Notice Board
Book Week
 This
year our book week has been poetry themed. We were delighted to welcome the
award winning poet Joshua Seigal on Tuesday. All the children were lucky enough
to hear him perform a number of his poems and he held the children captivated
throughout. Our KS2 children also had the opportunity to work with him in
their classes and he inspired them to write some brilliant poetry. |
Litter Pick
 Kian, Eloise and their family got involved in a litter pick to tidy up the
Recreation Ground (Left) and the Hythe Moors (right). What an amazing job they
did of making the environment a safer place for wildlife and a nicer place for
people to be. That huge haul of litter reminds us that we must respect our
environment and take our rubbish home with us. |
Raising Money!
 Zoe made some homemade caterpillar fidget toys from
beads and loom bands. She wanted to
raise money for one of the local cat charities called ‘Colchester Caring for
our Missing Cats’. All funds raised help with vets bills and all day to day
costs of helping all the cats. She contacted the cat charity and they posted
them on their fundraising page. Zoe also sold them to neighbours, friends and
family. She raised a total of £77! |
Census 2021
 This week is the week of the national census in England and
children across the school have been learning all about what a census is and
how it helps us to understand our changing population. At the beginning of the
week you should have received a booklet with activities for the children and at
the end of the week children will have a certificate to take home. Children in
Year 6 have been looking at changes in population in Colchester over the past
100 years and what this means for public services. Other year groups have
focussed on the first ever census and how collecting population data helps
organisations such as the NHS to plan for the future. We hope that the census
lessons the children have taken part in, help them to understand its
importance. |
Our first wildlife pond residents
 This week a pair of
mallards moved into our wildlife pond and made themselves thoroughly at home! We
hope as the season continues and we develop the area more for wildlife, the
children will be able to sit and watch the comings and goings from the new
raised deck area that the Forest School have been constructing this week, to
replace the diseased willow tree which was removed from the playground for us.
Thanks to Adam at White Crow Tree surgery for carrying out this work for us. |
School Improvements During Lockdown
 You may remember that
during the first lockdown the children were building a new wildlife pond at the
edge of the woodland. During this lockdown, the forest school team have been
busy building a dipping platform and making a ‘beach’ (if you watch Monty on
Gardener’s World you will be aware of the wildlife value of a pond ‘beach’!) We
hope that this year the pond will attract lots of wildlife; in fact we have
already spotted a frog and a smooth newt checking out the new ‘des res’. I am
sure that the Forest School team will have lots of activities for the children to
do putting the finishing touches to the new pond, including planting bog and marginal
plants to attract dragonflies and damselflies and building a hibernaculums to
attract our amphibious friends! |
French Food Experience Day
 Year
4 had a fantastic experience trying different types of traditional French
food. They tasted cheeses of Roquefort, garlic and herb roule, Brie,
Camembert and Boursin along with crème caramel, pain au chocolat, Ardennes pate
and croissants. They cooked French onion soup and French toast (Pain
Perdu meaning lost bread) from scratch over the fire and also had a chance to
build French monuments with sticks. Mrs Helsden was so impressed with how
the children tried the new flavours and most of them now have new foods they
love. The class said they felt like they were in France and they were
just so amazing at taking on a new experience. Take a look at the Forest School
Diary entry for Year 4 for some photos of this day. |
Level 4 RHS School Gardening Award
 This week we received our Level 4 RHS School Gardening Award Certificate and with it a large
donation of seeds from the RHS, which I am sure we will look forward to
planting in the spring term! |
Parliament Week
 Our school hall is now fabulously decorated with the
children's work from Parliament Week. Parliament Week is aimed at teaching the
children all about democracy, voting and how our country is governed. During
Parliament Week, the children took part in a range of activities including:
understanding the role of The House of Lords and The House of Commons; The
Suffrage Movement; The Gunpowder Plot; Magna Carta and taxes. We also took part
in The Big Vote where children chose their favourite season; they chose winter! |
Kendall’s PTA
 The PTA fund amazing things for our school. This
year they have funded reading books for the school library, a writing shed for
EYFS, and contributed to the materials for the construction of our wildlife
pond. We couldn't provide these amazing resources for our children without the
generous support you give to our PTA. Due to Covid restrictions we are unable
to hold our normal events such as discos and the Christmas Fayre. This impacts
on our fundraising for the school. If you could consider making a small
donation (we suggest £1 a week) via SIMS Pay we can continue to fund projects
for the school and we would be extremely grateful. |
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