Wow! What an amazing week.

I know that every time I write I start by saying how lucky I am to work with such a fantastic team of teachers, but if you have spoken to your children this week you will know that this week I mean it more than ever. 

I hardly know where to begin as the school is brimming over with creativity and busy, buzzing children. So I am going to give you a few snippets from our daily briefings…..

Monday

Miss Anderson created some amazing Treasure Islands with her Year 5 group, some of whom made tiny little treasure chests that opened and had gold inside! Years 4 and 5 explored stories in a Drama Workshop with the incredible and inspirational Guildford Shakespeare Company.

Mrs Long created some brilliant posters with Years 3 and 6 about their favourite characters from books on the computer. My lessons with Years 6 to 8 used the Jolly Postman to inspire letters about hair products for Rapunzel and anger management sessions for the Wolf. Barfield's Science department took on eco challenges in the world today, using the book 'The Journey Home'. They looked at how we treat the world and what we can do to protect it. For Year 5 this has involved a lot of dry ice!

The PE department started their sessions on Peter Pan with games of Captain Hook chase, flying trust exercises and swimming lessons in a Mermaid Lagoon. 

Tuesday

Years 6 to 8 ventured out to The Chichester Festival Theatre to see a mind-blowing performance of The Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Many of us were left in tears, as this beautiful story of telling your truth, no matter how painful, unfolded. 

Year 3 painted in gold leaf with Mrs Lester, Year 1 wrote their amazing bear poems and Year 2 made fabulous teddy bear biscuits. Special mention must go to Miss Trevett and Mrs Birkbeck who bravely helped Year 4 use Batik, which is unbelievably colorful, and also to the Reception children for their igloos, snow globes, lanterns and snowflakes! Science too saw Year 5 sublime carbon dioxide to create a display of inflated gloves which highlighted their pledge to help stop climate change.

Wednesday

Year 6 listened to the Elmer story in French, then made a collage of Elmer, were able to follow French instructions and then even retold the story in French sentences. Wow! 

Year 3 had a more sedate morning with Mrs Tupper, creating the Earth and its layers in plasticine in Science. Year 5 worked hard, looking at British inventors and making models of their work in DT.

Reception also worked incredibly hard on their own Bear Stories, inspired by the beautiful Old Bear series by Jane Hissey.

The Cookhouse was very busy as Year 4 did a little bit of Maths, costing and budgeting, before making chocolate chip cookies! Years 7 and 8 then indulged in creative cookery as they made JackFruit Curry from foods found in the rainforest. 

Thursday

The Science Lab was a hive of industry as Year 6 worked to produce intricate clay animals on their own model boats and spectacular earth models. In the Art Room, Mrs Lester has been weaving her usual magic, blending Dragons and Jabberwocky images with those of Fairy tales and beautiful handbound books with secret messages. Equally creative, Year 2 created gorgeous, individual books with their own personal beaded bookmarks. 

The youngest members of the school have also had a wonderful time during Arts Week! Hatchlings brought the ‘That's not my...' book series to life with tree rubbings for their book and worked collaboratively, decorating a textured owl for display. The Owls’ children went on a Bear Hunt and created wonderful bear face masks. The Owlets went on a trip to Alice Holt and had great fun finding Owl, Snake, Fox and the Gruffalo. Upon returning to their classroom they made adorable Gruffalos with cool purple spikes out of clay!

Friday

Reception and Years 1 and 2 set off to see The Bear by Raymond Brigg at Chichester Theatre. I wish I could have been there to see their faces come alive as the giant 3D bear came on the stage!

Today we brought together all our creations for our school exhibition in the HC. This will be there all week after half-term. PLEASE come and share the magic with your child before or after school. Bring your friends and family to see what we have been doing. Leave messages for your children to read…..and leave feeling smug that you chose this school to be where your child is inspired everyday. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of sharing the week with the whole school in an assembly. We saw images, pictures and models and heard songs and music… and I left work with a singing heart and a big smile that this where I come to work everyday, and feeling a little bit happier that “BOOKS” was the theme of the week.

Mrs Cobb’s Arts Week Music Sessions with the Pre-Prep

Our Pre-Prep Music lessons began with Owlets singing a variety of bear songs and dancing to bear-themed music, with cuddly toys they had brought in from home. We finished with a visit to Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ house where we sang the song “Porridge in a Pan”, accompanied by mixing bowls and wooden spoons, to practise our rhythm skills.

Owls and Reception sang the song version of “We’re going on a bear hunt.” Our musical journey saw the children going through squelchy mud, long wavy grass and a snow storm. After being very brave and venturing through the dark, gloomy forest, we finally met Mr Bear in his cave. He thoroughly enjoyed listening to our favourite nursery rhymes and songs.

The day culminated in a wonderful performance of Little Red Riding Hood - The Musical, given by Years 1 and 2 to a very receptive audience from Nursery and Reception. Every child sang with gusto and acted out their parts with great enthusiasm. Our talented musicians provided an array of special effects on percussion instruments to accompany the story. The younger children were particularly surprised to see a few extra guests in the woods with Little Red Riding Hood, including The Queen, Peppa Pig, Spider-Man…..and Mr Boyle with Tank the dog!