The Year 5 & 6 hockey team competed in a tournament at Frome Leisure Centre on the Astroturf. All the players worked well together and were able to use their previous experience of playing on this surface to produce some great hockey. Of the four Games they played they won three!  Thomas Hastings demonstrated great dribbling skills, slicing through the defence to score a fantastic individual goal bringing his goal tally to three!

Goals were also shared between Ellie Clarke, Christian de Jaeger, Max Ralph and Lizzie Finch. 

An excellent team effort in defence kept the goals against tally to a minimum.  Well done, Tom Taylor and Kira Albiston.

On a nice sunny afternoon a team of 17 Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children took part in the Trowbridge Cross Country league at John of Gaunt School.

All the team did fantastically well, running to a high standard with Elena Sidman winning the Year 3/4 race and Lizzie Finch winning the Year 5/6 girls race.

Well done to Angus Walsby who was taking part in his first Cross Country race.

A special mention to Luca Morgan who stepped in at the last minute and ran so well to finish 2^nd, especially after running in the Cross Country club at lunchtime, well done!

Results can be found on the playground notice board.

Netball v Beckington 7^th February 2011

The Year 3 & 4 netball team played their first match of the term on a cold but dry Monday afternoon. After a quick warm up and short skills session the more competitive action began. Springmead soon took the lead and managed to hold it until the end of the period. The second period was played with Beckington doing the majority of the attacking and they soon equalised making the score 1 – 1 at the end of the second third.

With a few substitutions and positional changes Springmead managed to gain the upper hand in the final period and were soon in front again and didn’t let the lead slip, finishing winners by 5 – 1.

Following the recording of one of their songs by Anthony Dickson last term, by chance, our choir’s performance was seen by John Purdie a BBC director and producer.  John was so impressed with the standard of the choir that he offered to give our choir the opportunity of a recording session, free of charge.

The process took two hours and gave the children a very valuable insight into life in front of the camera…seven takes before it was ‘in the can’! John was lovely with them but quietly insisted on excellence, an even harder taskmaster than Mrs Miller and Miss Heald. We hope the recording will eventually go on our website.

Springmead pupils enjoyed a session at their wildlife area earlier this week, enjoying the warmth of a fire, under the parachute donated by last year’s Year 6 parents.

Charlotte Heald, reception teacher comments – We are delighted to be able to use all the bushcraft  equipment we have been given.

Our younger and older pupils all enjoy  our Go Explore programme, which is tailored to their age, capabilities  and interests.

In a technology heavy society it is wonderful to be  teaching in a school that recognises how much we can learn outdoors.

The netball team started the season with a convincing win against Upton Noble, showing a superb team effort. Quick footwork and accurate passing enabled the shooters to have lots of practise to shoot goals, which they did! Hollie Gardner did particularly well shooting five goals, with good support from Thomas Hastings and Max Ralph. 

Mendip Cross Country League on 1st February at Millfield

A team of 16 runners took part in the Cross Country League at Millfield, all performing brilliantly!

There was improvement on places from the last Cross Country League made by Evie Jackson, Campbell Goff, Lizzie Finch, Tom Brown, James Welbourn and Tom Taylor. Well done to Martha Atkinson, Russell Pow-Jones and Oliver Welbourn for taking part in their first Cross Country League, you all did so well!

A fantastic 1st place by Elena Sidman means she is leading the lower schools girls’ overall standings.

The results from the league can be seen on the playground notice board or at: www.MendipJuniorAthletics.org.uk

Money raised from the children’s Christmas gift shop is going towards creating a living willow den in the back garden. This structure will be large enough for classes to go into for outdoor learning opportunities and will grow larger over the years. On the Friday of the half-term holiday a few members of staff have kindly volunteered to help with the construction. At the same time we would like to prepare the allotment area for the growing season. If anyone would be interested in lending a hand please let Karen Grist know.

Again this year we are inviting all parents to our annual instrumental concert, on Friday 18^th February at 2:00pm in the Village Hall.  All children from Year 2 to 6 will be performing, either singing or playing instruments.  For many of our children this will be the first opportunity they have to play their instruments to an audience, so this event is essentially relaxed and informal! 

As you may already be aware, children in Year 2 learn to play the ocarina in school; they then have the opportunity to take up an instrument in Year 3.   For parents whose children do not yet play an instrument, this is a good time to come and see what our youngsters are achieving through individual music lessons and lots of practice at home.  After the concert we send out a letter to parents of children going into Year 3 in September, asking children and parents to decide if they want to take up playing an instrument in September.

We hope you will be able to join us and ask that you return the reply slip by Friday 4^th February so we can issue tickets. 

Children in Years 2 to 6 will be able to go home with parents straight after the concert, clubs will run as usual.  Younger children will have seen the dress rehearsal in the morning and will therefore, be at school in the afternoon.

The children are busy improving their sporting skills at school in both PE lessons and at sports clubs.  They can also work hard at home to make more progress.  This term the sports that we focus on in school are Tag Rugby and Netball.  Both these sports rely on accurate passing and receiving skills and these require good hand eye co-ordination.  By spending time practising throwing and catching using a variety of balls we are able to improve our hand eye co-ordination. 

Watching sports is another way children can improve their sporting ability.  By watching others play they will be able to view the skills we practice at school and also see tactics and techniques being implemented.  Rugby is regularly on TV and netball has been on a few times recently but for a really great experience and perfect learning opportunity, watching live sport cannot be beaten.