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!!