Great
Gaddesden CoE (VA) School
For Children Aged 3-11
The long-awaited
and planned for trip to Paris took place on Friday 20th June. The 4.30am start did not
deter pupils or staff and they had a wonderful time. The children conducted a treasure hunt beginning outside Le Louvre - following clues to answer questions about some of the nearby attractions. There were 19 questions to answer as well as additional challenges such as recreating the pose from a statue or spelling out a word using their bodies as letters. The treasure hunt finished within site of L'Arc de Triomphe. Children then visited the Eiffel Tower - here they went as far as the second floor and took in the fabulous view of the city. They also used their French speaking skills to buy a number of souvenirs during the day. Behaviour was, a always, impeccable.
Small Schools Week
There is huge excitement in the school for the last week of June as normal
lessons make way for a week of enrichment and extra curricular activities to
celebrate Small Schools Week.
Each class teacher has developed an exciting week of
activities:
Nursery & Reception will be having a Circus Skills
Workshop, going on a woodland adventure, learning about Art through nature, preparing
food for a picnic and hosting a teddy bears picnic for other small schools in
the area.
Children in Years 1 &2 will be going to Tring Museum,
having a fun food day, doing an Art Academy workshop and building woodland dens.
Our older pupils in Key Stage 2 will be going Kayaking on
the Grand Union Canal, rock climbing at the XC, orienteering in our beautiful
countryside, den building on the Gaddesden Estate, playing inter-house rounders,
and doing a science workshop. On Friday all of the children in Key Stage 2 will
be going to the Orchard Barn on the Gaddesden Estate for a ‘Dragons Den’ style
workshop entitled “How to save the World”. We are very grateful to Nick and
Viola Halsey for allowing us to use the wonderful facilities of the Gaddesden
Estate.
On Wednesday the whole school will be going to Whipsnade Zoo
for the day. One of the unique things about small schools is the wonderful
sense of community that exists between pupils across the school. We felt that
one way of celebrating this was for the whole school to share an outing together.
One of the reasons that the school is able to enjoy Small
Schools Week to the full is that the children and staff have worked incredibly
hard this academic year on the core skills of reading, writing and maths. Our
whole school focus has been to improve Writing and a recent LEA review of
the school’s progress against its Ofsted targets said that the progress in
writing this year has been “SERIOUSLY
IMPRESSIVE”.
We are very proud of the huge improvements that are being
made in academic teaching and learning across the school.
This time of year is very poignant as we say goodbye to
pupils who have been a very important part of our school community. This year
we say farewell to Amanda, Charlie, Josh and Shyla. We are incredibly proud of
them all and wish them happiness and success in their secondary schools. They
have all been wonderful ambassadors for the School.
In a small school, being a Year 6 pupil brings many
responsibilities, and the oldest children almost become part of the school
leadership team! We are therefore particularly sad to see our oldest pupils
leave. However, our current Year 5s will return in September ready to grow into
the role of the most senior pupils in the school.
Wishing all members of our wonderful school community a
relaxing summer holiday. We look forward to welcoming you back in September.
Alison Wilkinson
Chair of Governors
