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!”

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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!

September 16 Parish News

The children are settling in to their new classes well this September in anticipation of another exciting term at Great Gaddesden School. We warmly welcome our new children and their families from the village and further afield as we look ahead to the next academic year. 

The end of last term finished with many of our traditional school events. Sports Day was quite eventful with lots of fun races to take part in for pupils. Races included sprint, the obstacle race, egg and spoon, and sack race. There was some fantastic racing from the children, with perhaps some future Olympic runners judging by how fast some of them were! 

As governors we were also privileged to watch a lovely performance of Oliver Twist by the juniors. Every one worked very hard learning songs and scripts and their hard work all paid off as they were absolutely wonderful! 

Over the summer holidays the school had some building work done internally to extend the years five/six and one/two classrooms. This building work will provide a better environment for our staff to teach in and improve the learning of our pupils. We know that the children were excited to see what it looked like! 

As a school we promote "values based" learning to promote a sense of community and citizenship. Each month we have a school value which children focus on. These include qualities such as honesty, courage, respect, determination and compassion. Pupils nominate each other when they see their peers displaying these qualities, and staff also nominate children. They are celebrated in our Thursday "celebration assembly'" where one child each week has their handprint printed onto our values tree.

We hold a weekly "church assembly" each Friday during the term. Parents and carers are welcome to join us at these assemblies which are kindly hosted by either our Vicar or a Lay Reader of the church. 

As always we have a busy term planned and we look forward to sharing news of our activities with you in future parish news. "

July 16 Parish News

There are only a few weeks left of the school term, but there is still much to look forward to for pupils including Sports Day, Inter-Village Sports, the Summer Fair, the end of term Musical and end of term Disco.

Our Year Six pupils are reaching the end of their Primary School Journey and their achievements and time at the school will be celebrated at our Leavers Service which is always an emotional affair!

Meanwhile much has been happening in the past month. 

The children have been displaying Artwork in the church. We hope you may have had a chance to have a look at it! We also entered some of our pupils work into the Herts Primary School Art competition. One of our pupils, Harry Botschin in year one who lives in the village reached the finals and had his work displayed at the County Show in May. Harry came third in his age group and we are very proud of him. He is a truly fantastic artist!

Years One and Two visited Mountfitchet Castle this month to learn more about the Normans. They had an absolute wonderful time and learnt lots about life in the castle, including what they would have eaten, what weapons they would have used in battle and what they would have done to punish people if they broke the law, which meant having a go at being in the stocks!

Children in Years three to six took part in a joint music celebration with four other schools at Markyate School this month. The theme was “Best of British” and the audience were treated to an array of wonderful British Music. Our children sang “Our House” by Madness, as well as a number of other songs collaboratively with the other schools. This was a great opportunity for our pupils to engage with children from other schools and perform to a wider audience. We are always keen to take part in opportunities to engage in learning experiences in collaboration with other schools.

This month as a school we have been celebrating “Small Schools Week”, an annual event in association with the National Association for Small Schools. On their website, the NASS highlights that

“Small schools are often at the top of national performance, not least in low income and remote areas. The effective ingredient is the close partnership between parents and teachers. The children feel from the start safe and secure, that effort is worthwhile and achievement possible. The evidence shows exactly that and the high quality of teaching, relationships and related achievement endures.”

This is very much the ethos of our school, and for the past three years we have been coming off our usual timetable one week of the Summer Term to celebrate the unique opportunities a small school is able to provide.

This year Small Schools Week had a Brazilian theme to tie in with the Rio Olympics in August. Activities included a Mini-Olympics tournament, Brazilian Music, Singing, Arts and Crafts and a Brazilian Dance Workshop complete with Masks, Feathers and Samba Music which all of the children very much enjoyed.

Nursery, Reception, Years One and Two split into four teams for their Mini Olympics - France, Brazil, China and Ghana. They completed lots of different activities including the bean bag challenge, Hoop toss, discus and javelin and running races. They had lots of fun.

Years Five and Six enjoyed their bi-annual visit to Paris for the day during Small Schools Week. It was a very long day for them leaving at four thirty am to travel by Eurostar to the French Capital. They had a chance to visit the Eiffel Tower and other sights, immerse themselves in the French culture, sample French food and most importantly got to try out their French language skills which all children learn from Reception upwards. They were excited to come back to school and tell everyone about their brilliant day!

To close this month, some of our Years Three and Four pupils are sharing an account of their visit to Phasels Wood as part of Small Schools week.

“This week was small school this week and years three, four, five and six went to Phasels Activity Wood.

Unfortunately it chucked it down with rain, but we still had a great time!

First we went orienteering. We had to find a wooden sign with our number and a letter on. We had a very soggy map to help us find the right number. We all found it very confusing!

After we split into two equal groups and played Aero ball. We had to jump on a trampoline and try to score in the other persons goal. The top goal scored five and the bottom goal scored three. It was really funny when the ball hit the side and the rain tipped down on us!

Meanwhile the other group did the Cresta run which was epic! It was a mini cart with breaks careering down the hill. When the teachers had a go it was very funny, actually it was hilarious, ha ha!

After lunch we split back into our groups again. One group went Rock Climbing. First we went on a traversing well and everyone kept falling off. When you had completed that, you had to climb up a moving Rock Wall. The wall tilted and most people fell off (onto a soft mat). The other group went on Go-Carts with Pedals and raced. On the Pedal Racers we were zooming around like Formula One drivers!

Everyone really enjoyed going to Phasels Wood and we would definitely like to go again, maybe the sun will even shine next time!

June 16 Parish News

It's hard to believe that the summer term has come around so quickly again! The children are appreciating being able to spend more time outside enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the school and staff are always keen to get children out of the classroom and hold lessons in outside spaces where possible.

This month, the whole school embarked upon a Bluebell Walk one afternoon which was kindly organised by Ms Waites. Diligently prepared for the great British weather with Rain Macs, Wellies…. and Sun Cream and Hats, pupils and staff enjoyed a walk through the fields and into the woods to see the Bluebells.

Eleanor from Year 4 said:

I liked our Bluebell Walk. Everyone in the juniors had someone from Infants as our buddy and we got to chat to them and help them if they needed it. We saw the lovely Bluebells and we walked in some very squelchy mud. Afterwards my wellies were really muddy!

In Physical Education pupils are focusing on Athletics for the summer term, with lots of relay race practicing in readiness for Sports Day. Pupils are also enjoying Football, Rounders’ and Tennis.

This month members of the school community, including Mrs Comer our head teacher, parents and pupils, took part in the “RBC Race for the Kids” 5K event in London in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. One of our pupils has been supported through leukaemia treatment at GOSH this year and we were so proud that he managed to get round the whole course independently and complete the 5K. “Team Woody for RoRo” raised over 15k for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Nursery and Reception have been learning how to create exciting similes this month and have been looking at examples like “As hot as the sun” or “As big as an elephant” and trying to create their own. One example I was given by our pupils included “As kind as Miss Ayres!” which I thought summed her up perfectly!

Years One and Two are studying weather for their topic and they have been creating musical instruments to make weather sounds.

In Years Three and Four pupils have been focusing on fractions in Maths and looking at explanation texts in Literacy.

This month has been SATS focused for our Year Six pupils. The first year to take the new government SATS papers, I’m sure some of you may have seen reactions in the media from teaching staff and parents to the questions set, which were considerably harder than in previous years.

Miss Williams our 5/6 teacher has told me how proud she is of all of the pupils who worked so hard in the lead-up to the exams. She was especially impressed with how much all of the pupils supported each other during SATS week, sharing supportive words and boosting morale amongst each other. The camaraderie and resilience they displayed during SATs week was excellent.

I’m pleased to report we had no tears from pupils, although there was a few scratching of heads from Governors trying to decipher some of the answers to the questions!

To close this month, our Years One and Two Teacher Miss Groves is sharing some work from her class:

“This half term in year 1 and 2 we have been focusing our English work on the story ‘Monkey and Me’ by Emily Gravett. We really enjoyed role playing the story which is about a girl and her cuddly toy monkey going to a zoo. We monkeyed around pretending to be different animals, which included actions and sound effects as we recounted the story.

We even had a visitor to help inspire our writing, a monkey! Well, it was Miss Groves dressed as a monkey.

We became authors of our own ‘Monkey and Me’ stories this half tem when we wrote mini books. We designed and created the front cover for our books. We then studies blurbs from other books before writing our own. As well as writing, we drew illustrations to accompany our stories.”

May 16 Parish News

The staff and pupils enjoyed a well-earned two week break during April as the Easter Break (which didn’t coincide with Easter this year!) marked an end to the Spring Term.

The school had a very intensive end to the Spring Term as we finally received our long anticipated visit from Ofsted.

I am now absolutely delighted to be able to confirm that Great Gaddesden CoE VA School is a GOOD school overall, and an OUTSTANDING school in terms of Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare.

Although we recognise that a school is so much more than an Ofsted report, we are delighted that the hard work and dedication of Staff and Pupils has been recognised.

We are also especially grateful to our wonderful Head Teacher Mrs Comer who has helped to drive the school forward and made vast improvements on our position before her arrival.

The full report is now available on the Ofsted Website but below are some highlights from the report:

The head teacher has been uncompromising in her drive to improve the school since the last inspection. She has gained the confidence of her staff, who fully support the drive for improvement. As a result, all areas of the school’s work have improved since the last inspection.

Senior leaders and governors have created a fully inclusive school where all pupils are made to feel secure, valued and supported to achieve their best. As a result, pupils thrive in the school and gain in self-confidence. Pupils leaving at the end of Year 6 are well prepared for the transfer to a large secondary school.

Children in the early years provision make good progress because teachers plan interesting and challenging activities.

The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. The pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the heart of the school’s work. Each child is valued for their individuality by all staff and they encourage all pupils to celebrate their achievements and persevere where they encounter difficulties. As a result, pupils are happy, confident and successful learners.

Parents agree that teaching is good and that they receive valuable information about their child’s progress.

We are very excited about the future of our school, and are committed to making Great Gaddesden School even more inspirational for everyone involved with the school.

You may have noticed our Pupils taking part in the “Clean for the Queen” campaign at the end of March. Along with other members of the local community children from Nursery to Year six spent the first part of the school day litter picking to help clear up the village. The children were very diligent in thinking about their own safety and considering what litter was suitable to be picked up They enjoyed a lovely morning outdoors and hopefully the local area looks better for it.

Years Five and Six have been learning about the Egyptians and enjoyed an Egyptian Workshop last month. This including dressing up to support their learning, learning about measuring the Egyptian way, dancing to Egyptian music and some hands on experience of mummification!

Years Three and Four spent their Design and Technology Lessons designing and concocting their own version of their favourite smoothie. Using the recently purchased new school blenders, pupils were able to make their own smoothie, and then evaluated it to decide whether they would do anything differently the next time they made it. The children enjoyed learning about and testing out the different kinds of fruits and vegetables which can be used to make a smoothie.

Years One and Two were focusing on Measurement in their maths lessons last term. On their blog there are lots of fantastic pictures of them measuring capacity, distance, length and temperature. They achieved this by measuring liquids in jugs, the longest distance they could make a toy racing car go, and measuring various places and pieces of equipment in the school.

I will leave it to our Early Years Teacher, Miss Ayres to tell you about a highlight for her class this month.

If you are looking for a school place please feel free to contact us to make an appointment to and view our learning.

We also greatly value volunteers from the local community who can enhance the education of our pupils either on a regular or one-off basis and so please feel free to contact us if you would be interesting in sparing some time to volunteer with us.

From Miss Ayres:

 During the last week of the Spring Term Nursery and Reception enjoyed a very exciting trip to Buckinghamshire Railway Centre! Our fantastic guide, Peter, spent the day showing us around and teaching us all about trains. We learnt a lot! We had a ride on an old steam train and learnt how trains used to work and why they were - and still are - a very important form of transport. We also rode on a miniature train which was lots of fun! All the children and adults had a brilliant day. Well done especially to Holly and Dexter, who won special train driver hats for asking and answering questions really well. Here are some of the things the children said about our trip:

I liked the big train. I want to drive a train when I am big. Josh

My favourite part was the mini-train. I liked learning lots about trains. Luke

I loved riding the steam train. Mylo

I liked seeing all the trains and going on the big train. Leo

My favourite was the big steam train. Rebecca

March 16 Parish News

This month the children from Year Five and Six have been writing mystery stories. Their task was to write about themselves as a main character and describe an event which happened at school.

As there were so many fantastic pieces of writing, I am leaving the page space free for them. More news from me next month, but for this month sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy their stories!!

The next day in the evening, Max made his move. He dashed to the main gate and firmly placed his hand on the lock and then vaulted over.  This was the only time to do it.  It was another risk Max was willing to take.  “Just do it,” he muttered to himself as he crept up to the school.  He had seen a smashed window from the day before.

By Max 

When the police arrived they closed the room off to examine the area.  Once they had finished she heard them say, “The murderer was Miss Blueberry but don’t worry we are going to look into this further.”  Chloe thought this can’t be her as she is kind and caring.  Miss Blueberry would never do something like that.  She thought and thought until she decided to tell the police.  Finally she had built up the courage to tell the highly decorated men (the police) eek!  So Chloe explained, “Oh it can’t have been her because she’s too kind and hates no one.”  “I’m sorry there is no one else who could have done it and all the clues lead to Miss Blueberry.”  He sighed.  Then Chloe sat down and sighed in disbelief.  She thought there must be some way to prove that it wasn’t Miss Blueberry….

By Chloe.

You know when people say, “It had a carpet of flies” this was it.  Hundreds of thousands of them coating the floor.  The dark room had no windows but slits in the roof.  In the corner sleeping inside a glass case was, Lyra.  Centred in the middle was a BIG, RED BUTTON.  I bounded towards it.  Could it free Lyra?  I raised my hand.  30cm away Lyra woke up.  20cm away she saw me.  10cm away she started frantically waving at me.  5cm away my spidery senses are starting to tingle.  1cm away I stopped.  All my insides were screaming at me to do it.  I thought for a second. ”Get out of the way!” I instructed Lyra.  I hurtled myself towards the glass case.  BANG! SMASH! Was all I heard before I tumbled to the ground.

By Hattie

Beau came into school early and gave his homework in.  As he came in, he noticed that the school trophies have disappeared.  He went to tell the teachers but he couldn’t find them anywhere so Beau was.  Frank found some footsteps that were small and faint and looked like Beau’s.

By Beau 

Krysta’s class was a small classroom.  The big, white board had drawings from when silly kids had been drawing on it at detention.  The lights flickered because they hadn’t been changed for years.  Her teacher’s name was Miss Cherry.  She was the worst teacher in the whole, entire school.  She had long, blond hair with loads of knots in it.  She was wearing a short skirt with cats on and a sweater that said, “Go to college!”

By Krysta 

Whilst eating his muffin, police man Blueberry questioned, “Miss Williams, what did you do last night?”  Miss Williams said, “Mrs Comer and I were having an argument”.  “Ok Miss Williams, you will have to go to the police station.”  I heard the police car go down the road.

By Grace 

After four days of going in and out of boring tunnels she had finally got to the 5^th and final tunnel and she wasn’t alone!  She looked behind her and there she saw a dark shadowy figure it was coming closer and there was nothing Meadow could do.  It had a flashlight!  She saw the face but she couldn’t quite work out who it was.  “Oh!” Meadow sighed in relief.  It was Molly and she was so glad!

By Meadow 

The next morning Cally put on her best clothing Cally suddenly got butterflies in her tummy she was very nervous. As Cally went into school she saw the new girl. Even when Cally was in her best cloths Erin was prettier than her. Then the new girl came over to Cally and said her name was Erin. Cally was so angry she gave Erin the silent treatment.

By Cally 

Friday, 3:14pm. A dead body was found at Great Gaddesden School ! Identified to be a boy. The teachers called the police  immediately but when they got back, the body was no longer there.

By Ben 

Somehow my size six feet tip toed across the library carpet without a creek or crack. It took a while to find the book from section M, however once I did the book shelves opened. Suddenly footsteps tapped down the stairs. I ran so fast it was as if I qualified for the Olympics.

By Corey 

When they got to the library, Meadow was desperate for a drink so she rushed up stairs to go and get one. Whilst Meadow was upstairs Grace saw a book hanging out from the book shelf and pushed it in… Then Meadow heard a scream and rushed down stairs like a heard of elephants.

By Sienna 

At 2:30pm the house cups were handed out at Great Gaddesden School for the best house leader. Harry was jealous because in his opinion, his team were better, but they didn’t win. Later that day, Harry bumped into the person who won, Grace, Harry’s arch enemy. Harry decided to speak up, “I should of won!” Seeing the trophy in her hand, Harry reached for the trophy. Grace quickly hit Harry on the temple and he was dead in seconds. She ran through the door to the library and out of the window.

By Harry 

I was walking down the ominous corridor towards the library when precipitately CRASH! AAAGH! I dropped my books and rapidly sped off down the hall. Inside Mr Bennett, the librarian, lying in a pool of rubicund blood, Kate was there too endeavouring to keep him with us. It turned out the book case had fallen on him and crushed his rib cage, Kate and I were trying to lift it off of him, our hands caked in blood. One of Bennett’s bones had pierced through his blood stained skin, and now was resting on his stomach like a raw, gory steak on a plate. We eventually accomplished the mission of lifting the book case off of him, and he choked “my… cough… my twin… still l…l…lives, cough”. And then this town’s population went down by one.

By Bradley 

Feb 16 Parish News

A belated Happy New Year from all at Great Gaddesden School. It has been a busy start to 2016 with lots planned for the Spring Term.

Alongside academic learning, children are looking forward to experiencing Drama Workshops, Theatre Trips, Martial Arts and Football and Netball Matches against other local schools.

We are currently in the process of training our Year Five and Six pupils as “Play Leaders”. Our play-leaders will work in teams of three and take one lunch-time a week to provide an activity/game for younger children. This peer support will help to improve play provision across the school and help to ensure pupils are getting the most out of their lunchtime breaks.

The school has not yet received our anticipated Ofsted Visit which was due in November 2015. We now expect to be visited by Ofsted this term.

We had some good news back in December regarding our academic attainment. We were delighted to discover that in the Department for Education's recently published School League Tables for 2015, the school placed 20^th out of over five hundred schools in the whole of Hertfordshire for academic attainment, which also puts us within the top three schools in Dacorum for attainment! Our success was noted by a small mention in the Daily Telegraph.

Smaller than average pupil cohort numbers mean attainment can vary year-on-year much more than it does in a larger school, but this result is a testament to the hard work of the pupils and staff at the school  and we are very proud of our achievements!

Last term Years One & Two learnt about the Great Fire of London. Their teacher Miss Groves has recounted their learning of a topic which captured many of their imaginations.

Years Three & Four wrote some fantastic Haikus based on celebrating the New Year, which are also featured in the newsletter this month. As a reminder in a Haiku, lines are 5, 7 and 5 syllables long!

The deadline has now passed for Reception applications, but new Nursery applications can still be made directly to the school. The dead-line for nursery is 18th March 2016. The school continues to have two in-takes for Nursery in September 2016 and January 2017. Please contact the school if you would be interested in a tour.

Learning in Year One and Two – from Miss Groves

Last term in year one and two we learnt all about The Great Fire of London. We learnt all about how the fire started in Pudding Lane and spread through the city of London. We read extracts from Samuel Pepys diary to find out exactly what it was like in London in 1666. 

Did you know that he buried his cheese and wine in his garden so the fire didn’t destroy it?!

We created a class timeline and placed the events of the 4 days in chronological order, before discussing what life was like back in 1666. 

We also discussed the positives that came from The Great Fire of London (there are a few!) The fire brigade was set up to help those in need.  Laws were passed to make safer houses built from brick and stone and the streets of London were cleaned on a more regular basis to help combat the spread of fire.

We also linked our art topic of ‘Light’ to our learning of The Great Fire of London by creating our own fire pictures using chalks and other materials.

We also learnt about fire safety in the present day. We talked about what to do and who to call in a fire emergency. We role played calling the emergency services and discussed how we can keep ourselves safe at home and school.

Haikus from Years Three and Four

Fenella:

The cheerful school smiles

The school shares forever now

I love school its cool!

Easters coming soon!

Flowers start to grow and bloom

Eggs are hidden now

                                                                        Olivia:

The new lambs are here

So are the cute butterflies

I can’t wait for more

The plants start to grow

The ducklings start to waddle

Horses prance and dance

Fish swim about now

Exciting things are outside

Roses bloom and grow

Finley:

Spring is coming

Blossoms have bloomed, lambs are born

Sunshine comes, hooray!

Hot sun and flowers

Happiness throughout summer

Moon shines bright at night

Sun shines everywhere

Moon sparkles on the ocean

Celebrations spread

Eleanor:

New Year

New people coming

They are born into the world

We can celebrate

Spring

Daffodils have bloomed

Cherry blossom on the trees

Spring is in the air

Immy:

Big celebrations

Growing animals, ripe fruit

Happiness around!

Birds fly in the air

Cherry blossom is coming

Easter eggs are found!

Evangeline:

Easter is coming

Chocolate eggs and piñatas

Daffodils have bloomed

Birds fly all around

Happy people can party

Animals come out

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