Latest News

Dedication of the Prayer Garden

Tue 18 Jul 2017 M Davis

We were delighted to welcome members of the local community and the Right Reverend John Holbrook, Bishop of Brixworth to the school this afternoon to dedicate and officially open the refurbished Prayer Garden.

The children started with a song celebrating creation, before thanks were said to the people who had bought the garden to fruition through planning, hard work and a lot of time given for free to the school. Thank you again to Cathy Dyson for the initial idea, and Ann, Stewart, Dave, George, John and Penny for all their hard work. Thank you also to Exton PCC for their generous use of the Henry Forster fund to support the beautiful garden we now have.

The children then sang a version of the Lord's Prayer from African Sanctus; a fitting song as the stepping stones through the garden contain the words of the Lord's Prayer. The Bishop then spoke to our visitors and the children before testing out the bench. He also said a prayer to dedicate the garden and marked crosses in the earth around the perimeter with his Bishop's crook. The service finished with the children singing the school prayer.

We very much enjoyed having the Bishop with us on such an occasion, and look forward to inviting him to join with us again soon.

Bishop's Visit

Mon 17 Jul 2017 M Davis

It was exciting to discover today that we will be welcoming the Right Reverend John Holbrook to Exton & Greetham CE Primary School tomorrow almost 50 years to the day from when we had another Bishop visit to open the newly relocated school!

In Mercury Memories in the Rutland Mercury it reports:

"50 Years Ago. Exton Church of England Primary School, which came into use - replacing the old building at the other end of the village - in April, was officially opened and dedicated, on Tuesday by the Rt Rev W H Stewart, Assistant Bishop of Peterborough, who lives in the village.

There was a large gathering of parents and other guests, including representatives of the county education authority to witness the ceremony.

Bishop Stewart said that the village was very fortunate in that it had got the new buildings of nothing, except, of course, for the rates and taxes which they all had to pay."

Mrs Almond even recognised some of the children in the accompanying photo as some of her school friends!

The school has changed enormously over the last 50 years. Thinking caps on for what we can create for a Bishop to come and open in another 50 years in 2067... the children's suggestion is a swimming pool!

Sports Day 2017

Mon 17 Jul 2017 M Davis

What a fantastic morning we had this morning! The sun was shining and it was lovely to have so many parents join us to celebrate Sports Day 2017.

All of the children gave their all, and there was some fantastic sportsmanship, with children cheering each other on and encouraging and helping each other.

Congratulations to team 6 who won the round robin of events, and to all those who placed in their running races. A particular well done to our 4 dads who took part in the parents race.

Thank you to FOEGS for their tea and coffee making and for running the raffle.

Fort Henry Walk

Fri 14 Jul 2017 M Davis

The weather held for a super walk to Fort Henry on Friday. Despite the threat of rain, the weather treated us kindly, and it was just the right weather for a stroll down to Fort Henry. As ever, the children were impeccably behaved and it was lovely to be able to chat and look at the scenery.

We enjoyed picnicking in the field near Fort Henry and recharging our batteries with some food and drink, before ambling back to school.

Thank you to all the staff who joined us, and to Mr Chalkley, our Chair of Governors, and Daniel's Mum who also joined us.

A good time was had by all!

Photos to follow....

Burghley House Trip

Tue 11 Jul 2017 M Davis

What a fantastic trip we had today!

The trip started with a tour around the house. We split into two groups and spent time in each of the rooms open to the public. The younger children particularly enjoyed the kitchen and looking at the servant bells, and had lots of very interesting questions. We agreed that we did not think we would like to have worked in the kitchen in the Tudor times as it would have been very hot and stuffy! Our guides were very interesting and told us all about the different people who had lived in the house and royalty who had visited in the past. They were very impressed with the children's ability to recognise Kings and Queens in their portraits!

After our tour we went and sat under the trees to eat our lunch, before Miss Bevins organised a game of ice and fire for those who finished quickly. Then it was time to visit the sculpture garden. We didn't have much time here, as we were keen to get to the Garden of Surprises, but we enjoyed seeing some of the abstract sculptures and also the sculptures of some animals. There was time to play on the maze too.

Mrs Davis asked us not to get too wet in the Garden of Surprises, but it was very hard to resist! It was exciting not knowing where the water was going to come from, and to be able to run through the fountains. It didn't matter when the rain started, as we were already quite wet!

It was then time to return to school for dry clothes, hot chocolate and a snack.

A great time was had by all, and the staff were very impressed with the behaviour of the children and the pertinent questions that they asked on the tour of the house. Thank you to Burghley for having us, and thank you to all the staff for supervising what was, in the words of two children, 'the best day of my life so far'!

Year 1/2 Multiskills

Mon 10 Jul 2017 M Davis

Year 1 and 2 had a fantastic morning at the multi-skills festival. Mrs Ranson and Mrs Lowe reported that they all tried really hard and did their best at all the activities. The children all said that they had had a lot of fun and that they had enjoyed themselves. There was great teamwork and lots of encouragement between friends. Well done to all involved.

Textiles Workshops

Mon 10 Jul 2017 M Davis

Mrs Ford has been busy running some textiles workshops to create some wall hangings for the hall.

The children have been making abstract felt pictures to represent areas of the school. Once these dried they added detail using beads and buttons. These are in the process of being joined together into one big wall hanging.

Alongside this the children have created a beautiful silver birch tree using material and fabric paint hand prints. This has been overlayed with our school values and the 6 Rs, which we will be focusing on from September.

Many thanks to for their generous funding of this project. We will be inviting them in to see our finished wall displays in the autumn.

RLT Music Festival

Fri 30 Jun 2017 M Davis

The weather was kind to us on Friday as we set up to host our first RLT event here at Exton. Mrs Davis wasn't quite sure where we would put 266 children if the heavens opened!

It was amazing to see our school field filled with so many happy children from across Rutland Learning Trust. Coaches began dropping children at 12pm, and picnics were had on the village playing fields before the gate opened to the Music Festival at 12.15pm.

There were plenty of activities for the children to take part in from craft, to quizzes, bouncy castles to ice- cream, as well as the workshops and performance stage.

Workshops were led by Mr McClure (ukulele), Harmonia Music (African Drumming), Mrs Davis (Country Dancing) and Miss Bevins (musical instrument making). The children all had a go at at least one workshop.

The performance stage proved popular too, with performances from each school and from the Trust Staff Band. It was lovely to hear children playing instruments in their school Rock Bands (Langham/ Ketton) or singing (Exton & Greetham/ Whissendine/ St Nicholas). What talented children there are across the Trust!

A huge thank you to all the staff from all the schools who contributed to making the event so successful, and especially to Arts 4 Rutland who provided a grant to help fund some of the workshops.

Time to evaluate and tweak some ideas to make next year's Music Festival even more successful!

Year 5/6 Rounders

Thu 29 Jun 2017 M Davis

Year 5/6 (and some year 4 to make up the team!) set off to Casterton College on Thursday to take part in the Rutland Sports Partnership Osprey Rounders tournament. This is a small sided Rounders tournament that enables schools such as ours to field a team.

Mrs Ranson reports that our team were fantastic: working together, fielding, batting and running for their lives, as well as being great sportsmen and women.

The team came 2nd in the Ospreys tournament and we are proud of them all. Well done!

RLT Athletics Festival

Wed 28 Jun 2017 M Davis

What a fantastic day KS2 had at Corby Athletics Stadium for the inaugural RLT Athletics Festival!

It was wonderful to be able to take the children to experience running and field events at a proper track, with proper stands. What an atmosphere there was!

We may be the smallest school to join the trust, but the children did us proud and were fantastic competitors, whether they came first, last or somewhere in-between. The sense of sportsmanship was amazing too, with children not only cheering on each other from Exton, but also friends and relatives from the other participating schools.

It was nerve-wracking for some to be out in front of so many children (around 500 attended!) and Mrs Davis was really proud of people who faced their fears and gave it a go. What resilience you showed!

We had children placed in 1st, 2nd or 3rd in some of their races and events, but were proud to have every child in KS2 take part in at least 2 events.

Congratulations to:

Leighton - 3rd Place year 3 boys 50m

Georgie, Olivia, Hannah, Kate - 3rd Place year 4 girls relay

Drew - 2nd Place year 4 boys 50m

Georgie - 3rd Place year 4 girls 200m

Georgie - 3rd Place year 4 girls 50m

Drew - 3rd Place year 4 boys javelin

George - 2nd place year 4 boys long jump

Daniel - 3rd place year 4 boys long jump

Aimee - 1st place year 6 girls 75m

Aimee - 1st place year 6 girls javelin

Aimee - 2nd place year 6 girls rounder's ball throw