. We explored items in the water tray and tested them to see if they would float or sink. On the whiteboard we explored lots of different science games where we could experiment with different objects to see if they were bendy or waterproof. We also played a game where we had to keep giving a plant water to make it grow and William did an activity and then a quiz about light and shadows.

In the afternoon we made some fizzy potions in teams. We used vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and washing up liquid and explored what happens when we mix them together. To make our potions more exciting we added different colours and some glitter. It was great fun!”

Pupil from Years 5 & 6

Playdoh circuits

“We made different circuits with a battery, a wire, playdoh and an LED light. First we had to split the playdoh into 2 balls, then we got the wire and battery (once attached) and placed a wire into each ball of playdoh. After that we took our LED light and separated the legs - the long leg went in the piece of playdoh with the red wire - if the legs were the wrong way around, then the light didn't work. 

All of the elements made a circuit when put together.  Our experiment continued with us making more circuits using playdoh which included parallel circuits.

We thought that Science Day was brilliant!”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the things at the heart of school life is our House System. When joining the school, pupils are assigned to one of our four houses; Beech, Oak, Sycamore and Ash. The house points that each child collects contributes towards their overall house score and the house with the most points each year wins the House Trophy.

Children also work in their houses for sport, with sports day in the summer being one of the highlights of the House System.

We are always keen to embrace other opportunities for children to recognise the house system and so this month all children from Reception upwards have taken part in a House Music Competition, working with their peers to recreate popular Christmas songs using voice and instruments. We haven’t held a House Music Competition in recent years and so this is an exciting addition to the school calendar.

Our Year Six House Captains have taken the lead, arranging parts and choosing instruments and then teaching the song to the rest of their house. The children have been working exceptionally hard on their pieces, and have been letting their creativity flow which has been fantastic to watch. The winning house will have the opportunity to perform their piece in public over the Christmas period.

Years One and Two went back in time this month to the era our school was built in and spent the day learning what school life would have been like for a Victorian Child. Their classroom was transformed into a Victorian classroom with rows of desks and the children enjoyed a variety of workshops on Victorian life from their school mistress Miss Groves. All of the children looked fantastic with many of the boys dressed in waistcoats and flat caps and the girls in long dresses and aprons. The one aspect of Victorian School the children were glad to leave in the past was the use of the cane or slipper for discipline – not at all appealing to the pupils of today!

Years Five and Six have been studying World War Two for their history topic this month. This has tied in with Literacy where they have been reading and taking inspiration from “Goodnight Mr Tom” by Michelle Magorian. Pupils researched what life was like for evacuee children and played out an “evacuation” of their own. The children created identity/luggage labels for themselves to wear during their evacuation and also wrote diary excerpts in the first person, imagining how it felt for children to be away from their families, whilst knowing that their male relatives were at war. I know that many of the children have found this to be a fascinating subject.

Related to this, staff and pupils also observed the two minute silence at the War Memorial in the Church grounds on Remembrance Day with some of our pupils repeating the experience at the Church Service on Remembrance Sunday.

Dates for your Diary:

A reminder that Reception Applications are open until the 15^th of January for those contemplating a Reception place for next September. Visits and tours of the school are very welcome, please enquire via the school office. Please note that when applying, you must also complete a supplementary information form which can be found on the school website.

This month in the lead-up to Christmas there are lots of exciting events to look forward to.

The PTA will be running a Christmas Fayre on 16^th December from 3:15pm which you are warmly invited to.

During December, Staff and Parents will also be taking part in the Santa’s Sleigh event collecting money for local charities with the Berkhamsted Lions Club.

Children in Nursery and Reception will be performing the traditional Nativity Play during December whilst Years One to Six will be recounting the story of the first Christmas through drama and song at our Carol Services. The Carol Services will be held on Thursday the 15^th of December at 2pm and 7pm at the church for anyone who would like to join us.

Staff and Junior aged pupils will also be Carol Singing in Great Gaddesden Village on Monday 12^th December after school and we look forward to the opportunity to visit you and share the Christmas spirit with you. If you or someone you know are located in the village and would particularly appreciate hearing some carol singing, please let the school office know so we can ensure we get to you (weather and location depending).

The school term ends with our annual Christingle Service on Wednesday the 21^st December. Children decorate their Christingles at school and line up in the shape of the cross inside the church. They light them and angelically sing “Away in a Manger” which for me is one of the things that signals the start of Christmas. It is always a very special service and a lovely way to round off the Autumn term.

On behalf of the Great Gaddesden School Community, we wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas Season and look forward to sharing our school news with you in 2017.

Nov 16 Parish News

This month to celebrate National Poetry Day on 6^th October, each class learnt and recited a poem to the rest of the school and some of our Governors. Children in Early Years learnt “African Animals”, Years 1 & 2 learnt 'On the Ning-Nang-Nong' by Spike Milligan, Years 3 & 4 learnt 'Sand between the toes' by AA Milne and Years 5 & 6 learnt 'If' by Rudyard Kipling. The children all gave wonderfully rousing performances including actions and they were all fantastic!  Amazingly many of our pupils were also able to this year recite the poems that they learnt last year, and so we hope the poems that they have learnt will stay with them for many years to come!

Recently our Nursery and Reception class went on a trip to the Wyevale Garden Centre to buy some plants to grow in the school garden.  They looked at different plants, vegetables and fruit plants and chose a Lavender plant, Purple Broccoli, Kale, & Leeks to grow in our school garden and around the school. They are looking forward to nurturing the plants & watching them grow!

Years One and Two are focusing on “measuring” in their maths lessons and have been busy measuring various points around the school to find out if they are bigger, or smaller than a metre. They were surprised to find out that some of the pupils were shorter than a metre, some taller than a metre, and some of the teachers were almost two metres tall!

Years 3 to 6 visited Hazard Alley this month in Milton Keynes. Hazard Alley is the UK’s first safety interactive education centre. The centre sets up real-life situations around safety scenarios such as road, railway, home, building site, water, internet and personal safety and challenges children to learn what to do in an emergency situation. Whilst there our pupils learnt when and how to make an emergency 999 call, and how to put people into the Recovery position. One of the overwhelmingly popular scenarios amongst pupils was discovering and reporting a real-life fire! It is wonderful that pupils were able to get some hands-on experience on what to do if an emergency happens!

We were also privileged this past month to travel to St Albans Abbey with Years 3-6 to take part in the Bishop’s School’s Harvest Festival Celebration which was a fabulous opportunity to celebrate Harvest with other local church schools.

One of the things that has seen our school go from strength to strength in recent years is the dedication of our staff members – both teaching & non-teaching. They work tirelessly in the best interests of the school, going over and above what is asked of them and we are extremely appreciative of them. As well as teaching, staff also undertake responsibility for heading up different areas of the curriculum or aspects of school life, whether that be Literacy, Maths, Science, IT, Music, Art or French provision, or maintaining the school environment.

For the past year, Mrs Jessop, one of our class 3 & 4 teachers and SENCO Leader has been undertaking a very demanding Masters level course in her “spare” time – the National Award for SEN Coordination. We learnt this month that she has passed the course! We are very proud of her achievements for her personally and also in terms of what it means for the school and being able to offer quality SEN provision for those pupils who need it.

Ms Waites, a long standing Teaching Assistant has been completing a “forest school” training course this term, meaning that she can now lead sessions to help pupils learn through outdoor education and enabling us to take advantage of the amazing surroundings we have around the local area.  This will hopefully help us to ensure that our curriculum is engaging for those learners who may not always be suited to the traditional classroom environment.

I think that some of our pupils assume that like at home, a magical fairy keeps their school clean and tidy! The work of our Caretaker and local resident Jane Collier often takes place outside school hours and is easily overlooked as something which just happens automatically. However, Jane does an outstanding job of cleaning and keeping the school tidy and well maintained. It is no mean feat cleaning up after eighty children and their little hand and footprints!  Jane does it unassumingly and expertly, ensuring that staff and pupils always have a clean, welcoming and inviting environment to work in. We hugely appreciate the dedication that Jane shows to the school and so wanted to recognise her efforts publicly as we are truly grateful. Parents also appreciate Jane’s diligence at the school gate as you can be sure that she will not let a child leave the premises unless they have a parent or carer with them at the end of the day!  

Staff and Pupils are looking forward to the festive season ahead, and we look forward to sharing news of our events with you in the next issue.

October 16 Parish News

Pupils have been experiencing “Democracy in Action” this month at Great Gaddesden!

Our school operates a School Council forum which includes one child from each year group from year’s one to six and changes each academic year. School Council exists to enable pupils to present their ideas and opinions and ensure that all children feel they have a say in what happens in their school. All children have the opportunity to nominate themselves for School Council. After nomination they must then present to their peers the reasons that they think make them a good candidate. Each child votes for the candidate they would most like to see represent their year group via democratic vote.

Last year the School Council consulted on the change of the School Dinner System and helped to choose new equipment for the proposed renovation of the bark area. They also got involved with raising money for Great Ormond Street and assisted with selling cakes at a Bake Sale held at the Snow Centre in Hemel.

Meadow in Year Six created a brilliant Acrostic Poem as part of her campaign to be a School Council Representative and her peers were obviously impressed as she was successful in her campaign and has become their representative!

Here is her innovative poem detailing the reasons and qualities that she thought would make her a good candidate. Perhaps some of our current politicians can take note!

Sensible

Caring

Honest

Organised

Obliging

Leader

Creative

Optimistic

Unique

Negotiable

Considerate

Impartial

Likeable

Nursery and Reception have settled in wonderfully to the school. In class they are learning how things grow. They have been busy exploring the school Garden and admiring the Sun Flowers. They were also exploring the apple trees and their fruits, and deciding what vegetables they could grow in the garden. Soon they will be going on a class visit to the local garden centre to buy seeds to grow some food of their own!

Years One and Two have been busy exploring materials and the differences between wood, plastic, metal, glass and clay. They went on a hunt in the school grounds trying to identify different materials They have also been working hard on their mental maths!

Years Three and Four have been focusing on the Stone Age as their topic for the start of this term. They took an exciting trip to Celtic Harmony in Essex to experience the Stone Age in action and had the chance to build dens, explore what children in the Stone Age ate and experience sitting round the fire in a Stone Age hut. Pupils dressed up in Stone Age costume and they all looked absolutely wonderful!

A team from Years Five and Six are competing again in the Gaddesden Football League. Their first match was against Kensworth. Here is their match report:

“Match Report
The season is now under way and what a curtain raiser it was. Great Gaddesden hosted Kensworth using Kenworth’s field as theirs is unavailable for the time being. It was a very even match, Great Gaddesden putting Kensworth under pressure and going deservedly 1 nil up with Caden’s well taken goal.”

Kensworth dug in and kept making chances, eventually equalizing through Wills strike with only 10 minutes left on the clock! Both teams had chances to grab a winner but a combination of good defending and goalkeeping saw the game finish all square

The Match finished: Great Gaddesden 1 – 1 Kensworth

“                                                                         

This month pupils took part in a non-school-uniform day to raise money for Great Ormond Street our chosen charity as part of the 'Going for Gold' campaign to raise awareness for childhood cancer.

We have also welcomed a new Foundation Governor this month. Krys Kirby who lives locally in the village very close to the school has kindly agreed to join the Governing body and we are sure she will be a fantastic asset.

Pupil numbers are now at the highest they have been in recent years, with 85 pupils currently on roll. As the school grows we are working hard as a Staff and Governing Body to ensure that the school maintains its small “village” community feel.

We also work hard to ensure that each child’s learning needs are catered for. We do this in a variety of ways. One of the things we offer is 1-2-1 support sessions for pupils identified as needing extra support with their learning. Staff also run a Homework club to offer support to anyone who may not have the opportunity to undertake homework or reading at home.

We regularly take advantage of external workshop opportunities for our most able learners. Additionally, this year Gill Edwards one of our Governors is kindly sparing her time to run a book club for able readers in Years Five and Six which they are very much enjoying.

Each and every child’s progression in Reading, Literacy and Maths is individually monitored by the class teacher and Head. Anonymised pupil progress reports are regularly presented at Curriculum and Standards Meetings to ensure that Governors can also track how pupils are progressing.

We also celebrate pupil’s out-of-school activities in our weekly celebration assemblies where children have the opportunity to share and celebrate their extra-curricular achievements.

We welcome visits from prospective parents who are considering Nursery and Reception places for 2017 or in-year admissions. Please contact the school office to arrange a visit. We would love to show you around!