Year 6 Bushcraft afternoon at the woods

The Eagles had the ‘part two’ of their science session on exploring food in the great outdoors. All of the Year 6 are fully engaged in this exciting learning environment and getting so much out of the opportunities presented by being in a woodland classroom.  The extra effort that this takes from all the adults involved in organising the logistics is paid back tenfold in the children’s enthusiasm, sheer enjoyment and rich, meaningful learning that is taking place.

Foundation Stage Go Explore

As we go to press Nursery and Reception are off to look at the natural world and colour match green in the garden.

An amazing array of art work appeared following the Easter holidays.  Each year group had some beautifully executed and thought-provoking pictures and it is clear that a great deal of time and effort had been put into them.  It was extremely difficult to choose just one winner from each group and congratulations should be given to everyone who entered.

The winning entries are:

Reception       Primrose Boyden

Year 1             Harriette Puddy-Jones

Year 2             Louis Donson

Year 3             James Howson

Year 4             Sam Johnston

Year 5             Milly Combe

Year 6             William Ball

The winners work will be displayed in school over the coming weeks.  One house point will be awarded to each entrant, with the winners receiving three house points.  Well done to the winners!

Jane Dickson

South West Schools, relay championships at Millfield School on Monday 30^th April

Congratulations to Tom Hastings, Mia Quick, Fraser Humphrey, and Cameron Wight, who recently competed at this event, where they came 4^th place in the freestyle relay and 5^th place in the mixed strokes relay, narrowly missing out (by only 1 place in the freestyle) on qualifying for the national finals.  The team did a great job and everyone swam really well.

Year 6 Bushcraft afternoon at the woods

The Eagles had a fantastic science based session, exploring food groups, discussing the need for a balanced diet, and then looking at how much of our diet can be found in the woodland.  In groups the children then gathered a selection of plants, with a whole host of properties, useful in a variety of situations – for fuel, for sustenance, for shelter building, for rope making and for insulation. Another fantastic afternoon in Gare Hill Woods!

Year 4 at Kilve Court

The Squirrels were all very excited as we set off on Monday for our three day residential trip to Kilve Court, and justifiably so, despite a few showers and a little bit of wind the whole trip was a roaring success.  We had lots of fun with a range of activities from zooming down muddy slopes on a grass sledge to climbing the massive climbing wall.  We got home on Wednesday tired, muddy and ready for our beds but bursting with memories of our adventures.

Year 3 Trip to Wookey Hole

The Badgers thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Wookey Hole Caves.  They explored the caves, learning about the different rock formations and seeing stalagmites and stalactites.  They enjoyed learning about the legend of the Wookey Hole witch and looking around the mini museum.  They liked investigating all the different attractions including the dinosaurs, circus, fairy garden, as well as learning about the explorers/divers who first found the caves and about those that have discovered new chambers since.  Some of the children tried making paper by hand and we all had a demonstration. Fun was had by all!  At school the children have tasted some cave aged cheese and most thought it was extremely tasty.  Yum!

The final Monday of the spring term saw Beckington and Springmead meet for their 3^rd Tag Rugby match of the year.  With the previous meetings both being very close another closely contested match was expected.  With the sun shining the conditions couldn’t have been more different from the first meeting earlier in the term.  Both teams started well and showed quickness of feet and deftness of hand in producing some great moves.  Occasionally the quickness of mind was not quite up to speed and a couple of silly mistakes prevented scores for both teams.  At the interval Beckington had a narrow advantage but Springmead were determined to overcome the deficit.  This they duly managed in a second half that followed a similar pattern to the first but with Beckington tiring, more mistakes crept into their game and the Springmead team managed to win the game 11 – 9.

Although it was a very good win, a little more emphasis on team play and not individual running would have resulted in a greater margin between the teams.  This need for better teamwork will be even more important at the Frome Tag Rugby Festival, which the team will be participating in on May 17^th 2012.  Captain Charlie Shakespeare once again produced an organised defensive line and was on hand to finish off several moves.  Other strong performances came from Louis Mansfield, Theo Fitz-Johnson and Jacob Miller.

At the last Mendip League of the season our Springmead runners were blessed with unseasonably warm and sunny weather – not the usual cross country weather we are used to.  Considering the warm temperatures all 11 runners ran fantastically well, with lots of improvements made by all.

The lower school boys’ team of Charlie Shakespeare, Eddie Donson, Oliver Welbourn and Theo Fitz-Johnson finished the season in 2^nd place and received a medal at the presentation afterwards – fantastic effort, boys!!!

A big thank you and well done to everyone who raced in the Mendip League. You all put in a lot of hard work in the lunchtime club and a huge effort in the races – keep up the training ready to start again in September!.

Results can be found on www.mendipjuniorathletics.org.uk and on the school playground notice board.

The Eagles had a real treat this week with a visit from Digby Fox, Frances’ dad.  He talked about the media and his experiences as a film-maker, editor and director.  After some top tips on the composition of a picture and how to interview using open ended questions, all the children had the opportunity to use the camera to do some filming and were involved in an ‘interview the teacher session’ – the results of the afternoon’s activities are eagerly awaited!  Huge thanks go to Digby, whose passion for his work has inspired the children.

On the last day of term the School Council voted for the name of our giant tortoise from the many entries submitted by adults and children. Zak Rosenfeld’s choice of Esiotrot tortoise was the clear winner. Well done, Zak!  For those who haven’t come across the name “Esiotrot”, it is the name of one of Roald Dahl’s book and spells ‘tortoise’ backwards!

To help parents understand how they can support their child in making the transition from nursery to school we will be hosting an evening meeting on Wednesday 9^th May at 8:00pm at the school.

In addition to a short presentation there will be light refreshments and an opportunity for you to have your questions answered.

The final netball match of the term was played in bright sunshine on Thursday afternoon. The Year 5 & 6 team travelled to North Bradley knowing that a win would allow them to equal the achievement of the previous two Year 5 & 6 netball teams and remain unbeaten in all their fixtures. Although North Bradley had been beaten in the previous meeting they had a very different squad of players this time.  The game was very tight to begin with and flowed from end to end but a combination of poor shooting and good defending kept the score at 0 – 0.  Eventually Thomas Hastings and Mia Quick found their range and got Springmead into a 0 – 4 lead at half time.  With substitutions made the second half started in a similar manner to the first but this time it was North Bradley who became more accurate with their shooting and cut the deficit to 2.  Springmead continued to enjoy the majority of the possession but new shooters Campbell Goff and Martha Atkinson couldn’t quite make the possession count.  With North Bradley looking dangerous every time they broke Mr Munckton was starting to look a little nervous on the sidelines and started to try make the time speed up!  After some great defending by Christian De Jaeger and Mia Quick a flowing Springmead move found Martha Atkinson in space and she calmly scored the final point of the game to secure a 2 – 5 away win and to make Mr Munckton very happy.  Now with all the netball fixtures over for another year we have the combined staff and Year 5 & 6 charity match to look forward to!