Read below to find out more about some of the different activities we have been getting up to; from sporting and musical activities, to visitors and 'wow' days. We are looking forward to helping our children 'explore and grow' further in 2023-24.

• Year 5/6 Sailing

  Mon 27 Jun 2016 M Davis

  Five intrepid explorers (and a headteacher) set out to Rutland Water this morning for a 'Sailing Experience'. It was VERY windy, which meant that the boats went very fast!

   

  Once we had struggled into our wetsuits, helmets and life preservers, those under the age of 12 set out on the water in boats, practising their paddling and steering skills. Once these were mastered, the children were shown how to unfurl a sail and taught the basics of sailing.

   

  Then it was time to return to the water, this time under wind power. The first boat shot off at great speed, giving the occupants a bit of a shock! Never under-estimate the power of the wind! After a few false starts, and a small capsizing incident, we were soon taking it in turns to tack out to the nearest buoy and back.

   

  Mrs Davis was proud of all those who took part, in particular those with a real fear of water, who faced those fears head on, even after watching others tipping over.

   

  A great time was had by all!

  

• Wimpole Trip

  Sun 26 Jun 2016 M Davis

  Weren't we lucky with the weather on Friday? We couldn't believe our luck!

   

  Everybody had a fantastic time at Wimpole Hall Farm and Gardens. The children were beautifully behaved on the trip and we all had a good day: the sun shone, the animals were entertaining, and the gardens were beautiful.

   

  When we arrived at Wimpole we gathered into our groups, then set off on the short walk to the Farm. After depositing our lunches in the boxes by the dairy we were free to explore the farm in our groups.

   

  We were lucky to be the only school visiting on Friday, which meant the farm workers were happy to let us help feed the pigs. There were some quite small piglets, and we were amazed to see how big they would get in just a few short weeks. We were also able to see Shetland ponies and Shire horses - quite different in size! There were highland cattle, and we were also able to watch a milking demonstration. The children were quite surprised to find that the milk is warm when it comes out of the cow!

   

  As well as the animals, we were able to look at items from an old dairy, look at models of how a combine harvester works, have a go at lifting bags of grain using pulleys, have a go at milking 'pretend' cows by hand and look at farm machinery. We were also lucky to find that the barn was being rethatched and there were thatchers hard at work too.

   

  After lunch we were able to play in the paddock next to the farm before walking back to the house to look around the gardens designed by Capability Brown. There was a lot of debate about whether he would have used trampolines in his design if such things had existed! Conner counted all the windows in the house, not including those that had been bricked up to avoid window tax. I think the final count was 170, which must take a lot of washing!

   

  After a quick visit to Wimpole church it was time to climb on the bus for the journey home. There were a lot of sleepy children on the way back (and a few adults too!)

   

  What a great day out!

  

• Ducks!

  Tue 21 Jun 2016 M Davis

  We pride ourselves on being a welcoming school.... however, we have never had to welcome a roosting duck before!

   

  Last week we were most surprised to find a duck has made it's nest in the planter on the playground at the base of the tree and laid (we think 12) eggs!

   

  The children have been fantastic and been very good at leaving her alone to look after her eggs in peace. We are keeping a careful eye on her, and are hoping that if the local wildlife does not find her we may find ducklings in a few weeks time!

   

  John Richardson managed to catch a quick photograph so that we could show the children, and Mrs Heywood and Mrs Healey are keeping an eye on her to make sure she is as safe as she can be.

   

  Fingers crossed!

  

• Tri-Golf

  Fri 17 Jun 2016 M Davis

  There are advantages to being a small school! The biggest of which is that we all get to take part and have a go.

   

  On Friday, the whole of KS2 went to take part in the RSSP Tri-Golf competition. We split ourselves into two teams, a team of year 3-6 and a year 3 team. After a slightly damp start, we were soon taking part in a variety of golf skill based activities and trying to win as many points as possible for our teams.

   

  It was a busy competition for all involved. Each station gave us two minutes to learn what to do, two minutes to practise, then 5 minutes to score points. The staff were trusted to score each station, which was a test of our times tables!

   

  A huge congratulations to our year 3 team who came 5th out of all the schools in the year 3/4 competition. This was a great achievement, particularly as the other teams had year 4 pupils as well. The older team did well too, placing 6th amongst teams made up of entirely year 5/6 pupils. With our team comprising of years 3-6, they acquitted themselves well!

   

  There was not a lot of time for photography, but there are few photographs below.

  

• Creating Fanfares!

  Wed 15 Jun 2016 M Davis

  Mrs Davis enjoyed working with KS2 on Wednesday afternoon to develop their musical composition skills.

   

  After listening to 'Fanfare for the Common Man' by Aaron Copland, the children spent some time discussing what it made them think of, before identifying the instruments and talking about the structure.

   

  Year 3/4 for were then split into pairs and given xylophones, glockenspiels and metallophones and asked to create their own fanfares using a limited number of notes.

   

  Year 5/6 were given a different challenge. They were given tone chimes, and so had to work closely together to create melodies and counter-melodies.

   

  Successful fanfares were created and there was a lot of discussion about texture and sound.

   

  The children had some fantastic musical ideas. Perhaps this activity was the beginning of some composing careers!

   

  We will try to upload some examples to the website once we have compressed the files.

• Class 1 Egleton Trip

  Wed 08 Jun 2016 M Davis

  Class 1 had a fantastic trip to Egleton on Wednesday and were able to go bug hunting and bird watching.

  The weather was very kind to us, and once we had made sure that everybody had a sunhat, we set off on the coach.

  The children enjoyed hunting for bugs and identifying different creatures, including some newts. They also enjoyed visiting the bird hides and spotting different creatures there.

  The staff at Egleton were very complementary about the children and we were very proud of them all.

  A huge thank you to Mrs Fowler for organising the trip, and to Mrs Jagger, Mrs Heywood and Miss Lynch who helped.

  Photographs to follow...