Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Arts Week Photos

  Fri 15 Nov 2019 Dr. Townsley

  We had a fabulous arts week, inspired by 'The Dot', which is a story of a little girl called Vashti who thinks that she can't draw, but - with the encouragement of a supportive teacher - soon discovers hidden talents.

  During our arts week, the children were colour mixing, experimenting with different pencils, exploring the work of different artists, and using a range of different materials.  We were also delighted that we had visits from Naomi Frances and her students (from Chatsmore) and a local artist, Tricia Johnson. Thank you to everyone involved and all the parents, friends and family who came to our exhibition to give the children an audience for their work.

  

• Gardening Project

  Wed 13 Nov 2019 Dr. Townsley
  We had another visit from our Chichester University students today who are working on creating our environmentally friendly sensory garden.  They have totally cleared and covered all three of the useable beds, and dismantled and turned over the 4th bed.  They are going to be planting these with daffodils and tulips for the Spring time ... but we need your help.  Could you donate a bag of bulbs to us?  We would also be grateful for any donations towards the costs of materials and plants - have a look on https://www.gofundme.com/f/bee-friendly-sensory-garden for more details.

  

• Story Telling Day

  Fri 25 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley
  Great fun was had by all with the children coming into school wearing their pyjamas and onesies to celebrate Story Telling Day.  All the money that was raised will be used to buy new books for our school library.  A big thank you to the parents who kindly gave up their time to come in and read to the children, and also to Miss Daniels for organising the day.

  

• Day 5 of the residential

  Fri 25 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley

  The final day of the residential began with the most wonderful sunrise.  The children's gasps of how beautiful it was were soon drowned out by the gasps of horror from the staff at the children's attempts at packing!  Thank goodness Miss O'Malley had woken them up earlier!

   

  We finally made it down to breakfast (after reuniting lots of stray socks, towels and gloves with their owners) and then went onto our final activities.  For one group it was the Zip Wire and low ropes, for the other group it was their final skiing session.  The Zip Wire group did incredibly well, they all pulled together to make sure that the lines were kept safe, ropes were held securely and those with nerves were encouraged.  In fact, the whole group finished the activity about ten minutes early, with is great testament to their team working skills.  They powered through the low ropes activity too, and had a great time.

   

  The skiing group worked really hard to improve their technique of snow plough turns.  It wasn't easy, particularly as final day tiredness had started to kick in, but they kept on going and were then rewarded with a fabulous fast sledging session to finish with.

   

  And then it was time for lunch and back to school again.  The children have been an absolute credit to the school and their parents.  I've been on many residentials in my career, but Year 6, I can truly say that you absolutely stand out as being an amazing group.  You have been such fun to spend time with and your energy and enthusiasm has been infectious.  Thank you for a wonderful week.   

  

• Day 4 of the residential

  Thu 24 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley

  It's been a damp and soggy day, but the children have stayed in high spirits.  Once again, the children slept really well ... although it's noticeable that they are waking up later each morning and looking bleary for longer!  The morning started with skiing for one group and their confidence continued to grow.  The session finished with some sledging races and a lot of excited screaming!  The other group were rock climbing - all managed to scale the rocks and worked together collaboratively.

   

  In the afternoon Mrs Webb's group smashed the Bowles record in a team building activity by being able to pass a hoop around the whole group in 18 seconds ... a whole 2 seconds off the best time ever.  Not that the staff are getting competitive or anything!  Both groups also enjoyed their pool kayaking session.

   

  After another roast dinner (with the children eating record amounts of roast potatoes), we then did some team challenges in the woods.  Squelching through the woods was a major achievement - Miss O'Malley gave us a great display of her newly acquired skiing skills as she slid down the muddy hill and narrowly avoided landing in a heap at the bottom.  Logan wasn't quite so lucky, thank goodness for waterproofs.  Mud skating is a new English Martyrs sport!  The evening ended with hot chocolate, marshmallows and biscuits ... and a start to the dreaded packing.

   

  We're looking forward to our final day - more skiing and low ropes, once we've mastered the task of getting everything packed.  Make sure you've got extra washing powder before we arrive back - your washing machines will be having a busy weekend of it!

   

  There are plenty more photos of today to be added, but the Wifi is proving the final challenge of the day for the staff!

  

• Day 3 of Year 6 Residential

  Wed 23 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley

  All the children slept really well last night (as did the teachers), and had a good start to the day with cereal, toast and pain au chocolat for breakfast.  The groups then went off to climb rocks, squeeze through tunnels and squelch through mud.  These activities really put the children into their challenge zone (and trying to squeeze between a crack in the rocks put Mrs Townsley well and truly into the 'stuck zone'), but they all encouraged each other and achieved far more than they thought they could.  What really stood out was just how much more the children are now encouraging each other and working as teams in the few short days we've been here.

   

  We've also been learning about the wildlife of our surroundings, and eagle-eyed Rossi spotted a grass snake as we were out and about.  Not to be outdone, Logan then found a beautiful green hawk moth caterpillar.

   

  After a hearty lunch of macaroni cheese and an eagerly-awaited visit to the tuck shop, we then started afternoon activities.  The groups were working on their team working skills, and also took part in an orienteering competition.  

   

  Next on the to do list is swimming, dinner, camp fire (with smores) and ... bed!

   

  Update:  We've been for a treasure hunt after dinner and had some time sitting round a campfire, telling jokes, singing songs and toasting marshmallows.  The children have been great company and we feel very lucky to be spending a week here with them.  

  

• Day 2 of Year 6 residential

  Tue 22 Oct 2019 Dr Townsley

  It's been an action packed day today with raft building, archery, skiing and low wires.  Our group of skiers made massive progress and are now confidently using the ski lift and trying snow plough turns.  All the children in the low ropes group went on the zip wire, as did Mrs Webb!  And the children's archery skills really came on - Robin Hood, eat your heart out! We were particularly impressed with Mia and Nathan for getting a bulls eye.  Not long until dinner now, which will be followed with a night walk and more skiing. We can't wait!

   

  Update:  All back from the evening activities now.  During the night walk lots of the children saw a shooting star (which turns out to have been from the tail of Halley's comet).  What a magical end to a wonderful day!

  

• Day 1 of Year 6 Residential

  Mon 21 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley
  We've had a fantastic first day of the residential.  After successfully wrestling with duvets and sheets on arrival and getting rooms sorted, we then had lunch and went off for either a climbing session or for skiing.  After dinner, there were more activities of a night walk or a skiing session. We've been so impressed with the children's determination and team working skills - they've been supporting each other brilliantly.  Miss O'Malley has thoroughly enjoyed her first skiing session ... and the children thoroughly enjoyed watching her fall over!  We ended the day with birthday cake for Katie and the children went to bed happy and exhausted.

  

• Year 2 Have a vist from the RNLI

  Tue 15 Oct 2019

  On Tuesday 15th October year 2 had a very special visit from one of our local coastguards working with the RNLI. They came from the life boat station in Shoreham and taught us lots of things about water safety and how we should behave near the water. 

  We got the opportunity to learn about the different flags we may see near the water, such as a yellow and red flag would mean safe to swim, black and white would be surfing or other unmotorised boats, and red means DANGER! Do not go in the water!

  We then watched some videos of real life rescues which the RNLI have taken part in, and learnt about the different types of boats they use depending on the weather, and depending on where they were going, they wouldn't use the same boat for the sea, and the River Thames for example. Did you know that all their boats are self righting? So if they were to capsize they would be able to get themselves the right way up again. 

  After sailing Oliver and Jessie out to sea (or at least pretending to) we learnt about what to do if we find ourselves in a dangerous situation. The RNLI have a new initiative at the moment, and this is to teach children and adults the importance of being able to float. More information about this can be found on their website. 

   

  The RNLI is run by volunteers who, most of the time, also have other jobs, so we really appreciate them coming in to see us and teaching us such valuable lessons about water safety. 

   

  Shoreham lifeboat centre is a great place to visit - and if you are up early enough on a Sunday morning, you might even catch a practice drill!!

   

  Thank you again to the RNLI, what a fantastic morning we had!

  

• Grandparents' Day

  Wed 02 Oct 2019 Dr. Townsley
   On Monday afternoon, we welcomed lots of grandparents in to come and be part of their grandchildren's learning.  We were overwhelmed by how many came to join us, and it was really lovely to see how delighted the children were with their special visitors.  A huge thank you to the Friends who did an amazing job of getting the hall set up and serving tea and biscuits at the end of the afternoon.